“Canada, like any other country, is best understood in comparison
with others,” says UBC Economics Prof. John Helliwell. “I see my
international and Canada-related research to be tightly and beneficially
linked.”
Helliwell has been appointed to the Brenda and David McLean Chair
in Canadian Studies for 1999-2001 at UBC, one of few such endowed
chairs in the country.
Helliwell’s most recent research — an empirical study of the brain
drain — showed the facts don’t support the widespread perception
that large numbers of Canadians are immigrating to the U.S. His
most recent publication, the thought-provoking book How Much
Do National Borders Matter? earned the 1998 Purvis Memorial
Prize for the best work on Canadian economic policy.
Richard Cavell, associate professor of English and chair of UBC’s
Canadian Studies, says Helliwell’s appointment is an important step
in the evolution of such programs. Canadian Studies sprang up on
campuses across the nation in the 1960s, when many worried that
Canada was getting short shrift on university curricula.
“Canadian Studies is now an international phenomenon with some
235 programs around the world,” says Cavell. “The result has been
an increasingly global perspective on Canadian issues.”
The McLean family, which endowed the chair in 1992, has always
been fascinated by Canadian Studies and feels more time should be
devoted to it at universities. The endowment supports the incumbent’s
research and teaching as well as a UBC Press publication of lectures,
a major and minor program in Canadian Studies and a popular speakers’
program.
Canadian Studies co-ordinates approximately 100 Canadian content
courses from across UBC’s Faculty of Arts, as well as dedicated
courses.
Helliwell is a Vancouver native and Rhodes Scholar with degrees
from UBC and Oxford, where he taught before returning to UBC in
1967. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an officer
of the Order of Canada.
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