When she a young child, Heather’s mother told her that Mark Twain was a great-uncle. It seemed like a really cool thing to tell people, but other than that, it held little meaning for her at the time. Fast forward forty years: one night while Heather found herself between jobs and with time on her hands a TV ad for Ancestry reminded her of Mark Twain and she decided to see if there was any truth to the family story. Only later did she realise that this was the moment her passion for genealogy was born. In this talk Heather will share stories from her own work – involving archival research, personal interviews and the latest in genetic DNA technology – to help us understand why the field of genealogy has grown exponentially in recent years and why it has become not only Heather’s passion but also her second career. Perhaps she will also inspire you to begin your journey tracing your own family history.

While Holocaust denial is easy to identify and straightforward to explain, Holocaust distortion is a more insidious and complex threat. Unlike the deniers of yesteryear, people, states, and institutions engaged in Holocaust distortion do not deny the factuality of the event. They argue instead that their nation, their people, their tribe, had nothing to do with it. There were some corrupt individuals, no doubt, but helping and rescuing of Jews was the default position of our people, argue the nationalists. And, with the formidable funding provided by the states engaged in Holocaust distortion, the Shoah is being re-branded into a positive narrative in which enthusiastic and altruistic Gentiles strive to save their Jewish neighbors from the clutches of the Germans. We thought we knew that the German genocidal plan had many willing helpers across Europe but this knowledge is now being put to question and assaulted by the agents of Holocaust distortion.

The first book ever to examine this extraordinary collection, Letters to Jackie presents 250 intimate, heartfelt, eye-opening responses to what was arguably the most devastating event in twentieth century America, providing a fascinating perspective on a singular time in the history of our nation.

Food Bank usage in Toronto has increased from 60,000 client visits per month before the pandemic to over 270,000 in the summer of 2023. Who are the people who now need to rely on food charity? What has caused this crisis and, most importantly, what can we do to change the situation we find ourselves in?

Early in the Second World War, the Canadian government built a top-secret munitions factory in the then rural community of Scarborough just seven miles from Toronto’s downtown. The plant, called GECO—General Engineering Company (Canada) Limited—comprised 346 acres, 172 buildings, and over four kilometers of underground passageways. Barbara Dickson’s book, Bomb Girls: Trading Aprons for Ammo, is a comprehensive, historical record of Canada’s biggest WWII munitions plant, GECO, which employed over 21,000 citizens, predominantly women, courageously working with high explosives around the clock during the Second World War. In this lecture, Barbara will relate the dramatic story of the incredible contribution made by so many women so long ago. What was it really like to work in a munitions factory? Did anyone die? What were working conditions like? How closely did bomb girls resemble “Rosie the Riveter?” Barbara will draw on twenty years of research to answer these questions. 

This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.

BIOGRAPHY:

Barbara Dickson is an author, historian, public speaker and documentary film producer who has entertained, educated, and enlightened audiences for twenty-five years. She strives to educate Canadians about the phenomenal work carried out by women across the nation whose invaluable contribution helped win the Second World War and is committed to ensuring that Canada’s “bomb girls” are honoured and commemorated. Her legacy project is to found a museum on the old GECO site in Scarborough where the public can come to learn, appreciate, and remember the critical sacrifice women made for their country so long ago. Her 2015 book, Bomb Girls: Trading Aprons for Ammo, was a finalist for the Ontario Legislature’s Book Award in 2016 and turned into a documentary film in 2017.

The brutal massacre of October 7 in southern Israel by Hamas terrorists cannot be justified under any circumstances. But the attack and Israel's response took place within a complex and longstanding context of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that began in the early 20th Century. The November 2022 election in Israel, when the most right wing government in Israel's history was elected, resulted in policies, actions and personalities that helped set the scene for the tragedy that we are witnessing today. The only silver lining to emerge from the conflict is a revival by key players of the idea of a two-state solution as the best means for bringing long term safety and security to both parties.

