Dear Fellows of the Academy of Arts and Humanities,
I am honoured to have become President of the Academy of Arts and Humanities at the end of the COEE meeting in Calgary, November 2022. I am Distinguished Research Professor of Linguistics at York University in Toronto and have recently completed my term seconded as Interim President of Laurentian University in Sudbury. I am writing to you from Toronto, from territory which is the subject of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, where the current treaty holders are the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
Under the leadership of President Alain-G. Gagnon, the RSC continues to advance on its strategic plan, Next Steps, Together, until 2025, which I encourage you to read if you have not done so yet. There are three priorities to guide us: Inclusive Excellence, Independent Expertise, and International Engagement, all of which relate to multiple different ways of breaking barriers – all types of barriers wherever they may exist as an impediment to the advancement of the human condition globally. Consultations for the next strategic plan, from 2025 onwards, are underway, ably led by Barbara Neis (President of the Academy of Social Sciences) and Audrey Moores (President of the College).
RSC-wide initiatives in Inclusive Excellence include implementation of the recommendations of the Committee on Membership concerning Decolonization, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, particularly those around Knowledge Systems, as well as furthering the At-Risk and Displaced Academics and Artists program, which will be expanding to the three Academies from being a College-only program. As part of Inclusive Excellence, we also specifically aim to foster more involvement from francophone scholars, from smaller and more regional universities (something I have just had firsthand experience with), from the newer and emerging disciplines within the humanities, from those primarily engaged in community-based scholarship and from a broader and larger spectrum of those involved in the arts. With reference to the arts specifically, the RSC is partway through a three-year pilot project of financial support for unaffiliated artists to attend their induction ceremony and to waive their membership fees, in the hope of stimulating more nominations from this group, under-represented within the RSC.
Independent Expertise builds on the huge success of the RSC Task Force on COVID-19 and its partnerships with the Globe and Mail, Canadian Science Publishing, Acfas, and others, to focus on urgent themes, specifically including the RSC Task Force on One Health. In all these truly interdisciplinary initiatives, the Humanities and the Arts have been very visible, and must continue to be so, as a concrete demonstration of how integral the Humanities and the Arts are to all contemporary issues, especially in trying to make sense of our ever-changing and increasingly chaotic world. The Humanities are more and more under threat at our universities, and President-Elect Grier and I have recently penned a statement on the importance of the arts and humanities in Canadian post-secondary education.
International Engagement continues the RSC’s focus on collaboration and knowledge-sharing with our sibling academies around the world, including the “young” academies, crossing disciplines, generations, and national boundaries. In 2025, Canada is the President of the G7 and therefore will host the G7 meetings, and as the national academy of the host, the RSC is drafting the associated S7 statements, then working with the other national academies to have them endorsed. Dr. Paul Young, the RSC’s International Secretary, is leading these activities.
As Academy President, I serve on the RSC Board and Council. I also chair the Governance and Ethics Committee and serve as the RSC’s Vice-President designate. I also work with all the other members of the Board, Council, Committees and Task Forces, all under the leadership of the RSC President, Alain-G. Gagnon. Within our Academy, I oversee the selection process for the next cohort of new Fellows and for the medals and awards for our Academy. As last year with the Massey College Dialogue series, this year in the UQO Dialogue series our Academy is responsible for organizing the final event, May 14 at UQO, on Reducing Poverty and Inequality. I am very grateful to Cynthia Milton for her huge support in organizing this event. In everything we do, our Academy receives exceptional support from the dedicated staff at Walter House in Ottawa.
I welcome your views and comments, encouraging you to write to me at embleton@yorku.ca. I also hope to meet as many of you as possible at this year’s COEE, in Montréal, in mid-November 2025, hosted by Université de Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal and HEC Montréal. At the end of the COEE, James Grier will become President of this Academy. The COEE is always a wonderful celebration and unparalleled opportunity to meet colleagues old and new, formally and informally, and to engage in interdisciplinary discussions relevant to the many issues and challenges of the day. Stay tuned for more details on this year’s event.
With best wishes,
Dr. Sheila Embleton, FRSC
President, Academy of the Arts and Humanities