Professor Wolfgang Alschner has been awarded a Partnership Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to lead a major new research initiative exploring this important international challenge. Professor Alschner’s project, entitled “Economic statecraft and critical minerals value chains: Canada's emerging transnational governance framework for supplying the world while diversifying from China,” will focus on how Canada can strengthen its critical minerals supply chains to remain both competitive and secure amid shifting global dynamics.
Professor Alschner, serving as Principal Investigator on the project, will lead a collaborative and transdisciplinary team that includes Co-Director Professor Patrick Leblond of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Social Sciences, as well as a network of partners from academia, think tanks, and industry. Among the project’s key collaborators is Professor Geneviève Dufour of the Faculty of Law’s Civil Law Section, whose expertise in sustainable development and trade law will ensure that the project’s recommendations reflect responsible trade practices and are aligned with business realities and Canadian interests.
Canada’s critical minerals sector lies at the heart of global efforts to power advanced technologies, from clean energy solutions to semiconductors. With the federal government’s 2022 Critical Minerals Strategy (CMS), Canada has laid out an ambitious vision: to become a secure and reliable supplier of critical minerals and value-added products for global markets, while reducing its dependence on China. This strategy positions Canada to play a pivotal role in enabling the green and digital transitions around the world.
Yet, as Professor Alschner’s project highlights, questions remain about the effectiveness of Canada’s growing web of transnational agreements, partnerships, and trade measures aimed at securing this goal. This research aims to assess how well Canada’s emerging critical minerals governance framework connects Canadian industry to global value chains, while advancing national security and sustainability objectives.
Canada’s approach includes adapting trade and investment agreements, establishing critical minerals partnerships with allied countries, and deploying domestic policy tools such as export guarantees and foreign investment screening. By evaluating the strengths and shortcomings of these measures, the project aims to provide evidence-based recommendations to strengthen Canada’s transnational critical minerals strategy.
Over the course of three years, the research team will engage closely with industry stakeholders and policy experts, bringing together a unique combination of academic research and industry insight. Activities will include comprehensive industry surveys, the creation of a first-of-its-kind dataset on Canada’s transnational critical minerals instruments, and in-person workshops to facilitate dialogue between academia, industry and government.
The Faculty of Law extends its warmest congratulations to Professor Alschner and the entire research team on this exceptional achievement. We look forward to the impactful contributions this partnership will make to Canada’s critical minerals strategy and to broader discussions on sustainable global governance.
The Common Law Section also congratulates one of its newest members, Professor Julie Ynes Ada Tchoukou, who is a co-applicant on another SSHRC Partnership Development Grant led by Doris Muhwezi Kakuru of the University of Victoria for a project entitled “Children on the move: Post-arrival experiences of young refugees in Ottawa, Ontario.” The project aims to create and nurture collaborations necessary to mobilize knowledge on the post-arrival experiences of diverse categories of young refugees, including the unaccompanied, disabled, gender non-conforming, diverse family backgrounds, and diverse ethnic groups. Professor Ada Tchoukou, whose research focuses on international human rights law, law and gender, and human rights in cross-cultural perspectives, will supervise uOttawa-based graduate trainees and lead the activities in Ottawa in collaboration with local partners.
SSHRC Partnership Development Grants are designed to spark innovative, collaborative projects that generate real-world impact from academic research. These grants have the power to amplify the impact of new ideas through the creation and exchange of knowledge across disciplines, sectors and borders, with the goal of addressing pressing social, intellectual, cultural, economic, or environmental issues that can benefit all Canadians.