Fact-based journalism that sparks the Canadian conversation
Subscribe to The Conversation Piece, a podcast that challenges the way you see everything.
From Margaret Atwood to André Picard to Dr. Jenn Gunter to Terry O’Reilly: fascinating speakers on the topics that matter most to Canadians.
For the past seven years, we’ve hosted some of the most engaging thought leaders in Canada through The Walrus Talks, a national event series that sparks conversations on the issues that matter most to Canadians.
Simple routines can suck up an incredible amount of time and energy for disabled people. Dianna Hu is a software engineer at Google, and she describes this energy as a limited number of spoons you start your day with and are destined to run out of. During the pandemic, Hu has begun to reclaim her spoons and find accessibility through working at home. With more spoons, comes more freedom; a new more accessible normal.
When we think of black holes, we think of a dark and terrifying unknown that distorts everything it touches. But, have we ever considered black holes to be polite? Daryl Haggard is a Canadian Research Chair in Multi-messenger Astrophysics and associate professor of Physics at McGill University and she spoke at CIFAR Presents The Walrus Talks Exploration in March 2020.
Children’s learning begins in the home – and the language spoken in the home is fundamental to a young child’s education.So, should parents be raising children with more than one language? And what are the benefits of children being bilingual? On International Mother Language Day, we celebrate linguistic diversity with Krista Byers-Heinlein, a developmental psychologist and associate professor of Psychology at Concordia University who spoke at The Walrus Talks Living Better in 2019.
Are we equal in our praise for philanthropic acts? When you read news about support for something you believe in, how often do you read about the small acts of kindness? The contributions that may seem tiny when compared to what an sports star or a soft drink company CEO can give, but are significant to the person who gives. Anand Giridharadas is a former columnist for The New York Times and writer of three bestselling novels.
For many of us, this week marks a full year of social isolation. Urged to stay home and keep our in-person interactions to a minimum we continue to rely on technology to stay connected. Some research even shows that isolation is just as bad as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. Now that we have all experienced 365 days of isolation and the loneliness that comes with it, why would we ever purposely impose such hardship on other people and how do we create a society where everyone belongs? Kim Samuel has some ideas. She taught the first-ever university course on social isolation and social connectedness.
With the majority of research conducted by men, it’s no surprise that most research favours men. So much that even the crash test dummy is man and a study, originally for the menstrual cycle, was cancelled when viagra was discovered through it. On this International women’s day, it seems like a good time to ask: how can women gain a seat at the table when they aren’t even in the room? Sally Armstrong is a journalist, author and human rights activist.
While Canada is far from a Utopia, we are trying to be peaceful and green and right our wrongs. We are trying to offer safety and clean water and homes. We are trying to be a better country, but first, we must be kind. In his talk from 2017, award-winning Canadian actor Graham Greene discusses how we can live better through kindness.
What do you eat? Your choices can transform the world. This applies to everything from the news you take in to the stores you shop at. But this is particularly true when it comes to the food you eat. Irwin Adam urges us to look at what happens before our meals are on our plates. The process is rather inefficient. What can we do to change this? Flour made from insects? Edible packaging? Tasting Data? We need to reimagine the way we taste and consume. Irwin Adam is a Creative Scientist and Food Futurist and he spoke at The Walrus Talks Disruption in 2017.
Accessibility often doesn’t take into account different needs — if it is accessible for one person it might not be for another. Accessibility is not universal, but according to Aimee Louw it can be harmonised across our country. In her talk, activist and podcaster Aimee Louw advocates for a future where accessibility isn’t treated as a favour or charity but as justice and equality. Where people are paid a living wage, where taking care of yourself is prioritised, and where ableism is abolished.
In 2018, Siri Agrell spoke at The Walrus Talks Humanity about the important steps in human connection that can be lost in the virtual world. That Talk lead to a new book by Agrell, that is out in February 2021, and deserved an update from the author about how this pandemic and isolation influenced her writing. How to get Laid Without your Phone is available to order at www.withoutyourphone.com.
