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The Couchiching Summer Conference has been called everything from Summer Camp for the Mind to a Civil Place to Disagree. For more than 75 years, the Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs – Canada’s oldest and most influential non-partisan forum for public affairs – has met at the shores of Lake Couchiching for intensive and intimate discussions of the central policy challenges of the day.
Those who attend are a mix of influential Canadians and international figures from industry, academia and government, and interested, engaged citizens from across Canada. Speakers have included such luminaries as David Dodge, Edward Asner, Karen Armstrong, Major-General Lewis Mackenzie, Lawrence Hill, Elizabeth May, Carol Off, James Orbinsky, Tariq Ramadan, John Ralston Saul, Carol Shields, Galen Weston Jr., and the Hon. Michael Wilson
Over the years, the issues examined at the Couchiching conference have reflected the changing concerns of Canadian society and the world.
Couchiching Conference 2010:
Watershed Moment or Wasted Opportunity
Crisis can open up opportunities for great innovations in politics, in government, in business and in social policies. Using the lens of the Global recession, this year’s conference will explore whether the recent economic upheaval has led to a shift in our notions of the role of the state, the global economy, and in the role and direction of public policy. Join some of Canada’s most provocative and well-known thinkers as we explore the opportunities opened up and take a look at what has been foreclosed – and the consequences of both for the global community.
The Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs is Canada’s oldest public affairs forum and is a crucible of provocative questions, creative ideas and divergent discussions that are the product of the collective contributions of all who attend.
For more information, please contact:
Brenda Paul-Ishikawa
VP, Marketing
newsroom@couch.ca
416.469.0188
Gwen Burrows
President, Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs
Gwen Burrows has been President of the Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs since August of 2009. She is also Director of Strategic Projects at the SickKids Research Institute where she is a member of the executive which runs the 200 person Institute, as well as Executive Director of the Council for Canadian Child Health Research, a national organization representing all child health focused research institutes at hospitals in Canada.
Her volunteer commitment to Couchiching includes having chaired four Couchiching summer conferences over the past few years. As conference Chair, she was responsible for conceptualizing the overall conference topic and focus, and leading the Program committee in determining the conference structure as well as identifying speakers. Gwen’s other areas of expertise include strategic planning and strategy implementation, as well as facilitation and program management.
Gwen holds an Honours B.A. in Philosophy from McGill University in Montreal, and a M.A. in Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.
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