Welcome to Workplace Centre, where ethics and spirituality are alive and well.
Join us for monthly breakfast and lunch meetings, conveniently located in downtown Vancouver...
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Workplace Centre convenes conversations that deepen Spirit and Ethics in the workplace, and promotes their practical application in business and everyday life.
We hold two meetings each month: Ethics for Breakfast, on the second Wednesday, and the Spirit at Work Luncheon, on the third Thursday of the month.
All meetings are open to the public. They are about 75 minutes long, presentation-and-discussion format, with speakers/topics that will help you keep ethics and spirituality alive in your work.
Please see our events below. Join us at an upcoming meeting. Or contact us at info@workplacecentre.org -or- 604-685-6560 for more information.
Wed, June 12: The Future of Our Ethics: What conversations do you need to have? a Members Forum facilitated by Andrew Mackey, Chair of the Ethics for Breakfast program, and Sue Drinnan, a speaker and long time contributing member of the Workplace Centre
More information below...
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Spirit at Work Lunch
Thurs, June 20: What Compassion Looks Like: Where has the spirit taken you? with Avril Orloff, an artful visual facilitator who has worked with the Dalai Lama, Karen Armstrong, Peter Block and Margaret Wheatley, among others.
NOTE about Credit Card Payments: We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below.
Thanks for your understanding! Workplace Centre
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June 2013
Ethics for Breakfast presents
Wednesday, June 12, 2013 7:15 - 8:30 am
THE FUTURE OF OUR ETHICS
A Members Forum facilitated by Andrew Mackey, Chair of the Ethics for Breakfast program, and Sue Drinnan, longtime contributing member of the Workplace Centre.
What conversations do you need to have?
As part of the new strategic plan, the Workplace Centre is committed to becoming more responsive to the needs of its members and community. It is in this spirit that the June meeting is being opened up both to discuss our own business challenges and to suggest topics for the next year of breakfasts. We look forward to seeing you and hearing your thoughts on making ethics relevant for the years to come.
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thank you!
About Our Speaker: Avril Orloff is a graphic facilitator who draws people’s ideas by creating a visual record of meetings, conferences and workshops. Avril's clients benefit from her powerful graphic meeting tools. Every graphic illustration is a unique creation. Avril has worked with the Dalai Lama, Karen Armstrong, Peter Block and Margaret Wheatley, among others.
with Rob Riches, teacher, coach, counsultant, creator of Soul Dynamics, and lifelong meditator
How do we balance our personal values with the values of our social groups?
Humans are social creatures, defined in part by our social connections. Where we work and live and play tells people about who we are and what we find important. This group membership also comes with group values and norms, and while belonging is important, group values can sometimes conflict with our own. How do we respond in these moments of conflict or confusion?
To answer this question, Rob Riches looks at our need for contribution, for conformity, but also for self-definition. He deepens the conversation by asking: what ethical guideposts can we use to support our behaviour? How can we navigate our need to belong with our need for independence? Join the Workplace Centre and Rob in May to refine your response in these challenging moments.
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thank you!
About Our Speaker: Gary Bello of Pacific Horizon Consulting, is a therapist, a coach and an interfaith minister. His fascination with the mind-body connection is evident not only in his post-graduate psychneuroimmunology training but also in his founding of several holistic residential treatment facilities. Through these experiences, he developed a system called ‘The Bello Method’ which utilizes physical postures, exercises, breathing and relaxation techniques.
Building on his work in holistic health, Gary co-wrote Enlightening Moments with his wife Radha. It is a program that supports self-awareness and mindful living, encouraging readers to look at how they operate and challenging them to respond rather than react. He also travels extensively, educating and inspiring people to live balanced and peaceful lives.
with Bob Ransford, CNU-A, development consultant, Vancouver Sun journalist, and Trustee of the Granville Island Trust.
How do we plan for healthy community development?
Humans need adequate shelter. It is an issue of basic survival. But the population continues to grow rapidly and our resource use outstrips the earth’s supply, or soon will. To complicate the issue further, humans are incredibly mobile in the modern world and land use planning needs to account for this mobility. Developing a 21st century city is a complex task with many competing interests.
Bob Ransford, a local urban design specialist, joins us at Ethics for Breakfast to tease apart some of these interests. How do we house people while acting as environmental stewards? What are the acceptable trade-offs and whose needs shouldn’t be sacrificed? On a more basic level, where does one lookk for ethical guideposts to direct this decision-making? Join the Workplace Centre in April as Bob explores how the built environment, community and natural systems intersect.
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thank you!
Option/Price
About Our Speaker:
Bob Ransford specializes in communications and urban design with over 24 years of industry experience. In his role as a development consultant, Bob focuses on complex urban development and land-use challenges involving a wide range of stakeholders. His work combines effective community engagement and good public process with creative urban design and profitable urban development. Through his work, Bob helps private and public sector clients achieve their urban development objectives, while incorporating smart growth principles.
Bob also works as a journalist, writing a regular bi-weekly column in the Vancouver Sun on urban development and housing issues. His influence on land use is further extended through his long record of community service. He was formerly Commissioner on the City of Vancouver’s Planning Commission and has sat on the City’s Urban Design Panel. Currently, he is a Trustee on the Granville Island Trust.
with Carollyne Conlinn, MBA, MPH, MCC, international executive coach with 30 years creating programs effecting profound change in individuals and organizations.
Is spiritual intelligence the new workplace frontier?
