Opening Keynote Speaker, Friday March 2nd, 2007
Michael Ignatieff
MP for Etobicoke - Lakeshore
Michael Ignatieff is the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Member of Parliament for Etobicoke Lakeshore in the Parliament of Canada.
Born in Toronto and educated at Trinity College, University of Toronto, he gained a doctorate in history at Harvard in 1976. He is the author of 15 fiction and non-fiction books which have been translated into twelve languages. He holds honorary degrees from 7 universities. He has won the Governor Generals Award for Non-Fiction, the Heinemann Prize, the Lionel Gelber Prize, The Gemini Award, the Hannah Arendt Prize and a number of other awards for his writing. He was short-listed for the Booker Prize for his novel, Scar Tissue.
He has taught at the University of British Columbia, Cambridge University, the London School of Economics and between 2000 and 2005 was Professor of Human Rights and Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
He has also worked in journalism and broadcasting, having begun his career as a staff writer at The Globe and Mail. He has hosted programs on the CBC, TVO, BBC and Britain’s Channel 4, and was a frequent contributor to The Observer, The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine. In 2000, he delivered the Massey Lectures for CBC Radio, entitled The Rights Revolution.
In 2001, he was the Canadian representative on the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, an effort to codify the international community's responsibility and right to protect people on humanitarian grounds when they are unable to defend themselves from persecution.
He is married to Zsuzsanna Zsohar and has two children—Theo and Sophie—from a previous marriage.
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Opening Keynote Speaker, Saturday March 3rd, 2007
Nigel Fisher
President and CEO of UNICEF Canada
Mr. Fisher has acted as an Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, Executive Director of the UN Office for Project Services; Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Relief, Recovery and Reconstruction in Afghanistan; and has worked with UNICEF for over 20 years in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, as well as at UNICEF headquarters in New York. Mr. Fisher led post-genocide recovery operations in Rwanda, coordinated UN's operations in northern Iraq after the Gulf War as well as working in southern Uganda, western Tanzania, Zaire, Yemen, Jordan, Syria, the Occupied Territories of the West Bank and Gaza, Nigeria, Mozambique, India and the Lao People's Democratic Republic. etc.
He has published in the areas of basic education, leadership and impunity, child trauma recovery, child rights and protection of children in zones of conflict. He currently holds the position of CEO & President of UNICEF Canada.
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Closing Keynote Speaker, Saturday March 3rd, 2007
Jennifer Corriero
Co-founder & Executive Director, TakingITGlobal
Named by the World Economic Forum as a 'Young Global Leader', Jennifer Corriero is a Canadian innovator, bringing tremendous insight into understanding, reaching and engaging youth. Jennifer is co-founder and Executive Director of TakingITGlobal, a non-profit organization with the aim of fostering cross-cultural dialogue, strengthening the capacity of youth as leaders and increasing awareness and involvement in global issues through the use of technology. The website currently has over 130,000 members in over 200 countries and receives over 1 million hits each day. Jennifer has served on the Official Canadian Government Delegation to the World Summit on the Information Society and has traveled around the world to speak at various conferences and events.
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Closing Keynote Speaker, Saturday March 4rd, 2007
Prince Cedza Dlamini
UN Spokesperson for the MDGs
Prince Cedza Dlamini, grandson of Mr. Nelson Mandela, is an impassioned humanitarian, social entrepreneur and visionary. He is the founder of the Ubuntu Institute, which arms young African leaders with the skills they need to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in their communities. Since June 2004, he has served as a spokesperson for the MDGs. Cedza was also appointed Co-chair for the World Youth Peace Summit (WYPS) in Africa, and serves on the strategic development team of the Global Action Youth Network (GYAN) in New York City.
Cedza travels the world, teaching people about the possibility of living in a world free of violence, hatred and global divisions - a world based on a greater understanding and interconnectedness.
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