Perceptions Of Canada Research Articles

School Leader Well-Being: Perceptions of Canada’s Outstanding Principals

School Leader Well-Being: Perceptions of Canada’s Outstanding Principals

Perceptions of Canada’s AI Governance System: Findings from Interviews with 20 Government Leaders & Subject Matter Experts

Perceptions of Canada’s AI Governance System: Findings from Interviews with 20 Government Leaders & Subject Matter Experts

"It's not just about you": International students' vulnerabilities and capacities during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

In Canada, the COVID-19 pandemic was initially characterized by emergency government responses that disrupted daily life, especially for marginalized groups. This study explored the vulnerabilities and capacities of international students studying at a university in Calgary, Canada during the first phase of the pandemic. Guided by the Capacities and Vulnerabilities Analysis framework, we thematically analyzed 11 semi-structured interviews with international students. We found that material vulnerabilities included balancing finances, housing conditions, lack of information, food inaccessibility, reliance on public transport, and poor mental health, social vulnerabilities included lack of social support, culture shock, and racism, and attitudinal vulnerabilities included "nowhere to go", feeling like a burden, and perception of Canada as safe. Material capacities included financial support, knowledge about pandemic, and mental health supports, social capacities included local social support and multilingualism, and attitudinal capacities included resilience, religious and spiritual beliefs, "it's not just about you", and reflexivity. We found overlapping and complex relationships between vulnerabilities and capacities, indicating that while international students' vulnerabilities were exacerbated and introduced challenges during the pandemic, students uniquely leveraged their capacities to offset and recover from challenges. Findings from this study may be informative for stakeholders involved in disaster responses, especially universities and governments, to support international students' capacities and address their vulnerabilities.

Canada through the eyes of Southeast Asia: positive perceptions, shallow understandings

ABSTRACT As Canada looks to deepen its ties with Southeast Asia, it needs to gain public support from the region. But how do ordinary Southeast Asians view Canada? Using original survey data from social media users in seven Southeast Asian countries, I find that Southeast Asians generally have a positive impression of Canada. However, they do not have a clear understanding of Canada, or of its current and potential engagement in Southeast Asia. There are also significant variations in perceptions of Canada from country to country, which may be correlated to the degree of democratic development in each country. These findings have implications for the implementation of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy. First, Southeast Asians’ favorable disposition towards Canada is encouraging. It suggests that Southeast Asians are receptive to fostering closer ties with Canada. Second, the cross-national variation indicates that engagements with individual Southeast Asian countries, including public diplomacy efforts, can and should be tailored accordingly, as opposed to untargeted regional engagement.

Whose feminism(s)? Overseas partner organizations' perceptions of Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy.

Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy, introduced in 2017, is an ambitious and forward-thinking policy focussed on gender equality and women’s empowerment. The emphasis on a feminist vision, however, raises questions about how feminism is defined and interpreted by Canada’s partners in the Global South. In this article, we examine the interpretations of feminism(s) and a feminist foreign policy from the perspective of NGO staff members in East and Southern Africa. The research involved interviews with 45 Global South partner country NGO staff members in three countries (Kenya, Uganda, and Malawi). We consider the partner organization reflections on Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy using a transnational feminist lens. Our findings provide insights into future considerations for Canada’s feminist foreign policy priorities, consultations, and programme design.

The representation of canada in political discourse

The primary purpose of this article is to examine the Canadian image in political discourse, to identify the factors creating this image. Due to the most relevant political speeches, messages, government reports, analysis of statistical data there are being worked out some tools for building the image of Canada on the world stage. Lately, political discourse is becoming a subject of study for linguistics. The interest in the phenomenon is motivated by a wide range of linguistic instruments used as an effective tool to manage the public perceptions. Study and analysis of the mechanisms of political communication allow to decode pragmatic information hidden in the political texts. The subject of the work consists in highlighting the linguistic approaches to the representation of Canada in the international diplomacy. The object of the work is an examination of political discourse in the public statements made by political figures, government documents, which reflect social and political realities. The methodology has developed under the influence of cognitive linguistics of domestic and foreign scientists. Research study includes cognitive and conceptual analysis to reveal distinctive features of the social and political realities; interpretive and context analysis to select political texts. It exposes the ways of representation of Canadian image, demonstrates its weak and strong sides. A vast factual material reveals multi-faced nature of Canada and provides an identity set of lexical units which are reflected in political discourse. The material illustrates today’s image of the country and the perceptions of Canada throughout the world. The idea of multiculturalism is justified by the guiding ideology of ethno-cultural plurality. The main sources of information are official government documents (laws, acts, reports), statistical data, parliamentary debates, party agenda, political speeches. All the provided material combined mass-media information, the Internet.

