Canada@150: Promoting Diversity & Inclusion
VICTORIA FORUM 2017
Canada@150: Promoting Diversity & Inclusion
VICTORIA FORUM 2017
The inaugural Victoria Forum sought to go beyond Anglophone and Francophone to celebrate 150 years of Canada by addressing the wider and much more complex diversity of the country, and particularly the relationships with the people of the First Nations. The Forum brought together business leaders, policymakers, academics, civil society and Indigenous communities to discuss diversity, inclusion and sustainable prosperity. It helped to craft a Canadian narrative that showcases how we prosper by being open to trade, to migration and to investment.
The 2017 Victoria Forum was an opportunity for many people to join the conversation on diversity and inclusion. Canada as a country is built on diversity. All Canadians share this land’s endowments, and collectively are responsible for the complex challenges that confront our world. Diversity is not simply a fact; it is what makes us human.
Themes
Diversity & Economic Prosperity
Pluralism involves the development of positive responses to the presence of difference.
Diversity & Economic Prosperity
Pluralism does not imply the absence of tension or disagreement within a society, nor
does it require perfect societal harmony. Rather, pluralism requires the development
and enhancement of both mechanisms and mindsets that can peacefully and effectively
provide outlets for the tensions that inevitably arise within a diverse society. This is
neither an easy nor a quick process.
Economics of Indigenous Inclusiveness
Attempts by Indigenous peoples to participate in economic development while nourishing and strengthening their world-views and aspirations
Economics of Indigenous Inclusiveness
Indigenous peoples have struggled against assimilation throughout Canadian history and Indigenous peoples have worked to ensure development does not further erode relationships with their lands, languages, resources, and social standing. These conditions for engagement in economic development produce challenges and opportunities for Indigenous peoples and others in creating prosperity across Canada.
Geopolitics of Diversity
Cross-border mobility of goods, services and people has reached unprecedented levels placing challenges for forcibly displaced people and liberal democracies.
Geopolitics of Diversity
At the same time, security concerns in the wake of terrorist attacks have led to a fortification of borders around the world. Moreover, fear of the ethnic, cultural or religious “other” has rapidly led to a rise in xenophobic sentiments around the world. Liberal democracies will have to develop effective and morally valid responses given their political and legal commitment to protecting the right to political asylum and human rights. Similarly, liberal democracies are tested in their resolve to withstand ideologies that exclude the non-national “other” or depict migrants as incompatible with national identity.
Defining Climate Justice
As the impacts of climate change accelerate, people of all current socio-economic conditions will feel the effects.
Defining Climate Justice
What are some of the solutions needed to tackle issues such as generational and cultural inequities that arise from climate change; financial and social challenges for those people living in low-lying coastal areas who are subject to inundation; those who have livelihoods that are tied to stable and foreseeable climate regimes; and the plight of other species who are being impacted?
Private Philanthropy, Civil Society & Inclusive Development
At the international and national levels, foundations are emerging as a potent force in development.
Private Philanthropy, Civil Society & Inclusive Development
Critics express concerns about the lack of transparency and accountability of private philanthropy. Proponents argue that private philanthropy offers creative and entrepreneurial solutions to persistent social issues that traditional institutions have failed to resolve. This thematic track, thus, explores the primary question of the appropriate and potential role of private philanthropy in inclusive local development.
Global Trade & the Economics of Diversity
As globalization has fostered economic integration, some perceive a “race to the bottom” in which social and environmental standards are compromised to attract investment.
Global Trade & the Economics of Diversity
Many blame income inequality and lack of fairness on globalization and globalization is associated with the maximization of profits and little if any consideration for the circumstances of local communities. As we critically reflect on 150 years of diversity and inclusiveness, this theme explores whether Canada provides genuine alternatives in our international outlook and global partnerships, and whether we possess the willingness, strategic vision and capacity to effectively balance global trade and economic integration with the sustainability of local communities and the environment.
