-
Canadian Political Science Association2025 Annual Conference Programme
The Politics of Belonging: Conflict,
Community, Curriculum
Hosted at George Brown College, Toronto, CANADA
June 3 to June 5, 20252025 Annual Conference Programme
The Politics of Belonging: Conflict,
Community, Curriculum
Hosted at George Brown College
June 3 to June 5, 2025
Law and Public Policy
D17 - Roundtable: Intersectionality and Canadian Public Policy: Structure, Power and Politics
Date: Jun 5 | Time: 10:15am to 11:45am | Location:
Chair/Président/Présidente : Tammy Findlay (Mount Saint Vincent University)
Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Nicole Bernhardt (University of Toronto)
Tari Ajadi (McGill University)Leah Levac (University of Guelph )
Laura Pin (Wilfrid Laurier University)
Ethel Tungohan (York University)
Abstract: From the foundational work of the Institute for Intersectionality Research and Policy at Simon Fraser University, to the widely used feminist intersectionality tools of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women, to the development of the GBA+ framework by Women and Gender Equality (WAGE), intersectional policy analysis in Canada has flourished. However, there continues to be several challenges and tensions in the application of intersectionality to public policy (Hankivsky and Mussell 2019; Findlay 2019). A key point of contention stems from different (and conflicting) understandings of intersectionality which have significant implications for its transformative potential. This roundtable will explore what a “consciously structural and political” (Bernhardt and Cooper 2022) intersectional analysis can bring to the study of public policy. Participants on this roundtable with expertise in intersectionality and public policy will consider: • What is your conceptualization of intersectionality? • What does it mean to approach intersectionality as a political, rather than merely a technical exercise? • How does its roots in Black feminism and critical race theory influence your use of intersectionality? • How do legal rights frameworks advance or inhibit intersectional analysis? • How do you navigate the tension between intersectionality and decolonization? • What are the opportunities and challenges of applying intersectionality to the realm of public policy? • What, if anything is unique about employing intersectionality in the Canadian policy context?