Algerian Echoes Young Canadians look inside the Algerian revolution and

strive for a better world

Re-living the 1964 International Seminar of World University Service of Canada 50 years later –

and where we went after that

Edited by Terence Moore, Christina Cassels and Sheila Haniszewska

November 2014

Algerian Echoes

CContents Page Beverley McLachlin

peers into our dimming eyes and finds a youthful spark 3

Ozzie Schmidt recalls where we went during our month in Algeria

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List of seminar part icipants 5 Raymond Chrétien

reviews our meeting with Ahmed Ben Bella and what became of Algeria after we returned home

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Gordon Echenberg documents the anti-Semitism that drove Jews out of Algeria

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Lynn Smith remembers Algeria’s revolutionary government decreed

gender equality — but it doesn’t work that way

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Beverley Bie Brahic savours the memories that come with her Algerian treasures

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Jean-François Gautrin raconte son évolution politique

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Ozzie Schmidt found out how vast and diverse Canada was

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Roger Roy recalls how different Algeria was from his home town

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Sheila Haniszewska learned from Algeria’s independence struggle to challenge

injustice

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Gordon Parks learned from the Algerian seminar to enjoy diversity

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Len Varrasso found he had to defend his views on Canadian unity

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Who are al l these people? Our lives, briefly

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In Memoriam, Irénée Pellet ier Shirley Cull

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Faculty Update 26 In conclusion, CChris Eaton

describes the lasting impact of the WUSC International Seminar

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Algerian Echoes

A certain wise contentedness Alumni from the 1964 Algeria seminar of World University Service of Canada gathered for a 50-year reunion in Montreal and Sainte-Adèle on September 5, 6 and 7, 2014 – 50 years older and 50 years wiser. By Beverley McLachlin

ainte-Adèle was the same — bucolic, quiet, quaint and a little out of date. But everything else had utterly changed — or so I thought at first. For starters — and what could I have expected? —we all looked different. Fifty years is fifty years; that was then and this is now. I thought that on the whole we

looked better. Sure we were a little portlier, sure we had wrinkles, sure we had different coloured hair and sometimes less, but the fresh dewy uncertainty of fifty years ago had been replaced by a certain wise contentedness that sat on us well. For seconds, we acted different. We talked less and about different things. Then we talked about food, dates and Marxism. Now we talked about — well let’s face it — grandkids, grandkids and more grandkids. For thirds, most of us came with permanent partners. Then we were a bunch of fanciful kids on our own. Now we were accompanied and encumbered. The partners were wonderful. Even those who did not bring a partner paid tribute to their partners in their comments. I realized how much better our life companions had made us, how they had enriched what we had and what we were. So much had changed. But some things were the same. Our enthusiasm was the same. As we shared our memories informally and at the closing dinner, the idealism of 1964 shone through, the relish of the new and the unknown was evident. Most of us, we discovered, had spent the intervening half-century doing mostly what we talked about doing then –- writing, public service, using our abilities and assets such as they were to try to make the world a bit better.

We had not changed all that much after all.

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If it’s Saturday, this must be Beni Isguen Our month-long look at the Algerian revolution By Ozzie Schmidt

n Thursday June 18, forty-three students (15 females and 28 males) from 33 universities in all ten provinces gathered at Dorval airport and were bused to Sainte-Adèle, for a one-week orientation for their visit to Algeria, WUSC’s first

seminar in North Africa. We had been divided into five thematic groups: Education, led by Prof. Maurice Barbeau (also the Seminar’s overall Director) from Laval; Political Science, led by Prof. John Wood from UBC; Law and Constitution, led by Prof. Desgagné from Laval; Geography and related Sciences, led by Prof. Paul Vandall from Windsor University; Medicine and Health, led by Dr. Marcel Drolet from Sherbrooke. Shirley Cull organized our travels and Uwe Reinhardt ably provided administrative support throughout the seminar.

