YP Speakers Series

Toronto: Home of the Oldest and Newest Carillons in North America
2023-09-29 19:00 (America/Toronto) | Cameron Hall, 1585 Yonge Street, Toronto
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Over five centuries in Europe a remarkable concert instrument evolved: the carillon, consisting of tuned bronze bells expressively played from a keyboard. Before the outbreak of the Great War there were more than 140 “singing towers” in the Low Countries, providing melodic soundscapes to their communities. Wars wreaked destruction on the European carillons, but the fame of their voices also inspired a carillon renaissance to build new towers across the world serving as musical memorials. In 1922 Toronto’s Metropolitan Methodist Church (now Metropolitan United Church) installed the first modern tuned carillon in North America. In the century since, ten more carillons were built in Canada and more than 170 installed across the continent. In this illustrated lecture Andrea McCrady will celebrate North America’s newest carillon to serenade Toronto at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
Andrea McCrady was appointed Dominion Carillonneur of the Peace Tower Carillon in 2008 and is an Adjunct Professor in carillon studies at Carleton University in Ottawa. Introduced to the carillon in 1971 at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, she studied at the carillon schools in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France on a post-graduate fellowship. During medical school at McGill University, Montreal, she was carillonneur at St. Joseph’s Oratory, followed by her hospital residency in Toronto, where she played at the University of Toronto and the Canadian National Exhibition. From 1990-2008, she coordinated the carillon program at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Spokane, WA, where she also practiced family medicine. In 2008, she retired from medicine upon receiving a Bachelor of Music from the University of Denver. Dr. McCrady has served on the boards of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America and the World Carillon Federation. When not at the carillon keyboard, she is out exploring the great Canadian outdoors by hiking, canoeing, and skiing.
This is a special commemorative lecture on the occasion of the inauguration of Yorkminster Park’s new Carillon.

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Top 170 Unusual Things to See in Ontario
2023-09-22 19:00
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Ron Brown’s latest book, Top 170 Unusual Things to See in Ontario, was newly released and expanded in 2022. Using the book as a starting point, this illustrated lecture will explore some of Ontario’s most unusual features and landscapes including such phenomena as The Screaming Heads, Guelph’s “Notre Dame”, Toronto’s Graffiti Alleys, and its “Luminous Veil” on the Bloor Street Viaduct as well as the light show in Brockville’s railway tunnel.
This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
Ron Brown is an award-winning travel writer whose pieces have been published in the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, Canadian Geographic Magazine, and VIA Rail Magazine. He has published more than twenty books on the heritage of Ontario and Canada, and he lectures on, and leads tours of, heritage landscapes across Ontario. He has participated on TVO’s Studio Two panels to determine Ontario’s “most historic town,” Ontario’s “prettiest town,” and Ontario’s “best main street.” Ron is a member of the Travel Media Association of Canada and is past chair of The Writers’ Union of Canada, whose “Freedom to Read Award” he received in 2015 for his ongoing promotion of freedom to read and write in Canada.
This lecture is co-sponsored by Mary Morton Tours.

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Did you eat today? Thank a Bee!
2023-06-09 19:00
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Honey bees play a vital role in agriculture through the pollination of food crops. One third of the food we eat is pollinated by bees. Honey bees provide 80% of this service – native bees provide the rest. Did you know there are 423 species of native bees living in Ontario? They are also vitally important as they pollinate many native plants. Hummingbirds and some bat species pollinate too! Honey bees face numerous health challenges and the role of the University of Guelph’s Honey Bee Research Centre (HBRC) is to help beekeepers keep their bees healthy. The centre conducts hive health studies and trains beekeepers on a global scale. In this presentation Paul Kelly will outline the challenges bees face, survey the research and education activities of the HBRC, and let us know how we can help them help bees.
This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
Paul Kelly has managed the Honey Bee Research Centre at the University of Guelph for the past thirty five years. His primary role at the centre is to manage honey bee colonies for research and teaching purposes. He provides research support for hive health science, training for students and beekeepers, coordinates and teaches beekeeping courses, conducts facility tours for the general public and hasn’t stopped talking about bees since taking his first apiculture course in 1980!

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The Jewish Experience in Toronto
2023-05-10 19:00
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The Jewish population of Canada is currently about 400,000 people of which close to half reside in the GTA. They first settled in the area in the 1820s and their number continued to increase when Jewish immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe arrived in Canada in large numbers after 1880. They came seeking a home and country in which they could not only survive and prosper, but one in which they could leave a positive legacy for their children, grandchildren, and the generations that followed. They did indeed find the refuge they were searching for in Toronto and elsewhere, yet their acceptance and integration into the larger society was not always wanted or welcome, and the struggles they faced caused much inner turmoil and hardship. In this lecture historian and author Allan Levine examines the key lessons, trends and patterns of two centuries of Jewish life in Toronto.
This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
Allan Levine is an award-winning author and historian with a PhD from the University of Toronto. He has written sixteen books including Details are Unprintable: Wayne Lonergan and the Sensational Café Society Murder; Seeking the Fabled City: The Canadian Jewish Experience, which was longlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize; Toronto Biography of a City; and King: William Lyon Mackenzie King: A Life Guided by the Hand of Destiny, which won the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction. For the past twelve years, he has written the column “Now & Then” for the Winnipeg Free Press, which looks at the history behind major news issues. His articles and reviews have also appeared in The Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Star, and Maclean’s, among other publications.

