Dear CCF Supporters,

The CCF is proud to be a co-sponsor, with the Norman Paterson School of International Relations, of the upcoming conference HardTalk: Canada and the Asia Pacific, taking place at Carleton University in Ottawa on Monday, October 24, 2022.

We think this conference is of vital importance in helping make the point with policymakers in Ottawa that many of us feel a new direction in Canada‘s relations with China and the Asia Pacific is needed. We believe this conference will bring together the anti-racist voices seeking an independent foreign policy for Canada, one that is inclusive, identifies actual risks and challenges, and considers innovative agendas for peace and justice in the Asia Pacific. 

Among the presenters that may interest you include:
- two Chinese Canadian faculty members whose work has been negatively affected by the animosity in Canada-China relations;
- Howard Grant, an Indigenous leader whose family has ancestral ties with China;
- and Gar Pardy and Gregory Chin, who are well known and informed commentators on Canada-China relations.

The conference poster detailed conference schedule are both included below. 

Description: We have entered uncharted waters. In an era of unprecedented global polarization, with chronic pandemics, a deepening climate emergency, economic turmoil, and war, powerful forces are pushing the Canadian government to align this country with US foreign policy in the Asia Pacific. This one-day, in-person conference will bring together a diversity of voices seeking an independent foreign policy for Canada, one that is inclusive, identifies actual risks and challenges, and considers innovative agendas for peace and justice in the Asia Pacific. 
 
8:00 am: Registration
 
9:00 am: Welcomes
- Professor Yanling Wang (Norman Paterson School of International Affairs)
- Senator Yuen Pau Woo 

9:25 am: Panel 
China-Canada Relations and Anti-Asian Racism: Exposing how Sinophobia and anti-Asian racism have intersected and the efforts to counter their impacts.
- Moderated by professor Xiaobei Chen (Carleton).
- Lin Cai (University of Victoria): “The Collateral Damage of Tech Wars”
- Ke Wu (Polytechnique Montréal): “Professional Dilemma of Chinese Canadian Researchers in a Time of Sinophobia”
- Henry Yu (University of British Columbia): “Why Demonizing Asians ’Over There‘ is Bad for Asian Canadians”
 
10:45 am: Refreshment Break
 
11:00 am: Keynote Speaker: Gar Pardy: "China - What it is and what it might be."
- Gar Pardy formerly held the positions of Ambassador, Director General Consular Bureau, Director - Asia Pacific South Division, United States Program Division and is the author of Afterword from a Foreign Service Odyssey, China in a Changing World, and The Scary World of Nuclear Weapons - Agenda for Elimination (coming in the Fall).
 
12:00 pm: Lunch
 
1:00 pm: Roundtable
The ’Indo-Pacific Strategy‘: Is this just part of the US agenda for further encircling China? What ever happened to the Asia Pacific?
- Moderated by David Carment (Carleton).
- Margaret Cornish (advisor, Institute for Peace and Diplomacy): "Pursuing Canada‘s Interests in Asia Pacific: Avoiding Schemes to Antagonize and Exclude China”
- Carlo Dade (Canada West Foundation): “The Canada-China-US Triangular Relationship”
 - Stuart Trew (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives): “Out-maneuvered? How the U.S. Indo-Pacific Economic Framework Limits Canada's Options in the Region (not necessarily for the worse)”
 
2:20 pm: Refreshment Break
 
2:40 pm: Panel
Rethinking Canadian Foreign Policy: Have we entered a new age that requires some innovative thinking regarding foreign policy?
- Moderated by John Price (University of Victoria).
- Howard E. Grant (qiyəplenəxʷ, Musqueam): “A Family Story and Its Implications for Canadiian Foreign Policy”
- Bianca Mugyenyi (Canadian Foreign Policy Institute): “Why We Need a Fundamental Reassessment of Canadian Foreign Policy”
 
4:00 pm: Concluding Remarks
- Gregory T. Chin, “Canada and the Asia Pacific or Indo Pacific—Looking Back, Looking Forward”
 
Associate professor in politics at York, Gregory Chin has published widely on the political economy of China, Asia, and Canada-China-US relations. A senior fellow of the Foreign Policy Institute (Johns Hopkins University, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies), he was recently appointed the Mayling Birney Global Scholar by the London School of Economics and Political Science. Between 2000 and 2006, he worked in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the Canadian International Development Agency, and at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing.