Category Archives: Canadian Studies Program UC Berkeley

Next week: Blackness in North America; a board member explains why Canadian Studies matters

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An item from our of our fellow Canadian organizations in the Bay Area.
Canadian Studies Announcements
In this issue:
  • Next Week: Blackness and Belonging in North America
  • Meet Canadian Studies: Board member Kathryn Exon Smith
  • Upcoming event: Migrant farmworker rights under COVID-19
Next Week:
Return: On Blackness and Belonging in North America
Lecture | September 15 | 12:30 PM | Online – RSVP here
McGill University professor Debra Thompson, an expert on race and ethnic politics, will explore the complex experience of Black people in North America, juxtaposing her deep, ancestral links to the United States with a parallel but at times competing national affinity with the land to which many enslaved Black Americans once fled: Canada. Through the analytical insights of black political thought, Prof. Thompson uses personal narrative to explore the boundaries of racial belonging and identify key facets of Canadian ideas about race and racism; to analyze the transnational nuances and contours of the African diaspora in North America; and ultimately, to think through what it means to be in a place, but not be of that place.
Please RSVP at canada@berkeley.edu to receive a webcast link. You must be signed in to a Zoom account to join. UC Berkeley affiliates can use their CalNet ID’s to sign in to Zoom; other participants can create a free, consumer Zoom account or dial in via phone.
Meet Canadian Studies: Board Member Kathryn Exon Smith
For this week’s “Meet Canadian Studies” profile, we talked to board members Kathryn Exon Smith. We asked her how living in the United States had shaped her identity as a Canadian, and why she thinks Canadian Studies has an important role to play in addressing today’s issues.
Born in England, Kathryn’s family moved to Ontario when she was a child. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Toronto. In 2013, she and her husband moved to California, settling in San Jose. Kathryn is an urbanist and has volunteered for a number of nonprofits in the South Bay and Toronto, with a focus on intelligent planning and sustainable development.
Highlights from our interview are below; read the full piece here.
What’s it like to be a Canadian living in the Bay Area?
I didn’t realize how deep my sense of being Canadian was until we moved away — I think this is common for many expats. In some ways, I feel even more connected to Canada here in California: I now have good friends from across Canada, and I better understand the wide spectrum of experiences being “Canadian” includes. With my family being English, the only sport on our television growing up was football [soccer], but I was persuaded to attend my very first hockey game a few months after moving here.
What makes Canadian Studies at Berkeley special?
Canadian Studies is a unique mix of important scholarship and community engagement. It is a cultural and intellectual home for students, academics, and the broader community. To have a program focused on Canada at Berkeley, one of the world’s premier educational institutions, is a signal of the role Canada can play in the critical issues of the twenty-first century. Canadian Studies has reach into all kinds of disciplines, and this is its strength.
What is your vision for the program’s future?
I am thrilled to be working with Irene, and feel honoured to serve on this board. In the last year, we’ve tried to bring in board members with a diversity of experience and perspectives, who are passionate about Canada and invested in the success of the Canadian Studies Program. I’d also like to continue to strengthen partnerships between the program and the community. One of the silver linings of the last few months is how adept we’ve become at moving things online, which means the program can have a broader reach.
UPCOMING EVENT
Social Movements and Legal Mobilisation in Times of Crisis: Migrant Farm Worker Rights in Canada
Lecture | October 6 | 12:30 p.m. | Online – RSVP here
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected migrant farm workers. Former Hildebrand Fellow Vasanthi Venkatesh, a professor of law at the University of Windsor specializing in social movements and immigration, gives context to the crisis by showing how the pandemic has overlaid itself onto existing systemic racial discrimination against migrant farm workers embedded in law and policy. She also shows how migrant farm worker advocates have responded to the crisis by exposing the racial capitalism of the Canadian agricultural economy, using radical narratives to challenge these systems.
Canadian Studies Program
213 Moses Hall #2308
Canadian Studies Program | Univ. of California, Berkeley, 213 Moses Hall #2308, Berkeley, CA 94720

Tomorrow: The Canada-US asylum (dis)agreement; how one grad chose to make an impact

