Canada in the New Millennium

Interdisciplinary Student-Directed Conference,
University of Victoria

September 2000

Sponsored by the Association for Canadian Studies

Call for PapersCall for Papers

Canada is facing numerous challenges on the eve of the twenty-first century. Globalization of trade and finance and the development of distinct trade blocs have altered the international economy. Canada's large-scale reliance on resource exports created vulnerability to commodity price fluctuations and resource depletion. Uneven economic performance and uneasy political choices challenges the federalist system with demands for regional autonomy. Indigenous self-governance aims to come to terms with the past, offering promise yet uncertainty for the future.

The Canadian welfare state system has undergone a dramatic reorganization. Immigration since the 1960s has generated unprecedented ethnic diversity and new tensions in Canada's multicultural policies. Youth today are facing a different society than their parents had, and thus require new tools to make their futures. Does the education system offer these tools? Families are facing harder economic times, evidenced by the greater numbers of children living in poverty.

We must reflect on the roots of these challenges to inform appropriate solutions.

We propose the following themes for a student-directed conference to be held in the first week of October 2000:

1. Canadian society in the free trade economy

2. Crisis in the environment and the resource sector

3. Federalism and regionalism

4. The challenge of indigenous governance

5. Reorganization of the Canadian welfare state

6. Canadian youth, education and the new economy

7. The homefront: Canadian families.

8. Multiculturalism and immigration.