Building on the work of the Ad Hoc Committee on Decolonization (2018–2022), the mandate of the Ad Hoc Committee on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), created in Fall 2023, was to coordinate a consultation process aimed at identifying the CSECS’s EDI priorities.
The members of the committee were: Flora Amann (postdoctoral researcher); Joël Castonguay-Bélanger (professor and president of CSECS); Shruti Jain (PhD candidate); Andreas Motsch (professor and member of the CSECS executive committee); Marianne Paquin (PhD candidate); Armelle St-Martin (professor); Kaushik Tekur (PhD candidate).
The committee formulated three proposals, that were adopted at the CSECS General Assembly in Regina (2025) to guide future work towards EDI:
Proposal 1: Creation of Member-Led Caucuses
The EDI Committee recommended the establishment of member-led caucuses to support sustained engagement around intersecting scholarly and pedagogical interests. Caucuses would be flexible in their structure, with the possibility of adjusting their scope and number over time based on member needs and involvement. We further recommend that each caucus be represented within the leadership of the Society to help foster greater inclusivity in decision-making. Proposed themes: Indigeneity, Empire and Race; Pedagogy; Gender and sexuality
Proposal 2: Update conference guidelines
To promote more inclusive and accessible annual conferences, we recommend the adoption of the following measures:
● Circulate the accessibility guidelines developed by eighteenth-century scholars Jason S. Farr and Travis Chi Wing Lau.
● Include a list of digital tools to facilitate the sharing of accessibility copies while addressing concerns about plagiarism and privacy.
● Designate a resource person to help coordinate accessibility accommodations.
● Include a land acknowledgement as part of conference protocols.
● Administer an anonymous post-conference survey on inclusion and accessibility, with a report back at the following conference.
Proposal 3: Creation of a New Award
We recommend the establishment of a new award recognizing the best paper by a junior scholar presented at the annual CSECS conference on a relevant topic. This initiative would affirm the Society’s commitment to inclusive scholarship and highlight innovative research engaging with Indigenous histories and cultures in the context of eighteenth-century studies. By celebrating work in this area, the award would encourage critical inquiry while reflecting the evolving priorities and values of our scholarly community. The evaluation criteria will include: Originality and Merit of the Scholarly Contribution; Critical Engagement with the topic; Scholarly Communication and Accessibility, etc.
