In this illustrated lecture Julian Porter, author of 149 Paintings You Really Need to See in Europe (So You Can Ignore the Others) and 149 Paintings You Really Need to See in North America (So You Can Ignore the Others), will focus on 17 paintings “that scream, ‘Magnificent!’”

Painting is magic, often beyond the capacity of words. Give a painting time to talk to you and you’ll be the wiser. Enjoy the journey of looking again. Copies of Mr. Porter’s books will be available for sale at the lecture.

BIOGRAPHY
Julian Porter, QC, was called to the Bar in 1964 and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1976. He has practised litigation exclusively since his call and is a specialist in civil litigation and a leading expert in defamation law.

He has a passion for art that began when, as a student, he spent seven years as a tour guide in Europe. Since then he has conducted countless tours of famous galleries in Europe and North America.

His first book, 149 Paintings You Really Need to See in Europe (So You Can Ignore the Others) was published in October, 2013. In February, 2015, he was the guest of honour at a luncheon given by the judges of the Supreme Court of Canada who invited him to talk about his book and some of the paintings in his book. His new book, 149 Paintings You Really Need to See in North America (So You Can Ignore the Others), is co-authored by Stephen Grant. These books describe with entertaining irreverence the best of the best art.

In this lecture, “Reclaiming the Don: An Environmental History of Toronto’s Don River Valley,” based on her 2014 book of the same title, Professor Bonnell will show how the Don Valley played a central role in Toronto’s development. The lecture will trace the valley’s evolution from the founding of York in the 1790s to the construction of the Don Valley Parkway during the 1960s and up to the present day. For the past two centuries, the Don has served as both a sink for wastes and a site for numerous improvement schemes. By chronicling how successive generations of Toronto residents have imagined the Don Valley as an opportunity, an eyesore and a refuge, this lecture provides a fascinating account of how a small river can shape the growth of a big city.

BIOGRAPHY
Jennifer Bonnell is an Assistant Professor of Canadian and environmental history in the Department of History at York University. She is the author of the award-winning Reclaiming the Don: An Environmental History of Toronto’s Don River Valley (University of Toronto Press, 2014) and co-editor of Historical GIS Research in Canada (University of Calgary Press, 2014). Bonnell’s articles and essays have appeared in The Canadian Historical Review, The Journal of Canadian Studies, and Museum & Society, among other publications.
She has contributed to a variety of public history projects, including documentary film and television projects for the Evergreen Brick Works and Metal Dog Films, and research and engagement work for LabSpace Studios and No9 Contemporary Art and the Environment. She is currently working on a new book, Foragers of a Modern Countryside: Honeybees, Agricultural Modernization and Environmental Change in the Great Lakes Region.

In this lecture, based on his 2017 book of the same title, Professor Russell will make the case that the distinctive character of Canada is best understood as the result of the interaction of Canada’s three foundational pillars, Aboriginal Canada, French Canada and English-speaking Canada. It is the survival of the two smaller pillars as “nations within” and English-speaking Canada’s relinquishing its desire to be a simple one-nation state, that has enabled Canada to become the world’s leading multinational, multicultural country.”

BIOGRAPHY
Peter H. Russell is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Toronto where he has taught since 1958. He was the Principal of Innis College and the founding Principal of Senior College, the University of Toronto's youngest college for its oldest scholars. His writings and public activities cover the fields of judicial, constitutional, Aboriginal and parliamentary politics. His most recent books are Two Cheers for Minority Government, Parliamentary Democracy in Crisis, Recognizing Native Title: Indigenous Resistance to English-Settler Colonialism and, in 2017, Canada's Odyssey: A Country Based on Incomplete Conquests. He has served as the President of the Canadian Political Science Association and Chair of the Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy. He is the recipient of honorary degrees from a number of universities, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Officer of the Order of Canada.

