Nightwind: Hector Aristizabal, School of the Americas Watch

     A Colombian survivor of torture at the hands of School of the Americas graduates, Hector Aristizabal shares his struggle through the

     artistic techniques of the Theatre of the Oppressed.

Canada's Security Certificates and Secret Trials

     Panelists to include:

     Matthew Behrens (Toronto Action for Social Change, Homes Not Bombs)

     David Heap (UWO professor and local social justice activist)

     Dan Hilton (King's University College student and local activist)

Campaign Against Killer Coke

     Amit Srivastava (India Resource Centre) and Andi Harden (Polaris Institute) discuss the long list of the Coca Cola Company's

     human rights and environmental abuses in India, Colombia, and elsewhere. 

Glamis Gold in Guatemala

     Vinicio Lopez and Ken Luckhardt discuss the role of Canadian companies in resource extraction industries in the developing world.

     Presented in cooperation with Development and Peace

Nonviolent Direct Action and Creative Protest

     Workshop facilitated by Matthew Behrens (Toronto Action for Social Change, Homes Not Bombs)

Grassy Narrows First Nation: Environmental and Social Disaster in Ontario

     Speakers include:

     Judy DaSilva (Grassy Narrows mother, activist, blockade organizer)

     Roberta Keesick (Grassy Narrows blockader, grandmother, trapper)

     Barbara Fobister (one of the original blockaders)

     David Sone (Rainforest Action Network)

     Esther Kern (Christian Peacemaker Teams)

Rufina Amaya: Sole Survivor of the 1981 El Mozote Massacre

     Rufina to be accompanied by activist and educator Alvaro Carias from El Salvador

A Call To Action

     Speaker:  Betty Makoni (Girl Child Network, Zimbabwe), AIDS and child rights activist

     This event co-sponsored by Save A Family Plan

NonViolence as a Powerful Force

     Speaker:  Len Desroches, author of: Allow the Water and Love of Enemy: The Cross & Sword Trial

Microcredit: Helping People Move out of Poverty with Dignity

     Speakers include:

     Allen Sauder, Mennonite Economic Development Associates, Canada

     Fr. Paul Moonjely, Welfare Services Ernakulam, India

     Co-sponsored by Save A Family Plan

Breaking the Silence: An Islraeli soldier reveals the dehumanizing treatment of Palestinians

     Speaker: Yehuda Shaul

The Struggle for Peace and Justice in Ogoni, Nigeria

     Speaker:  Joseph Korka-Waadah, Executive Director of Sub-Sahara Africa Voice, shares the struggle for social justice on behalf of his

     Ogoni people from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria

Christian Peacemaker Teams in Colombia

     Speaker:  Stewart Vriesinga, Christian Peacemaker Teams Corps Member

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

     Speaker:  Irene Deschenes, SW Ontario Representative, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

African Women in Prison

     Speaker:  Audrey Chihota-Charamba, Executive Director, Zimbabwe Women Writers

     In partnership with the Ontario Council for International Cooperation

Torture 101

     Speaker: Mark Konrad, Executive Director, Global Importune

Knowledge is the Beginning

     Critically acclaimed film screening to be followed by discussion moderated by Professor Joe Lella

     Presented in Partnership with the London Jewish Film Festival

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Speaker Series 2005/2006:

Colombian Trade Unionist Tour

     Panelists to include:

     Domingo Tovar Arrieta (Human Rights Director and member of the Executive of Colombian Unified Trade Union Federation)

     Luis Eduardo Garcia (Member of SINALTRAINAL, Colombian Food & Beverage Workers’ Union )

     Derek Baxter (Assistant General Counsel of the International Labor Rights Fund)

Waging War on the Poor Majority: CANADA IN HAITI

     Yves Engler exposes Canada's shameful role in Haiti

Reframing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Problem of Secutiry and Terrorism or Human Rights?

