Pam Provis

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Pam Provis is an academic at Carleton University and Iqaluit State University (a division of Nunavut Arctic College). She has been an important theorist regarding bicameralism in the subnational Canadian context.

Educated at Canada's Capital University, she ventured up north to Iqualuit State University to receive her M.A. and later her PhD. During her doctoral studies, she wrote her thesis on Northern development strategies. Entitled, Latin Americans in Canada: A Chance to Develop the North, it became a bestseller in the Canadian territories and won her prized support from the governing Liberal Party. It later was the basis for a White Paper released by the government in 2000.

She was helped by Liberal staffer Jeniffer "Niffer" Beckermann, known in many parts as "the daughter of the kitcheners of Kitchener," in reference to her family's kitchen industry fortune.

During the time she was working as a TA during her graduate studies, the idea behind Latin Americans in Canada: A Chance to Develop the North was originally conjured up by several of Provis' students during a long journey to a political convention in Windsor, Ontario. Once they returned home, they discussed their ideas with Provis, which centred on enticing colonists from abroad to move to the North using extensive advertising overseas, better transportation, and low cost land offerings. Provis was so fascinated by their basic concept that she took the next flight to Ellesmere Island and the Nunavut mainland to conduct extensive research on the feasibility of immigrant settlements. After meeting with Inuit leaders, she headed to Mexico for an international conference. When she heard of the extensive problem of landlessness there, where she spent several extra months in the Yucatán, Oaxaca, Mexico City and Quintana Roo studying the population to analyse whether they could indeed live well in the Canadian territories. She wrote her thesis immediately upon her return to Canada.

Provis lives with her longtime boyfriend on top of a Chinese resturant called Mekong. The two expect to be married later this year and expect their first child in the coming months. Interestingly, her boyfriend has already agreed to take on her last name to show his love for Provis and his devotion to feminist causes. Mr. Provis is a northern Oil Baron who owns Provis and Sons Drilling Ltd.

Pam Provis is pursuing a second degree in Development Studies with a specialisation in African and Middle East Affairs. As such, she is a frequent commentator for the BBC on regional issues, be they Canadian or African. See Can aid do more harm than good?. She has also published a notorious paper entitled The Iranian Revolution of 1979: An Illustration of a Secular Uprising, in which she argues that 1979 revolution had secular rather than religious motives.

[edit] Controversy

Recent allegations have arisen that Ms. Provis still has library fines at MacOdrum Library of Carleton University (see AKCnewsroom). According the Carleton University regulations, those with outstanding library fines are not permitted to receive grades or their diploma. As such, Ms. Provis has technically not graduated from Carleton, did not qualify for entry into her degree programmes at Iqaluit State University. Therefore, her MA and Ph.D. accreditations are currently in limbo.

Furthermore, she is quoted as having said, "We will feed you but we refuse to help you feed yourself because that is bad for business," in 2005. To whom she was referring is unclear, but her comments did garner her open support from the Tories and the extreme right.