Michel Ducharme
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Relevant Thesis-Based Degree Programs
Affiliations to Research Centres, Institutes & Clusters
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Complete these steps before you reach out to a faculty member!
- Familiarize yourself with program requirements. You want to learn as much as possible from the information available to you before you reach out to a faculty member. Be sure to visit the graduate degree program listing and program-specific websites.
- Check whether the program requires you to seek commitment from a supervisor prior to submitting an application. For some programs this is an essential step while others match successful applicants with faculty members within the first year of study. This is either indicated in the program profile under "Admission Information & Requirements" - "Prepare Application" - "Supervision" or on the program website.
- Identify specific faculty members who are conducting research in your specific area of interest.
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- Read up on the faculty members in the program and the research being conducted in the department.
- Familiarize yourself with their work, read their recent publications and past theses/dissertations that they supervised. Be certain that their research is indeed what you are hoping to study.
- Compose an error-free and grammatically correct email addressed to your specifically targeted faculty member, and remember to use their correct titles.
- Do not send non-specific, mass emails to everyone in the department hoping for a match.
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ADVICE AND INSIGHTS FROM UBC FACULTY ON REACHING OUT TO SUPERVISORS
These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a potential thesis supervisor.
Supervision Enquiry
Graduate Student Supervision
Doctoral Student Supervision
Dissertations completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest dissertations.
This dissertation seeks to explain how and why the political concepts Canadians value differ substantially from the foundational ideals of the British North America Act 1867. It seeks to answer this question by examining democratic discourses propagated by national political parties during the key years of 1919–1940. In particular, it focuses on the role of the Liberal Party of Canada and its leader William Lyon Mackenzie King in advancing a certain set of democratic discourses as a means of responding to specific challenges the party faced during these years. Ultimately, it argues the Liberals used discourses based on the concept of popular sovereignty to justify centralizing political power in the person of the Prime Minister and creating a centralized political party designed to support the legislative agenda of their leader. While the Liberals were not the only party to employ democratic discourses as a means of advancing their political fortunes, their particular articulation of how Canada should function was uniquely successful in appealing to the popular imagination. Other parties, from the Progressive Party of the early 1920s, who advocated group governance, proportional representation and multi–member constituencies, to the Conservatives, who steadfastly defended British constitutional norms, all were either unable or unwilling to create an effective counter–narrative and so remained in the minority within the House of Commons, leading to a prolonged period of Liberal rule.
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Master's Student Supervision
Theses completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest theses.
This thesis analyses the Committee for an Independent Canada and its role in promoting Canadian independence during the 1970s. Following the Second World War, a concern arose about the independence of Canada from the growing economic and cultural Americanization of Canada. This led to a number of criticisms from several politicians, intellectuals, and outside groups from the late 1950s. However, these objections tended to be largely partisan and there was an absence of a unified and comprehensive approach to tackle the issues of Americanisation and the impact it had on Canadian sovereignty at both the federal and provincial levels. The formation of the CIC in 1970 would change that.This thesis argues that the Committee actively engaged in the discourse surrounding independence by engaging with a wide spectrum of actors and organizations at both the federal and provincial levels. It had both a national executive and local chapters throughout the nation, which helped the CIC in promoting independence. Nationally, it formulated policies for economic and cultural independence, engaged with federal politicians, and participated in the Royal Commission on the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. Locally, the CIC formulated alliances, engaged with provincial governments, and launched campaigns for independence. The Committee’s efforts aimed to establish a pan-Canadian coalition, garnering greatest support from Ontario and Western Canada.
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This thesis examines the transatlantic life and journey of Father Alexander Macdonell within the context of his role as a broker in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. While serving as a leader for the Glengarry Highlanders throughout the British Isles and Upper Canada, Macdonell acted as a middleman, often brokering negotiations between his fellow Highlanders and the British and Upper Canadian governments. This relationship saw Macdonell and the Glengarry Highlanders travel to Glasgow, Guernsey, and Ireland, working as both manufacturers and soldiers before they eventually settled in Glengarry County, Upper Canada. Once established in Upper Canada, Macdonell continued to act as a broker, which notably led to the participation of the Glengarry Highlanders in the colony’s defence during the War of 1812. Over time, Macdonell’s role as a broker aided him to progressively grow in reputation. Furthermore, it helped him rise through the religious and political ranks of the Roman Catholic Church and Upper Canada politics, ultimately resulting in his appointment as the Bishop of Regiopolis and a member of the colony’s Legislative Council. From his new positions, Macdonell attempted to implement his vision of a Highland future for Upper Canada, rooted in Roman Catholicism, loyalism, and Scottish tradition.
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This paper examines how the temperance movement within Canada during the years 1872-1898 sought to justify its political program of prohibition using the concept of freedom. By examining the rhetoric employed by the temperance movement and the popular concepts to which it appealed, I hope to convey the importance of freedom within nineteenth century Canadian political culture, and to better understand how such a principle was employed in political debates. This paper engages with Ian McKay's Liberal Order Framework by contesting his conception of the primacy of the individual in the implementation of liberal values, as well as exploring the role of Christianity within the creation of a liberal order. To do so, this paper draws upon the writings of prominent English-speaking Central Canadian temperance advocates and organizations.
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