ForeignPolicyCamp Event: TORONTO

A collaboration between the U of T School of Public Policy & Governance and Canada’s World.


Date: Monday, November 30, 2009
Time: 12:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: University of Toronto
Canadiana Building, Rm 150 (CG 150)
14 Queen’s Park Cres. West
Toronto, ON M5S 3K9

Cost: FREE, lunch included. Please RSVP Negin HERE to reserve your seat.


Join award-winning author, journalist and artist Kevin Sylvester, bestselling author and co-founder of the Environics group of companies Michael Adams, co-founder of Engineers Without Borders Parker Mitchell and other guests for a participatory and inspiring dialogue about Canada’s role in the world. We’ll also feature an interactive media lab where session ideas will be shared with the Vancouver ForeignPolicyCamp through a dashboard which displays collaborative multimedia tools, from twitter feeds to video-conferencing to a national Flickr photo campaign. 


Like any collaborative event, ForeignPolicyCamp is only as great as the people who get involved. You don’t have to be a student of international relations or an experienced global traveler to attend — all we ask is that you come ready to be inspired by new ideas! 





FEATURED PARTICIPANT BIOS

Kevin Sylvester

Kevin Sylvester is an award winning illustrator, writer and broadcaster based in Toronto. He has written three best-selling books so far: Sports Hall of Weird, Gold Medal for Weird for kids and Shadrin Has Scored for Russia for bigger kids. Gold Medal for Weird won the 2009 Silver Birch Award. He has been a broadcaster with CBC radio in Canada for years and years… and has produced documentaries on topics ranging from racism in hockey to the history of church bells in Canada. He was originally a sports caster on morning shows across Canada, including Metro Morning and Ontario Morning in Ontario. He now splits his time between his attic studio in Toronto and the CBC studios. He has four books due out next year (Neil Flambé and the Marco Polo Murders is first up in the Spring) and is often heard hosting The Sunday Edition, Here and Now and The Current. He was named a Massey Journalism Scholar in 2007 and used the time to study theology at the University of Toronto.

Parker Mitchell


Parker’s work in international development began with a simple water purification system for developing communities designed during his Bachelor’s degrees in Engineering and Arts at the University of Waterloo. Through this project he learned that development is far more complex than the developing of a technology in a Canadian lab to be sent overseas. This progressed to a Master’s in Development Studies at Cambridge University and the co-founding of Engineers Without Borders Canada. In 2000, Parker, along with George Roter, co-founded Engineers Without Borders (EWB) to engage the Canadian engineering community in development. He and George are co-CEOs of EWB today. In recognition of the results it has achieved, EWB has won six major international awards for its work. For his influence on Canadian public policy and contribution to civic engagement, Parker received the Public Policy Forum’s Leaders for the Future Award (2007). He has also been named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2005, won awards from the Canadian Bureau for International Education and been featured by TIME Magazine as one of Canada’s next generation of social leaders. Parker also co-founded Canada25, an organisation which engages Canadians in public policy, has worked for McKinsey & Co., and sits on the Board at the North York Community House.

Jennifer Donville

Jennifer Donville an international development professional with expertise in Gender and HIV/AIDS and has worked with women and children in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Kenya. Jennifer is currently an International Programs Manager and Gender Specialist at War Child Canada.  She manages programs in Sri Lanka and Ethiopia serving children affected by conflict, orphans and vulnerable children, and with a particular focus on psychosocial rehabilitation, livelihoods and education.



Michael Adams


Michael Adams is the president of the Environics group of research and communications consulting companies which he co-founded in 1970 and which today employ over 200 professionals in offices located in seven cities in Canada and the United States. In addition to numerous articles, frequent commentary in the broadcast media and presentations at conferences, seminars and annual meetings in North America, Europe and Asia, Mr. Adams is also the author of four Canadian best-sellers. Fire and Ice won the prestigious 2003/04 Donner Prize for the best book on Canadian public policy and was selected in the fall of 2005 by the Literary Review of Canada as one of the 100 most important books ever published in the country. In 2006 he founded the Environics Institute to sponsor survey research that will contribute to the discussion of important public policy issues. To date, the Institute has sponsored a survey of Canadian Muslims, a survey of the people of Afghanistan on issues related to the NATO mission in that country, a survey of Canadian’s engagement with the world plus an academic study of the impact of published polls on voting behaviour. Michael Adams holds an Honours B.A. in Political Science from Queen’s University (1969) and a M.A. in Sociology from the University of Toronto (1970) and was named as one of the 100 most influential people in Canadian communications according to Marketing Magazine’s Power List 2005.  In 2008 Michael Adams was appointed to the Ontario Premier’s Climate Change Advisory Panel.  In the spring of 2009, he will receive an honorary Doctor of Letters from Ryerson University in Toronto. 

Mercedes Stephenson

Named one of Maclean’s Magazine’s 25 Best and Brightest Canadians under age 30, Mercedes Stephenson is the host and producer of several documentaries and two national television series- Mercedes Stephenson Investigates and The Underground Royal Commission Investigates and also co-hosted It’s Your Government. Mercedes is the Vice President of the Breakout Educational Network, a registered charitable foundation dedicated to providing outside-the-box research and educational content to connect and engage Canadians with the issues and public policies that touch their lives. Ms. Stephenson is also a national media commentator on defence and security affairs and has worked extensively with national and international news outlets such as the CBC, CTV, Global Television.  Stephenson frequently serves as an analyst for live breaking news stories and national specials including: the capture of Saddam Hussein (Global); CTV’s Federal Budget Special; Terrorism (CTV);  the death of the Hussein brothers (CBC-Washington DC); The Manley Report (CBC); Canada and the international presence in Afghanistan (CBC, CTV, Global, Al Jazeera); and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions (Global) to name a few.  A frequent contributor to CBC Radio and CFRB she has also guest hosted CBC’s Cross Country Check-up.   Mercedes has written for The Globe and Mail, The National Post and Chatelaine Magazine as well as other major print publications and has been featured in Maclean’s Magazine, and Saturday Night.

Phillip Haid

Phillip Haid is the CEO of Public Inc.  Prior to founding Public Inc. he spent the last seven years as Vice President & Managing Director of Manifest Communications, Canada’s leading social marketing agency. His role involved generating business, running the company’s day-to-day operations and acting as a strategic lead on cause and corporate citizenship strategies. Clients included the Ford Foundation, UBC and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Prior to Manifest, Phillip led the public sector practice at D-Code, a youth research and marketing firm; was a Project Manager at the Institute of Governance (an Ottawa-based think tank); a Project Officer at the Canadian Council for International Cooperation; and a Parliamentary Intern serving as a legislative assistant. Phillip serves on the Boards of the Laidlaw Foundation (recently completing his term as President), Anaphylaxis Canada, and the Canadian Abilities Foundation. He has a Masters in International Relations from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs.

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