The Social Justice Studies program is now accepting applications for fall 2026.  Application review will begin February 1st, 2026 and be ongoing until May 1st, 2026.  

Only completed applications will be reviewed (application questions answered, transcripts uploaded, 2 letters of recommendation submitted, IELTs score or DuoLingo score if relevant). If referees have trouble accessing the application portal, letters can be sent to Dr. Kevin Brooks (kbrooks2@lakeheadu.ca) with "Reference Letter Submission" as the subject name of the email. Please contact Program Advisor, Kevin Brooks, in order to discuss the program before applying or if students have any challenges with the application portal or questions. The Program Handbook provides the most complete overview of the SJS program.  Applications are completed on the Faculty of Graduate Studies page. 

Have you ever wondered, "What can I do to make a difference in my community or region? How can I combine my academic interests with social activism?" The Social Justice Studies (SJS) program at Lakehead university is designed to help you answer both of those questions. 

Located within the territories of the Anishinaabe peoples, Lakehead University's MA in Social Justice Studies (SJS) is an interdisciplinary graduate program housed in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities.  SJS  delivers a transformative education by asking students to think critically about the values, cultural assumptions, and actions that maintain the current economic, political, and social structures which shape our day-to-day lives. Our program empowers students with the practical skills and theoretical knowledge necessary to challenge the informal and formal configurations of power and oppression within local, national, and global contexts.

The Social Justice Studies program offers several paths that allow students to tailor their education to best to fit their scholarly and activist interests. There are four streams that students can pursue during the two-year degree: coursework, research project, creative project, or practicum. These four options ensure that students will be the engineers of their own learning. Connecting scholarly inquiry and community-based learning provides students with practical experience and an opportunity to develop necessary critical skills through an intersectional approach to social justice.

The flexibility of the program allows students to take courses with and be supervised by dynamic faculty from across the Social Sciences and Humanities. Our faculty come from a broad range of disciplinary specialties (including, but not limited to, Indigenous Learning, Women’s Studies, Music, Visual Arts, and English), are committed to positive political, social, and economic change, participate in community-based research, and are dedicated to fostering an environment of political engagement with those issues relevant to social justice. 

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Debora Cruz (MA Social Justice Studies 2023) launches book. 

Debora Cruz (HBASc'21, MA'23) returned home to Portugal in July to launch her first book,  "Defensor, o Estratega Contra a Resignação” ("Defensor, the Strategist against the Status Quo”). 

Cruz, a journalist in Portugal before emigrating to Canada, covered the rise and tenure of Oliveira Moura, a doctor and four-term mayor in Viana do Castelo, Portugal. Moura’s people-centred time as mayor aligns with Cruz’s values and MA in Social Justice Studies she earned from the Orillia campus. 

Moura was the first politician since the end of the dictatorship in Portugal (1974) to win election in Viana do Castelo as an independent running with the support of the center-left of the political spectrum.

After accomplishing his dream of becoming a doctor in his hometown, he adopted social medicine as a tool to improve the well-being of its people and decided to run for mayor. He went on to win the local elections for 4 consecutive terms and transformed the city over 16 years in office. 

In 2025, celebrating his 80th birthday, he describes in the book his life fighting against the status quo, recalling with Cruz some of the battles they both lived and witnessed from different perspectives: the politician and the journalist. Family, friends, and adversaries provided contributions with their testimonies as well.

The book launch in Viana do Castelo on July 18th was very well attended; a week later, the book became available online and in different Portuguese bookstores.

https://www.atlanticbookshop.pt/nao-ficcao/defensor-o-estratega-contra-a-resignacao