     Dr. Jeff Halper, Coordinating Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

Crisis in Darfur:  A Conference for Scholars, Students, Activists, and Other Concerned Citizens
     The Centre for Social Concern is proud to co-sponsor this event

Charles Booker-Hirsch - School of the Americas Watch - Prisoner of Conscience

NonViolence as a Powerful Force

     Len Desroches, author of: Allow the Water and Love of Enemy: The Cross & Sword Trial

The Wal-Mart Movie - The High Cost of Low Price

FENSUAGRO: Organic Class-Consciousness in Rural Colombia

Seeds of Survival

     Susan Walsh, Executive Director of USC Canada

Colombia Solidarity Night: The Struggle for Indigenous Rights in Colombia & the Work of NGO Pueblos en Camino

     Speakers include:

     Justin Podur, a writer, translator, and editor at ZNet (zmag.org)

     Sheila Gruner, co-founder and current director of Pueblos En Camino

Women on Death Row

     Kathleen A. O'Shea, a visiting scholar in the Women's Studies Department at Queen's University

Social Impact Investment

     Panelists include:

     Deb Abbey, founder and past President & CEO of Real Assets Investment Management

     Sister Anne Denomy, an Ursuline Sister and member of the Order's finance committee

     Gary Goddard is a Pension Officer with the Public Service Alliance of Canada

The Anti-Coke Roadshow

     Panelists include:

     Alfredo Porras, former president of the workers' union at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Bucaramanga, Colombia

     Camilo Romero, United Students Against Sweatshops

     Michelle Peek, president of McMaster University's Campus Choice campaign

First Nations Forum:  Unresolved Conflicts & Issues of the Stoney Point First Nation

     Panelists include:

     Marcia Simon, Stoney Point First Nation member, relative of Dudley George

     Peter Rosenthal, a lawyer representing Marcia and other Stoney Point families

     Dan Smoke, moderator

Back to List by Year
 

Speaker Series 2004/2005:

• The Michael Lewis Memorial Symposium - Still Waiting:  A Forum For Moving Ahead
  • Presented by The Ontarians With Disabilities Act Committee (ODAC), London Area

• Forum Title: Exploring the Question of Military Violence and the Possiblities for NonViolent Responses

• NonViolence Workshop
  • Facilitator: Dwyer Sullivan

• Len Desroches (author of Love of Enemy: The Cross and the Sword Trial)
  • Title: NonViolence as a Powerful Force

• Alex Neve (Secratary General of Amnesty Canada)
  • Topic: Critical Rights

• Patrick Sullivan (Patrick works at Bridges for Youth in Toronto)
  • Title: Poverty and Homelessness

• Pat Capponi (Author of Upstairs in the Crazy House and Beyond the Crazy House)
  • Title: Issues of Poverty, Homelessness and Mental Health

• Stephanie Gris (One World Global Education Program Presentation)

• Barbara Ballenger
  • Title: Praying the Borders Down!: Expressing our common humanity in a world divided by global conflicts
  • Title: You’re Gonna Reap Just What Just What You Sow!: The Songs of Political Change in America

• Darrell Anderson (The most recent Conscientious Objector to arrive in Canada)

• Forum Title: Perspectives - A Migrant Workers Forum

• The Beehive Design Collecitve
  • Title: Plan Colombia

• Susan Eagle
  • Title: Christian Justice in a Public Arena

• Fr. Robert Holmes (Member of Christian Peacemaking Teams in Hebron)
  • Title: “Christian Peacemaking in Israel/Palestine”

• Development and Peace Speaker (Peasant Farmer from Guatemala)
  • Title: Plan Puebla-Panama

• Laurel Rothman (From Campaign 2000 - To End Child Poverty)
  • Title: “Putting Promises Into Action: How to Move Forward on the Children’s Agenda”

• Ted Schmidt (Editor of the Catholic New Times)
  • Title: "Politics and Religion: An Unbreakable Bond"
  • The mission of the church is to transform society. Human life is politics. Those who dismiss politics fear social change more than they fear God.

