About the Journal
Canada Watch is the flagship publication of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies. It is a magazine-style publication geared towards short analytical pieces on key issues and realities in the study of Canada. Focused on highlighting the scholarship of members of the Robarts Centre community and invited Canadianists, it includes both thematic issues and issues based on events such as graduate student conferences.
Content Warning
To celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2024, the Robarts Centre is making public all past issues, in an online and open access format. Some of these records may include content, framing and language that are questionable or unacceptable by today’s standards. It also includes past contributors who are now considered polarizing or controversial figures in some circles. These archival records are made public in the interest of transparency and accountability. Readers should be aware that some of the content and contributions might be upsetting.
Current Issue
Forty years ago, the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies opened at York University. Since then, much has changed in the country, in the University, and at the Robarts Centre. In this, the first of two issues of Canada Watch focused on those 40 years, we invited contributions from York scholars, staff, visitors to the Centre, and former students who were part of this process. President emeritus Ian Macdonald’s article describes the origins of the Centre and the reasons behind the first focus on the existential “Canada–Québec” question that preoccupied the country during the 1980s. This subject continues in three contemporary essays looking back at that period.
