Events

Child Soldier: Banned in Canada?

February 26, 7:30 pm | Toronto Reference Library, Atrium

Orwellian language and our human rights obligations

A panel discussion with:

Afua Cooper, scholar, author and poet

Mark Kingwell, philosopher and critic

Judy Rebick, social justice expert and activist

Moderated by Carol Off, author and broadcaster

In July 2009, Embassy magazine reported that Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs was “systematically changing the language employed by the foreign service and, as a result, bringing subtle but sweeping changes to traditional Canadian foreign policy.” Changes included the substitution of “international law” for “international humanitarian law”; replacing the term “gender equality” with “equality of men and women”; shifting the “focus from justice for victims of sexual violence to prevention of sexual violence,” and the substitution of “children in armed conflict” for the phrase “child soldiers.”

Doors open at 7 pm

$10 at the door. All proceeds go to PEN Canada.

Toronto Reference Library, Atrium

789 Yonge Street (One block north of Bloor)

For more information, call Answerline at 416-393-7131

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Beatrice and Virgil in Newfoundland

April 10 | St. John’s

Yann Martel launches his highly anticipated new novel at PEN event

On April 10 in St. John's, Newfoundland. The Booker Prize-winning, internationally celebrated author of The Life of Pi will appear in his first public event in Canada to launch his long-awaited new novel, Beatrice and Virgil. Canada's leading female comic, Mary Walsh, will host the evening, and acclaimed TV and print journalist and recent Taylor Prize winner for his book, The Boy in the Moon, Ian Brown will conduct an on-stage interview with Yann Martel following the reading.

Tickets will be available from the Reid Theatre in St. John’s in late March.

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The Globe and Mail Open House Festival
April 30 - May 2, 2010 — Toronto

Proceeds from the festival will help support PEN Canada.

Ian McEwan, Linden MacIntyre, Colm Tóibín, Calvin Trillin, Pico Iyer, Camille Paglia and Alexander McCall Smith are some of the authors who will be appearing at the upcoming Open House Literary Festival.

Detailed schedule and booking information.

Writers in Prison

Liu Xiaobo receives 11 year prison sentence

In December 2009, Liu Xiaobo, an internationally-recognized literary critic and former and Honorary President of Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC), was sentenced to 11 years in prison and two years deprivation of political rights for “incitement to subversion of state power,” through writing and publishing Charter 08, a document calling for political reform and human rights.

President of International PEN, John Ralston Saul, commented that “Liu Xiaobo's case is about agreed international human rights standards, not merely the internal affairs of China. China is signatory to international treaties and conventions, and cannot be given a free pass when it acts against its own and international standards.”

On February 11, 2010, it was reported that Liu’s appeal was rejected by a Beijing court. PEN continues to demand the immediate and unconditional release of Liu Xiaobo and more than 40 other writers detained in violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory.

Freedom of Expression in Canada

SCC rules on “public interest responsible journalism”

On December 22, 2009, the Supreme Court of Canada’s (SCC) decisions in Grant v. Torstar and Quan v. Cusson – PEN Canada joined a media coaltion which intervened in both cases – recognized the defence of “public interest responsible journalism” and expanded it to include “public interest responsible communication” throughout Canada.

Part of the Grant decision observes that “It is simply beyond debate that the limited defences available to press-related defendants may have the effect of inhibiting political discourse and debate on matters of public importance, and impeding the cut and thrust of discussion necessary to discovery of the truth.” It also states that “People in public life are entitled to expect that the media and other reporters will act responsibly in protecting them from false accusations and innuendo. They are not, however, entitled to demand perfection and the inevitable silencing of critical comment that a standard of perfection would impose.”

In his analysis of the SCC decisions, Brian Rogers, Legal Counsel to the Media Coalition which intervened in both cases, points out that by setting out the requirements for a new “responsible communication” defence, the SCC “recognized that the ‘traditional media’ are being complemented by other means of communication, usually online, which may not involve journalists.”

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