TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

In a world marked by conflict, inequality, climate crisis, and rising polarization, the promise of human rights can feel distant and sometimes impossible.  But for Alex Neve, that promise is not an outdated ideal; it is a call to action that still matters deeply, and urgently.

A lawyer, educator, and internationally respected human rights advocate, Neve has spent more than three decades working to protect humanity’s most basic freedoms.  He served as Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada from 2000-20, leading or participating in more than 40 research and advocacy missions worldwide - from Indigenous communities in Canada to Guantanamo Bay and beyond.

Neve’s work has shaped national and international debates on refugee protection, Indigenous rights, gender equality, corporate accountability, climate justice, and the rule of the law.   He has taught international human rights law as a professor, served on Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board, and regularly appears before parliamentary committees and UN bodies.

An Officer of the Order of Canada and recipient of multiple honorary doctorates, Neve was selected as the CBC Massey Lecturer in 2025, exploring why human rights matter more than ever and how we have fallen short of that promise.  His book ‘Universal:  Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World’ (House of Anansi Press Inc, 2025) explores how we can fulfil the promise that human rights are inherent.

Please join the Salt Spring Forum and Alex Neve as we explore the question at the heart of Neve’s work: if human rights are universal, how do we make them real for everyone, everywhere?

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

During this time of global crisis, few Canadians have had a closer view of the world’s faultlines than Bob Rae. The former Ambassador to the United Nations spent the past five years at the very heart of global diplomacy, where some of the most consequential decisions affecting humanity are made.

Bob Rae brought four decades of hard-fought political experience to the United Nations. He’d been an NDP Member of Parliament, the Premier of Ontario, and the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He’d also done important work on Indigenous issues and human rights, giving him a rare blend of moral clarity and political realism.

Bob Rae represented Canada at the United Nations through the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. Again and again, his principled voice was heard in the highest corridors of power, helping Canada make a difference on the world stage.

Please join the Salt Spring Forum in an informed, sobering but ultimately optimistic conversation with one of Canada’s greatest statesmen, the remarkable, irrepressible Bob Rae.