Other Events
Art Exhibits There are no art exhibits currently planned.
Most recent shows:
September 2020 (online because of COVID). Helen Lenskyj mounted a virtual
show of another series of paintings entitled Australia: Trees, Mountains,
Water. This was accompanied by a well-attended virtual opening held on
ZOOM.
January 2020. Andrew Baines: Life Journey. Sketches and paintings from the
trip Andrew and his wife Cornelia made during a visit to Iran in the 1960s,
together with European and Ontario pictures created throughout his life.
November 2019. Lidia Brandes: Waiting for Light. A series of photographs
from her global travels, accompanied by printed photo books.
April 2019. Karan Singh: Labyrinths. A show of prints and sculptures of
labyrinths produced from mathematical formulae, linking art and science.
January 2019. John Kennedy: WW1 Memorabilia from a Trunk: Ephemera of
Mme. Jeanne Compondou. Materials from World War 1 saved by a Swiss-
Canadian French teacher of the period, in her (1915) SS Rochambou metal
shipping trunk. The displayed items included the trunk itself, German
propaganda leaflets, postcards with scenes from the front, and
correspondence. The material is now in the University of Toronto Fisher Rare
Books Library.
October 2018. Helen Lenskyj: Memories of Australia. A display of water colour
paintings created during return visits to her native Australia. This show was
in progress when the Visual Arts Committee was founded.
The Peter Russell Discussion
Peter Russell Discussion will be in the fall of 2024.
Topic: Champions of Rights: Courts and Legislatures?
This special event in honour of Peter Russell, founder and first President of Senior College, features two of his favourite areas of interest, namely the judicial and legislative branches of government. This was a central focus of Canada’s constitutional debates from the 1960’s that was centred on the idea of a Charter of Rights and Freedoms under which unelected judges would protect Canadians from legislative and governmental infringement of their rights and freedoms. When the Charter became entrenched in the Constitution of Canada in 1982, courts assumed greater powers and new responsibility in protecting citizens’ rights. A new balance was to be struck, a new relationship between courts and legislatures. We have now lived more than forty years under the Charter. How have the courts done? How have legislatures responded to a new rights-conscious Canada? What is the balance between them? How have legislatures used the notwithstanding clause to overrule the courts?
Other liberal democratic countries, especially the United States, are deeply torn over the politicization of the Supreme Court and doubts over the impartiality of the judiciary. With a new ideological bloc of six conservative justices on the American Supreme Court, there is fear that the judiciary will use its power to roll back existing citizens’ rights and freedoms. Note the recent overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022. Can citizens trust the politics of the judiciary?
What do the legislative attacks on the judiciary in Eastern Europe and in Israel tell us about the future of rule of law in democracies? What lessons should Canadians draw from international experience?
The Peter Russell Discussion is a biannual event established by Senior College to honor Peter Russel, one of the founders and the first Principal of Senior College. The inaugural Discussion was held on Nov 22, 2022.