Victoria Forum 2025
PROGRAM
2:00 p.m.
Buses depart Empress Hotel
3:00 p.m.
Welcomes
Saul Klein
Executive Director, Victoria Forum
Welcome to the Territory :
Elder Butch (Clarence) Dick
Featuring:
Honourable Diana Gibson
M.L.A., Minister of Citizens’ Services, Government of British Columbia
Senator Flordeliz (Gigi) Osler
Senate of Canada
Chris Horbachewski
VP External Relations, University of Victoria
Tish Sera Josep
Youth Advocate, City of Victoria Youth Council
Performance:
Zoe Slusar
Hip Hop Artist
4:00 p.m.
Opening Plenary: Shifting the Trajectory to a Better Future
As the world approaches 2030, the urgent need to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) intersects powerfully with rising geopolitical uncertainty. This plenary session explores how the SDGs serve as a compass in today’s uncertain world, and at how the work of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in Canada serves as a model for values-based, transformative change.
Miles Richardson
Executive Director, National Consortium for Indigenous Economic Development
Rt. Hon. Joe Clark
Former Prime Minister of Canada
Nurjehan Mawani
Former Diplomatic Representative, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan, Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN); Former Vice Chair, International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
Moderator:
Carol Anne Hilton
Founder, Indigenomics Institute; author, The Rise of Indigenous Economic Power
Reflections:
Chief Wilton Littlechild
5:45 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Reception
7:00 p.m.
Buses depart Songhees Wellness Centre
AUGUST 25 (UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA)
7:30 a.m.
Buses depart Empress Hotel
8:00 a.m.
Light breakfast (In breezeway outside Farquhar Auditorium)
8:30 a.m.
Welcome (Farquhar Auditorium, University of Victoria)
Senator Jim Munson
Chair of the Board, Victoria Forum
Welcome to the Territory
Elder Butch (Clarence) Dick
8:45 a.m.
Plenary 2: Taking Stock of the SDGs in 2025 (Farquhar Auditorium)
With just five years until the target date of 2030, the prospects are slim for realizing the Sustainable Development Goals. This session will ask the questions: How much progress has been made and how can Canada and other nations close the gap between humanity’s hopes and its prospects?
Featuring:
Vanessa Alboiu
Senior Performance Auditor, Office of the Auditor-General of Canada
Frances Edmonds
Head of Sustainable Impact, HP Canada
Jayne Barlow
Director of Programs & Partnerships, Global Centre for Pluralism
Moderator:
Honourable Diana Gibson
M.L.A., Minister of Citizens’ Services, Government of British Columbia
9:15 a.m.
Buses depart Empress Hotel
9:45 a.m.
Break
10:15 a.m.
Plenary 3: Climate x Health: Canada’s Role (Farquhar Auditorium)
Planetary health, which sits at the intersection of global health and climate change, is a key existential challenge of our time, and has been identified as a priority for the World Health Organization. But what does it mean and how could Canada effectively address it? This session will explore this question by providing an overview of the issue.
Kevin Linn
PhD student, Harvard School of Public Health
Karlee Silver
CEO, Grand Challenges Canada
Martin Edlund
CEO, Malaria No More and the Health Finance Coalition
Robin Speedie
Planetary Health Lead, Fraser Health Authority
Dr. Courtney Howard
Chair, Global Climate and Health Alliance; Founder, POWER – Planetary Health Organizations for Wellbeing, Equity, and Regeneration
Moderator:
Dr. Peter Singer
Former Executive Director, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
11:20 a.m.
Plenary 4: The 2030 Challenge: Transitioning Canada’s Industrial Economy (Farquhar Auditorium)
This session’s purpose is to identify leverage points and related strategies for Canada to make an accelerated and equitable transition to a zero carbon economy by 2030.
Bentley Allan
Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University; Transition Pathway Principal, The Transition Accelerator
William Lazonick
President, Academic-Industry Research Network; Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts
Dan Woynillowicz
Principal, Polaris Strategy + Insight, currently co-leading the independent review of CleanBC
Moderator:
Senator Yuen Pau Woo
Senate of Canada
12:40 p.m.
Lunch
1:50 p.m.
Parallel Sessions (David Strong Building)
