Panel Discussion on Public Perceptions of the Canadian Forces : Wednesday 8th July.

A Panel Discussion on Public Perceptions of the Canadian Forces

How have the public perceptions of the military in general and the
Canadian Forces (CF) in particular changed since 9/11 and what role does
the media and popular culture play in the production of changing
perceptions? This important and timely panel will investigate the
relationship between the media and the military.
Jeff Sallot. The Road to Kandahar. In 1993 members of the Canadian Forces
tortured and killed a local teenager, Shidane Arone, during a deployment
in Somalia. The murder led to a full-blown public commission of inquiry
into what is one of the greatest scandals in the history of the Canadian
military. Their image rehabilitated, members of the Canadian Forces are
now serving proudly on a dangerous mission in Kandahar province,
Afghanistan. Jeff Sallot is The Globe?s bureau chief in Moscow, Ottawa and
Edmonton and has reported from every corner of Canada, and from more than
30 foreign countries.
Greg Nelson. Afghanada: The challenges of presenting the Canadian Military
at War. The CBC radio drama series ?Afghanada? has run for over 50
episodes, and continues this fall. Greg Nelson will talk about the
challenges of presenting military characters and stories to the public -
how the creators strove to step away from the public policy debate, and
grapple instead with what the reality is for Canadian soldiers on the
ground in Kandahar Province. Greg Nelson is the co-creator and head writer
for ?Afghanada? He is currently a writer and producer for the CBC
television series The Border.
Steve Lukits. "Their's but to do and die": Victorian Origins of Public
Sympathy for the Combat Soldier in the News and Popular Culture. The
disastrous charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War, the
journalistic commentary and report of the event, and Poet Laureate Alfred
Tennyson's poetic response combine in a paradigmatic manner to define news
coverage and mass media representation of the military. Steve Lukits is
the Head of the English Department at the Royal Military College of
Canada. He also teaches courses in war literature and the news media and
the military.
Wendy Cukier, Associate Dean of the Ted Rogers School of Management. Wendy
is an internationally recognized expert in armed violence and is coauthor
of The Global Gun Epidemic (2006). She has served on a number of national
and international advisory committees and most recently was a member of
Canada?s Commission on Small Arms. In 2000, the University of Toronto
named Wendy as one of the ?100 Alumni who shaped the century?.
LCdr John Williston, Senior Advisor, Strategic Planning, to the Assistant
Deputy Minister Public Affairs, Department of National Defence
Christopher Dornan. Unknown Soldiers: The Relative Absence of the Military
in Canadian Popular Culture. In contrast to the US, where the armed forces
are a prominent subject for prime-time television and feature films,
Canadian popular culture all but ignores the military as a dramatic trope.
Why should this be so? What does it tell us about the place of the armed
forces in the Canadian imagination? What consequences might ensue?
Christopher Dornan teaches at Carleton University, where he is Associate
Dean of the Faculty of Public Affairs, Director of the Arthur Kroeger
College of Public Affairs, and an associate professor in the School of
Journalism and Communication.
6.00- 8.00pm Wednesday 8 July 2009
Toronto Downtown Marriot Hotel, Eaton Centre,
(from more details see http://www.yorku.ca/yciss/news/upcoming.html)