Canadianization movement

Canadianization or the Canadianization movement refers partly to a campaign launched at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada in 1968 by Robin Mathews and James Steele. The purpose of the campaign was to ensure that Carleton as an employer treated Canadian citizens equitably and that Canadians would remain or become at least a two-thirds majority of the teaching staff. Although Carleton was the particular institution addressed in the recommendations of Mathews and Steele, they were concerned about fairness for Canadian scholars in the hiring practices of all Canadian universities and about a lack of Canadian content in many courses. Although their recommendations were rejected at Carleton, concern about Canadianization was widespread. Eventually, all universities in Canada were required by the Canadian government to follow employment practices that were more fair for Canadians, and the number and percentage of courses with Canadian content in Canadian universities increased remarkably. The problem of Canadianization was the subject of a three-volume report prepared by the Commission on Canadian Studies chaired by Professor T.H.B. Symons (formerly President of Trent University). Between 1960 and 1980, many other cultural organizations “Canadianized” in one way or another. The movement has remained a subject of discussion in recent years, and the term “Canadianization” has been applied, often retrospectively, to analogous or similar movements.