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Workshop 1 | Workshop 2 | Workshop 3 | Workshop 4 | Workshop 5 | Workshop 6 | Workshop 7 | Workshop 8

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WORKSHOP 1

PRESENTED BY THE CANADIAN POLITICS SECTION

TOPIC: Canadian Legislatures and Leadership

ORGANIZERS

Scholars of Canadian legislatures and political leadership are invited to present on topics about Canadian parliamentary institutions and/or political leadership from diverse theoretical, epistemological, and methodological perspectives. We welcome papers, roundtables, and other sessions on topics such as:

• Representation, party discipline, and institutional design (Parliament, provinces, territories)
• Media framing and public perceptions of politicians
• Ethics, transparency, and accountability in leadership
• Practitioner perspectives and applied lessons in governance
• Leadership in political parties, interest groups and other extra-parliamentary settings
• Large-scale analysis of parliamentary discourse and proceedings
• Related topics concerning the executive or legislative branches of government in Canada

Paper proposals, roundtable ideas, and practitioner session suggestions are all welcome. After the conference, participants will be encouraged to engage in coordinated site visits on June 5 in downtown Ottawa. Subsidies will be available to assist graduate students and precariously employed scholars attending the additional day.

The workshop is sponsored by the Bell Chair in Canadian Parliamentary Democracy at Carleton University and the Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership at Acadia University.

Questions about this workshop can be emailed to the organizers (click on the  icon below their pictures for contact information).

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WORKSHOP 2

PRESENTED BY THE ISA-CANADA REGIONAL CONFERENCE AT 2026 CPSA

TOPIC: The Dissertation

ORGANIZER: The ISA-Canada Professional Development Committee

Preparing for stages of the dissertation from the proposal to the defense can be challenging. The level of scaffolded support for preparing students for the proposal and dissertation defense stages can greatly vary from program. As such, techniques for navigating this portion of graduate training can unearth “hidden curriculum” for students and present stumbling blocks for students in completing their programs. There are two main purposes of this workshop:

1. to create a general set of resources and advice for proposal and dissertation preparation, and
2. to allow for opportunities for graduate students to receive peer (horizontal) and senior (vertical) mentorship.

1. In the morning, there will be a series of panels on topics related to dissertation preparation and defense. The specific themes and topics will be identified and presenters will be invited to share based off interest in topics indicated from an anonymous survey that will go out to graduate students across the ISA-Canada region in early Q3 2025. Some possible topics may include preparing for REB review, how to navigate the unexpected in fieldwork, dissertation fellowship grants, project management for dissertation writing process. These panels will be open to all and will not require pre-registration. The panels will be recorded for ISA to share with all members.

2. In the afternoon, graduate student participants will meet in small groups with assigned mentors. These groups will be created and mentors will be selected from an application process in Q3 2025. Students will be asked to submit part of a draft of either their dissertation proposal or a draft of a chapter of their dissertation to be workshops within the group. Participants and mentors will be expected to read materials ahead of the session and arrive ready to provide feedback. After the session, mentors and students will be asked to complete a brief survey reflection of key advice, ideas, and suggestions for proposal and dissertation completion. Insights from these reflections and the morning workshops will be synthesized into short guides that can be shared with all ISA members as a resource.

Note: we do have a small fund to support the travel of scholars to the ISA-Canada meeting for workshops 2 and 8. Priority for allocation will go to grad students and other early career or contingent scholars. Please email devon.cantwell@gmail.com to inquire about funding.

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WORKSHOP 3

PRESENTED BY THE POLITICAL BEHAVIOUR AND SOCIOLOGY SECTION

TOPIC: Québec Voting Behaviour and Public Opinion

ORGANIZERS

Biennial Workshop on Elections, Parties, and Public Opinion in Québec Politics
(3rd edition)

In the first edition of this biennial workshop in 2020, Québec politics seemed to be at crossroads and on the verge of a possible partisan realignment. In several ways, the 2022 Quebec election suggested an electoral realignment, with the Coalition Avenir Québec being re-elected after ending about half of a century of the bipartisan Parti libéral du Québec-Parti Québécois party system in 2018.

In 2025, public opinion polls suggest that the incumbent government of the CAQ might be wiped off the map and scholars of elections, parties and public opinion in Quebec politics are left with many puzzles to answer. This workshop will tackle these puzzles in a pre-electoral context, as the next Quebec election will take place in October 2026.

