« Au Québec, comme partout ailleurs, on est assez chicanier, et sur tous les sujets possibles. On peut l'expliquer de différentes façons. J'ai laissé de côté les rapports conflictuels entre le peuple québécois francophone et le peuple anglophone. »

« Pour moi, assez rapidement, c'est apparu comme une évidence que la littérature et les femmes en particulier adoptent le rôle contemporain de création de connaissances par le biais de la littérature qui devient un espace de théorisation des connaissances. » - Marie-Ève Bradette

"What I hope readers take away is that the Two Row Wampum is a living ethical framework for how Indigenous and non-Indigenous people move alongside one another today."

« Je m'intéressais beaucoup à tous les aspects ethnomusicologiques derrière les communautés et les castes en Inde. Les Kalbeliya ne sont pas très connus, mais leur danse l'est. »

[1/3] "I wonder too where we can be turning instead to community engagement. There is a real appetite out there for it, and we should recognize this as a research function."

[1/2] "For those of us in English, language, and philosophy, we need to be cognizant that words create worlds. How many of us are questioning things like the name “the cloud”? [...] They are borrowing all these words."

[1/3] "The problem with the conversation around trust is that we’re using small-t trust. I recently asked the question: What if AI had been mothered?"

[1/3] "One of the things I often ask myself, as an Indigenous person trying to maintain our own control of Indigenous data, is: if we think about ethical AI, how can we decolonize it and make it more ethical?"

📯 The Federation is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2026 Canada Prizes. Selected by the Academic Council, this year’s titles bring rigorous HSS research to wider public understanding. Join us in congratulating this year’s Canada Prizes winners 👉️ buff.ly/5j06feq

[1/2] "The unknown is where innovation is found; it's where most of us live as academics, researchers, and entrepreneurs."

[1/2] "Education doesn't translate to high income, job security, wealth creation or generating wealth. What it translates to is a circle of poverty because you're the last to get hired and first to get let go."

"During the pandemic, a lot of youth innovation was taking place, especially in the Black community. And I got to meet with some of the youth doing work across the country with limited resources."

[1/2] "There was a fear and precarity going into the PhD. When I got the @sshrc-crsh.canada.ca funding, I felt seen and trusted with a great opportunity."

"PhDs bring a broad skillset to employers, and it’s important for them to look beyond the content of our thesis. There is a broader capacity to identify issues and clarify solutions that can be taken into account. The social sciences are good at training us to develop a better sense of empathy."

"One of the bigger challenges is this ferocious competition for attention span, the paradox of social media. It’s this terrible paradox: there is more of a supply of ideas than ever, and it is harder and harder to take dialogue and turn it into decisions. There’s an optimistic note, though."

"I see lobbyists fall into a trap, which is top-down thinking: if only the minister knew, the minister would fix it for me. My recipe is everything everywhere all at once, to quote the movie title."

[1/3] "The humanities and social sciences, over the course of the 20th century and until now, have been providing the thought processes and ideas, and the empirically grounded research, that help us identify and keep at bay the forces of imperialism, despotism, racism, and megalomania."

[1/2] "In a room full of humanities and social sciences scholars and community stakeholders, I cannot underscore the significance of you as a class of intellectuals and thinkers enough."

The Federation for the Social Sciences and Humanities is holding its Big Thinking Summit in Edmonton and Canadian publishers are showing off their books! https://bit.ly/4uXdyP1 ##ACUP-APUC #HigherEd @sshrc-crsh.canada.ca @cdnpublishers.bsky.social @abbookpub.bsky.social @aupresses.bsky.social

"The initial part of the agreement with the government that first came over, within the Treaty Six story, [...] we utilized those teachings that we had [...], we assumed that we were making the same type of treaty, only to find out later that it wasn't quite like that." - Jerry Saddleback

"The whole society was based [...] on the protection of women and children. We come from matriarchal societies. It was women who governed, who decided what process to use to make decisions in government. We come from a culture of consensus, we nurtured a culture of debate." JoAnne Saddleback

[1/2] "It is a challenge to all of you, to educators. How do you combat misinformation? What is truth? This age of misinformation is getting worse and worse. The line of defence has to be universities, high schools."

[1/3] "If you are an Indigenous person in Canada, you have lived under a dominant narrative that is not your own. [...] Who gets to tell the story? The victors of a country get to tell the story, shape the narrative to suit them."

[1/4] "I write true stories. The stories that I see and write, I wish they were fiction, but they are not. I started my third book, The Knowing, investigating what happened to my two-times great-grandmother [...]."

[1/3] "I spent a lot of time at the Toronto Star writing stories about the suicide crises in our communities from coast to coast to coast. I wrote about Amy Owen and the other girls from Northwestern communities who also took their lives. They had met each other in group homes."

“In the diversity, we might be able to find a common ground. Cette diversité-là permet de dépoussiérer l’idée du français et, surtout, dans les communautés francophones, un français qui vit, c’est une communauté et une langue écorchée.” Anne-José Villeneuve (@ualberta.bsky.social)

“In a francophone community, you have to volunteer, work in francophone organizations, because you grew up in the mindset that to survive, you have to help each other.” - Amy Vachon-Chabot

« Ce qui fonctionne dans une minorité soudée ne fonctionne pas dans un grand État. Les communautés minoritaires inspirent, mais les solutions doivent être adaptées avant d’être généralisées. » - Ibrahima Diallo, Université de Sainte-Boniface.