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Domestic Terror Threats’ in your Nervous System: Autoimmune neurological diseases, disorders…
2023-04-21 19:00
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Everything about us is an emergent property of our enormous, intricate, and orderly nervous system. And our nervous system, like any other system, requires security. Providing that security is the job of our immune system. But treason at the biological level is real. At every level of the nervous system there are internal miscreants, rabble-rousers, and spies. In this lecture, neurologist Dr. Roy Baskind will take us on a tour of those autoimmune domestic threats – from our nerves, up our spinal column, and into our brain – and in the process expose our internal ‘fifth column’: autoimmunity against our own nervous system. This lecture aims to leave us with a newfound awe of our personal neurological government and how it can all go so wrong.
This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
Educated at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Texas SouthwesternMedical school at Dallas, McGill University, and the Montreal Neurological Institute, Roy Baskind, MD FRCPC ABPN, fights against all kinds of neurological diseases at North York General Hospital. He also lectures as adjunct faculty in the Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, at the University of Toronto. And he chronicles all on his podcast: www.thecephalopod.ca.

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Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven (and Tom Thomson)
2023-03-10 19:00
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In 1924 an exhibition in London of Canadian landscapes moved the renowned English critic C. Lewis Hind to celebrate them as “the most vital group of paintings produced since the war – indeed, this century”. These landscapes of Canada’s northern lakes and rugged backwoods, painted in a boldly Post-Impressionist style, had been produced over the previous decade by the collective of Toronto-based painters known as the ‘Group of Seven’, whose aim was to forge a national school of landscape painting. In this lecture Ross King will look at both the myths and the realities of how these painters – including their talismanic colleague Tom Thomson, who died in 1917 – stormed the conservative bastions of Canadian art to establish themselves on the international stage as practitioners of a distinctive avant-garde.
This is a live event in Cameron Hall; Ross King will be joining us online from his home in the UK. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
Ross King is the bestselling author of books on Italian, French and Canadian art and history. Among his books are Brunelleschi’s Dome (2000), Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling (2002), The Judgment of Paris (Governor General’s Award, 2006), and Leonardo and The Last Supper (Governor General’s Award, 2012). He has also published two novels and a biography of Niccolò Machiavelli. In 2010, Ross was curator for the exhibition, “Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven,” staged at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection – the exhibition, as well as this lecture both based on his book of the same title. Ross is an active fundraiser for the arts and a passionate lecturer and tour guide. When not traveling for work or pleasure, he lives in the historic town of Woodstock, near Oxford, England, with his wife Melanie.

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The Lemurs of Madagascar
2023-02-10 19:00
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Lemurs are primates found only in Madagascar, a beautiful and exotic place, the fourth largest island in the world. However it is threatened by habitat loss and environmental degradation. Professor Wright will discuss the varieties of lemurs including the Golden Bamboo Lemur she discovered that was new to western science, her work to create a protected area that became Ranomafana National Park and a World Heritage Site, and the challenges facing Madagascar and Lemur conservation efforts. She will feature her recent work to preserve the “Lost rainforest of Crystal Mountain” and update us on the translocation of twelve threatened greater bamboo lemurs from a degraded forest fragment into the protection of the Ranomafana National Park.”
This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
Patricia Wright is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and founder and International Director of ValBio Research station, Ranomafana National Park in Madagascar. In 1986, while on an exploratory expedition to Madagascar, Dr. Wright and colleagues discovered a new species of lemur, the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus). When this rain forest, and the future of this new species, were threatened by timber exploitation, Dr. Wright’s attention turned to conservation. In 1991 the Ranomafana National Park was inaugurated. Dr. Wright coordinated the building of the park infrastructure and management, ecotourism development, biodiversity research and monitoring, economic development, health and education within the peripheral zone villages and in 1997, the Ranomafana National Park management was handed over to the Malagasy Park Service. Since 1997, Dr. Wright has continued to be actively involved in biodiversity research and exploration in Madagascar. Dr. Wright is a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellow and the recipient of numerous other awards and honours. She is the author of five books, including For the Love of Lemurs: My Life in the Wilds of Madagascar.

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Brampton, Ontario as a Window on Life in Canada during World War One
2023-01-13 19:00
Video streaming of the YP Speakers Series lectures is available free of charge however, donations are always welcome.

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Our history lessons about the Great War focus on life in trenches, poison gas, battles and the bravery of our troops overseas. But what was life like for those at home in Canada? Based on stories told to her by her great aunt and research conducted in the local archives, Lynne Golding will speak to us about recruitment efforts; the shortages of food and farm labour; the conversion of factories and business for the production of war materials; the development of flight schools; the treatment in Canada of those of Austrian heritage; the endless fundraising and knitting efforts; the creation of military convalescent hospitals; and the onset of Spanish flu.
BIOGRAPHY:
Bestselling and award-winning author Lynne Golding is the author of the historical fiction series, “Beneath the Alders.” A graduate of the University of Toronto and Queen’s University, she is a senior partner at the international law firm Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP where she co-leads their health law practice group. Lynne lives in Brampton, Ontario, and has three grown children. Beneath the Alders is inspired by stories told to Golding by her great aunt, Jessie Roberts Current, born in Brampton, Ontario in 1903. Those stories, supplemented by extensive research led to the creation of three novels about life in small-town Canada: The Innocent(1907 – July 1914); The Beleaguered (1914 – 1918) and The Mending (1918 – 931).

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Surviving the Media Maze: With all this information, where is the wisdom?
2022-11-25 19:00
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“I have a feeling that the information highway has reached a dead end,” says Michael Enright. “We are so flooded with so-called information that we are drowning in it. The result is a dislocation, a sensation that when everything is deemed important in some way, nothing is important. A lot of this is attributable to the internet and the rise of social media. Social media have two fronts; one is the trek of inconsequential people doing inconsequential things. The other is the wide dissemination of hate and the threat of violence, not to mention actual harm done to women, young people, and indeed to the political process itself. To paraphrase T. S. Eliot, ‘with all this information, where is the wisdom?’”
This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
Michael Enright is a high school dropout with three honourary degrees and the Order of Canada. He has lectured at the University of Cambridge. 2022 marks his 60th year in the practice of journalism. He began in April 1962 at a weekly newspaper in Brampton, Ontario and has since worked for TIME Magazine, The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and Maclean’s Magazine. He was assistant managing editor of Maclean’s and editor of Quest Magazine. He hosted CBC Radio’s As It Happens for ten years and The Sunday Edition for twenty. Michael Enright’s favourite food is Oreo Cookies. He likes to ride horses and motorcycles and knows how to brand a calf.

