The Canada Prizes: Unwritten histories, unfolding futures
By Mahmoud Shabeeb
The Canada Prizes celebrate outstanding voices in the humanities and social sciences, championing the transformative impact of scholarly books and honouring research that reshapes our understanding of community, justice, and belonging. The 2025 Prizes' ceremony, The Canada Prizes: Unwritten histories, unfolding futures, was a tribute to five exceptional authors whose works shed light on often-overlooked issues and challenge us to imagine a more inclusive Canada.
Watch the full ceremony from Congress 2025 below.
Honouring transformative scholarship
The event, moderated by Charmaine Levy, began with a heartfelt acknowledgment of the Federation’s Academic Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), whose support makes these awards possible. Levy set the tone by reminding the audience that these books are not only scholarly achievements but also vital interventions into public life, drawing significantly from personal experiences. Works that “bear witness to the enduring value of knowledge.”
This year’s winners are:
- Population Control: Theorizing Institutional Violence by Jen Rinaldi and Kate Rossiter (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
- Vieillissement et crise du logement : gentrification, précarité et résistance by Julien Simard (Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal)
- Tricky Grounds: Indigenous Women’s Experiences in Canadian University Administration by Dr. Candace Brunette-Debassige (University of Regina Press)
- Mille après mille : Célébrité et migrations dans le Nord-Est américain by Pierre Lavoie (Éditions du Boréal)
- D’Arthur Buies à Gabrielle Roy : Une histoire littéraire du reportage au Québec (1870-1945) by Charlotte Biron (Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal)
Learn more about the Canada Prizes