2021 - 2022

Cindy Blackstock 

A member of the Gitxsan First Nation, Cindy is honoured to serve as the Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and a professor at McGill University’s School of Social Work. She has over 30 years of experience working in child welfare and Indigenous children’s rights and has published more than 75 articles on topics relating to reconciliation, Indigenous theory, First Nations child welfare and human rights. Cindy was honoured to work with First Nations colleagues on a successful human rights challenge to Canada’s inequitable provision of child and family services and failure to implement Jordan’s Principle. This hard-fought litigation has resulted in hundreds of thousands of services being provided to First Nations children, youth and families.

She recently served on the Pan American Health Commission on Health Equity and Inequity and fundamentally believes that culturally-based equity is fundamental to meaningful reconciliation. Cindy is frequently sighted in the company of the Caring Society’s reconciliation Am-bear-rister, Spirit Bear, engaging children in meaningful actions to implement the TRC Calls to Action.

Reconciling History: Echoes of the Past

Link lessons of history to the contemporary injustices that First Nations children and families experience in the spirit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its Calls to Action.

President's Lecture
Sponsored by the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada

Link to event poster here

Dr. Phyllis Zagano 

Dr. Phyllis Zagano is an internationally acclaimed Catholic scholar who has lectured throughout the United States, and in Canada, Europe and Australia. Her many awards include the 2014 Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice from The Paulist Center Community in Boston for “her prolific body of work that has constantly echoed the cry of the poorest of our society for dignity and for justice both inside and outside the church....specifically the dignity of all women.” Her groundbreaking work on women in the diaconate led to her appointment to the Pontifical Commission for the Study of the Diaconate of Women in 2016. She has taught at Fordham, Boston, and Yale Universities, and currently holds a research appointment at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York.

Catholic Women, Catholic Church: Where Do We Go From Here?

Many Catholic women, the mainstays of Catholic pastoral ministry, are increasingly frustrated by the Church’s response to requests for increased professional presence of women in ministry. At least four commissions have studied women deacons. The 2019 Amazon Synod asked for increased roles for women. Now regional synods will present their needs to the next synod of bishops, now scheduled for October 2023. Will the talking ever end? Lord, to whom shall we go?

Link to event poster here.

Remembrance Day Special Lecture

WE REMEMBER
Private Arnold Logan
Indigenous Soldier WW1

Ian McCallum is a member of the Munsee-Delaware First Nation. He works with his community promoting culture, history and is an educator working with the Munsee language. As a PhD student at the University of Toronto, Ian is currently researching best strategies for Munsee language revitalization.  

 Ian McCallum is an Education Officer in the Indigenous Education Office for the Ministry of Education in Ontario. He has worked in the field of education for more than 20 years in the capacity of classroom and resource teacher as well as a supporting teacher candidates as a seconded faculty of education member

Terri King is a member of Beausoleil First Nation and is of mixed ancestry with relatives who are Lenape, Pottawatomi, Irish and British. She is a second-generation residential school survivor with an educational background in Social Services (SSW) and History and Philosophy (BA).

Working from a social justice lens within Atlohsa Family Healing Services’ Homelessness division (Giwetashkad), Terri works to support community through the illnesses of historical and on-going forms of colonization. She has worked in London’s emergency shelter systems for the last 7 years and believes that all community has the right to social equity and safe, attainable housing.

The Remembrance Day presentation celebrates the short life of Private Arnold Logan (1896-1916). Logan was one of the “first hundred” to sign up for the First Battalion (Western Ontario Regiment) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in August 1914. He was from the Munsee-Delaware community and was one of the first Indigenous people to volunteer for the war. The presentation, given by Logan’s relatives follows Arnold Logan’s life from community to residential school to work on the railway and ultimately being one of the first to enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in August 1914. The presentation will also follow Logan’s time in England, France and Belgium.

Event Poster

Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, CM, Ed.D.

Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, CM is president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.   For over a century, the ACCU has provided thought leadership on the issues facing Catholic higher education as well as training, representation and consulting on a wide array of matters to help these institutions flourish.  Now in his 32nd year as a Vincentian priest, Fr. Holtschneider has worked in Catholic education and Catholic healthcare, serving most recently as president of DePaul University (2004-2017) and chair and then chief operations officer of Ascension, the largest non-profit health system in the United States.  He teaches higher education strategy and governance in Harvard University’s programs in professional education, and holds degrees in mathematics, theology and a doctorate in higher education policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

At our best, Catholic intellectual life is deeply mired in the world’s most critical questions, both contributing to and learning from the larger world’s debates and concerns.  We dare show students life’s most important questions and introduce them to its most compelling ideas, which is no small challenge in the moment when our Church’s voice is compromised by its past behavior and when the world is uncertain about moral claims amidst the fray.  If we do it well, however, Catholic higher education remains thrilling, inspiring and upsetting in all the right ways. 

Link to event poster here.

Christian Harvey 

Christian has ministered at St. John’s in Peterborough, Ontario in various capacities since 2005.  He started off as youth worker, developed the leadership of the Open Circle worshipping community, and was a member of the leadership team of our Community Ministries.  He was ordained a Vocational Deacon on May 3, 2014.  Christian also worked as the Coordinator of the Diocese of Toronto’s Youth Ministry Apprenticeship Program and as the Trent Durham Area Youth Social Justice Coordinator.  Christian has been a proud resident of Peterborough since 1993.  Before working at St. John’s he was a professional musician and still enjoys playing percussion when he can.  His passion, faith, and commitment to building a community where all are loved and welcome, as well as his love for Peterborough, guide what he does.  He lives with his family in East City.

Criminalizing Others for our Comfort: Confronting our Systemic Exclusion of Those Experiencing Homelessness and Marginalization

People aren’t disposable. Most of us would agree with this statement, and yet all around us policies are passed, bylaws are created, laws are enforced and even architecture built that states the exact opposite. Not that we are aware of it, often we just see policies, bylaws, laws and architecture that make us feel more comfortable, make us feel safe and so we go along with it. In this talk we will expose the way in which we increase societal harms such as homelessness and marginalization and then blame the very people harmed. We will engage with theology, music, prominent thinkers and stories to help us understand the narratives we tell ourselves to justify our actions and finally imagine what could be possible if we break free of these narratives and live like a different world is possible.

Link to event poster here.