Schedule
Friday, November 15
Introductions/Opening remarks
7:00 – 7:20 PM
Keynote
7:20 – 9:00 PM
FIRE AND OIL:
Rising to the Challenge of a More Flammable World
John Vaillant
Humans, aided by the fossil fuel industry (the “fire industry”), have altered the chemistry of our planet and its atmosphere in profound, life-changing ways. As a result, we are now, in real time, crossing a threshold into a new climate regime marked by previously unimagined extremes and whipsawing instability. How we conceptualize and respond to this unprecedented challenge is of immediate and paramount importance, not just to our psyches and our souls, but to the future of everyone on Earth.
In this talk, John Vaillant will offer ways of seeing, feeling – and meeting – this epochal moment.
John Vaillant is an author and freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and The Walrus, among others. His latest book, Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast, is a #1 national bestseller. In addition to winning the Baillie Gifford Prize (UK) and the Writers’ Trust Shaughnessy Cohen Prize, Fire Weather was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award (US), and the Writers’ Trust Non-fiction Prize.
Saturday, November 16
Plenary 1
9:00-10:15 AM
Strategic Response Workshop: Countering Far-Right Populist Tactics and Coordinating Collective Action
Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah
This presentation will provide an overview of far-right tactics and strategy, and how progressive movements can coordinate collective action to respond.
Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah is the Co-Director of Policy and Advocacy at Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights. Before joining Action Canada, she was the Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Gender & Sexual Diversity (CCGSD) and has been instrumental in advancing the rights of 2SLGBTQ+ youth and communities. She has held several advocacy and policy-oriented positions in government and non-profit organizations, including Oxfam Canada and Global Affairs Canada.
Breakout Sessions
10:45 - 12:00 PM
Session 1a
Labour in Alberta: Where Now? with Quinn Benders and Kim Siever
Alberta Workers are Falling Behind
Kim Siever
Highlight the state of labour legislation and bargaining in the province, specifically for the public sector, identify current challenges and pressure points, and offer suggestions for improving conditions going forward.
Kim Siever is a labour journalist with The Alberta Worker, an independent, startup media outlet that focuses on labour and politics. He also uses his platform to advocate for the working class.
Perspectives From the Front Lines: Bargaining in Alberta, 2024
Quinn Benders
This talk will offer a look at the challenges and strategies faced by Public-sector unions in Alberta as they navigate the bargaining landscape in 2024. Drawing on experiences from the frontline, the discussion will highlight key issues such as government-imposed austerity measures, secret bargaining mandates, and threats to the constitutional right to strike. Speakers will explore how unions are standing firm in their fight for fair wages, job security, and respect for workers' rights across public sectors. The talk will emphasize the importance of solidarity, strategic alliances, and grassroots mobilization as unions confront these challenges and demand a fair deal for their members in the face of mounting political pressure.
Quinn Benders (he/him) is currently serving his second term as President of the Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA), bringing years of union involvement to the role. His leadership is defined by a focus on member engagement, promoting equity and access, democratic renewal and building strategic alliances. Additionally, Quinn has a long-standing passion for community organizing with the hopes of fostering meaningful change.
Session 1B
Conflict Revolution: A Workshop on Embracing Conflict, with Julie Hrdlicka and Katie Loutitt
Conflict Revolution: A Workshop on Embracing Conflict
Julie Hrdlicka
Today, our relationships are filled with friction and frustration as we struggle to discuss critical issues like climate change, inequality, and democracy. How can we engage in meaningful conversations in such divided times? How do we stay grounded when our instincts push us to either fight or flee?
In this workshop, through storytelling and group discussions, we'll explore skills that help us approach conflict with greater strength, clarity, understanding, and choice.
Julie Hrdlicka (she/her) has spent the past 25 years dedicated to community work, using her skills to build, collaborate, and organize for social change. She has lived and worked in Israel, served as a human rights observer in Iraq in 2003 and 2005, and was elected as a School Board Trustee for the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) in both 2015 and 2017. In 2024, she launched Conflict Revolution, a mediation and facilitation business.
Plenary 2
1:00-2:15 PM
Can We Save Canada's Social Safety Net?
Nora Loreto
In the 1980s, Canadian politicians rejected an older economic order and gleefully embraced neoliberalism. Today, Canadians are living under the consequences of those decisions – an affordability crisis, a housing crisis and the rush to make more money than corporations in Canada have ever made before. How can we turn the tide against these forces? Nora Loreto will talk about the need to rebuild movements that can re-balance democratic power against corporate power if we are to have any hope in building better futures for us all.
