Where the Light Gets In - Why Canada’s Global Engagement Matters by Bob Rae

Join MISC for a lecture by Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, Bob Rae, titled Where the Light Gets In - Why Canada’s Global Engagement Matters on Monday, October 6th, 2025, 4 p.m. at the Mount Royal Center, 2200 Mansfield St.

Abstract:

We are living through a time of profound global disruption—marked by inequality, climate change, conflict, and uncertainty. Yet within this turbulence lie opportunities for leadership, dialogue, and renewal. Canada’s engagement with the world is shaped by its history, diversity, and values. How we can respond to global challenges with purpose: promoting peace, defending human rights, and building sustainable societies. In difficult times, it is often where the cracks appear that the light gets in.

The talk will be followed by a Q&A. This event is free and open to the public.

For more information about MISC and our events, please visit the MISC website.

Bob Rae is the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York. He served as Premier of Ontario from 1990–1995, interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2011–2013 and was appointed as Canada’s Special Envoy to Myanmar (2017) and Canada’s Special Envoy on Humanitarian and Refugee Issues (2020). From 1996 to 2008, he was a partner at Goodmans LLP and wrote government reports on the Air India bombing and higher education in Ontario. He also served as Chair of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Conservatory of Music, the Institute for Research in Public Policy and the Forum of Federations. Mr. Rae taught law and public policy at the University of Toronto and in the VicOne programme at Victoria College, and was a partner and senior counsel to the law firm OKT LLP from 2014 to 2020, specializing in indigenous law and constitutional issues. Bob Rae is a Privy Councillor, a Companion of the Order of Canada, and a member of the Order of Ontario.

Host or Publisher McGill Institute for the Study of Canada