2:00pm-3:15pm
Auditorium
Restorative Justice:
Respecting the Diversity of Culture and Tradition
Susannah Martin Shantz and
Chaplain David Shantz

Monday, October 20  10:00am - 11:15am, Auditorium, A103
Why the Generation Gap on Issues of Diversity?
Dr. Jack Jedwab

Dr. Jack Jedwab Click for a larger image

Synopsis: The presentation will look at the differences in opinion across the age spectrum when it comes to issues of diversity. Around which aspects of diversity is the gap less important and where are the differences most apparent. Will young people remain open to cultural differences as they grow older or will their level of tolerance diminish? Speaker Biography: Dr. Jack Jedwab is currently the Executive Director of the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS) and the International Association for the Study of Canada (IASC). He has occupied that position since 1998 and prior to that served from 1994 as Executive Director of the Quebec Division of the Canadian Jewish Congress. Dr. Jedwab graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Canadian History with a minor in Economics from McGill University and an MA and

PhD in Canadian History from Concordia University. He was a doctoral fellow of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada from 1982-1985. He has lectured at McGill University since 1983 in the Quebec Studies Program, the sociology and political science departments and more recently at the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada where he taught courses on Official Language Minorities in Canada and Sports in Canada. He is the founding editor of the publications Canadian Issues and Canadian Diversity. A contributor to the Canadian edition of Reader's Digest, he has written essays in books, scholarly journals and in newspapers across the country and has also authored various publications and government reports on issues of immigration, multiculturalism, human rights and official languages.

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Monday, October 20  10:00am - 11:45am, Geography Room (A310)
Film Screening: My Father's Studio
with Director Jennifer Alleyn

"Inheriting her father's studio in 2005, Montreal-based filmmaker Jennifer Alleyn awakes after the funeral to find herself drawn to this intimate space, still exuding the artist's imagination. The film is an attempt to prolong the dialogue, to find the missing fragments of her father's life and understand this free thinker's mind. Edmund Alleyn was an intense and complex man of integrity who left his mark on Canadian art history."

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Speaker Biography: "In 1992, filmmaker Jennifer Alleyn travelled around the world while participating in the TV series La Course destination Monde . She also worked as a journalist for the paper Le Devoir and for the Radio-Canada information program Le Point . Her participation in the collective feature film Cosmos , which won an award at Cannes in 1997, and her award-winning 2005 short Svanok , confirm her talent. Parallel to her work as an Indy filmmaker, Jennifer directed her first series for television: Canadian Casefiles . After her documentary film The Rossys, Jennifer herein combines her two life passions: art and the search for meaning. Following her critically-acclaimed Jacques Monory's Imaginary Life, My Father's Studio focuses on the legacy of an artist's way of looking at life." Text and image source: www.amazonefilm.com/movies/myfatherstudio.html

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Monday, October 20  11:30am - 12:45pm, Auditorium A-103
KEYNOTE EVENT
Poplar River First Nation: Guardians of the Boreal Forest
Sophia Rabliauskas

