The Importance of Evidence-Based Research in an Election
Trent University History Professor, Dr. Joan Sangster, writes editorial on 2015 Canadian Federal Election
“Without knowing our immigration and refugee history, how will we do the right thing? Without political economists analyzing different carbon pricing programs, how can we judge short and long-term consequences of our decisions? Without social scientists comparing child care programs across the world and within Canada, how will we know which to choose?” These are just a few of the crucial questions that Dr. Joan Sangster, a professor of History and Women’s Studies at Trent University, brings up in her most recent blog post published this week in the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Together with Stephen Toope, President of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor Sangster weighed in on the five televised leaders’ debates in the 2015 Canadian federal election.
She notes the critical but often overlooked role of expert research, knowledge production and reliable evidence in shaping our understanding of the urgent political issues.
Read the full piece penned by Prof. Joan Sangster http://www.ideas-idees.ca/blog/knowledge-matters-our-election
Dr. Joan Sangster
Prof. Joan Sangster has written articles and books on working women and labour movement, the history of the Left, feminist theory and historiography, the criminalization of women and girls, and Aboriginal women and the law. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, she has held a Killam fellowship, as well as visiting professorships at Duke, Princeton, and McGill Universities. A recipient of both Trent’s Symons Teaching award and the University Research Award, she has also been a Dean of Graduate Studies, Director of the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies, and has also chaired the Departments of History and Gender and Women’s Studies.