Hamilton
February or March 2009, Hamilton
Franklyn Griffiths, CIC Senior Fellow, on the Arctic
April 2009, Hamilton
Lynton R. Wilson, O.C.
Chairman, CAE Inc.; Chancellor, McMaster University
May 2009, Hamilton
Second Annual Student Symposium
About Us
The Hamilton Branch was founded in 1933, five years after the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (CIIA) was chartered under the leadership of Sir Robert Borden, Canada’s eighth Prime Minister. Its actual genesis was the 1919 Peace Conference where Canada saw an opportunity to create an international role for itself. The Branch has existed continuously since that date. Its close links with McMaster University have provided a powerful reservoir of talent for successive Executives, for speakers’ slates, and for the insights of students’ points-of-view. To encourage them to contribute to a shared vision of the future, the Branch has established its annual McMaster Student prize. This prize is awarded to a student who has completed 30 units of a Political Sciences program and who has written an outstanding essay on a topic related to international relations and politics.
The evolution of the CIIA into the Canadian International Council offers Hamilton members an even broader platform from which to influence their country’s global role. 75 years after its foundation, the Hamilton Branch of CIC is still seeking the best in intelligent thought about Canada’s international relations. President Irene Kauhanen has made it her goal to increase the participation of young people in this enterprise.
In the past year the Branch has established a new partnership with the McMaster Department of Political Science which has led to students arranging and providing assistance at meetings. An application to establish a McMaster Student Branch of CIC was submitted to the University authorities on December 1, 2008. The Branch’s first Graduate Student Symposium, April 2008, was such a success that it has led to a second Symposium scheduled for May 2009. In order to encourage high school interest in, and attendance at, CIC events, the Branch has invited a CIC member and high school teacher to join the Executive specifically to pursue this mandate.
Branch Executive
Irene Kauhanen, President
ikauhanen@cogeco.ca
Elham Farah, Past President
Brooke Townsend, Treasurer
Natalie Little, Communications Director
Lana Wylie, Co-director of Program
wylie@mcmaster.ca
Mark Williams, Co-director of Program
willims@mcmaster.ca
Jyoti Saha, Member at Large with responsibility for Student Liaison
Randall Walker, Honorary Advisor
Doug Scott, Honorary Advisor
Colin Campbell, Member at Large