CHOOSE 1 OF 6 KEY DEBATES
| FOUNDING CONCEPTS |
IDENTITY REVOLUTION |
AFTER UNITY |
| CANADA & THE WORLD |
HEROES & SYMBOLS |
DOES HISTORY MATTER? |
KEY DEBATE #1
Founding Concepts
Some commentators have taken to calling Canada a nation of institutions not ideas. Are there a set of principles upon which Canada was founded and Confederation built? How have these principles evolved? Are they relevant to understanding and animating today's political culture and values?
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BARRY COOPER
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BOB RAE
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KEY DEBATE #2
Identity Revolution
In the last century women have been enfranchised, attitudes towards First Nations people have changed and the ethnic composition of Canada has shifted markedly. How have personal and official conceptions of identity changed over time? What political and cultural changes will Canada's identity revolution bring next?
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NEIL BISSOONDATH
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NAOMI KLEIN
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KEY DEBATE #3
After Unity
The threat of Quebec separation has dominated Canada's political discourse for the better part of the last half-century. If the unity issue could somehow be brought to a successful resolution, what pre-existing or entirely new national preoccupations would claim Canada's political centre stage?
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GUY LAFOREST
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OVIDE MERCREDI
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KEY DEBATE #4
Canada & The World
During the cold war, Canada enjoyed considerable influence as a middle power. What are the defining characteristics of the post-cold war world and how do they affect Canadian interests abroad? What steps can Canada take to ensure a prominent voice in world affairs into the next century?
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ALLAN GOTLIEB
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JANICE STEIN
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KEY DEBATE #5
Heroes & Symbols
Canadians are largely ambivalent about their heroes, particularly when compared to the mythology-rich United States. What are the origins of this predisposition? Has Canada suffered from its unwillingness to create national heroes? Or, is our aversion to celebrating heroes and heroism quintessentially Canadian?
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CHARLOTTE GRAY
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PETER C. NEWMAN
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KEY DEBATE #6
Does History Matter?
Research abroad and in Canada has questioned the existence of a common public memory. Is this a new trend? Does it matter in an increasingly technologically oriented present? And if something is to be done what dangers and challenges lie in invigorating a common History?
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JACK GRANATSTEIN
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MICHAEL IGNATIEFF
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BARRY COOPER
Great Questions Jury Member
Barry Cooper, a fourth generation Albertan, was educated at Shawnigan Lake School, the University of British Columbia and Duke University, where he received his doctorate in 1969. He taught at Bishop's University, McGill, and York University before coming to the University of Calgary in 1981. For the past thirty-five years he has studied western political philosophy, both classical and contemporary. Much of his teaching has focused on Greek political philosophy whereas his publications have been chiefly in the area of contemporary French and German political thinkers. Over the years he has spent considerable time in both countries, teaching and doing research. He is currently working on Stone Age political symbolism.
Cooper's other area of continuing interest has been Canadian politics and public policy. Here he has brought the insights of political philosophers to bear on contemporary issues, including the place of technology and the media in Canada, the on-going debate over the constitutional status of Quebec, and the precarious status of Canadian defence and security.
He is the author, editor, or translator of 30 books and has published over 150 papers and book chapters. He writes a regular column in the Calgary Herald.
BOOKS BY BARRY COOPER
BOB RAE
Bob Rae is a Canadian politician; in 2007, Mr. Rae was elected a Member of Parliament for the Ontario riding of Toronto Centre. Educated at the International School of Geneva and University College, Toronto, Rae was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford. Mr. Rae served as Premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995. He has written a personal political memoir, FROM PROTEST TO POWER, and a meditation on public policy, THE THREE QUESTIONS.
BOOKS BY BOB RAE
NEIL BISSOONDATH
Neil Bissoondath is an internationally renowned author and familiar cultural commentator. He was educated at St Mary's College, Trinidad and York University. His fiction works include the novels THE WORLDS WITHIN HER and A CASUAL BRUTALITY, and the collection of short stories DIGGING UP THE MOUNTAINS. His 1994 political critique SELLING ILLUSIONS: THE CULT OF MULTICULTURALISM IN CANADA was a national best seller.
BOOKS BY NEIL BISSOONDATH
NAOMI KLEIN
Naomi Klein is a Toronto-based journalist and regular television commentator on social issues. A former contributing editor of Elm Street Magazine, her articles have appeared in Toronto Life, Ms and The Village Voice.
BOOKS BY NAOMI KLEIN
GUY LAFOREST
Guy Laforest is the director of the department of political science at the University of Laval. He was educated at Laval and McGill universities. Mr. Laforest is the author of numerous publications on Canadian public policy, including TRUDEAU AND THE END OF A CANADIAN DREAM. Mr. Laforest edited a tract of Charles Taylor's, RECONCILING THE SOLITUDES.
BOOKS BY GUY LAFOREST
OVIDE MERCREDI
Ovide Mercredi is a professor of native studies at the University of Sudbury. He took a degree in law from the University of Manitoba. From 1991 to 1997, Mr. Mercredi served as the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. A familiar national political figure, Mr. Mercredi published a collection of his powerful speeches in his book IN THE RAPIDS - NAVIGATING THE FUTURE OF FIRST NATIONS.
