Program

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

June 12 to 15, 2025

This event organized by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation takes place on the traditional territories of the Kanienʼkehá:ka (Mohawk), Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ, and the Omàmìwininìwag (Algonquin). We are grateful to be guests of the people who have taken care of these lands for time immemorial.

June 12, 2025
June 13, 2025
June 14, 2025
June 15, 2025

June 12

Thursday (Pre-conference)

Location: Fairmont Château Laurier
1 Rideau Street, Ottawa, ON K1N 8S7

12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Welcome of Participants
(Drawing Foyer, Ground floor)

1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Master class: Introduction to the Charter
(Drawing Room, Ground floor)
Reserved for active Foundation community members

  • Geneviève Couture, Senior Archivist with the Governance, Military and Political section at Library and Archives Canada
  • Natasha Dubois, Senior Archivist with the Government Archives Division at Library and Archives Canada
  • Sean Mills (2024 Fellow), Professor at the University of Toronto and Canada Research Chair in Canadian and Transnational History

3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Health Break
(Drawing Foyer, Ground floor)

3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Master class: Introduction to the Charter
(Drawing Room, Ground floor)
Reserved for active Foundation community members

  • Hoi Kong (2024 Fellow), The Inaugural Holder of the Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin, P.C., UBC Professorship in Constitutional Law, University of British Columbia
  • Andrew Parkin, Executive Director of the Environics Institute
  • Keith Neuman, Senior Associate of the Environics Institute

5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Welcome of Participants
(Adam Room, Ground floor)

6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Welcome and Territorial Recognition by Elder Barry Sarazin
(Adam Room, Ground floor)

Dinner for members of the Foundation community (active and Alumni), invited speakers, Foundation representatives

Keynote: The Charter in its International Context

Introduction: Michelle Lawrence (2010 Scholar), Associate Professor with the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria, and Director of the Access to Justice Centre for Excellence

June 13

Friday (Conference - day 1)

Location: Fairmont Château Laurier
1 Rideau Street, Ottawa, ON K1N 8S7

7:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m.

Breakfast
(Drawing Room, Ground floor)

8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Welcome of Participants
(Adam Room, Ground floor)

9:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.

Opening Speech
(Adam Room, Ground floor)

9:15 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.

Fundamental Rights and Freedoms
(Adam Room, Ground floor)

  • Erin Delaney, Professor of Law at the University College London
  • Grégoire Webber (2004 Scholar), Professor of Law and Philosophy at Queen’s University

Moderator: François Crépeau (2008 Fellow), Full Professor of Public International Law at the Faculty of Law, McGill Universit

10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Health Break
(Drawing Foyer, Ground floor)

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Indigenous Rights
(Adam Room, Ground floor)

  • Karen Drake, Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University
  • Val Napoleon, Professor for the Faculty of Law and the Law Foundation Chair of Indigenous Justice and Governance at the University of Victoria
  • Douglas Sanderson, Fulbright Scholar and the Prichard Wilson Chair in Law and Public Policy at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

Moderator: Kathleen Mahoney (2008 Fellow), Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Calgary and King’s Counsel

12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Lunch
(Drawing Room, Ground floor)

2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

The Notwithstanding Clause
(Adam Room, Ground floor)

  • Andrew Coyne, Columnist for The Globe and Mail
  • Marion Sandilands, Partner, Conway Litigation and Part-time Professor, University of Ottawa
  • Daniel Turp, Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Law, Université de Montréal

Moderator: Amanda Clarke (2010 Scholar), Associate Professor at the School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University

3:30 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.

Fireside Chat with Lloyd Axworthy: Participant and Observer of the Charter
(Adam Room, Ground floor)

Moderator: Stéfanie von Hlatky (2024 Fellow), Canada Research Chair in Gender, Security and the Armed Forces, and Professor of Political Studies at Queen’s University

4:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Reception
(Drawing Room, Ground floor)

June 14

Saturday (conference - day 2)

Location: Fairmont Château Laurier
1 Rideau Street, Ottawa, ON K1N 8S7

7:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m.

Breakfast
(Drawing Room, Ground floor)

9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

The Risks of Over-constitutionalization and the Charter
(Adam Room, Ground floor)

  • Ran Hirschl, David R. Cameron Distinguished Professor in Law and Politics of the University of Toronto
  • Aziz Huq, Frank and Bernice J. Professor at the University of Chicago Law School
  • Alison L. Young, Sir David Williams Professor of Public Law at the University of Cambridge and Law Commissioner for Public Law and the Law in Wales

Moderator: Malcolm Thorburn (2024 Fellow), Professor of Law and Chair of the Legal, Ethical and Cultural Implications of Technological Innovation at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Health Break
(Drawing Foyer, Ground floor)

11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

The Supreme Court’s Role in Interpreting the Charter
(Adam Room, Ground floor)

  • Benjamin L. Berger, Full Professor at the Osgoode Hall Law School, Member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada (CNSAS)
  • The Honourable Marie Deschamps (2015 Mentor), Former Judge of the Supreme Court of Canada, Professor at the School of Law, Université de Sherbrooke

Moderator: Hoi Kong (2024 Fellow), The Inaugural Holder of the Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin, P.C., UBC Professorship in Constitutional Law, University of British Columbia

12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Lunch
(Drawing Room, Ground floor)

2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Language of Rights and Rights of Languages
(Adam Room, Ground floor)

  • Stéphanie Chouinard (2021 Fellow), Associate Professor of Political Science at the Royal Military College (Kingston) and Queen’s University
  • Dominique Clément, Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta, Member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada (CNSAS)
  • Valérie Lapointe Gagnon, Associate Professor of History at the University of Alberta’s Faculté Saint-Jean, Director of the Marcelle and Louis Desrochers Institute for Heritage Studies and Transdisciplinary Research on Francophonies (IMELDA)

Moderator: Sean Mills (2024 Fellow), Professor at the University of Toronto and Canada Research Chair in Canadian and Transnational History

4:00 p.m – 4:30 p.m.

Health Break
(Drawing Foyer, Ground floor)

4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Canada’s Global Engagement
(Adam Room, Ground floor)

  • Louise Fréchette, Former Canadian diplomat, former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations

Moderator: Stéfanie von Hlatky (2024 Fellow), Canada Research Chair in Gender, Security and the Armed Forces, and Professor of Political Studies at Queen’s University

7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Location: National Gallery of Canada (The Great Hall)
380 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, ON K1N 9N4

Dinner & Keynote: Democracy and Rights

  • Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law at Columbia Law School

Moderator: Isabella Bakker (2009 Fellow), Distinguished Research Professor at York University​

Closing Ceremony by Elder Doug Comegan

June 15

Sunday

Reserved for members of the Foundation community

Location: Fairmont Château Laurier
1 Rideau Street, Ottawa, ON K1N 8S7

8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Breakfast
(Drawing Room, Ground floor)

9:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Alumni Talks
(Adam Room, Ground floor)

Moderator: Milad Parpouchi (2017 Scholar)

10:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

Health Break
(Drawing Foyer, Ground floor)

11:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Alumni Talks (continued)

12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Lunch
(Drawing Foyer, Ground floor)