The View from Below: Rob Ford and Perceptions of Canada on U.S. Late Night Comedy

This analysis aims to review the means by which an imagined Canadianness is described through the responses of American comedians to late Toronto mayor Rob Ford on comedy shows which aired between May 2013 and May 2014. The Rob Ford story, as taken up in late night U.S. comedy, both maintains and transgresses stereotypes about Canada and Canadians. Likewise, an examination of the constructed Ford (and the constructed Canada which simultaneously emerges) in late night comedy focuses on appropriate behaviours and expectations, especially with respect to the governance of body and mind.

Mythical Canada in Polish Minds: the Image of Canada in Polish Literature

In Poland, although in‑depth knowledge of Canada is rather meager, the country of the maple leaf invariably carries positive connotations. In the popular imagination, Canada is typically perceived as a land of plenty, offering practically unlimited possibilities of development for its citizens. It is also seen through the prism of its natural environment and Aboriginal Peoples, and this is why the country is enveloped in an aura of mystery and adventure. Such a perception of Canada stems not so much from broad media coverage and ever‑present cultural as well as political influence, as is the case of the USA, but largely from a few popular literary works published throughout the 20th century. Among them there are translations of a few Canadian books which are popular in Poland, as well as a few books on the subject of Canada written by Polish authors.

Officer Perceptions of Canada's ‘First Nations Policing Program’

This study examined the perceptions of service delivery and attitudes towards the First Nations Policing Program (FNPP) of 434 sworn officers working in Aboriginal communities. Officers working for self-administered police services (operated by First Nations) were less optimistic about both the effectiveness of service delivery and whether the goals of the FNPP were being met when compared with members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), who provided contract policing to these communities. These results suggest that officer experiences in policing, where they work, their demographic characteristics, as well as their organisational affiliation may shape their perspectives on policing. Implications for future research on Aboriginal, Indigenous and Tribal policing are outlined.

The applicability of cluster theory to Canada's small and medium‐sized apparel companies

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify and map trends in the Canadian apparel industry (in a global context) and, through the application of Porter's models, establish strategies that could be employed by Canadian small and medium enterprizes (SMEs) in response to the move toward trade liberalisation since the phasing out of the multi‐fibre arrangement.Design/methodology/approachThe literature review established trends in the apparel industry both in Canada and globally. Qualitative research in the form of case studies highlighted apparel suppliers' perceptions of Canada's strengths and weaknesses as a business setting and provided preliminary information on possible supplier activities which provide value and competitive advantage. The analysis of the primary data also allowed the development of preliminary questions, answers to which will further enhance the understanding of clusters and their applicability to Canada's apparel SMEs.FindingsCanada's apparel manufacturing industry is winding down while imports are continuing to grow. At the same time, the Canadian market is not large enough to sustain all the suppliers, thus forcing those who are competitive to export, primarily to the USA, which is Canada's major apparel export destination. The morphology of related and supporting industries to apparel suppliers is changing. The findings suggest that Canada's apparel supply is becoming more of a service and less of a manufacturing industry.Originality/valueThis paper provides an understanding of Canada's position in the global apparel map and ascertains whether competitive cluster strategies exist for the Canadian apparel industry. Furthermore, it sets the stage for further research by identifying knowledge gaps pertaining to the applicability of clusters to the apparel industry and providing data and findings to bridge these gaps.

Health care in the North: what Canada can learn from its circumpolar neighbours

The perception of Canada as a nation with a polar region is gradually changing with the emergence of pressing public policy issues such as climate change, resource development, endangered wildlife and sovereignty disputes. These issues have given rise to Canada’s Northern Strategy ([www.

