On Tuesday, July 4^th, SFU’s Research Centre for Scottish Studies welcomed members of the United Kingdom parliament, Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) and Alyn Smith (Stirling). Our Director, Leith Davis, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Dean, Laurel Weldon, and Executive Director of SFU Vancouver, Laurie Anderson, met with the MPs at the Harbour Centre campus.

The MPs, who were in Vancouver to attend the 30^th Annual Session of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), expressed interest in the current research and outreach projects at SFU’s Research Centre for Scottish Studies. These are:

• Burns Day events
• St. Andrews and Caledonian Society lectures
• “Engaging Public and Academic Audiences to Recover Lost Voices of Scottish History: ‘The Lyon in Mourning’ Manuscript and the Jacobite Networks of the 1745 Rising”
• “Scottish Diasporic Networks in BC: The Letters of the J. Dunlop Reid Family”
• Oral History Project: “Scottish Voices of the West”
• Allyship with the Nisga’a nation and their successful bid to repatriate a memorial pole located in the National Museum of Scotland.
• The Director’s upcoming meeting in Glasgow to establish an international consortium of centres of Scottish Studies focusing on the theme of “Decolonizing Scottish Studies”

Professor Davis also spoke about the great work her research assistants do. Most recently, they presented at the 91st British Columbia Highland Games & World Music Festival and shared their work with the community. She emphasized how beneficial it is for students to have the opportunity to spend some time studying and conducting research in Scotland, as well.

We thank Ministers Brock and Smith for meeting with us and working to build connections with SFU and the Scottish diaspora in British Columbia