"The condition upon which man hath
received liberty is eternal vigilance;
which condition if he break, servitude
is at once the consequence of his crime
and the punishment of his guilt."
~ John Philpot Curran,
Dublin 1800
"A fig for those by law protected!
Liberty's a glorious feast!
Courts for cowards were erected,
Churches built to please the priest."
~ Robert Burns
THE MÉTROPOLITAIN - Unconventional Wisdom
Montreal's bilingual journal of
reflection, opinion and the arts
www.themetropolitain.ca
www.facebook.com/MontrealMet
www.facebook.com/BerylWajsman
on twitter @berywajsman
Launching The Métropolitain
Québec`s first bilingual newspaper since 1842
Speaking to staff and supporters at launch party for
"The Métropolitain" at Chez Alexandre et fils on Peel St .
Met mural in the offices of the paper
"The Last Angry Man"
For archives of all shows please go to one of the following links:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=474&z=11
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=548&z=11
"Barricades"
The journal of the Institute
All Barricades issues and articles are now online at:
www.barricades.ca
Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for Community Service
Speaking at ANTI-BILL 14 Protest at Marois' office
CTV's full video
17 February 2013
http://www.iapm.ca/media/rally20130217.wmv
Contre le projet de Loi 14
Sur RDI avec Brigitte Bougie
17 February 2013
http://www.iapm.ca/media/rdi20130217.wmv
CBC Interview on Anti-Bill 14 Rally
"One law too far"
17 February 2013
http://www.iapm.ca/media/rally20130217_01.wmv
Advocating for ANTI-BILL 14 Protest
13 February 2013
For full story click on link below
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=608&z=22
CRITIQ
25 January 2013
A new anglo voice?
by Richard Deschamps
A new group currently gathering momentum is looking to act as an
umbrella group to speak for federalist anglophones in Quebec.
The group, called Canadian Rights in Quebec -- CRITIQ for short --
has a similar mission to groups like Alliance Quebec; to promote linguistic
equality and combat language discrimination.
And it was created, in part, to counter the possibility of tougher language
laws coming from the recently-installed PQ government.
"They've been in the formation stages ever since the PQ got elected," says
Mike Cohen,the Cote St. Luc city councillor who sat in on one of their
meetings. "And I think it's comforting for the English community to know that
there's a group like this that's establishing itself."
Businessman Gary Shapiro is spearheading the movement, and among some
of the other notables involved include former politicians Robert Libman and
Gerry Weiner, Suburban editor Beryl Wajsman and political
columnist Barbara Kay.
For a fuller report on CRITIQ including The Suburban profile please go to:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=607&z=22
On Sun News with Brian Dunstan
on Justin Trudeau and the Islamic Conference
24 December 2012
http://www.iapm.ca/media/sunnews20121224.wmv
En débat avec Mario Beaulieu (SSJB)
sur l'émission Denis Levesque
7 Septembre 2012
http://www.iapm.ca/media/lcn20120907_01.wmv
http://www.iapm.ca/media/lcn20120907_02.wmv
Institute advocacy results in major Revenue Quebec reforms
Journal de Montréal:
Revenu Québec renonce aux cotisations «choc»
*****
Finance Minister and Director-General act after abuses brought to light
23 August 2012
For full story and details from The Métropolitain and
Le Journal de Montréal please go to following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=605&z=22
Keynote Address to McGill model UN Conference
Sheraton Centre Montreal
26 Jan. 2012
http://www.iapm.ca/media/mcmun_2012.wmv
Full speech video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK1cNWy7KRI
Advocacy, anger and activism
The many facets of Beryl Wajsman
by Sarah Feldman
http://issuu.com/mcmun/docs/mcmun_finale_final_digital1_1_
On CTV's "National Affairs"
For an end to the big lies in Quebec's culture wars
5 January 2012
http://www.iapm.ca/media/ctv20120105.wmv
Avec Mario Dumont
Les Québecois anglophones font-ils assez
d'efforts pour matriser le Français?
