Grant and Funding Programs Offered by Maritime Awards Society of Canada (MASC)

The Maritime Awards Society of Canada (MASC) is a non-partisan, non-profit foundation and registered national charity dedicated to strengthening Canadians’ understanding of maritime and ocean issues. Created in 1987 as a fundraising initiative of the Naval Officers Association of Vancouver Island, the Society has developed a dual role: supporting graduate-level education and research in ocean-related fields, and fostering informed public debate through forums and workshops.

MASC’s core financial intervention is the MASC Scholarship Program, which supports Canadian graduate students whose work advances knowledge of maritime affairs, including topics such as ocean science, engineering, economics, sociology, history, policy and governance. Rather than administering bursaries directly, the Society establishes endowed scholarship funds at partner universities, enabling long-term and institutionally managed award programs.

The Society has created and capitalized multiple named scholarships and fellowships at four Canadian universities. These include the Commander Peter G. Chance Scholarship at Memorial University of Newfoundland, the Douglas M. Johnston – MASC Scholarship in Marine Affairs at Dalhousie University, the Maritime Awards Society of Canada Graduate Scholarship at the University of Calgary, and the Commander Peter Chance MASC Fellowship at the University of Victoria.

These awards typically target Canadian citizens enrolled in master’s or doctoral programs focused on maritime-based or ocean-related subjects, with values ranging from several thousand dollars up to around $10,000. Eligibility, application and adjudication are handled by each host university’s graduate awards office, while MASC focuses on fundraising, defining the thematic scope, and ensuring that the endowments continue to support students over time.

Complementing its scholarship activity, MASC organizes and sponsors public forums, workshops and expert meetings on key maritime issues. Since the mid-1990s, it has convened events on coastal fisheries, offshore hydrocarbon development, oceans governance, Arctic policy, port security and other ocean-related themes. Many of these gatherings have generated formal reports and proceedings, such as studies on British Columbia offshore hydrocarbon development, Canadian fisheries management and port security requirements, which are made available as publications.

Through these activities, the Society positions itself as an apolitical convenor trusted by governments, industry, researchers and civil society to facilitate evidence-based discussion of strategic maritime questions affecting Canada’s future.

MASC primarily serves Canadian graduate students in ocean and maritime disciplines by providing ongoing scholarship funding at partner universities. Indirectly, it supports academic departments, research programs and supervisors working on marine science, technology, policy and history. Its public outreach work also benefits policymakers, coastal communities and the wider public by increasing awareness of ocean governance, resource management and maritime security challenges.

By 2005 the Society had already awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships and built substantial endowments at its partner institutions. The continued list of scholarship recipients demonstrates sustained impact on the development of Canadian expertise in ocean-related fields.

MASC is registered as a society in British Columbia and as a national charity with the Canada Revenue Agency. It is governed by a board of governors and operates under a formal constitution and by-laws. The Society relies on donations from supporters, directing contributions to specific university endowments and working to expand both the number and size of its scholarships as its financial resources grow.