Dr. Marika Morris

Ottawa Citizen, February 23, 2015Online

URL: http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/women-reach-top-in-ps-but-lack-clout-male-counterparts-had-study-shows

Women have made it to the upper rungs of Canada’s public service in numbers few other countries can claim only to find they don’t have the power and policy clout that men enjoyed when they ran the show. It’s one of the many paradoxes uncovered by Carleton University researchers Marika Morris and Pauline Rankin in an interim report on a study of female leadership in the public service where women now dominate, holding more than 55 per cent of all jobs and 45 per cent of the executive positions below deputy ministers. The study is part of the Women in the Public Service Project, run by the Washington-based Wilson Centre, aimed at getting women into 50 per cent of the world’s public service jobs by 2050. Canada stands out with a public service that already exceeds the 50 per cent female target. The study is examining the impact women are having on shaping the public service and finding ways to measure it. The report is a springboard for such a debate at Carleton on Tuesday.

Huffington Post, November 14, 2015Online

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/marika-morris/stand-together-against-terrorism_b_8563964.html

The Global Terrorism Database is a record of over 140,000 attacks, most of which are not in Europe or North America. In Canada, terrorism has flared up in waves, each time as a result of a different group or cause. In the 1860s, it was the Fenians, a group of Irish that thought attacking Canada (then a British colony) would lead to independence from Ireland. A Fenian apparently was responsible for Canada's first political assassination, of Member of Parliament and Father of Confederation Thomas D'Arcy McGee. In the 1960s, it was another group, the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), seeking Québec independence initially through bombing mailboxes and the Montréal Stock Exchange, culminating in Canada's second political assassination, of Québec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte. In the 1980s, the left-wing group the Squamish Five bombed a defence industry factory and Sikh militants bombed an Air India flight from Vancouver.

Huffington Post, May 28, 2015Online

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/marika-morris/why-bells-will-be-ringing_b_7463326.html

For 120 years, indigenous children in Canada were separated by federal law from their families and communities and sent to church-run Indian residential schools. The documented purpose of these schools was to wipe out indigenous cultures, languages, spirituality and traditions. It failed, but it caused much continuing harm in the process. Many of these students were physically and sexually abused, did not learn how to have good relationships and were taught to be ashamed of themselves and their parents. Thousands died at these schools and never came home at all. This Sunday, participating churches across Canada will be ringing bells at noon, ringing for reconciliation, acknowledging their part in this process and their commitment to working with indigenous peoples to build a new and brighter future. Those churches that don't have belfries, like First United Church and All Saints Westboro in Ottawa, will be outside ringing handbells, tambourines and anything that makes a ringing noise. Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has spent six long years listening to the testimony of residential school survivors, is marking the end of its journey from May 31-June 3 with ceremonies, educational events, and a call to action. Across Canada, all kinds of people are participating in the walks for reconciliation, planting heart gardens, and other events.

Huffington Post, May 7, 2015Online

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/marika-morris/ontario-sex-ed-curriculum_b_7236522.html

The uproar over Ontario's updated sexual education curriculum has now gone way over the top, with some parents pulling their kids out of school in protest. I respect the right of these parents to make their views known and to pull their kids out of school when sexual health curriculum is discussed in class. I oppose the attempt to axe the whole curriculum so that my child and the children of most Ontario parents, who support the curriculum, can't benefit from it either. The misinformation about the new curriculum rivals the inaccuracies kids get about sex from their friends and our culture. Some parents are convinced that their kids will be asked to touch themselves at school. The actual curriculum stresses respecting yourself and respecting others. If you oppose it, fine. At least know what you are opposing.

Huffington Post, June 21, 2016Online

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/marika-morris/women-public-service_b_10596630.html

Few people know that women in the Canadian federal public service were fired upon marriage until 1955, and that a 1990 Task Force on Barriers to Women in the Public Service found overt discrimination and structural barriers to women's advancement. Twenty-six years after that task force, Canada is now number one in the world in terms of the representation of women in the public service, including at leadership levels. The Centre for Women in Politics and Public Leadership at Carleton University released a research report I authored, asking the question, now that women are in, what difference does it make? The answer turns out to be a bit of a paradox. We interviewed women and men at senior leadership levels (EX, DM and equivalents). Most of the women cited their leadership style as their major contribution, a more open, collaborative and less hierarchical style that brought out the best in their employees and allowed them to do the best job they could for Canadians. Not all women exhibit this style, and some men do. In fact, the first women managers in the public service, those who broke through the glass ceiling, were described as "iron ladies" and "tough as nails," some of whom "could make men cry."