Synopsis: Poplar River First Nation is an Anishenabek (Ojibwe) community located east of Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. As is the case with many Aboriginal territories, the land is under constant threat of corporate development, logging and hydro development. Canadian laws recognize these lands as crown land and therefore grant development permits to industries without consulting the communities that live on the land and that have been responsible for the maintenance of the local resources for countless generations.
Sophia Rabliauskas Click for a larger image Image source: www.mbeconetwork.org/archives /ecojournaljune07/01poplarprize.htm	For many Aboriginal societies, there is a strong spiritual tie to the land. Maintaining the land is a spiritual obligation. Accordingly, community member Sophia Rabliauskas has been working with her people for eight years to protect their boreal forest. They have developed an innovative land protection plan and are still working hard to ensure ongoing protection of the land so that they can continue to fulfill their roles as guardians of the forest. In 2007, their work was recognized when they won the annual Goldman Environmental Prize that is awarded to a grassroots environmental leader in each of the 6 continents. Ms. Rabliauskas will be on hand to discuss her community's important work and how it is linked to their spiritual system. Click here to read a report about her community's work and to watch videos about her community's work and of her acceptance speech when she received the Goldman Prize.
Biography: Sophia was born and raised on the remote First Nation community of Poplar River. She is married and has three children and two grandchildren. Sophia was taught at an early age by her father and grandfather about the importance of the Anishenabek (Ojibwe) spirituality and how this was tied to the land. She was taught that protecting the land will ensure life for her people and everyone. Sophia graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Human Ecology degree. She has worked for Poplar River First Nation as the Community Health Director, elected Councilor, and most recently at the Poplar River School as a student Councilor. Currently, Sophia is self-employed. Sophia is part of Poplar River Lands Management Working Group and continues to be on the negotiating team currently working with the Province of Manitoba to secure permanent protection for Poplar River's Traditional Territory. Sophia is a board member for the East Inc. Aboriginal Tourism organization and the official spokesperson for the First Nation led Pimachiowin Aki- World Heritage Site nomination team. She also provides coordination and professional services for the Pinesewapikung Saagaigan Healing Program and Aboriginal Healing Foundation project. On behalf of the Community of Poplar River's work to protect the Boreal Forest, Sophia won the prestigious Goldman Environmental prize in 2007 and was given the Order of Manitoba award in 2008.

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Monday, October 20  1:00pm - 2:15pm, Auditorium A-103
What Exactly is Going on in Darfur?
Jonathan Pedneault

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Synopsis: Darfur - since 2003, we have been hearing this name everywhere. On a desperately harsh land, at the edge of the desert, millions of people, we are told, are suffering the consequences of a long-lasting conflict. In the USA, it is frequently described as a genocide. The Chinese government, according to the occidental media, is supporting the outrageous actions committed in the region. So what exactly is happening over there now? What is at stake in Darfur ? Jonathan Pedneault, co-producer of Refuge: A Film about Darfur, will answer these questions.

Speaker Biography: Jonathan Pedneault is presently studying at the University of Ottawa in political science. Since 2005, he has directed the Soprégé, Société de prévention du génocide, an organization he founded in order to raise the awareness of the youth regarding the horrors of genocide. During the last three years, he has given conferences about the Holocaust, Rwanda and Darfur in different schools in the metropolitan region. He has been Personality of the Week at Radio-Canada and La Presse in April 2007 and he now continues his to commitment to Human Rights by working on Omar Khadr's case.

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Monday, October 20  2:30pm - 3:45pm, Auditorium A-103
"Vanier's Own" event
Stress and Burnout
Karen White

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Synopsis: Everyone feels stressed at times, but it can make you feel overwhelmed, make you less productive, and harm your health. This talk will discuss what stress is, what makes it 'too much' or even 'not enough', how to recognize when it's piling up too high, and how to cope in ways that make it more manageable. Recognizing and treating burn-out, as well as how to avoid that happening, will also be covered. Come get some practical advice on managing your stress! Speaker Biography: Dr. Karen White is a teacher in the Psychology Dept at Vanier College. She is also a clinical psychologist in private practice in Montreal. She treats adults and adolescents for depression, anxiety, stress, compulsive behaviours, and often just for unhappiness. In addition, she treats couples and individuals who want to improve their relationships.

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Monday, October 20  4:00pm - 5:15pm, Auditorium A-103
"Vanier's Own" event
Water!
Alena Perout

Synopsis: We live on the blue planet - a planet which is mostly covered by water. Water is by far the most important resource that we have. We drink it. We cook our food in it. We water our crops with it. We clean and process our goods with it. We are completely dependant on water … and yet we are wasting and polluting this precious resource to such an extent that an increasing number of people can no longer meet their water needs. This presentation will look at water, and examine how our freshwater resources are slowly dwindling. It will also examine some case studies in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America and show some of the situations of water scarcity that have been created, and how we are attempting to solve some of our water scarcity problems.