Some of us feel distraught and helpless witnessing the horrors of the current situation. We are searching for ways to alleviate some of the pain and suffering in the region. Jon Allen chairs Rozana Canada, a non profit that builds trust and respect between Israelis and Palestinians through the health care sector. Rozana designs, implements and funds joint Palestinian-Israeli projects in the training, treatment and transport of Palestinians with the collaboration of Israeli health professionals. This work is more important now than ever.

BIOGRAPHY:

Jon Allen was born in Winnipeg and studied at Western University and the London School of Economics before joining the Department of External Affairs in 1981. In addition to postings in Mexico 

City, New Delhi and Washington, Jon spent his early career working in the areas of human rights, humanitarian, and environmental law. From 2006 to 2010, he served as Canada’s Ambassador to Israel; from 2012 to 2016 as Ambassador to Spain and Andorra; and from December 2012 to July 2014, as interim Chargé d’affaires to the Holy See. Jon Allen is currently a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and a Distinguished Fellow of the Canada International Council. He is the Chair of Project Rozana Canada, a not for profit whose objective is to build bridges between Palestinians and Israelis via the health sector.

In this lecture based on the book of the same title, Don Loucks will tell the stories of Toronto’s built heritage of row houses, semis, and cottages and the people who lived in them. Too often, workers’ cottages are characterized today as being small, poorly built, and disposable. But in the late 1800s, to have worked and saved enough money to move into one was an incredible achievement. Moving from the crowded conditions of boarding houses, or areas such as Toronto’s Ward, to a self-contained, six-hundred-square-foot cottage was the result of an unimaginably strong hope for the future and a commitment to what lay ahead. For the workers and their families, these houses were far from modest. The architectural details suggested status, value, and pride of place and reminded the workers of the homeland from which they had come. 

This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.

BIOGRAPHY:

Don Loucks is an architect, urban designer, and cultural heritage planner, with forty years of project experience. He is committed to environmental, economic, and cultural sustainability, and to preserving the variety of rich urban forms that contain the stories of our communities’ history. He lives in Toronto. 

This Lecture is co-sponsored by the Toronto Society of Architects.

Newfoundland was a country before it became a province of Canada in 1949. Why did it remain separate for so long and why did it change course in the 1940s? In this lecture, David MacKenzie will look at the impact of the Great Depression on Newfoundland and the emergence of the country after 1939 as the Gibraltar of the Atlantic. In 1934, pushed financially, Newfoundland lost self-government in favour of administration by a British appointed Commission, but during the Second World War the country prospered, and the British grip weakened. Both Canada and the United States built bases in Newfoundland and the country turned in a decidedly North American direction. The outcome was an intense postwar political round leading to union with Canada seventy-five years ago. 

This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.

BIOGRAPHY:

Dr. David MacKenzie is a graduate of McGill University and the University of Toronto and a professor of history at Toronto Metropolitan University. His main areas of academic interest are in Canadian history and international relations and the study of international organizations. He is the author of several books, including Inside the Atlantic Triangle: Canada and the Entrance of Newfoundland into Confederation, 1939-1949 (1986) and ICAO: A History of the International Civil Aviation Organization (2010). His most recent book is King and Chaos: The 1935 Canadian General Election (2023).

This lecture is co-sponsored by the Newfoundland & Labrador Historical Society.

Marlis Butcher was the first person to visit all 48 Canadian National Parks, one third of which have no road access, and in 2016 one of the first persons to visit Canada’s newest national park at the time, Qausuittuq, (pronounced Kow-soo-ee-took) in Nunavut. She is thus uniquely qualified to offer this lecture which will begin with an introduction to Canada’s National Parks system, then zoom in on the Arctic, and finally focus on exploring Qausuittuq National Park. Through unique photographs and engaging story-telling, Marlis will take us on a virtual voyage into the High Arctic, sharing what it’s like to travel to Canada’s true north, to explore this extremely remote park, and to meet its endangered inhabitants. 