6 Dec. 2011
http://www.iapm.ca/media/Dumont20111206.wmv
Testifying against The Payette Plan
Assurance obtained from Minister
protecting non-francophone media
14 Nov. 2011
For full report please go to following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=600&z=22
On CTV's National Affairs with Tasha Kheiriddin
and Rudyard Griffiths
Cautioning on the Quebec construction inquiry
18 Oct. 2011
http://www.iapm.ca/media/ctv20111018.wmv
With Bikel
May 2011
Please see the story at the following link
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=594&z=8
Table de l'Espoir 2011
Avec Richard Martineau
Canadian Association of Journalists
April 2011
Elected vice-president for public affairs
Taking Back The Streets!
Oct.2010 - Feb.2011
With Eric Duhaime, Daniel Lapres, David Ouellette and
Sharon Freedman organized the citizens coalition that
stopped the Amir Khadir led PAJU attempted boycott of the
Le Marcheur store on St. Denis St. because it sold Israeli
products. In picture above left the critical day when MPs
Marc Garneau, Marlene Jennings and MNAs Lawrence
Bergman and Francois Bonnardel stood with us. Ouellette
is to my right and Duhaime to my left. Anti-boycott
demos were held every Saturday for five months.
For full stories please see:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=595&z=22
With Paul Gérin-Lajoie
June 2010
After joining the advisory council of the Paul Gérin-Lajoie
Foundation helped the organizing committee for the gala
celebrating his 90th birthday.
For full story see "Résister aux comparisons" at
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=593&z=22e
13,000 Montrealers salute Israel
Hosting the Israel Independence Day Rally
April 20, 2010
« Bienvenue, amis de la liberté »
« Chag ha’atzmaut sameyach »
“I want to welcome everyone to this celebration of joy!
Welcome to this celebration of the free! What we celebrate
today are not the particularities of race and creed, but the
universality of liberty. And the survival and success of the
frontline member of the family of free nations in the face of
constant existential threat.
“I want to address a few particular words to the young people
here. No, I am not going to tell you that you are the guarantors
of tomorrow. You already know that. I am here to tell you that
you are the surety of today! And you are not alone. In Quebec
today there are varieties of opinion on all manner of issues.
They are expressed with passion in the free battleground of
ideas. And that is a good thing. Many of these opinions we
don’t like. Some of you have faced many taunts of nullification
and interposition expressed with inappropriate ferocity. But
you responded as democrats, with reason and engagement.
You need to know you are not alone.
“Comme Jacques Brassard, l’ex Ministre de transport du
Quebec dans les gouvernements de Bernard Landry et Lucien
Bouchard a écrit, « Le combat d’Israël pour sa survie, c’est
aussi notre combat! C'est le combat de l'Occident tout entier!
Israel ne doit pas se laisser distraire de ses objectifs par la
chorale des pleureuses de gauche et des ennemis de
l'Occident. La reussite d'Israël se doit d'être sans equivoque!”
“That is the message I want all of you to take back from here
today. And draw courage from it!”
For a full report on the rally please go to the following link on
this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=591&z=22
Special Interview
March 7, 2010
On Language
by BEN ZIMMER
The interplay of English optics and French optique on
Canada’s political scene has long fascinated Beryl Wajsman,
president of the Montreal-based Institute for Public Affairs and
editor of The Suburban, Quebec’s largest English-language
weekly. “The ‘optique,’ as it is called in very politically savvy
Quebec, is everything,” he wrote in a 2007 column for
Canada Free Press. Wajsman told me that optics and optique may
have first commingled in Montreal around the time of the 1980
referendum on Quebec’s sovereignty. Independence for the
province was voted down, with the “No” side bolstered by a
stirring speech from Pierre Trudeau at Montreal’s Paul Sauvé
Arena just days before the referendum. Trudeau’s bold
intervention, Wajsman recalls, created some powerful optics.
