About Heather Menzies
Awarded the Order of Canada in 2013 for her “contributions to public discourse,” and a two-time winner of the Ottawa Book Award, Heather Menzies combines deep knowledge with a passionate commitment to truth, justice and healing.
Heather Menzies is an award-winning writer, acclaimed public speaker and adjunct professor in the School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies, Carleton University. She lives on unceded Snuneymuxw territory in B.C.
Heather is the author of ten books, innumerable articles and newspaper op-ed. pieces, and has been awarded an honorary doctorate and the Order of Canada for her “contributions to public discourse.”
Committed to the public good at both a grassroots and an intellectual level, Heather is a long-time activist in the women’s movement, peace and social-justice movements and, in more recent years, efforts to effecting the necessary changes to heal relations between settler and Indigenous peoples in Canada.
For more info read Heather Menzies’ cv.
Heather Menzies receives Concordia Honourary Doctorate
Concordia University awards Heather Menzies an Honourary Doctorate for her pioneering work and analyses.
For almost three decades, Heather Menzies’ analyses have revealed – in a nuanced and complex manner – how the lives of Canadians have been affected by the development and implementation of digital technologies.
Ms. Menzies has also pioneered Canadian feminist analyses of digital technology through her early analysis of the impact of computerization on women’s work and through her ruminations on the nature of technology, time and health.
Read Heather Menzies’ Speaking Notes for the Concordia Honourary Doctorate Presentation
Teacher
Heather has given lecture series and taught courses in women’s studies, Canadian studies and communications at a number of Canadian universities.
Heather Menzies is an Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University’s School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies
As an adjunct professor and lecturer at Carleton University in Ottawa, Heather looks at how Canada and the people who live here are being shaped by and are responding to the social, political and economic trends roughly associated with post-industrialism, post-modernism and globalization in her Canadian Studies course Canada in a Post-Industrial Era.
Articles in Scholarly Journals
“Learning Communities & the Information Highway,” Journal of Distance Education, Vol. IX, No.1, Spring 1994.
“Telework, Shadow Work: The privatization of work in the new digital economy,” Studies in Political Economy, (June, 1997)
“Technological Time and Infertility,” Canadian Woman Studies/les cahiers de la femme, Winter, 1999.
“Digital Networks: The Medium of Globalization and the Message,” Canadian Journal of Communication, 24, No.4. (Autumn, 1999)
“Cyberspace Time and Infertility: on Social Time and the Environment,” Time & Society, Vol. 9(1), 2000.
“Umbilical Chords and Digital Fibre Optics,” The Gazette: International Journal of Communications, June, 2000.
Educational Videos and Radio Commentary
2012. The White Poppy Debate on CBC’s The Current Heather Menzies speaks to CBC host Jim Brown and Legion spokesperson Joanne Henderson about the White Poppy on November 9, 2012. Listen to the interview (starts at 16:09)
2011. “No more war,” said Heather Menzies at a White Poppy ceremony at the Ottawa Cenotaph on November 11, 2011. See the Youtube video.
2000. CBC Ideas. “The Inexperience of Time.”
1998. CBC Ideas. “The Progress Myth.”
1994-97. “Canada in the Global Village.” 12 one-hour documentary-style videos.
1996-1997.”Adjust the Image/Ajustez l’image s.v.p.” Four 20-minute discussion-starter videos on the overmedication of seniors.
1986. “The Soul of a Scientist: Ursula Franklin: A Profile of Dr. Ursula Franklin,” (writer and director), Instructional Media Services, Carleton University.
1985.”Women’s Work and Automation,” (writer), Instructional Media Services, Carleton University.
Student Testimonials
Heather is a great teacher who manages to translate a lot of passion and knowledge into her teaching and manages to engage students on a real and meaningful level. This is one of the best classes I’ve ever taken.
I really enjoyed this class, I actually looked forward to it. Found the manner in which the class was organized was perfect. There were great discussions. Overall one of the best classes to date. Thanks.
Selected Interviews
New Books in Journalism
Podcast Interview (43 minutes) with Bruce Wark
Download podcast.
Habitat Radio
Online Interview with Erica Butler of on June 7, 2014, published on rabble.ca.
Unwelcome Guests Talk Radio. Episode #669
The Restless Energy of The Hunted Mind (Information & Social Dysfunction), September 7, 2013.
Listen to Heather.
CBC’s The Current
“The White Poppy Debate,” , November 9, 2012.
Interview starts at 16:09.
CBC’s The Current
“The White Poppy Debate,” , November 9, 2012.
Interview starts at 16:09.
Unwelcome Guests Talk Radio. Episode #514
Virtual Reality & the Fragmentation of Modern Consciousness. (Is the Internet Making Us Stupid?), August 28, 2010.
Listen to Heather.
Globe and Mail
“For mental-health patients, bank accounts are small assets with big payoffs,” Tavia Grant, May 25, 2010.
MacLean’s Magazine
“How computers make our kids stupid,” Sue Ferguson, June 6, 2005