Conversations about emotional intelligence at work are commonplace. While the modern workplace isn’t perfect, most managers strive for balance and fairness. An emotionally intelligent culture, according to this line of thinking, is a healthy culture. But what if emotional intelligence isn’t enough? What if we also need spiritual intelligence in the workplace for truly engaged employees?
To help attendees understand its importance, Carollyne Conlinn of Essential Impact Coaching, starts by defining spiritual intelligence. She outlines its key factors and how to recognize it, both in your self and others. Carollyne then discusses the benefits of spiritual intelligence as well as how to develop a spiritually intelligent culture. Leave this discussion not only understanding what spiritual intelligence is but also why you need to start talking about it in your own workplace.
About Our Speaker: Carollyne Conlinn is an international executive coach. She integrates entrepreneurial expertise with 30 years of corporate experience to create proven programs that effect profound change in individuals and organizations. She is a Master Facilitator of the Legacy Leadership® System that grows leadership capacity. Carollyne also teaches Executive Coaching at Royal Roads University and created part of the core curriculum for the coaching program Carollyne also teaches coaching at Royal Roads University and created part of the core curriculum for the coaching program.
To date, Carollyne has trained over 1000 external coaches and many more leader coaches in organizations. She was recognized for her talent in 2009 when she won Canadian Coach of the Year. With her partners at Essential Impact Coaching, Carollyne focuses on supporting her clients in building coaching cultures that last. Their ability to do this is evident in the success of their clients, with Joey Restaurants winning the 2011 Global Prism Award for their coaching culture.
MELTING ICE, RISING WATER: Adapting to the New Environment
with Deborah Harford,Executive Director of ACT (the Adaptation to Climate Change Team)
How can ethics help us find solutions to climate change?
There is a lot of talk about the impact of climate change. Scientists document the changes, politicians speak about energy, and citizens organize rallies. Though the discussions carry on, action seems to stagnate. Governments are slow to take the lead. This leaves adaptation up to forward thinking business leaders and presents society with new challenges around standards, incentives, policies and financing.
In reaction to these problems, a new organization was created to develop resources for our new world. Deborah Harford, the Executive Director of ACT (the Adaptation to Climate Change Team) will share with the Workplace Centre how ACT is combining research, education, outreach and policy innovation to build solutions. She also reminds us that the ethical and spiritual are essential components of these solutions. Bringing in First Nations values and advice from world faith leaders, Deborah challenges us to accept the realities of our shifting climate and to work together during this time of unprecedented change.
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below.
Climbing the Mountain:
with Samuel Wyatt, Mountaineer
A tale of one man's Everest transformation
When we hear stories of epic adventures, we don’t always hear the side story – the story of the fear and self-doubt overcome in order to scale the mountain. We think the adventurer must possess a natural ability and fearlessness, that to them the peak just isn’t as high. “Not so,” says Sam Wyatt. People who accomplish great things suffer the same setbacks, doubts, and challenges. The difference is that they have learned that so called “failures” are merely experiences on the eternal road of progress, and that through determination and patience, achieving our goals becomes inevitable.
For Sam, meditation has given him the ability to transform his fear and self-doubt. It has proven itself a valuable tool, not just in mountaineering, but also in everyday life. As part of his session, he will challenge attendees to re-think their idea of Everest, not as a once in a lifetime climb but as a daily event. That by focusing on inner progress in their daily lives, on small challenges as well as large, they can also transform their fears. Leave this session not only inspired by Sam’s amazing story, but also with a new joy for life.
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
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About Our Speaker:
Samuel Nirabadhi Wyatt is a Vancouver Realtor with RE/MAX Real Estate Services. Besides his work in real estate, Sam is a lecturer on meditation and an avid mountaineer and outdoor enthusiast. His passion for mountaineering has led him to scale big peaks around the world: Denali in Alaska, Huascuran in Peru, Cho-Oyu in Tibet, and, of course, Mount Everest. Sam is always up for a challenge.
When he is not off scaling a peak, he provides free meditation classes at the Canadian Memorial Centre for Peace. Through his weekly class, he advocates for meditation, sharing its transformative ability with others. His enthusiastic and dynamic approach to life is underpinned by high integrity, honesty and diligence.
with Sandra Garossino,CEO of Intellex Legal Project Management
Should the province embrace gambling as a source of income?
With research showing that more casinos equal more gambling, why did the BC Liberal government embark on a massive expansion of gambling in 2001? This question kicks off the November breakfast session with Sandy Garossino, co-founder of Vancouver Not Vegas. Fast forward to today and the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health finds that approximately 159,000 British Columbians suffer from moderate to severe gambling addictions. This number represents almost 4% of the British Columbia population.
Looking at current government statistics, the province now makes over $1 billion dollars annually from gambling. Is this income worth the social costs? Is it worth the increase in addictive behaviour, with the resulting impact on families and the community? Is it worth giving organized crime a venue to launder money with little police oversight? Does the province truly benefit from expanding gambling as a source of income? Join Sandy as she discusses and explores the ethics of government sponsored gambling by grappling with these difficult questions.
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
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About Our Speaker:
Sandra Garossino began her career as a Crown prosecutor focusing on youth crime and gang activity. As she transitioned into entrepreneurship and eventually business investing and incubating, these early experiences with criminal behaviour left their mark. It was this knowledge that inspired the formation of Vancouver Not Vegas and motivated her opposition to the proposed mega casino in downtown Vancouver.