Coaches' Perceptions of Canada's National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP): Awareness and Value

Coaching education and certification programs are needed to ensure standards for qualified and equipped coaches at all levels of our sport systems. This study examined coaches' (n = 285) perceptions of Canada's National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP); specifically, their awareness and perceived value of the program. Results indicated that a large majority was aware of the NCCP, and that the most frequent means for finding out about a course was through their sport organization. More than half of the participants perceived the value of the NCCP program as “good”, and this perceived value increased after taking a course. Further, most participants described themselves as likely to take another NCCP course. Participants cited the primary benefit of taking a course to be that the credential ensures better prepared athletes through higher quality of coaching. Implications and recommendations for the NCCP are discussed and comparisons with coaching programs in several other countries are provided.

'A Finger in the Fire': Canadian Volunteer Soldiers and their Perceptions of Canada's Collective Identity through their Experience of the Boer War

(2009). 'A Finger in the Fire': Canadian Volunteer Soldiers and their Perceptions of Canada's Collective Identity through their Experience of the Boer War. War & Society: Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 61-87.

Discourse, Identity, and “Homeland as Other” at the Borderlands

A critical reading of the relationships between social identity theory and the shifting national identities of immigrants residing in a borderland region illustrates the processes involved in linking identity construction, international migration, and context. This spatially grounded discursive study builds on the notion that identities are constructed not only as attachments to particular places or nations, and an eagerness to grasp and hold onto dominant ideologies, but also as disidentifications with other peoples and places. Canada is now home to the largest number of U.S.-born immigrants in more than two-and-a-half decades. The northward movement of war resisters, draft dodgers, and others from the United States to Canada during the Vietnam War years was the largest politically motivated outmigration of U.S. citizens in history. In more recent years, political and economic migrants (including soldiers avoiding the war in Iraq) continue to leave the United States for permanent residency in Canada. They are attracted by their perceptions of Canada's more liberal political system, multicultural policies, support of gay and lesbian rights, prosperous real estate market, and universal health care. Using multimodal discourse analysis, this article reads and reports on data from narrative interviews, focus group discussions, and open-ended survey questionnaires to analyze identity construction in a borderland region.

Canada and United Nations Peace Operations

Canadians take pride in the peacekeeping legacy of their country. Looking back over the history of United Nations (UN) peace operations, episodes that loom large include Lester B. Pearson's role in the creation of the first peacekeeping force, the rapid deployment of Canadian troops to Cyprus, the battles of Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Medak Pocket in Croatia, and the actions of Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire as force commander in Rwanda. Until 1989, Canada had participated in every UN mission. In total, Canada contributed more than 10 percent of total UN military personnel deployed since 1947.1The perception of Canada as a leader in UN-led peace operations suffers when juxtaposed against Canada's current troop contributions.3 In October 2007, there were 173 individuals-mostly police-deployed to UN-led peace operations. The number of Canadian forces (CF) personnel deployed to UNled peace operations, at 58, was at its lowest point since the creation of the first peacekeeping force in 1956. Moreover, Canada had no military or police officers located in the department of peacekeeping operations (DPKO) in New York and no military commanders, police commissioners, or special representatives of the UN secretary general were Canadian.3 These numbers seem to paint a bleak picture of Canada's commitment to UN-led peace operations, particularly when contrasted with the 2774 soldiers Canada contributed to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operations in Afghanistan during the same time period.4 While most NATO operations are UN-mandated, they are not synonymous with UN-led operations. Contributing to one organization's operations to the exclusion of another's can have serious political consequences.It is extremely important for Canada to reenergize its commitment to UN-led peace operations. In light of the recent emphasis on NATO-led operations-particularly since NATO began engaging in out-of-area operations, such as its mission in Afghanistan and its technical support to the African Union (AU) in Darfur-questions have been posed about whether Canada should distance itself from UN-led peace operations, which have come under fire for being too politicized. This view is short sighted. It was fewer than 15 years ago when Canada pulled its forces out of Germany following its reunification and the signature of the conventional forces in Europe treaty, that it was accused of neglecting the alliance in favour of the UN (which was heavily engaged in the UN mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina, among other missions), an accusation that dogged Canada's political engagement at NATO until it made a substantial commitment to the NATO-led international security assistance force in 2003. Canada cannot afford to run the same risk at the UN. With 192 members to NATO's 26 and engagement in a broad array of social, political, cultural, and security issues, the UN will remain Canada's main forum for engaging with the world into the foreseeable future. Even within the security sphere, the UN remains the most relevant forum for a wide variety of security issues that other political organizations simply cannot address: coordination of security actors, civilian police, peacebuilding, human security, disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation, security sector reform, refugees, humanitarian aid, and humanitarian relief operations. These aspects of peace operations are areas in which Canada can gain valuable political currency by employing its existing strengths. This can only be accomplished through the UN.This discussion identifies what avenues Canada can take in the midterm to ensure it continues to contribute in a meaningful way to UN-led peace operations. It concludes that Canada can best contribute to UN-led peace operations by augmenting its capacities in the areas of administration, coordination, and training, as well as by ensuring the provision of resources for police tasks, aiding with civilian recruitment, providing leadership in gender integration, and supporting enabling arrangements for mission-essential equipment. …

