Ian MacPherson (Co-Director and Principal Investigator)

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• 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_at_uvic.ca

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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.

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The Canadian Social Economy Research Partnerships

• Six nodes (Atlantic Canada, Québec, Southern
  Ontario, Saskatchewan-Manitoba-Northern Ontario,
  British Columbia/Alberta, North
• National Hub
• 5 years, 12,000,000
• People from over 70 universities involved
• International involvement

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Immediate Origins

• Roles of le Chantier de léconomie 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

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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)

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Communications

• Central importance
• Use of workshops, telelearning, newsletters, fact
  sheets, conference participation
• Value of channels used by SE organisations

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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

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The participants

• 60 universities
• 30 disciplines
• 300 researchers
• Regional and local organisations
• Communities

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The range of research activities

• Most projects have both academic and non-academic
  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

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Themes, continued

• 13 capacity building
• 11 rural/agricultural
• 10 womens issues
• 9 funding
• 7 theory
• 6 Local Economic Growth, Natural Resources,
  Youth, Immigration, Curricula
• 5 English-French relations

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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

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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

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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?

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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

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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 economies, financial
  issues, etc.
• The challenges of the academy

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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?

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Some issues

• 1. Continue work on understanding the total
  sector
• 2. Sustaining the contacts that have been made.
• 3. Ensuring further SSHRC support.
• Coping with the climate of opinion that
  privileges the market economy.
• The nature of SE knowledge
• 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,
• government.

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• Thank you!!!
• cluny1_at_uvic.ca