Alena Perout

Speaker Biography: Alena Perout has been teaching Geography at Vanier College since 1992. She also teaches Canadian Environmental Issues for the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment at Concordia University. Her main interest is in the link between environmental change and human migration.

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Tuesday, October 21  10:00am - 11:15am, Auditorium A-103
Open Door Network event:
Panel on Cultural and Sexual Diversity

Click to visit our website

Synopsis: In Canada today, there is increasing societal awareness of and acceptance for diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Accordingly, there is an increasing number of rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual and queer people (LGBTTQ). However, LGBTTQ people from various cultural and religious backgrounds face different kinds of challenges in both the LGBTTQ community, where racism often trickles down from mainstream society, and in their home communities, where they may or may not get acceptance as "sexual minorities." A group of speakers from various backgrounds will talk about their own experience in this regard. There will be a question and answer period at the end.

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Tuesday, October 21  11:30am - 12:45pm, Auditorium A-103
"Vanier's Own" event:
True Love vs Infatuation
Karen Tee

Synopsis: Is it easy to tell the difference between true love and infatuation? In fact, it is, if you hear what Dr. Karen Tee has to say. She will not only clarify the differences between the two types of love, but also she will discuss some other interesting facts about love, including some differences between males and females in the area of love and whether infatuation can ever turn into true love.

Biography: Dr. Karen Tee has been teaching psychology for over 35 years, having earned her Ph.D. in California and having taught at Concordia for several years before coming to Vanier in 1973. One of her special areas of interest in the latter part of her career has to do with love, relationships and sexuality, and she currently teaches a course called Sexuality and Relationships.

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Tuesday, October 21 1:00pm - 2:15pm, Auditorium A-103
"Vanier's Own" event
French Youth and Resistance during the Nazi Occupation of France 1940-1944
Martha Bernstein

Synopsis: This talk concerns the activities of young people who were Resistors during WWII in Nazi-occupied France. The formal French Resistance was not formed until 1943, but prior to that there was an informal group of young Resistors who risked their lives on a daily basis in order to help people in hiding and those who were in imminent danger from the German authorities. Many of the people who were active in these activities were former French students whose academic lives were interrupted after the German invasion of France in 1940. Their story is one of courage and bravery and is just beginning to be told sixty-plus years after these events occurred.

Martha Bernstein Click for a larger image

Speaker Biography: Martha Bernstein is a Ph.D in History (University of Montreal). Her doctoral thesis (1998) was entitled "U. S. Cultural Policy In France, 1945-1958." It was a pioneer study of U. S. Cultural Policy in France that was based entirely on archival data and encompassed international, diplomatic and cultural history. U. S. Cultural Policy was an offshoot of U. S. foreign policy that achieved a prominent position during the beginning and growth of the Cold War. The U. S. government, fearful that France would become an ally of the U. S. S. R. took special precautions to avoid this happening. It opened the U. S. Information Service Program (USIS) in France and began to invest money and cultural resources there. In this way the U. S. government hoped to keep France as an ally.

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Tuesday, October 21,  2:30pm-3:45pm, Auditorium A-103
The Ron Charbonneau Memorial Lecture
Israelis and Palestinians: Victims versus Victims
Neil Caplan

Teacher reservations for entire classes are no longer being accepted for this event. Priority will be given to classes that have reserved; then other attendees will be admitted up to room capacity of 400. Seats for entire classes cannot be guaranteed.

