Here’s a look back at past winners and the books that made that year’s shortlist. You’ll also find our Jury from each award season.
2018 WINNER
INDIGENOUS NATIONALS, CANADIAN CITIZENS: FROM FIRST CONTACT TO CANADA 150 AND BEYOND
THOMAS J. COURCHENE
(INSTITUTE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS, SCHOOL OF POLICY STUDIES, QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY )
In a masterful work on one of the most important themes of our country’s public policy history, Courchene lays out the historical, legal, and socio-economic context for Indigenous policy formation in Canada and, drawing on this background, makes a proposal (the Commonwealth of Sovereign Indigenous Nations) to catalyze debate. Courchene’s fresh policy prescription works to reconcile two competing goals: recognizing Indigenous rights and promoting Canadian economic and resource development, while creating a compelling case for significant change.
RUNNERS – UP
POPULATION BOMBED! EXPLODING THE LINK BETWEEN OVERPOPULATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE
PIERRE DESROCHERS & JOANNA SZURMAK
(GLOBAL WARMING POLICY FOUNDATION)
Many scholars, activists and policy-makers have linked population growth to environmental degradation, including catastrophic climate change. The authors argue that significant improvements in human well-being in recent years, longer lifespans, improved health, abundant resources and a general improvement in the environment, counter this claim. Desrochers and Szurmak provide a useful and provocative contribution to the policy debate by challenging the models and assumptions upon which the new population control narrative is built, and argue that population growth alongside economic development represent the only practical way forward.
BASIC INCOME FOR CANADIANS: THE KEY TO A HEALTHIER, HAPPIER, MORE SECURE LIFE FOR ALL
EVELYN L. FORGET
(JAMES LORIMER & COMPANY LTD.)
In the last forty years, the labour market has fundamentally changed. Good, full-time jobs have been replaced by part-time or temporary work that pays lower wages, offers fewer benefits and rarely comes with union support. Economic insecurity is now a feature of the lives of large numbers of people. Those forced to rely on provincial income assistance or disability support find themselves trapped in a system that perpetuates dependence. This situation has given life to an old idea – basic income, a system of unconditional income – which Forget explores from a Canadian perspective, making a compelling and enlightening case that shows basic income improves family and community health and well-being, improves financial resilience, and access to education and training at an affordable cost.
UNIVERSITY COMMONS DIVIDED: EXPLORING DEBATE & DISSENT ON CAMPUS
PETER MACKINNON
(UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS)
Universities are once again on the front lines of the “culture wars”, sparking an intensity of debate last seen in the 1960s. The traditional precepts of academic freedom, freedom of expression, and the very role of the university—whether as impartial truth-seeker, or as agent of social justice—are at stake. In a book that will inspire debate, MacKinnon examines a range of recent incidents with a view to exploring new challenges within universities, such as technology and social media, and the extent to which the idea of the university as “commons”, a site for open and contentious disagreement, may be under threat.
EXCESSIVE FORCE: TORONTO’S FIGHT TO REFORM CITY POLICING
ALOK MUKHERJEE WITH TIM HARPER
(DOUGLAS & MCINTYRE)
Alok Mukherjee was the civilian overseer of the Toronto police between 2005 and 2015, during the most tumultuous decade the force had ever faced. With the issue of appropriate police conduct a daily media staple and consequently a major concern of all levels of government, Mukherjee played a leading role in shaping the national conversation about policing, sketching a new way forward for law enforcement. Along with Tim Harper, he offers an excellent and timely book that deals with issues of policing in one of the most ethnically diverse cities of the world.
2018 DONNER JURY
DAVID A. DODGE
Chair
David A. Dodge, O.C., F.R.S.C., has been named this year’s jury Chair. A former Governor of the Bank of Canada from 2001 to 2008 and Chancellor of Queen’s University from 2008 to 2015, David Dodge is currently Senior Advisor at Bennett Jones LLP, chair of the National Council of the C.D. Howe Institute, and member of the boards of CIFAR and CCA. During his government career, Dr. Dodge has been the G7 Deputy Minister of Finance and Deputy Minister of Health. During his academic career, he taught economics at Queen’s University; at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; at the Faculty of Commerce at the University of British Columbia; and at Simon Fraser University.
Jean-Marie Dufour
Jean-Marie Dufour, O.C., O.Q., is the William Dow Professor of Political Economy at McGill University, and Fellow of the Econometric Society, the American Statistical Association, the International Association for Applied Econometrics, the Canadian Economics Association (CEA), and the Royal Society of Canada. He is also the Director of the Canadian Econometric Study Group, and Research Fellow at CIRANO and CIREQ. Dr. Dufour has served as President of the CEA and the Société canadienne de science économique (SCSE). During his academic career, he has also held a Bank of Canada Research Fellowship, a Canada Research Chair (Econometrics, Université de Montréal), the Pierre-de-Fermat Chair of Excellence (Toulouse School of Economics), the Banco Santander Chair of Excellence (Universitad Carlos III de Madrid), and has received numerous prizes, including the Killam and Léon-Gérin Prizes for Social Sciences, the John Rae Prize (CEA), the Marcel-Dagenais Prize (SCSE), a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Konrad Adenauer Research Award (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany).
BRENDA EATON
Brenda Eaton is a director serving on corporate, not-for-profit, private and crown corporation boards. Currently Transelec Chair, she is also a member of the Boards of FortisBC, Westland Insurance, Technical Safety BC and the Core Area sewage treatment project board. Prior to becoming a corporate director, Ms. Eaton was Deputy Minister to the Premier of British Columbia, as well as Deputy Minister of Finance and Treasury Board; Energy and Mines; and Social Services. For several years she was Chief Financial Officer at a Health Authority. Ms. Eaton is also active in the not-for-profit sector including Alzheimer’s Society of B.C., Vancouver Foundation, Triathlon Canada and Max Bell Foundation. Ms. Eaton has a Master’s Degree in Economics. She has received several recognition awards including the Queen’s Jubilee Award for community contribution, University of Victoria’s Distinguished Alumni and WXN’s 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada.
Jennifer A. Jeffs
Jennifer A. Jeffs, a foreign policy professional, is a Senior Research Associate with the Creating Digital Opportunity Project at Innovation Policy Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto and co-chairs the international editorial board of International Journal, Canada’s premier global policy journal. Dr. Jeffs is the former President of the Canadian International Council (CIC), Canada’s independent, non-partisan, international affairs institute and Founding Director of the Centro de Estudios y Programas Interamericanos (CEPI), based at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in Mexico City, where she was also a professor in the Department of International Studies.
Peter Nicholson
Peter Nicholson, O.C., has served in numerous posts in government, business, science and higher education. He was born in Halifax and studied physics at Dalhousie University, where he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He went on to get a Ph.D. in operations research at Stanford University and began his academic career by teaching computer science at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Nicholson was a member of the Nova Scotia Legislature and has served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy in the Office of the Prime Minister. He has also held senior executive positions with Scotiabank and BCE, was the Special Advisor to the Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and was the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Canadian Academies. He currently splits his time between Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, and Austin, Texas.