Canadian Studies Announcements

In This Issue:

Program News

• The Globe and Mail quotes Director Hidetaka Hirota on how Trump’s immigration crackdown is impacting US economy

Academic Opportunities

• Call for Papers: Journal of Canadian Studies special edition: “My Canada Includes an Extra Chromosome”

External Events

• Berkeley Club of Canada Annual Summer Mixer

• Berkeley Club of Canada Summer Party in Vancouver

PROGRAM NEWS

The Globe and Mail Quotes Director Hidetaka Hirota on How Trump Immigration Crackdown is Impacting US Economy

Canadian Studies Program Director Hidetaka Hirota was quoted in an article in The Globe and Mail last week discussing how the Trump administration’s immigration restrictions are affecting the US economy.

The article argues that tighter limits on both legal and undocumented immigration are contributing to labour shortages, slowing business growth, and prompting some companies to move jobs overseas. Labor disruptions are affecting everything from the tech sector, which heavility utilizes H1-B visas, to construction, with its reliance on undocumented labor.

Professor Hirota explains that the Trump administration’s agenda is a significant reversal of the last six decades of US immigration policy. While undocumented migration has long been a political target, the administration has gone further by also constraining legal pathways to enter the US. He also argues that these measures reflect a longer historical pattern of exclusion. Professor Hirota points out that restrictions on some visa categories disproportionately affect Asian immigrants, such as Indians, who form 70% of the people granted H1-B visas.

ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES

Deadline: 1 November, 2026

This special issue is about reflecting on Canada’s “excessive demand” laws, policies and professional and administrative practices that converge to exclude would-be migrant persons based on certain medical conditions, and the implications of these relations in everyday lives. The title is the name of an episode of political satirist Rick Mercer’s television program, referring to the exclusion of a child with Down Syndrome from Canada.

A central part of a Canadian immigration application process is the medical examination. The stakes of negative medical assessment are high: people can be screened out of being eligible for immigrating to Canada. Informed by 19th-century health reasoning, Canadian federal immigration law is organized to exclude people with certain chronic illness, disability, and genetic otherness from permanently settling, deeming them a burden and risk to Canadian society.

Ultimately, the medical logic of immigration exclusion in the Canadian context is not self-evident, making it ripe terrain for social inquiry. In this thematic issue, we seek submissions from scholars and practitioners whose contributions advance knowledge in the humanities, social sciences and creative disciplines.

For more information, please find the full call for papers here.

EXTERNAL EVENTS

Berkeley Club of Canada Annual Summer Mixer

Wed., July 15 | 6:30 pm | Toronto, ON | RSVP

The Berkeley Club of Canada invites Canadian Bears to join them for their annual summer mixer in Toronto. Join other UC Berkeley alumni, students, and friends for an evening of connection and community! Whether you’re looking to network with fellow alumni, share advice with current students, or warmly welcome the newest Bears to the Cal family, this is the perfect opportunity to celebrate our shared Berkeley journey.

​Join UC Berkeley students, alumni, families, and friends for an evening of BBQ, drinks, connection, and Cal community in beautiful Kerrisdale. ​Whether you’ve been part of the Cal community for decades or are just beginning your Berkeley adventure, this is a chance to connect with fellow Bears over great food, drinks, and conversation.

We’ll have alumni sharing stories and advice, returning students reconnecting after the school year, and incoming students meeting people before arriving on campus this fall. It’s a fun way to build connections across the Cal community before another exciting year begins. ​Families are warmly welcome, and we especially hope current and incoming students will come and bring their Berkeley spirit. ​Expect good food, great conversations, and plenty of blue-and-gold energy. Please RSVP by July 17.

Canadian Studies Program

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Canadian Studies Announcements

In This Issue:

Program News

• US Supreme Court cites program director Hidetaka Hirota in landmark citizenship decision

• Grad student Thor Larson presents at Toronto Meeting on the Economics of Climate Change

US Supreme Court Cites Program Director Hidetaka Hirota in Landmark Citizenship Decision

When the US Supreme Court released its much-anticipated decision upholding birthright citizenship last week, it referenced research by Canadian Studies Program Director Hidetaka Hirota to show the concept’s deep roots in US history.

As reported by the College of Letters & Science, the opinion of the court cited Professor Hirota’s 2017 book, Expelling the Poor: Atlantic Seaboard States and the Nineteenth-Century Origins of American Immigration Policy. The book traces the origins of US federal immigration policy to the mid-19th century influx of impoverished Irish immigrants.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts quoted Hirota as “describing outcry in 1855 when Massachusetts deported a pauper Irish mother with her American-born infant, who was acknowledged to be a ‘native-born citizen'”. As the court noted, the case demonstrates that even before the passing of the 14th Amendment, and in a time of heightened anti-immigrant sentiment, children of immigrants born on US soil were considered native-born citizens.