On Wednesday June 24, the group flew to Paris Orly airport, transferred to the Gare de Lyon for a day-long train trip to Marseille. On Saturday 27 June the group embarked on the SS Kairouan to Algiers, and reached the Cité Universitaire de Ben Aknoun late the next day. During the following week there were daily activities between more serious learning: on Monday June 29 an overview of Algiers by bus, and an evening performance by the Algerian National Theatre; Tuesday July 1, the Canadians presented hastily-rehearsed skits and songs at the university; on Friday July 3, a day trip by bus from Algiers via Zaralda and Tipaza to the town of Cherchell, lunch and afternoon in Tipaza; Sunday July 5, the Algerian Independence Day celebration; Monday July 6, a day trip to Beni Yennie in the Kabylie in the Atlas mountain range via Tizi-Ouzou and return to Algiers via Boghni, Dra-El-Mizan and Palestro; Tuesday afternoon July 7, at the beach of Sidi Ferruch and an evening of films about Algeria; and on Wednesday afternoon July 8, a meeting with Algeria’s President Ahmed Ben Bella. Then ensued frantic packing for the bus tour southwards into the Sahara desert.

Thursday July 9, we got underway at 5 a.m. in two buses of the Office National Algérien du Tourisme (ONAT). We drove westwards and then south through the Northern Atlas mountain range, lunched at the town of Djelfa with the mayor, and arrived in the town of Ghardaia after nightfall. It was pitch black. On Friday the 10th we focused on the town itself: the market, the mosques, the former Jewish quarter, and the surroundings. Saturday 11th we went further afield and saw the nearby towns of Mélika Bounoura, El Ateuf and Beni Isguen (with a very holy tradition), and the oases associated with the towns.

After we left Algiers, the day-time temperatures were high. We rose early, travelled early, and had a siesta in the hot afternoons. Very early on Sunday July 12th, the two buses parted company: the Political Sciences and the Law and Constitution groups travelled north west to Sidi-Bel-Abbès, the Islamic centre of Tlemcen, Oran and along the coastal plain back to Algiers, and then by train to the eastern town of Annaba for the final residential part of the seminar. The remaining three groups took an eastern route.

The bus on the eastern route reached the town of Ouargla (via Zelfana) by 8 a.m., and the seminar members were shown around the town and environs. On Monday 13th, there was a day-trip to Hassi Messaoud to see the first oil extraction location of the Société Nationale de Recherche et d’Exploitation des Pétroles en Algérie. On Tuesday 14th, we travelled from Ouargla to the town of Touggourt. We included a camel ride. On

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Wednesday the 15th we reached the town of Biskra and had two days there. On Friday the 17th we reached Batna, and visited the nearby ruins of the old Roman town of Tamugadi. On Saturday the 18th , we left the desert and had two days in the historic and fascinating city of Constantine. Finally, on Monday July 20th, we reached our accommodations in Annaba, La Maison des Enfants du Peuple, a barracks-like set of buildings by the side of the Mediterranean. The groups from the eastern and western routes were reunited, and the final part of the seminar began: comparing experiences, assessing and summarizing what we had learned.

The Egyptian ship, Star of Alexandria, exploded in the Annaba port around 10 pm on Thursday the 23rd July.

The seminar ended at Annaba on Tuesday July 28. Individuals spent the next three weeks as they wished before reassembling in Paris for the return flight to Canada.

List of participants These are the 42 Canadian students who went to Algeria in 1964

Beverley Bie, UBC Sheila Dyer, UBC John Boyle, Loyola Susan Bricker, Toronto Stuart Brown, Carleton Christina Cassels, Brandon Francine Charbonneau, Montreal Raymond Chrétien, Laval Peter Culbert, Toronto Walter Devenney, Toronto Carol Ann Dinning, McMaster David Dodge, Queen’s Gordon Echenberg, McGill Marcien Ferland, Manitoba Jean Gautrin, Montreal Beverley Gietz, Edmonton Jean Gobeil, Ottawa Marlene Grandmaître, Lakehead Enid Green Dalhousie Gaétan Grondin, Laval Barbara Janes, Memorial

