Justice Harry S. LaForme
The Mark and Gail Appel Program in Holocaust and Anti-Racism Education and the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies at York University present “Learning from the Past, Teaching for the Future”, Feb. 16 at 2:15pm in 519 Kaneff Tower, Keele campus.
This event is part of the ongoing Mark and Gail Appel Program in Holocaust and Anti-Racism Education and features a special lecture by Harry LaForme (LLB ’77, LLD [Hon.] ’08), justice, Court of Appeal for Ontario and member of the Mississaugas of New Credit First nation. LaForme will speak about human rights and Canada’s First Nations.
LaForme was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 2004 – the first Aboriginal person to be appointed to sit on any appellate court in the history of Canada. He graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1977 and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1979. He soon commenced his own practice, specializing in Aboriginal law and focusing on matters involving the Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He has appeared before each level of court, travelled extensively throughout Canada, and represented Canadian Aboriginal interests in Switzerland, New Zealand, and to the British Parliament. He was a member of the Osgoode Alumni Board of Directors for almost 20 years.
A panel discussion will follow LaForme’s address and features panellists: University of Quebec at Montreal Professor F. Guillaume Dufour, an alumnus of the Mark and Gail Appel Program. Dufour’s presentation is titled “Human Rights in Today’s Quebec”. Also participating is Trent University Professor Mark Celinscak speaking on “Memories of Bergen-Belsen Liberators from Canada”. There will be a presentation by Shannon Scully-Nsengiyumva, the former photographic and physical collections officer, Kigali Genocide Memorial, Rwanda, and an alumna of the Mark and Gail Appel Program. Scully-Nsengiyumva will deliver a presentation titled “Rwandan Refugees in the Light of My Appel Program Experiences”.
The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served and parking passes available. For more information, call 416-736-5823.
The Mark and Gail Appel Program in Holocaust and Antiracism Education – “Learning from the Past, Teaching for the Future”- is an initiative of The Centre for Jewish Studies and The Canadian Centre for German and European Studies at York University. Its name recognizes the generosity of Mark and Gail Appel of Toronto, whose support has sustained the program since 2003.