For the complete text of this New York Times article
please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=585&z=12
Montréal Municipale 2009
With Mayor Tremblay and his wife on election night
A new agenda for Montreal
http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/648
En débat avec Gilles Proulx sur "Dumont 360"
http://vtele.ca/emissions/dumont360/archives/2009/09/498/1803.php
http://vtele.ca/emissions/dumont360/archives/2009/09/498/1804.php
Animateur pour "Sexy béton"
Théatre Porte-Parole
http://www.iapm.ca/media/sexybeton.wmv
Certificates or recognition from MPs
Marc Garneau and Marlene Jennings
Moderating Cotler Town Hall on
fighting anti-semitism
June 22 2009
National newspaper award for anti-rascism editorial
28 May 2009
1st Anniversary issue of The Metropolitain
May Day 2009
To see the entire issue please lick on the link below
http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/issue/44
Liberal Convention
Vancouver 2009
With Brigitte Garceau and her winning "Team Garceau" in her
successful bid for the vice-presidency of the Liberal Party of Canada
With l'Hon. Martin Cauchon, social activist Chris Karidigionnis and
former Ministerial Chief of Staff Anne-Marie Laurendeau
With citizens coalition demanding municipal change
April 8, 2009
Press conference of citizens coalition. L-r, Le Mas des Oliviers'
owner Jacques Muller, Yvon Créton, Alexandre et fils owner
Alain Créton, BPW, and Sharon Freedman,co-organizer of the
25,000 signature anti-parking meter petition.
The conference denounced city policies and unveiled the
PetitionParcometre.com website.
Full story at:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=578&z=22
Wajsman for Mayor?
See reactions at:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=579&z=22
The suburban and Editor win Canadian and Quebec awards
27 March 2009
Full story at following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=577&z=22
With Mount Royal MP Irwin Cotler and Palestine
Human Rights Monitoring Group founder and
director Bassam Eid
Causing a stir
27 February 2009
Alfred Apps says Wajsman has played a consultative role
behind certain Liberal policies–for which Apps makes no
apologies. “I think there’s an effort here on the
part of the Tories to slam people with guilt by association. Beryl is one
of the militants that is helping with the party, and his help
is welcomed.” The presumptive next Liberal President–he is
currently running unopposed–suggests the so-called
“banned list” on which Wajsman appeared was less about
meted out justice than it was a vestige of the old, bitter feud
between Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien. “That list was
created before the Gomery Commission had made any of its
findings,” Apps said.
Montreal lawyer Julius Grey told Maclean's, “There is no
evidence that Beryl is anything but honest. There is only so
much a citizen can take of having mud thrown at him.”
~ Macleans, 27 February 2009
For full stories and reactions please go to following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=571&z=22
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Legacy Award Ceremony
16 January 2009
(l-r) Rev. Darryl G. Gray, BPW, Quebec Minister of Immigration
and Cultural Communities Yolande James,
Mayor Gerald Tremblay
with Father John Walsh and City Councillor Mary Deros
with community activists led by
Gemma Raeburn-Baynes at right
To read Rev. Gray's comments please click on
the link below:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=569&z=22
On Gaza
with CTV's Tarah Schwartz
11 January 2009
“No nation can sit idly by while over 8000 rockets over
six years are hurled at it. Even Egypt closed its borders
to the Gazan regime. Many speak of Hamas as the
duly elected government of Gaza. Yet they conveniently
forget that Hamas only got elected because it killed or
drove out most of their Fatah opponents prior to the vote.
It was an election as Stalinist as any.”
