Opposing Plato

Seating for this event is limited.  Please register by November 3.

Opposing Plato: A Poet Proposes Constitutional Amendments for Canada’s Monarchical “Republic”

While the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) significantly altered the original British North America Act (1867), the process of ‘constitutional renewal’ remains a live intrigue.  Perhaps one reason that recent efforts at constitutional reform have foundered is due to the abundance of political and legal opinions, and the absence of poets.  Rejecting Plato’s banishment of poets from his Republic, Parliamentary Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke will offer his own notions on how Canada – now officially 150 years old and saddled with at least three constitutions (including The Royal Proclamation of 1763) – should proceed, constitutionally, in the future.  Professor Clarke will propose amendments – including a few tongue-in-cheek ideas – intended to prod us to continue striving for a model constitution for the nation we are becoming (whether we like it or not).

George Elliott Clarke is a poet and professor of English at the University of Toronto. He has been amassing a national treasury of historic poetry, advocating for the arts, and commemorating the 150th anniversary of Canada while in the role of Parliamentary Poet Laureate, 2016-17.

The event will take place in the Peter Wall Institute Conference Room (Sage East). Pre-dinner refreshments will be available at 6:00 pm. The presentations will begin at 6:30 pm. A complimentary dinner will be served at 7:30 pm.