The experience of other countries may hold the key to problems within Canadian
federalism, say organizers of a conference co-hosted by UBC.
The university is one of two sites for a conference on federalist states that
is being funded by the Dept. of Foreign Affairs. It will be held Sept. 30-Oct.
3.
Called Identities, Involvement, Living Together in Federal States:
International Aspects of Federalism, the conference opens Sept. 30-Oct. 1 at
Laval University in Quebec City before moving to UBC.
It will bring together scholars and others from Europe, Canada and the United
States to look at issues such as history and identity, self-determination,
regional alienation, national identity in multicultural societies, and ethnic
and class differences.
“Unlike other recent conferences that focused on special issues in Canadian
federalism, this will take a broader approach,” said David Elkins, a political
science professor and organizer of the UBC sessions of the conference.
Some of the speakers at UBC include Guy Laforest, a Laval political scientist
and prominent separatist, and Peter Schmidhuber, president of Germany’s Deutsch
Bank. UBC scholars taking part include political scientists Alan Cairns, Phil
Resnick and Barbara Arniel.
The conference is open to the public and there is no registration fee.
Elkins said he hopes students take advantage of the opportunity to listen to
some European scholars who are seldom heard in North America.
The UBC end of the conference opens with a session at the First Nations
Longhouse at 1 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 2. The next day it moves to Cecil Green
Park House, with sessions from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