Tarah Schwartz, Beryl Wajsman, Laith Marouf
Click on the following link to see the interview and debate
http://www.iapm.ca/media/cfcf1220090111.wmv
With Ignatieff
Ottawa
10 December 2008
"Cassandra's Lilacs"
Theatre St-Denis
2 October 2008
The Garceau Foundation and the Institute present
the "Gentle the Condition" benefit consert
Foundation founder and president Brigitte Garceau
Beryl Wajsman and Dennis Trudeau
Director Brian Morel, Brigitte Garceau,
Beryl Wajsman
For a full report on this vey special event please go to
the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=568&z=22
To view the videos of the concert in four parts
please click on the links below
Ranee Lee and her band performing
http://www.iapm.ca/media/lilacspart1.wmv
http://www.iapm.ca/media/lilacspart2.wmv
http://www.iapm.ca/media/lilacspart3.wmv
http://www.iapm.ca/media/lilacspart4.wmv
Ottawa "Human Dignity Rally"
7 August 2008
For full report on the rally and more pictures
go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=565&z=22
Speaking at Parliamentary press gallery prior ro rally
with (l-r) Mount Royal MP and former Justice Minister
Irwin Cotler, international human rights activist
Nazanin Afshin-Jam and former Secretary of State
for Asia/Pacific David Kilgour
BW speech at rally can be viewed at the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/media/human_dignity_rally.wmv
On Terrorists, Canada and Montreal
BPW, CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergin,
and "American Jihad" author Steven Emerson
http://www.iapm.ca/media/paulazahn11072006.wmv
Solutions for Sudan
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Interview with Marci Ian on Canada AM discussing the Darfur genocide
http://www.iapm.ca/media/canadaam29102007.wmv
“To save a single life…”
The Saul Itzhayek Affair
Vigil at Itzhayek home with community
religious leaders and attorney Julius Grey
At inter-faith demonstration at Rev. Darryl Gray's church
In studio with Saul and Sylvia Itzhayek,
former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler
and Cotler's executive assistant Howard Liebman
Please see "Itzhayek home!" at
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=554&z=22
"Answered Prayers"
Gentling the condition
BPW with (l-r) attorney and community activist Brigitte Garceau,
journalist P.A. Sévigny
and the City of Montreal`s Réal Normandeau
at meeting to help the Maison du Partage d`Youville
food bank and community kitchen
Please see story at following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=557&z=22
See full report on frontline social service groups at:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=558&z=22
Darfur: The Montreal Conference
BPW opening Conference. Left to right the Hon. David Kilgour,
Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Lewis W. MacKenzie, Southern Christian
Leadership Conference President Dr. Charles Steele, Jr.
For the complete text please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=551&z=22
Letter of congratulations from the Hon. Jason Kenney
A Special Visitor
With former Secretary of State Kissinger at the
Conference de Montreal
At Israel Independance Rally
D'arcy McGee MNA Lawrence Bergman, Public Security Minister
Stockwell Day and BPW
Interviewing Stéphane Dion
The New Suburban
The Politics of Justice
For the complete text please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=550&z=22
New Challenge
See announcement in full at the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=549&z=22
Battling Hunger
Institute`s Citizen-based solutions
Elizabeth Nickson
Behind the scrim of the noisy war on terrorism, the United States
launched, in October, the largest domestic-policy initiative
of the past 40 years. With US$65-billion potentially at stake,
in the quick flourish of an executive order, faith-based charity
became the biggest social experiment in history. Lucky
for us, the Americans do all the dirty work. Canadians must
watch their progress with enormous interest. As the
Canadian Association of Food Banks makes clear, food-bank
use in Canada reaches 778,000 people a month and has
doubled since 1989. That's more than the entire population
of New Brunswick, points out a press release from
the organization, which appears to document its statistics
meticulously. The solution? "A comprehensive policy
to realize food security for all citizens," says the group.
Anyone else smelling a Charter challenge? Noble
as that would be, people are starving, and cannot wait for
the "right to food" to be written into the Constitution.
As Amy Sherman of the Hudson Institute says: "Kids
are dying on the streets, single moms are making $6
an hour. All hands on deck."