“It’s an honor to be cited in the US Supreme Court ruling on an issue of critical importance for our society,” Hirota told L&S News. “The decision demonstrates how historians’ work continues to matter in our society today… The case reminds us that birthright citizenship is something that must be actively protected rather than something that can be taken for granted.”

Grad Student Thor Larson Presents at Toronto Meeting on the Economics of Climate Change

The Canadian Studies Program was pleased to sponsor economics PhD candidate Thor Larson to present at the Toronto Meeting on the Economics of Climate Change (TMEC), which took place from June 24-26. Hosted by the University of Toronto, the workshop provides a forum for leading researchers in the field to discuss their work.

Thor is an applied microeconomist with a background in energy and environmental economics and industrial organization. His research focuses on the design of energy markets with a special emphasis on innovation and the clean energy transition.

Thor presented his dissertation research on the California-Quebec cap-and-trade program. California and Quebec linked their cap-and-trade programs in 2015, in a major example of environmental policy coordination across international borders. Thor’s research examines where this program has succeeded and where it can still be improved. While the coordinated environmental policy has produced many benefits, the way California and Quebec implemented the agreement inadvertently increased greenhouse gas emissions. His work shows that better coordination could have avoided this emissions increase, preserved the many gains from international collaboration, and increased global welfare by over $330 million annually.

Thor is an affiliate of Berkeley’s Energy Institute and the first economist at Berkeley to earn a Designated Emphasis in Energy Science and Technology alongside his PhD. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a BA in Applied Mathematics and Chemistry in 2021.

Thor was not the only representative from Berkeley to present at TMEC. Both of the conference’s keynote speeches were given by UC Berkeley affiliates: one by agricultural economist and Chancellor’s Associate Professor Joseph S. Shapiro, and the other by Solomon Hsiang, a former Berkeley faculty member who now teaches at Stanford.

Canadian Studies Program

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Canadian Studies Announcements

In This Issue:

External Events

• Team Canada watch party

• 14th Annual Canada Day Celebration in SF
• DML Canada Day Picnic
• SF Pride 2026 – Friends of Canada

Academic Opportunities
• Call for proposals: “Interrogating Canadian Identities” conference at York University

EXTERNAL EVENTS

Team Canada Watch Party
Friday, June 12 | 11:30 am | San Francisco | RSVP

Join the Consulate General of Canada in San Francisco to cheer on the Canadian men’s national soccer team as they face Bosnia-Herzegovina. The match kicks off at 12:00 PM. All are welcome – bring your friends, your energy, and your team spirit! Food & drinks will be available for purchase. Seating will be first come, first served.

14th Annual Canada Day Celebration in SF

Tuesday, June 23 | 5:30 pm | San Francisco | RSVP

Join the San Francisco Canadian Expat Meetup Group to celebrate Canada Day in the city! ​Wear your red & white, rep your favourite Canadian team gear, and get ready to sing, “Oh Canada!” with fellow Canadians! Everyone is welcome – bring friends, family, and coworkers. This is a great opportunity to network with other Canadians in the Bay Area and make new friends.

DML Canada Day Picnic

Saturday, June 27 | 11:30 am | San Mateo | Tickets

The Digital Moose Lounge invites you to join your fellow SF Bay Canadians at their annual Canada Day Picnic! Enjoy a fun afternoon of activities and games for the whole family, with a delicious BBQ, cold drinks, and sweet treats. Meet new friends and reconnect with old ones as you embrace your heritage and celebrate with patriotic pride. Remember to wear your red and white alumni gear, or represent your favorite Canadian sports team!

SF Pride 2026 – Friends of Canada

Sunday, June 28 | 11:00 am | San Francisco | RSVP

The Consulate General of Canada in San Francisco cordially invites Canadians and friends of Canada to march in the 56th annual SF Pride Parade. All are welcome to join our friends and family to celebrate diversity and to support the 2SLGBTQI+ members of our communities in California, Canada, and beyond.

The exact assembly location and time will be announced approximately one week prior to the parade. Please register via Eventbrite to receive updates.

ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES

Call for Proposals: “Interrogating Canadian Identities” Conference at York University
Deadline: June 8, 2026

The Interrogating Canadian Identities (ICI) SSHRC grant at York University is hosting a conference to interrogate anachronistic and persistent images and ideas about Canadian identity. These conceptions are often rooted in the historical conceptions of settler communities and this country’s first 155 years.