Negotiating the Nation: The Reproduction and Reconstruction of the National Imaginary in Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing

[A]lthough in every culture many Stories are told, only some are told and retold, and ... these recurring Stories bear examining. Margaret Atwood, Strange Things What a society buries is at least as revealing as what it preserves. Margaret Atwood, Mathews and Misrepresentation IN A LECTURE DELIVERED AS PART OF THE CLARENDON LECTURE SERIES at Oxford University in spring of 1991, Margaret Atwood discusses building of national mythologies and prompts her listeners to re-examine a central Canadian emblem and their thoughts on Canadian national identity by provocatively questioning, You thought national flag was about a leaf, didn't you? Look harder. It's where someone got axed in snow (Strange Things 14). Through this simple semiological exercise, Atwood invites a radical shift in perception of Canada's collective consciousness and a re-evaluation of what she terms the great Canadian victim (Gibson 22) in order to reveal both capacity of Canadians to do harm to others and violence that exists unremarked at heart of Canadian signature. This renegotiation of national discourses is similarly demonstrated in Atwood's use of violent woman as a destabilizing figure who, through her brutality, points toward broader social trends and reconfigures centralized myths of Canadian identity. (1) Atwood's formulation of violent woman as an individual who reconceptualizes dominant national imaginary, or limited set of ideals and images that Canadians frequently draw on to construct and maintain their sense of national identity, (2) may prima facie appear an inconvenient and anomalous configuration. Yet Atwood, through this gesture, builds upon long-established cultural frameworks linking nation to gender and violence, not only insisting on enduring relevance of nationalism and national conceits but also need to see nation's genius as a construct in constant flux. Exemplifying such matters, frequently brutal narrator of Atwood's Surfacing (1972) uncovers how reputed vulnerability central to Canadian identity is open to interrogation and re-interpretation; despite her marginal status within society, violent woman is here depicted as a meaningful and revealing figure that forces a reconsideration of Canada's central mythologies. What emerges from this critical endeavour is not a reformed or corrective image of Canada's national identity, since no singular figure can possibly signify cultural heterogeneity existent within a country, but a recognition of need to look harder and to question those national narratives that Canadians hold timeless and of themselves. Contemporary critics and theorists of nationhood have endlessly struggled against inherent difficulties of thinking nationalistically, and Canadian scholars in particular at times contend with self-effacing possibility that very conceit they attempt to analyze and delimit may in fact not exist at all. (3) One of fundamental reasons for apprehensiveness surrounding discussions of nation and national identity is shifting conception of what constitutes nationhood; Philip Spencer and Howard Wollman find that criteria for deciding on what constitutes a nation are highly contested, involving complex issues relating to identity, culture, language, history, myth and memory, and disputed claims to territory (2), and Michael Ignatieff adds that There is only so much that can be said about nationalism in general. It is not one thing in many disguises, but many things in many disguises (9). Unlike a state, which concerns matters of governmental jurisdiction, and powers held by a polity over a defined geographic area, a nation refers to more abstract relations between people who envision themselves as connected through time, space, and an underlying set of values and principles, thereby highlighting complex and recondite systems of meaning that combine to create effect of national identity. …

