Canada envoy in city today

VADODARA, Oct 27: High Commissioner of Canada in India Peter Walker is coming on a day8217;s visit to the city on Thursday. Besides meeting academics involved in the development of Canadian Studies at M S University, he will give a talk on Canada-India relations8217; at 5.30 p.m. in the seminar room of the English department, Faculty of Arts. O P Juneja of the Centre for Canadian Studies, which has been functioning since 1991, said the centre8217;s status has been elevated to Area Studies Centere in Canadian Studies by the University Grants Commission during the IXth Five Year Plan.

The Centre will shortly function on a multi-disciplinary basis and will operate as an independent administrative and academic unit to earn the status of a University department. Four faculty positions 8212; a professor, a reader and two lecturers 8212; from different disciplines of Canadian Studies, besides two scholars on attachment basis, a couple of diplomats as Ambassadors in Residence, and a Documentation Office for the sectional library are stipulated to be sanctioned for the Centre.

MSU is the only university in India which has been offering Canadian courses in the Department of English since 1984. Besides three Ph.Ds, eight M Phils, and more than 100 M. A. degrees in English department, the university has awarded M.A., M. Phil. and Ph. D. degrees on Indo-Canadian topics in the departments of History, Political Science and Business Economics.

About a dozen faculty members and students have visited Canada on fellowships and scholarships. The centre has published 10 books, including Indo-Canadian Business Relations8217; and Women and Development8217;. Its most recent publication India in Canadian Literature8217; by Jitesh Parikh and Vimal Dhawan will be released by Dr Waterfall during his visit. Meanwhile, the centre will host the Fourth interdisciplinary workshop on Canadian Studies in January 2000 in which six Canadian and 20 Indian academics will discuss Indo-Canadian issues for over two weeks. Films related to Indians in Canada will also be screened during the workshop.