We are seeing a concerning trend in the world today - the total number of large-scale disasters and crises is rising, while the total amount of funding available is falling. Humanitarian organizations are struggling to respond and save lives.
To keep up with this shift, we need to innovate. We need to find new and powerful solutions to some of the world's toughest problems. From distributing low-cost water purification units that produce safe drinking water for an entire year, to operating mobile water purification systems to the most remote locations, to installing bomb blast window film to protect vulnerable civilians trapped in war zones, to constructing permanent homes with strong, durable and environmentally friendly bricks made from compacted soil, to operating drones to provide better information to rescuers and responders, GlobalMedic is using innovative solutions to protect the health and dignity of families affected by disaster and crisis.
Biography
Rahul Singh founded the David McAntony Gibson Foundation (GlobalMedic) in 1999 to honour the memory of his best friend who tragically lost his life in 1998. Combining a passion for humanitarian assistance with a frontline emergency perspective - having been a paramedic since 1988 - Singh developed GlobalMedic's unique operational mandate of providing efficient and cost effective disaster relief in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophe using professional emergency workers.
GlobalMedic teams have deployed on 193 missions in 63 countries following natural disasters and complex emergencies. Delivering of water purification equipment, installing of field hospitals, and running innovative programs like RescUAV, Singh continually strives to develop Canadian innovation in order to save lives.
Singh has received a number of accolades for his humanitarian work over the years, including the Humanitarian of the Year Award in 2006, the Order of Ontario in 2012, and the Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. Singh as also been named on Time Magazine's List of the 100 Most Influential People.

In this lecture former Ontario Premier Bob Rae will talk about why human rights are important, and how and why they are so deeply challenged in the world. Drawing on his experiences in Canada and internationally, he will link how the Canadian debate on rights has evolved, and how it parallels what is happening around the world.

BIOGRAPHY
Bob Rae, who served as Premier of Ontario from 1990-95 and later as Interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, is currently practicing law in Toronto, focusing on indigenous issues and mediation. He also teaches law and public policy at the University of Toronto and currently serves as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Myanmar. He is the author of five books and three major reports for the federal and provincial governments. Bob lives in Toronto with his wife Arlene Perly Rae and thanks to their three daughters they are proud grandparents.

Canada's Hundred Days, 1918: The Greatest Victory. Most Canadians have heard of Vimy Ridge. Very few know of the Hundred Days, the series of great battles led by the Canadian Corps from August 8 to the Armistice on November 11, 1918. Then Canada's 100,000 men defeated one-quarter of the German Army on the Western Front in the most significant battlefield victories in Canadian history. The cost was terrible, but the Canadians played a hugely disproportionate share in winning the Great War. It is long past time for Canadians to know and remember what their great-grandfathers did a century ago.
BIOGRAPHY
Jack Granatstein writes on 20th Century Canadian national history - the military, defence and foreign policy, Canadian-American relations, the public service, and politics. He has been described as "the most prolific Canadian historian of his generation" with more than 75 titles to his credit.
Granatstein was born in Toronto in 1939. He attended the Royal Military College, the University of Toronto, and Duke University, served in the Canadian Army (1956-66), then joined the History Department at York University, Toronto (1966-95) where he is Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus.
In 2008, the Conference of Defence Associations awarded Granatstein its 75th Anniversary Book Prize as "the author deemed to have made the most significant positive contribution to the general public's understanding of Canadian foreign policy, national security and defence during the past quarter century." He was instrumental in creating the new home for the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, where he was Director and CEO from 1998 to 2000. He is co-curator of the Museum's Hundred Days 1918 exhibit.
Granatstein's better known books include: The Oxford Companion to Canadian Military History; The Generals; The Greatest Victory; Canada's Army; and Who Killed Canadian History?

Moderator:
Daniel Tisch (CEO, Argyle Public Relationships)
Panelists:
Wendy Duff (Dean, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto)
Carol Radford-Grant (City Archivist, City of Toronto)
Robert Benzie (Queen’s Park Bureau Chief, Toronto Star)

The digital age has radically democratized communication – allowing almost anyone to create, publish and consume content. But technological advancement has also decimated the news media and made it more difficult for citizens to separate truth from falsehood – resulting in dangerous declines in trust in leaders, institutions, governments and businesses. Join us for a dynamic dialogue between an academic, an archivist, a journalist and a professional communicator – each a national leader in their field – as they explore the implications of the digital revolution on our democracy, and what we can do to preserve it.

The world is facing a global refugee crisis unprecedented since the 1945-1952 period. There are currently almost 68 million people forcibly displaced.
Professor Hansen’s lecture will review the causes of mass forced migration and explore the solutions. It will argue that solutions are not found in the global north; they are rather found in the global south – where most refugees are. It ends by making a series of policy recommendations: that resources be concentrated in the global south where the refugees in fact are; that refugees be given economic, political and social opportunities in the countries to which they flee; that nascent efforts to encourage refugee self-sufficiency be expanded; that refugee access to education in particular be expanded and that donor support aim to improve life for both refugees and locals so that refugees may come to be seen not as an intolerable burden but as an economic and political asset.

