Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy outlines the nation’s intention to strengthen commerce and trade relations, as well as provide for a multitude of opportunities for Canadian businesses and workers. The Indo-Pacific region contributes to more than one third of the international economic activity and Canada recognizes the vital need to strengthen ties with this region.
Importantly, Canada’s deep history of migration and immigration are intertwined with the Indo-Pacific Region as Canada’s largest diasporas are from this area; there are also hundreds of thousands of Canadians living in the Indo-Pacific. Therefore, the goal is to think of Canada as Asia Pacific country and British Columbia as an Asia Pacific economy due to the province’s unique history of cultural exchange, prosperous trade relations with economies across the region, and being geographically adjacent to the coastline.
The aim of this project is to support small cities and their local chamber of commerce by empowering local business communities in forging connections with the Indo-Pacific Region. The overall objective for this project is to develop a live document that will support chambers through an on-going strategy analysis and provide policy recommendations based on this research. This will help foster opportunities for strengthening relationships between community businesses and the Indo-Pacific region, which will further the mutual opportunities for growth between Canada and the Indo-Pacific.
Terry Kading, PhD
Associate Professor, Political Science
Thompson Rivers University
Dr. Terry Kading’s research interests have been in the areas of Comparative Politics (Developing Nations) with an initial focus on Latin America (Nicaragua & Guatemala), and then on Canadian Government (local government and federalism) as a researcher through a Community-University Research Award (CURA) on Mapping Quality of Life and the Culture of Small Cities (2006-12). The latter project resulted in several research reports in collaboration with the municipal government and community organizations in Kamloops, B.C., and two edited collections, No Straight Lines: Local Leadership and the Path from Government to Governance in Small Cities (University of Calgary Press, 2018) and (with Christopher Walmsley) Small cities, Big Issues: Reconceiving Community in a Neoliberal Era (Athabasca University Press, 2018).
His recent research focus is on understanding federal, provincial, and urban policy challenges in the 21st century in relation to the areas of trade, investment, immigration, and international education. He teaches courses on Canadian and American government, contemporary ideologies, federalism in Canada, and Canadian public policy and administration, and is a program and thesis advisor within the Master of Science program in Environmental Science at Thompson Rivers University.
Jill McDermid, BA
Graduate Practicum Student,
Thompson Rivers University
Jill is a graduate student in the MA in Human Rights and Social Justice at Thompson River University (TRU). Jill holds a BA in English Literature from TRU. She has extensive leadership experience in retail and hospitality management with a background in working with diverse, multigenerational teams and development of national training programs. Jill has previously worked as a Research Assistant to Dr. Wilson Bell for his project on 44th Lenin Avenue. She is proficient in French, German, and Russian, and capable of basic conversation in several other languages. Jill’s current thesis work involves the examination of bureaucratic violence, systemic racism and prolonged precarity imposed by Canada’s immigration policies. Her research interests include migration, immigration policy, genocide studies, extremism, terrorism, internal displacement, human security, and humanitarian aid.
Gurinder S. Purewal, BA
Research Fellow & Graduate Practicum Student,
Canada And The Asia-Pacific Policy Project and Thompson Rivers University
Gurinder is a current graduate student in the MA in Human Rights and Social Justice program at Thompson Rivers University. He holds a BA in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Victoria (UVIC). Gurinder’s professional experience includes working in higher education and student services roles at UVIC for over 3 years. His research interests include the politics and security dynamics of South Asia and the Indo-Pacific; bilateral relations between Canada and India; diaspora, extremism, and social movement studies in South Asia; as well as the examination of human rights violations in developing states.