Canadianization movement

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Canadianization or the Canadianization movement started in 1968 at Carleton University in Ottawa. Two professors, Robin Mathews and James Steele, wanted Canadian citizens to be treated fairly in hiring and to make Canadians the majority of the teaching staff, while also pushing for more Canadian content in university courses. Although their ideas focused on Carleton, they hoped Canadian hiring practices would improve across all universities.

Mathews and Steele circulated a memorandum with five proposals. They asked that, over time, Canadians form a two‑thirds majority on faculty; that vacancies be well advertised in Canada before hiring non‑Canadians; that Canadian citizenship be required for top administrative positions; that the citizenship of faculty be recorded; and that the Canadian Association of University Teachers collect data and consider a national policy on the issue. They argued these steps would help ensure Canadians are properly represented and that Canadian priorities are considered in scholarship. The motions were met with strong hostility at Carleton, with accusations that the ideas were anti‑academic or racist. Still, a few supporters, including Carleton professor Antonio Gualtieri, spoke in favor, and the debate spread beyond Carleton.

To share information and build support, Mathews and Steele published The Struggle for Canadian Universities: A Dossier, which included correspondence and publications about hiring and curricular issues. Their campaign helped spark broader concern. In response, the federal government created rules to make hiring fairer for Canadians: in 1977 all academic vacancies had to be advertised, and in 1981 a Canadian search had to be conducted before offering a job to a foreign candidate. The Canadian Association of University Teachers also supported advertising vacancies and urged that competence remain the main hiring criterion and that Canadian citizens be treated equally.

As attention grew, the idea of Canadianization broadened beyond hiring to the content of university courses. Critics pointed to a lack of Canadian materials in many departments and unfamiliar or underdeveloped Canadian studies. For example, in the late 1960s Laurentian University had almost no Canadian content in some programs. Between 1970 and 1980, student activism, campus media, and academic pressure helped expand Canadian content in courses. By 1975, the number of courses with Canadian content had risen significantly, and by 1980 it had more than doubled in some universities.

In 1972 the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) established the Commission on Canadian Studies, chaired by Professor T. H. B. Symons. The commission studied how much Canadian content was taught and recommended many changes. The five‑year Symons process produced two major volumes in 1976, To Know Ourselves: Report of the Commission on Canadian Studies, which cataloged hiring practices and course content, with more than 1,000 recommendations. A third volume, published in 1984, emphasized the need for better data on Canadian education and on future needs for qualified personnel. It also noted that university administrators and faculty associations had not widely adopted the Canadianization guidelines, despite their practicality.

The Symons materials were later archived at Trent University. Outside groups and politicians pushed the issue too, helping to keep attention on Canadian content and hiring fairness. The movement also fit into broader debates of sovereignty, culture, and national identity in Canada during the 1960s–1980s, and it has continued to be discussed by scholars and in cultural policy debates.

Key points
- Origin: Carleton University, 1968, Mathews and Steele
- Goals: fair hiring for Canadians; Canadian majority on faculty; more Canadian content in courses
- Actions: memoranda, public speakings, The Struggle for Canadian Universities dossier
- Government and professional responses: mandatory vacancy advertising (1977), Canadian applicant searches before foreign hires (1981); CAUT guidelines
- Impact: more Canadian content in curricula by 1980; Symons Commission (1972–76) produced major reports; ongoing discussion and study of Canadian studies and policy

Today, Canadianization remains a topic in education and culture, reflecting ongoing questions about national identity, sovereignty, and the role of Canadian content in universities.