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A reminder from one of our fellow Canadian organizations in the Bay Area.
Canadian Studies Announcements
In this issue:
  • TOMORROW: Refugee policy and the Canadian courts
  • Catch up with former Hildebrand Fellow Daniel Suarez
  • Upcoming event: Return: Blackness and Belonging in North America
  • Fellowship: International Affairs Fellowship in Canada
Event Tomorrow
No Safe Country for Refugees? The Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement Before the Canadian Courts
Panel | September 1 | 12:30 PM | Online – RSVP here
Until recently, certain asylum claimants who entered Canada were routinely returned to the United States under the the Safe Third Country Agreement. However, in July Canada’s Federal Court ordered the agreement suspended, asserting that the US is “not safe” for refugees due to the risk of imprisonment and other basic rights violations. Audrey Macklin, an expert in human rights law at the University of Toronto, joins Berkeley Law professor Leti Volpp to unpack the ruling and what it means for migrants and US-Canada relations. The conversation will be moderated by immigration scholar and Canadian Studies director Irene Bloemraad.
Please RSVP at canada@berkeley.edu to receive a webcast link. You must be signed in to a Zoom account to join. UC Berkeley affiliates can use their CalNet ID’s to sign in to Zoom; other participants can create a free, consumer Zoom account or dial in via phone.
“It’s Very Meaningful to Impart What I Know”
Catching Up With 2012 Hildebrand Fellow Daniel Suarez
Early in his academic career, Daniel Suarez knew that he wanted to pursue research that blended science and social science. He earned undergraduate degrees in environmental science and anthropology at the University of British Columbia; a master’s in geography at University of Toronto; and his PhD in environmental science, policy, and management at UC Berkeley. Dr. Suarez wrote his dissertation on the rise of ecosystem services (a framework emphasizing nature’s benefits to humanity), and the people shaping that movement. As part of his research, he received Hildebrand funding to conduct a longitudinal study on the rise and fall of ecosystems services in British Columbia, where he grew up.
Dr. Suarez is now an assistant professor at Middlebury College, a liberal arts college in Vermont. He has become deeply invested in developing his pedagogy and understanding how students from Generation Z engage with environmental education. Canadian Studies asked current Hildebrand Fellow Kimberly Huynh to catch up with Dr. Suarez to learn more about his work and how his experiences shaped his career. Highlights from the interview are below; read the full piece here.
What was your research about?
It was an ethnographic research project which explored the network of practitioners at the forefront of mainstreaming “ecosystem services,” which at that time was really blowing up. The idea marked a remarkable shift in environmentalism, from protecting nature “from” people to protecting nature “for” people. The framing was more about dollars and cents, a kind of “business case” for conservation. British Columbia was a case study for me to examine how these ideas were playing out on the ground.
How did the Hildebrand Fellowship support your research goals?
I got a Hildebrand Fellowship in 2012, near the start of my work in British Columbia. The work that I proposed was pretty ambitious (and expensive). So Canadian Studies being willing to step up for me to actually get started was really key. It was a helpful seed grant that allowed me to produce preliminary findings that then made further rounds of grant proposals much easier to pursue. Other organizations were much more willing to take a chance on me because I was able to demonstrate momentum. I’m very grateful for that.
How did your research develop over the course of your project?