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Lifesavers and Body Snatchers: Medical Care and the Struggle for Survival in the Great War
2022-11-04 19:00
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The death toll of the First World War would have been even greater had it not been for the efforts of the armies’ medical corps to fight for the lives of the wounded. In this lecture, historian Tim Cook describes how the doctors and nurses of the Canadian Army Medical Corps responded to the challenge before them to counter the lethal effects of disease, infection, and of modern weapons designed to defeat their skills. The methods and innovations they adopted were not restricted to the battlefield. Out of their experience grew new approaches to public health and to the treatment of physical and mental trauma which revolutionized the practice of twentieth-century medicine. But the story has a less seemly side, revealed in the records Cook has brought to light concerning the use of body parts for medical examination and for less scientific purposes during and after the war. Join us for a discussion of a lesser known legacy of the First World War and its influence on the history of public medicine and health policy in Canada up to the present day.
This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
Tim Cook is the Director of Research at the Canadian War Museum. His latest book, published in September 2022, is Lifesavers and Body Snatchers, the subject of his November 4th lecture. He is the author or editor of 13 other books that have won the C.P. Stacey Prize for Military History (twice), the Ottawa Book Award (three times), the RBC Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, and the J.W. Dafoe Book Prize (twice). In 2012, Dr. Cook was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his contributions to Canadian history and in 2013 he received the Governor General’s History Award. He is a frequent commentator in the media, a member of the Royal Society of Canada, and a Member of the Order of Canada.

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Discover Toronto’s Ravines
2022-10-14 08:00 - 17:00
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Toronto’s ravine landscapes are not just a sanctuary for wildlife, they also protect the city against flooding and allow us to enjoy nature at our doorsteps. In this lecture Ellen Schwartzel will describe how the ravines are changing over time, how they are responding to numerous pressures and how you can explore and help protect them.
This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
Ellen Schwartzel is President of the Toronto Field Naturalists. Ellen’s career in environmental policy included 23 years with the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, and she was Ontario’s Deputy Environmental Commissioner from 2014 until retiring in 2018. Ellen received her BSc and MSc in Botany at the University of Toronto. Toronto Field Naturalists connect people with nature in the Toronto area. TFN helps people understand, enjoy, and protect Toronto’s green spaces and the species that inhabit them. They have been offering guided walks, lectures, stewardship and citizen science initiatives since 1923. They also own and manage several nature reserves. To learn more visit www.torontofieldnaturalists.org.

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Cosmic Questions (and Answers!): Exploring the Universe from Aristotle to Webb
2022-09-16 19:00
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The launch and commissioning of the James Webb Space Telescope is the latest step in humanity’s centuries-long journey to understand the nature and origins of our universe and explore possibilities for life beyond Earth. From ancient philosophers to the latest headlines, science journalist Ivan Semeniuk will take you on a journey through space and time that puts new discoveries in context and shows how the work of scientists today relate to fundamental questions that have motivated skywatchers since the dawn of history.
This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend — just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
Ivan Semeniuk reports on science for The Globe and Mail. A science journalist in print, online and broadcast media, his stories have informed Canadians about topics as diverse as space exploration, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to joining the Globe he was the chief of U.S. correspondents for the journal Nature, North American bureau chief for New Scientist magazine and a producer and columnist with Discovery Channel. He is the writer and presenter of the television series Hubble’s Canvas and Cosmic Vistas and a contributing editor to Sky News magazine. His work has garnered several awards including the Royal Canadian Institute’s Sandford Fleming medal for contributions to the public understanding of science.
The astronomical photo of a portion of the Carina nebula is one of the first science images released from the Webb telescope.Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

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Religious Freedom: Whose Freedom Is It?
2022-06-10 19:00
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Entrenched in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, freedom of religion is a fundamental freedom that has deep historical roots in our Anglo-American constitutional tradition. Yet, to view such a freedom as a legalistic or ideological relic is to divorce it from the human beings who exercise it. Where does our understanding of religious freedom come from? Is it purely a freedom to be exercised privately, or is its proper forum the public square? Is it a freedom merely for the dwindling minority of Canadians who are actively religious? The Rev. Dr. Andrew Bennett, Director of the Religious Freedom programme at Cardus and Canada’s first Ambassador for Religious Freedom will explore these questions and the nature of what is an increasingly contested freedom.
This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend — just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
The Rev. Dr. Andrew P.W. Bennett is the Director of Cardus Religious Freedom and Director of Faith Community Engagement at Cardus, Canada’s faith-based think-tank. He also serves as Senior Fellow at the Washington, DC-based Religious Freedom Institute. He is an ordained deacon in the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in the Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada. Fr. Deacon Andrew served as Canada’s first Ambassador for Religious Freedom and Head of the Office of Religious Freedom from 2013 to 2016. A native of Toronto who grew up at Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish, he holds a Ph.D. in Politics (2002) from the University of Edinburgh as well as degrees in history from McGill and Dalhousie. When not praying, studying, or think-tanking, Fr. Deacon Andrew can be found with his fly rod in a stream, listening to bluegrass or Bach, or reading the Church Fathers.