Currently, Sandy is the CEO of Intellex Legal Project Management, a recent startup company that employs technology innovations and contracted services to drive down legal costs. Besides working to make legal services accessible, Sandy is also active in the arts, in education, in publishing, and in technology. She is truly an engaged citizen, not only believing in social justice, but also in furthering social justice with her actions.
Reminder: Our lunch meetings are now at a new location. _____________________________________
Spirit at Work presents
Thursday, November 15, 2012 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Compassion in Conflict: Transforming Our Villains
with Gary Harper, Principal of Gary Harper and Associates
How does compassion change the spirit of conflict?
We often experience conflict as a clash of wills or a winner take all battle. As familiar (or even comfortable) as we may be with this dynamic, we also know that this approach rarely ends with real resolution. Rather, it locks us into what Gary Harper calls the "Drama Triangle of Conflict", in which we see ourselves as the hero or victim and cast our opponent as the villain. This view of conflict polarizes and creates confrontation rather than collaboration.
In advocating a different approach, Gary asks how compassion could transform conflict? What would happen if we let go of our roles and treated our “adversary” with empathy and curiousity? How would this transform our relationship with conflict? What stops us from bringing compassion to our conflicts? These questions form the foundation of Compassion in Conflict and the resulting discussion may help shed a new light on the villains in your own life.
Date: Thursday, November 15, 2012 -- 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Location: Suite 700 - 1090 West Georgia Street, Vancouver Adler School of Professional Psychology (Southeast corner of Georgia at Thurlow Street)
Cost: Without lunch: $10 With lunch: non-members - $20; members - $15
Lunch: Catered sandwiches, salad, tea and coffee (RSVP requested for food)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
The Relevance of Liberal Humanism: In the University and Society
with Graham Good,Ph.D. Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia
Why does liberal humanism matter?
What exactly is humanism? The same question can be asked of liberalism, a term with even more varied uses. And what do the two terms mean when put together? Join Professor Emeritus Graham Good (UBC, Faculty of English) as he explores the meaning of liberal humanism. His discussion begins by defining several of the core values found in liberal humanism and then outlines some of the attitudes and ideas that, he believes, disregard, oppose or undermine these values.
Drawing on several lines of thought from his book Humanism Betrayed, Good explains the relevance of liberal humanism, both in the University and in the wider society. As we approach the centenary of the birth of Northrop Frye, Canada’s greatest literary critic and self-described "liberal humanist", Good reflects on the resurgence of liberal studies and the renewal of the liberal tradition.
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
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About Our Speaker:
Graham Good Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia, where, before his retirement, he taught English and Comparative Literature. He is the author of Humanism Betrayed, a collection of essays criticizing contemporary literary analysis and defending the use of liberal humanism. Professor Good most recently authored a translation of several works by the poet Rilke entitled, Rilke’s Late Poetry.
Reminder: Our lunch meetings are now at a new location. _____________________________________
Spirit at Work presents
Thursday, October 18, 2012 12:00 - 1:30 pm
The Spirit of Civility: Creating Kind Workplaces
with Ray Williams, President and CEO of Ray Williams Associates
How does incivility impact the workplace?
Eyes roll, mouths whisper, jokes sting - seemingly small acts that over time wear away at the spirit. This is the problem with incivility. In the moment it seems silly to complain, but eventually the workplace is no longer welcoming or inspiring. We start counting the hours on the clock rather than pushing for excellence. But can't we transform a culture of incivility into a workplace of compassion and kindness? Isn't it possible to create workplaces where civility is business as usual?
According to Ray Williams the answer to both questions is yes, it is possible. Ray opens by describing the state of incivility not only in our current organizations, but also in the world at large. He then outlines why we can't allow incivility to continue, and how creating civil organizations will lead to compassionate and kind organizations, organizations where employees are inspired to work. Finally, Ray encourages us to reflect on our own behaviour by discussing how we can all contribute to rekindling civility in our workplaces.
Date: Thursday, October 18, 2012 -- 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Location: Suite 700 - 1090 West Georgia Street, Vancouver Adler School of Professional Psychology (Southeast corner of Georgia at Thurlow Street)
Cost: Without lunch: $10 With lunch: non-members - $20; members - $15
Lunch: Catered sandwiches, salad, tea and coffee (RSVP requested for food)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
Our relationship with the oldest profession is a complex one. In a world where sexuality is comfortably viewed in black and white, prostitution is rife with grey. Are sex workers empowered and independent or vulnerable and necessarily broken? Should society focus on abolition or harm reduction?
Dr. Kate Shannon takes a firm harm reduction stance and recommends legal brothels as a means to providing a safe and healthy workplace for sex workers. Join the conversation as we wrestle with what this means for our society. Are we sanctioning the exploitation of vulnerable populations? Should sex be for sale, and ultimately, whose rights matter most?
Location: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
Cost: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
Option/Price
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About Our Speaker:
Dr. Kate Shannon as Director of the Gender & Sexual Health Initiative at the BC Centre for Excellence and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at UBC, works to support the creation of healthy social policies. Her research underscores the importance of structural interventions, especially when dealing with vulnerable populations.
With experience ranging from maternal health in Bangladesh to sex trade safety in Canada to HIV research in Africa, she is passionate about and committed to women’s health. This passion was acknowledged in 2011 when she received the Peter Lougheed/CIHR New Investigator Salary Award. The award will allow her to continue pursuing her groundbreaking work in the field of sex worker health and safety.
