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Canadian Political Science Association2025 Annual Conference Programme
The Politics of Belonging: Conflict,
Community, Curriculum
Hosted at George Brown College, Toronto, CANADA
June 3 to June 5, 20252025 Annual Conference Programme
The Politics of Belonging: Conflict,
Community, Curriculum
Hosted at George Brown College
June 3 to June 5, 2025
George Brown College (Tkaronto/Toronto) is situated on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations and other Indigenous peoples who have lived here over time including the Anishinaabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. Toronto is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis, and is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit.
CPSA BUILDINGS | SJA - SJB - SJC | St. James A, 200 King St. E. | St. James B, 290 Adelaide St. E. | St. James C, 300 Adelaide St. E.
CPSA BUILDINGS | SJA - SJB - SJC | St. James A, 200 King St. E. | St. James B, 290 Adelaide St. E. | St. James C, 300 Adelaide St. E.
Keynote: Katherine Cramer
Reflections on the Rural vs. Urban Divide in the United States
June 3, 2025 | 12:00pm - 01:30am | Location: SJA-315A
Breakfast with Andrew Coyne
Making Sense of Canada-US Relations in the Trump Era
Bring your questions, we will bring the breakfast. Moderated by Debra Thompson
June 4, 2025 | 08:00am - 09:30am | Location: SJA-813 Breakfast | Petit-déjeuner
Plenary Session
La lutte contre l’anglonormativité/Countering anglonormativity
June 4, 2025 | 03:30pm - 05:00pm | Location: SJC-303 Auditorium
CPSA Presidential Address
Canadian Institutionalism: Political Science and the Study of Political Institutions in Canada
June 3, 2025 | 05:00pm to 06:00pm | Location: SJA-315A
CPSA Reconciliation Committee Keynote
Palestinian Experiences of Genocide and Scholasticide in Gaza
June 3, 2025 | 1:45pm to 03:15pm | Location: SJC-207
CPSA Reconciliation Committee Event
Mobilizing Syllabi Towards Centering Transnational Indigenous Connections: A CPSA Reconciliation Committee Discussion
June 3, 2025 | 03:30pm to 05:00pm | Location: SJC-207
CPSA Reconciliation Committee Event
Teaching Indigenous Materials in Political Sciences Classes: A CPSA Reconciliation Committee Conversation with the Audience
June 4, 2025 | 08:30am to 10:00am | Location: SJA-615
CPSA Reconciliation Committee Event
Footsteps of Indigenous Women: Engagement and Participation in Canadian Government and Electoral Politics
June 4, 2025 | 10:15am to 11:45am | Location: SJA-615
2025 CPSA Panel: Inside the Black Box of SSHRC Grant Applications
The SSHRC IG & IDG: Perspectives from the Political Science & Public Administration Panel
June 4, 2025 | 10:15am to 11:45am | Location: SJA-568D
CPSA Reconciliation Committee Keynote
The Politics of Reconciliation in Canada: an MP’s Experience
June 4, 2025 | 12:00pm to 01:30pm | Location: SJA-615
Roundtable : Navigating Different Career Tracks
Career Paths from Education to Policy and Research
June 5, 2025 | 10:15am to 11:45am | Location: SJA-568D
2025 CPSA Presentation
Editing Your Own Work: A Five-Step Approach
June 5, 2025 | 10:15am to 11:45am | Location: SJA-315A
Social Events
CPSA President’s Reception
June 4, 2025 | 05:30pm to 07:30pm | Location: Toronto Metropolitan University Student Centre (TMU-SC) 55 Gould Street (Front Entrance) Toronto ON M5B 1E9 Tecumseh Auditorium SCC115
CPSA Women’s Caucus Social
June 3, 2025 | 06:15pm to 09:00pm | Location: Craft Beer Market (Upper Level), 1 Adelaide Street E (Adelaide and Yonge)
The politics of belonging are ubiquitous at the international, national and local levels. Conflicts at the global level often revolve around competing claims to territory. These protracted conflicts pit contested visions of belonging: Who does this territory belong to? And who belongs to this territory? Scholars of ethnic conflict know all too well how identity politics can intersect with other factors to fuel intra-state conflicts.
Yet the politics of belonging do not only play out at the global level. Nor do they necessarily breed violent conflict. Local communities across Canada have experienced heated conversations around belonging that challenge the longstanding model of multiculturalism. From divisive debates around immigration to the rise of nativism, who belongs – and who does not belong – are central questions underpinning difficult discussions around citizenship and nation-building. While Québec’s Bill 21 has generated much discussion in media and scholarly circles regarding religious community rights, provinces such as Alberta have also waded into the waters of identity politics by threatening the rights of the transgender community. These and other recent developments reveal the need to recognize the intersectional nature of the politics of belonging as race, gender, religion, class, sexuality, etc. intersect in various ways to include/exclude different communities.
Finally, the politics of belonging clearly inform our practice as teachers in the classroom as we are confronted with the challenge of updating our curricula. As the political science community works towards Indigenizing our discipline, we are reminded of the narrowness that long informed our approach to teaching in this field. Yet as we work to Indigenize our curricula and decolonize our universities more broadly, we ought to take note of the recent developments and pushback against critical race theory in our neighbor to the south. Despite the repeated invocations to academic freedom, the university curriculum is clearly not immune to the politics of belonging in our wider society and continues to be shaped by coloniality.
Yet the politics of belonging do not only play out at the global level. Nor do they necessarily breed violent conflict. Local communities across Canada have experienced heated conversations around belonging that challenge the longstanding model of multiculturalism. From divisive debates around immigration to the rise of nativism, who belongs – and who does not belong – are central questions underpinning difficult discussions around citizenship and nation-building. While Québec’s Bill 21 has generated much discussion in media and scholarly circles regarding religious community rights, provinces such as Alberta have also waded into the waters of identity politics by threatening the rights of the transgender community. These and other recent developments reveal the need to recognize the intersectional nature of the politics of belonging as race, gender, religion, class, sexuality, etc. intersect in various ways to include/exclude different communities.
Finally, the politics of belonging clearly inform our practice as teachers in the classroom as we are confronted with the challenge of updating our curricula. As the political science community works towards Indigenizing our discipline, we are reminded of the narrowness that long informed our approach to teaching in this field. Yet as we work to Indigenize our curricula and decolonize our universities more broadly, we ought to take note of the recent developments and pushback against critical race theory in our neighbor to the south. Despite the repeated invocations to academic freedom, the university curriculum is clearly not immune to the politics of belonging in our wider society and continues to be shaped by coloniality.