Ron Charbonneau Dr. Neil Caplan Click for a larger image

This annual lecture was created in memory of Ron Charbonneau (left) who taught History at Vanier for over thirty years. We wish to honor his profound dedication and his impact on his students as well as the Vanier Community. Synopsis: Today's Israeli-Palestinian conflict has roots going back more than 130 years. By tracing the history of the conflict, we examine the main issues in dispute, the way the conflict changes shape over time, and several underlying constant features. We conclude with an assessment of some of the explanations offered for why this conflict seems so difficult to resolve. Perhaps the most difficult obstacle in the way of a solution is each party's righteous conviction that it is the victim of the other's evil intentions and aggression. Speaker Biography: Dr. Neil Caplan (left) holds a PhD in Politics from London School of Economics & Political Science (University of London) and recently retired after 35 years of teaching in the Humanities Department of Vanier College. During this period he also taught part-time in the History Departments of Concordia University and Queens University. Since the mid-1970s, he has published numerous articles and seven books, including Palestine Jewry and the Arab Question, 1917-1925, Futile Diplomacy, a 4-volume study of Arab-Zionist and Arab-Israeli negotiations from 1911 to 1956, and (with Laurie Eisenberg), Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: Patterns, Problems, Possibilities. His talk on "Victims versus Victims" is based on his new textbook on the contested histories of Israelis and Palestinians, to be published next autumn. More on Neil Caplan.

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Wednesday, October 22  9:30am - 10:45am, Auditorium A-103
"Vanier's Own" event
Nunavik: The Achilles Heel of the Quebec Sovereignty Movement
John McMahon

Synopsis: Much of the rhetoric during the campaigns leading to the referenda on the issue of Quebec Sovereignty (1980 and 1995) dealt with the potential impact of a ‘yes’ vote on the future of Quebec and Canada; however, the views and rights of the Inuit living in Northern Quebec were largely ignored.  This presentation will provide insight to the historical, political and economic factors that provide the foundation for the view that Nunavik is the ‘Achilles heel’ of the Quebec sovereignty movement.

John McMahon

Speaker Biography: John McMahon is the Academic Dean of Vanier College.  He began his teaching career almost 30 years ago at a secondary school in Inukjuak, a small Inuit village on the coast of Hudson Bay, where he lived for 5 years.  He subsequently worked with Inuit educational organizations for almost 20 years, during which he authored a Research Essay dealing with the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement as part of his Master’s Degree.  He has extensive knowledge of Nunavik and its people through personal experience as well as academic research.

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Wednesday, October 22  11:00am - 12:15pm, Auditorium A-103
"Vanier's Own" event:
Old-Fashioned Fieldwork in Papua New Guinea
Judy Ingerman

Synopsis: Few people have the privilege of being welcomed into a caring community with open arms when they know they will be completely helpless and dependant for three months. Few people would even contemplate leaving their food, bathrooms, electricity, cars, shoes, form of dress and their family for three months to live in a tropical jungle community where they do not speak the language. Welcome to the world of anthropology and fieldwork in a small-scale society. Vanier College teacher Judy Ingerman will share the challenges and joys (maybe even a few embarrassing moments) of doing fieldwork in a community where her 'reality' and theirs did not always match!

Judy Ingerman

Biography: Judy Ingerman has been teaching Anthropology and Humanities at Vanier College for the past four years. This feat is a culmination of a very long and arduous mid-life crisis that started some 12 years ago when she decided that she was tired of being a small-business owner and running with the consumer-driven golf/squash/boating/beach crowd in the interior of British Columbia. Far be it of her to follow the beaten path of just buying a red sports car and being done with it, she instead embarked upon a journey back to university and graduate school. When the whirlwind ended, she and her two children found themselves happily (but frugally) living on the other side of the country in arguably one of the greatest cities in the world; right here in Montreal. Frankly, while the red sports car would have been a less expensive mid-life crisis, following her bliss is what makes life worth loving.

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Wednesday, October 22  12:30pm - 1:45pm (Universal Break), Auditorium A-103
The Annual Social Science Quiz Show
Emcee: Peter Gantous

Annual Quiz Show with Vanier teacher Peter Gantous (left) as Master of Ceremonies. Teams of students show off their social science knowledge in this informative and entertaining competition. Come cheer them on!