• A Colombian International
  • Title: The Andean Regional Initiative:
  • The Re-colonization of the Americas:An Approach From a Latin American Journalist and Plan Colombia a movie by Noam Chomsky 

• Len Desroches (Participant in the Cross and the Sword Action and Trial in Toronto)
  • Title: “Exploring the Practice and Spirituality of Non-violence”

Forum on: "Homosexuality as an Issue of Justice and Faith”

Panellists Include:
Julie Lee - a graduate of UWO, a lesbian, a lawyer and a mother;
Fr. Michael Prieur - professor at St. Peter's seminary;
Gilles Marchildon - Executive Director ofEGALE Canada
 

• Dr. Mel Watkins (Writer and Activist, Professor Emeritus of Economics and Political Science at U of T and past President of Science for Peace)
  • Title: "Why have we not abolished nuclear weapons and when are we going to?"

• Deborah Barndt (Author of Tangled Roots: Women on the Tomato Trail and Editor of Women Working the NAFTA Food Chain)

• Bishop Thomas Gumbleton (Human Rights Activist, Bishop of Detroit and Founding President of Pax Christi)
  • Title: "The Interdependency between Justice and Peace: The Case of Iraq" Bishop Gumbleton's talk will incorporate observations made on a recent trip to Iraq.

• Dwyer Sullivan (Coordinator of the One World Global Education Program)
  • Topic: The One World Global Education Program

• Pr. Joy Panigubutra-Roberts (Professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies)
  • Topic: The International Sex Trade in Thailand and Burma.

• Congressman Bonior (Former U.S. Congressman and Current Professor of Labor Studies at Wayne State University)
  • Title: “North American Parliamentary Union and You: What it is and Why We Need It”
  • Co-sponsors: Centre for Social Concern and the Departments of Sociology, Political Science and Economics, Business and Math at King's University College  

• Dr. Aidan Hollis (T.D. MacDonald Chair in Industrial Economics at the Competition Bureau, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Calgary and Fellow of the Institute of Health Economics)
  • Title: "AIDS, Africa, and the Problem of Patents"
    
  • Professor Hollis has recently been named the Research Promotion Council's Eminent Scientist of the Year in the field of Health Economics for pursuing economic research that matters to the developing world. In the developed world, his work has been cited by Ralph Nader and others critical of the direction of U.S. health policy reform.
  • Co-sponsors: Centre for Social Concern and The Economics Society
    

• Jim Stanford (Economist with the Canadian Auto Workers)
  • Title: “Economics on the Edge: How to Make Economics a More Meaningful and Valuable Discipline”

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• Liliany Obando Villota (Liliany Obando Villota is responsible for the Department of Human Rights of FENSUAGRO, the National Federation of Agricultural Unions, where she specializes in the problems facing peasant families who have been forcibly displaced from their land by right-wing paramilitary organizations, chemical defoliation, and Colombian government military operations)
  • Title: “Colombia: Political Conflict and Social Struggle”

• Julian Sabuc Xalcut  (Peasant Committee of the Highlands)
  • Topic:  "The Struggle for Land Reform in Guatemala & CCDA’s 'Fair Trade' Initiative" - October 25th, 2002

• Ted Schmidt  (Editor of the Catholic New Times)
  • Topic:  "Catholicism after 9/11:  The world changed in 29AD, not Sept. 11, 2002.  Why don't we believe it?" - December 5th, 2002

• Dr. Robert Jensen  (a journalism professor at the University of Texas, an internationally known peace activist, and a critic of American foreign policy)
  • Topic:  "War and Empire" - March 13th, 2002

• Len Desroches and Dr. Jacquetta Newman (Len Desroches is a Peace activist and participant in the Cross and Sword Trial in Toronto and Dr. Jacquetta Newman is a Professor at King's College with a background on the peace movement)
  • Topic:  "Panel Discussion: Peace, Activism and Social Movements" - March 20th, 2002

• Marc Keilburger  (Leaders Today and Free the Children)
  • Topic:  Marc shared how he became involved in Social Justice and Leaders Today - April 3rd, 2002