Margita Kacerovskis, York Norman McLeod, Saskatchewan Louise Million, Saskatchewan Terence Moore, Manitoba Aileen O’Leary, St Mary’s Gordon Parks, Western Irénée Pelletier, St. François Xavier Robert Reynolds, Bishop’s Claude Rondeau, Montreal Roger F Roy, Mt Allison Rosalind Saginur, McGill Robert Samson, Montreal Guy Savard, Laval Pierre Savoie, Laval Roger Savoie, New Brunswick Ozzie Schmidt, Toronto Fred Sexsmith, UBC Carol Lynn Smith, Calgary Ronald Stewart, Acadia Leonard Varasso, Windsor Arthur Young, Waterloo

Algerian Echoes

Non-aligned – but not for long The Algeria we visited was dreaming of non-alignment between the Soviet Union and the West. A year later, the dream abruptly ended. By Raymond Chrétien

ur seminar took place at a time when the struggle between communism and capitalism was strong. The Soviet Union and the United States of America were the two main powers involved, with most countries of the world aligning

themselves with one side or the other. But a number of countries did not accept this division of the world in two blocs and created instead the so-called Non-Aligned Movement, regrouping a few dozen countries. Yugoslavia and Algeria were amongst the leaders of that group. Presidents Tito of Yugoslavia and Ben Bella of Algeria were usually the spokesmen of the group. I remember listening to the world news at that time. For any serious news in the world, the major channels would show first the leaders of the USA and the Soviet Union, and then the announcer would say: “Let us now go to Algiers to find out the viewpoint of the Non-Aligned Movement”. In that context, the then young President of Algeria, Ahmed Ben Bella, was a figure known throughout the world.

On June 19, 1965, less than a year after we met him, Ahmed Ben Bella was toppled by Houari Boumediene who ran Algeria for eleven years while still promoting socialism as the way of the future. Always a highly controlled country, Algeria became almost a police state with heavy security throughout the country -- almost as a communist state, with centralized powers and hostile to foreign investment, especially from the West. But, thanks to huge reserves of oil and natural gas and a highly educated civil service, Algeria managed to make important strides in developing its educational and social services.

Later on, the rise of radical Islam provoked a tremendous setback for Algeria. When the Islamic Salvation Front won the national election in 1991, the army intervened and denied the Islamic Salvation Front the victory they had won at the polls. A bloody and violent civil war ensued, during which it is estimated that between 200,000 and 300,000 people died. Since then, the army has reinforced its control over the country. When I recently visited Algeria in June 2014, I was struck by the number of controls everywhere, not only in Algiers but in the small cities and villages around the capital, even at the entrance of all major hotels. On this recent trip, Algiers was no longer Alger la Blanche but now greyish and dilapidated. The Islamists have not disappeared and are probably biding their time. But, after discussing this issue on my recent trip to Algeria, I came to the conclusion that the vast majority of Algerians do not want them to come back to power in their country.

For us, young men and women coming from various parts of Canada, the long meeting we had with Ahmed Ben Bella, at the Palais du Peuple, on Wednesday July 8, 1964, was the highlight of our time in Algeria. If my memory is correct, Ben Bella received us very warmly. He was clearly a leader at the top of his form. He told us we could ask him any question, however tough. We did just that and asked him many difficult questions which he answered candidly. And our group was very fortunate that Professor Paul Vandall took notes of that meeting. Attached to this note, you will find a summary of the

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answers provided by Ben Bella. In my view, this is a historic document that, at some stage, we should pass on to the Ambassador of Algeria in Ottawa.

After the revolution: President Ahmed Ben Bella told us the aims of independent Algeria’s ruling party, eleven and one-half months before his arrest and imprisonment. These excerpts are drawn from the interview notes kept by Prof. Paul Vandall.

