Promoting Democracy Abroad — Massey College at the DemocracyXChange Festival

Massey College is pleased to be partnering with Open Democracy in DemocracyXChange @dxcsummit 2020 #DXC20, the annual summit for Canada’s emerging democracy sector to connect, learn and share. This year, Canada's Democracy Summit is convening in two parts – the DemocracyXChange Summit (Oct 13-15) and a week-long DemocracyXChange Festival (Oct 16 - 22).

Our event Promoting Democracy Abroad — a DemocracyXChange Festival virtual session hosted and organized by Massey College — brings together leading Canadian experts with extensive experience in the field of democracy promotion – on the ground, in government and in research. 

The context for the 2020 DemocracyXChange is the growing threat to democratic forces, norms and institutions around the world. Successive Canadian governments, parliamentary committees and task forces abroad have championed democracy promotion; however Canada has yet to mount a major foreign policy thrust in this area.

Our panellists will consider the following questions:

• With democratic norms under threat around the world, is now the time for Canada to step up?
• Should democracy promotion figure more prominently in Canadian international policy?
• What roles could Canada and Canadians play?
• Should Canada focus on certain geographies or issues?
• Should Canada work in alliance with other democracies? With civil society actors?
• How best can Canada’s democracy promotion efforts be advanced?

Panellists:

• Grant Kippen — Chief Electoral Advisor for United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
• Jennifer Welsh — Canada 150 Research Chair in Global Governance and Security, Director of the Centre for International Peace and Security Studies, McGill University.
• Tom Axworthy — Public Policy Chair, Massey College.
• Margaret Biggs — Matthews Fellow in Global Public Policy, Queen’s University (moderator).

Agenda

For more information about the virtual workshops, events and creative sessions from community partners across Canada as part of the DemocracyXChange Festival #DXC20, please visit the Festival website: https://democracyxchange.org/festival/

Note that registration is required to attend this event. 

Registration

FREE

Register here

Video Feed

Watch the video stream here