Contemporary Dilemmas in Canadian Security Lecture Series

Beginning in the autumn of 2003, YCISS is pleased to offer a public lecture series on contemporary issues in Canadian security, to be held in a variety of appropriate venues around Toronto. The series will feature two lectures a year, each exploring a current dilemma facing Canadian defence and security. The goal of the series is to raise public awareness of the issues we face, as Canadians, and to contribute to the public discussion of those issues. YCISS takes an expansive view of the nature of security in the contemporary world, and the lectures in the series will reflect that breadth. The lecturers will be drawn from York University, across Canada, and around the world to provide informative, challenging reflections on the issues of the day.

Public Forum

Panel Discussion: Guns and Global Security: From Neighbourhoods to the United Nations

Thursday 22 April 2010
7-9pm
Marriott Hotel Eaton Centre
525 Bay Street
Toronto
(Free Admission)

The problem of 'civilian possession' of firearms has undermined global and national efforts at controlling small arms and light weapons. Canada is a producer and exporter of arms, as well as a recipient of both legal and less than legal transfers of weapons, mainly from the United States. For Canadians this has translated into greater numbers of guns on our city streets, and a more dangerous environment for our military forces when they are deployed abroad. The problem of ‘civilian possession' of firearms is to be addressed at multilateral arms control negotiations under the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms & Light Weapons (SLAW) and the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). This forum seeks to explore the relationship of civilian possession of arms and problems of control, both domestic and international for creating conditions of security and insecurity. The questions that we raise are the following:

- How to interpret the concept of ‘civilian possession’ under the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons?
- What are the problems with ‘civilian possession’ of small arms and light weapons that the Canadian Forces face?
- What are the problems and prospects of regulating small arms proliferation within Canada and the United States?
- How the problem of ‘civilian possession’ of weapons in Canada and the US needs to be addressed by state and non-state actors ?
- What effect will this have on arms trade as practiced by Canada and the United States?

Speakers:

Wendy Cukier, Coalition for Gun Control
Ken Epps, Project Ploughshares
James Sheptycki, York University
Robert Didanieli, Toronto Police Service
Moderator: Barbara Falk, Canadian Forces College

This event was sponsored by the Guns, Crime and Social Order research project , an ongoing project that seeks to examine the relationship between weaponization and social cohesion.  The Guns, Crime and Social Order project was kindly sponsored by the Nathanson Centre for the Study of Transnational Human Rights; the Law Foundation of Ontario; the Office of the Vice President, Research and Innovation (VPRI),York University; the Department of Criminology, York University; and the Division of Social Science, York University.

Public Forum

The Culture, Technology, and Ethics of Virtuous War

Dr. James Der Derian

Thursday 21st January 2010

7-9pm

Theatre Room

Marriott Hotel Eaton Centre

525 Bay Street

Toronto

(Free Admission)

Questions of war and peace are now framed by technological, cultural, and ethical imperatives.  From the Gulf War to the Iraq War, the United States perfected new technologies, under the auspices of a ‘revolution in military affairs’, to fight virtuous wars.  Technology in the service of virtue gave rise to a new configuration of virtual power, the military-industrial-media-entertainment network.  After winning the short battle of ’shock and awe’ in Iraq but losing the long war to bring democracy and peace to the Middle East, the U.S. military began a controversial program to ‘operationalize’ culture as an instrument of counterinsurgency and counterterrorism; anthropologists, political scientists and anthropologists are enlisted in the effort.  As war goes virtual and cultural in the name of justice, unintended and tragic consequences result. 

Dr. James Der Derian is Research Professor of International Studies at Brown University, where he directs the Innovating Global Security and Media Project at the Watson Institute for International Studies.  His recent publications include, Virtuous War: Mapping the Military-Industrial-Media-Entertainment Network, New York (Routledge, 2009); Critical Practices in International Theory (Routledge, 2009), and AntiDiplomacy: Spies, Terror, Speed, & War (Blackwell, 1992).  He is also the producer of three documentary films, VirtualY2K (2000), After 9/11 (2003) and Human Terrain (2009).

Public Forum

A Panel Discussion on Public Perceptions of the Canadian Forces

Panelists:

Jeff Sallot:  Formerly of the Globe and Mail and now an instructor in the School of Journalism at Carleton University.

Greg Nelson: Co-creator and head writer of CBC radio series ‘Afghanada’ .  He is also a writer and producer for the CBC television series The Border.

