Some 100 to 150 debaters from Canadian high schools will be at York this coming weekend to participate in the York-Osgoode High School Debating Tournament.
There will also be a junior round for students in Grades 7 to 9. The tournament is an elaborately planned event spanning two days – Oct. 20 and 21 – in which the qualifying teams will then compete in the Canadian 
qualifier for the Oxford Cup in Manitoba in November. The winning teams from that will then have the chance to compete in the United Kingdom.
“The idea was to create an event that will encourage our youngsters to think of global issues, such as the rise of India and China,” says York political science Professor Ananya Mukherjee-Reed of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS).
Ananya Mukherjee-Reed
On the Saturday, there will also be a “show debate” performed by award-winning university debaters. The debates will be performed in British Parliamentary style. Teams will consist of prime ministers, deputy prime ministers, party whips, leader and deputy leaders of the opposition, etc.
This year’s tournament is sponsored by the Multicultural Banking Division of Scotia Bank, which came to York through the support of Panorama India, an umbrella organization with a mandate to promote India-Canada relations where Mukherjee-Reed was member of the Board of Governors in 2011. It is co-sponsored by LA&PS with the support of Dean Martin Singer and Narda Razack, associate dean, external.
Several special prizes and awards will be presented, including $200 by Panorama India for audience participation during the final round of the tournament. It will be presented, along with the other awards, immediately following the final round. In addition, York’s Department of Political Science in LA&PS will present two awards, one for the top team and one for the best public speaker.
For more information, as well as the schedule, click here.