The Empire Club of Canada
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
The Empire Club of Canada Presents:
Stories of a Caring and Sharing Canada
Is Canada still a substantially and sufficiently caring and sharing country, at home and abroad? This year has brought unprecedented needs for Canada to be one. Its governments, corporations, communities and people have responded in generous and innovative ways, based on the democratic values they have shown in the past and cherish today. But they are increasingly strained and stressed by the new economic and other difficulties that they now face and those that lie ahead. What has and can be done to meet the enormous Canadian and global need for a compassionate Canada today?
The cadence, causes, constraints and needs for a strongly caring and sharing Canada can be seen in our commitment to converting compassion into action, in the broad, multifaceted and effectiveness of our international development cooperation and partnership, and, in particular, in critical cases, notably, the historic story of South Africa and the current story of Canada’s and Canadians global leadership in supporting vulnerable people equally devoted to a sovereign, independent, democratic, safe Ukraine and in saving children on the front lines of war-torn regions in the world.
*The content presented is free of charge but please note that the Empire Club of Canada retains copyright. Neither the speeches themselves nor any part of their content may be used for any purpose other than personal interest or research without the explicit permission of the Empire Club of Canada.*
*Views and Opinions Expressed Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the speakers or panelists are those of the speakers or panelists and do not necessarily reflect or represent the official views and opinions, policy or position held by The Empire Club of Canada.*
The Right Honourable Joe Clark was elected eight times to the House of Commons of Canada, serving as Canada’s youngest Prime Minister and one of the most distinguished Foreign Ministers in Canadian history. He was Prime Minister of Canada from June 4, 1979 to March 3, 1980 and Secretary of State for External Affairs from 1984 to 1991, then becoming Minister of Constitutional Affairs. He has also served as Acting Minister of both Justice and National Defence. At home and abroad, he earned and maintains a reputation for integrity and principle.
Joe Clark played a key role in some of the defining accomplishments of recent history – the Commonwealth campaign against apartheid, the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States, the Ottawa conference which agreed on the “two plus four” formula to unite Germany at the end of the Cold War, and the negotiation of the Charlottetown Accord in Canada, a complex Canadian constitutional accord among the Federal Government, the Provinces and Territories, and indigenous peoples. He connects Canada’s past to our future, and speaks passionately of the potential of modern Canada to make a real difference in today’s complex and challenging world.
Today, he applies that experience in promoting democracy and encouraging innovation and practical reforms in the developing world, and at home. He was a founding member of Canadians for a New Partnership, and continues to draw together Indigenous and other Canadians, and has led Election Observation missions in Africa, Asia and the Americas. He served as Founding Chair of the Awards Jury of the Global Centre for Pluralism, is a long-time Member of the London-based Global Leadership Foundation, and of the Supervisory Board in Meridiam Infrastructure and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Meridiam Infrastructure Africa, serves on the boards of Canadian companies GlobeScan and Lumenix.
A respected commentator on public affairs, his most recent book is “How We Lead: Canada in a Century of Change”. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada, a member of the Alberta Order of Excellence, and of the Ordre de la Pléiade, and is an Honorary Chief of the Samson Cree Nation. He is married to the Canadian author and lawyer Maureen McTeer, and is President and founder of Joe Clark and Associates.
Samantha Nutt is an award-winning humanitarian, bestselling author and acclaimed public speaker. A medical doctor and the Founder and President of the renowned humanitarian organizations War Child Canada and War Child USA, Dr. Nutt has worked with children and their families at the frontline of many of the world’s major crises – from Iraq to Afghanistan, Somalia to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone to Darfur, Sudan. A leading authority on public health, war, international aid and foreign policy, Dr. Nutt is one of the most intrepid and recognized voices in the humanitarian arena and a highly sought-after public speaker in North America. With a career that has spanned more than two decades and dozens of conflict zones, her international work has benefited millions of war-affected children globally.
