Reception: 6:30-7pm | Talk: 7-9pm

Douglas College is named for Sir James Douglas, who is often described in popular histories as the “Father of British Columbia.” Yet Douglas was also a colonial administrator whose policies did not necessarily represent the interests and concerns of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. Douglas College is committed to responding to the Calls to Action issued by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and we invite you to join us as we explore how we, as a society, approach contested histories and commemorate complex historical figures – including our own namesake – as well as how we commemorate the complex, interrelated Indigenous and non-Indigenous histories of our province.

Speakers:

Adele Perry – Distinguished Professor in the Department of History, University of Manitoba. Perry is the current president of the Canadian Historical Association. Her most recent book, Colonial Relations: The Douglas-Connolly Family and the Making of the Nineteenth-Century Imperial World (Cambridge University Press, 2015)explores the lives of James Douglas andAmelia Connolly Douglas, a Métis woman of Cree ancestry, their extended family, and their broader social and political worlds.

Wayde Compton – Award-winning author and Douglas College Creative Writing instructor. Compton has been writer-in-residence at Simon Fraser University, Green College at the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Public Library. From 2012-2018, he administrated the Creative Writing Program in Continuing Studies at SFU, including the award-winning Writer’s Studio. He co-authored the libretto for James Douglas: An Opera.

Q+A to follow.

Free and open to the public.

Intersections is Douglas College’s premiere speaker series that explores a range of topical issues from various perspectives.