Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Welcome to the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada’s 2011 conference website, Canada & the United States: Conversations & Relations.
Since 1995, the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC) has hosted bilingual annual conferences designed to foster informed discussions on topics of interest to Canadians, ranging from Québec-Canada relations, Aboriginal issues, citizenship, health-care reform, to media convergence, and Canada's place in the world. These public events are designed to raise provocative questions and encourage open and non-partisan discussion on current policy issues, bringing together hundreds of people – including students, scholars, stakeholders -- and attracting national and international media coverage.
This year, the conference focuses on a series of conversations between Canadians and Americans about the fundamental aspects of the Canada - U.S. relationship. We will bring together influential actors to dissect and discuss in a unique format that encourages informal and informed conversations led by dynamic moderators. The goal is for our speakers – players past and present -- to bring alive for us the relation between the two countries, what influences decision-making, and the complexities and challenges of managing and maintaining what is without doubt the world’s most important and enduring bilateral relationship.
Our sessions will be streamed online with off-site participation via the Internet, so that a wide and diverse community across North America will be able to participate wherever they are. Ultimately, we are confident that this event will succeed in raising important Canada – U.S. issues into the public sphere both at home and south of the border.
Antonia Maioni, Ph.D.
Director, McGill Institute for the Study of Canada
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and
William Dawson Scholar, McGill University