Dr. Nutt is a respected authority for many of North America’s leading media outlets. She is a regular foreign affairs panelist on the acclaimed news program, CBC TV NEWS “The National”, and a contributor to NowThis News. Nutt’s written work has been published by TED Ideas, Reuters, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Star, Maclean’s Magazine, The Ottawa Citizen, The Huffington Post, and other publications. She has appeared in AP News, Forbes, Town & Country Magazine, Time Magazine, More Magazine and on NBC Nightly News, BBC World News Service, America’s Radio News Network, NPR, CTV Power Play, CTV National News, Global TV News, and CBC Radio, to name just a few. Dr. Nutt spoke at TED Talks Live “War & Peace” at The Town Hall Theater in New York, which aired on PBS. Dr. Nutt’s TED Talk, on the deadly impact of small arms, has garnered over a million views on TED.com.
Dr. Nutt’s critically acclaimed debut book, entitled Damned Nations: Greed, Guns, Armies and Aid, was released by McClelland and Stewart Ltd. (a division of Random House) and was a #1 national bestseller in both hardcover and paperback. Lewis Lapham declared it a “brave and necessary book”, while the Literary Review of Canada called it a “brilliant polemic.” Damned Nations is a bracing and uncompromising account of Dr. Nutt’s work in some of the most devastated regions of the world. The new edition of Damned Nations was released in November 2018 in Canada and the U.S.A. by Penguin Random House.
Dr. Nutt has been appointed to the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest civilian honour, for her contributions to improving the plight of young people in the world’s worst conflict zones. She has also been appointed to the Order of Ontario and has been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Time Magazine has featured Dr. Nutt as one of Canada’s Five Leading Activists and she has been awarded the prestigious Loyola Medal by Concordia University.
Samantha Nutt graduated summa cum laude from McMaster University, earned an M.Sc in Public Health with distinction from the University of London and holds a Fellowship in Community Medicine (FRCPC) from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. She is further certified by the College of Family Practice and completed a sub specialization in women’s health through the University of Toronto as a Women’s Health Scholar. Dr. Nutt is the recipient of numerous honorary doctorates from universities in Canada and the U.S.A.
Dr. Nutt is a staff physician at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto and is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is a Senior Fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto and is former board member of the David Suzuki Foundation.
For more information, please visit www.warchild.ca or www.samanthanutt.com
Bob Ramsay is the president of Ramsay Inc., a Toronto communications and marketing firm.
Bob was born in Edmonton, attended Trinity College School in Port Hope and graduated from Princeton with a BA in English and from Radcliffe-Harvard with a diploma in publishing.
He’s been an advertising copywriter and book editor and a speechwriter for Ontario Premier Bill Davis. He’s written speeches for countless CEOs and corporate leaders, and he contributes opinion pieces on diversity, the arts and bicycling — for The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Maclean’s, and a regular blog called RamsayWrites (formerly The Plague-Ground.) Click here to join Bob’s blog.
In 2021, he published his memoir, Love or Die Trying: How I Lost It All, Died and Came Back for Love which Wade Davis called “A ruthlessly honest memoir about love, loss and redemption, told with humour, grace, whimsy and wit.”
He also teaches executives in major corporations how to write better, present better, persuade more – and pitch to win.
For over 30 years, he has organized the speakers’ series, RamsayTalks, which presents some of the leading figures of the age, from Jodi Kantor and Niall Ferguson, to Mark Carney and Susan Rice.
In addition, he is deeply involved with the community. For many years, he was the fundraising chair on the board of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and an executive board member of the Canadian Film Centre. He has also served on the boards of the St. Lawrence Centre, the Women’s College Hospital Foundation, and the International Festival of Authors, which he also chaired.
He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Medal in 2015 and the Bernier Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographic Society in 2017. He is also a member of The Explorers Club in New York. In September 2019, Bob and his wife Dr. Jean Marmoreo circumnavigated Manhattan by kayak.
Katheryn Winnick, actress, and director, best known for her starring roles on the critically acclaimed TV series “Vikings” and ABC’s “Big Sky”, has been named an Ambassador of President Zelensky’s UNITED24 in partnership with her newly formed charity, The Winnick Foundation.
Initially focused on helping women and children worldwide in need, The Winnick Foundation shifted its efforts to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine after the war started