Steve Lukits: Head of the English Department at the Royal Military College of Canada

Wendy Cukier: Associate Dean of the Ted Rogers School of Management

LCdr John Williston: Senior Advisor, Strategic Planning, to the Assistant Deputy Minister Public Affairs

Christopher Dornan: Associate Dean of the Faculty of Public Affairs, Carleton University.

Martin Shadwick: Course director in the Department of Political Science, York University (chair of the panel)

Wednesday  8 July 2009  6.00- 8.00pm    FREE ADMISSION

Toronto Downtown Marriot Hotel, Eaton Centre

How have the public perceptions of the military in general and the Canadian Forces (CF) in particular changed since 9/11 and what role does the media and popular culture play in the production of changing perceptions? This important and timely panel will investigate the relationship between the media and the military.

8 July event poster

Public Forum

Canada and the Arctic: A Panel Discussion on Arctic Sovereignty
Panelists:
Dr. Michael Byers, University of British Columbia
Martin Shadwick, York University
Representative from the Government of Canada

Thursday, 6 March 2008
7-9pm, FREE ADMISSION, Marriott Bloor-Yorkville, 90 Bloor Street East, Toronto

Please click here for the poster.

The pressures of environmental change and increasing economic activity in the North have raised numerous issues around sovereignty and governance in the Arctic. This has led to debates amongst states, multinational corporations, and Northern communities about how this region should be managed. Canada's position has been that it has sovereignty over the North West Passage and it is investing heavily in military resources to demonstrate this control. What does this mean for international law, and is it the best way to govern the North?

The York Centre for International and Security Studies is hosting a panel discussion of these important issues. The discussion will begin with a talk by Dr. Michael Byers from the University of British Columbia, one of Canada's leading experts on Arctic sovereignty and international law. Responding to Dr. Byers will be Martin Shadwick, of York University, a foremost scholar of Canada's defence and security policy, together with representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Department of National Defence.

This is an important debate that will have a long lasting impact on Canada's place in the world. This public panel discussion, followed by a question and answer session, will allow you to learn what is at stake in the debate over Arctic sovereignty.

Public Forum
Fighting at Home and Abroad: Peacekeeping and the ‘War on Terror’
John Thompson is President of the Mackenzie Institute which is an independent non-profit organization concerned with issues related to political instability and organized violence. This includes such matters as terrorism, political extremism, warfare and organized crime.

Steven Staples is Director of the Polaris Institute's Security Programs. He is also the former Issue Campaigns Coordinator of the Council of Canadians, a writer, researcher and political commentator.

Scott Taylor is a former professional soldier and is the publisher/editor of Esprit de Corps Canadian military magazine and a columnist for the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, and contributes to several international publications. In 2004 he was taken hostage during one of his twenty-one visits to Iraq.

Wednesday, 31 January 2007
7-9pm, Marriott Bloor-Yorkville, 90 Bloor Street East, Toronto
Please click here for the poster.

Public Forum

Human Rights and Security: Where Does Canada Stand?

Matthew Behrens, Co-ordinator of the Campaign to Stop the Secret Trials in Canada
Nandita Sharma, Professor in the School of Social Sciences, York University
Ahmad Jaballah, son of detainee Mahmoud Jaballah
Representatives of the new Conservative Government have been invited.
Moderator: Linda Diebel, Journalist with the Toronto Star and author of Betrayed: The Assassination of Digna Ochoa

Tuesday, 21 February 2006
7:30-9:30pm, FREE ADMISSION, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, capacity 500, first come, first seated
27 Front Street East, Toronto

In cooperation with the St. Lawrence Centre Forum.

Please click here for the poster.

Extraordinary rendition, security certificates, racial profiling and no fly lists – these terms have all taken on a new meaning in Canada since 9/11. After four years of living with the ‘new normal’, where does Canada stand? Observers point to Guantanamo Bay and other U.S. run detention centres around the world where over 3,000 ‘enemy combatants’ and suspected terrorists are being held without trial. But what of Canadian jails, where several Muslim men are being held as a threat to security – for four years and counting – without charges and without knowledge of the evidence against them? While no fly lists can be effective and contribute to greater safety, are they in fact casting too wide a net? Can Canadian democracy justify detention without trial? Can we justify extradition to countries like Syria where interrogation with torture is practiced? Or is it reasonable to expect some limits on human rights to contain terrorist threats to our security?

Public Forum
Patriotism, Citizenship, and the New Imperialism
M. Jacqui Alexander, Professor of Women’s Studies and Gender Studies, University of Toronto

Tuesday, 22 November 2005
5:30-7pm, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 205 Richmond Street West, Suite 302, Toronto

Please click here for the poster.