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Wednesday, October 22  2:00pm - 3:15pm, Auditorium A-103
Restorative Justice: Respecting the Diversity of Culture and Tradition
Susannah Martin Shantz and Chaplain David Shantz

Synopsis: This presentation will focus on the concept of Restorative Justice with particular attention given to the speakers' experience in Central East Africa; Rwanda, DR Congo and Burundi. The reality of war and genocide has caused much suffering and long term political chaos in all levels of society. Restorative Justice is presented as an alternative that encourages healing instead of punishment.
Susannah and David Shantz Click for a larger image	Speaker Biography: Susannah Martin Shantz studied languages and social sciences at University of Waterloo. She has worked as a manager of a department store and as a pattern maker and seamstress for a patio furniture company. Later on, she established a small business of designing and sewing accessories for babies. Some of her actions include the organization of sewing workshops with women who were victims of the war and genocide in 1994 and the assembly of the Justice Story Telling Quilt which was commissioned by Church Counsel on Justice and Corrections Canada. She also coordinated the preparation and distribution of blankets for the babies of women prisoners. Speaker Biography: Chaplain David Shantz is an ordained minister with Mennonite Church of Eastern Canada and he has been a prison chaplain with Correction Service of Canada for 20 years here in Quebec. He is a member of the Canadian National Restorative Justice Committee and cofounder of the Montreal Community Chaplaincy program. This year, he has already presented two guest lectures on the topic of restorative justice: one at the International Institute for Correctional Management in Cochin, India and another one in Central East Africa; Rwanda, Burundi and D R Congo.
David is co-founder of the Face to Face program in the federal prison system in Quebec, which brings victims and offenders together in serious dialogue about the suffering caused by crime. He still co-directs the program as does Susannah. In March 2008, they both visited Rwanda, Burundi and D R Congo in Central East Africa, with Just. Equipping, an organization based in Ottawa. David and Susannah are married and have 5 children. They grew up near Kitchener, Ontario. They have lived in several provinces of Canada. They moved to Quebec in 1975.

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Wednesday, October 22 2:00pm - 3:15pm, room F217
Ask a Psychologist
Psychology Department Teachers

Synopsis: As a result of the knowledge he has acquired as both researcher and applied practitioner, Gordon's presentation will describe strategies used by many of the most successful leaders and performers in North America to help you accelerate your level of performance both inside and outside of sport.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a psychologist? Come and hear a panel of teachers from the Psychology Department talk about their experiences in becoming a psychologist and what their jobs are like now. It's also your chance to ask a psychologist anything you want to know! How do I become a psychologist? How long does it take? How much money do psychologists make? Do psychologists really analyze everyone they meet, including friends and family?! Bring your questions, and this panel of Vanier psychology teachers will provide you with answers. LIMITED SEATING. We cannot guarantee space for entire classes. Individual students, faculty and staff are welcome up to maximum room capacity.

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Thursday, October 23 10:00am - 11:15am, Auditorium A-103
Using the Power of Your Mind to Heighten Your Performance
Dr. Gordon Bloom

Synopsis: As a result of the knowledge he has acquired as both researcher and applied practitioner, Gordon's presentation will describe strategies used by many of the most successful leaders and performers in North America to help you accelerate your level of performance both inside and outside of sport.

Dr. Gordon Bloom

Speaker Biography: Dr. Gordon Bloom is an Associate Professor of Sport Psychology at McGill University who has worked with the world's leading coaches and athletes as both researcher and sport psychology practitioner for over 15 years. His current research program addresses strategies employed by both elite and youth sport coaches in terms of coaching style, decision making practices, team building techniques, communication, and leadership styles. Dr. Bloom has consulted Olympic, professional, and amateur athletes from many different sports, including those who have won Gold Medals at the Olympics and World Championships. He is currently overseeing a mental skills training program with Canadian athletes who are hoping to compete at the 2010 Olympic Games. When not competing in sports, he can often be found coaching his children in either ice hockey, baseball, or soccer. Image source: http://people.mcgill.ca/gordon.bloom/

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Synopsis: Is there life after college? What do people do with a D.E.C. in Social Science? Come meet some real live Vanier College Social Science graduates and find out!

