2019-05-13 Panel Discussion: Democracy: Non-violent Struggles for Recognition [Panelists: Dr. Cindy Blackstock, Ebrahim Ebrahim, & Rajmohan Gandhi]

Dear Members of MGPC

The University of Ottawa’s Institute for Fiscal Studies and Democracy (IFSD) in collaboration with the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Council (MGPC) will be hosting a panel discussion as follows:

Topic: “Democracy: Non-violent struggle for recognition”
Date & time: Monday, May 13, 2019, from 6:00 pm to 7;30 pm at
Location: Desmarais Hall, University of Ottawa, 55 Laurier Avenue East, Room 4101 Ottawa,

Panelists (see details below):

• Dr. Cindy Blackstock, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society
• Ebrahim Ebrahim, Deputy Minister, African National Congress, South Africa
• Rajmohan Gandhi, Professor, University of Illinois

You are cordially invited to attend.

This is a non-partisan, free event. Due to limited seating, however, we kindly ask that you register to attend.

How do you assess how well democracy works?
From whose perspective?

A democracy may exist but may not accurately or adequately reflect its citizens.

Democracies – like their populations – are in constant evolution. Made up of citizens, laws, rules and conventions, democracies, however imperfect, are premised on the confrontation of power, populations, and participation. Their emergence can be from wars of independence, peaceful transitions of power or vestiges of colonialism. Whether through war or peace, democracies continue to emerge, to fall, and all, no matter how well-developed, inevitably grapple with their foundations.

The 20th and 21st centuries have given rise to various non-violent movements that have sought to transform the meaning of their democracies. Non-violent movements in India, South Africa, the United States, and Canada have mobilized for institutional and societal change to better represent oppressed, marginalized, minority or majority elements of their populations, to make their democracies more reflective of the people it comprises.

How do you change a democracy?
What lessons can be learned from these countries’ experiences?
Can struggling non-democratic states replicate such significant change without civil war?
How does your point of departure influence your tools and mechanisms for change?
As global confidence in institutions declines, how can populations guard against complacency, apathy, and disengagement?

To answer these questions, we are honored to welcome the following panelists:

• Dr. Cindy Blackstock, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society
• Ebrahim Ebrahim, Deputy Minister, African National Congress, South Africa
• Rajmohan Gandhi, Professor, University of Illinois

About the Panelists

Dr. Cindy Blackstock is Executive Director of the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society, member of the Gitskan First Nation, McGill University professor, and an internationally recognized authority when it comes to indigenous issues. Dr. Blackstock has been dubbed “Canada’s relentless moral voice for First Nations equality” for her domestic work advocating against government institutions that she argues discriminate against First Nations children by under-funding child welfare on reserves. Internationally, Dr. Blackstock has collaborated with other Indigenous leaders to assist the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in developing its policy on the Rights of Indigenous Children.

Ebrahim Ebrahim has dedicated his life to political activism and remaining resolute in the struggle for freedom even in the face of adversity. An opponent of the apartheid state in South Africa, Ebrahim endured decades of government oppression and more than 15 years of imprisonment on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela and other future leaders of the African National Congress. Following the removal of apartheid, Ebrahim was elected in 1994 as a Member of Parliament and has since dedicated his energy to resolving international conflicts first as Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee and later as Deputy Minister of International Relations.

Rajmohan Gandhi is an esteemed professor at the University of Illinois’s Centre for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. Through his involvement with Initiatives for Change, Dr. Gandhi has dedicated over a half a century of his life towards trust-building, reconciliation, and democracy, and the battle against corruption and inequality. Dr. Gandhi has also received acclaim for his work as a biographer for his paternal grandfather Mahatma Gandhi, and his maternal grandfather Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, two key activists in the Indian Independence Movement.