Welcome to 6 Degrees Citizen Space 2017, where we ease you in with a beautiful citizenship ceremony hosted by our own Institute for Canadian Citizenship. After that though, get ready to think, engage, challenge and be challenged.

Before Citizen Space, consider attending one of Block by Block’s Public Block Parties in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver on Sunday, Sept. 24. Block by Block is an initiative of 6 Degrees Junior Fellow Gracia Dyer Jalea. It is a national, youth-led participatory, multimedia project that engages the public in a dialogue around the impact local communities have in the lives of newcomers.

The Institute for Canadian Citizenship’s community citizenship ceremonies are a celebration of Canada’s newest citizens, and offer unique opportunities for new citizens and community members to reflect on Canadian citizenship. Each ICC community citizenship ceremony includes signature ICC roundtables, a citizenship ceremony, and a reception.

The Leadership Lunch for 6 Degrees Youth Initiatives combines remarkable speakers with great food and conversation. This year’s lunch will feature Tyler Brûlé, arguably Canada’s most admired designer, as well as the Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin and the Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson, two of our nation’s most distinguished female leaders.

Held in the elegant Baillie Court at the AGO, this event showcases the 6 Degrees Junior Fellowship Program, 6 Degrees Young Advisors, as well as other youth-driven cohorts.

12:00 p.m. Registration

Does Democracy Have a Future? Moral and Political Argument in the Age of Trump
What ails democracy, and what can be done about it? Do the racial divisions revealed in Charlottesville and the meanness of politics today suggest that democratic norms are at a breaking point? Join “rock-star moralist” and “world’s most relevant living philosopher” Michael Sandel for a lively discussion of some of the hardest questions we face. Since 2000, the LB Lecture has gathered Canadians to reflect on democracy, citizenship and the public good.

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Charlie Foran, Margaret Atwood, Regina Catrambone, Marcelo Ebrard, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Bernhard Schlink

2016 was the year of walls. Hard to miss the external ones, often newly constructed or noisily resurrected. But invisible barriers, the taller, more insidious kind, have also gone back up – or they’ve been there all along. Except now those walls are being rendered visible by groups traditionally kept marginal by them. Forces of disruption and social change speak truth to the power of barriers in our time. But can they actually bring any down?

8:00-8:45 am: Registration

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Power Of Images
Coffeehouse Session
This Is Not A Game: Forced To Flee (MSF Canada)
Closed Shops: Opening Canada’s Legal Profession To Foreign-Educated Lawyers (CIGI)

12:30: Lunch

3:30-5:00 pm

Two Ships (Kent Monkman)
All Of Us: What We Mean When We Talk About Inclusion (RBC)
Innovation And Entrepreneurship: Powered By New Canadians, Fuelled By Youth (Ryerson/SSHRC)

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John Ralston Saul, Nadine Caron, Marie-Josée Parent, Ahmad Danny Ramadan, Niigaan Sinclair, Fabrice Vil

Many people have deep roots in a place. Others are more recently settled. Canada is home to Indigenous peoples and settlers, along with a dynamic third partner: new citizens, nearly a quarter of a million each year. They bring their stories, identities, obligations and allegiances. Reconciliation is a shared project and responsibility. In Canada and elsewhere, bridges between Indigenous peoples and newcomers – groups with natural affinities – need to be identified and built. How do we foster the right welcome amongst all residents of Turtle Island?

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6 Degrees is bringing Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow to Toronto, offering an advance screening of the new documentary for 6 Degrees Presents, a free, ticketed evening of culture amid 6 Degrees Citizen Space. The film was selected for its powerful alignment with this year’s themes of Walls, Bridges and Homes.

TICKETS COMING SOON

The Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson, Kiku Adatto, Yannis Behrakis, Sunny Bergman, Hadeel Ibrahim, and Wadah Khanfar

Where or even what is home? The vast majority of humans now reside in cities, and many of us have changed towns, cities, and nations to find better lives. In Toronto, the most diverse city on the planet, an internet connection “back home” can be as essential to well-being as a neighbour next door. We all long for a place called home. What isn’t so certain is whether this can any longer simply be a roof and four walls, address and postal code. How does belonging take root in 21^st century lives?

8:00-8:45 am: Registration

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How do conversations, and the ideas emerging from them, become concrete solutions and calls to action? How, too, do we ensure that everyone at 6 Degrees gets to contribute? For our final conversation, we leave the circle open and invite everyone in the space to work together to frame what we’ve learned over the course of our three days, and to give shape to our outcomes.

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The 2017 Adrienne Clarkson Prize for Global Citizenship is being awarded to the renowned artist, activist, and visionary, Ai Weiwei. The marquee event at 6 Degrees, the Adrienne Clarkson Prize is awarded annually to a leader whose life has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to the ideals of belonging and inclusion. Through words, actions and results, this individual has encouraged thought and dialogue, approaches and strategies that strive to remove barriers, change attitudes, and reinforce the principles of tolerance and respect.

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