The conference welcomes paper proposals investigating the continued impact of that past on contemporary views of what it means to be a Canadian, in light of changes to the Canadian population in recent decades; movements toward greater diversity, equity, and inclusion; and other shifts in the way Canadians understand their identities in the 21st century.

Read the full call for proposals here.

Canadian Studies Program

213 Philosophy Hall #2308

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Canadian Studies Announcements

In This Issue:

Program News

• New Hildebrand Fellow Christián González Reyes studies how literature informs Central American-Canadian identity in Toronto

• New research by faculty affiliate Karen Chapple finds even sharper drop in Canadian travel to the US

Academic Opportunities
• Call for research proposals: “The Canadian Counter Revolution”

External Events

• Royal Canadian Legion Memorial Day Service

PROGRAM NEWS

New Hildebrand Fellow Christián González Reyes Studies How Literature Informs Central American-Canadian Identity in Toronto

The Canadian Studies Program is pleased to announce that Christián González Reyes has been awarded an Edward E. Hildebrand Research Fellowship for Summer 2026.

Christián (they/he) is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Comparative Literature. Their scholarly work focuses on Central American, Mesoamerican, Mexican, and Central American diasporic literature and visual media. They are interested in how Central America has been conjured in the postwar period, both inside and outside of the Central American Isthmus. Indigenous and Latin American Marxisms inform their work.

Christián’s Hildebrand Fellowship will support their work on Central American-Canadian influence on cultural production in Toronto. Specifically, Christián will examine the work of Salvadoran-Canadian writer Carlos Bucio to think through questions of citizenship, diaspora, and belonging. Christián proposes framing Bucio’s writings in a bidirectional continuum that dialogues between Central American-Canadians and the Central American homelands. Thinking of these transregional and transhistorical dialogues serves as a political reclamation, in which Central America is not solely tied to the Central American Isthmus, but is in movement and is now imagined to include the diaspora in Canada.

Christián holds BAs in Literatures in Spanish (Honors with highest distinction) and Latin American Studies from UC San Diego. They also have an MA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley.

New Research by Faculty Affiliate Karen Chapple Finds Even Sharper Drop in Canadian Travel to the US

A new study published by the University of Toronto and authored by a Canadian Studies faculty affiliate has found that the decrease in Canadians’ travel to the United States has been even more dramatic than previously reported.

The study shows that visits by Canadians to US metro areas declined nearly 42% year over year in the face of political tensions between the two countries, and suggests that an ongoing boycott of the US may have been more effective than previously thought.

The study’s lead author, Karen Chapple, is Director of the School of Cities at the University of Toronto and a professor emerita at UC Berkeley. In an interview with the CBC, Chapple says the sharp drop indicates a “sea change” that is affecting all aspects of Canadians’ travel habits.

Data previously published by Statistics Canada showed a 25% decrease in border crossings by Canadians. However, the University of Toronto study used cell phone data to provide a more granular analysis of where Canadians are visiting in the US, including their movement within the country. For example, Chapple notes that Canadians who do visit the US are limiting their travel and visiting fewer cities per trip.

Warm-weather vacation spots in Florida and the southern US have been hardest hit, with some cities seeing up to a 65% decrease in Canadian visitors. Despite California’s efforts to attract Canadian tourists, San Francisco was the ninth-most affected city, showing a 57% decrease in visits by Canadians.

The data also show that it isn’t only leisure travel that has been affected. Visits to finance and tech hubs across the United States are also down, suggesting that Canadians are also avoiding business travel where possible.

ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES

On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, the Canadian Institute for Historical Education (CIHE) is seeking a research paper related to how the formation of that country led to or influenced the later formation of Canada. The paper will be published on the CIHE website and widely promoted, and the author will deliver the paper at a meeting of the CIHE open to the public. Possible themes include, but are not limited to: similar or differing approaches to government, colonial matters, Loyalist migration and patterns of settlement, indigenous affairs, leadership and leaders.

This opportunity is open to current or former Canadian academics (including graduate students and retirees) currently or previously associated with a Canadian or American university. A stipend of $20,000 CAD will be payable to the successful applicant.

To learn more, click here.

EXTERNAL EVENTS

Royal Canadian Legion Memorial Day Service
Saturday, May 23 | 11:00 am | Colma, CA

Branch 25 of the Royal Canadian Legion, representing the San Francisco Bay Area, invites you to their annual Memorial Day Service. The service will take place at the Royal Canadian Legion plot in the Greenlawn Memorial Park in Colma.

If you are unable to attend in person, you can register to watch the live stream on Zoom here.

Canadian Studies Program

213 Philosophy Hall #2308

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