Reminder: Our lunch meetings are at our new location. ___________________________________
Spirit at Work presents
Thursday, September 20, 2012 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
CONNECTING WITH COMPASSION: Rebuilding Our Sense of Community
with Lidia Kemeny,Director at the Vancouver Foundation and President of the Kindness Foundation of Canada
How can the workplace help us connect more with each other?
A recent study by the Vancouver Foundation finds a concerning level of social alienation in metro Vancouver. What concerns people most is a growing isolation and disconnection; the feeling that we increasingly live in silos, separated by ethnicity, culture, language, income, age, and even geography. In the words of one respondent: "We have lost…the community…feeling we had 20 years ago. I'd like to have that back." But how do we re-create this sense of connection? And is work destined to remain a part of the problem, a barrier to connection?
To answer these questions, Lidia Kemeny of the Vancouver Foundation will open with a discussion of their "Connection and Engagement" report. We will use the results of this survey to focus on how we can help build bridges between our various communities — between neighbours and neighbourhoods; between residents of different ages, cultures and backgrounds; between marginalized people and the larger community — with the goal of helping residents of metro Vancouver connect and engage for the greater good. This dialogue is guaranteed to leave you with a greater understanding of why we need to connect with compassion and also excited to reach out more in your own life.
Date: Thursday, September 20, 2012 -- 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Location: Suite 700 - 1090 West Georgia Street, Vancouver Adler School of Professional Psychology (Southeast corner of Georgia at Thurlow Street)
Cost: Without lunch: $10 With lunch: non-members - $20; members - $15
Lunch: Catered sandwiches, salad, tea and coffee (RSVP requested for food)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
Option/Price
Is the demonization of marijuana immoral?
From the 1936 movie Reefer Madness to its denunciation as "demon weed", marijuana has triggered huge socio-cultural fears, and has been accused of corrupting youth and destroying careers & relationships. But in today's world, with proven recognition of its benefits in easing the pain of cancer and other medical conditions, does the drug still deserve prohibition? Is keeping pot illegal unethical?
Join Vancouver Sun columnist Ian Mulgrew as he outlines why, in his words, many "smart people" (e.g. medical health officers, four former B.C. Attorneys-General and Vancouver mayors, and the federal Liberal Party) have called for the legalization of pot. He'll discuss recent developments regarding this issue and draw on material from his 2005 book, Bud Inc.
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
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About Our Speaker:
Ian Mulgrew is Legal Affairs Columnist at The Vancouver Sun, where he has worked as a senior reporter since 1997. He also writes book reviews for The Toronto Star, and his magazine journalism has appeared in publications from Asia Week to Saturday Night.
Ian's latest book Bud Inc. (Random House 2005) covers the controversy of marijuana prohibition in B.C. and Canada. He has written three other books: Who Killed Cindy James? (Bantam-Seal 1990), Final Payoff: The True Cost of Convicting Clifford Robert Olson (Bantam-Seal Books 1989), and Unholy Terror: The Sikhs and International Terrorism (Key Porter Books 1988)... [read more]
Reminder: Our lunch meetings are now at a new location. _____________________________________
Spirit at Work presents
Thursday, June 21, 2012 (12:00 - 1:30 pm)
SHAME IN THE WORKPLACE: How do we shift to greater openness and connectedness?
A panel discussion with: Larry Axelrod, PhD, Dean of the Adler School of Professional Psychology (Vancouver campus); Gloria McArter, PhD, Spirit-based Counselling Therapist; Brian Fraser, PhD, Lead Provocateur at Jazzthink and Presbyterian minister.
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Do you feel supported and loved at work?
Whether it's through a bullying boss or a malicious colleague who routinely debases others, shame and shaming appear far too often in today's workplaces. For those on the receiving end -- and even the shamers themselves -- how do we identify, address and heal this sickness of the soul and its resulting sense of inferiority and incompetence?
Our dynamic panel, comprised of three professionals well-versed in handling toxic behaviour, will discuss a variety of ways to transform a shame-based workplace into one full of spirit and openness. How do we replace criticism, ridicule and rejection with mutual respect, dignity, and love of self and others? The panelists will reveal work situations that affirm connectedness and appreciation: ones that encourage and support the full range of human experience from joy and contentment to sadness and fear.
Location: Suite 700 - 1090 West Georgia Street, at Thurlow, Vancouver Adler School of Professional Psychology (Diagonally across from the Terasen Centre)
Cost: Without lunch: $10 With lunch: non-members - $20; members - $15
Lunch: Catered sandwiches, salad, tea and coffee (RSVP requested for food)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
Ethics for Breakfast presents
Wednesday, May 9, 2012 7:15 - 8:30 am
Ethics and “The New Abnormal”: How can we best respond to today’s unprecedented weather and global events?
with Jim Stephenson, Budgeting Systems Consultant, Trained Presenter of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, and former Federal Green Party candidate _____________________________
How hopeful do you feel about the future of our planet and younger generations?
More frequently than ever, our current newscasts use the term "unprecedented" when referring to extreme weather conditions, political turmoil, and financial collapse around the globe. It's easy to point blame at the unethical actions and policies of powerful bodies, from banks to governments, but how can we reduce the magnitude of both the causes and consequences of such events?
Join "green" thinker and business analyst Jim Stephenson as he explores some causes of today's calamities and predicts what else might happen in future decades. Although he thinks that we will face strange environmental surprises in the 21st century (what he calls "the new abnormal"), he's also oriented to present-day solutions rather than doomsday gloom.