When I started my work, the BC provincial government was really, really keen on ecosystem services. The government talked about it as a sort of game-changing idea. Five years later, and again with the support of the Canadian Studies program, I returned to British Columbia. To my surprise, ecosystem services had fallen out of the picture entirely. Pipeline politics had sort of superseded other aspects of environmental politics in the province, and the debate was much more polarized and adversarial.
Stephen Harper staked a lot of his political capital on turning Canada into what he described as a “natural resource superpower”, and ecosystem services, which at its core meant meeting one another halfway, just wasn’t relevant under these conditions. Environmental groups had their backs to the wall, and no longer courted power nor tried to work with power. Instead, they chose to confront and fight. And the interesting part is that they won. All of these pipelines that the government was advancing just broke on the rocks of fierce political resistance from First Nations, local communities and others, using strategies that really had little to do with ecosystem services.
What was your takeaway from your research experience?
As I was beginning to wrap up my research, which coincided with the seismic 2016 election, I began to engage a lot more deeply with the implications of climate and global change science. I began to question how to be impactful in this incredibly dire and important moment. At Middlebury, I’ve come to appreciate how important teaching is. For many academics, teaching is an afterthought, just this thing that gets in the way of research. It’s been surprising to me how much I have switched from seeing teaching as an obligation to something I really look forward to doing. It’s very meaningful to get to impart what I know, and to help students do what I can – potentially much more consequential than writing esoteric journal articles.
UPCOMING EVENT
Return: On Blackness and Belonging in North America
Lecture | September 15 | 12:30 p.m. | Online – RSVP here
McGill University professor Debra Thompson, an expert on race and ethnic politics, will explore the complex experience of Black people in North America, juxtaposing her deep, ancestral links to the United States with a parallel but at times competing national affinity with the land to which many enslaved Black Americans once fled: Canada. Thompson uses personal narrative to explore the boundaries of racial belonging; to identify key facets of Canadian ideas about race and racism, including the intersection of racial formations and settler colonialism; to analyze the transnational nuances and contours of the African diaspora in North America; and ultimately, to think through what it means to be in a place, but not be of that place.
Applications Open: International Affairs Fellowship in Canada
Launched in 2016, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)’s International Affairs Fellowship (IAF) in Canada, sponsored by Power Corporation of Canada, seeks to strengthen mutual understanding and cooperation between rising generations of leaders and thinkers in the United States and Canada. The program provides for one to two mid-career professionals per year to spend six to twelve months hosted by a Canadian institution to deepen their knowledge of Canada. Fellows are drawn from academia, business, government, media, NGOs, and think tanks. CFR will work with its network of contacts to assist the fellows in finding suitable host organizations in Canada. The duration of the fellowship is between six and twelve months. The program awards a stipend of $95,000 for a period of twelve months as well as a modest travel allowance. Fellows are considered independent contractors rather than employees of CFR and are not eligible for employment benefits, including health insurance.
Applications are due by October 31st, 2020: apply here.
Canadian Studies Program
213 Moses Hall #2308
Canadian Studies Program | Univ. of California, Berkeley, 213 Moses Hall #2308, Berkeley, CA 94720

