Award Information
In 1992 the Society for Applied Anthropology in Canada established the Weaver-Tremblay Award, naming it after Marc-Adélard Tremblay and Sally Weaver, two of Canada’s most respected anthropologists. Both Weaver and Tremblay were instrumental in the founding of CASCA, an initiative prompted by a range of factors, but a central principle was their belief that anthropologists and their professional associations need to examine and address matters of social and political concern. The award was subsequently moved to CASCA’s jurisdiction and has been presented to a series of distinguished colleagues during the past 30 years.
Marc-Adélard Tremblay was one of Canada’s most distinguished teachers and researchers in the social sciences. Founder of the anthropology department at Laval University, a champion of team research employing innovative interdisciplinary research methodologies, his work has focused on understanding the complexities of community response to rapidly changing social conditions. Some of the particular communities with whom he worked include Nova Scotia Acadians, the Navajo in the American Southwest, and the francophone communities of Quebec’s Lower North Shore and in Alberta. The work for which he is most widely known in English Canada is the Hawthorn-Tremblay Report. From 1964 and 1968, he was associate director of this federal survey of Canadian Native People.
Sally Weaver’s second book, The Making of Canadian Indian Policy, published in 1981, has been called one of the most important books in English-language Social Sciences of the 20th century. Her critique was instrumental in dismantling the Canadian Department of Indian Affairs as it existed in the 1970s, and for the launching of a system of land claims for Indigenous people in Canada. While a far from perfect system, the latter is a significant improvement of the blatantly discriminatory policies of earlier eras. She taught at the University of Waterloo starting in 1966, chairing the department for several years.
Both Weaver and Tremblay were instrumental in the founding of CASCA, an initiative prompted by a range of factors. But a central principle was their belief that professional associations need, where appropriate, to take public positions on matters of social and political concern, particularly in cases which directly impact those who have been the traditional subject of anthropological study.
The award was moved to CASCA’s jurisdiction, and the association has had the honour over the years to present it to such distinguished colleagues as Joan Ryan (1993), Michael Ames (1994), Paul Charest (1995), Peter Stephenson (1997), Michael Robinson (1998), Michael Asch (2001), Pierre Beaucage (2002), Donat Savoie (2003), Elvi Whittaker (2004), Herman Konrad (2005, posthumously), Richard Preston (2006), Penny Van Esterik (2007), Harvey Feit (2008), James Waldram (2009), Gilles Bibeau (2010), Pamela Downe (2011), Adrian Tanner (2013), Regna Darnell (2014), Marie France Labrecque (2015), Janice Graham (2016), Margaret Critchlow (2017), Dara Culhane (2018), Noel Dyck (2019), Bruce Granville Miller (2020), Francine Saillant (2021), Jasmin Habib (2022), Colin Scott (2023), Carole Lévesque (2024).
Eligibility
The award is for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada. The Weaver Tremblay Award is awarded annually to an anthropologist who has made extraordinary contributions to Canadian Applied Anthropology.
Nominations should include a CV, a cover letter from the nominator explaining why the candidate is worthy of the award, and any supporting material the nominator feels is important, including (but not limited to) publications and letters from other academics and/or community organizations. Such letters serve to strengthen the file. We also ask that you attach a separate biography of the nominee, one that could be used on the website if the nominee is presented with the Weaver-Tremblay Award.
The winner is invited to deliver a plenary address at the CASCA annual conference, which is normally published in Anthropologica.
The association covers travel costs at CASCA executive rates. The winner also receives a medal. Normally, the winner chairs the adjudication committee for the competition the following year.
Submission
Nominations for the next recipient of the Weaver-Tremblay Award should be received by February 15, 2024 and addressed to the CASCA President, Monica Heller.
If you have any questions, please contact Daniel Salas González – CASCA Secretary.
