Message from the Board Chair and the Chief Executive Officer

As the Fulbright Canada Board Chair, it is my privilege to formally acknowledge and congratulate the students and scholars who successfully competed for a prestigious Fulbright Canada award in 2020-2021. Their drive, ambition, and vision – not to mention their incredible accomplishments – are genuinely impressive, especially under the circumstances.

Fulbright Canada grantees represent the best and brightest in our two countries. We need to engage them more than ever. Given the global health emergency, several extraordinary individuals who won Fulbright grants had to defer or decline their awards through no fault of their own. I am confident, though, that their paths will lead to remarkable accomplishments.

I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank my colleagues on the Fulbright Canada Board of Directors for their unwavering support for the program and their commitment to our mission. The board is a talented, diverse, and dedicated group of individuals from government, the university community, and the private sector whose leadership is a testament to our collective willingness to invest in the future and our ability to navigate even the most challenging circumstances. I would like to thank our many partners, especially the two governments. Their commitment to the program speaks to their belief in the next generation. Moreover, their added support and ongoing flexibility allowed us to focus not just on the professional side of the program but on the health, welfare, and safety of our entire community. Moreover, they worked with us to find ways to engage underrepresented populations and support the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, and access.

It is my pleasure to serve as the Fulbright Canada Board Chair. I enjoy working with this group of exceptional educators, business professionals, and senior government officials. We are proud to support the work of the outstanding Fulbright Canada management team under the leadership of Dr. Michael Hawes.

This year marked the 75th anniversary of the global Fulbright program and the 30th anniversary of Fulbright Canada. I invite you to take a few minutes to look at this report and learn more about our challenges, opportunities, and successes.

Seventy-five years ago, the Fulbright Program was established with an ambitious goal – to increase mutual understanding and peaceful relations between people in the United States and around the world. This powerful message has carried through to today. As we look back on the past year, I am inspired by the strength and resiliency demonstrated by our partners and grantees as we came together to find ways to engage in meaningful academic exchange even as we all struggled with the persistence and severity of the pandemic.

This year also marked the 30th anniversary of the Fulbright Program in Canada. We launched several new initiatives to commemorate this important milestone, including Honouring Nations Canada and our post-COVID Challenge. Founded in conjunction with our partners at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness, Honouring Nations Canada is an Indigenous-led and Indigenous-informed initiative to recognize best practices in Indigenous communities and invest in Indigenous youth. The post-COVID Challenge reflects our commitment to engage youth, especially from underrepresented populations, whose vision and commitment will undoubtedly play a critical role in shaping the post-COVID world. At the same time, we increased the value of our student stipends and expanded our operations in western Canada.

To say this past year has been challenging would be an understatement. Despite the many obstacles we faced as a community, Fulbright Canada has successfully supported a large, diverse, and accomplished cohort of grantees. Driven by our commitment to international educational exchange, the reality of social and economic interdependence, and the critical role that leading-edge research plays in a world that is transforming itself before our very eyes, our extraordinary students and scholars once again rose to the challenge.

The work we support is more critical now than ever. The continued support of the two governments, our dedicated Board of Directors, led by Daniel McCarthy, our many partners across the two countries, and our alumni have allowed us to grow the Fulbright Program in Canada and support some genuinely exceptional students and scholars.