Welcome back! Events start next week; plus, Meet Canadian Studies, Pt. 3

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A notice from another one of our fellow Canadian organizations in the Bay Area.
Canadian Studies Announcements
In this issue:
  • Welcome message from Program Director Bloemraad
  • Next week: US refugee policy in Canadian Courts
  • Meet Canadian Studies: Board member Russell Kalmacoff
  • Upcoming event: Return: Blackness and Belonging in North America
Welcome Back!
Berkeley’s fall semester starts Wednesday, kicking off a new round of Canadian Studies events and programs. While we won’t physically be on campus, we’re working hard to bring you a digital forum where we can continue to share great research and analysis of Canadian topics. These are unusual times for all of us – students, faculty, and community members – and we think it’s more important than ever to build a digital community to bring us all together. We look forward to seeing you all there.
Sincerely,
Irene Bloemraad, Program Co-Director
Next Week:
No Safe Country for Refugees? The Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement Before the Canadian Courts
Panel | September 1 | 12:30 PM | Online – RSVP here
Until recently, certain asylum claimants who entered Canada were routinely returned to the United States under the the Safe Third Country Agreement. However, in July Canada’s Federal Court ordered the agreement suspended, asserting that the US is “not safe” for refugees due to the risk of imprisonment and other basic rights violations. Audrey Macklin, an expert in human rights law at the University of Toronto, joins Berkeley Law professor Leti Volpp to unpack the ruling and what it means for migrants and US-Canada relations. The conversation will be moderated by immigration scholar and Canadian Studies director Irene Bloemraad.
Please RSVP at canada@berkeley.edu to receive a webcast link. You must be signed in to a Zoom account to join. UC Berkeley affiliates can use their CalNet ID’s to sign in to Zoom; other participants can create a free, consumer Zoom account or dial in via phone.
Meet Canadian Studies: Board Member Russell Kalmacoff
In our third entry in a series highlighting Canadian Studies’ friends and supporters, longstanding board member Russell Kalmacoff talks about his deep connection to Berkeley, the importance of Canadian-American exchange, and how he’s seen the program develop over the years.
Mr. Kalmacoff was born in Kamsack, Saskatchewan. After completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Calgary and the University of Manitoba, he moved to the United States to complete his M.B.A. at Berkeley and further post-graduate studies at both Berkeley and New York University on a fellowship from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. He began his financial career in New York, working on Wall Street for a year before returning to Canada. He currently resides in Calgary, where he manages Rockmount Financial Corp., a private investment company, and consults in public policy for government organizations and universities.
Highlights from the interview are below; read the full piece here.
How did you get involved with Canadian Studies at Berkeley?
After getting my bachelor’s degree, I went straight to Berkeley for my M.B.A. I landed at International House in January 1965 when the place was resonating with the Free Speech Movement. Many years later, I volunteered as an alumni rep for Haas. After needling them about Canadian content, they introduced me to Canadian Studies founder Tom Barnes, who asked me to chair the campaign for a professor of Canadian Studies.
How have you seen the program develop?
We hit the campaign out of the ballpark thanks to Dr. Hildebrand of Fresno, originally from Canada. Another board member, Brad Barber, introduced us. It turned out Dr. Hildebrand was from a small town near where I grew up – we Saskatchewan people venerate these little burgs! Working with Dr. Barnes, Nelson Graburn, and Irene, I’ve continued on the board of the program, having lost count of the number of trips from Calgary to San Francisco. Irene is doing a great job. I appreciated her bringing Michael Benarroch, now the president of the University of Manitoba, to explain how Canada avoided the 2008/09 subprime meltdown, because comparative capital markets is an area I am researching.
Why do you believe exchange between Canada and the US is important?
We Canadians can be guilty of simplistic generalizations with respect to the United States. I often say that the U.S. may be ten times larger than Canada, but it’s a hundred times more complicated. We ignore keeping abreast of events there at our peril. Conversely, I tell folks at UC Berkeley that while it is arguably the best public research university west of the Mississippi, that sphere of interest and influence should include Western Canada.
What important trends do you see in education more generally?
Academia is becoming more interdisciplinary. I’ve been able to take advantage of that by joining the advisory board of the Clausen Center, a venue at Berkeley where macroeconomists and central bankers exchange ideas. As the world has become more interconnected, I’ve become an advocate of broader financial literacy. Finance needn’t be mysterious or boring. I’ve crossed paths with Michael Lewis, who lives in Berkeley. He wrote The Big Short, which uses over-the-top humour to describe the sub-prime meltdown of 2008/09, and was made into a good movie, which I highly recommend to those who aren’t familiar with the industry and want to understand that fiasco.
UPCOMING EVENT
Return: On Blackness and Belonging in North America
Lecture | September 15 | 12:30 p.m. | Online – RSVP here
McGill University professor Debra Thompson, an expert on race and ethnic politics, will explore the complex experience of Black people in North America, juxtaposing her deep, ancestral links to the United States with a parallel but at times competing national affinity with the land to which many enslaved Black Americans once fled: Canada. Thompson uses personal narrative to explore the boundaries of racial belonging; to identify key facets of Canadian ideas about race and racism, including the intersection of racial formations and settler colonialism; to analyze the transnational nuances and contours of the African diaspora in North America; and ultimately, to think through what it means to be in a place, but not be of that place.
Canadian Studies Program
213 Moses Hall #2308
Canadian Studies Program | Univ. of California, Berkeley, 213 Moses Hall #2308, Berkeley, CA 94720

Why one former undergrad loves Canadian Studies; US asylum policy in Canadian courts

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An item from one of our fellow Canadian organizations in the Bay Area.