Nora Loreto is a writer and activist based in Quebec City. She’s the editor of the Canadian Association of Labour Media and a freelance writer who writes for magazines and online platforms across North America. The Social Safety Net (Dundurn 2024) is her fourth book. Nora co-hosts the popular podcasts Sandy and Nora Talk Politics with Sandy Hudson and The Daily New.
Breakout Sessions
2:30 - 3:45 PM
Session 2A
The State of Democracy, with Jared Wesley and Brad Lafortune
Polarization and Democratic Backsliding
Jared Wesley
Politics are polarizing throughout many parts of the world, including Canada. Driven and amplified by demographic, environmental, economic, and cultural shifts, these dynamics coincide with the erosion of core democratic norms and institutions. These forces are evident in Alberta, where the polarization of the provincial party system has brought with it challenges to the bedrock principle of political pluralism. In this talk, Dr. Jared Wesley explores the intersections of polarization and democratic backsliding, illustrating that – the more divided we become, the less we can rely on norms of liberal democracy to hold us together.
Jared Wesley is Associate Dean (Graduate Studies), a professor of political science, and member of the Black Faculty Collective at the University of Alberta. He leads the Common Ground research team, which is examining the intersection of public opinion, political culture, and public policy in Western Canada.
On the Frontlines of Democracy: Responding to the UCP and Rightwing Populism
Brad Lafortune
Alberta’s democracy is under attack by the UCP government and Public Interest Alberta is on the frontlines forging new coalitions and strengthening existing ones. From housing and public services to pensions and 2SLGBTQ+ rights, our common cause as Albertans has never been more apparent. The question before us is: “How do we continue to come together to build something new?”
Bradley (he/they) is a passionate community organizer, settler, and advocate for social justice, human rights, and the public interest. Born and raised on the prairies, he has spent the last 20 years in Edmonton. In the past, Bradley has worked with community organizations, labour unions, and advised leaders and politicians from all levels of government. His favourite part of advocacy is working with good people helping make big change happen.
Session 2B
Storytelling for Change
Carissa Halton
In this hands-on mini workshop, join author and story teller, Carissa Halton, to explore the ways storytelling personalizes debate and can uniquely and profoundly influence change. We’ll look at examples of story-driven communications and workshop how to find the story with the most impact. You’ll come away understanding some basic principles about storytelling, as well as how to use it to spur social change from the human-centered perspective.
Carissa Halton is an award-winning writer, speaker, and facilitator. Her writing has appeared in Today’s Parent, CBC, Postmedia newspapers and more. Her 2018 book of essays, Little Yellow House: Finding Community in a Changing Neighbourhood, explores the resilience of her downtown Edmonton neighbourhood where she lives with her family. In Fall 2025, her novel about the women at the forefront of clashes between Communist, Fascist, and government forces in the Crowsnest Pass will be published by NeWest Press.
Afternoon Plenary
4:00 - 5:15 PM
At What Cost? Surgical Privatization and the Threat to Public Health Care
Andy Longhurst
Surgical outsourcing is on the rise in Alberta and across Canada. This presentation reviews developments in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario. Federal and provincial legislation that maintain publicly financed provincial health systems, free at the point of delivery, are threatened by the incursion of publicly funded corporate providers and unlawful patient charges. Some governments, physicians, and for-profit providers rationalize outsourcing as a benign form of private sector involvement that maintains public health care, free at the point of delivery, and compliance with the Canada Health Act.
This presentation reflects on the costs to patients and citizens as governments pursue privatization instead of evidence-based policy strategies that improve timely access to care.
Andy Longhurst, MA, is a health policy researcher, political economist, and PhD candidate in the Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University. He is also a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Sunday, November 17
Plenary 4
9:00 - 10:15 AM
Disinformation: The First Step in Dismantling Systems of Care
Ginetta Salvalaggio
Over the past several years, a troubling pattern of information control has emerged to impede transparent public discourse in Alberta. The Alberta disinformation “formula” includes: 1) suppressing public data; 2) blocking ideology-threatening science; 3) sponsoring ideology-supporting pseudoscience; and 4) creating formal structures to disseminate disinformation narratives. Dr. Salvalaggio will walk us through the Alberta substance use disinformation timeline and its very tangible consequences. Substance use policy is but one example, and she will explain why this pattern ought to concern every Albertan, across all matters of public policy.
