FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2003

"PETER GZOWSKI’S CANADA" EVENT TO FEATURE WELL-KNOWN CANADIANS

Trent University’s annual Chancellor’s Dialogues will take place on March 4, 2003, and will address the theme of "Peter Gzowski’s Canada".

Stuart McLean (a professor of journalism at Ryerson University and host of the CBC’s popular program "Vinyl Café") will be the moderator of the event.

Panellists have been chosen to reflect some aspect of the Canada that Peter Gzowski profiled during his years on Morningside. All panellists knew Mr. Gzowski and worked closely with him over the years. The line-up includes Tom Jackson, Molly Johnson, Bruce Kidd, Stephen Lewis and Andrew Pyper.

Tom Jackson has been nominated for a Genie, two Geminis, and two Junos for his work as an actor and musician. He was in the TV series North of 60 for six seasons and has appeared in Star Trek, Shining Time Station, and Street Legal; most recently he has portrayed Hector Longhouse in the Longhouse Tales. He has released ten albums and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ontario Country Music Association. Tom’s humanitarian work has led to the Red River Relief Benefit, his Dreamcatcher cross-country work to help First Nation communities confront youth suicide - and every year since 1987, the Huron Carole concerts, which have brought in millions of dollars in relief for the homeless. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Molly Johnson, one of Canada’s best loved performers of blues, jazz and rock, has been featured across Canada in nightclubs, the Royal York’s Imperial Room, and Massey and Roy Thomson Halls. She has collaborated with Stephane Grapelli and k.d. lang, opened for Ray Charles and B.B. King, and performed for royalty, Quincy Jones, and Nelson Mandela. She has been repeatedly selected Best Vocalist by NOW Magazine. She was lead singer for the band Alta Moda and later the Infidels, and has just come out with her second solo album, Another Day, which has been named one of the 50 Jazz Top Sellers in Canada in 2002. In 1992 she set up the Kumbaya Foundation and MuchMusic’s Kumbaya Festival for people with AIDS/HIV.

Bruce Kidd is Dean of the Faculty of Physical Education and Health at the University of Toronto. He holds a doctorate in history from York University and is the author of seven books, and hundreds of articles, papers, film and radio scripts. In 1986, he was given an international citation for his work to end apartheid and he has long been an activist for women’s participation in sports. He was a board member of the 2008 Bid group for the Toronto Olympics. He won eleven national championships in track and field from 1960 to 1964 and five U.S. national titles and represented Canada at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He was a Gold and Bronze Medallist at the 1962 Commonwealth Games and is in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

Stephen Lewis has been Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa for the United Nations since 2001. From 1997 to 2000, he was part of a special panel appointed internationally to investigate the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. He was in New York as Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF from 1995 to 1999 and as Special Representative for UNICEF from 1990. From 1984 to 1988, he was Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations. He was a Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on African Economic Recovery from 1986 to 1991. In 1995 he produced a report on the consequences of armed conflict on children, and since 2001 has been an adjunct professor and advisor on International Research and Development at York University.

Andrew Pyper is the author of the recently published novel The Trade Mission (selected by the Toronto Star as one of the Ten Best Books of 2002) and Lost Girls (international bestseller and New York Times and Globe and Mail Notable Book of the Year). He holds a B.A. and an M.A. from McGill University and a law degree from the University of Toronto. His first collection of stories, Kiss Me, was published in 1996. He has been writer-in-residence at Trent University’s Champlain College and Berton House in Dawson City, and has given readings in Britain and the U.S.. His fiction, reviews and essays have appeared in a variety of publications, including the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, the National Post, and Saturday Night and the Malahat Review.

The Chancellor’s Dialogues began in 1999 after Peter Gzowski mediated a session about young writers in Canada. Topics have includes the brain drain, the state of liberal arts and science education, and the ownership of water as a resource. The Chancellor’s Dialogues have reflected Mr. Gzowski’s desire to highlight current issues to the Trent University community, and the broader community, and to be involved in the intellectual dialogue of the University.

This event is free and open to the public. It will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Wenjack Theatre at Trent University. Seating will take place on a first-come, first-served basis.

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For more information contact:
Professor Stephen Brown, Trent University, (705) 748-1011, ext. 1238