 
Canadian Studies Announcements
In this issue:
  • Catch up with 2017 Ross Prize Winner, Evan Walsh
  • Canadian News: Border closure extended into September
  • Upcoming Event: Canadian courts take on US asylum policy
“It Was One of My Most Interesting Experiences at Cal”
Catching Up With 2017 Ross Prize Winner Evan Walsh
Evan Walsh is a Class of 2018 Berkeley graduate. A dual US-Canadian citizen, he received his B.A. in economics, with a minor in public policy. In 2017, Evan won the Rita Ross Undergraduate Prize in Canadian Studies for his research paper comparing housing policy in Vancouver and the San Francisco Bay Area. Evan currently works at a large tech company in the South Bay.
Canadian Studies asked current Hildebrand Fellow Desirée Valadares to check in with Evan, and find out how Canadian Studies had impacted his career, both at Berkeley and after graduation. Read her full interview with Evan here.
How did the Ross Prize support your educational or career goals?
The Ross Prize helped me pursue my interest in public policy on both sides of the border. My research project explored potential policy solutions to Vancouver’s housing crisis. (As someone who’s lived in both Vancouver and the Bay Area, I guess I like to live in unaffordable places!) I particularly enjoyed exploring how the Canadian policy response intersected and differed from the response to the crisis in the Bay. More importantly, it was very affirming to know there is a community on campus interested in this work!
What was your favorite experience with Canadian Studies?
Definitely meeting Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May! Having lunch with a party leader was something I never thought I would experience. Being able to meet a policymaker and hear her thoughts on current events was certainly beneficial for all the public policy courses and projects I was working on. It still stands out as one of the most interesting experiences I had at Cal.
What is the role of Canadian Studies in an American university?
Canadian Studies creates a really important community that connects a lot of different areas. After all, as someone who has lived in both Canada and the US, both countries are intricately tied together in just about every way. Many Canadians study in the US, and many Americans study in Canada. So as the program evolves, I hope it can continue to facilitate cross-border learning on topics important to both countries.
How has your time at Berkeley influenced your career since graduating?
I’ve been working in tech for the last year in the Bay Area. Cal is still playing a big role in my career; namely, it opens up doors about everywhere. Being able to take courses from leaders in so many different fields has also helped be aware of the many of the different paths I can go down, especially this early in my career.
CANADIAN NEWS
Canada-US Border Closure Extended Until September 21
The Government of Canada has announced an agreement with the United States to extend restrictions on non-essential travel between the two countries until September 21. The restrictions aim to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Canada, and the extension comes as the U.S. continues to suffer from high rates of new coronavirus cases, and faces an increase in the percentage of deaths attributed to the virus. Under the agreement, Canadian and American residents currently will continue to be allowed to return to their respective home country.
UPCOMING EVENTS
No Safe Country for Refugees? The Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement Before the Canadian Courts
Panel | September 1 | 12:30 PM | Online – RSVP required
Until recently, certain asylum claimants who entered Canada were routinely returned to the United States under the the Safe Third County Agreement. However, in July Canada’s Federal Court ordered the agreement suspended, asserting that the US is “not safe” for refugees due to the risk of imprisonment and other basic rights violations. Audrey Macklin, an expert in human rights law at the University of Toronto, joins Berkeley Law professor Leti Volpp to unpack the ruling and what it means for migrants and US-Canada relations. The conversation will be moderated by immigration scholar and Canadian Studies director Irene Bloemraad.
Please RSVP at canada@berkeley.edu to receive a webcast link.
New Security Policy for Digital Events: All Participants Must Sign In
To ensure the security of university-hosted meetings, UC Berkeley recently implemented new security measures for digital events. The most important change is as of August 15, all participants are required to sign into a Zoom account prior to joining meetings hosted by UC Berkeley. UC Berkeley affiliates can use their CalNet ID’s to sign in to Zoom. Participants who are not eligible for a UC Berkeley-provided Zoom account can create a free, consumer Zoom account or can dial in via phone.
Canadian Studies Program
213 Moses Hall #2308
Canadian Studies Program | Univ. of California, Berkeley, 213 Moses Hall #2308, Berkeley, CA 94720