So a few Montrealers have taken matters into their own very
competent hands. A group of corporations and unions, at
the instigation of The Institute for Public Affairs, under the
stewardship of the magnetic Beryl P. Wajsman, have made
a commitment, in perpetuity, to feed as many as
half-a-million hungry Quebecers. This is Quebec civil
society in action. Working together, without a penny
from government to solve an immediate problem. According
to Wajsman, Charles Seiden, the executive director of
the Canadian Association of Food Banks "puts the
number of Canadians suffering through, as he calls it,
'food insecurity,' at three to four million." Not a pretty number
, especially when you consider the billions that Ottawa's
bloated bureaucracy flushes down the toilet on vanity projects.
Wajsman and his partners are planning to extend
their Quebec initiative across Canada.
What Beryl Wajsman and his fellows are doing seems to be the
Canadian version of a faith-based initiative. We must
hope that he succeeds -- and that more citizens take back the
fundamental responsibility for care of the
poor from a government that has failed.
On Social Justice
The Issue No One Is Talking About
The most unpleasant sound to a politician is silence. Just ask Ed Broadbent. The former leader of the New Democratic Party left Parliament in 1989 to pursue a career as a teacher and lecturer. But as he traveled the country talking up his favorite theme—the lingering “national disgrace” of child poverty—Broadbent was shocked by the degree of apathy. “No one paid attention,” he says.
It was Broadbent who pricked the nation’s conscience 15 years ago by reminding citizens that thousands of Canadian youngsters went hungry every night. The message struck a chord with a population that had prided itself on being a global model of fairness. In 1989, a year after the N.D.P. won 43 seats in its best-ever federal showing, Broadbent leveraged the party’s clout in what was then a Tory-minority government to secure a resolution pledging to “eliminate” child poverty by 2000. At the time an estimated 1 in 6 Canadian children lived below the poverty line. Not only did the pledge go unfulfilled, but things have got worse. The number of people earning less than $11,000 a year grew during the 1990s by 34%. About a million Canadians under the age of 18 are in dire need, according to Campaign 2000, a national antipoverty group.
And so the problem festers. True, much of the economic news is good: employment is at an “all-time high,” Bank of Canada economist Stéfane Marion told the Globe and Mail last week, adding, “We believe the economy could actually return to its production potential before the end of 2005.” But too many Canadians aren’t keeping up. According to Beryl Wajsman, president of Montreal’s Institute for Public Affairs, a third of the nation’s work force has less than two weeks’ salary in the bank. Canada, Wajsman says, has only a “thin veneer of affluence.”
Why aren’t we talking about this? Here’s one reason. While political leaders are scrambling to outbid one another with plans for spending the nearly $3 billion surplus stored up over a tough decade of budget cuts, few seem willing to risk appealing to the better angels of our nature. In 1968 Pierre Trudeau won Canada’s heart by promising a “just society.” The fear mongering that has come to dominate the campaign—the Liberals began airing TV spots last week implying that Canadians were at risk from guns, pro-lifers and foreign wars—suggests that party tacticians believe today’s voters are interested only in getting through the night safely. Wajsman doesn’t buy it. “They’re not giving the electorate enough due,” he says. “Social justice is the bread-and-butter issue of our time, but it takes political courage to bring this up.”
Fighting Censor
Thursday, May 17, 2007
BPW on the dangers of press councils
and self-censorship
To read the article in full please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=547&z=22
A Tale of Two Nazanins
A Victory for Valor
Saturday, February 03, 2007
To the editors
Re: "A Credit to Her Crown"
The Post is to be commended for highlighting Vancouver's Nazanin Afshin- Jam's successful campaign to free Nazanin Fatehi from Tehran's infamous Evin prison. Ms. Fatehi languished in prison for two years after being sentenced to death for stabbing a man who was trying to rape her. Since there were not four male witnesses to the attempted rape, as required by Shariah law, Ms. Fatehi was convicted of premeditated murder. Her case drew some media attention, but it was not until Ms. Afshin-Jam -- 2003 Miss World Canada -- took the lead that the world really took notice. The decision by Iran's judiciary to reverse itself is almost unprecedented.
