The Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs (CIPA) is Canada's oldest organization devoted to studying and publicizing current issues affecting Canada and public policy. Founded in 1932, it holds an annual conference every August on the shores of Lake Couchiching and smaller events during the year, in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
and other major cities. In 2019, the Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs was merged into the Canadian International Council, and continues as an annual Couchiching event which the CIC hosts.
Mission
The mission of the CIPA is ''to increase the awareness and understanding of domestic and international issues amongst people in Canada, through open and inclusive discussion, without advocacy or partisanship.''
History
''Over the years, the issues examined at the Couchiching conference have reflected the changing concerns of Canadian society and the world. During the Great Depression, topics focused on social reform, the state of the economy and the growing threat of war in Europe. In the late 1940s and 1950s, participants discussed issues such as rebuilding the post-war world, the Cold War and the challenges of world peace. More recently, conference topics have turned to such issues as technology, the environment, the problem of illiteracy, the economic challenges facing today's youth and globalization in various contexts.''
Over the years CIPA has offered as speakers and attracted as participants current and future leaders in politics, education, science, the arts and the rest of civil society. In the past decade, speakers have included
Tariq Ramadan
Tariq Ramadan ( ar, طارق رمضان, ; born 26 August 1962) is a Swiss Muslim academic, philosopher, and writer. He was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at St Antony's College, Oxford and the Faculty of Theology and Religion, Univ ...
,
Will Kymlicka
William Kymlicka (; born 1962) is a Canadian political philosopher best known for his work on multiculturalism and animal ethics. He is currently Professor of Philosophy and Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy at Queen's University ...
,
Haroon Siddiqui
Haroon Siddiqui, is an Indo-Canadian newspaper journalist, columnist and a former editor.
Early life and career
Siddiqui continued as a columnist at the Star until 2015. His farewell column of 1 April 2015 marked his retirement from journali ...
,
Kevin G. Lynch
Kevin G. Lynch (born January 1951) is a Canadian economist and former Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet, Canada's most senior civil servant.
Life and career
Born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, he received a Bachelor of Arts degr ...
,
Sheela Basrur
Sheela Basrur, (October 17, 1956 – June 2, 2008) was a Canadian physician and Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health and Assistant Deputy Minister of Public Health. She resigned from these positions late in 2006 to undergo treatment for cance ...
Alan Borovoy
Alfred Alan Borovoy, (March 17, 1932 – May 11, 2015) was a Canadian lawyer and human rights activist best known as the longtime general counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA).Lewis MackenzieJennifer Stoddart,
Gerri Sinclair
Gerri Sinclair serves as the Innovation Commissioner for the Government of British Columbia. She was appointed in July 2020.
Sinclair previously served as a Managing Director at Kensington Capital Partners and was the leader of the firm's Vancouv ...
Mobina Jaffer
Mobina S. B. Jaffer (born August 20, 1949) is a Canadian Senator representing British Columbia.
Early life and career
Born to a Pakistani family living in Africa, Jaffer was educated in England and Canada. She earned a law degree from the Unive ...
Anne Golden
Anne Golden (born 1941) is a Canadian administrator.
She received her BA in history from University College, University of Toronto, in 1962. She received an MA from Columbia University and a PhD in American history from the University of Toron ...
Sylvia Ostry
Sylvia Ostry (; June 3, 1927 – May 7, 2020) was a Canadian economist and public servant.
Life
Born Sylvia Knelman in Winnipeg, Manitoba on June 3, 1927, she received a Bachelor of Arts in economics from McGill University in 1948, a Master ...
Michael Marmot
Sir Michael Gideon Marmot (born 26 February 1945) is Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London. He is currently the Director of The UCL Institute of Health Equity. Marmot has led research groups on health inequa ...
, Dr.
Fraser Mustard
James Fraser Mustard (October 16, 1927 – November 16, 2011) was a Canadian doctor and renowned researcher in early childhood development. Born, raised and educated in Toronto, Ontario, Mustard began his career as a research fellow at the Unive ...
Margaret Somerville
Margaret Anne Ganley Somerville (born 13 April 1942) is Professor of Bioethics at University of Notre Dame Australia. She was previously Samuel Gale Professor of Law at McGill University.
Somerville was born in Adelaide, South Australia, and ...
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
,
Marshall McLuhan
Herbert Marshall McLuhan (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. He began his ...
Pierre-Marc Johnson
Pierre-Marc Johnson (born July 5, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer, physician and politician. He was the 24th premier of Quebec from October 3 to December 12, 1985, making him the province's shortest-serving premier, and the first Baby Boomer to hold t ...
and Bernard Crick. Former or future Prime Ministers of Canada have featured at the conference too:
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...
,
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian scholar, statesman, diplomat, and politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968.
Born in Newtonbrook, Ontario (now part of ...
Kim Campbell
Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician, diplomat, lawyer, and writer who served as the 19th prime minister of Canada from June 25 to November 4, 1993. Campbell is the first and so far only female p ...
and
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006.
The son o ...
.
Annual conferences
The annual conference, which is open to the public, draws about 250 participants from all walks of life and from 18 to past 80 who are interested in the current topic or in public affairs generally. The usual format involves about three days (Thursday evening through Sunday afternoon) of speeches, panels and debates, with ample opportunity for questions from the floor in all cases, together with formal and informal discussion groups. The lakeside setting encourages casual contact and one-on-one conversations among speakers and participants. Most participants, including many speakers, stay on-site for the duration of the conference.
The conference usually draws media coverage, both print and broadcast,The
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
- the CBC - has frequently covered the Conference. For example, here is a CBC Radio clip on a Couchiching discussion in 1967 of the social impact of satellite communications. http://archives.cbc.ca/programs/130-427/page/1/. Here is a CBC TV essay on the 2004 Conference: http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/2005/07/072405_1.html#Scene_1 including some video on CPAC.
Round-Table meetings
The Round-Table meetings held from time to time between annual conferences usually occupy an evening session with one or more resource-speakers and about thirty participants. They may deal with aspects of the topic of the forthcoming annual conference or an unrelated matter. In recent years such events have been held in Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver as well as in Toronto. A list of topics and (since 2009) podcasts of the speakers' portion of the events, but not the discussion, are found at the Couchiching web site.
Organization
CIPA was a registered charitable organization run by a board of directors and committees of volunteers, supported by Zzeem, Inc. Association Management of Toronto. In 2019, the Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs was merged into the Canadian International Council, and continues as an annual Couchiching event which the CIC hosts. Former board members of the Couchiching Institute continue to advise the CIC on these events.