CSPT News: Canada

Toronto: Our activities for the past year included talks by Rebecca Kingston in September on Late 18th century French republican ideas of civic education, with Tom Pangle commenting.

In October, Mark Warren spoke on Democratic Theory and Participation with Les Jacobs commenting. In November, David Fott talked about Cicero and Natural Law with Brad Inwood commenting.

In December, Daniel A Bell asked "Is Republicanism Appropriate for the Modern World?" with Ronnie Beiner commenting. In January, John McCormick presented Machiavellian Popular Government: Democratic not Republican with Lakis Konto as commentator.

In February, Wendy Brown spoke on Moralism as Anti-Politics with Jenny Nedelsky commenting. In March, Bonnie Honig presented "Genres of Democracy: Romantic Versus Gothic Approaches to Democratic Thought with Leah Bradshaw commenting.

In May, Bill Scheuermann presented a deliberate analysis of speed theory's condensation of space and time.
-- Edward Andrew, Toronto

Western Canada: An international conference, "Philosophy and Aboriginal Rights: Critical Dialogues," was held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, June 22-25, 2001. This conference aimed to bring the best philosophical reflections on aboriginal rights into conversation with the perspectives of scholars from other disciplines, and with those of aboriginal elders and community-members.

Conference presenters included Taiaiake Alfred, John Borrows, Alan Cairns, Marlene Castellano, Paul Chartrand, Gordon Christie, Ward Churchill, Frank Cunningham, Trudy Govier, Sakej Henderson, Will Kymlicka, Kent McNeil, Paul Patton, Audra Simpson, James Tully, Dale Turner, Jeremy Webber, Daniel Weinstock, and Melissa Williams. A panel of elders - Renee Gurneau, Tobasunakwut Kinew, Leroy Littlebear, and Kathy Mallet - offered commentary throughout the conference. The key theme of the conference was dialogue, and a difficult dialogue it was. There were, for one thing, frustrating shortages of time: between the many presenters, the elders having their say, and strong views from the audience, we had far too little time to question panelists, hear them talk to one another, or explore the structure or implications of various presentations. Nor was the struggle with time constraints without its intensely political dimensions, in that those on
the elders1 panel were intent on playing a central role in the dialogue, in some cases speaking for the duration of a panel1s discussion period, at the cost of any real back and forth with or among the panelists. These struggles over appropriate forms of dialogue arguably contained the richest lessons of the conference. In his keynote remarks, Jim Tully suggested that shifts within political philosophy over recent decades have made the enterprise necessarily dialogical: the warrant of arguments cannot adequately be assessed outside of a conversation with those about whom the philosopher presumes to write. The conference confronted non-indigenous philosophers with tough questions about such conversation: who are the right interlocutors? Can the conversation remain in the comfortable vernaculars of academic theory? How does one negotiate the thickets of privilege, condescension, resistance, and resentment that inflect exchanges between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people? What do dialogical respect and genuine listening amount to against this background? The conference1s formal presentations and the experience of the event as a whole not only posed such philosophical and political questions, but offered much grist for the development of answers.

Benjamin Barber gave the fourth annual Templeton Lecture on Democracy organized by the Department of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Barber is the Gershom and Carol Kegst Professor of Civil Society at the University of Maryland where he also holds the Wilson H. Elkins Professorship. Speaking on October 11, 2001 Dr. Barber shifted his topic in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States and spoke on "The Old Democracy and the New Terror: Is Coexistence Possible?" The talk was held in an auditorium at the Winnipeg Art Gallery to facilitate a wide public audience. The annual Templeton Lecture on Democracy is made possible through the generosity of Carson Templeton, a Winnipeg engineer who developed a profound respect for democracy through his work at the municipal level. John von Heyking in February 2002 delivered a paper at University Erfurt, Germany entitled "Awakened by America: Eric Voegelin's Early Political Science".

- Margaret Ogrodnick, University of Manitoba