The Vietnam War ended 50 years ago. In the 1990s a small group of extraordinary Canadian scientists played an important role in bringing to light the overwhelming environmental and human health harms of the wartime use of Agent Orange. There is a strong Salt Spring connection to this story. The Forum has the opportunity to host a reunion of these scientists at a speaker event at Beaver Point Hall on November 29.

 Chris Hatfield, who sadly died last year, lived on Salt Spring after having headed a small Vancouver company that studied the effects of dioxin defoliants in Vietnam. (You may know of him best for his donation of the Chris Hatfield Trail to Ruckle Park). Two of his key scientist colleagues from those days also now live on Salt Spring. Yet two more live farther away but will also join us at the event.

 The reason for their gathering is that our guest speaker, George Black, a renowned British/American writer, has just published The Long Reckoning, a book that finally tells their story. The significance of the work of these scientists is that it contributed to the difficult but essential reconciliation that exists today between the American and Vietnamese states.

 The evening promises to be nothing if not historic.

Tickets available Here