The Guelph Lecture - On Being Canadian 2007

David Buckland

David Buckland and Noorderlicht

The 2007 keynote speaker is David Buckland, an artist - photographer, designer and filmmaker - whose photos have been collected by the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the National Portrait Gallery in London, England. He has spent the past seven years leading expeditions to Cape Farewell on a 100-year-old schooner, the Noorderlicht, in an effort to bring awareness to the public on climate change. The UN has called his website, capefarewell.com the best scientific website in the world.

In 2008, Buckland will sail Canada's Northwest Passage, inviting some school children to join in. And 2007/2008 is International Polar Year, setting off a new round of Arctic and Antarctic research and global collaboration. While we might hear most about sovereignty issues in our Arctic, perhaps the real story is about our responsibilities in this precious landscape.

Buckland's film, Burning Ice, opened at the Montreal film festival this year. He will show scenes from it and discuss his work and the North.

Literary Guest

M.G. Vassanji
Photo by Philip Cheung for The Globe and Mail

Our literary guest is the Giller Prize-winning author M.G. Vassanji who will read from his new novel, The Assassin's Song. Should he be chosen for the Giller Prize this year, Mr. Vassanji will make literary history by being the first-ever author to win three Giller Prizes for excellence in English-language Canadian fiction. His unique place in Canadian literature comes from his elegant, classical style, his narrative reach, and his interest in characters who are trying to reconcile different worlds within themselves.

Music

eccodek
Ishra Sam Cino
Photos by Trina Koster, Karolina Kuras, and Maylynn Quan

This year's musical component features Guelph's own Andrew McPherson and eccodek. You may have heard them on CBC where the Bandwidth host says their new CD is in "near constant rotation" on his personal listening systems. The Ottawa Xpress describes their "magnetic grooves, percolating beats and bone rattling bass" with outstanding approval and other press credits claim they are "one of this year's best dub releases in Canada, if not the world."

For our stage, the group is putting together an original global music and dance performance - a visual feast for the senses - showcasing Ishra, members of Invoke-tress Dance and live bucket drumming featuring Sam Cino.




Rare Charitable Research Reserve

raretome.ca raresites.org
rare

The rare Charitable Research Reserve is pleased to be a partner in this year's Guelph Lecture - On Being Canadian. In particular, we are pleased that David Buckland, one of our International Advisors, was chosen as the guest speaker.

The rare Charitable Research Reserve is this community's window on the world of our environment and a model for the protection of biodiversity globally. It's a local treasure with a link to our past - 913 acres comprising 6 of 8 pre-settlement landscapes and artefacts going back over 9,000 years - and to our future with its programs that engage the best minds, local and international, to discover not only solutions to environmental issues, but also to anticipate the next set of questions. The most senior scientists and the youngest members of our community are engaged, offering some hope that we may yet save this planet.

We invite you to come get involved. Whether you want to learn more about our school programs with a goal of "Every Child Outdoors" (ECO), participate in Citizen Science programs (monitoring and protection of species) or just walk the trails, you'll be amazed at this local treasure.

You can also help us "turn the map green" by making a donation. A simple "toonie" buys one square meter of this invaluable land. Even children can participate. All donors will be recognized on our donor wall at the end of the campaign

The Eramosa Institute thanks its generous sponsors:

Bookshelf C&I Technologies Inc. CFRU rare Colley Insurance Knar Jewellery Lyon Financial Manhattans Musagetes The Co-operators University of Guelph The Record Guelph Mercury The Guelph Community Foundation Mortgage Alliance

The Guelph Lecture

Each year The Guelph Lecture - On Being Canadian inspires a community conversation on what it means to be Canadian and what role our country could and should play in a changing world. Through the arts, and film in particular, we share experiences with people all over the world, making possible the exploration of various perspectives, which revitalize us and awaken us to possibilities in our lives.

The Guelph Lecture - On Being Canadian is an offering of the Eramosa Institute, a not-for-profit, Charitable Organization (86498 9207 RR0001) that exists to promote and foster public dialogue on, and greater understanding of, ideas and issues of concern to Canadians.