Algonquin College Speaker Series Presents . . .

The Algonquin College Speaker Series at the Pembroke Waterfront Campus has been attracting some of Canada’s most interesting speakers for more than 25 years. To register for any of our Speaker Series events please register online using the Eventbrite links below. This series is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s new Horizons for Seniors program.

Upcoming Events

The North Star: Canada and the Civil War Plots Against Lincoln

Tuesday, March 4, 2025 at 7 p.m. (In person and online through Zoom)

Tickets: $0 -$20

Canadians take pride in being on the “good side” of the American Civil War, serving as a haven for 30,000 escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad. But dwelling in history’s shadow is the much darker role Canada played in supporting the slave South and in fomenting the many plots against President Abraham Lincoln.

Southern Ontario became a haven for Confederate leaders and agents, aided and abetted by the province’s elites. Newspapers in the region attacked Lincoln and expressed sympathy for the slave cause. Confederate President Jefferson Davis was treated as a hero when he toured the region, and many of his top politicians and generals settled here.

With many archival photos and documents, best-selling author Julian Sher takes us through this little-known history with lessons that resonate to this day about how we react when America is in turmoil.

Julian Sher Biography

Julian Sher is an award-winning journalist and the author of seven books, including White Hoods: Canada’s Ku Klux Klan and “Until You Are Dead”: The Wrongful Conviction of Steven Truscott. He co-authored two books on biker gangs, The Road to Hell and Angels of Death, and wrote two books on crimes against children, One Child at a Time and Somebody’s Daughter.

As an investigative reporter, he worked for the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail. He was the Senior Producer of CBC’s the fifth estate, Canada’s premier investigative TV program, for five years.

He has directed and written major documentaries, covering wars and intrigue across the globe. His documentary Nuclear Jihad, produced for the New York Times and CBC, won the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. His 2021 film, Ghosts of Afghanistan, won three top Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Documentary.

He is also active in protecting media freedoms, working with the Centre for Free Expression and Journalists for Human Rights. More information at www.juliansher.com.

Register for the Speaker Series event here.

Past Events

Watch our speaker series with Jamie Bramburger on the 1942 Almonte train wreck. Based on his book, Sudden Impact-The Almonte Train Wreck of 1942, Jamie presents the tragic stories of the crash which killed 38 people and injured more than 150 others when a troop train slammed into the back of a Local passenger train on December 27, 1942.

Watch our speaker series with investigative journalist Julian Sher on the Steven Truscott case. In 1959, Truscott was only 14 years old when he was charged and convicted in the murder of a 12-year old classmate, Lynne Harper, at the Clinton Air Force Base in Southern Ontario. He spent ten years behind bars and then lived under an assumed name until he was acquitted of the crime in 2007 when the Ontario Court of Appeal called his call a “miscarriage of justice.”