The workshop welcomes paper proposals that aim to improve our understanding of Québec politics by addressing issues related to elections, parties, and public opinion. In particular, the following topics would nicely fit within the scope of the workshop:

• Analyses of electoral behaviour (voter turnout, vote choice) and other forms of political participation (online activism, demonstrations, etc.) in Québec politics.
• The state of public opinion on national/regional identities, independence, federalism, and similar questions.
• Party systems and partisan realignment in Québec.
• Legislative behaviour in the Quebec National Assembly.
• Party strategies.
• Comparisons of Québec with other substate nations or Canadian provinces on the preceding topics.

As for all congress activities, the workshop is bilingual (i.e., it will take place in both official languages). All discussants will be bilingual and will be able to read and provide comments for both English and French submissions. Participants should feel free to submit their proposals in the language of their choice. Discussions and Q&As will take place both in French and in English during the workshop.

Questions about this workshop can be emailed to the organizers (click on the  icon below their pictures for contact information).

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WORKSHOP 4

PRESENTED BY THE WOMEN, GENDER AND POLITICS SECTION

TOPIC: Reproductive Justice

ORGANIZERS

The reproductive politics of the early & mid- 2020s has been a site of precarity producing both agony and affirmation. The overturning of Roe v. Wade in the US in 2022, and the ongoing rollback of protections for reproductive and bodily autonomy and dignity, have sent ripples of anxiety up across the Canadian border. While fundamental legal protections are maintained in Canada, we’ve witnessed the claw-back of federal funding from national reproductive rights organizations and the closure of nonprofit clinics throughout the country, and concern that the newly introduced Pharmacare coverage for contraception may be vulnerable to austerity measures. This political moment has informed a new urgency, although the systems of oppression at play are certainly not new.

At the heart of reproductive justice is a political movement, nurtured and fought for by the activism and deliberation of Black women in the US, alongside other marginalized communities. Unified under the umbrella of Sistersong in the 1990s, the movement itself traces its roots to the early resistance efforts of Black and Indigenous women to the colonial state. They define reproductive justice a “the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities” (nd), while insisting that rights themselves are inadequate without conditions that support access and dignity.

As a framework for both theoretical analysis and practical engagement in advocacy, reproductive justice provides a foundation for understanding all issues as reproductive justice issues. The climate crisis, infringement on Indigenous sovereignty, violence in local communities and overseas, cost of living and housing precarity, among a range of other increasingly urgent concerns each shape the ways in which individuals experience bodily autonomy and possibilities of reproducing family and community in safety and dignity.

This workshop aims to bring together researchers working on a range of issues, engaging with the lens of reproductive justice. We invite researchers at all career stages that are addressing the theoretical dimensions of RJ as well as those that are working on more empirical projects, including those that consider and engage with the work of activists.

Questions about this workshop can be emailed to the organizers (click on the  icon below their pictures for contact information).

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WORKSHOP 5

PRESENTED BY THE POLITICAL ECONOMY SECTION

TOPIC: Navigating the New Moment in Global Trade in Canada and Beyond

ORGANIZERS

Mark Carney recently asserted that the world is entering a new moment of global trade, one shaped by rising protectionism, shifting alliances, and the need to balance economic opportunity with national values. Since the late 2010s, there has been a clear retreat from the multilateral, rules-based trade order, and the U.S.–once a strong advocate– has explicitly taken a more confrontational and unilateral approach to trade under the Trump administration. In Canada there is increasing uncertainty in traditional trade relationships with the U.S. and an urgency to reimagine its trade strategy. Around the world, this change has brought the possibility of important shifts in geopolitical power, strategic trade partnerships, and overall economic development. This workshop aims to bring together researchers from various subfields of political science and beyond to examine the key challenges and opportunities presented by the current global trade climate, its coherence with the longstanding global trade regime, and paths forward for policymakers, businesses, and civil society. Key questions for consideration include, but are not limited to:

1. Do the recent shifts in trade and protectionist measures mark a new moment for the global trading system or not?
2. What are the impacts of the rise of protectionism and trade conflicts on individual countries, regions or the trading system as whole?
3. What are the implications for Canada's traditional trade dependency on the U.S. in this new environment?
4. How do changes in the trade environment interact with other policy goals like building a resilient domestic economy?
5. What does the current trade environment mean for the geopolitics of trade, particularly the role and power of China?
6. Is there increasing diversification in trade and what does this mean for strategic trade partnerships in Canada, Asia, Europe, and/or emerging markets?
7. What is the role of ethics in trade moving forward, particularly navigating relationships with China and other authoritarian economies?