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“We are getting a Canadian occupation ...” : The Nijmegen Salient 1944-45
2022-05-27 19:00
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The peoples under Nazi occupation longed for the arrival of the Allied armies, but liberation could prove to be an ordeal in itself. Few places knew the mixed blessings of liberation better than the Dutch city of Nijmegen. Accidentally yet heavily bombed by the Americans in February 1944, and the scene of vicious fighting during Operation Market Garden the following September, Nijmegen found itself on the frontline for seven long months. Although free of the Germans, the city was occupied by another foreign army, the soldiers of First Canadian Army who held the Nijmegen Salient during the winter of 1944-45. Emerging from a long occupation, the citizens of Nijmegen endured privation, cold, and constant shelling while contemplating the uncertainties ahead. Emerging from the battles of the Scheldt, the Canadians rested and refitted for the final assault into Germany. With reference to official documents, the paintings of Alex Colville, and especially the diaries and accounts of Nijmegen’s inhabitants, this lecture will discuss the comparative experience of Canadian soldiers and Dutch civilians in a static and trying phase of the war rich in human interest.
This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend — just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
Eric McGeer taught Latin and history at St Clement’s School for many years. Originally a specialist in Byzantine history, he turned to Canadian military history and is the author of several books on the subject. He is currently writing a book on the experiences and relations of the Dutch and Canadians in the Nijmegen Salient during the winter of 1944-45.

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Wrongful Convictions in Canada
2022-04-29 19:00
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In this lecture James Lockyer will be talking about his work, the causes of wrongful convictions and how to reduce their numbers in the future.
This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend — just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
James Lockyer obtained his LLB at the University of Nottingham in 1971 and is a member of the Bar in England. He taught at McGill University and the University of Windsor before being called to the Ontario Bar in 1977. He has been a criminal lawyer for 44 years. Since 1992, the majority of his practice has involved unravelling wrongful convictions. Mr. Lockyer is a founding director of Innocence Canada (formerly known as the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC)) in which capacity he has been involved in high profile wrongful conviction cases including those of Guy Paul Morin (1995), David Milgaard (1997), Steven Truscott (2007), William Mullins-Johnson (2008),Tammy Marquardt (2011), Leighton Hay (2014), John Salmon (2015), Maria Shepherd (2016) and Frank Ostrowski (2018). He has received numerous awards and honorary degrees and, in 2018, was made a member of the Order of Canada. He is a partner in the law firm Lockyer, Zaduk and Zeeh.

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Beyond the Trees: A Journey Alone Across Canada’s Arctic
2022-04-01 19:00
National best-selling author and professional adventurer Adam Shoalts takes us on the journey of a lifetime: a nearly 4,000 km solo odyssey by canoe across Canada’s Arctic. This harrowing expedition took almost four months to complete and years of preparation. Shoalts will share photos from his journey, which involved weaving through ice floes, facing down snarling bears and galloping musk-ox, and paddling under the midnight sun in a land as old as time. But also why we urgently need to save vast wild places while it’s still possible.
This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend — just show up.
BIOGRAPHY:
Adam Shoalts, PhD, is a national best-selling author, adventurer, and the Westaway Explorer-in-Residence of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. A geographer, archaeologist, and historian, Shoalts is best known for his long solo wilderness journeys. His award-winning books include Beyond the Trees, Alone Against the North, A History of Canada in 10 Maps, and most recently, The Whisper on the Night Wind. He enjoys long walks in the woods.

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What’s so evil about the Notwithstanding Clause?
2022-03-15 19:00
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The Notwithstanding clause is perhaps the most obscure part of Canada’s constitutional history that everyone loves to hate. Ever since 1982 critics have attacked Section 33 as an unfortunate compromise that negates the Charter’s great promise of human rights. When the Quebec government invoked Section 33 to allow them to pass otherwise unconstitutional language laws, many in the rest of Canada were irate. Ever since, each time a government invokes or threatens to invoke the Notwithstanding Clause, the same criticisms re-emerge. In this talk historian Christopher Dummitt explains the origins of the clause, including how pivotal it was to ensuring repatriation, and places it within the long and vital history of responsible and parliamentary government in Canada.
BIOGRAPHY:
Christopher Dummitt is Professor of Canadian history at Trent University and host of the podcast 1867 & All That. His book Unbuttoned: A History of Mackenzie King’s Secret Life was shortlisted for several major awards including the best book on Canadian politics from the Writers Trust in 2017. He writes on history, politics and culture in venues like the Literary Review of Canada, the National Post, The Hub, and Quillette. He is currently conducting research on the state of academic freedom and viewpoint diversity in Canada and researching a book on the final decade of the life of former prime minister Mackenzie King.
Presented by theChurchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracyand co-sponsored by the Yorkminster Park Speakers Series
The Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy, www.ChurchillSociety.org, is a non-partisan, charitable organization that honours the life of Sir Winston Churchill by facilitating education, discussion and debate about Canada’s parliamentary democracy.

