Financial Support

Full-time M.A. students in the Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies program receive a minimum funding package comprised of Research Awards and Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA). We encourage all applicants to apply for external scholarships provided through national granting agencies such as SSHRC, and OGS. For information about other scholarship opportunities please visit Graduate Scholarships. M.A. students in our Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies Program at Trent have an enviable success rate in winning scholarships. 

University level funding and financial aid information is posted on the Graduate Studies web page.

Program Specific Awards

The M.A. in Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies is grateful to have the support of donors who have made available the scholarships listed below. Funds are granted at the time of admission and are assessed automatically.

Eugene Forsey Scholarship

Named in honour of Senator Eugene Forsey, activist and constitutional expert, former Chancellor of the University and member of the Board of Governors. Awarded to deserving students entering the MA Program in Canadian Studies & Indigenous Studies to pursue their work on questions of importance to the country Eugene Forsey loved so much.

Fred Roots Scholarship – Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies Graduate Scholarship

A gift from Dr. Fred Roots to be used for northern research and/or translation of research materials in the North.

Mary Northway Graduate Award in Canadian Studies

Established in honour of Mary Northway (1909-1987). Based on the recommendation of the Programme, these funds will be distributed to graduate students in Canadian Studies & Indigenous Studies. Priority will be given to qualified incoming PhD students, but MA students are also eligible for lower amounts of funding. Any one individual award in any one year will not normally exceed $5,000. OSOTF guidelines apply.

Alan Wilson Graduate Student Entrance Scholarship

Established in 2009, in honour of Dr. Alan Wilson, founding chair of both the History and Canadian Studies programs. Awarded to Trent graduate students in the Canadian Studies PhD, History MA, and Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies MA graduate programs. These scholarships will be offered to students with outstanding academic records.

Graduate Teaching Assistantships

GTAs assist with undergraduate instruction, and may lead seminar groups in courses, or do marking. The field of instruction is normally related to the department of the student's supervisor, as regulated by the Collective Agreement. GTA work commitments are limited to a maximum of 10 hours per week

Graduate students find these GTA assignments useful in several respects: for those interested in pursuing further graduate studies, TAing provides exposure to the stimulation and challenges of university teaching. TAing also broadens contact with the larger Trent community, offering opportunities to meet faculty, staff, and students, and to become engaged with the larger project of university research and teaching.

Research Work

Prospective students can explore opportunities to enhance their funding and gain work experience in the summer months with research assistantships. Consult the following list of professors, with their research areas, and if you are interested, contact the professor directly to ask about future opportunities.

May Chazan maychazan@trentu.ca - Canada Research Chair in Gender and Feminist Studies. opportunities for student research through internships, research assistantships, training opportunities, and forms of collaboration. Areas of interest: activism, community mobilization, and social change; community-based and feminist methodologies; oral history; digital storytelling; activist archiving; intergenerational alliances; solidarities across difference (including Indigenous-settler alliances); politics of (grand)motherhood; and aging.  Aging Activisms Research Page

Joan Sangster jsangster@trentu.ca  - women's and social movements, feminism, work and society, social policy

Mark Skinner mskinner@trentu.ca - Rural aging; Rural health care; Rural community sustainability; Voluntarism and the voluntary sector; Community-based research; Trent Centre for Aging & Society