A Conversation with the Crown
Governments come and go. The Crown, however, symbolizes the enduring power of the state — embodied by the Queen and personified by Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor.
The Faculty of Arts sponsors an unprecedented joint appearance by Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell with her predecessor the Honourable David Onley.
Moderated by Distinguished Visiting Professor Martin Regg Cohn, the panel presents a rare opportunity to pose questions about the role of the vice-regal representative in our constitutional democracy at a time of change and disruption.
Tuesday, February 5 I 4:30 - 6 p.m.
Sears Atrium, 3 floor, George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre, 245 Church St.
To RSVP go to conversation-with-the-crown.eventbrite.ca (external link, opens in new window)
If you require accessibility accommodations to ensure your inclusion in this event, please contact Zehra Shah at syeda.z.shah@torontomu.ca
The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell was invested as Ontario’s 29th Lieutenant Governor on September 23, 2014. Her eclectic public service career has spanned provincial, federal, and international borders, and has transcended disciplinary and sectoral lines.
Ms. Dowdeswell began her professional career as a teacher and university lecturer. After serving as the Deputy Minister of Culture and Youth for the Government of Saskatchewan, she held increasingly senior positions in the Canadian public service, most notably as head of the Atmospheric Environment Service. Throughout this period, she managed several public inquiries and royal commissions.
Her international negotiating experiences prefaced her election in 1992 as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Upon returning to Canada in 1998, she established an international consulting practice and became the founding President and CEO of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization. Immediately prior to her appointment as Lieutenant Governor, Ms. Dowdeswell was the President and CEO of the Council of Canadian Academies. She has also served on numerous boards of corporate and non-profit organizations.
Ms. Dowdeswell was born in Northern Ireland and immigrated to rural Saskatchewan with her parents in 1947. She earned a Bachelor of Science in home economics and teaching certificate from the University of Saskatchewan (1966) and a Master of Science in behavioural sciences from Utah State University (1972). An Officer of the Order of Canada, Ms. Dowdeswell holds 11 honorary degrees.
David Onley was appointed Ontario’s 28th Lieutenant Governor in 2007, with his term ending in September 2014. His seven years of service makes him the second longest-serving Lieutenant Governor of Ontario since the office was constituted in 1791.
Onley was a television journalist prior to his vice regal appointment for Citytv working as Education Specialist as well as covering science and technology stories. A published author of best-selling fiction and a high school science textbook, he was founding president of the Aerospace Heritage Foundation of Canada.
Onley is an accessibility consultant for both the public and private sector, was inaugural chair of the Accessibility Standards Advisory Council of the Government of Ontario and has worked as accessibility council member for the Rogers Centre and the Air Canada Centre. He was Ambassador to the 2017 Invictus Games for wounded veterans and Honorary Patron to various charitable causes.
He is the recipient of the Rick Hansen Award of Excellence, the Courage to Come Back Award, and holds 11 honorary degrees. He is a Member of the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, and a recipient of both the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. He has also been inducted into the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame and the Scarborough Walk of Fame.
Mr. Onley is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Toronto Scarborough, where he teaches two courses in Political Science – The Politics of Disability and The Vice Regal Office in Canada. He is also the Special Advisor to the Vice President & Principal on Accessibility Issues.
Martin Regg Cohn is an award-winning political columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest daily newspaper. A foreign correspondent for 11 years, he was Chief of the Star's Middle East and Asia bureaus, reporting from more than 40 countries, and then Foreign Editor.
He has covered national politics from the Star’s Ottawa Bureau, ran the Comment section, and wrote a world affairs column. He is a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Arts at Toronto Metropolitan University University, and a Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. His Ontario politics column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in the Star, and online at thestar.com (external link, opens in new window) .