The goal is to bring together scholars examining global trade from diverse perspectives to better understand the multifaceted implications of our current global environment for Canada and across the global.

Questions about this workshop can be emailed to the organizers (click on the  icon below their pictures for contact information).

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WORKSHOP 6

PRESENTED BY THE CPSA/ISA-CANADA SECTION ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

TOPIC: Canada and Palestine

ORGANIZER

The ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in Occupied Palestine (in particular, Gaza and the West Bank) has had dramatic implications for Canada both domestically and internationally. This workshop will focus on the ramifications for Canadian foreign policy at both levels. This workshop will draw together researchers working on all aspects of the Palestine question in Canada including, but not limited to:

• The effect of Canadian policy towards Palestine on Canada’s political and moral standing in the non-Western world.
• The implications of Gaza for international human rights law, the laws of war, and other institutions of international law, including the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, and how this relates to Canada.
• The effect the conflict on international institutions on which Canada has, in the past, placed considerable political capital, such as the United Nations.
• The nature and extent of Canadian media coverage of Israel-Palestine.
• The suppression of debate/discussion and protest around Israel-Palestine on the campuses of Canadian universities and in academia more generally.

Questions about this workshop can be emailed to the organizers (click on the  icon below their pictures for contact information).

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WORKSHOP 7

PRESENTED BY THE CPSA/ISA-CANADA SECTION ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

TOPIC: Canada and the United States

ORGANIZER

Canada is engaged in an ongoing trade and political conflict with the United States. This conflict has already dramatically affected Canada’s domestic political environment (e.g., the election of a new Liberal federal government led by Mark Carney) and continues to shape Canada’s immediate economic and political future. This workshop will draw together researchers examining all aspects of the Canada-US relationship including, but not limited to:

• The nature and extent of Canada’s economic bargaining power with respect to the US.
• The prospects for genuine Canadian trade and political diversification and how this would affect Canada’s global perspective in the future.
• How Canada’s relations with Asia and/or Europe may be affected by the ongoing trade dispute with the US.
• The likelihood of violent conflict between Canada and the US and how Canada could respond/protect itself.
• To what extent does Canada risk its economic future in order to placate the US in the present?

Questions about this workshop can be emailed to the organizers (click on the  icon below their pictures for contact information).

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WORKSHOP 8

PRESENTED BY THE ISA-CANADA REGIONAL CONFERENCE AT 2026 CPSA

TOPIC: Teaching IR in the Age of Generative AI

ORGANIZER : The ISA-Canada Professional Development Committee

One of the serious challenges facing many instructors today is the question of navigating the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in the classroom. Students know it exists, and in many cases, universities have left it up to instructors to determine how, when, or if, it will be used in their own classrooms. Many see GenAI as somewhere between a potentially devastating technology to be banished from the classroom, or a tool that may turn out to be quite useful both to students and themselves. One area where GenAI is having a particularly important impact is in assessments of students’ work.This workshop will include three portions. All three portions will include free registration for the purpose of planning supplies and facilitation preparation.

1. In the morning, there will be a series of assignment demonstrations from instructors who have implemented creative strategies with generative AI in mind. These assignments and artifacts will be uploaded to a shared folder that can be shared with the ISA community. Additionally, the presentations will be recorded and available for viewing by the ISA community.
2. In the midday, there will be a design thinking session where workshop participants will be asked to ideate on challenges, barriers, and ideas for teaching IR in the context of generative AI. These will be used to narrow down a list of assignment ideas to collaboratively build out.
3. In the afternoon, participants will take the assignment ideas from the short list in the midday session and work collaboratively to build instructions for an IR assignment and an evaluation rubric. The final co-created assignment and rubric for each assignment idea will be shared with ISA to share with members as a resource.

Note: we do have a small fund to support the travel of scholars to the ISA-Canada meeting for workshops 2 and 8. Priority for allocation will go to grad students and other early career or contingent scholars. Please email devon.cantwell@gmail.com to inquire about funding.

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Questions? Contact the CPSA Conference Team.

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