« Les communautés francophones ont réussi à s’ancrer dans le milieu dans des conditions très difficiles et c’est un élément très important, car elles l’ont fait avec des ressources limitées et à travers la rareté institutionnelle. » - Ibrahima Diallo, Université de Sainte-Boniface.

“There are lessons that the Francophone communities learned over centuries that could be of use to Canadian society. Things that allowed us to develop a set of values and ways of thinking to develop a culture where we strive and build a community.” - Peter Dorrington, Université de Saint-Boniface.

"Now is the moment, this is the inflection. I feel we cannot solve some of the world's biggest problems without the researchers that are in this room, with only half of the sciences, without the HSS, as a critical partner." - Dr. Melanie Humphreys, President of the Kings’ University.

"We saw the value of gathering Metis voices, so we created the Maawachihitotaaki to provide opportunities to network, opportunities for publications, and to really build a stronger, more resilient Metis community." - Laura Forsythe (@uwinnipeg.bsky.social) @sshrc-crsh.canada.ca

[1/2] "The questions that define the next decade are human, not merely technical, because the hard part isn't the mechanism, the hard part is the meaning."

Across the HSS, scholars are helping communities respond to some of today’s defining challenges. Our latest Think forward brief explores how HSS scholarship drives social innovation by bringing lived experience and social context into the conversation from the very beginning. 🔗 buff.ly/GIWoeAd

⭐ Just announced at the Big Thinking Summit: Tanya Talaga, award-winning journalist and author. Join Tanya Talaga on June 9 for a Big Thinking Summit keynote exploring the power of storytelling to deepen public understanding and confront injustice. Register 👉️ buff.ly/GQz4lh1

⭐ Big Thinking Summit keynote announcement: Dr. Geoffrey Martin Rockwell on inclusive AI futures! Dr. Rockwell will join the June 11 keynote panel to explore the social, ethical, and governance implications of emerging systems. Register for a Summit three-day or day-pass today 👉️ buff.ly/GQz4lh1

We just dropped a new Group Chat episode 🎧 In collaboration with @federationhss.ca, we explore how political pressures in the United States are shaping academic freedom here in Canada. Tune in and follow Group Chat wherever you get your podcasts: tinyurl.com/muuac69y

⭐ Big Thinking Summit keynote: Bobbie Racette on inclusive AI futures! Bobbie Racette will join the June 11 keynote to explore the social, ethical, and governance implications of emerging systems. This conversation will examine how we can shape more just and inclusive technological futures.

Access to scholarly knowledge is fundamental to a strong research ecosystem. We're proud to support this collective statement and the shared effort to advance a more sustainable and equitable model for scholarly publishing in Canada.

L'accès aux connaissances savantes est essentiel à la vitalité de l'écosystème de la recherche. La Fédération est fière d'apporter son soutien à cette déclaration commune et à l'effort collectif visant à promouvoir un modèle plus durable et plus équitable pour l'édition savante au Canada.

📯 The Federation is thrilled to announce its partnership with @sfu.ca for Congress 2027. The collaboration, set to take place in British Columbia in early summer 2027, will open a new chapter for Congress and the vision that will carry it forward. Stay tuned for what's ahead. 🔗 buff.ly/DbHWO6U

Without opportunities to build capacity and connect skillsets, potential can go untapped. Strengthening the humanities and social sciences community means creating the conditions for people to learn from and support one another, allowing everyone to thrive. Explore Inflection Point 👉️ buff.ly/TURXOi2

This is the time to look beyond the expected by engaging what matters, together. Join Canada’s humanities and social sciences for conversations that will expand your perspective and leave you thinking differently. Early-bird rates for three- and one-day passes end April 9. 👉️ buff.ly/GdUkjPh

Across healthcare, education, and advocacy, long-held assumptions about disability are being challenged and dismantled. One area where this shift is especially important is intimate relationships and sexuality, where stigma can stand in the way of safety, autonomy, and rights.

Let's meet this moment together. Discover ‘Inflection Point’, our Strategic Plan for 2026-2030. 🔗 buff.ly/UPJrqOa

Saisissons ensemble ce moment. Découvrez « Point d'Inflexion », notre Plan stratégique pour 2026-2030. 🔗 buff.ly/Qv7B7iZ

The 2026 Canada Prizes shortlist is here, featuring ten books that reflect the range and originality of HSS scholarship in Canada today. Selected by the Academic Council, this year’s shortlist brings together titles in English and French by both first-time and previously published authors.

Day passes are now available! 🎫 Single-day passes are a great way to experience the Big Thinking Summit on your own time. Any day passes purchased before April 9 will benefit from our early bird discount fee – up to $75 less than a regular-priced day pass! 👉️ buff.ly/1r7teQ9

2026 marks the Federation’s 30th anniversary 🏆 Help us celebrate this momentous occasion by booking your ticket to the Federation's 30th Anniversary Gala: At the Inflection Point – a night of entertainment, and possibility as we look back on our community’s journey and towards the future of the HSS.

Already registered for the Summit? 🏨 Plan your stay with our discounted hotel rates! Explore room options at The Westin Edmonton and Fairmont Hotel Macdonald, two centrally located hotels with an easy five-minute walk from the Convention Centre. Secure your discounted rate 👉️ buff.ly/WLYyjE8