Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs
a civil place to disagree
2012 Conference
The Arab Spring: Implications and Opportunities For Canada
About the Conference
Fast-moving events in the Middle East and North Africa present Canada with a series of challenges and opportunities. Canada needs to respond in ways that reflect Canadian interests, but how we define those is a function of a thoughtful understanding of events in the region – which means looking beyond a Western lens.
Couchiching’s 2012 summer conference will challenge Western assumptions, provide context and understanding of the region’s complexities, and of the uprisings, their meaning, and their future. Most particularly, it will explore what they mean for Canada. What is it that captured the imagination of the Arab world and the world at large, and that continues to enthral and “frighten” some? How do these create particular challenges and opportunities for Canada in terms of its foreign policy, its economic potential, its refugees and diasporas, and its military obligations?
The beauty of Couchiching is that it is not a think-tank: we do not come to conclusions, nor do we make recommendations. The Conference is a unique forum for open, non-partisan discussion about the significant issues of the day. The vigorous, thoughtful, sometimes controversial, yet always respectful debate by the lake helps policymakers, business people, students, social activists, the media, and interested members of the public achieve more informed, and therefore more useful, views and opinions – and they leave better-armed to make decisions that affect themselves, their organizations, their communities – and our country. Everyone is welcome – you don’t have to be ‘invited’. Come join us this summer, August 9 – 12, 2012.
Geneva Park, ON
For more information please visit the website.