At a recent Public Affairs of Montreal conference on "Questions of Values: Ways of Response to the Islamist Challenge," Ms. Afshin-Jam used Ms. Fatehi's story as a case study, illustrating the embedded discrimination that exists under Shariah Law. In this age of universal deceit, when as George Orwell wrote, "merely speaking the truth is a revolutionary act," Ms. Afshin-Jam's actions are truly a passionate profile in courage. Many in Canada like to argue that we are a "reasonable" society, not a passionate one. Yet the two are not mutually exclusive.
Passion is not the opponent of reason. Fear is. And lives fuelled by fear are not very much at all.
Beryl P. Wajsman, president, Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Nazanin Afshin-Jam (l.) at Amnesty International's World Day Against
the Death Penalty in Berlin demonstrating for Nazanin Fatehi
As many of you know we have focused much attention on air, and given moral and material support from the Institute, to the singularly heroic work of human rights activist Nazanin Afshin-Jam in her efforts to free 18-year old Nazanin Fatehi from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison where she has languished for two years after being sentenced to death for stabbing the man who was trying to rape her. Fatehi’s case had drawn some world attention, but it was not until Afshin-Jam, who had already engaged in humanitarian work from Africa to Asia, put her life on hold to lead an international effort to save the life of this young girl facing the hangman’s noose because of Sharia law that the world sat up and took notice.
For more on this story please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=508&z=22
Nazanin Afshin-Jam speaking at a recent Institute conference
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=499&z=22
NEWS & COMMENTARY
By Beryl Wajsman
A Canadian Profile in Courage
February 03, 2007
“Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, they send forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from thousands of different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
~ Robert F. Kennedy
Many make the mistake that because we, as a society, strive for reason, that we must therefore abdicate passion. Yet passion is not the opponent of reason. Fear is. And a life fuelled by fear is not very much at all. Nazanin Afshin-Jam did not forget passion and did not submit to fear. In her single-minded pursuit of justice for Nazanin Fatehi she has served as an example for all Canadians making us realize that we are at our best when we transcend our narrow narcissisms and become involved in mankind’s transcendent yearnings for redemptive change.
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=508&z=22
INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS OF MONTREAL
INSTITUT DES AFFAIRES PUBLIQUES DE MONTRÉAL
10th Institute Policy Conference
“Questions of Values: Ways of Response to the Islamist Challenge “
October 25th, 2006
Delta Centre-Ville Hotel
THE FULL VIDEO OF THE CONFERENCE AND ALL
SPEAKERS’ PRESENTATIONS AS WELL AS PRESS COVERAGE,
RADIO INTERVIEWS AND PICTURES ARE NOW
AVAILABLE AT THE FOLLOWING LINK ON THIS WEBSITE:
HTTP://WWW.IAPM.CA/NEWSMANAGER/ANMVIEWER.ASP?A=499&Z=22
From l-r: BPW, Nazanin Afshin-Jam, Brigitte Gabriel,
Dr. Wafa Sultan, Nonie Darwish, Germain Belzile
CHQR'S "THE WORLD TONIGHT"
WITH ROB BREAKENRIDGE
The urgency of individual resolve
BPW’s reflections from the Conference
http://www.iapm.ca/media/chqr20061026.mp3
NAZANIN AFSHIN-JAM EN DIRECT SUR RDI
http://www.iapm.ca/media/nazaninrdi.wmv
Wednsday, November 1, 2006
Thursday, October26, 2006
3rd Institute Policy Conference
Security and Trade in the post-Iraq Era:
"Doing Business in a Dangerous World---Redressing the Balance in U.S.Canadian Relations"
Beryl Wajsman, The Hon.Perrin Beatty, Thomas d'Aquino, R.James Woolsey, John F. Angus, Michael F. Gallagher
We are pleased to report that the Institute's 3rd Policy Conference , held May 29th at the Club St.Denis, was a resounding success. We have already had positive reactions from circles in Ottawa and in Washington. Jim Duff's report on it, posted in our Initiatives section, may be viewed at:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=287&z=22
We would also urge you to look at
"A Conversation with James Woolsey:
Reflections from the former Director of
the Central Intelligence Agency" posted to our Insight section
