Manitoba 2019
The 2019 National Seminar was hosted in Morden, Manitoba from Wednesday, September 25th to Monday, September 30th, 2019. As usual both September 25th and 30th were travel days.
The theme for this seminar was The Rural/Urban Divide. This theme was very important for a number of reasons. All too often, stereotypes get in the way of defining the cultural ethos of Canada’s small towns, villages, First Nations, as well as its large cities. Although these locations have diverse cultures, values, and political and geopolitical outlooks, they also share similar problems with adapting to modern issues ranging from changes in demographics to challenges with the environment to adapting to technology, to establishing relevance with today’s economy. Delegates discovered that our very different geographical population bases are not so different after all.
Prepared resolution: This house believes that a widespread change to better reflect the diversity of all Canadians reflected in our political landscape is the only solution to the Rural/Urban Divide.
The following links were recommended for research purposes:
The political risks of the rural-urban divide – Geoff Turner, The 180 – CBC Radio, January 14, 2017
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/the180/what-not-to-love-about-meryl-streep-s-speech-more-on-ptsd-and-violence-and-reform-politics-not-elections-1.3930068/the-political-risks-of-the-urban-rural-divide-1.3932508
How Canada’s small towns are trying to survive and thrive in changing times – Chris Iorfida, CBC News, July 9, 2018
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/transformation-canada-series-cbc-news-1.4722096
Transformation series, CBC, Summer 2018 https://www.cbc.ca/news/topic/Tag/Transformation
2019 SEMINAR AWARD WINNERS
Tom Lawson Awards: Awarded to the students who best embodied the spirit of the Seminar.
- Seleem Badawy (AB)
- Alishba Irfan (BC)
Richard Picotin Award: Awarded to the student who best embodied the spirit of bilingualism.
- Janie Moyen (SK)
Speaker’s Citation: Awarded to the top Parliamentarians.
- Sandy Hitz – English – (NS)
- Orphee Dube-Gervias – French – (QC-ADDEQ)
Top Speakers for each Linguistic Category:
- Weedon Trophy (English) – Sandy Hitz (NS)
- Governor General Award (French) – Janie Moyen (SK)
- Chief Justice Award (Bilingual) – Cheryl Chen (BC)
Founder’s Cup: Awarded to the top speaker from each Provincial Member present.
- Alberta – Ghuntas Auklakh
- BC – Cheryl Chen
- MB – Shanaya McMillian
- NB – Shanishta Ambwani
- NL – Anais Lewis
- NS – Sandy Hiltz
- NT – Victoria Tweedie-Pitre
- ON – Randy Chang
- PE – Brandon MacKinnon
- QC (ADDEQ) – Nathan Desjardins
- SK – Janie Moyen
The CSDF and our Host Province could not provide such a unique experience for students and chaperones without the generous support of our sponsors.
ANNUAL MAJOR SPONSORS TO OUR NATIONAL SEMINAR
The McLeese Family is our partner in growing Debate Programs across Canada. We gratefully acknowledge their continued support!
As with previous Seminars, the CSDF has secured a grant from the Government of Canada’s Exchanges Canada program. Funds from the grant will subsidize travel costs for students, plus, one adult per province or territory. This generous contribution will allow many students who could otherwise not attend for financial reasons to participate in the upcoming Seminar.
2019 NATIONAL SEMINAR SPONSORS
Gold ($1000.00 to $5000.00)
Silver ($250.00 to $1000.00)
Bronze (up to $250.00)
