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 113 days of the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940 was the greatest aerial battle in history. The allies won, but paid dearly.

The Battle of Britain with War Historian Ted Barris | Monday, November 25, 2024 – 7:00 p.m.

The 113 days of the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940 was the greatest aerial battle in history. The allies won but paid dearly. “Never in the field of human conflict…” are Winston Churchill’s words that set the 113 days of the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940 apart from all others as the greatest aerial battle in history. As the German Luftwaffe sought to destroy the Royal Air Force, gain air superiority, and invade the British Isles, Commonwealth fighter pilots scrambled from U.K. airfields day after day and flew Hurricane and Spitfire fighter aircraft to thwart Hitler’s plan. They won but paid dearly.

Among the 2,937 aircrew in this first test of Allied skill, resilience, and courage, over 100 pilots flew with the “Canada” patch on their shoulder, and another 200 erks (ground crew) kept their fighters in the air. And Churchill orated that never was “… so much owed by so many to so few.”

In his 21st book of nonfiction, Battle of Britain: Canadian Airmen Defending Britain in Her Darkest Hour, Ted Barris has assembled unknown stories of Canadian airmen, ground crew, as well as engineers, aeronautical designers and medical officers who answered the call and turned back the very real threat of Nazi invasion. You know the outcome of the Battle of Britain, but now you’ll meet the Canadians who helped secure victory in this WWII life-and-death struggle.

Register for Ted Barris’ Speaker Series.

The incomparable first-hand account of the historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada told by one of the commissioners who led it.

North of Nowhere. Song of a Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner | Thursday, November 28, 2024 – 7:00 p.m.

Marie Wilson was one of three commissioners to lead Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She is now speaking about the experience. The incomparable first-hand account of the historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada told by one of the commissioners who led it.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to record the previously hidden history of more than a century of forced residential schooling for Indigenous children. Marie Wilson helped lead that work as one of just three commissioners. With the skills of a journalist, the heart of a mother and grandmother, and the insights of a life as the spouse of a residential school survivor, Commissioner Marie Wilson guides readers through her years witnessing survivor testimony across the country, providing her unique perspective on the personal toll and enduring public value of the commission. In this unparalleled account, she honours the voices of survivors who have called Canada to attention, determined to heal, reclaim, and thrive.

Part vital public documentary, part probing memoir, North of Nowhere breathes fresh air into the possibilities of reconciliation amid the persistent legacy of residential schools. It is a call to everyone to view the important and continuing work of reconciliation not as an obligation but as a gift.

DR. MARIE WILSON (CM, ONWT, MSC) spent six years crisscrossing the country as a commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. She has spoken throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand on the potential of reconciliation. Born in Ontario, she has lived, studied, and worked as a journalist, teacher, professor, trainer, and executive in Canada, France, Burkina Faso, South Africa, and parts of South America. She lives in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

Register for Marie Wilson’s Speaker Series.

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.”