M. Jacqui Alexander holds a PhD from Tufts University and is Professor of Women’s Studies and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto. She is one of the most important theorists of transnational feminism today and her work has had a profound impact on feminist, queer, and critical race theories. Her research and teaching have focused on questions of colonialism, political economy, and the racialized and heteronormative regulatory practices of the modern state as well as spiritual dimensions of experience and the meaning of sacred subjectivity. Her publications include Sing, Whisper, Shout, Pray!: Feminist Visions for a Just World (2002), co- edited with Lisa Albrecht, Sharon Day, and Mab Segre, and The Third Wave: Feminist Perspectives on Racism (1998). She is also the co-editor, with Chandra Mohanty, of the piece Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures (1997). Her collection of essays, Pedagogies of Crossing, is forthcoming later this year (Duke University Press).

Public Forum
Canada’s International Policy Review: A Debate and Discussion

Michael Pearson, Special Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, responsible for co-ordinating the International Policy Review process
Ananya Mukherjee Reed, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, York University
Paul Knox, Foreign Editor, The Globe and Mail

Thursday, 12 May 2005

7-8:30pm, Northern District Library, 40 Orchard View Blvd., Toronto

Please click here for the poster.

Public Forum
Making Sense of the Newest Empire: A Feminist Guide
Cynthia Enloe,  Research Professor, International Development (IDCE) and Women's Studies, Clark University
Thursday, 4 November 2004
7-9pm, Council Chambers, Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto

Please click here for the poster.

Cynthia Enloe holds a  PhD from the University of California and is Research Professor at Clark University in Massachusetts. Her research and teaching have focused  on the interplay of women's politics in the national and international arenas, with special attention to how women's labour is made cheap in globalized factories, how women's emotional and physical labour has been used to support governments' war-waging policies - and how many women have tried to resist those efforts. Racial, class, ethnic and national identities and pressures shaping ideas about femininities and masculinities have been common threads throughout her studies. Among her nine books are Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics (1989) and Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives (2000). Her newest book is The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire (University of California Press, 2004).

Public Forum

Canadian Homeland Security: A Reasoned Response to Post 9/11 Security Realities or the Americanization of Canadian Security Policy?

Reid Morden, President of Reid Morden and Associates Inc, former Director of CSIS, and former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

Reg Whitaker, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, York University and Adjunct Professor of Political Science, University of Victoria

Margaret Beare, Director, Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption, Osgoode Hall Law School

Wesley Wark, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Toronto

Tuesday, 30 March 2004
5:30-7:30pm, Royal Canadian Military Institute, 426 University Avenue, Toronto

Please click here for the poster.

With the formal announcement of the creation of the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (DPSEP) by Prime Minister Martin on December 12, 2003, Canada has experienced a major reconfiguration in the institutional structures that are tasked with issues of domestic security. This new "super ministry" has incorporated six existing agencies including Correctional Service Canada, the National Parole Board, the RCMP, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, the Office of Critical Infrastructure and Emergency Preparedness, and the Canadian Firearms Centre, as well as creating the Canadian Border Services Agency which combines personnel formerly involved in customs, border inspections, immigration intelligence, and deportations.

Perhaps more importantly though, according to many analysts, is the transformation in Canadian security thinking that has been reflected by these institutional changes and the political consequences of adopting a "homeland security" model for ordinary Canadians.  As a result, serious questions are beginning to be raised about the rationale, potential effectiveness, and legitimacy of the DPSEP.   Should Canada have adopted the "homeland security" model in confronting domestic security issues given its spotty record in the United States?  Will the DPSEP be too large and unwieldy to be effective?  How will the DPSEP affect the political and civil rights of Canadian citizens and residents?  Are there sufficient oversight mechanisms in place to prevent abuses of power?  Does the DPSEP reflect a reasoned response to domestic security concerns or does it symbolize the beginning of the Americanization of Canadian security policy?

This forum will serve as an introduction for interested members of the general public to the DPSEP and the important political issues that it raises within the Canadian and North American post 9/11 contexts.

Public Forum
Should Canada Buy into the Bush Doctrine? Do We Have a Choice?
Hon. Barbara McDougall, PC, LLD, President and CEO, Canadian Institute of International Affairs
Stephen Clarkson, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto
Daniel Drache, Professor, Atkinson College and Associate Director, Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, York University
Dr. Paul Mitchell, Director of Academics, Canadian Forces College
Thursday, 13 November 2003
7:30-9:30pm, Marriott Eaton Centre, 525 Bay Street, Toronto

Please click here for the poster.