Photo by Beibei Lu
As the fervour surrounding the election wanes and Ottawa adjusts to new leadership on the Hill, the air is rife with a variety of questions raised in October:
From the local: How is it that in a city and country as wealthy as this one, more than seventy-five thousand residents in Ottawa are unable to access affordable, nutritious food? What solutions can be put forward to ensure that our fellow citizens are food secure?
…to the national: Can Justin Trudeau keep the promise he made to implement the 94+ recommendations by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission? How best can we address the issues in the report?
…to the international: What will be our new Prime Minister’s foreign policy direction, and what will that mean for Canada’s future participation in NATO missions?
We invite you to attend Spur, Canada’s first and only national festival of politics, art and ideas, and join the conversation! From Thursday Nov. 5th- Sunday Nov 8th, Spur will be in Ottawa, where the festival will offer residents in the nation’s capital a creative and eclectic mix of events that include interviews, film screenings, book readings, panels, walking tours and more.
The festival features two free events, including our festival opener hosted by the Aga Khan Foundation Canada; and a special film screening on drone warfare at The National Gallery of Canada. Ticketed events begin at $5 and can be purchased on the festival’s event page.
Prominent speakers include Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada The Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair, Nobel nominated Inuit activist and former International Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council Sheila Watt-Cloutier, former Alberta premier Alison Redford, Anchor and Executive Editor of Global National Dawna Friesen, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Ted Whiteside, Roshan CEO Karim Khoja, Research Fellow in Psychiatry at McLean Hospital’s Neurobiology of Fear Laboratory Torsten Klengel, and award-winning journalist May Jeong.
Two panels will be recorded for broadcast by BBC’s ‘The Forum’ to an audience of over 180 million worldwide: a conversation on Reconciliation and a conversation on how Being Cold fits within Canadian culture, moderated by BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall. Additional talks include how to foster Canada’s female leaders, a discussion on the future of NATO, an examination of mobile tech company Roshan’s telecommunications legacy in Afghanistan, a panel on Ottawa’s food security, a book talk on Lester B. Pearson’s involvement in the Suez Crisis, a special film screening on drone warfare, and an Indigenous walking tour of Ottawa’s historical sites.
