The Department of History will proudly host Jean-Pierre Morin, Departmental Historian/Senior Policy Advisor at Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada as their Public Servant in Residence for 2015-2016.
Beginning in August 2015, Morin will bring his sixteen years of expertise as a public servant researcher, strategist and policy advisor to the Department of History. Morin specializes in the history of Treaties and the historical relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian Government, using in-depth historical research findings to advise and assist in the penning of forthcoming government policies surrounding Aboriginal issues.
“As a researcher and as a teacher, Jean-Pierre will bring an invaluable experience of the role of history in government,” explains the Chair of the Department of History, Dominique Marshall.
“He will discuss with colleagues and students of all levels not only how governments call on historians to research the past, but also how politicians and public servants use instances of the past to inform their decisions. He knows more than most of us how the past helps explain the origins of a question, provides rich examples and counter examples of public planning, decision making, resolution of conflicts, and much more.”
Morin’s role in the public service is unique and demanding, meaning his day to day duties are consistently in flux. In the morning he might be delivering a seminar to his colleagues on the value of historical context and the importance of new media and digital platforms in disseminating messages, and in the afternoon he could be on his way to Manitoba to hear from leaders in Aboriginal communities.
“I’m very lucky to have the job I have,” said Morin. “I’ve really tried to make it my own, and looking to expand my functions. I’ve been fortunate to have colleagues that have encouraged my push for a greater role of history in the Public Service. I do a lot of on the ground learning, and I hope to transfer what I’ve learned to the students I will be teaching at Carleton.”
Morin comes to Carleton with a very impressive resume. Adjacent to his duties as a public servant for the Government of Canada, Morin has helped found the International Federation of Public History where he currently resides as the Federation’s Vice-Chair. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Council of Public History, and in 2013 he co-chaired their annual meeting. In addition to these two major accomplishments, Morin played a role in establishing the Public History working group of the Canadian Historical Association, chairing the working group in 2009-2010. He has also been active in the development of interactive digital historical learning tools, web content and digital media for AANDC. Moreover, he is presently one the leaders in the ongoing national commemoration initiatives such as recent the bicentennial of the War of 1812 and the 250th anniversary of the Royal Proclamation of 1763.
Carleton Professor David Dean was instrumental in bringing Morin to the Department of History as the Public Servant in Residence. This mutual interest between the two parties made for an organic collaboration.
"Jean-Pierre brings to Carleton years of experience as an historian with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. Our students will learn hugely from his expertise in policy analysis and programme development, and from his knowledge of public history practice across Canada and internationally. Jean-Pierre has a deep understanding of what it means to work collaboratively, knows how to develop best practices in representing the past to the Canadian public, and how to convince influential people that historical knowledge is a valuable asset when making and implementing public policy. He will be a terrific mentor to our students seeking work in this challenging, exciting, and rapidly changing field."
This newfound relationship is unique for a number of reasons. Of the 280,000 public service workers in Canada, only 6-8 participate in this Government supported initiative, and those who do are typically executives that are nearing the end of their career. Morin appears to be an odd man out in comparison. The Canada School of the Public Service, who administers this programme was looking to expand the diversity of their candidates by including more mid-career participants. Morin fit the bill. He is an ambitious professional who has clearly achieved a great deal in his relatively fresh, but quickly progressing career.
As a tenacious intellectual explorer and dogged learner, Morin is as passionate about teaching as he is about researching, and is thus relishing his dual duties during his time at Carleton.
“I hope to bring students a different perspective on history. One that looks not only at how impactful it is, but how it can be used pragmatically. I want their experience in helping work on my research project as something they can use on their resume’s. Really, I want to teach my students how the public service functions, and help them with government networking.”
Morin will be teaching two courses in his one year term as Public Servant in Residence – a third year undergraduate course on the history of Treaty making and a graduate course of similar nature, whose students will assist Morin in his year long research project which intends to analyze the use of historical research in policy making, to demonstrate the ways in which we can use history to make policy better.
For this project, Morin and his students will interview some 150 policy analysts to examine how policy is created and implemented, what tools are used, if historical perspective is considered, what all this might imply. The project will then compare their findings to other systems from other countries to resolve a contextualization of how Canada is doing on an international scale.
“Simply put, with the help of our students, I want to demonstrate how useful history is in governing our country and together, I want to learn how we can do this most efficiently.”
Away from his professional career, Morin spends his time with his family, and in any spare moments, he coaches running and competes in road races. He is an avid traveler who especially enjoys spending time in Italy.