BIOGRAPHY
Randall Hansen is Interim Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Full Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto, and Canada Research Chair in Global Migration. He works on Immigration and Citizenship, Demography and Population Policy and the Effects of War on Civilians. His published works include Disobeying Hitler: German Resistance after Operation Valkyrie (2014), Sterilized by the State: Eugenics, Race and the Population Scare in 20th Century North America (2014), and Fire and Fury: the Allied Bombing of Germany (2009). Professor Hansen has also co- edited a number of books on immigration and public opinion in Western democracies. He appears regularly on TVO’s The Agenda and has written for and been quoted in the national and international press.

RITES OF PASSION – The St. Matthew Passion by J. S. Bach
The St. Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach is sometimes glibly referred to as the “best opera Bach never wrote.” As a provincial church musician in Leipzig, Bach never composed an opera, but the St. Matthew Passion is as close as you could come – a masterpiece of high drama, emotion and impact. Intended for use on Good Friday, this monumental work recounts the story of the final hours of Christ, containing some of Bach’s most beautiful and inspired music. Regardless of your faith, creed, religion or knowledge of music, the St. Matthew Passion will impress, enlighten and move you, clearly illustrating the capability of the creative mind when inspired. Join Rick Phillips for a stimulating voyage into this great musical work of art that speaks spiritually to the whole of humanity.

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.

The reputation of Canada’s first prime minister has declined dramatically over the past decade.  He has been accused of being a racist and of masterminding a genocide against the indigenous people.  In this presentation, Dutil will review Sir John A. Macdonald’s claims to fame and address the condemnations that have been levelled against him.

BIOGRAPHY

Patrice A. Dutil, Ph.D is Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University.  Among his eight books, Dutil has published works that examine the career of Sir John A. Macdonald, notably John A. Macdonald at 200: New Reflections and Legacies (co-edited with Roger Hall in 2014) and Prime Ministerial Power in Canada: Its Origins under Macdonald, Laurier and Borden (2017).  He is currently writing a book exclusively focused on Canada’s first prime minister.  Dutil founded the Literary Review of Canada in 1991.  He was President of the Champlain Society from 2011 to 2017 and is co-host of the Champlain Society podcast, “Witness to Yesterday.”  His voluntary efforts have been recognized by the Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Ontario Volunteer Service Award.  His website is www.patricedutil.com.

BIOGRAPHY

Arlene Chan, a retired librarian, has written seven books about the history, culture, and traditions of the Chinese in Canada, several nominated for the Ontario Speaker’s Book Award, Heritage Toronto Book Award, Silver Birch Award, and Red Cedar Award.  She shares her stories of growing up in Toronto’s Chinatown through her writing, tours, and presentations.  Arlene serves as the president of the Jean Lumb Foundation, board member of Little Pear Garden Dance Company, advisor for Toronto Public Library’s Chinese Canadian Archive, and member of Ontario Infrastructure Heritage Interpretation Working Group. She is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Award (2013) and Heritage Toronto Special Achievement Award (2017).

The arrival of Chinese and the development of Chinatown in Toronto owe their modest beginnings to the completion of the CPR in 1885 after which time a hostile British Columbia sent Chinese immigrants eastwards in search of employment and a more welcoming place.  In 1894, the Chinese population in Toronto numbered fifty.  Today, half a million make up the second largest visible minority in the Greater Toronto Area where the most spoken languages, after English and French, are Mandarin and Cantonese.  Archival photographs and Arlene’s family stories will trace the history from the early years to the current day.

Professor Nick Eyles
Canada Rocks: 4 Billion Years of Environmental Change
The land we call Canada has a long geologic history. We are a nation whose peoples and rocks have all come from ‘someplace else.’ The land we call Canada is a vast confederation of far-travelled crust brought together by plate tectonic collisions since the first small landmass formed about 4 billion years ago. Some of the oldest rocks and landscapes on the planet, one of its largest meteorite impact craters, its richest mines, the clearest evidence of the beginnings of life, the disappearance of mountain ranges and oceans, and dramatic changes in climate – these have all been part of this amazing geologic journey.
BIOGRAPHY
Nick Eyles holds a Ph.D and D.Sc. and has been at University of Toronto at Scarborough since 1982. He has over 40 years’ experience of geological field work around the world from Antarctica to the Arctic using that knowledge to better understand the history (and future) of planet Earth and Canada. He has written several hundred research papers, 5 award-winning books and hosted 2 five-part documentary series with CBC’s Nature of Things on Canadian geology and world geology with David Suzuki. He has awards from leading learned societies and sits on the board of the Georgian Bay Land Trust.