The Guelph Lecture - On Being Canadian

Wednesday, December 9, River Run Centre in downtown Guelph, 6:30pm for 7pm

Now in its seventh year, The Guelph Lecture - On Being Canadian has come to be known as a unique community event, inspiring a community conversation on what it means to be Canadian, through an evening of ideas, perspectives and cultural offerings. It is a night that also inspires individuals to think about what role our country could and should play in a changing world.

This year's keynote speaker is John Ralston Saul, whose most recent book -- A Fair Country: Telling Truths about Canada -- is certain to inspire debate about what it means to be Canadian. Saul describes our federalism as a "harmony through balanced relationships" -- and links it directly to what Europeans found when they arrived in Canada, and what they adopted for themselves in so many ways. In fact, he makes the case that we must re-integrate the Aboriginal perspective into the core of how we imagine ourselves, including how we imagine a new concept of progress. Should we be successful at this, Saul argues, we would be at the forefront of an international movement -- one that people are actually reaching for in the face of the current environmental crisis. He also points out the role of the arts in moving this thinking closer to the mainstream.

Saul, sometimes called "one of Canada's great political and economic thinkers," is internationally recognized, having published ten works of non-fiction and five novels.  He has been awarded the Premio Lettarario Internazionale (Italy), the Pablo Neruda Medal, the Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction, and twice he has received the Gordon Montador Award for Best Canadian Book on Social Issues. John Ralston Saul is a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres de France (1996) and a Companion of the Order of Canada (1999). He is currently General Editor of the Penguin "Extraordinary Canadians" project and is actively involved with a number of Canadian cultural organizations.

In keeping with the traditional agenda of the evening, this year's lecture will also include a musical performance by Kevin Breit, easily one of Canada's best guitar players. His style defies definition and fluidly contains elements of jazz, pop, rock, R ‘n' B and country. Born in a small town in Northern Ontario, Breit is the youngest of seven children and was born to musical parents. Self-taught, he has recorded with the likes of Norah Jones, Cassandra Wilson, Rosanne Cash, k. d. Lang, Holly Cole, Janis Ian, Marc Jordan, Natalie McMaster, Sass Jordan, Serena Ryder, and Harry Manx. When Kevin is not in session with these legendary artists or touring he performs in his own award-winning bands; Sisters Euclid, FolkAlarm and the Tallboys; all collaborative projects in which Breit is a central figure. Sisters Euclid recently won the National Jazz Award for Best Electric Band in 2009 and in 2007 the Sisters won a Juno for Best Instrumental Album of the Year. As well, in 2004 the Toronto Musician's Union recognized and honoured Breit with the prestigious "Musician of the Year" award.

The literary portion of our evening will feature a reading by acclaimed author Sandra Birdsell who writes short-stories, novels, plays, radio dramas, and scripts for television and film. She grew up in Morris, Manitoba, the fifth of the 11 children of her Russian Mennonite mother and Métis father. Like most of her fictional characters, Birdsell has always lived on the prairies, settling first in Winnipeg and later Regina. Sandra has won many literary awards such as Best Fiction, Saskatchewan Book Awards and been nominated for both The Giller Prize and The Governor General Award.

Our guest emcee will be Walrus Magazine's Executive Director and Co-Publisher, Shelley Ambrose. Shelley returned to Toronto last year after spending three years in public affairs - promoting Canada and organizing events and media - at the Canadian Consulate in New York. She is a former radio producer spending more than decade with Peter Gzowski at CBC Radio's Morningside, and a former TV producer for current affairs and news programs including the Pamela Wallin show. Shelley has produced hundreds of events - including on-stage conversations, forums, lectures, festivals, golf tournaments, book tours, arctic tours, royal visits (and was one of the producers of Bill Clinton's 60^th birthday events in September 2006 in Toronto and New York). And, as she says, "zillions of years ago," she was a reporter for both the Globe and Mail and The Windsor Star.

For more information on The Guelph Lecture - On Being Canadian please visit http://www.eramosa.org/ and for information on purchasing tickets please call the River Run Centre at 519-763-3000 or visit http://www.riverrun.ca/