Launch of the Victoria Forum Report
The University of Victoria and Global Affairs Canada joined forces last fall to explore ways to strengthen and advance diversity and inclusion in the 21st century. The inaugural Victoria Forum brought together leaders and activists from a range of fields to stimulate new thinking and approaches for how Canadians can better promote diversity and inclusion at home and abroad.
Canada as a country is built on diversity. All Canadians share this land’s endowments, and collectively are responsible for the complex challenges that confront our world. Diversity is not simply a fact; it is what makes us human. It is a necessity for our survival, wellbeing, innovation and growth. The Victoria Forum’s participants recognized the need to depart from traditional concepts such as tolerance, understanding, making a place or yielding for others. Inclusion is not a destination, but a journey to create socio-economic systems that care for everyone and everything. It is about learning from each other, and making the world a better place for all. Inclusion is neither a power struggle nor an end state.
The Forum highlighted the importance of acknowledging and embracing our history, but also the need to move beyond our past and to create better future.
Speakers
John McNee
Secretary General of the Global Centre for Pluralism
Sébastien Beaulieu
Canada’s Executive Coordinator for Syria - Beirut and Victoria Forum Associate Co-chair
Dr. Saul Klein
Dean of the UVic Gustavson School of Business and Chair of the Victoria Forum
Giuliana Natale
Director, Inclusion and Religious Freedom, Office of Human Rights, Freedoms and Inclusion, Global Affairs Canada
Senator Jim Munson
SENATOR YUEN PAU WOO