Humanists and Social Scientists Receive Extra Funding
The Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada applauds the Minister of Finance's recognition that "success in the new economy will not be determined by technology alone, but by creating an environment of excellence in which Canadians can take advantage of their talents, their skills and their ideas". The $20 million a year for the next five years, allocated to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, continues the trend of recent budgets in recognizing the centrality of social sciences and humanities research in the knowledge-based economy and publicly recognizes its contribution.
Strategic initiatives to rebuild the research infrastructure of universities are also welcome. New funding for the Canada Foundation for Innovation means more opportunities to develop laboratories and to conduct leading-edge research. The Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada supports these measures and continues to call for CFI funds to be dedicated to university libraries which are part of the research infrastructure of social scientists and humanists. These funds will address to some degree the problem created by cutbacks to university operating budgets.
"New technologies bring with them questions of equity, ethics and impact. The answers lie not in the technology itself, but in history, economics, languages, education and other social sciences and humanities research" says Dr Louise Forsyth, President of the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada.
The Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada is a non-profit organization that promotes teaching, research, and scholarship in the humanities and social sciences and a better understanding of the importance of such work for Canada and the world. The Federation represents 66 learned societies, 69 universities and colleges, and over 24,000 scholars and graduate students active in the study of such disciplines as criminology, history, sociology, literature, psychology, gender studies, education, philosophy, political studies, health care, ethics, law, economics, education and modern languages.
