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Dear colleagues on the Critical Geography Forum, Apologies to those who are not residents of Canada, although the issues here may interest everyone on the list. As part of its new economic stimulusı budget, the Conservative Party of Canada has announced sweeping changes to funding for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). In particular, it has directed that SSHRC must divert large amounts of funding for business post-grad education and research -- an effective cut to SSHRC funding for arts and humanities post-grad programs. Of course, the irony of spending more money to fund the folks with MBAs who got us into this mess appears to be lost on the conservative government... So, if you are a resident of Canada, please consider signing a petition being circulated by an NDP member of Parliament. Details and a link to the petition are below. Thanks, Lawrence > Dear colleagues, > > I am forwarding a petition in support of SSHRC currently being circulated by > Niki Ashton (NDP MP). I hope you can all find a minute to sign this petition > as this federal conservative directive has the potential to reduce > significantly the support for students and faculty engaged in scholarship in > the social sciences and humanities, education, environmental studies, fine > arts and other areas not directly pertinent to business. > > To the House of Commons in Parliament Assembled > We, the undersigned residents of Canada, wish to bring to your attention the > following: > > For more than thirty years, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research > Council (SSHRC) has been promoting and supporting university-based research > and training in the humanities and social sciences. SSHRC funding has been > used to complete ground breaking research in countless areas in Canada and > around the world. > > The Federal Budget presented on January 27th contains a sentence that has the > potential to halt this kind of research: ³Scholarships granted by the Social > Sciences and Humanities Research Council will be focused on business-related > degrees². > > These measures are backward and insulting to the thousands of Canadians that > are students and researchers in the social sciences and humanities. > > THEREFORE, we petitioners are calling upon the government to remove this > sentence from the 2009 Budget and ensure that SSHRC funding not be allocated > to one specific discipline but to the range of studies in the social sciences > and humanities. > > ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, > > to sign: > > http://nikiashton.ndp.ca/sshrc -- Lawrence D. Berg, D.Phil. Co-Director, The Centre for Social, Spatial & Economic Justice http://www.chrdi.org/CSSEJ/cssejsite/Welcome.html Graduate Coordinator, Human Geography Community, Culture and Global Studies University of British Columbia 3333 University Way Kelowna, BC, Canada, V1V 1V7 Voice: +1 250.807.9392, Fax: +1 250.807.8001 Email: [log in to unmask] WEB: http://www.chrdi.org/ldb/index.html Editor: ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies http://www.acme-journal.org Co-Leader: BC Disabilities Health Research Network http://www.dhrn.ca