It feels like branding and marketing goes in cycles of themes, from earnest to snarky to authentic to sarcastic. At the beginning of the pandemic it all felt very earnest: that banding together, we’re all one human race, let’s get through this together. But as often happens, the cycle … cycled, and we started to get the juicy sarcastic stuff again. A few years ago, Terry O’Reilly, gave his Walrus Talk about vice — are we cycling back up to marketing vice again? Is that even possible in isolation? It was time for an update from the master of advertising himself.
It’s hard, separated from each other, living under the threat of a pandemic, witnessing unrest and argument, to feel empowered. But the truth is that each of us has power. Over ourselves for sure. Over our situations, often more than we think. If you’re feeling at the low-end in terms of empowerment, Sandy Hudson – organizer, writer, and the founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto – is about to give you the boost you need.
Most of the discussion when it comes to education these days is whether students should be in classrooms or learning virtually, but who they are learning from is an ongoing issue, one that needs to be fixed at the root level. Or it will continue to effect both learners and teachers post-pandemic. Who is teaching? Who gets to go to University? Who gets tenure? And who is leading academia? Deb Saucier is the President and Vice-Chancellor of Vancouver Island University and she spoke at The Walrus Talks Inclusion in 2019.
We all decide how we want to show ourselves to the world. But who gets to define who you are? In her talk, Samra Habib wants us to own our identities–even if it means not always being accepted by the greater community we belong to. As a queer Muslim woman, she’s reimagined her community to go beyond geographical borders. And at a time where we’re online more than ever, community connections linking people to distant places in the comfort of their own homes, have become commonplace.
Everybody has their own origin story. Whether that was crossing a sea, or moving around Turtle Island, we each have our own beginning that brought us here. So why we do we make anyone feel like an outsider? In her Talk, Carol Off urges us to take a step back and look at where we came from. In this time when we can’t get on a plane, travel to see loved ones, or start our next adventure, we can stay connected by sharing stories from different times and different places. To identify with a stranger and help make life a little easier. Carol Off is a journalist and host of CBC’s As It Happens.
In a world obsessed with instant gratification, Teva Harrison reminds us that there is potential in the quiet moments, the ones without goals or deadlines. She urges us to look at nature and appreciate the small successes of each day: the kindness of a stranger, a chance to do a good deed, a laugh shared with a friend—these are all achievements. Harrison compares the realization of our potential to flowers that grow after the snow melts away, our actions determining when we will blossom. Teva Harrison, was an award-winning writer and graphic artist and she spoke at The Walrus Talks Success in 2018. Though we lost her to cancer in 2019, she continues to inspire with her words and her art.
Is there a straight line between healthcare and housing in Canada? Andrew Boozary is a primary care physician who has an on the ground perspective on healthcare in Canada as we navigate this pandemic. In his Talk, he has a lot to say about that line, where we fall short and the magnification of these failures when faced with a pandemic. Boozary is also the Executive Director for social medicine and population health at the University Health Network.
As the weather outside becomes snowier and the holidays approach, it gets easier to recognize privilege – right in front of our eyes. The warm home, family gatherings (no more than 10), the ability to give gifts. But, what’s not so easy to see are the full shelters, the nursing homes that can’t have visitors, and long lines for the food bank. At a time when we’re all suffering at different levels, do we have capacity to dig deeper for those that are suffering more? Valérie Plante is the mayor of Montreal and she spoke at The Walrus Talks at Home at the Broadbent Institute’s 2020 Progress Gala in November.
Canadians represent 0.48% of the global population, and we’re on track to get even smaller on the world’s stage. In her talk, Shari Austin proposes that Canada’s population needs to triple in less than 100 years. If it doesn’t the country could be facing an onslaught of economic problems. So what do we do? Shari Austin is a consultant and former CEO of Century Initiative, she spoke at The Walrus Talks Disruption in 2018.