Ginetta Salvalaggio is a practicing Edmonton family physician, Professor with the University of Alberta Department of Family Medicine, and Associate Scientific Director with the Inner City Health and Wellness Program. She co-leads a community based program of research with structurally vulnerable people who use drugs. Her academic interests include social accountability, co-design in healthcare, and partnered advocacy.
Breakout sessions
10:30 - 11:45 AM
Session 3a
Inflation, Its Causes, and the Way Forward, with Gillian Petit and Silas Xuereb
How Corporate Profits Fueled the Affordability Crisis
Silas Xuereb
During the pandemic, corporate profits reached record levels in Canada. Around the same time, inflation reached levels not seen since the early 1980s. This was not a coincidence, nor an inevitable consequence of living in a market-oriented society. Rather, it reflects the outsized power of large corporations to set prices. Corporations used those profits to pay shareholders rather than reinvest in the economy, exacerbating inequality. Rent prices continue to accelerate, driving a rental affordability crisis. We will discuss solutions to tax excess profits and prevent corporations from being able to profiteer during future crises.
Silas Xuereb is a Researcher and Policy Analyst with Canadians for Tax Fairness and a Fellow with the World Inequality Database. His research on the causes and consequences of economic inequalities has been published by academic journals, Oxfam Canada, Campaign 2000, and the World Inequality Lab. Supported by a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, he is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in political economy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.</em
Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: Confronting the Current Reality of Increasing Low-Income and Low Wage Growth in Alberta
Gillian Petit
While the days of Ralph Klein, a booming oil economy, and the “Alberta Advantage” loom large in many Albertan’s minds, a history of wage suppression policies and the ignoring and mis-handling of programs intended to meet the needs of those most in need combined with recent worldwide economic events has led to a new Alberta reality for many. Alberta no longer has a wage advantage and the poverty rate and food insecurity rate in Alberta has grown faster than in Canada as a whole. This talk will examine these trends and how Alberta’s policies could be reformed to provide, at a minimum, a basic quality of life to those most in need and help those struggling with rising costs.
Gillian Petit is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Calgary. She holds a PhD from the University of Calgary and a JD from Queen’s University. Her research focuses on Canadian income and social supports spanning several areas including tax policy, municipal policy, poverty policy, and access to justice. She has advised expert panels, published peer-reviewed journal articles and co-wrote a book on basic income. She works on intersectionality-informed, data-driven solutions to economic and social issues. </em
Session 3b
From Passion to Action: A Workshop on Activism and Organizing
More than Concessions: Organizing, Fighting Back and Spadework
Tina Oh
If progressives are serious about addressing the worsening attacks on the working class, organizing is one of the only proven salvations capable of building power that fights back. To organize is to build a continuously expanding base of durable relationships amongst ordinary people who are willing to come together in numbers and take risks to defeat and make concessions against the corporate elite, their greed, of right-wing populism and its austerity agenda. This workshop is an introduction to organizing that leans heavily on the traditional Labour method of spadework and can be applied to a wide range of political issues.
Tina Oh is a trade-unionist from Edmonton and a lead organizer with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2. She recently relocated from the Maritimes in order to coordinate the arrival of the Justice for Janitors campaign in the notoriously anti-union Alberta market. She helped to co-found, and is now the Chair of, the Centre for Migrant Worker Rights - Nova Scotia, and organization that directly supports, services and advances the rights of migrant workers.
Closing Speaker
12:15 - 1:30 PM
From Acknowledgement to Transformation: Advancing Indigenous Laws, Engagement, and Reconciliation
Koren Lightning
This presentation explores the essential shift from symbolic gestures to meaningful actions that truly uphold Indigenous rights, respect Indigenous laws, and drive genuine reconciliation. By applying, respecting, and engaging with Indigenous law, we open real pathways to justice and equity. Attendees will gain practical insights into building cultural competency, fostering belonging, and navigating cultural differences with sensitivity and respect. This session will inspire and empower participants to take meaningful steps forward, embracing reconciliation through actions that create a more inclusive and equitable future.
Koren Lightning, K.C. ’07 LLB, ’18 LLM, CIC.C, Blue Thunderbird Woman, is Cree from Samson Cree Nation. She is the Legal Director of Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge. She is Board Member for First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, Board Member for Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund (LEAF) and Board Member for Peace Hills Insurance. She was Vice-President of Kasohkowew Child Wellness Society for 10 years. She was President of the Indigenous Bar Association for 6 years. She was an Acting Commissioner for Alberta Utilities Commission.