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
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About Our Speaker:
Jim Stephenson is a computer consultant who served as a Green Party candidate in BC in the 2006 and 2008 federal elections. In December 2006, he travelled to Nashville, Tenn. to train with Al Gore to present An Inconvenient Truth slide show. Since then, he has presented the show to 50 groups. His involvement in environmental issues dates back to the 1970s, when he worked at the Westwater Research Centre at the University of BC and edited a book about applying economic incentives to control pollution.
Jim's past experience includes First Nations economic development (Haida and Cowichan bands), and projects for BC Hydro, BC Gas, and WorkSafe BC. He has also consulted for corporate clients in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. As a professor of business at UBC and Simon Fraser University... [read more]
Reminder: Our lunch meetings are now at a new location. _____________________________________
Spirit at Work presents
Thursday, May 17, 2012 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
COMPASSION IN THE WORKPLACE: Are we listening to spirit?
with Alisdair Smith, ABA, MA, Chair Greater Vancouver Compassion Network, and Business Chaplain, Christ Church Cathedral
How easily do we dismiss the suffering of others?
Some people view compassion as just another buzz word, an abstract notion that rarely enters their daily lives - especially not their workplace. What is our society missing as a result? How does compassion intersect with our work and spiritual lives? How can we make room for both in our homes and at work?
Alisdair Smith, chair of the Greater Vancouver Compassion Network, believes that compassion is absolutely vital for the long-term sustainability of any organization. Join us as he outlines how compassion is the key ingredient to creating healthy leadership and productivity. Without it, he warns, we might as well get ready for a long cycle of "gold rushes" and economic disasters.
Location: Suite 700 - 1090 West Georgia Street, at Thurlow, Vancouver Adler School of Professional Psychology (Diagonally across from the Terasen Centre)
Cost: Without lunch: $10 With lunch: non-members - $20; members - $15
Lunch: Catered sandwiches, salad, tea and coffee (RSVP requested for food)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
Ethics in Infancy: Are Babies Born With a Moral Compass?
with J. Kiley Hamlin, PhD, Canada Research Chair and Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of British Columbia
What adults, leaders or peers most shaped your ethical choices as a child?
When making judgments about what is "good" and "bad," most adults rely on some mix of cultural influences, personal experience, complex reasoning and their own developmental changes. But what about infants and toddlers? At a pre-verbal stage, do they have a sense of who is ethical and who isn’t?
Yes, according to a groundbreaking study by J. Kiley Hamlin, an assistant professor in Psychology at the University of British Columbia. Her recent research shows that children as young as eight months prefer those who help rather than those who harm. Her child study-subjects also demonstrated a desire to punish wrongdoers and help those who have helped others. Join us as Dr. Hamlin reveals her surprising research results... [read more]
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
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About Our Speaker:
J. Kiley Hamlin, PhD teaches cognitive development and psychology in infancy at the University of British Columbia. In her research, Dr. Hamlin examines our tendency to judge actions as good or bad, as deserving reward or punishment, and as morally praiseworthy or blameworthy. She also asks: "How do our social and moral evaluations influence our understanding of others' future acts, their mental states and underlying personalities?" To study the origins of these processes, she uses preverbal infants and toddlers, who have not yet been influenced by language, inhibitions or culture.
Last year, Dr. Hamlin began her role as Canada Research Chair in developmental psychology through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada... [read more]
Reminder: Our lunch meetings are now at a new location. _____________________________________
Spirit at Work presents
Thursday, April 19, 2012 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
The Immortal Spirit of Shakespeare: How he inspires the modern soul
with Christopher Gaze, Artistic Director, "Bard on the Beach" Shakespeare Festival
What qualities have kept Shakespeare’s work so popular for centuries?
Many generations of schoolchildren have recited Hamlet's famous soliloquy, "To be or not to be..." For centuries, Shakespeare's plays have inspired theatre troupes around the world. And today, almost 400 years since the Bard's death, his characters & story lines appear in numerous films and satires, his words are quoted by leading public figures, and his collected works form the basis for countless courses and theses.
Join Christopher Gaze as he shares how Shakespeare's work continues to inspire, educate and impact our everyday lives. And he'll reveal how we can use the 'spirit of the Bard' as a source of creative power for many years to come.
Location: Suite 700 - 1090 West Georgia Street, at Thurlow, Vancouver Adler School of Professional Psychology (Diagonally across from the Terasen Centre)
Cost: Without lunch: $10 With lunch: non-members - $20; members - $15
Lunch: Catered sandwiches, salad, tea and coffee (RSVP requested for food)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
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March 2012
Ethics for Breakfast presents
Wednesday, March 14, 2011 7:15 - 8:30 am
Ethics and Personal Responsibility: Why is society's moral code failing us?
with Larry Axelrod, PhD,Dean, Vancouver campus, Adler School of Professional Psychology
How do you justify your actions... when they stray from your own moral code?
We’ve all heard about the Golden Rule and grown up with some notion of right and wrong. Then why don't the basic ethics upheld in our society, which construct our "moral compass," stop us from acting in ways that most of us recognize as immoral? Similarly, many people act in unethical or harmful ways (perhaps we all do at times), yet our tendency is still to justify the “rightness” of our behaviour.