It wasn’t that long ago that cannabis was illegal in Canada. To many detractors, it was seen as a drug that promotes laziness, rather than a legitimate medicine that can reduce suffering. But tens of thousands of Canadians have regained their ability to function because of medical marijuana. People who were once bedridden are now going outside, playing with their kids, and sleeping at night. So called “normal” activities are made possible again through legal use of medical marijuana. Hilary Black is the Chief Advocacy Officer at Canopy Growth.
Canadians sometimes congratulate themselves on being “better” in comparison to other countries… More democratic, less violent, more open to new ideas… but…when topics like racism, violence against women, and sexual abuse get brought up, the room – and the Zoom, goes silent.Julie S. Lalonde is a women’s rights advocate and public educator.
Our thinking about where people live and why has been entirely flipped by this pandemic, but it could just as easily flip right back if a vaccine becomes readily available. In 2015, people were rushing to the city, giving up big houses and spacious yards for small condos and convenience. The cost of their time spent commuting to and from the city outweighed the benefits of living in the suburbs. Now, mid-pandemic, people are leaving the city in herds. Remote work has changed the way people live, and ultimately, where they live. What is the true cost of where you live, and what will you give up in order to save time and money? Cherise Burda is the Executive Director of City Building, at Ryerson University.
You can’t talk about homes and housing without talking about homelessness. It’s a problem that has plagued Canada for too long. Short term solutions cannot eradicate a problem so deeply rooted in our society. In her talk, Kaite Burkholder Harris says that the solution is to look at fixing the context, instead of the person. Burkholder Harris is Executive Director of the Alliance to End Homelessness in Ottawa.
We train machines for a particular task and they can be very good at this particular task, in fact, better than humans sometimes, but you modify the task just a little bit and they fail. Intelligence, it turns out, is hard to recreate. Yann LeCun is a CIFAR fellow, an AI Engineer and a VP at Facebook.
Season Two of The Conversation Piece launches this week, and with The Walrus Talks at Home in full swing, we have even more ideas (in less than 10 minutes) to treat your ears to. This season we’ll hear from the longest serving International Olympic Committee member, Dick Pound, CBC’s Carol Off and Vice President and Chief Artificial Intelligence scientist at Facebook, Yann LeCun.
It’s hard not lose ourselves in our own thoughts, especially in an extended state of isolation with no end in sight. How many friends have you lost touch with since this all started? How are you keeping hope alive until we’re be able to feel those connections again? This is CIFAR fellow and UWO professor Adrian Owen.
People from all over the world call Canada home, weaving together cultures from across the globe to create the Canadian identity. But, with this blended cultural identity that we are so proud of, what does it mean to understand your own cultural history? Is it time to redefine multiculturalism? Filmmaker Atom Egoyan spoke at The Walrus Talks National Tour: We Desire a Better Country in May of 2017.
Learning requires exploration of one’s identity, and according to our next speaker, this is a First People’s principle of learning that applies to all of us. So on this international day of translation, and at this time when we can’t greet each other in person and with physical contact, this is an opportunity to communicate better with each other. To identify each other and ourselves with clarity and humility. This is Paige Raibmon, CIFAR fellow and professor in the Department of History at UBC and she spoke at The Walrus Talks Boundaries in 2019.
We’ve all had to change and adapt in different ways during the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Deena Hinshaw is the Chief Medical Officer of Health for the Province of Alberta and has been the trusted voice for Albertans during the pandemic, calmly delivering daily briefings on the virus. And telling Albertans what measures they should take to prevent the spread of COVID-19. One of the biggest lessons of these past several months has been how a public health crisis can impact the way we live. Dr. Deena Hinshaw was the keynote speaker at our recent Leadership Forum event.
Sports is a universal language in the world. From Halifax to Hydrabad, Nunavut to Nairobi. And what also seems weirdly universal is the support of men’s teams over women’s. Instead of wallowing in this vast discrepancy, Brenda Andress wants us to see it as a place to grow from. A rallying cry to mobilize in support of women in sports. Brenda Andress is the former commissioner of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, she spoke at The Walrus Talks Women of Distinction.
