As president of the American Sociological Association in 2004, Michael Burawoy initiated a lively discussion about the sociological terrain in the United States and appealed to his colleagues to engage in more ‘public sociology’ (Burawoy, 2004, 2005a). We applaud Burawoy’s efforts to begin the task of contextualizing US sociology and of renewing the challenge to embrace rather than eschew engagement with various publics. In outlining his version of public sociology, Burawoy has provided complex, thought-provoking if ambiguous conceptualizations that have led to vigorous debate and examination of core terms. In this paper, we aim to contribute to the debate by discussing feminist sociology, particularly in Canada.