Perhaps the problem lies in our moral code itself, not simply in our failure to follow it. Join Larry Axelrod as he reveals the inadequacy of the moral lessons we learned in childhood... [read more]
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** We continue to accept cash and cheques for events. However, we now take Credit Card payments only through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
Reminder: Our lunch meetings are now at a new location. _____________________________________
Spirit at Work presents
Thursday, February 16, 2012 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Spirit and Money: We can make every dollar our legacy
with Joel Solomon, Chairman, Renewal2 Investment Fund & President, Renewal Partners
Does your relationship to money reflect your deepest values?
As one of the most powerful symbols in our culture, money has inspired many conflicting and evocative terms: filthy rich, the almighty dollar, the haves and have-nots, poverty consciousness, prosperity, abundance and streets paved with gold. How do these attitudes shape the way that we earn, spend, and worry about money? Is there a correlation between our spiritual self and the money we have?
Join Joel Solomon as he reflects on how we can use our relationship to money to create a living map of our deepest values... [read more]
Date: Thursday, February 16, 2012 -- 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Location: Suite 700 - 1090 West Georgia Street, at Thurlow, Vancouver Adler School of Professional Psychology (Diagonally across from the Terasen Centre)
Cost: Without lunch: $10 With lunch: non-members - $20; members - $15
Lunch: Catered sandwiches, salad, tea and coffee (RSVP requested for food)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** As of January 1st, we will only be accepting Credit Card payments through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
The Ethics of Human Enhancement: How far will technology go to boost our brain power?
with Mark Wexler, Endowed Professor of Business Ethics, Beedie School of Business, SFU
Do human enhancements reduce our authenticity and dignity?
Do you support genetic intervention techniques to make children smarter and healthier? Would you take pills to improve your memory? What about capsules guaranteed to make you happier? Human enhancement is the use of medicine, technology and techniques to improve human capacities beyond what most people would consider normal or healthy.
Today, the private sector develops and markets non-therapeutic goods and services to boost human performance in many arenas, from the physical and sexual to the cognitive. What ethical issues arise from the sale and use of theseenhancers? What risks and consequences might we face from more powerful human enhancement methods... [read more]
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Board Room Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
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About Our Speaker: Mark N. Wexler is Endowed Professor in Business Ethics and Management at Simon Fraser University's Beedie School of Business, and president of The Perimeter Group of Ethics Consultants and trainers. For over three decades, he has studied the ethical challenges that people face in the business world and the human use (and abuse) of humans in highly competitive contexts.
Mark is a four-time teaching award winner and a recipient of the PricewaterhouseCoopers "Leadership in Management Education" Award. He was the Astra-Zeneca ethics scholar-in-residence at McGill University and a visiting professor at the Universities of Michigan, Macquarie (Sydney, Australia) and ESCM (Tours/France)... [read more]
Reminder: Our lunch meetings are now at a new location. _____________________________________
Spirit at Work presents
Thursday, January 19, 2012 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Zen and the Art of Chocolate-Making
with Greg Hook, Master Chocolatier and Owner, Chocolate Arts
What work brings passion and meaning to your life?
For many people, chocolate represents pure bliss. Is it those pheromones that kick in when eating it, the same chemicals released when we’re in love? Or is it the decadent smooth taste? What if you could make and taste chocolate every day -- how would that affect the way you look at your life and work?
Master chocolatier Greg Hook, owner of the successful Vancouver niche business Chocolate Arts, has created his own chocolate nirvana; he calls his work process part of the “zen and art of chocolate-making.” Come and hear Greg share what makes his business work for him; what brings him flow, passion, love & meaning. And join us in discussing how we can all bring more of that to our own work in the coming year. Free samples provided!
Date: Thursday, January 19, 2012 -- 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Location: Suite 700 - 1090 West Georgia Street, at Thurlow, Vancouver Adler School of Professional Psychology (Diagonally across from the Terasen Centre)
Cost: Without lunch: $10 With lunch: non-members - $20; members - $15
Lunch: Catered sandwiches, salad, tea and coffee (RSVP requested for food)
**NOTE about Credit Card Payments:** As of January 1st, we will only be accepting Credit Card payments through PayPal. These must be made in Advance of events, and will be non-refundable. Please use our Payment Button below. Thanks!
The Gift of Awe: Deepen Your Relationship to Life, Work & Ethics
with John Anderson, MA, RPsych, Senior Psychologist and Therapeutic Innovator, Vancouver, BC
Do you feel awe in daily life? If so, how has it changed you?
"Awe is the key to making a commitment to deep change." -- Dr. K. Schneider, 2009
Most of us have had at least some powerful encounters with nature that evoke reverence and awe for all that is. They often feel too deep for words. But that doesn’t stop them from influencing our lives. Such moments of humble wonder can serve as compelling wake-up calls that help us discover the aspects of life and forms of service that we care about most deeply.
Once we believe we are doing meaningful work, it is only natural to further deepen our capacity for awe-inspired ethical insights and work practices. We can do this by savouring every opportunity to be freshly moved by our amazement, finding ways to build the best hope for all to find common ground within even the most extreme differences... [read more]
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
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About Our Speaker: John Anderson is a Vancouver-based senior psychologist who, during his training in clinical & organizational psychology in the 1960s, dedicated himself to developing the most natural ways to maximize people's strengths. He based his work on research that pointed to key factors that create a fully engaged personal, professional or corporate life. Since then, he has frequently experienced a sense of awe about his endless learning opportunities and has acquired skills to spot & develop others' talents & capacities for curiosity, mutual trust, commitment, and collaboration.
