All Apologies: From Political Theatre to Empowered Citizenship in Canada
Event Information
About this Event
Whether it’s watching Last Week Tonight or posting memes on Twitter, plenty of Canadians seem deeply interested in the spectator sport that is American politics. Why do we know so much about the US political system and yet so little about our own?
Join us for a wide-ranging discussion about civic literacy, deconstructing Canadian governing structures, and that all-too-pervasive Canadian smugness toward the US. Erica Ifill hosts this free, virtual conversation with writers El Jones, Suzanne Methot, David Moscrop, and Jean Teillet.
What’s needed for Canadians to become more active citizens in our own communities? What barriers to access prevent citizens from getting involved in local Canadian government? What role does the media have to play in mobilizing the public on relevant issues? And how do we begin to scrutinize our own political sphere with the same critical eye we turn to our southern neighbours?
The City Imagines series is presented by The Word On The Street, a national celebration of storytelling, ideas, and imagination.
About the Presenters
Erica Ifill is an activist and economist-turned-entrepreneur who founded 2 businesses determined to address our most pressing political, technological and societal issues from an equity perspective: the Bad + Bitchy podcast, which focuses on politics and society, and Not In My Colour, focusing on technology and digital media. Erica is also columnist for The Hill Times, where she writes about federal politics, and whose additional bylines include: Macleans, Policy Options and the Globe and Mail.
El Jones is a poet, journalist, educator, prison abolitionist and activist living in African Nova Scotia. She is the co-founder of Black Power Hour, a radio collective with prisoners on CKDU 88.1FM. Her work explores state violence in Canada at sites of prisons, policing, and deportation.
Suzanne Methot is an educator and social historian who speaks on pedagogy, Indigenous worldviews and literatures, Indigenous approaches to health and wellness, trauma- and healing-informed practice, and decolonization. She also designs programs and facilitates change-making sessions for the education, health care, environmental, and museum sectors.
David Moscrop is a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Communication at the University of Ottawa. He is also a contributing columnist for the Washington Post, host of the podcast Open to Debate, and a political commentator for print, radio, and television. He lives in Ottawa.
Jean Teillet, ICP (BFA, LL.B, LL.M) Senior Counsel is an Indigenous writer, treaty negotiator and lawyer. Her recent popular history, “The North-West is Our Mother” was listed on the Globe&Mail’s top 100 books of 2019 and won the Carol Shield non-fiction Book Award. She speaks on access to justice, history, Indigenous rights and reproductive rights. She is the great grand-neice of Louis Riel.
Official Bookseller
Support local bookstores! Visit Another Story Bookshop online to discover featured City Imagines books.
About The Word On The Street
The Word On The Street is an annual celebration of storytelling, ideas and imagination, hosting Canada's largest FREE book and magazine festival each September and promoting great books by Canadian and Indigenous authors year-round.
