George Brown Polytechnic is located on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and other Indigenous peoples who have lived here over time. We are grateful to share this land as treaty people who learn, work and live in the community with each other.
For 94 years, Canada’s largest academic gathering has convened for a week in cities across the federated nation to share findings, refine ideas and build partnerships that help shape the country.
Never before has a college hosted the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences until now.
George Brown College (GBC) stepped up to the plate, partnering with the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences for this year’s ground-breaking Congress that challenges over 7,000 delegates to model togetherness by questioning traditional knowledge hierarchies and collaborating on fundamental and applied research solutions for humanity’s historically rooted problems.
“We are at an interesting pivotal point as humanity,” noted GBC’s President Dr. Gervan Fearon at a reception on May 30 to kick off this year’s Congress. “Never before did we ever feel that we had tools that could compete with the IQ of a human. When we start thinking through where science is, we recognize that it is the humanities of social sciences that put all that we do in a frame that makes sense to us to live together.”
The conference theme is ‘Reframing togetherness’.
Fearon stated that it is an important and timely theme, highlighting the shifting ways people connect, support one another and build community in today’s world.
“We live in a world of incredible challenges, but I don’t think that we should eclipse the set of opportunities that are there,” he pointed out. “Through that, reframing togetherness means how do we as individuals come together to start thinking about how we meet some of the challenges, but equally how we see some of the opportunities.”
With formal academic collaborations that allow students, faculty and institutions to benefit from shared resources and opportunities becoming more prevalent, Fearon said the partners share a mission of contributing to humanity.
“As a result, this amazing event that the federation has been willing to go across with really demonstrates the opportunity for us to work together and make a significant contribution to not only scholarship and the academic pursuits of individuals, but indeed society,” the Canada-Caribbean Institute co-founder added.
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences President & Chief Executive Officer Karine Morin praised Fearon and his team for partnering with the federation to break the barrier and start a new chapter in academic discourse.
“That is ground-breaking, that is history-making and that is opening up a bright new future for the Federation for Humanities and Social Sciences,” she said. “This milestone reflects the importance of building stronger connections across institutions and our communities. We need those connections more than ever…Welcoming thousands of attendees across two campuses in a large bustling city is no small undertaking. We are so grateful for everything you have done to make this possible. Hospitality is clearly a strength of George Brown College, but so is audacity.”
Read the full article at RonFanfair.com