Community Events
Wednesday May 2, 11:30 AM Eastern
David Dodge CIFAR Lecture: Boundaries of Inclusion
Toronto, Ontario
Speaker: Professor Irene Bloemraad
Migration, Human Rights and National Values
While nationalism is growing around the world, record numbers of people are migrating beyond their country of birth. Increasingly, these migrants face hostility and discrimination by native-born citizens who see them as outsiders.
Ensuring that migrants are treated fairly is a human rights issue. Yet in Canada, the United States, and elsewhere, research suggests that the language of rights can harden attitudes towards migrants.
The 2018 David Dodge CIFAR Lecture is presented by Senior Fellow Irene Bloemraad of the program in Successful Societies at CIFAR. Dr. Bloemraad is a professor of Sociology and the Thomas Garden Barnes Chair of Canadian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Bloemraad will explore the complexities of framing and how we divide “us” from “them,” arguing that understanding and implementing the possibilities of inclusive nationalism is an urgent challenge in today’s world where some leaders are linking nationalism to policies that could close borders and drive further division.
Moderated by Elizabeth McIsaac, President of the Maytree Foundation, this lecture will be held in partnership with with Cities of Migration and the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants. Tickets are $15 and a light lunch is provided.
Wednesday May 2, 6:30 PM Pacific
Digital Moose Lounge Chesterfield Chat
Palo Alto, California
The Digital Moose Lounge is pleased to present our upcoming Chesterfield Chat event as part of our 2018 “Canadians Doing Good” series: Canadians Helping Immigrants in our Community.
Northern California is at the center of the national debate around immigration. Comprehensive Immigration Reform has stalled anew, and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program’s termination has created uncertainty for over 700,000 Dreamers. Meanwhile, rising anti-immigrant rhetoric and ICE raids have raised fears in our local immigrant communities. But behind the headlines, nonprofit lawyers continue to provide legal assistance to immigrants facing removal or seeking asylum before administrative tribunals and California courts. Hear our panel of local Canadians involved with immigrant legal services share their insights on how the current climate has affected their practice; what they have learned about our community; and how being Canadian has shaped their outlook.
April 28-29
Bay Area Book Festival, featuring several Canadian Writers
Berkeley, California
Katherena Vermette is a Métis writer from Treaty One territory in Winnipeg. Her first book, “North End Love Songs,” won the Governor General’s Award for Poetry. Her National Film Board short documentary, THIS RIVER, won the Coup de Coeur at the Montreal First Peoples’ Festival and a Canadian Screen Award. Her first novel, “The Break,” was a national bestseller in Canada and won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award, the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction, and the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award. “The Break” was shortlisted for a Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and was a 2017 Canada Reads finalist.
Heather O’Neill is a novelist, poet, short-story writer, screenwriter, and essayist whose debut novel, “Lullabies for Little Criminals,” was published to international critical acclaim and was short-listed for the Orange Prize for Fictionbook. Her most recent work, “The Lonely Hearts Hotel,” was named one of the best books of 2017 by the San Francisco Chronicle and The Boston Globe. Born and raised in Montreal, O’Neill lives there today with her daughter.
Madeleine Thien’s novel “Do Not Say We Have Nothing” was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award in 2016. She is also the author of the story collection “Simple Recipes” and the novels “Certainty” and “Dogs at the Perimeter,” the latter of which was shortlisted for Berlin’s International Literature Award and won the Frankfurt Book Fair’s 2015 LiBeraturpreis. Her books and stories have been translated into 23 languages. The daughter of Malaysian-Chinese immigrants to Canada, she lives in Montreal.