As many kids head off to school – in whatever form that takes for them in the midst of a pandemic – it’s easy to pass off the issue of education to the actual humans involved – the parents, the kids and the teachers. But according to Annie Kidder, we all need to be thinking about educating the next generation of Canadians. Annie Kidder is the Executive Director of People for Education and she spoke at The Walrus Talks Resilience in 2014.
Writing is a responsibility in many ways, perhaps none more so than when we think about the cultural expectations inherent in writing as a minority – of any kind. As a woman, as LGBTQ, as a person of colour, as a person with a disability. As writers, what is our responsibility to the rest of our culture? And why does it seem so much heavier than that of CIS-male writers? Noor Naga is a writer and a poet and she spoke at The Walrus Talks “The Future of the Arts,” in 2018.
Natural talent is overrated – at least according to singer-songwriter Corb Lund. He works hard to create it and believes that work – that constant challenge to focus and refine – is what separates the artists from the rest. And that art itself needs to be accessible to everyone, even the people that don’t see country music as art.
We’re all creative creatures, but what can we do when our creativity feels stalled? Join us in this hilarious pillow talk with the muses as Emma Donoghue shares the playful, demanding, sexy, unexpected sides of creativity and the ways we can strengthen our connection to making the things we love. This is Emma Donoghue from The Walrus Talks Creativity in London, Ontario.
Lauren Voisin was a scientist, innovator, entrepreneur, and all before she graduated high school. When she was only 8 years old, Lauren founded her own robotics company. By age 13, Lauren was a U.N. speaker. She was a champion of inexpensive access to technology and stable internet for Canadian youth. She believed in introducing kids to subjects like robotics and coding early on. She passed in April, but with the Lauren Foundation, her legacy continues to inspire young women to innovate and create.
It’s hard, as we go into the triple digits of days that some of us have been at home, isolating from friends and society, to maintain hope. When Olympian Waneek Horn-Miller talks about the health issues endured by the Indigenous people of Canada, she emphasises that hope is what gets her through. Her mother taught her that. She was a Hope-maker.
Anger is one of those emotions that transcends age, race, and political affiliation. Everyone is angry. Feeling trapped in a global pandemic will do that to you. But we can get so caught up in expressing our anger. To balance that, maybe our optimism has to be outrageous. Almost unreasonable… because the bad things in our lives are more reasonable than we know, teaching us lessons we may not see. Here’s singer-songwriter Bif Naked at The Walrus Talks Quality of Life.
The barriers to building inclusion can feel insurmountable. Especially when people are trying to be politically correct by ignoring differences. According to inclusion professional Ritu Bhasin, we need to notice the differences between us and learn about them, rather than deny that they exist.
Ritu Bhasin is a speaker, author, and a Leadership & Inclusion Specialist and she spoke at The Walrus Talks Resilience.
Maybe it was easier to avoid heated debates before we were all living under pandemic rules. Or maybe this is just the result of our small bubbles of safety, but when we have different opinions.. getting caught up in Twitter arguments or disagreeing with family members, it’s easy to forget about what the other person is going through. In this talk, Mustafa Ahmed reminds us that human rights begin with human and that just because disabilities like mental health are seemingly invisible, they are still very much disabilities we need to be aware of.
Something that gets brought into stark focus at a time like this is the value of things. The value of being able to hug a friend you haven’t seen in a long time. The value of being able to work from home and stay positive. The value of adapting to this new environment. Zita Cobb, founder & CEO of the Shorefast Foundation, spoke about the inherent value of things versus what they are financially valued at and the importance of belonging.
Amanda Parris is a playwright and the host of CBC’s, Exhibitionists and Marvin’s Room and she spoke about her fear of being forgotten by a culture that seems to prefer to forget stories like the ones that she tells and amplifies. How does denial affect us in our individual lives, and what can we do to remedy Canada’s Collective Amnesia?
