Update on the 2024 CPA Conference – Friday 31 May
The CPA Executive and Program Chair are grateful for all the support we have received, and for your patience, as we negotiate this challenging situation, RE: Congress/McGill campus. Please understand that these unforeseen complications have completely strained our resources. The CPA’s sole employee, whose job description is for 20 hours per week, has put in multiple 16-hour days, over these tumultuous past two weeks. For others, navigating this transition has unexpectedly become a temporary full-time job.
Many different CFHSS member organizations are reacting to these challenges differently, largely due to their respective size and available resources. Congress 2024 is disunified.
The majority of the CPA program will be virtual, via the Congress Virtual platform. A limited selection of plenary events will take place in-person (and streamed over Zoom) on the Université de Montréal campus. More information will be shared with presenters and participants about this shortly.
[1] the Program: the CPA conference program can be found here: https://www.acpcpa.ca/cpages/current. Details on how to access the virtual conference are made available with registration: https://www.federationhss.ca/en/congress/register. Details about which events the CPA will hold in person in Montreal can be found on the CPA Congress webpage here: https://www.acpcpa.ca/cpages/current.
In addition, the CPA is arranging daily informal gatherings in Montreal, to provide valuable opportunity for congregation and interaction. Details are not yet set, and will be announced in due course.
Nb: this is a dynamic situation, and not all details are yet settled. So, for example, some of the information linked below is likely to still change, over the coming weeks. Participants are advised to check back regularly.
[2] McGill campus picket passes: AMPL has announced plans to picket all Congress events on McGill Campus. While the CPA is holding no in-person events on McGill Campus, we recognize that some of our members may still need to venture onto campus. We are working with AMPL to get ‘picket passes’ for CPA members. More information on this will be announced shortly.
[3] Refunds/Re-imbursements: One of the major complications with this whole mess is how to support CPA members who have already spent money on the upcoming conference, and are justifiably worried about refunds or reimbursements. Obviously this issue is effecting different members of our community in different ways, and the situation is evolving over time.
For example, we have recently learned that at least one major Canadian university has made an ad hoc policy deviation for Congress 2024, to allow reimbursement for funds spent, even if the participant ends up not travelling after all, but participates in the conference online. Another CPA member has told us that their local Faculty Association is offering to reimburse this sort of expense, as a show of solidarity with AMPL.
On the issue of reimbursements for CPA members who still go to Montreal, there are at least two options. One is that the CPA can provide certification of in-person attendance, at the U de M events. Another is that, with a picket pass, CPA members can still register in person on McGill campus. We assume that either of those avenues should suffice to satisfy the home institution’s requirements for proof of research travel.
After all that, the CPA has limited resources to provide refunds to anyone who is still incurring non-refundable, non-reimbursable expenses. Students and non-tenure-track scholars will be given the highest priority. One CPA member has made the kind suggestion that we collect donations for this purpose; please see: https://www.acpcpa.ca/campaigns for more information and to donate.
To apply for a refund from the CPA, please complete this online Refund Request form: https://forms.gle/VheSJFmJcBmha2ZT8. The deadline for applying to this fund is: Friday June 14.
Sincerely,
Arthur Sullivan
2023-24 President, Canadian Philosophical Association