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The COVID 19 Pandemic in Perspective – Two Years On
2022-03-04 19:00
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FEATURED PANELISTS:
Dr. Allison McGeer, Microbiologist and Infectious Disease ConsultantProfessor Kate Choi, Associate Professor of Sociology, Western UniversityProfessor Erica Di Ruggiero, Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, UofTProfessor Christopher Rutty, Historian
Two years on from the start of the pandemic, we invite four distinguished scholars from four different academic disciplines and research traditions to consider the pandemic in perspective. Each panelist will offer an opening statement summarising their particular approach to the pandemic, the kinds of questions they’ve been engaged in and what they have learned so far following which Dr. Allison McGeer will lead a panel discussion among the four guests digging more deeply into some of the key issues and themes. There will be time at the end of the presentation for questions from the audience.
BIOGRAPHIES:
Kate H. Choi is a social demographer interested in examining the causes and consequences of international migration. Her research areas encompass two fields: (1) neighborhood contexts and their impact on immigrant integration and (2) the social determinants of COVID-19. Her work has been published in leading journals in migration, demography, and family sociology, including Demography and Journal of Marriage and Family. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from UCLA and completed her postdoctoral training at Princeton University. She is currently an associate professor in Sociology and the Director of the Centre for Research on Social Inequality at Western University.
Erica Di Ruggiero is Associate Professor of Global Health, Division of Social and Behavioural Health Sciences and Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH), University of Toronto. Dr. Di Ruggiero is the Director of the DLSPH’s Centre for Global Health and Co-director, of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Health Promotion. Her research examines how evidence affects global policy agendas related to employment, other determinants of health and health equity in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. Her work focuses on governance-related questions about the roles of global institutions.
Dr. Allison McGeer is a Professor in Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, and an Infectious Disease Specialist and Senior Clinician Scientist at the Lunenfeld—Tanenbaum Research Institute of the Sinai Health System in Toronto. She has a research interest in adult immunization and in emerging infections, and has been a member of Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization. Since February, 2020, she has been working on research related to the prevention and management of COVID-19.
Christopher J. Ruttyis a professional historian with special expertise in the history of medicine, public health, infectious diseases and biotechnology in Canada. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in the Department of History, with his dissertation on the history of poliomyelitis in Canada, for which he was supervised by the late Professor Michael Bliss, author of the seminal book, The Discovery of Insulin. Since completing his Ph.D. in 1995, Dr. Rutty has provided historical research, writing, consulting and creative services to a variety of clients through his company, Health Heritage Research Services. Dr. Rutty also teaches at the UofT’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

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The Crisis in Afghanistan Six Months On
2022-02-11 19:00
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Afghanistan Six Months On: “Why are the Taliban back on top in Afghanistan? And how should the world respond?” Author and journalist Terry Glavin and former Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan Chris Alexander will team up to offer their expert analysis of the situation in Afghanistan six months after the American withdrawal in August 2021. Their discussion will cover the origins of the Afghanistan conflict, the events leading to the Taliban’s restoration, and the consequences for Afghanistan and for the rest of the world. Glavin and Alexander will also provide an update on the ongoing humanitarian crisis as more than twenty million people face severe hunger through this cold Afghan winter.
BIOGRAPHIES:
Terry Glavin is a senior fellow with the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, a columnist for the National Post and the Ottawa Citizen and a contributing editor to Maclean’s magazine. He has covered the Afghan conflict extensively and is the author of Come From the Shadows: The Long and Lonely Struggle for Peace in Afghanistan. Newspaper assignments in recent years have taken him to Afghanistan, Israel, the Russian Far East, the Eastern Himalayas, Northern Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan, China, Hong Kong and Central America. Author of seven books and the co-author of three others, he has won more than a dozen literary and journalism awards, including the Hubert Evans Prize and several National Magazine Awards.
Born in Toronto, Chris Alexander was educated at Oriole Park School and UTS. He attended university at McGill, Laval and Balliol College, Oxford, earning a BA in history/political science and an MA in philosophy/economics. He joined the Canadian foreign service in 1991 and was Canada’s first resident ambassador to Afghanistan (2003-05). He served as Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General (DSRSG) for Afghanistan (2005-09). In 2011 he published The Long Way Back: Afghanistan’s Quest for Peace and was elected Member of Parliament for Ajax-Pickering where he served as Parliamentary Secretary for National Defence and then as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. He lives in Ajax with his wife Hedvig Christine and three children.

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The Discovery of Insulin: a cure from death (due to diabetes)
2022-01-14 19:00
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One hundred years ago, Frederick Banting, MD had an idea in the middle of the night that culminated in the discovery of insulin, a ‘cure’ for certain death in patients with Type 1 diabetes. In this lecture Professor Patricia Brubaker will trace the origins of this discovery, covering not only the science and the individuals involved in this ground-breaking discovery, but also the process that led to the commercialization of insulin, enabling worldwide access to this lifesaving treatment.
BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Patricia Brubaker obtained her PhD at McGill University followed by post-doctoral studies at the University of Toronto, where she is currently Professor in the Departments of Physiology and Medicine. Since 1985, she has been actively involved in studies on the regulation and functions of several intestinal hormones, most notably glucagon-like peptide-1, used in the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes and obesity, and glucagon-like peptide-2, recently approved for patients with short bowel syndrome. Dr. Brubaker has published over 200 papers and trained over more than 200 students and fellows during her career. She has been supported by a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Vascular and Metabolic Biology since 2001, was inducted as a Fellow into the Royal Society of Canada in 2016, and received the Diabetes Canada Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.

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The Symphonies of Beethoven – the Universe in Music
2021-11-26 19:00
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The plays of William Shakespeare, the sculpture of Michelangelo, the poetry of Pablo Neruda. These are all considered pinnacles of human artistic achievement, and the nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) are included among them. They are the most famous and frequently-performed and recorded symphonies ever composed. But why are they still popular and what makes them so great? In this lecture with music examples, classical music writer and broadcaster Rick Phillips will uncover the reasons behind the undying legacy of the nine Beethoven symphonies, and what they can express and communicate to us today, in our busy, hectic lives, two hundred years later.
BIOGRAPHY:
Rick Phillips is a busy broadcaster, podcaster, freelance writer and reviewer, panel moderator, lecturer, consultant, concert host and music tour guide. He presents a variety of Music History & Appreciation courses at such venues as the University of Toronto, York University, the Royal Conservatory of Music and George Brown College. Often a juror in the classical music categories for the Juno Awards, he is the author of The Essential Classical Recordings – 101 CDs, published by McClelland & Stewart. From 1994 to 2008, Rick was the Host and Producer of SOUND ADVICE, the weekly guide to classical music and recordings, heard across Canada on both CBC Radio One and Radio Two every weekend. Affiliated with the CBC for 30 years, working in Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto, his career spanned production to management to on-air. He holds a B. Mus. from McGill University and a M. Mus. from the University of Toronto. www.soundadvice1.com and soundadvice@sympatico.ca.