We’ve been talking about Inclusion and Diversity as a society for what feels like forever, with limited success in addressing either. But 2020 is shaping up to be a year of action and as Eva Greyeyes will tell you, it’s time to stop looking to the past, and focus on the future – Resurgence rather than Reconciliation. Eva Greyeyes is Nêhiyaw, from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, and was a grade 11 student when she gave this talk.
As Canadians from Halifax to Vancouver protest against police brutality and racial discrimination, many are asking how do we make the necessary leap from calls for justice to a tangible change in policing that saves lives? In 2019, Brittany Andrew-Amofah spoke about the power of local government that is often overlooked — and underestimated. If cities involve marginalized communities in their systems of governance, could we end police brutality in this country forever?
Across the country, Canadians are taking to the streets, protesting police violence. And while some are calling for reforms, others are questioning the need for police altogether. Journalist, activist and author Desmond Cole recently tweeted that when he gave this talk in 2017, he was scared to propose a cop-free future in a room that included the Governor-General and members of the armed forces, RCMP, and local police.
It’s impossible to miss the common thread in the images of protest on all our screens these days. People have reached their limit. And despite a global pandemic, they are gathering in protest. Criticism will always follow protest, and much of the criticism is aimed at the so-called youth. Samantha Reusch from Apathy is Boring spoke about including young people in civic discussion and looking around for who is not in the room.
Resilience can be about coming to terms with the obstacles in front of you. As we minimize touching and practice social isolation, it’s starting to feel like at least part of this experience will have to become part of our forever experience. Rupi Kaur spoke about the power of resilience in her own life.
Artists can’t give you a vaccine or tell leaders how to reopen the economy. But they do give you Netflix to binge-watch, music for your daily walks and books to distract you. Janice Price, president of the Banff Centre, talks about why we turn to the arts in times of crisis.
These are some of our Walrus Talks that remind us of the powerful role mothers play and how their love can shape our future. Writer Lisa Moore talks about conversations between mothers and daughters, musician Pierre Kwenders reflects on the power of the matriarchs in his life and with her baby in her arms, artist Lido Pimienta describes the future of the arts.
Can we innovate through adversity? Dr. Kamran Khan thinks so. He’s the founder of BlueDot, a tech company that works with doctors and AI to predict outbreaks and track the spread of infectious disease. He knows what it takes to adapt to an uncertain future and the kinds of questions we need to consider before we make our next moves.
When Margaret Atwood’s dystopic worlds begin to appear in our real lives, we know we’re in trouble. Canada’s oracular writer has written some of the scariest scenarios for our future. But she herself has hope. Something that we need when confronted with a world-wide pandemic with no end in sight.
Physical distancing has real-world repercussions, and sometimes that comes out in expressions of fear or hate. Concordia University’s Vivek Venkatesh lost his cousin in the bombing of Air India Flight 182 in 1985 so he understands why people embrace extremism and hateful rhetoric. He also understands what it takes to become accepting and compassionate.
How well do you know your neighbours? Probably way better than you did a few months ago. According to Concordia’s Jennifer Mcgrath, your neighbourhood can have a surprising impact on your health. And she should know. She’s an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Pediatric Public Health Psychology Lab at Concordia University (www.pphplab.org) and holds the PERFORM Centre Chair in Childhood Preventive Health and Data Science.
Everywhere we go, we’re confronted by the language of betterment. Everything in your life needs to be optimized. Your Insta stories, your smoothies and even your days off need to be filled with wellness. But what if feeling better is not an option?
In a time when we’re confining ourselves to our homes to stop a quick-spreading virus, we need to stay tuned in to what our communities are saying. Shelagh Rogers is a veteran of CBC Radio, who has been at the forefront of Canadian arts, culture and society for decades. But in the Talk you’re about to listen to, she explores one specific example of listening that goes beyond regular conversation.
André Picard has been a health journalist for The Globe and Mail for more than three decades, and has written about SARS, MERS and many other health threats. He’s also talked about a health issue that may be collateral damage as we all self-isolate from COVID-19: the lethality of loneliness.