Message From Chief Executive Officer

This past year was extremely impactful for the Fulbright program in Canada and worldwide. We were able to fully restore our programs and host in-person events and activities. I would like to congratulate all of our extraordinary students and scholars, who are genuinely curious and highly accomplished individuals, exceptional scholars, and engaged community leaders. They are our future.

We offered our first in-person orientation in Ottawa and our first Killam Spring Seminar in Washington DC in almost three years. We were also able, at long last, to celebrate our 30th anniversary. We hosted a gala in Vancouver, the home of our new regional office, where we celebrated diversity and partnership in all their forms. These events support our mission and mandate and are critical to the Fulbright experience. Residential academic exchange is about stepping out of one’s comfort zone, understanding the world from a different perspective, and meeting new people.

Michael Hawes Chief Executive Officer

On the program front, we took our Arctic Scholars to Canada’s Northwest Territories, where we met with Indigenous leaders and community members in Yellowknife, Aklavik, and Inuvik. What a wonderful, eye-opening experience. We also hosted two meetings of our Honouring Nations Canada Circle of Advisors in Toronto and Vancouver. This Indigenousled and Indigenous Informed program recognizes and celebrates good governance in Indigenous communities, supports young Indigenous leaders, and produces policy briefs on matters of critical importance to Indigenous people. We also connected our Fulbright Canada – Mitacs American students with their research hosts in universities across Canada. Finally, on the program side, we hosted the finals for our amazing post-COVID Challenge. Please read about all of these programs and initiatives in this report.

All of this has occurred in the context of our overall growth strategy and our firm commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA). Like excellence, EDIA is a foundational commitments at Fulbright Canada.

The past few years have been challenging in so many ways. In 2022, we experienced the aftermath of the pandemic, a growing mental health crisis, challenges to democratic institutions concerning geostrategic events and trends, inflation, rapid technological advances, and enrolment and retention pressures at colleges and universities. These are challenging times. All of this heightened our resolve and reminded us that the work we support is more critical now than ever. We were able to do all these things and be all of these things because we have a truly dedicated staff, an engaged and dedicated Board of Directors led by Board Chair Danny McCarthy, two incredibly supportive governments, a host of unwavering partners, and of course, a group of patient, thoughtful, and accomplished grantees.