Academic Folklore Research in Canada: Trends and Prospects Pt1‪.‬

Prologue The following essay -- which will appear over the next two issues of Ethnologies -- is somewhat different from other contributions that appear in this journal. My discussion was written originally as a report for the Department of Canadian Heritage, completed during February and March, 1998. I was approached by Katherine Spencer-Ross of the Department's Heritage Policy Branch; they wanted a background paper which outlined the history and current status of the academic preservation and study of folklore in Canada. Specifically, my report had to address the UNESCO declaration of 1989 on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and Folklore, a proclamation of which Canada was a signatory (Honko 1990). I was asked to discuss, where appropriate, how the Federal Government has facilitated the implementation of the major recommendations of the UNESCO declaration.