March 17: Bringing the World to Canada, Journalism Panel

March 17: Bringing the World to Canada, Journalism Panel

Despite the multitude of difficulties facing the journalism industry, international reporting must find a way to go on. That was the conclusion of a Concordia University Department of Journalism panel discussion that took place as part of the Bridges that Unite exhibition in Montreal on Wednesday, March 17, 2010. Guided by the Journalism Department’s Chair, Mike Gasher, panellists Akli Ait-Abdallah (Radio-Canada), Justin Hayward (CBC) and Sue Montgomery (The Montreal Gazette/CanWest) used the exhibition as a springboard for this discussion on the role of the media in bringing the world to Canada through international journalism.

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March 16: University of the Streets Café

March 16: University of the Streets Café

Where are the legitimate spaces for citizens to participate in democracy? Are the available spaces diminishing? Is our participation limited to deciding periodically who our decision-makers should be? These were some of the critical questions that participants gathered to discuss on March 16th as part of a University of the Streets Café event co-hosted with Bridges that Unite in Montreal.

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March 12, World View: New film perspectives on international development

March 12, World View:  New film perspectives on international development

Presented in partnership with Vues d’Afrique, Bridges that Unite premiers two new films:

The Little Princes and the School of Sand - (France) Documentary 54’ by Stéphanie Gillard, France.
For most nomadic children in North Africa school is but a distant dream. But for a very lucky group of Tuareg children in Mali this dream is about to become a reality. For a group of Tuareg trying to keep their traditional way of life as nomadic shepherds while participating in contemporary social changes, school has been a means of survival. The first-hand accounts of these children attest to the power of education.

The Manuscripts of Timbuktu - (South Africa) Documentary 52’ by Zola Maseko.
The discovery in Timbuktu of thousands of 13th and 14th Century manuscripts reveals that this part of the African continent was a great center where people of diverse horizons, came to acquire knowledge. The manuscripts offer new perspectives and reveal a little known side of Africa –rich in cultural diversity, but also scientific knowledge, including architecture, tradition, astrology, religion, geography, and mathematics.

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BTU Montreal Opening Reception

Bridges that Unite Launches at Concordia University, Montreal

March 9, 2010

Hope and action were the messages of Montreal’s Bridges that Unite exhibition launch at Concordia University on Tuesday, March 9, 2010. David Gutnick, CBC Radio host of popular program “In the Field” related how his experience working with Aga Khan Foundation Canada and other similar organizations had changed his perspective on the challenges of the 21^st century. He understood the world better, he said, and what it means to be Canadian. This set the stage for Khalil Shariff, CEO of AKFC, to call the audience to action. Canada, he said, is a country born of ideas and ideals. “It is our values that shape us and our sense of diversity, tolerance, and pluralism that we export,” he said. Issuing a challenge to the audience of more than 100 guests, added “how can Canadians take this huge resource further?”

The evening ended appropriately with a clip from AKFC’s new documentary film, Change in the Making, a Journey in Afghanistan, in which Canadian journalist Richard Phinney travels back to Afghanistan after several years away to see whether Canadian aid is making a difference among impoverished rural communities in the northern province of Badakhshan. Instead of finding the poppies, guns, and violence he remembered, Phinney found new water pipes born out of community cooperation, ‘social audits’ demonstrating democracy at its finest, and girls dreaming realistically of being doctors and teachers.  It was a fitting endnote to a hopeful evening.

School Program

Daily, upon request

The exhibition will engage youth in thought‐provoking dialogue on global issues and quality of life around the world. The interactive exhibit challenges youth to re‐think typical assumptions about development by highlighting Canada’s successful experience in helping communities to address the root causes of poverty and to mobilize their own resources to find solutions. Moving beyond charity, students will explore how collective action can raise the standard of living in vulnerable communities around the world. BRIDGESTHATUNITE supports elementary and secondary curriculum in the following areas: Canada and the world; Global citizenship; Democracy, action and participation and World geography, cultures and economies. AKFC has also developed an innovative new teaching resource for use in Grades 5 ‐ 8 Social Studies, Social Sciences and Geography. Click here to learn more about Classroom Connections and download your free copy.

The school program is geared for students from grades five through twelve, and is a free 60‐minute program in the exhibit, exploring various themes through hands‐on activities, scavenger hunts, and group activities. To book a class trip please contact info@bridgesthatunite.ca, or (613) 237-2532.