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1957: Centre for Community Studies Established
In its final volume, the report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture
and Rural Life recommended the creation of a Centre for Community Studies. Established as a joint University-Government
program, the Centre was created in 1957.
Its objective was to undertake research, disseminate knowledge and offer
specialized advice with respect to the applied social sciences and the
processes of community education. It
specialized in the theory and practice of community change and development,
using an inter-disciplinary approach: its staff came from sociology, economics,
anthropology, social psychology, and history.
Professor W.B. Baker, who had chaired the Royal Commission and had been
in charge of the University’s School of Agriculture, was named director of the
Centre.
Despite a long tradition of extension activity by the University, the
Royal Commission had clearly indicated it considered more effort
necessary. The Centre’s mandate
included studying “means of helping all Saskatchewan communities adjust to a
changing world.”1 In 1966 provincial funding to the Centre was
discontinued, and it was incorporated as the Canadian Centre for Community
Studies, with a head office in Ottawa.
Related Collections | |
Centre for Community Studies fonds, RG 2068.
Images | |
1957a: Royal Commission on Agriculture and Rural Life. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool fonds, MG 247.
1957b: Report. Centre for Community Studies fonds, RG 2068.
Sources | |
1. Hayden, pp. 229-230.
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