Dr. Mary Rita Holland
PhD. Kinesiology and Health Studies (Queen’s University)
M.P.A. Policy Studies (Queen’s University)
M.A. History (Queen’s University)
B.A. Honours English & History (University of New Brunswick)
Research interests
Caregiving/long-term care policy
Health equity/social determinants of health
Food insecurity
Feminist research methods
Teaching experience
Health policy
Gender & public policy
Social movements in health
Qualitative research methods
As a teacher and researcher, Dr. Holland grounds her work in community-based methods, informed by her role as a municipal representative in Kingston, Ontario (2014-2022). Dr. Holland advocated for changes to address social determinants of health as Co-chair of the Mayor’s Task Force on Housing (2019-2020), as a member of the Housing and Homelessness Advisory Committee (2018-2020), and as a director on the board of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington Public Health (2016-2022). Dr. Holland also led political organizing and social justice campaigns as President of the Ontario New Democratic Party (2014-2022).
Dr. Holland’s current research uses the example of family carers of rural older adults in Atlantic Canada to shed light on the invisible emotional labour required to maintain the home as a site of care and manage disrupted meanings of home space and family relationships. Her work has been published in the international journal Health & Place. She is also a Research Associate at the Trent Centre for Aging and Society.
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Holland, M.R. (2023). Moving toward inclusion and health equity: free transit for social assistance recipients in Kingston, Ontario. Canadian Journal of Public Health. DOI: 10.17269/s41997-023-00816-y
- Holland, M.R. (2022). More than chores: the health work of family caregivers in rural New Brunswick, Canada. Health & Place. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1353829221002227
- Carbone, S., Power, E. & Holland, M.R. (2018). Canada’s missed opportunity to implement publicly funded school meal programs in the 1940s. Critical Public Health, Sept. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2018.1524849
- Holland, M.R. (2012). Funding and Framing Families An Analysis of the Discursive Foundations of Family Allowance and the Universal Child Care Benefit. Mothers and the Economy: The Economics of Mothering, Spring/Summer, Volume 3, Number 1.
- Holland, M. R. (2008). From Disabled to Dispossessed: CPP Disability Benefits and the Decline of Social Citizenship. Cultural Shifts.
Other Publications
- Holland, M.R. (2024). Older Adults Living in Poverty in Kingston, Ontario, Horizons. Department of Family Medicine, Global Health Program, Queen’s University.
- Hsu, T. & Holland, M.R. (2021) A Foundation for the Public Good: Recommendations to Increase Kingston’s Housing Supply for All, Mayor’s Task Force on Housing, City of Kingston.
- Holland, M.R. (2019). Tasked to find solutions: How the City is addressing multiple societal challenges,” Horizons, Issue 2. Department of Family Medicine, Global Health Program, Queen’s University.