Promoting Responsibility and Accountability

It is the official position of Foreign Affairs Canada (FAC) that the best way to ensure Canadian corporate social responsibility (CSR) abroad, particularly with respect to human security, is to workin partnership with the private and non-governmental sectors to promote the reflection of internationally agreed norms and standards in the overseas operations of Canadian companies. Our efforts to promote CSR domestically facilitate private sector dialogue on the issues, including the development and implementation of voluntary codes of conduct involving, where possible, a role for labour and non-government organizations (NGOs).1While private-public partnerships and adherence to international norms are certainly essential aspects of an effective approach to CSR, relying on corporations voluntarily to self-regulate generates a deficit in accountability that could have significant consequences for the human security agenda and national interests. Corporate activities that contribute to human security may not yet register as an enduring issue with the Canadian public and the overall damage that has occurred thus far to Canada's reputation remains manageable. However, ill-will generated in hotspots will grow over time and circulate into new domains, altering the generally positive perceptions of Canada as a global actor.Canada is a country that relies heavily on its expertise in public diplomacy in order to cultivate a positive global brand image that greatly contributes to its soft power capabilities. It is Canada's soft power expertise that is the primary facilitator for conducting a style of foreign policy that brings significant prestige in proportion to its material strength, by seeking to address pressing issues facing the global community in creative ways, while satisfying national interests. Thus, preserving and augmenting its image as an upstanding global citizen through the promotion of Canadian values should be the priority of FAC's policy posture with respect to CSR, as all other interests are contingent on meeting this objective.It is a generally positive image of Canada held by other actors in global politics that forms the essential foundation of trust that makes possible Canadian foreign policy directions in areas from trade to human security. Therefore, damage to Canada's positive global brand image that can result when glaring disconnects are identified between publicly stated goals and actual practice will eventually proliferate beyond the issue at hand and undermine Canadian credibility writ large, hindering FAC's ability to pursue broader national interests in various sectors.2 This becomes particularly acute in current circumstances when hard power capabilities are lacking or often inappropriate for one's diplomatic style and goals.FAC's current approach to CSR is placing Canadian credibility in jeopardy with the general public, other states, and global civil society as voluntary self-regulation continues to fail to adequately address actions by leading Canadian commercial enterprises that are contributing to human insecurity. Unfortunately, both within the narrow confines of the human security agenda and the broader contours of Canadian foreign policy, this is not the first time that there has been a disjunctive between rhetoric and action and/or the co-existence of incompatible aims.1But what makes the issue of CSR and corporate accountability with respect to human security different from other incidents, such as the decline of foreign assistance throughout the 19905, is the potential for the Canadian government to be seen as complicit in these activities through commission rather than through omission by providing loans and insurance resources to some of these corporations through grants given by the Export Development Corporation (EDC). This is a risk that needs to be eliminated.Given that operations in weak states and conflict zones often offer the largest potential profits, the risks would multiply exponentially for Canada if an E DC-funded corporation were found to be aiding and abetting war crimes in such an environment, and were brought before the International Criminal Court of Justice, or faced trial in another legal jurisdiction. …

