25 Years of the Good Friday Agreement: A Panel Examining the Impact and Legacy of the Signing of the Good Friday Agreement

Contact: usmc.principalsoffice@utoronto.ca

Associated Event: Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy: What Does it Mean?

A Lunch Talk featuring Professor Janice Stein, Indo-Pacific Advisory Committee, and Kim Nossal, Queen's University political scientist.

The Canadian government released its much-awaited Indo-Pacific Strategy in November 2022. The strategy calls out China as an "increasingly disruptive global power" that must be challenged on profound areas of disagreement despite the necessity of cooperation on global issues. It also calls for deeper cooperation with democracies such as India, Japan, and South Korea. How should we understand the strategy, and how can it achieve success? This event will feature Professor Janice Stein, who co-chaired the government's Indo-Pacific Advisory Committee, and Kim Nossal, Queen's University political scientist and commentator on Canadian foreign policy. They will share their thoughts about the history of Canadian engagement with the region, the objectives of the new strategy, and challenges they foresee in its implementation.

Lunch will be served.

Speakers

Janice Gross Stein is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management in the Department of Political Science and the Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario. She was the Massey Lecturer in 2001 and a Trudeau Fellow. She was awarded the Molson Prize by the Canada Council for an outstanding contribution by a social scientist to public debate and has received Honorary Doctorates of Laws from universities in Canada and abroad. She is also an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Senior Fellow of the Kissinger Center at SAIS at Johns Hopkins University. Her current research focuses on technology and public policy in the context of great power competition. Last year, she co-chaired the National Advisory Committee on Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy for the Minister of Global Affairs.

Kim Richard Nossal is a professor emeritus in the Department of Political Studies and the Centre for International and Defence Policy at Queen’s University. He was editor of International Journal, the quarterly journal of the Canadian International Council and was president of the Canadian Political Science Association. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is the author of a number of works on Canadian foreign policy; his most recent book, Canada Alone: Navigating the Post-American World will be published by Dundurn Press later this year.

Moderators

Dr. Phillip Lipscy (Director, Centre for the Study of Global Japan, Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy)

Dr. John Meehan (Director, The Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History)

Dr. Jack Cunningham (Program Coordinator, Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History)

Organized by the Centre for the Study of Global Japan and the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History, University of Toronto.

The Bill Graham Centre in collaboration with the NATO Association of Canada is providing an insightful discussion on Afghanistan.

DATE: January 18, 2023

TIME: 4:00 - 6:00 PM, Toronto time

DELIVERY METHOD: In person and Online

DURATION: 2 hours

Ben Rowswell

Ben Rowswell attended Georgetown University where he acquired his Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service, followed by completing a Master of Philosophy in International Relations at the University of Oxford. Ben Rowswell began his service in 1993 when he joined the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade as a Foreign Service Officer specializing in conflict prevention. From there, he served as Canada’s sole representative in Iraq from 2003 to 2005, becoming the Founding Manager for the Democracy Unit in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

His stint in Afghanistan began in 2008 where he was the Deputy Head of Mission at the Canadian Embassy in Afghanistan. A year later, he became NATO’s Canadian Representative in Kandahar where he oversaw the PRT's governance, development and rule of law programming to bolster the presence of the Government of Afghanistan at the provincial and district levels in Kandahar. Ben Rowswell then became Canada’s Ambassador to Venezuela from 2014 to 2017. Today, he is the Director of the Global Democracy Program at the Canadian International Council where he is emphasizing democratic solidarity through mutual learning.

Lieutenant-General Ret. Steve Bowes

Lt. General (Retired) Steve Bowes attended Acadia University where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in History and Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, and went on to complete his Master of Arts in International Relations and National Security at Queens University. Steve Bowes then joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1985. In 2005, he was appointed Commander of the first Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar until 2006. He then went on to serve as the Deputy Chief of Staff Plans for the ISAF Joint Command in Kabul from 2009 to 2010.

Steve Bowes was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General in 2015, alongside being appointed Commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command where he led missions in Latvia and Ukraine, and deployments in the Middle East. In October 2020, following years of hard work, dedication and service, Steve Bowes retired from the Canadian Armed Forces. Today, he is an Ambassador for the CAF Charity Support our Troops and Soldier On, a Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and a senior mentor at the Canadian Forces College National Security Programme.

Book Launch

Canadian Spy Story: Irish Revolutionaries and the Secret Police by David A. Wilson

Wednesday, November 16, 2022 (new date)

4:00 - 6:00 pm EST

The Vivian and David Campbell Conference Facility (1 Devonshire Place, Toronto)

Hybrid Event (options for virtual and in-person attendance)

To attend virtually via Zoom, register here.

To attend in person, register here.

About Canadian Spy Story:

In the mid-nineteenth century a group of Irish revolutionaries, known as the Fenians, set out to destroy Britain’s North American empire. Between 1866 and 1871 they launched a series of armed raids into Canadian territory.

In Canadian Spy Story David Wilson takes readers into a dark and dangerous world of betrayal and deception, spies and informers, invasion and assassination, spanning Canada, the United States, Ireland, and Britain. In Canada, there were Fenian secret societies in urban areas, including Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, and in some rural townships, all part of a wider North American network. Wilson tells the tale of Irishmen who attempted to liberate their country from British rule, and the Canadian secret police who infiltrated their revolutionary cells and worked their way to the top of the organization. With surprises at every turn, the story includes a sex scandal that nearly brought Canadian spy operations crashing down, as well as reports from Toronto about a plot to assassinate Queen Victoria.

Featuring a cast of idealists, patriots, cynics, manipulators, and liars, Canadian Spy Story raises fundamental questions about state security and civil liberty, with important lessons for our own time.

About David A. Wilson:

David A. Wilson, from Whitehead County Antrim, is the General Editor of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a Professor in the History Department and Celtic Studies Program at the University of Toronto.