The animosity was palpable The Arab neighbours went to war against Israel in 1967, but in 1964 the anti-Semitism in Algeria was already evident. By Gordon Echenberg

s our ship approached the Algerian coast, Prof. Woods warned us that the world we were about to enter was a more accurate reflection of the broader world than the privileged Canadian experiences we lived. Algeria might seem different, but we

were the ones who were different because we and other privileged societies only represented about two per cent of mankind.

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Independent Algeria, already burdened by a French-imposed bureaucracy, quickly wrapped itself in the blanket of Arab socialism. This independence often expressed itself through the army and the clergy. “Civil society” as we know it, was largely absent. Ahmed Ben Bella, when we met him at the Palais du Peuple, told us that Algeria was philosophically Muslim and economically Marxist. Capitalists were considered cold and bourgeois.

The political leadership seemed imbued with a sense of moral superiority. An example was Ben Bella’s assertion was that while Algeria was “hostile to Israel” there was “no racism against Jews”. That patently false assertion is still advanced today. It is today as it was then, no more than a transparent form of anti-Semitism, as distinct from legitimate and balanced criticisms of Israel or its policies.

Racism against Jews was evident in the city of Oran, which once housed a Jewish population of approximately 50,000. There remained a remnant Jewish community of about 28. Those who fled were part of the 800,000 Jewish refugees who were forced out of Arab lands after the founding of the State of Israel. As I toured the city, the empty synagogues and their cemeteries, I was offered three circa 1850 antique scrolls. These scrolls, ‘Megillah’ read by Jews on the Festival of Purim, contain the Book of Esther. As the donor handed them to me, he said with resignation “We won’t be using these anymore”. Indeed, I was invited to take almost whatever I wanted. One of those Megillah, which I retrieved from my synagogue’s museum, was on display at our 50th reunion.

Another example mirroring this animosity toward both Jews and Israel, happened while visiting a farm. I inquired why they did not adopt the “drip irrigation system” developed in Israel for their fields. The reply was “We do not use anything developed in Israel”. That attitude is unfortunately still present among some.

While secure in my Canadian Jewish skin, it was the first time that I had concerns about Israel’s future. I became acutely aware of the depth and breadth of that animosity and how it was expressing itself in 1964, a mere three years before the Six Day War. It became obvious to me that numbers count and so does oil.

Not having been exposed to the Arab world, my eye-opening experience was exposure to the multi-faceted Arab culture. The openness, warmth and pride of ‘ordinary people’ made us feel welcome. The Arab strong sense of family and allegiance to their culture, tradition and religion is somewhat similar to that of their “linguistic cousins” (as Ben Bella put it), the Jews. Unfortunately, that similarity in no way bridged the chasm of animosity and ill-will directed at Israel or the hardships that had been inflicted on the Jewish population that fled.

Long, slow road to women’s equality The route toward equality has to be defined by those who will be taking the journey. By Lynn Smith

n 1964, the recent revolution had not only expelled the French from Algeria and ended its status as a French colony, but also had promised transformative economic and social changes. Equality of status for women was among those promised changes. I