WILDERNESS AND THE CANADIAN MIND

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES TRADITIONALLY TAKE one of several forms.1 Some review the activities and achievements of the Association or Society over the period of office. This approach would not be difficult here, given the outstanding contributions which our great Association continues to make to the field in Canadian Studies. On the other hand, Presidents of Societies involved with Science or Technology may take the opportunity to present the results of their own latest researches within the discipline. Alternatively Presidential addresses might take a more philosophical and reflective view of the development of their particular subject over the President's career in it. There is clearly no single prescription, and indeed Presidents of bacs have often been Presidents of other Associations and Societies in their own specialist disciplines, and have usually adopted different styles when addressing different bodies. The present Address builds on some elements from each of these diverse approaches. The central concern is with Wilderness, which is a tangible natural entity, existing out there in the real world. It can be visited, and evokes in visitors a range of feelings from awe to fear. Yet wilderness is much more than this; it is also a perception, a concept, and an inspiration. Or rather, it forms a complex of perceptions, concepts and inspirations, and leads Warecki (2000) to note: 'Wilderness ideas are a tangle of unresolved contradictions.' The author's long-standing commitment to Canada has been through the discipline of geography, specifically in the sub-disciplines of physical geography (qua environmental studies/sciences) and natural resource studies. It is a journey which has visited the forests of Vancouver Island, the alpine meadows of Kananaskis, the prairie farms of Saskatchewan, the Northern tundras of Rankin Inlet, the Mackenzie Valley and Devon Island, and the farms of southern Ontario and Quebec. However, engagement over the years with annual conferences, colloquia, forums and visiting lectures on Canada, continue to reinforce the conviction that the strength of Canadian Studies lies in its multidisciplinary format. This is the attraction for both faculty and for students. The two academic institutions with which the writer is associated in Yorkshire, namely the University of Leeds and York St John College, both offer multidisciplinary courses on Canada which recruit very well. A major part of their appeal lies in the multidisciplinarity of the courses. Although both are convened by geographers and registered as geography courses, each covers material from history, literature and culture, as one would expect from their subtitle - Environment, People, Culture. Perceptions of Canada among non-Canadians have been polled recently among both faculty and students, including those who have completed the Canadian Studies course in the University of Leeds, and some who have not. The results are revealing of the major 'strengths' or positive values by which Canada is viewed by outsiders, and are shown in Figure 1. The three major images point to multiculturalism and the way in which Canadian society deals with it, to the environment and its beauty and conservation, and to Canada's role in the world. Thus environment and wilderness rank among the 'big issues'. Some readers will be disappointed that their own personal love ranks lower in the list, or not at all; the writer's predilection for Oscar Peterson and Angela Hewitt will be mirrored in many hearts and minds, but not unfortunately in the 'league tables'! What is wilderness? The cultural identity of Canada owes much to 'the wilderness.' It is a central theme in Canadian cinema, conservation, history, literature, livelihoods, music, painting and recreation. Popular images of wilderness abound on television screens, in newspaper supplements, and in travel brochures. Words to express such images might be: 'cold', 'forbidding', 'home of wild animals', 'magnificent sights', 'mysterious', and 'unknown'. …

An International Comparative Analysis of Consumer Attitudes Toward Canada and Canadian Products

AbstractThe international competitiveness of Canadian products is examined from the point of view of consumers in comparison to the images of other major exporting nations, based on an eight‐country survey. The study used for the first time specific attitude measures for the countries of origin and their people, in addition to the product measures that are commonly used in this field of research. The international profile of Canadians is found to differ considerably from the profile of Canadian products, which have a weaker image than their international competitors in this study. Implications for international marketing theory and the strategies of Canadian firms are discussed.RésuméLa compétitivité internationale des produits canadiens est examiné du point de vue des consommateurs, en comparaison avec les images d'autres pays exportateurs principaux, basé sur une enquěte dans huits pays. L'étude a utilisé, pour la première fois, des mesures d'attitude spécifiques pour les pays d'origine et leur peuple, en plus de mesures des produits plus communs dans ce domaine de recherche. Le profil international des Canadiens se montre considérablement différent du profil des produits canadiens, qui ont une image plus faible que les autres concurrents internationaux dans cette étude. Des implications concernant la théorie de marketing international et la stratégie des firmes canadiennes sont tirées des résultats et discutées.

The Cuban Autonomist Movement's Perception of Canada, 1865-1898: Its Implication

The history of Cuba from the 1860s to 1898 has been written largely from the revolutionary,independentistaperspective. It is a perspective that has been appealing to U.S. and Cuban historians alike, but it may well be a perspective that has distorted the Cuban political experience and made it more difficult to understand the Cuban reality. That this perspective is alive and well can be seen in recent publications which give short shrift to the Cuban Autonomist movement, a movement that was essentially Cuban and whose leadership came from the largely urban, professional elite that rejected both annexation and independence.