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Thursday, October 23  1:00pm - 2:15pm, Auditorium A-103
How Much Is That Doggy in the Window? (Quebec Puppy Mills)
Nicole Joncas

Synopsis: Did you ever wonder where pet stores get their puppies? The goal of this presentation is to inform you about the realities of puppy mills in Quebec. The presentation will also help you think critically about the way humans treat animals and what that says about our social values about the relationship between humans and animals.

Nicole Joncas Click for an alternate image

Speaker Biography: Nicole Joncas graduated from high school, and took two years of psychology as an adult student at Concordia University going for her Bachelor, which she was unable to complete. She has been in animal rescue for 22 years. In 1990, she was bed-ridden for 2 years with (CFS) Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyelgia. CFS is a debilitating disease that causes exhaustion even from doing nothing.  Rescuing her first horse in 1992 forced her to get out of bed to care for this mare. In less then 4 years, she had rescued 12 dogs, not to mention the hundreds she found homes for. At her peak, she was taking care of up to 12 horses, two pet bulls, some goats, pot-bellied pigs, ducks, hens, etc. She founded Teja's Animal Refuge which was incorporated in 2004.

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Where do you sit? It does not take newcomers too long to notice the separate cafeterias on campus at Vanier College. Forming groups based on ethnicity is perhaps expected when entering a new environment and trying to fit in, yet the observed phenomena forces us to ask "is there enough cultural integration and awareness at Vanier?" Anthropology students studying "race" and racism have conducted research and explored student attitudes towards cross-cultural integration on campus. They will be discussing some of their findings. Come join the discussion, you can sit wherever you want.

LIMITED SEATING. We cannot guarantee spaces for entire classes. Individual students, teachers and staff members are welcome up to maximum room capacity.

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Friday, October 24  8:30am - 9:45am, Auditorium A-103
"Vanier's Own" event
From Emergency Response to Development Response:
An Inside Look at USAID, Development Organizations and Food Insecurity in Malawi
Ricardo Dueñez

Synopsis: Ricardo recently returned from a brief consultancy in Malawi with the American NGO Africare, where he acted as the Natural Resource Management Specialist on behalf of both Africare and a consortium of seven organizations pooling their resources to submit a grant proposal to USAID. The aim: reduce the risk of food insecurity in the southern African nation of Malawi (where the per capita income is about $167/year). He will present a brief overview of consortium activities in the region (livelihood assessments, village savings and loans, micro-enterprise and agri-business, HIV/AIDs, and health and nutrition), and look at the role of natural resource and watershed management in combating food insecurity within the East and Southern Africa regions.

Ricardo Dueñez

Speaker Biography: Ricardo Dueñez was born in San Diego, Calif., and attended Grossmont Community College prior to majoring in Conservation of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley. Two years as a US Peace Corps forester in central Tanzania, followed by a master's in Watershed Mgt/Int'l Forestry from Arizona, soon became a long-term relationship with the Washington, DC-based NGO, Africare. This included agroforestry consultancies in Zambia and Zimbabwe, natural resource mgt. in Tanzania, and health, water and sanitation projects in Mozambique. Six years in Durban, South Africa followed, mostly spent as a consultant for a small but busy landscape architecture/ environmental impact assessment firm. Since moving to Montreal in 2003, Ricardo been teaching Geography and Methodologies at Vanier College.

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Friday, October 24  10:00am - 11:15am, Auditorium A-103
Representation of Ethnic Communities in Film: "Adam's Wall"
Michael Mackenzie

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Synopsis: Vanier College Humanities teacher Michael Mackenzie will discuss the recent film "Adam's Wall", which he directed and co-wrote with Dana Schoel from Dana's original story. It was filmed in Montreal, produced by Couzin Films and includes the participation of Vanier College students. The film addresses the relationship between two teenagers, one of them Jewish and the other, Lebanese. Their relationship is made difficult by their families but also by the conflict in the Middle East. Michael said, "Vanier students were essential for the making of 'Adam's Wall'. They can be seen in the film in the 'silent peace demonstration' scene where our two lovers meet for the first time; and then later in the not so peaceful demonstration scene (where they showed a lot of energy!). Their presence really helped to make our low budget Canadian movie look like something special. Many thanks to them,

Peggy McCoy and all the others at Student Services who helped organize this." View the trailer. The film opens at the AMC Forum on Friday, October 17th. Speaker Bio: Please visit Michael's page from the Staff & Faculty in the News website.