at the following location:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=288&z=12
Dale L. Watson, Raymonde Folco, M.P., Stockwell Day, M.P.,
Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Charles H. Belzile, Patrick Gagnon
A Sampling of Participants Comments:
"Jim Woolsey and Dale Watson were genuinely impressed and honored by the professionalism and treatment. They are already talking about how soon they can come back to Canada."-Gerald Chipeur,Esq., Chipeur Advocates, Calgary
"Gen. Belzile and I thoroughly enjoyed the Conference. It was professionally run with an excellent group of speakers. The networking was of excellent value."-Col.(ret.)Alain Pellerin, Executive Director, Canadian Defence Associations, Ottawa
"Thank you for a most stimulating Conference."-David Bensoussan, Communautés Sepharade du Québec, Montréal
"I was thoroughly riveted by the presentations...it was a rare opportunity. A Tour de Force!"-Marie Bourbonniere, Raymond Chabot
"I really enjoyed this Conference. Keep on with the good work in building Canada's future."- Me.Stephane Hébert, IRB
Please view BPW's Conference opening address entitled "A Matter of Honor" at the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=277&z=22
“It was a who’s who” at the
Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Security & Trade Conference
LINDA MASSARELLA
Sunday, June 1, 2003
Beryl Wajsman, president of the influential Institut des Affaires Publiques de Montreal, has just wrapped up the Institute’s 3rd Policy Conference. Entitled “Doing Business in a Dangerous World: Security & Trade in the Post Iraq Era” brought together major politicians, military and security officials and leading CEO’s.
It was a who's who of intrigue at the by-invitation-only Conference held at the Club St. Denis. Former CIA head honcho James Woolsey was the keynote speaker and spent some time at a breakfast meeting with some high-powered Institute board members and Wajsman’s special invited guests.
Retired General Charles Belzile was there, as were businessmen, lawmakers and intelligence experts The Hon. Perrin Beatty, Thomas d'Aquino, President & CEO of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, Dale L. Watson, former Director of Counter-Terrorism for the FBI, Raymonde Folco, M.P., Michael F. Gallagher, Minister-Counsellor at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa , John F. Angus, President of the Stonehenge Corporation and board member of UBS (Canada) and Patrick Gagnon, former M.P. and current President of Protocol Strategies
But it was Canadian Alliance MP Stockwell Day who made everyone laugh when he joked to Woolsey he'd love to be an undercover diplomat for the U.S. intelligence agency: "I'd love to tell people my last name is Bond, only trouble is I'd have to say, 'Hello, I'm Stock Bond.' "
4th Institute Policy Conference
Québec and Israel:
"A Challenge to the Content of our Character and the Courage of our Conscience"
Israeli Foreign Ministry North American Director Aharon Yaar,
Ronald Denom (SNC), Nino Colavecchio (Canadian Italian Congress)
The Institute has just concluded it's first Quebec-Israel Conference on Civil Society held July 7th at the Club St-Denis in Montréal. This historic encounter was the first time that leaders of every sector of Quebec met with representatives of the Government of Israel on a broad-based summit agenda. Political, economic and cultural relations were covered by an important and compelling assembly of leaders. Four Israeli officials, including Aharon Yaar, Director of the North American Division of the Foreign Ministry of Israel and newly appointed Montreal Consul-General Marc Attali attended. We are proud that all sectors of Quebec were represented including business, labor, government, cultural groups, media and academe. Among the notable guests were Henri Massé, President of the FTQ, Guy Bouthillier of the Société St-Jean Baptiste, André Pratte of La Presse, Francis Bellido, President of the Société Generale de Finance (Santé), Nino Colavecchio, President of the Congress of Italo-Canadians, Jean E. Fortier, President of the Conseil des Relations internationales de Montréal, Danielle Laberge, Vice-Rector of UQAM and Ronald Denom, Senior Vice-President of SNC-Lavalin International. Other participants from the business community included Myriam Truchon, Director of Public Affairs and Environment of Hydro-Québec, Edith Ducharme of CDP Capital and Alain Bonneau of Montreal International.