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It was said that Algerian women had fought side by side with their brothers for Algerian independence and that the revolutionary state would treat them as equals. My interest in feminism was largely theoretical at that stage; I had read a few books like Le Deuxieme Sexe, but had not engaged with women’s rights issues in any practical way. I eagerly seized the chance to look at the Algerian government’s efforts to re-write the legal and social rules for women (for example by increasing women’s mobility, access to higher education and political life). There were not so many opportunities to speak with Algerian women or to learn how Algerian women viewed the changes that had arrived in their lives, beginning with the franchise in 1962. In one of the small towns some of us had a meeting with a few Algerian women, but communication was difficult because none of us spoke Arabic and their French was not strong. Despite the absence of both data and significant direct contact with Algerian women, my somewhat naive belief was that an inevitable process toward equality had begun. With the benefit of reflection, hindsight and 50 more years of experience, I realize that the liberation of women by governmental fiat is unlikely to be successful if women themselves are not shaping the agenda for change. Bringing about equality for women is a long, slow process anywhere, let alone in the context of a very traditional, patriarchal society. And although I believe that there are some norms that should be universal (among them, that human beings should not be allocated pre-ordained roles in society according to their gender or race) I also have realized that there is not a universal “woman”, just as there is not a universal “aboriginal” or “African”. The route toward equality has to be defined by those who will be taking the journey. I think that all of us who were so fortunate as to attend the seminar were greatly affected by it. I was a first-year university student, and had travelled very little beyond those places within driving distance of Calgary. Sailing into the harbour of Algiers as the sounds and smells of the city gradually revealed themselves was a breathtaking experience, as was every day of the rest of our time there. I did not manage to keep any photographs or physical mementoes, but what I did take home, and have still, is a deep respect for people who struggle with the ravages of war, with food insecurity, and with prejudice and discrimination, but who have taken steps to seize their own destiny. What I took home from Algeria forms part of my strong interest in human rights. I spent a good portion of my legal and academic career, before I became a judge, trying to make the law a better tool for alleviating the effects of discrimination against women and other disadvantaged groups. It seems to me that the progress we have made in Canada toward gender equality is impressive, but slow. I fear that progress in other parts of the world, including Algeria, is even slower. The ranking of Algeria on the World Economic Forum’s World Gender Gap Report 2013 is 124; the lowest ranking is held by Yemen, at 136.

Tokens

By Beverley Bie Brahic he summer of 1964 in Algeria comes back in objects. A wide silver bracelet, close at hand, embedded with coral and blue stones, the clasp a silver pin, like a latch for a door, but vertical. There was a shop, a silversmith? I feel the smooth silver and T

Algerian Echoes

the lumpy stones and see the road to a village (Tizi Ouzou? Beni Yenni?) in Kabylie, past barbed wire, rubble—signs of Berber resistance, the digging-in of indigenous peoples.

A small brass tray engraved with arabesques, a knife in a painted wooden sheath, its halves wired together: they sit on a table in the front hall. Letters get dropped in it, coins, paperclips, things that need a place to be. I bought it in the Casbah, where my bare arms were pinched by—I don’t remember—an old woman, a man—a lesson in differences, not perhaps one I wanted to hear.

The scarlet dress trimmed with blue rickrack—so much gayer than the street wear of Algerian women. A red and yellow shawl with silky fringes. Dress and shawl have hung—the only decoration besides an embroidered cloth purchased in a Nigerian village a year or two later when I was a CUSO volunteer in West Africa—for years from a nail in an attic in the south of France. You couldn’t wear this dress or look at it without feeling joy.

Sahara towns, picturesque, yes, but with a hidden life impervious to a group of travelling students. Today I know more about the clash of cultures, their impenetrable layers. If I can live decades in a European country and discover with each passing year how much escapes me, how many lifetimes would it take to understand the Maghreb?

Our group was, it seems to me, equitably divided between men and women. (I am a little surprised by this in retrospect: when I went to the Columbia University School of Journalism three years later, there was a quota for women.) I don’t recall much discussion during our seminar about the place of women in the colonial and post-colonial Muslim world—maybe I have forgotten or not then been attuned—I do remember feeling anger at the sight of women upholstered in black watching their children play on the beach—in Annaba?

Years later I translate Hélène Cixous’s books about the painful divide between colonized and colonist during her Algerian childhood; and of the anti-Semitic policies of the Vichy regime, which affected her family. Through it all her visceral love for Algeria in the sights, sounds and smells of Oran and Algiers in the years between the Second World War and the war for independence. She calls it her “algeriance.” My superficial algeriance will translate her deeper one.

