G茅rard Bouchard to speak on 鈥淒emocracy and Diversity: the New Challenges鈥�
G茅rard Bouchard, the prominent Quebec historian and sociologist who co-chaired the Bouchard-Taylor Commission will deliver this year's McNaughton Lecture on public policy at 91社区's Faculty of Law on March 3, 2010, in the Maxwell Cohen Moot Court, starting at 18:00.
Prof. Bouchard's topic, "Democracy and Diversity: the New Challenges" will address聽current features of public discourse聽about identity in聽Quebec.聽In this lecture, Bouchard will explore the ways in which the idea of identity can be made compatible with pluralism and interculturalism (the philosophy of exchanges between cultural groups within a society).
Bouchard believes聽that it is important for all Quebeckers to re-affirm their commitment to the values of a liberal democracy and argues that there is no radical opposition between liberalism and the notion of a national identity.
The聽Macnaughton Lecture will be introduced by Charles Taylor, who co-chaired the Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences. The Commission was launched by Premier Jean Charest in 2007 to examine the social accommodation of religious and cultural minorities in Quebec.
G茅rard Bouchard's lecture is open to the public, but please RSVP to confirm your presence before Feb. 26, 2010 by email at alumnioffice.law [at] mcgill.ca () or by phone at (514-398-7934.
About the lecturer
G茅rard Bouchard is a lecturer in the D茅partement des sciences humaines at the Universit茅 du Qu茅bec 脿 Chicoutimi, where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Dynamics of Collective Imaginary. Professor Bouchard holds a master's degree in sociology from Universit茅 Laval (1968) and a doctorate in history from the Universit茅 de Paris (1971).
About this lecture series
The lecture is part of the Alan Aylesworth Macnaughton Lecture series on contemporary issues of public policy. A lawyer and Canadian parliamentarian, Senator Macnaughton, BA'26, BCL'29, LLD'92, was Speaker of the House of Commons, founder of the Canadian World Wildlife Fund, and a member of the Faculty of Law Advisory Board.