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Forgetting, Remembering and Remaking Canada’s Second World War
2021-11-05 19:00
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In this lecture, best-selling author Tim Cook will talk about his book, The Fight for History, and he will examine the strange way that Canadians ignored for decades their epic contributions during the Second World War. Despite 1.1 million Canadians who served in uniform, and millions more who supported the total war effort from the home front, Canada rapidly left the war behind, publishing few histories, building fewer monuments, and advancing into the prosperous second half of the twentieth century. Dr. Cook will talk about the neglect of our Second World War history until quite recently, and highlight the key role of veterans in reclaiming this important legacy of service and sacrifice.
BIOGRAPHY:
Tim Cook is the Director of Research at the Canadian War Museum. Cook is the author or editor of 13 books and they have won the C.P. Stacey Prize for Military History (twice), the Ottawa Book Award (three times), the RBC Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, and the J.W. Dafoe Book Prize (twice). In 2012, Dr. Cook was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his contributions to Canadian history and in 2013 he received the Governor General’s History Award. He is a frequent commentator in the media, a member of the Royal Society of Canada, and a Member of the Order of Canada.

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Hiking Where Your Heart is
2021-10-15 19:00
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“Not everyone is as lucky as I am,” says writer and hiker Nicola Ross. “Not only was I born in a spectacularly beautiful place: the Forks of the Credit, but I still live there!” In this lecture Ross invites you to join her on a hike along sections of the Bruce Trail that are filled with stories, memories and fabulous flora and fauna. She will take you back in time, catapult you into the future and then spend a moment admiring what the trail has to offer right now – today. From the legend of the Devil’s Pulpit to Canada Dry’s first bottling plant to killer cataract falls. From the mighty Niagara Escarpment to the hummocky Oak Ridges Moraine. From kettle lakes to rare walking ferns. Childhood picnics to red tinted limestone. A gold rush to a salt mine. Using great photos and a lifetime of getting to know her own back yard, Nicola Ross will take you along on a short adventure and invite you to come to know and love your back yard as well as she knows hers.
BIOGRAPHY:
The winner of numerous writing honours including a National Magazine Award, Nicola Ross is the author of ten books, including the popular Loops & Lattes Hiking Guides (Caledon Hikes; Halton Hikes; Dufferin Hikes; Hamilton & Area Hikes; Waterloo, Wellington & Guelph Hikes; and Collingwood, the Blue Mountains & Beaver Valley Hikes). A biologist and former climate change consultant, Nicola is a regular contributor to and columnist with In the Hills magazine. Her articles have been published in The Walrus, The Globe and Mail, Explore magazine, Mountain Life, Avenue, Ontario Nature, Alternatives Journal, and more. She was a regular environmental contributor to CBC Radio in Calgary, regularly appears on CBC Radio program Fresh Air and was the long-time editor-in-chief of Alternatives Journal, Canada’s national environmental magazine. Ross is now pursuing her love of writing, travel and sport on a full-time basis. For more visit her websites www.nicolaross.ca and www.loopsandlattes.ca, where you can find her blog, “What’s Not to Hike?”

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Winston Churchill, Mackenzie King and Appeasement
2021-09-27 19:00
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It is a truth almost universally acknowledged that British foreign policy in the 1930s, commonly described as ‘appeasement’, was a disaster that produced the second world war. Winston Churchill was one of the few who insisted that not standing up to Nazi Germany by threatening armed force would lead to war. But was appeasement simply a policy of weakness and fear? Why was it so supported by so many leaders in Britain, the dominions and elsewhere, including Mackenzie King, the prime minister of Canada? What exactly was Churchill arguing and why was it rejected for so long? Professor Thompson will continue the presentation into the war, when Churchill himself had to deal with the threats of Italy and Japan entering the war and the territorial claims of the allied Soviet Union, and will conclude with some reflections on appeasement and diplomacy.
BIOGRAPHY:
Neville Thompson is Emeritus Professor of History at Western University where he taught modern British and European history from 1973 to 2004, following five years at Huron College and three years at McMaster University from 1970 to 1973. His first book, published in 1971, was The Anti-Appeasers: Conservative Opposition to Appeasement in the 1930s. Fifty years later, his latest book is The Third Man: Churchill, Roosevelt, Mackenzie King, and the Untold Friendships that Won WWII, published in February 2021. In between, Professor Thompson wrote three other books, served as a board member of the Ontario Heritage Foundation and of the Historica Foundation, and was a member of both provincial and federal Electoral Boundaries Commissions. He was on the Editorial Advisory Board of The International History Review from 2003-06. Professor Thompson lives in London, Ontario.
This lecture is a presentation of the Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy, and is co-sponsored by the Yorkminster Park Speakers Series.

