After the terrible attacks last week in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Ottawa, the nation’s capital is slowly but surely returning to regularly scheduled activities. Parliament has re-opened to the public, municipal elections were held yesterday, schools are open, and all citizens in Ottawa are reclaiming the basic freedoms and rights essential to our open and democratic society. The Federation and its staff experienced a precautionary office lock down and tense moments last week as we struggled to understand, alongside so many, what was happening a few blocks away.
This week, the Federation is pleased to be part of getting Ottawa working again: we are hosting a Big Thinking lecture on Parliament Hill featuring Bartha Knoppers who will speak about the impact of “Big Data on our healthcare system”. We note that across the country many scholars and students in our community are actively participating in the debates and discussion about how to forge a path forward to ensure peace, security and human rights for all. To highlight the vital role that the humanities and social sciences community is playing in shaping public thinking and response, over the next few weeks we will be featuring in our social media space a partial sampling of the diverse contributions from our research community being made on this theme.