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Schedule of Events

On September 27-28, Fredericton will host the 2008 New Brunswick Social Forum a weekend of exciting and informative panel discussions, workshops and booths stocked with materials that are intended to enlighten and motivate the public on a variety of issues of burning concern, from language rights and tax reforms in New Brunswick to global environmental and social injustices.

Saturday, September 27


10 am
  • Welcome in Wolustukwiyik (Maliseet), French and English.




    • 10:15 am

  • RIGHTS UNDER ATTACK IN NB
    • Regressive tax reforms, Atlantica & labour mobility - Michel Boudreau, New Brunswick Federation of Labour
    • Barriers to accessing reproductive rights in NB - Peggy Cooke, coordinator of volunteers at the Morgentaler Clinic
    • Attacks to post-secondary education - Graham Cox, Canadian Federation of Students
    • Assault on native language in NB - Andrea Bear Nicholas, Native History Professor at St. Thomas University


    11 am

  • SELLING WHAT SHOULD NEVER BE SOLD & TELLING LIES THAT SHOULD NEVER BE TOLD
    • Keeping healthcare public - Debbie Lacelle, NB Healthcare Coalition
    • Myths about the occupation of Palestine - Jack Gegenberg, Fredericton Palestine Solidarity
    • Canadian gold mining in El Salvador - Ronald Chavez, Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network and FMLN Maritimes
    • Media bias & NGO co-option on the Balkans - Judy Loo, social justice activist
    • The Residential School Non-Apology - Roland Chrisjohn, STU Native Studies Professor


    12:30 pm - Lunch (1 pm)

  • WHY GREEN ISN'T ENOUGH
    • Environmental racism & the cost of our power to Colombians - Tracy Glynn, Co-editor, Mines & Communities
    • Taxing carbon & social justice - Julie Michaud, Conservation Council of NB
    • Commodification & the UNB Woodlot - Charlene Mayes, Friends of the UNB Woodlot
    • World food crisis: The greatest failure of capitalist system - Alex Corey, student environmental activist


    2 pm

  • CORPORATIONS IN CONTROL
    • Crimes against the environment. Why do they go unpunished? - David Coon, Conservation Council of NB
    • The Only Voice in Town: Inside the media monopoly of New Brunswick's Irving Empire - Erin Steuter, Mt. Allison University Professor
    • Call centres in New Brunswick: The Maquiladoras of the North - Joan McFarland, STU Economics/Women's Studies Professor

    See the 100 Mile Dinner to fundraiser for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick for Saturday evening.

    Sunday, September 28


    10 am - 11am

     - Refreshments, coffee, tea & networking.



    11am-12pm

  • WHAT DO WE DO? STAND UP! FIGHT BACK! Part 1
    • Modernization and resistance in the New Brunswick woods - Bill Parenteau, UNB history professor
    • Fighting poverty in Fredericton - Dan Weston, Fredericton Anti-Poverty Organization
    • Saving Saint John's Water - Ivan Court, Mayor of Saint John
    • What New Brunswickers can learn from 50 years of the Cuban Revolution - Bob Whitney, UNBSJ history professor
    • What "Self-Sufficiency" means for rural communities - Susan Machum, Canada Research Chair in Rural Social Justice, St. Thomas University


    12:15-1:15 pm

  • WHAT DO WE DO? STAND UP! FIGHT BACK! Part 2
    • Early French-Immersion in the courts - Clea Ward, Legal Team, Citizens for Education Choice
    • Saint John: Can you be a Banana Republic without the benefit of fruit? - Patty Higgins, Saint John City Councillor
    • Resistance to uranium - Yvonne Devine, Southeast Chapter, Conservation Council of NB
    • Alternatives to violence/war - from Renous to Afghanistan - John McKendy, Quakers/Fredericton Peace Coalition
    • Venezuela's explosion of popular power - Jay Hartling, Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network
    • Defending the rights of the Passamaquoddy - Vera Francis, Nulankeyutomonen Nkihtahkomikumon (We Take Care of Our Land)


    1:30 pm - 2 pm

  • WORKSHOPS
    • Chico Montes, community organizer, and Lourdes Palacio, FLMN congresswoman, from El Salvador
      • Consensus/decision-making
      • Open source publishing
      • Know your rights
      • Green jobs


      2 pm - 3 pm

    • SMALL GROUP SESSIONS

      • Action on emerging themes/issues of interest generated by speakers/audience.



      3 pm - 3:30 pm

    • PLENARY/WRAP UP


      • 3:30 pm

    • Closing.