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Birds of Ontario: An introduction to Birdwatching
2021-09-17 19:00
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One of the side-effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns in Ontario over the past year has been an increased interest in nature, spending time in parks and watching birds. The sale of birdseed and bird feeders increased last winter, attendance in parks grew significantly and people paid more attention to the birdlife in Toronto’s ravines, our waterfront and in our own backyards. In this lecture, David Lindsay, a lifelong birdwatcher and member of the Board of Ontario Parks and the Greenbelt Foundation will offer some tips and suggestions for birdwatching in Southern Ontario. Using his own photographs, he will introduce us to some of the common and not-so-common species to be found in our area. He will offer suggestions for where to go and what to look for during the different seasons of the year.
BIOGRAPHY:
David Lindsay was recently appointed Chair of the Board of Infrastructure Ontario after retiring as President of the Council of Ontario Universities in the fall of 2020. David was a deputy minister in six portfolios and held other senior roles in the Ontario Public Service after serving as Chief of Staff to the Premier of Ontario from 1995 to 1997. Throughout his long career David combined his passion for birds and nature with his interest in public policy by serving on the Boards of the World Wildlife Fund and the Ontario Board of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. He was involved in the Lands for Life initiative which resulted in the largest expansion of parks and protected spaces in Ontario’s history. He is currently Vice-chair of the Parks Ontario board and serves on the Greenbelt Foundation. Birdwatching and bird photography continues to be an interest in his retirement.

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What the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and its Observances Reveal about Human Relations Today
2021-07-22 19:00
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The Tulsa Race Massacre is believed to be the single worst discrete incident of racial violence in American history. During the course of eighteen bloody hours on May 31 and June 1, 1921, more than one thousand homes and businesses were destroyed, and as many as three hundred people killed. By the time the violence ended, Oklahoma’s second-largest African American community had been burned to the ground. As the Oklahoma Historical Society summarized: “The outbreak occurred during an era of acute racial tensions, characterized by the birth and rapid growth of the so-called second Ku Klux Klan and by the determined efforts of African Americans to resist attacks upon their communities, particularly in the matter of lynching.” So, what does a 1921 state-sponsored white massacre of a relatively wealthy Black community in America’s 48th state have to tell us about our own here and now? Join Amos Jones in a lecture that grapples with this and related questions and promises to offer what, to many, might seem to be some surprising answers.
BIOGRAPHY:
Amos Jones is a lawyer and legal scholar from Washington, D.C. He is a widely published authority on the law of racial relations and constitutional rights. As a top-rated practitioner, he has prosecuted numerous civil-rights actions, including against governmental agencies. Jones received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, cum laude, from Emory University in 2000, his Master of Science from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2003, and his Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard University in 2006. In 2006-07, he was a Fulbright/Visiting Scholar at Melbourne and in Fall 2015 was Academic Visitor to the Faculty of Law at Oxford. In addition to engaging in the full-time practice of law and lecturing widely, Jones, a former journalist, serves as Adjunct Professor of Media Law at Trinity Washington University and Executive Director of the African-American Trust for Historic Preservation.

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The 4N6 of Engineering Failure Investigations and Why Accidents Do NOT Happen
2021-06-04 19:00
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So which belief is true: ‘accidents happen’ or ‘everything happens for a reason’? Behavioural sciences show that in the world of interpretation, human judgement is powerfully affected by how problems are initially framed. As humans, we are prone to subconsciously anchor on preconceived notions and then tend to find what we are looking for during an investigation.
The function of an engineered artifact is to deliver the desired fit, form and function to society. It is the purpose of engineering to postpone failure of an artifact for a safe design lifetime. The lecture will highlight the practice of forensic engineering investigation and illustrate methods to assess potential sources, causes and solutions for prevention of failure of engineered products, and of the investigation itself.
BIOGRAPHY:
Doug Perovic is a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto. A renowned authority on forensic engineering and failure analysis, Dr. Perovic has led many investigations in Canada and the United States, often serving as the voice of the profession in the media on high profile cases. He developed and teaches the only undergraduate and graduate university level Forensic Engineering courses in Canada and recently championed the Certificate in Forensic Engineering Program at U of T. Dr. Perovic is the Celestica Chair in Materials, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Senior Fellow at Massey College in the University of Toronto and Co-director of the Ontario Centre for Characterization of Advanced Materials.

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Matters of the Heart: Staying Alive
2021-05-07 19:00
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Your heart is a marvelously complex organ responsible for pumping blood to the body, delivering oxygen and nutrients to all tissues, and removing carbon dioxide and other wastes. Cardiovascular disease, which can lead to heart attack, heart failure, sudden death, stroke, and acute limb ischemia, affects millions each year and involves a huge cost to society. Staying alive means protecting yourself from the risk of having either a first time or subsequent event. This session will be a simplified state-of-the-art review of the cardiovascular system in health and disease, and the management of risk factors. Diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease will be discussed, as well as future developments in personalized medicine through genetics and biomarkers, and advances in imaging, devices, and artificial intelligence.
BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. David Fell is an invasive cardiologist with a large clinical practice at Southlake Regional Health Center in Newmarket, where he served as Physician Leader and Chief of Cardiology for 13 years, and led the development of what is now the third largest regional cardiac care program in Ontario. He was also VP of cardiac and cancer programs at Southlake for four years and regional VP for Cancer Care Ontario. After graduating from Queen’s University in Kingston in 1981 he specialized in internal medicine and cardiology. He worked at the Toronto Western and Scarborough Grace Hospitals, where he was Chief of Staff at the time of its merger with the Scarborough General in 1998–99. He and his wife Donna have four children and three grandchildren. He has a deep Christian faith. An avid sailor, Dr. Fell raced competitively in regattas all over the world, and was a member of Canada’s National sailing team.