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Friday, October 24  11:30am - 12:45pm, Auditorium A-103
KEYNOTE EVENT
Equiterre: From Dream to Reality
Sidney Ribaux

Synopsis: In 1992, a group of young Québécois took the decision to mobilize in order to influence the heads of state who were gathering at the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was the beginning of the alter-globalization movement. Upon their return to Quebec, these young individuals founded Equiterre, whose goal it is to promote ecological and socially just economic alternatives. Almost 15 years later, Equiterre has become actively involved in 4 large sectors: fair trade, sustainable transportation, energy efficiency, and ecological agriculture. It now reaches hundreds of thousands of people. With this conference, discover how it is possible to move from dream to reality with values and convictions!

Sidney Ribaux Click for a larger image

Speaker Biography: Sidney founded Équiterre with fellow colleagues in 1993, and was Chairman of the Board of Directors until 1998. Since then, in his capacity as Executive director, he has participated in the development of Équiterre's strategies and educational projects on fair trade, ecological agriculture, energy efficiency, climate change, green buildings and sustainable transportation. He has authored papers, reports, articles and documents on related issues. From 1996 to 2003, his passion for urban planning also led him to chair Montreal's Environment Council, a network of 100 organizations active in the field of urban ecology. He played an important role in campaigns to promote and obtain more funding to public transit, in Canada's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and in the adoption by Quebec of one of the most progressive action plans on climate change in North America. While working for the consumer protection group Option consommateurs from 1992 to 1998, he was responsible for the energy file and helped set up an energy-efficiency program targeted to low-income families. Sidney has been involved in many organizations and presently sits on the board of the Fonds d'action québécois pour le développement durable and presides the Centre for Sustainable Development an ambitious green building project to be located in downtown Montreal. He is a frequent lecturer and is regularly interviewed by the media. In 2007, he was received as an Ashoka Fellow, an international organization promoting social entrepreneurship. A lawyer by training, Sidney lives in Montreal with his wife and daughter and has never owned a car!

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Synopsis: International negotiations on biodiversity in the Convention, involving 191 national governments, as well as businesses and NGOs, are a good example of the conflicts of political and economic interest and resulting pressures that are exerted on decisions that should have solid scientific guidelines. The presentation will discuss some of the topics making news in the CBD today (access and benefit sharing, biotechnology, biofuels) and the compromises being made between political and economic convenience and scientific advice.

Oliver Hillel

Speaker Biography: Oliver Hillel is programme officer of the Social, Economic and Legal Matters Division of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, Canada. He is responsible, among other issues, for Sustainable Tourism, Island Biodiversity, Cities, Parliamentarians and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity. A biologist with a Master's degree in Environmental Education and MBAs on Managerial Accounting and Hotel Management, Oliver has over 20 years experience on sustainable tourism, international negotiations, event organization, and training and capacity building programs, having worked in inter-governmental organizations, environmental NGOs, in the private sector and as a consultant. Image source: http://www.ecotourism.org.au/conference/s_Hillel.asp

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to: Nancy Wargny, Faculty Dean, Faculty of Social Science, Commerce, Arts and Letters; The Vanier College Learning Centre; The Vanier College Teachers Association; The Vanier Social Justice Committee; The Open Door Network; Mark Prentice; Marguerite Corriveau; Miles DeNora; Natasha-Kim Ferenczi; Kelly Purdy; Alena Perout; Myriam Mansour; Lyne Marie Larocque; Sevak Manjikian; Zsofia Orszagh; Denis Lafontaine; Marsha Hoyt; Jason Leonard and the Print Shop staff; Melodie Cohn and Erika Couto from the Insider; Stan Unger, Judy Martin and, of course, all of the external and internal speakers who made this week possible.