Plenary lecture: Who Fights for Canada as the Climate Changes?

This lecture addresses what is amongst Canada’s greatest challenges as the twenty-first century progresses – climate change and issues linked to the environment. The overall objective is to suggest that aspects of Canada’s self-image and self-representation may have hindered the generation of pragmatic non-partisan thinking and politics in response to the serious challenges now impacting upon the environment. It will explore how First Nations and federal and provincial policy relate to Canada’s environmental issues, before making the case for a re-balancing of approach away from the current emphasis upon technology as the primary solution set. Finally, it will consider options for the Canada of the future and ponder how generations to come may respond to environmental imperatives in the wake of the Fourth Industrial Revolution now unfolding