In This Issue:

Upcoming Events

• Hildebrand Graduate Research Showcase
• “Reshaping City Politics? Asian Voters’ Demands for Change in San Francisco and Vancouver”

Research Opportunities

• McCall MacBain Scholars info session
• Deadline Saturday to submit papers to the ACSUS 26th Biennial Conference

External Events

• “Meeting Global Skills and Talent Needs in Changing Labor Markets”
• Why Canada Matters Speaker Series: Dr. Andrea Geiger

UPCOMING EVENTS

Wednesday, April 26 | 12:30 pm PT | 223 Philosophy | RSVP

Learn about the research Canadian Studies funds through our Edward E. Hildebrand Graduate Research Fellowships, as recipients present overviews of their projects.

“Affordability for Whom? The Impacts of Foreign Buyer Taxes on British Columbia and Ontario Rental Housing Markets”

Taesoo Song, Ph.D. student, City and Regional Planning

During the mid-2010s, British Columbia and Ontario provincial governments implemented foreign buyer taxes (FBTs) to discourage foreign investment to promote affordability in the housing market. Although limited empirical evidence suggests that the taxes were effective in curbing house prices, there has been no significant discussion of their potential impacts on the rental market. Understanding this relationship would be crucial in meeting the housing needs of lower-income and immigrant households. Using empirical data from the Canadian Housing Mortgage Corporation and the Canadian Census, Taesoo examines how FBTs have impacted the regional rental markets and their implications for housing policy and planning.

“Climate Change and the Causes of the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction”

Joshua Zimmt, Ph.D. candidate, Integrative Biology

Joshua’s work attempts to understand the interactions between life and the Earth system, primarily through the study of extinction events. He dissertation research focuses on the exceptional fossil and rock records on Anticosti Island, Quebec, to understand how climate change may have caused the Late Ordovician mass extinction, one of the largest known extinction events. By producing a better understanding of this critical interval in the history of life, Joshua’s research will serve as a case study of global change that can be used to better understand our rapidly changing modern world.

COSPONSORED EVENT

Reshaping City Politics? Asian Voters’ Demands for Change in San Francisco and Vancouver

Monday, April 24 | 1:00 pm PT | Online | RSVP

The Canadian Studies Program is proud to partner with the Citrin Center for Public Opinion on a panel discussing the growing political importance of Asian-American and Asian-Canadian voters in two West Coast cities. Participants will discuss the outcomes of two recent elections in San Francisco and Vancouver, and what they could indicate about each region’s future.

Panelists will include Lorraine Lowe, executive director of Vancouver’s Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden; Kareem Allam, former campaign director for Vancouver mayor Ken Sim and partner, Fairview Strategy; Ann Hsu, former San Francisco School Board commissioner and founder and head of school for Bert Hsu Academy; and Neil Malhotra, Edith M. Cornell Professor of Political Economy, Stanford Graduate School of Business. The panel will be moderated by David Broockman, associate professor, Travers Department of Political Science, UC Berkeley.

This event is also cosponsored by the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative.

Image: “Stop Asian Hate” protester in Vancouver. Photo by GoToVan on Wikimedia Commons.

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

McCall MacBain Scholars Info Session

Tuesday, April 11 | 1:30 pm | 1229 Dwinelle | RSVP

The McCall MacBain Scholarship is an exciting fellowship opportunity that fully funds master’s degrees and living expenses at McGill University in Montreal. As a McCall MacBain Scholar, you will connect with mentors, develop your leadership skills, and receive full funding to start a master’s or professional degree at McGill University. You’ll join an interdisciplinary cohort of scholars from around the world, dedicated to purposeful leadership and action grounded in integrity, empathy, and courage.

The scholarship covers all tuition and fees, plus a living stipend of $2,000 per month during academic terms, summer funding options, and a relocation grant.

This one-hour information session includes a short presentation, followed by a Q&A. Register at scholarships.berkeley.edu. If you would like to learn more about McCall MacBain Scholars but cannot attend the session, subscribe to their email list.

Call for Proposals: ACSUS 26th Biennial Conference

Deadline: Saturday, April 15, 2023

The deadline to submit papers for the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS) 26th Biennial Conference has been extended to April 15.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS), the Association will host its 26th biennial conference, November 16-19, 2023, in Washington, D.C. The conference is open to all proposals with a significant Canadian focus. The Association welcomes papers and panel proposals from students, professors, independent scholars, and practitioners related to the theme, “Canada: Near and Far”.

ACSUS also welcomes strong proposals from students at both the graduate and undergraduate level, including individual submissions as well as group proposals. Students accepted to the colloquium will receive funding support from ACSUS in the form of: 1) $125 USD to cover registration and a 2-year ACSUS membership and 2) $1,000 USD to assist with travel and accommodation costs.

Learn more about applying to the conference or student colloquium here.

EXTERNAL EVENTS

Tuesday, April 11 | 7:00 am PT | Online | RSVP

As demographic pressures, technological advances, economic shifts, and pandemic disruptions rapidly reshape labor markets in the United States and globally, the resulting labor shortages and skills gaps are sparking conversations about the role that immigration could serve.

On April 11, join the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) for a discussion with senior policymakers and other experts to the extent to which labor market needs should shape future immigration policy decisions, and how countries are adjusting – and could adjust – their immigration systems to meet human capital and competitiveness needs. Participants will include Christiane Fox, Deputy Minister for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada.

Why Canada Matters Speaker Series: Dr. Andrea Geiger

Friday, April 14 | 10:00 am PT | Online | RSVP

Western Washington University’s Center for Canadian-American Studies continues their “Why Canada Matters” speaker series with a talk from historian Andrea Geiger. Dr. Geiger will discuss her book, Converging Empires: Citizens and Subjects in the North Pacific Borderlands, which examines the role of the North Pacific borderlands along the northernmost stretches of U.S.-Canada border that divide Alaska from the Yukon and British Columbia, as well as those that follow the contours of the B.C. and Alaska coast, in the construction of race and citizenship in both the United States and Canada. She will speak to the intersecting nature of the race-based legal constraints imposed by Canada and the United States on Japanese immigrants and Indigenous people in this borderlands region, arguing for the importance of giving Canada an equal place in our studies of both transpacific and borderlands history.

Andrea Geiger is professor emerita of history at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. Her most recent book is Converging Empires: Citizens and Subjects in the North Pacific Borderlands, 1867-1945. Dr. Geiger spoke to Canadian Studies at Berkeley about her book last semester.