While heading an outpatient clinic in Vancouver, John developed a "film therapy" group & other therapeutic innovations related to replacing control with curiosity. Eventually, he developed a busy private tri-city practice and also conducted "burnout-proofing" & resilience workshops for people from the Canadian Labour Congress to management, health, psychiatry, dental, child welfare, correctional & religious professionals... [read more]
Ethics and Corruption: How can industry protect itself?
with Robert Hanlon, PhD, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Asian Research, UBC
What are the risks and moral implications of bribery in foreign markets?
In today's new and emerging economies, Canadian businesses that operate abroad can face business threats associated with corruption. Yet many are unprepared to handle these challenges. The World Bank has classified corruption as the number one barrier to development. What does this mean for Canadian companies that source their products from overseas? How can a business protect itself with strong compliance procedures yet still remain competitive?
Join Robert Hanlon as he discusses strategies of corporate compliance and how promoting ethics in the workplace can reduce a firm's exposure to corruption. He'll also outline the ethical dimensions of bribery while providing an update on the Canadian government's latest efforts to hold business accountable to corrupt practices abroad.
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
___________________________________
About Our Speaker: Dr. Robert Hanlon is a post-doctoral research fellow at University of B.C.'s Institute of Asian Research as well as a lecturer in political science and international studies at Simon Fraser University. He has a PhD from City University of Hong Kong and has researched corruption and human rights in Asia for the past seven years.
His findings have appeared throughout scholarly publications and media, including a book on human rights and rule of law in Sri Lanka. He is currently revising a new book on private-sector bribery in China, Cambodia, and Thailand. He has also researched corruption while at the University of Oxford and Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok... [read more]
Note: Our lunch meetings are now at a new location. ________________________________________
Spirit at Work presents
Thursday, Nov 17, 2011 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Trust Life: The Inner Work of Transformation
with Kate Sutherland, community and organizational development consultant, & author of Make Light Work: 10 Tools for Inner Knowing. ______________________________
What helps you to trust life?
We all choose whether to trust life or not. This decision, too often unconscious, profoundly shapes our lives. When we choose to trust life, we become more attuned to our inner signals and knowingness. We can find these everywhere, as gut feelings, the still small voice within, and nudges from whatever catches our attention. This inner knowing serves as our reliable and utterly trustworthy guide.
Join Kate Sutherland as she shares how all of us, when we choose again and again to trust life, can create joyous, aligned, effective and powerful lives. We show up authentically and take risks. However, as life calls us beyond our comfort zone, we also often ignore the signals, especially if we have felt burned by results in the past.
Life is always calling us forward. Each of us has work to do. To fulfill your destiny, how will you keep re-choosing to trust life?
NEW Location: Suite 700 - 1090 West Georgia Street, at Thurlow, Vancouver Adler School of Professional Psychology (Diagonally across from the Terasen Centre)
Cost: Without lunch: $10 With lunch: non-members - $20; members - $15
Lunch: Catered sandwiches, salad, tea and coffee (RSVP requested for food)
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About our Speaker:
Kate Sutherland is a community and organizational development consultant in Vancouver, BC. She specializes in designing and facilitating custom-made processes that transform how organizations, programs and communities function. She has worked with all levels of government on dozens of multi-stakeholder initiatives, and on a variety of social policy issues including homelessness, early child development, women’s safety, urban design, food security, sustainability, social economy, and community economic development.
Kate has a passion for helping individuals and organizations find greater alignment with their core purpose, and for creating dynamic, high-trust environments that support groups to be generative, effective and fun. She teaches in the Community Development program at Langara College Continuing Studies. She is currently writing a book, Make Light Work in Groups, to introduce ten frameworks for how groups can be more effective. This new book will serve as a companion to Kate’s earlier book, Make Light Work: 10 Tools for Inner Knowing.
The Ethics of Business Success: You Can’t Separate Values from Economics
with J. Paul Stevenson CEO of Sego! Resources Inc. and President, Vancouver Métis Community Association ___________________________________________________
What business values guide the mining industry as a whole?
When it comes to the ethics and business values of the resource-extraction industry, mining has a less-than-squeaky-clean image. Do some mining companies say one thing publicly, then do the opposite? How accountable are they to their shareholders? And are profits the sole motive for most executives in the industry? When a leader, who equates ethics with sound business sense, stands out, the results can change working relationships on many levels.
Join Métis mining CEO J. Paul Stevenson as he talks about how ethical considerations form the basis of any successful resource project. In his view, ethics lead to profits: you can’t have one without the other. He’ll also share tales from his more than four decades in the mining industry, from summers as a prospector and claim staker to full-time corporate leader.
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Board Room Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
___________________________________
About Our Speaker: J. Paul Stevenson is CEO of Sego! Resources and has worked in mineral exploration since 1965. Former CEO of Gillian Mines and Pacific Booker Minerals, he is one of the few Métis CEOs in the mining industry. He was a member of the B.C. Premier’s Mining Initiatives Committee, which resulted in the Mining Rights Amendment Act. He actively helps mining companies open dialogues with First Nations groups, and agreements between his companies (such as Sego! Resources) and the Upper Similkameen Indian Band are considered models for the industry. J. Paul has been profiled in numerous media including The Wall Street Journal, and has been published in The Globe and Mail... [read more] click here to RSVP or call: 604-685-6560
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Note: Our lunch meetings are now at a new location. ___________________________________
Spirit at Work presents
Thursday, October 20, 2011 -- 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Aging, Retirement & Spirituality at Work
with Shae Hadden and Andrew Mackey, Co-founders, 02E Older to Elder _________________________________________
How can organizations retain "spirit" in the workplace as employees age and retire?
