Award-winning columnist and author Roy MacGregor shared his perspectives and stories on Canada and the multi-faceted Canadian identity as a special guest in the Father Edgar Thivierge Speaker Series on September 10. Mr. MacGregor provided an insightful and entertaining presentation on Canada based on his experiences of Canada, its contradictions and identity and his many years of visiting, reporting on and learning about Canada from coast to coast to coast. Mr. MacGregor focused on “resourcefulness” as a key aspect of Canadian identity, and also the notion that we are more Canadian – and united – when away from home.
The lecture was followed by a lively question-and-answer session with the audience. In response to a question, Mr. MacGregor, who is also an acclaimed sportswriter who has received many awards for his hockey books, gave his prediction on which countries would reach the medal podium in hockey at the Sochi Olympics: Russia, U.S.A, and Canada.
About the speaker:
Author of nearly 40 books, Mr. MacGregor was made an Officer in the Order of Canada in 2005. The Order of Canada citation called him “one of our most gifted storytellers… renowned for evoking the subtle nuances of our Canadian identity in his columns and books.” Mr. MacGregor’s many books include A Life in the Bush, winner of the U.S. Rutstrum Award for Best Wilderness Book and the CAA Award for Biography, and the best-seller, Canadians: A Portrait of A Country and Its People. His highly-praised political book, Chief, examines the James Bay Cree’s struggle against the James Bay hydro-electric project.
Mr. MacGregor has won numerous awards for his journalism. He is a regular columnist with the The Globe and Mail who has also worked for the National Post, the Ottawa Citizen, Maclean’s, and the Toronto Star, including many years covering Parliament Hill.
About the Father Edgar Thivierge Speaker Series:
The series provides an opportunity to learn about the historic contexts that shape Canada with the support of the Father Edgar Thivierge Chair in Business History at the Telfer School of Management held by Professor Cheryl S. McWatters. Past speakers in the series were the Right Honourable Paul Martin, Dr. Dilfuza Kasimova of Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo and Dr. Frank Tough of the University of Alberta.
The Thivierge Chair was created in 2011 thanks to an anonymous donation to the Telfer School. The Chair has enabled Dr. McWatters to develop of new curricula for students to add historical context to their exploration of management and to lead a research program in Canadian business history as it applies to management in the private, public and non-profit sectors.