Our fall events calendar is here! 🍂

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An item from one of our fellow Canadian organizations in the Bay Area.
Fall 2020 Events Calendar
Canadian Studies is pleased to bring you our events schedule for the Fall 2020 semester. Due to ongoing health and safety concerns, all events will be held virtually via Zoom conferencing through at least December. Please note that a new campus security policy require all participants to have a Zoom account to join meetings; more information on this change can be found at the end. All times posted are Pacific.
No Safe Country for Refugees? The Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement Before the Canadian Courts
Panel | September 1 | 12:30 PM | Online – RSVP required
Until recently, certain asylum claimants who entered Canada were routinely returned to the United States under the the Safe Third County Agreement. However, in July Canada’s Federal Court ordered the agreement suspended, asserting that the US is “not safe” for refugees due to the risk of imprisonment and other basic rights violations. Audrey Macklin, an expert in human rights law at the University of Toronto, joins Berkeley Law professor Leti Volpp to unpack the ruling and what it means for migrants and US-Canada relations in a conversation moderated by immigration scholar and Canadian Studies director Irene Bloemraad.
Return: On Blackness and Belonging in North America
Lecture | September 15 | 12:30 p.m. | Online – RSVP required
McGill University professor Debra Thompson, an expert on race and ethnic politics, will explore the complex experience of Black people in North America, juxtaposing her deep, ancestral links to the United States with a parallel but at times competing national affinity with the land to which many enslaved Black Americans once fled: Canada. Thompson uses personal narrative to explore the boundaries of racial belonging; to identify key facets of Canadian ideas about race and racism, including the intersection of racial formations and settler colonialism; to analyze the transnational nuances and contours of the African diaspora in North America; and ultimately, to think through what it means to be in a place, but not be of that place.
Social Movements and Legal Mobilisation in Times of Crisis: Migrant Farm Worker Rights in Canada
Lecture | October 6 | 12:30 p.m. | Online – RSVP required
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected migrant farm workers. Former Hildebrand Fellow Vasanthi Venkatesh, a professor of law at the University of Windsor specializing in social movements and immigration, gives context to the crisis by showing how the pandemic has overlaid itself onto existing systemic racial discrimination against migrant farm workers embedded in law and policy. She also shows how migrant farm worker advocates have responded to the crisis by exposing the racial capitalism of the Canadian agricultural economy, using radical narratives to challenge these systems.
Virtual Canadian Family Thanksgiving
Event | October, date TBD | Online
While we can’t meet in person this year, Canadian Studies and the Digital Moose Lounge are working hard to offer you a way to celebrate the holiday with the Canadian community in the Bay Area (and beyond!) Stay turned for updates.
Hildebrand Graduate Research Colloquium
Colloquium | October 20 | 12:30 p.m. | Online – RSVP required
Learn about the research Canadian Studies funds through our Edward Hildebrand Graduate Research Fellowships, as recipients present short overviews of their projects. Participating scholars are Desirée Valadares, (“Idling No More: Reading Japanese Canadian World War II Road Camps Alongside Specters of Indigeneity on the Hope-Princeton Highway in British Columbia, Canada”) and Martha Herrera-Lasso Gonzalez (“Regionalizing NAFTA: Theaters of Translation in Mexico City and Quebec”).
What the US Election Means for US-Canada Relations
Round table | November 10 or 17 | Online – RSVP required
What will the results of the 2020 United States presidential election mean for the future of US-Canada relations? This special colloquium will consider the outcomes of the US elections for bilateral relations and their impact on Canada. Participants will include Frédérick Gagnon, a professor of political science at the Université du Québec à Montréal and a past Fulbright Chair and Sproul Fellow in the Canadian Studies Program.
New Security Policy for Digital Events: All Participants Must Sign In
To ensure the security of university-hosted meetings, UC Berkeley recently implemented new security measures for digital events. The most important change is that starting August 15, all participants will be required to sign into a Zoom account prior to joining meetings hosted by UC Berkeley. UC Berkeley affiliates can use their CalNet ID’s to sign in to Zoom. Participants who are not eligible for a UC Berkeley-provided Zoom account can create a free, consumer Zoom account or can dial in via phone.
AFFILIATE EVENTS
Community Q&A: Facing Border Closure Together to Flatten the Curve
Forum | August 12 | 4:00 p.m. PT | Online – RSVP required
Please join the Consulate General of Canada in San Francisco and the Digital Moose Lounge for an important conversation about the continued extension of the US/Canada border closure. This is an open format community discussion and an opportunity for you to have your questions answered by experts. The panel will consist of Consul General Rana Sarkar; Senior Consular Officer Marni Kellison; and Pavan Dhillon, an immigration attorney and board member at Berkeley’s Canadian Studies Program.
Canadian Studies Program
213 Moses Hall #2308 WEBSITE | EMAIL
Canadian Studies Program | Univ. of California, Berkeley, 213 Moses Hall #2308, Berkeley, CA 94720