THE Thakore Charitable Foundation and Institute for the Humanities and J.S. Woodsworth Chair in the Humanities at Simon Fraser University (SFU), with support from W.A.C. Bennett Library, have announced Dr. David Suzuki, famed Canadian scientist, broadcaster, author, activist and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, as this year’s Thakore Visiting Scholar Award recipient.
Suzuki is one of Canada’s best-known public intellectuals, a world leader in sustainable ecology, and has received numerous awards for his work, including a UNESCO prize for science and a United Nations Environment Program medal. He is also a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Due to COVID restrictions, this year’s award presentation will be hosted virtually, and in lieu of the Gandhi Commemorative Lecture, the Institute for the Humanities will showcase Suzuki and 2020–21 J.S. Woodsworth Resident Scholar and former NDP MP Svend Robinson in a spirited and freewheeling online conversation covering a range of topics including climate change, Indigenous knowledge, civil disobedience and racial violence.
A 30-minute video of Svend Robinson’s conversation with David Suzuki will drop on the Gandhi Jayanti website on October 2 at 5 p.m.
A one-minute teaser video: https://youtu.be/
The Thakore Visiting Scholar Award has been awarded annually since 1991 at Simon Fraser University. It honours individuals who have devoted their lives to “creativity, commitment and a deep concern for truth in public life, which includes but is not limited to, showing the connection between academic values and critical public spirit.”
Each year, a remarkable individual, whose life and work embodies Mahatma Gandhi’s principals of social justice, non-violence, environmental conservation, conflict resolution and world peace, is honoured at SFU with the award. The recipient also gives the Gandhi Commemorative Lecture at the Institute for the Humanities. Previous Thakore Visiting Scholar Award recipients include Ovide Mercredi, Thomas Berger, Jean Augustine and Lloyd Axworthy.
For further details on the Thakore Visiting Scholar Award, Mahatma Gandhi Student Award and Gandhi Jayanti, visit http://gandhijayanti.com
