Reflections on a Project in Progress:
The Canadian Social Economy Research Partnerships
by
Ian MacPherson (Co-Director and Principal Investigator)
And
Aliez Kay (Researcher)
National Hub, Canadian Social Economy Research Partnerships
University of Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
www.socialeconomyhub,.ca
cluny1@uvic.ca
1
The Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council
• The Community University Research Alliance
programme
• 107 CURAs since 1999
• Typically $1,000,000 each
• “Alliances between community organizations and
postsecondary institutions which, through a
process of ongoing collaboration and mutual
learning, will foster innovative research, training
and the creation of new knowledge in areas of
importance for the social, cultural or economic
development of Canadian communities.”
2
The Canadian Social Economy
Research Partnerships
• Six nodes (Atlantic Canada, Québec,
Southern Ontario, Saskatchewan-ManitobaNorthern Ontario, British Columbia/Alberta,
North
• National Hub
• 5 years, $12,000,000
• People from over 70 universities involved
• International involvement
3
Immediate Origins
• Roles of le Chantier de l’économie sociale
and the Canadian Community Economic
Development Network
• Social and economic challenges confronting
Canada
• Political reactions: volunteering
• Political change: Paul Martin Liberals to
Stephen Harper Conservatives
• Challenge of the term “Social Economy”
4
The Groundwork for the
Social Economy in Canada (1)
• Decentralized political system
• Importance of Québec identity, Indigenous
issues and sense of identities, differences
within “English-speaking Canada”
• Historical commitments to community-based
activism, social and economic
• The Social Economy traditions on Canada
• Interest in Québec from 1960s onward (the
Quiet Revolution, the changing role of the
church, “one of the most active and
innovative states in the North Atlantic world”)
5
The Groundwork for the
Social Economy in Canada (2)
• CIRIEC Canada 1967
• The Québec co-operative movement
• Expansion of interest in Québec from the
1990s onward
• The divergences of English-Canada
• The long history of “SE-like” activities
• The significance of American influences
6
The Groundwork for the
Social Economy in Canada (3)
• The co-operative movements of
English-Canada
• Canadian Association for the Study of
Co-operation (1984)
• The academy and the Social Economy
traditions
7
The Structure of CSERP
• The nature of SSHRC competitions
• 7 separate competitions
• Variations in the nodes; backgrounds,
interests, networks
• Roles of the Hub
• The challenges of cohesion and busy
lives
• Matters of definition and co-ordination
8
Important Contributions
• Contributions of directors and managers
• Development of networks
• Recognition of diverse forms the SE takes in
different contexts
• “Variety can be as important and valuable as
consistency and universality.”
• Working at bridging university, community
and SE institutional interests
9
Deepening Partnerships
• Interested parties: academy, SE organisations,
communities, governments, international
• Transcending ideological hegemonies and
recognizing value of difference
• Involvement of practitioners in developing
research questions, deciding on method and
undertaking research
• Challenge of involving practitioners because of
institutional priorities, perceptions, and SSHRC
funding rules
• Differing needs of partners
• Differing modes of communication
10
Communications
• Central importance
• Use of workshops, telelearning,
newsletters, fact sheets, conference
participation
• Value of channels used by SE
organisations
11
Understanding the
Community/University Relationship
• Value in reflecting on our diverse
experiences
• Role of structures
• Role in research
• Role in communications and in
sustaining research into action
• Contributions to knowledge: the
importance of mutual validation
12
The participants
•
•
•
•
•
60 universities
30 disciplines
300 researchers
Regional and local organisations
Communities
13
The range of research activities
• Most projects have both academic and nonacademic researchers
• 260+ projects
• 52 have significant public policy focus
• 47 mapping/portraiture
• 33 evaluation/measuring
• 25 co-ops
• 25 social enterprise
• 19 food security
• 18 Indigenous
• 17 governance
14
Themes, continued
•
•
•
•
•
•
13 capacity building
11 rural/agricultural
10 women’s issues
9 funding
7 theory
6 Local Economic Growth, Natural
Resources, Youth, Immigration, Curricula
• 5 English-French relations
15
Others
• 4 - Fair trade, Forestry, Workplace
• 3 - Culture, Housing, Communication,
Francophones outside Québec
• 2 - Knowledge Mobilisation, Development,
Urban Revitalisation, Environment,
Procurement, Adult Education, Employment
• 1 - Seniors, Tourism,Family, Greening,
Mutuals, Community/University Relationships,
Families, Religious Organisations, Poverty,
Parks, Mining, Crises, Volunteering, Mining,
Natural Resource Management
16
Some Current National Priorities
• Importance of public policy research
• Public Policy Committee (Rupert Downing, Jorge Sousa)
• Crystal Tremblay, Public Policy and Instruments supporting the
Social Economy: International Experiences
• Crystal Tremblay, Social Economy Policy Trends
• + 3rd by Rupert Downing
• Canadian Perspectives on the Meaning of the Social Economy
• Reaching an understanding of the ways in which the Social
Economy traditions have influenced the development of
Canada
17
The engagement of youth
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Importance in the SSHRC world
Student/youth employment
Cadres of youth within the nodes and the Hub
Roles in research
Social Economy Student Network
Conferences
250 registered
The future?
18
The communication of
knowledge
• The centrality of knowledge that is consistent,
cumulative, reliable, updated, applied
• Value of knowledge systems of SE organisations
(Imagine Canada, CCA,CCCM, etc.)
• Importance of expanding the impact within the
academy
• Publications
• International contacts
• The scatterings and transience of knowledge
• Creation of ANSER
• Journal
19
The challenges of the Canadian,
American and global situations
• The continuing if troubled dominance of
market paradigms
• The charity/economic development
dichotomy
• Shifts in the United States -- reality or
illusion? Significance for Canada.
• Political uncertainty in Canada
• Understanding the nature and extent of
economic and social changes and relating to
them: slow food, slow money, local
20
economies, financial issues, etc.
The wind-up events
• Regional dialogues
• SUMMIT 30 May-1 June, Ottawa
• Congress in Montréal: ANSER 2-4
June, CASC 1-4 (?) June
• Node wind-up events
• International?
• Other?
21
Some issues
1.
2.
3.
4.
Continue work on understanding the total sector
Sustaining the contacts that have been made.
Ensuring further SSHRC support.
Coping with the climate of opinion that privileges the
market economy.
5. The nature of SE knowledge
6. Continue the process of creating portraitures of
the Social Economy across Canada.
7. Knowledge mobilisation.
8. Influencing public policy.
9. Helping young researchers/practitioners advance their
careers in the academy, SE organisations,
22
government.
Thank you!!!
cluny1@uvic.ca
23