Social Science Federation of Canada

Social Science Federation of Canada

The Social Science Federation of Canada (SSFC) was established in 1940 as the Social Science Research Council of Canada. It and the Canadian Federation of the Humanities (CFH) were amalgamated into a new body, the HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCE FEDERATION OF CANADA (HSSFC), in 1996. A nonprofit organization with registered charity status, the SSFC was incorporated under this name in 1977. It united academic social-science associations and related organizations in the SOCIAL SCIENCES. The federation was a driving force behind many Canadian academic and cultural activities. From 1940 to 1957 it was the only Canadian funding agency for social-science research. The federation, with other organizations, worked for the establishment of the Massey Commission and later the CANADA COUNCIL, from which was derived the present granting council for the social sciences, the SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA (SSHRC). In the 1990s governments made a series of cuts in funding to the SSHRC, which, in turn, were passed on to the SSFC. This trend, and a growing pre-occupation with privatization, has pushed social scientists to find alternative sources of funding and led to the amalgamation of the SSFC and the CFH.

Before its amalgamation, the SSFC concentrated on fulfilling 4 major roles. It acted as an interest group, enabling the Canadian academic social-science community to convey its needs to the government and its agencies. It served as an information gathering and dissemination organization among the government, university and federation and in addition, aimed at increasing public awareness of the contributions of the social sciences to Canadian society. A third SSFC role was to act as a forum for associations of researchers in the social sciences through frequent seminars and meetings. Finally, the SSFC served as a funding organization by administering the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme in collaboration with the CFH. These roles have been taken on by the HSSFC.