As increasingly more people are laid off or retire in the next few years, what will it take for companies and organizations to sustain their core values and corporate culture? Who will provide the inspiration that retiring employees provided for corporate excellence, spirit and non-monetary values at work? [read more]
Join Shae Hadden and Andrew Mackey, Co-founders of 02E Older to Elder, as they lead a discussion of:
• What role is there for spirit in the workplace? What might be lost if it disappears? • If Elders do not inspire excellence, corporate values and a sense of inclusiveness in the social history of an organization, who will? • How might a company retain its connection to its tradition of inspired work?
NEW Location: Suite 700 - 1090 West Georgia Street, at Thurlow, Vancouver Adler School of Professional Psychology (Diagonally across from the Terasen Centre)
Cost: Without lunch: $10 With lunch: non-members - $20; members - $15
Lunch: Catered sandwiches, salad, tea and coffee (RSVP requested for food)
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About Shae Hadden and Andrew Mackey:
As co-founder of 02E Older to Elder, Shae Hadden believes that everyone has the potential to be an Elder, to share the best of who they are and what they know in a way that brings out the best in others. As a workshop leader, she helps older adults realize their potential and create a fulfilling life. Her clients consist of senior executives, experts and consultants who strive to create a thriving, just and sustainable future through their organization or industry... [read more]
02E Older to Elder co-founder Andrew Mackey applies his background in intercultural communications and adult education to convey that everyone can achieve self-actualization -- at any age -- if they walk with others on the same path. Since 1978, through his firm Andrew Mackey + Associates, Andrew has managed a successful training and... [read more]
Ethics and the Military: Values & Responsibilities in Times of War
with Col. R. J. Lesperance, LL.B, Deputy Judge Advocate General, Canadian Armed Forces Reserves
Do military personnel have special ethical responsibilities as professionals, especially during armed conflicts and war?
Many people perform ethically at their jobs, but how many would be willing to put themselves last, perhaps risk their life, for the sake of an employer's mission? Military personnel do this every day while in combat.
Join Col. Bob Lesperance as he outlines the four key values and duties of military personnel: service to Canada before oneself (the professional code is "mission, own troops, self"); loyalty (to the state); integrity (leaders and commanders must not abuse the power they wield over subordinates); and courage (besides enduring physical hardship and danger, having the will and resolve to do what is ethically right and not to quit). [read more]
LOCATION: BC HYDRO Building 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver 2nd Floor, Auditorium Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby
COST: Members - $7.00 Non-Members - $10.00 - muffins, tea and coffee included - RSVP requested (if possible)
___________________________________
About Our Speaker: Bob Lesperance, LL.B and B.C.L., is a Colonel and Reserve legal officer in the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Canadian Armed Forces, and a partner in a private law firm where he works in environmental and commercial litigation.
Bob began his service with Canada’s military forces in 1969. In June 2009, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and holds the position of Deputy Judge Advocate General, Reserves. In 2008/2009, he was briefly deployed to Afghanistan as a senior legal adviser to the Canadian Forces Task Force Commander in Kandahar. A former Adjunct Professor at the UBC Law Faculty (where he taught a course in the law of armed conflict), Bob now teaches leadership and ethics for the Canadian Forces College, Joint Command Staff Program through the Royal Military College... [read more]
Note: This month's lunch meeting is on the 4th Thursday of the month and at a new location.
Spirit at Work presents
Thursday, Sept 22, 2011 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Spirit and Disability: Finding a calm centre after "catastrophe"
with Bonnie Sherr Klein, Disability Rights Activist and Director of Award-winning National Film Board Documentaries ______________________________
In times of peace and crisis, how do we identify who we are, both to ourselves and to others?
Twenty-four years ago, at the age of 47 and at the height of her professional life, Bonnie Sherr Klein survived a "catastrophic" brainstem stroke which left her with significant disabilities. She also lost a large part of her identity, which had been her work as a documentary filmmaker and feminist activist.
Over the years, she slowly learned to define herself through the art of "being" rather than "doing", though everything conspires against maintaining this state of consciousness and serenity. Join Bonnie as she describes her painful and fulfilling process of self-discovery and rediscovery of... [read more]
Change in Location: Suite 700 - 1090 West Georgia Street, at Thurlow, Vancouver (Diagonally across from the Terasen Centre)
Cost: Without lunch: $10 With lunch: non-members - $20; members - $15
Lunch: Catered sandwiches, salad, tea and coffee (RSVP requested for food)
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About Bonnie Sherr Klein:
After surviving a brainstem stroke in 1987, Bonnie Sherr Klein wrote the book Slow Dance: A Story of Stroke, Love, and Disability (Vintage Canada 1997); co-founded the KickstART Festivals of Disability Arts and Culture in 1998; and directed & appeared in the 71-minute National Film Board (NFB) documentary SHAMELESS: The Art of Disability in 2006.
Previously, Bonnie directed numerous award-winning documentary films for the National Film Board including SPEAKING OUR PEACE: A Film about Women, Peace, and Power (1985), and the infamous NOT A LOVE STORY: A Film about Pornography (1981). Today, she continues to write and speak about feminism and disability rights. [read more]
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013 
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2011
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2011
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Wednesday, Jan 11, 2011
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Wednesday, Dec 14, 2011
Wednesday, Nov 9, 2011
Thursday, Nov 17, 2011
Wednesday, Sept 14, 2011
Thursday, Sept 22, 2011