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Caring During COVID
2021-04-16 19:00
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During COVID, the number of Toronto citizens who are affected by homelessness grew greatly. Currently, twenty percent of visits to the St. Michael’s Hospital Emergency Department are by those experiencing homelessness and many more are part of a growing number of vulnerably housed individuals. People who live in shelters were more likely to be affected by COVID – both the virus and by the decreased support services in the community. In addition to lack of permanent housing, many have medically and socially complex concerns, such as food insecurity, complex mental health conditions, addictions, and poverty. Dr. Snider will discuss the various ways that the department has had to adapt during COVID for all patients and how they are working with their community partners to change and improve the care that they provide.
BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Carolyn Snider is a Canadian Emergency Physician Leader and Researcher. She is the Chief of Emergency Medicine at Unity Health Toronto – St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, a Scientist with the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute and MAP for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at University of Toronto. Practicing emergency and trauma medicine for over 15 years in large urban Canadian teaching hospitals, Dr. Snider’s focus is on working with patients and community colleagues to redesign how emergency department care can be delivered in an equitable way for those experiencing marginalization and low resources. In addition to living her career with passion she is a member of Voices Rock Medicine, enjoys the outdoors, adventure travel and is fortunate to be a mom and part of a loving, supportive family.

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Paving the Way for Change: Anti-Black Systemic Racism and the Church
2021-02-19 19:00
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Anti-Black systemic racism is defined as the policies and practices rooted in Canadian institutions including education, health care, and justice that mirror and reinforce beliefs, attitudes, prejudice, stereotyping and/or discrimination towards people of Black-African descent. The term ‘Anti-Black Racism’ was first introduced by Dr. Akua Benjamin, a Ryerson Social Work Professor as part of her PhD thesis. This moderated panel discussion will focus on illuminating the ongoing reality and impact of anti-Black systemic racism on Black/African/Caribbean Canadians with focus on understanding the intersectionality of the church and faith. The discussion will be candid and aspires to not only inform but also to serve as a catalyst for further dialogue and action to dismantle all forms of anti-Black systemic racism.
PANELISTS:
The Rev. Michael BlairGeneral Secretary of the United Church of Canada
The Rev. Denise GillardCBOQ Pastor, Founder, Executive Artistic Director of TC3 and The HopeWorks Connection
Ms. Dionne PeartBarrister, Legal Aid Lawyer
MODERATOR:Dr. Claudette KnightVice President, CIBC Talent Development
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BIOGRAPHIES:
The Rev. Michael BlairRev. Michael Blair is a member of the Order of Ministry in the United Church of Canada and currently serves the General Council of the United Church of Canada as the General Secretary a role he began, November 1, 2020.
In his time at the General Council Office, he has served as Executive Minister for Ethnic Ministry; Executive Minister of Communities in Ministry and Executive Minister, Church in Mission. Before joining the General Council staff, Michael served as the Executive Director of the Toronto Christian Resource Center (CRC), which was a ministry of the then Toronto South Presbytery, now Shining Waters Region. Michael was admitted to the Order of Ministry in 2010 and has previously served as a congregational minister of a number of Baptist churches in Toronto and St. Catherine’s, Ontario; a staff member with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship at the University of Toronto, and as a community chaplain with the Ontario Multifaith Council’s Reintegration Program.
Michael lives in Toronto with his partner, and is the father of two adult sons one of whom is part of the CBC’s Tallboyz comedy troupe. Michael enjoys photography in his spare time.
The Rev. Denise GillardServing as Senior Leader of Denise Gillard Ministries, Founder and Executive Artistic Director of The HopeWorks Connection, CEO of My Divine Appointment, and Senior Pastor at Kingdom City Church, Denise focuses on supporting and activating healthy, impactful and accountable leaders who serve as change agents in the world.
Her impressive commitment to empowering people of African descent motivates her to invest in the spiritual development, equipping and mobilization of Black Christian leaders and their allies, while remaining intentional about helping people of all faiths, creeds and cultures to reach beyond their perceived limitations.
Born in Oakville, Ontario, Rev. Denise learned how to create opportunities for others from her Jamaican-born father and her Nova Scotian mother whose people settled in Canada by way of the Black Refugee and Loyalist movements.
Rev Denise received her undergraduate degree at Tyndale Bible College & Seminary (Toronto), and her post-graduate degree from the Divinity College of McMaster University (Hamilton). She was first ordained with the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec in 1999 and now leads the flagship church of Partners in Missions and Outreach International, a Catch the Fire church.
Rev. Denise is the recipient of several distinguished awards including The African Canadian Women’s Achievement Award for Excellence in Youth & Women’s Development and The African Canadian Achievement Award for Excellence in Religion. She is also an award-winning author and songwriter. Denise is mother to 3 children and grandmother of one. Along with her husband, Wilton, Denise lives in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada.
Ms. Dionne PeartLegal aid lawyer since 2004 primarily, Dionne focussed on poverty law and bail law. She obtained a BA from York, did graduate studies at Queens, and graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1997.
Dionne articled with Legge and Legge and was called to the bar by Laura Legge when Laura was the Treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada. Dionne sat on the board of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations.
Her hobbies include screenwriting and photography. She also worked in the music industry with Sam Sniderman who encouraged her to go to law school. Dionne was raised in Yonge Eglinton, Etobicoke and Leslieville neighbourhoods and lives in East York. She is married to Miroslav who is an amazing chef and has attended Yorkminster Park since 2010.
Dr. Claudette KnightClaudette has over twenty years of experience in the Financial Services Industry and is passionate about empowering financial, social, physical, and emotional wellbeing in others. She is recognized as a collaborative leader who delivers high impact learning solutions that build employee capability and drive business results.
Additionally, she has a doctorate in the field of Business Administration with a focus on gender and leadership and several academic publications including: “Women, Leadership, and Promotion in the Corporate Arena”, and “Black Parents Speak: Education in Mid-Nineteenth Century Canada West”. Claudette is HR’s Executive Sponsor for the CIBC Run for the Cure and co-executive sponsor of CIBC’s Black Employee Network.
Claudette has been attending Yorkminster Park for at least ten years. She and her husband Guy live in the YPBC neighbourhood and have one young son.

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