Guy Bouthillier (SSJB), Alain Bonneau (Mtl.Intl.), André Pratte (La Presse),
Francis Bellido (SGF), Henri Massé (FTQ), BPW
When we we were asked to organize this conference we were quite pleased to accept because for us at the Institute, the support of Israel, without implying a blanket endorsement of all its policies, represents the support of a democracy and that is as much a part of the progressive agenda as the other causes we have represented, defended and participated in such as the compensation fight for the Duplessis orphans with Jacques Hébert, the plight of refugees with Sœur Andrée Menard, the protection of the homeless with housing co-ops O.E.I.L. and ROMEL, and the opposition to bank mergers with the Community Coalition for Re-investment. The fight for social justice is global and we should never be so smug as to think is stops at our borders.
Francis Bellido, Consul-General Marc Attalli, Edward Brandone (FTQ),
Alain Bonneau, Édith Ducharme (CDP Capital)
Les liens entre le peuple juif, l’Israël et le Québec sont longs et profonds. C’est ici que Louis-Joseph Papineau aida à mener le combat qui permis l’émancipation totale des juifs en 1832, et ce huit ans avant l’Angleterre. C’est ici que des leaders syndicaux québécois appuyés par des syndicalistes d’origine italienne et juive ont créé à travers les années 30, 40 et 50 l’état qui peut se vanter d’avoir, avec l’Italie et l’Israël, le plus important pourcentage de travailleurs syndiqués de l’Occident. Les premiers remous intellectuels visant à bâtir une société distincte se sont inspirés de ce qui se faisait de mieux au monde en matière gouvernementale, c’est ainsi que le « Guide des patriotes » de Marcel Chaput proposait plusieurs les institutions israéliennes comme exemples pour le Québec. Finalement, nous pouvons pas oublier que 20% de la population d’Israël ont le francais comme langue maternelle.
Les modèles québécois et israéliens d’intervention de l’état pour la justice sociale sont par mis les plus inclusifs et compatissants au monde. L’Israël fait aujourd’hui face à beaucoup des mêmes problèmes économiques et défis syndicaux que le Québec a si bien géré depuis les trente dernières années. Le Québec a une expertise économique unique à partager, notamment la création du Fonds Solidarité. Parallèlement, l’Israël est devenu un modèle mondial parmi les nations plus petites pour ses succès dans la mise en place d’une infrastructure technologique sans pareil, et le Québec peut bénéficier de cette expertise pour l’expansion des secteurs de biotechnologie, de pharmaceutiques et d’aviation.
There is a need for heightened understanding between the two societies, and we already have indications that this first meeting is leading to exciting new initiatives of co-operation in the political, economic and cultural arenas.
We invite you to view the opening address of the Conference entitled
"Why Israel?" at:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=290&z=22
----- Original Message -----
From: "Laberge, Danielle"
To: "'Institute for Public Affairs'" <bpwajsmann@iapm.ca>
Cher Beryl,
J'ai été ravie par notre rencontre de lundi au club St-Denis.
Un grand mercide m'avoir invitée. Je serai ravie de
poursuivre la collaboration avec l'Institut .
Danielle Laberge
Vice-Rectrice à l'enseignement, à la recherche et à la création
UQAM