Past Talks

Cathy Crowe is a long-time Street Nurse who works in the area of social justice nursing.  She prefers to be known as “Street Nurse” even after a full career as advocate, writer, film maker, Atkinson Fellow, recipient of the Order of Canada, and six honorary doctorate degrees.  Her experience in the issues of homelessness and housing policy has made her a well-known voice for the homeless and for social housing.

Linda took an interesting approach to the presentation as it was an imagined trip to see the dark sky events that have occurred recently. The first stop was to Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park to see a total eclipse of the moon which is on the lands of the Blackfoot people.  Linda told us of the traditional celebrations for the Beaver moon (also called the Grandmother moon) of Algonquin people.

Lessons learned by Mike Layton and his family on their journey to make their home fossil fuel free. Mike will share further information about the technologies used and incentives available to decarbonize.

Professor Ann Shteir, professor emerita, York University recently edited and published “Flora’s Fieldworkers: Women and Botany in 19th Century Canada” ( 2021) (McGill/Queens Press).  She and her team uncovered about ten neglected women who contributed to botany in Canada during this era. Some collected seeds; some developed gardens; some wrote guides to plants; some made quilts depicting Canadian and British plants. This book is the outgrowth of an earlier conference she organized to focus on women and botany in the 19th century.

Canadian academic, journalist and writer Jan Wong was the first Canadian and one of a very few Westerners to study in China during the Cultural Revolution. Later, as a foreign correspondent for the Globe and Mail, she witnessed the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

Our first Winter Forum will be presentations by fellow Academy members that were chosen by their Facilitators as outstanding exemplars to share: Linda Woodcock on ‘The Sky’s the Limit – Dark sky events in Canada’ (Facilitators: Esme McMonagle and Doris…

“Be It Resolved that Canada is essentially a Centrist country,” centrist defined as “Adherence to moderate political views; careful avoidance of any political position that could be construed as too far right or left.” Frank Richmond and Vivienne Monty argued in support, Patricia Cross and Sue Kralik opposed, and Linda Tu moderated. At the beginning of the debate, 27 were in favour, 4 opposed, and 5 undecided.

It was a book that many publishers rejected, convinced that a history of Canada’s refusal to help European Jews in a time of absolute peril would never recoup its costs. Fortunately, Malcolm Lester, of the publishing company Lester, Orpen &…

Enriching Communities With Public Art – Alexis Kane Speer and Anjuli Solanki – This forum featured the work of STEPS Public Art. This organization works to engage and empower artists and communities in transforming public spaces into vibrant places. Alexis KaneSpeer, the Founding and Executive Director, and Anjuli Solanki, the Director of Community Programming, gave an engaging, informative and very visual presentation.

On the 40th anniversary of the publishing of Harold Troper’s and Irving Abella’s book, None Is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe, 1933-1948, the story of the Canadian government’s refusal to allow Jewish immigration from Europe during the Holocaust, Professor Troper will discuss the unusual backstory to the writing and publication of the book, how it was received, and the impact it has had on Canadian immigration and refugee policy.