This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.

BIOGRAPHY:

Marlis Butcher is an environmental conservationist and a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and of The Explorers Club. Marlis is the first visitor to bag (visit) all 48 Canadian national parks, one third of which have no road access. To share the park experience and encourage appreciation of these natural wonders, she published her first book, Park Bagger – Adventures in the Canadian National Parks, a collection of short stories of adventure and discovery.

May 2024 marks the 45th anniversary of Joe Clark’s election as Canada’s youngest Prime Minister on May 22nd 1979. In an interview format with former Ambassador and MP Chris Alexander, Mr. Clark will share his recollections and insights garnered from his 25 years in the House of Commons, his time as Prime Minister and as Secretary of State for External Affairs from 1984 to 1991, and will comment on the current political situation in Canada and around the world in what seem to be increasingly polarised and uncertain times.

This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.

BIOGRAPHY:

Joe Clark served as Canada’s 15th Prime Minister from 1979–80 and as Secretary of State for External Affairs from 1984–91. Chris Alexander was Canada’s Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2003–05, and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration from 2013–15. 

This evening will be presented in partnership with the Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy.

Using examples from current issues, Greg Lyle will show us “behind the curtains” of public opinion research and explain how Canadians form and change their opinions about key issues and players in our society. Starting with a brief account of the origins, varieties and methodologies of public opinion research, Greg will draw on the insights gained from more than thirty years in the field to explain how polls can be both astonishingly accurate and sometimes spectacularly wrong. Drawing on his current polls Greg will highlight the issues that matter most to Canadians and what divides and unites us on those issues. 

This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.

BIOGRAPHY:

Greg Lyle is the founder and President of Innovative Research Group with over thirty years of communications and opinion research experience. As a former Principal Secretary, Greg has built a career at the intersection of public policy, communications and public opinion. He uses a full range of research tools for a variety of government and corporate clients across industries such as financial services, healthcare and the energy and infrastructure sector. Greg’s research has been featured in many media outlets across Canada and in 2016, Greg received the Public Affairs Association of Canada Award of Distinction. Greg has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of British Columbia and, when away from his desk, can be found travelling between British Columbia, Ontario, and England to spend time with his wife and daughters.

In his lecture, Sean Conway, a long-time member of the Ontario Legislature and a former senior minister in the Liberal government of Premier David Peterson (1985—1990), will focus on some of the central issues which seem to be roiling our democratic politics in Canada, the Unites States and the United Kingdom. Among these issues are: increased polarization, the decline of trust in our political institutions, the lamentable state of our political parties, the corrosive effect of money in our public affairs, the new media environment and its very worrisome effect upon our democracy, foreign interference in our elections and the passivity of too many citizens at a time when some issues – e.g. climate change and intergenerational stresses in our society – present unusually difficult political choices. Conway will suggest some modest proposals to deal with some of these problems and will argue that for a vibrant democracy to succeed, the citizen must become more engaged if we are to avert real trouble in our town square.

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Pembroke Ontario in 1951, Sean Conway grew up in Renfrew County, studied Canadian history at Waterloo Lutheran University (now Wilfrid Laurier) and Queen’s and was elected ‘at a rather young age’ to the Ontario Legislature in 1975 where he served for 28 years including as minister of education during the Liberal government of Premier David Peterson. In 2007 he received the Churchill Society’s Award for Excellence in the Cause of Parliamentary Democracy. Since his retirement from active politics Conway has taught history at Queen’s, Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) and the University of Toronto. While at Queen’s, he led a major research project into the public life of the Rt. Hon. Paul Martin, the former prime minister of Canada. He has also been a public policy advisor at the Gowlings law firm and an analyst on TVO’s popular public affair program 4th Reading hosted by Steve Paikin. Conway lives in Barry’s Bay and enjoys reading, dabbling in local history and watching U.S. college football.