Academy News

The first Academy talk of the spring season was an excellent analysis of Trump from an unusual perspective and a few predictions of what we might expect in the future. The talk was given by Dr. Robert Bothwell, Gluskin Professor of Canadian History at the University of Toronto.

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Our speaker for the March 17th forum was Michael Nicin who is Executive Director of the National Institute on Ageing (NIA), a think tank at Ryerson University dedicated to research in action and public education on issues affecting Canada’s ageing population. Michael began his talk by defining social isolationism as low social interaction and loneliness…

Our curriculum committee has been hard at work preparing the slate of workshop offerings for next year. As of March 16, you can find the new schedule and full descriptions on our website. In addition, we are pleased to make available a new feature that provides access to the workshops for the coming year arranged by subject…

Moderated by Linda Tu David Phillips presented “The Nobel Peace Prize between the Wars.” In 1920, Woodrow Wilson received his Nobel Peace Prize for his role as the founder of  the League of Nations. In 1922, Fridtjof Nansen won for his work on behalf of displaced victims of WW1, specifically the Nansen Passport, an internationally recognized refugee travel…

As our president, Sue Kralik, communicated a few weeks ago, the Academy has revised its name to include “Toronto”.    Our new name is Academy for Lifelong Learning Toronto – to make it more closely aligned with who we are and to differentiate our Academy for Lifelong Learning from others in North America.  We now…

Contemporary Chinese Espionage was the focus of one of the Academy’s Winter Forums. The speaker was Olivier Courteaux, who holds a doctorate in Contemporary International Relations from the University of Paris—Sorbonne. He has also lectured in Canada at Ryerson University and the Royal Military College. The audience was treated to an excellent analysis of current…

Congratulations to long-time Academy member LORNA POPLAK whose new book THE DON: THE STORY OF TORONTO’S INFAMOUS JAIL has just been published and is readily available. As always, you are encouraged to support local booksellers. Conceived as a “palace for prisoners,” the Don Jail never lived up to its promise. Although based on progressive nineteenth-century penal…

Perhaps the most fraught conversations in contemporary North American society are ones that take place across racial divides. Even with the best of intentions, they often founder on ignorance, misinformation and insensitivity. The talk by Lindsay (Swooping Hawk) Kretschmer, Executive Director of the Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council, was therefore very useful in thinking about how non-indigenous Canadians can interact with and support Native Peoples. While emphasizing that she spoke only for herself, her engaging presentation drew on experiences that are sadly familiar to too many First Nations, Metis and Inuit people.