• Jean Lashley, Al Koop and Glenn McLeod (Jean Lashley is the Parish Social Ministry Coordinator, Al Koop is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Economics at King's College and Glenn McLeod is a Member of the Voluntary Missionary Movement)
  • Topic: "Panel Discussion: Peace Under Siege in Mexico: Mexican Farm Workers in Canadian Society" - January 27th, 2001

• Joel Harden and Ryan Parks (Joel Harden is the Ontario Chair of the Canadian Federation of Students and Ryan Parks is the Executive Director of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance)
  • Topic:  "The Great Education Debate: OUSA vs. CFS: Who Best Represents Students?"
  • Workshops:  "Student Activism," "Education," "Globalization," "Sweatshops," "Third World Debt" and "Genetically Modified Foods," - October 15th-16th, 1999

• Professor Peter Dale Scott (Former Canadian Diplomat and an English Professor at the University of California, Berkley)
  • Topic:  "Indonesia and the East Timor Crisis" - October 18th, 1999

• Mr. John Rees (President of the Socialist and Worker Party of Great Britain)
  • Topic:  "Indonesia, East Timor and the Labour Movement" - October 26th, 1999

• Oregon Farm Workers Union
  • Topic:  "Panel Discussion: Campaign for Labour Rights" - October 27th, 1999

• Mr. Ted Schmidt (Columnist for the Catholic New Times)
  • Topic:  "New Age Catholicism and the Attack on the Poor" - November 15th, 1999

• Mr. Owens Saro-Wiwa (Brother of Ken Saro-Wiwa and participant in the Ogoni people's struggle against Royal Dutch Shell and the Nigerian dictatorship)
  • Topic:  "Ken Saro-Wiwa Memorial Lecture" - November 19th, 1999

• Professor Bryan Palmer (History Department, University of Queens)
  • Topic:  "The Labour Bureaucracy and Progressive Labour Movements in the 20th Century" - January 27th, 2000

• Mr. Dennis Nazelli (Teamsters Union)
  • Topic:  "The Detroit Newspaper Strike and Conrad Black" - February 8th, 2000

• Ms. Joan Grant Cummings (President of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women)
  • Topic:  "An Agenda for the New Millennium" - February 9th, 2000

• Professor Mel Watkins (University of Toronto)
  • Topic:  "Lessons from Kosovo" - March 8th, 2000

• World Food Day (Panel Discussion)
  • October 13th, 1998

• Linda McQuaig (Writer and Critic on Canadian Political Economy)
  • Topic: Speaking on her new book "The Cult of Impotence" - October 27th, 1998.

• United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, 50th Anniversary
  • Dr. Bernie Hammond chaired a panel on the declaration - November 20th, 1998.

• The Ontario Disabilities Act
  • Panel Discussion: Will it be Strong and Effective? - November 26th, 1998.

• 2nd Annual Catholic Rural Life Conference
  • Guest Speakers: Dr. William Heffernen and Dennis Howlett - November 28th, 1998.

• Burma Under The Gun (Panel Discussion)
  • Guest Panellists: Ms. Win Win Latt (On human rights violations), Mr. Toe Kyi (On student resistance), Ms. Hanny Htun (On the situation of women) and Ms. Connie Baumgarten (On the Canadian political and business involvement) - December 7th, 1998

• Mr. Ted Schmidt (Columnist for the Catholic New Times)
  • Topic: The Captivity of the Suburban Church - January 12th, 1999

• Conference on Human Rights
  • January 30th, 1999.

• Sr. Manuel Seto
  • Topic: An Update on the Guatemala Peace Accords - February 2nd, 1999.

• Joseph Korka-Waadah
  • Topic: Shell in Nigeria: A Social and Environmental Disaster - February 11th, 1999.

• Allisa Westergard-Thorpe and Garth Mullins
  • These guest speakers are members of Democracy Street, an organization representing 27 protesters who were pepper-sprayed protesting the APEC summit in Vancouver - March 4th, 1999.