Media Releases

The refugee crisis: what can Canada do?

September 11, 2015

TORONTO, ON – The Munk School of Glob­al Affairs is host­ing a pan­el dis­cus­sion on Wednes­day, Sep­tem­ber 16 to answer what Cana­da can do as world atten­tion turns to the plight of mil­lions of Syr­i­an refugees flee­ing from con­flict.

Admis­sion is free but reg­is­tra­tion required through the Munk School of Glob­al Affairs web­site.

The event will also be live web­cast.

Mem­bers of the media should con­tact Kelley.teahen@utoronto.ca to reserve a spot.

Where:

Camp­bell Con­fer­ence Facil­i­ty, Munk School of Glob­al Affairs, 1 Devon­shire Place, Toron­to

When:

Wed. Sept. 16, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Pan­el:

  • Nao­mi Alboim, For­mer Deputy Min­is­ter of Immi­gra­tion, Ontario. Adjunct Pro­fes­sor, Queen’s Uni­ver­si­ty
  • Mel Cappe, Pro­fes­sor, School of Pub­lic Pol­i­cy and Gov­er­nance, Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to
  • Ran­dall Hansen, Direc­tor, Cen­tre for Euro­pean, Russ­ian, and Eurasian Stud­ies, Munk School of Glob­al Affairs and Pro­fes­sor, Polit­i­cal Sci­ence
  • Rat­na Omid­var, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor and Adjunct Pro­fes­sor, Glob­al Diver­si­ty Exchange (GDX), Ryer­son Uni­ver­si­ty
  • Bri­an Stew­art, Dis­tin­guished Senior Fel­low, Munk School of Glob­al Affairs and for­mer CBC inter­na­tion­al cor­re­spon­dent

Spon­sors:

Cen­tre for Europe, Russ­ian and Eurasian Stud­ies, Munk School of Glob­al Affairs, and the School of Pub­lic Pol­i­cy and Gov­er­nance, U of T Syn­op­sis:

Pic­tures of a drowned three-year old boy have gal­va­nized pub­lic atten­tion on the plight of Syr­i­an refugees. The atten­tion has come too late, as four mil­lion refugees have already fled Syr­ia, includ­ing 1,800 peo­ple who drowned in the Mediter­ranean. A dis­tin­guished pan­el of aca­d­e­mics, jour­nal­ists, and activists will exam­ine the root caus­es of the cri­sis, the diver­gent reac­tion among EU mem­ber states (Germany’s open­ness vs Hungary’s restric­tive­ness) and what Cana­da can do.

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Media con­tacts:

Kel­ley Tea­hen, Spe­cial Advi­sor Pub­lic Affairs, Munk School of Glob­al Affairs: (416) 946‑0123; kelley.teahen@utoronto.ca

Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to Media Line: (416) 978‑0100