ALLAN E. GOTLIEB
Allan Gotlieb is a senior advisor, Bennett Jones LLP, Toronto; chairman, Sotheby’s Canada; chairman of the Canadian Group of the Trilateral Commission; and North American deputy chairman. Mr. Gotlieb is chairman of the Donner Canadian Foundation and the Aurea Foundation. A past director of various Canadian and U.S. companies, Mr. Gotlieb is a trustee of the Art Gallery of Ontario, a trustee of the Gardiner Museum, a director of the Ontario Arts Foundation, a director of Grand Challenges Canada, and serves on several advisory boards, Mr. Gotlieb was Canadian ambassador to the United States (1981-89), under secretary of state for external affairs (1977-81), and chairman of the Canada Council (1989-94). He is a companion of the Order of Canada and recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award of the Government of Canada and of the Woodrow Wilson Award for public service. Mr. Gotlieb is an honorary and former fellow of Wadham College and visiting fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. A former editor of the Harvard Law Review, Mr. Gotlieb was also William Lyon MacKenzie King Professor at Harvard University and Claude Bissell Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto. He holds an honorary doctorate of law from the University of Toronto and a number of other universities and is the author of several books on international law and diplomacy.
BOOKS BY ALLAN GOTLIEB
JANICE STEIN
Great Questions Jury Member
Janice Gross Stein is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management in the Department of Political Science and the Director of the Munk School for Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her most recent publications include NETWORKS OF KNOWLEDGE: INNOVATION IN INTERNATIONAL LEARNING (2000); THE CULT OF EFFICIENCY (2001); STREET PROTESTS AND FANTASY PARKS (2001), and CANADA BY MONDRIAN (2006). She is the co-author, with Eugene Lang, of the prize-winning THE UNEXPECTED WAR: CANADA IN KANDAHAR. She was the Massey Lecturer in 2001 and a Trudeau Fellow. She was awarded the Molson Prize by the Canada Council for an outstanding contribution by a social scientist to public debate. She has received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Alberta, the University of Cape Breton, and McMaster University. She is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario.
BOOKS BY JANICE STEIN
CHARLOTTE GRAY
Great Questions Jury Member
Charlotte Gray’s most recent book is GOLD DIGGERS, STRIKING IT RICH IN THE KLONDIKE. In it she examines the reality of the 1897 Yukon Gold Rush through the eyes of six participants, including writer Jack London and policeman Sam Steele. She is the author of seven previous non-fiction bestsellers, including RELUCTANT GENIUS: THE PASSIONATE LIFE AND INVENTIVE MIND OF ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL and SISTERS IN THE WILDERNESS: THE LIVES OF SUSANNA MOODIE AND CATHARINE PARR TRAILL. In 2004 Charlotte was the advocate for Sir John A. Macdonald in the CBC series: The Greatest Canadian. She has won numerous awards for both books and for magazine journalism.
Charlotte was born in England, educated at Oxford University and the London School of Economics, and came to Canada in 1979. An Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of History at Carleton University, she is a member of the Order of Canada, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and Chair of the Board of Canada’s National History Society. She lives in Ottawa with her husband George Anderson: they have three sons.
BOOKS BY CHARLOTTE GRAY
PETER C. NEWMAN
Peter C. Newman is one of Canada's leading authors with over 19 award-winning books to his credit. Educated at Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto, he is a contributing editor at Maclean's. Mr. Newman's best sellers include TITANS (the third volume of his series on the Canadian Establishment), THE CANADIAN REVOLUTION: FROM DEFERENCE TO DEFIANCE and MERCHANT PRINCES (the third volume of his history on the Hudson's Bay Company).
BOOKS BY PETER C. NEWMAN
JACK GRANATSTEIN
Great Questions Jury Member
Jack Lawrence Granatstein was born in Toronto on 21 May 1939. He attended Toronto public schools, Le Collège Militaire Royal de St-Jean (Grad. Dipl., 1959), the Royal Military College, Kingston (B.A., 1961), the University of Toronto (M.A., 1962), and Duke University (Ph.D., 1966). He served in the Canadian Army (1956-66), then joined the History Department at York University, Toronto (1966-95) where, after taking early retirement, he is Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus. He was Rowell Jackman Resident Fellow at the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (1996-8), and was a member of the Royal Military College of Canada Board of Governors (1997-2005 ). He was Director and CEO of the Canadian War Museum (1998-2000), and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corp. (2006- ).
Among his most recent awards and designations,in 2007, Granatsteinreceived the General Sir Arthur Currie Award from the Military Museums Society (Calgary). He was awarded the Pierre Berton Award for popular history by Canada’s National History Society (2004), the National History Award from the Organization for Canadian History (2006), and the Lela Common Award for Canadian History from the Canadian Authors Association (2006). He is an Officer of the Order of Canada (1996).
Granatstein writes on 20th Century Canadian national history--the military, defence and foreign policy, Canadian-American relations, the public service, politics, and the universities. He comments regularly on historical questions, defence, and public affairs in the press and on radio and television. He is a fellow of the University of Calgary’s Strategic Studies centre (1997- ) and of Massey College (2000- ). He was chair of the Council for Canadian Security in the 21st Century (2001-5) and was both a Board member (2004-10) and Chair of the Advisory Council of the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute (2001-08).
Granatstein is married and lives in Toronto.
BOOKS BY JACK GRANATSTEIN
MICHAEL IGNATIEFF
Michael Ignatieff is the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, the Leader of the Official Opposition, and the Member of Parliament for Etobicoke-Lakeshore.
Since first being elected to Parliament in 2006, he’s travelled to every corner of the country, listening to Canadians’ stories and talking to them about their hopes and dreams for their children and grandchildren. It’s the same approach Michael has taken during his long career as a scholar, writer, and journalist, and as one of Canada’s leading voices on the world stage.
Before entering politics in 2005, Michael served as Director of the Carr Centre for Human Rights at Harvard University and taught at leading universities around the globe. He has been a proud contributor to international public policy for nearly four decades, as an author, broadcaster, and advisor.
BOOKS BY MICHAEL IGNATIEFF
