The Brian Mulroney Institute of Government and Political Science Book Launch
Who Deserves Welfare? Framing Social Assistance in Canadian News Media
Rebecca Wallace (Mila Mulroney Chair in Women and Politics)
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
3:00 pm–4:30 pm
Mulroney Hall 4022
The Mulroney Institute and Political Science Department will be hosting a book launch for Dr. Rebecca Wallace, Mila Mulroney Chair in Women and Politics, to celebrate the release of her book Who Deserves Welfare? Framing Social Assistance in Canadian News Media (University of Toronto Press, 2026). Welfare has long been a divisive issue in Canada, Dr. Wallace’s book explores how Canadian media frames social assistance recipients. Who Deserves Welfare? presents a comprehensive analysis spanning from the 1990s to the 2020s, demonstrating how immigrant and Indigenous welfare recipients are framed differently. It offers a critical exploration of how media framing influences public opinion about welfare and identity, and reconsiders the assumptions that underlie both support for and opposition to assistance programs in Canada.
Light refreshments will be available. All are welcome.
Dr. Rebecca Wallace
Rebecca Wallace is the Mila Mulroney Research Chair in Women and Politics in the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government, and an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Political Science and Public Policy and Governance at StFX. She received her PhD from Queen’s University for her research on the news framing of and attitudes toward social assistance recipients in Canada. Her primary research interests include Canadian social policy, political behaviour, and political communication, with a focus on women, gender, and diversity. Prior to starting at StFX, Rebecca was the John A. Sproul Research Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and held postdoctoral research fellowships at the University of Toronto and Ryerson University. She was previously a doctoral fellow at the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations and held a Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council from 2016 to 2019. Her work has been published in a number of journals, including the Canadian Journal of Political Science; Political Studies; Politics and Gender; Politics, Groups, and Identities; and the Journal of Women, Politics, and Policy.
Dr. Wallace is currently the Primary Investigator on a project exploring women’s exits from political officeholding, entitled “A Leaky Pipeline? Examining Women’s Retention in and Exits from Political Officeholding in Canada.” The project, co-investigated with Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, is funded by a SSHRC Insight Development Grant.