Shaping Canada: Students as Activists

When:	Saturday, March 4th, 2017
Time:	9:45 am — 11:00 am
Location:	Richcraft Hall, Second Floor Conference Rooms
Audience:	Carleton Community, Current Students, Faculty
Cost:	Free

This panel is a part of the Visions for Canada, 2042 Conference. You can learn more about the conference and register to attend by visiting the conference webpage.

This roundtable will provide a space for students to discuss our experiences as activists and to consider some of the major challenges we face as we try to envision and work towards a ‘better’ Canada. In particular, we aim to explore how our particular positionalities as students create unique opportunities and obstacles as we strive to act as agents of change for a variety of causes, ranging from formal political party campaigns, to the reproductive justice movement, to immigrant/migrant rights activism, and more. By bringing together our unique experiences and diverse backgrounds through this discussion, we hope to challenge the very definition of what it means to be an activist in Canada, and to explore the many avenues through which social change can be catalyzed in Canada in the future.

Presenters:

• Michael Bueckert is a PhD candidate in Sociology and Political Economy at Carleton University. He has extensive experience in the student movement at Carleton, having served as the President of the Graduate Students’ Association, the Graduate Caucus Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario, and is currently a student representative on the university’s Board of Governors. He is also involved in the Palestinian solidarity movement.
• Maggie FitzGerald Murphy is a PhD student in the Department of Political Science and the Institute of Political Economy, Carleton University. Her research is centered on the ethics of care, governing norms, critical political theory, and feminism.
• Ridhwan Khan is currently an M.A. student with the Institute of Political Economy, Carleton University. His research interests include critical legal studies, critical race theory, political economy, and American politics.
• Lauren Montgomery is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology, with a specialization in Political Economy, at Carleton University. Lauren is a dedicated student-activist, who has been leading the student fight against rape culture at Carleton University.
• Steven Orr is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at Carleton University. He has been involved in numerous provincial and federal electoral campaigns, working for the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada. He also runs a blog on Canadian politics and has an active Twitter account on all things political.
• Anna Przednowek is a PhD candidate in the School of Social Work at Carleton University. Prior to pursuing her PhD, Anna worked for over 14 years in South-Western Ontario as a social worker. Her research weds her clinical practice experience and her concern for the conditions that affect the lives of people labelled with Intellectual Disabilities and their caregivers.