Mordu du désir de vivre au tiers monde

Par Jean-François Gautrin onc cette année (1964), j’appartenais au contingent de l’Université de Montréal avec Francine Charbonneau, Claude Rondeau et Robert Samson. Tous de gauche, un peu têtes brûlées, nous étions membres ou sympathisants du

Rassemblement pour l’Indépendance National (RIN) et bien excités à l’idée de voir un jeune pays indépendant s’aventurant sur la voie du socialisme. Mes idées politiques avec l’âge ont beaucoup changé.

Je garde un très bon souvenir de l’aventure algérienne. Contrairement à l’expérience de certains, c’est sans doute là que j’ai été mordu du désir de vivre et de travailler dans les pays en développement.

Going to Algeria in 1964, two years after its independence was very special for me. Though I am Canadian, I was born in France and came to Canada in 1957. La guerre d’Algérie started in 1954 and I remember the frequent demonstrations in Paris of the “pro

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independence” and the “pro Algérie Francaise”. Since the beginning I had been following all the developments of the war and with a lot of excitement, I was ready for Algeria.

But, back to 1964, memorable moments come only in patches: la déscente de la Casbah, warm hospitality of some of the residents and the houses with their impressive inside courtyard. Closing your eyes you could see again la Bataille d’Alger with Front de Libération Nationale soldiers trying to escape running on the roofs; the typical Algerian muslim wedding with the delicious “Chorbah” and “Couscous” and the so-sweet deserts; the meeting with Ben Bella.

Before traveling south, I remember the two excursions, with the first one in Tipaza where a certain “douceur” was floating on the Roman ruins and when dreaming you could hear Camus. It is in Tipaza that an old distinguished man came to me and in sort of whisper said: “C’était mieux du temps des Français”.

Travelling east of Algiers, we discovered Kabylie and the Berber population. I remember buying some simple but beautiful silver jewelry in a little mountain village. Ces villages Kabyles durant la guerre étaient en fait cloisonnées et les barbelés étaient encore visibles. Certains villages soutenaient les Français (les Harkas) d’autres le FLN. Puis ce fut le voyage vers le Sud avec ses oasis de verdure. Quelle fraicheur et quelle réjouissance pour les yeux de découvrir après un long voyage à travers un paysage poussiéreux, cet éclat de verdure des palmerais traversés paresseusement par ce lent cours d’eau invitant à la baignade. Les nuits étaient chaudes et c’est sur le toit que nous dormions.

Yes, I remember Ghardaia with pastel houses and “minaret” on top of the hill. If I am not mistaken it was there that, dressed in djellabas, I with a group of others was making some sort of dancing with a sword. The music was good and I was very impressed by the sound of their drums; bought one but decided it was too cumbersome to bring it back to Canada and left it behind.

Hassi Messaoud was very, very hot. We did not see much of the oil industry as we were looking for shade. On the way to Constantine and Annaba we stopped in Batna. If I remember this was where some students took us for a walk along a stream in the Aurès and we saw caves where the FLN used to hide guns and ammunition. Near Batna, under a hot sun, we strolled through the vast Roman ruins of Timgad.

And then it was Annaba (Bône) where we had our final seminar. Annaba was the end of the Algerian adventure but Francine, Claude, Robert and myself we were ready for the Mediterranean adventure. En un peu plus d’un mois nous allions passer de Tunisie à l’Italie puis la Grèce, la Turquie, la Syrie, le Liban, L’Egypte puis la Grèce encore et le retour par l’Italie vers Paris. Je n’avais pas encore 20 ans et nous étions tous pleins d’énergie; 50 ans plus tard je préfère les croisières en Méditerranée.

What the seminar meant to me

By Ozzie Schmidt he seminar was wildly interesting and eye-opening. It was mentally and analytically challenging. Physically, there were issues as well. It was also fun. My fellow seminarists were seeing and reporting events and situations of which I was unaware.

First, I was learning how vast and diverse Canada was, and my colleagues talked of their experiences in their provinces and towns, of which I was unaware. There was the obvious

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language divide between mainly French-speaking (and the cultural nuances of that) and the mainly English-speaking aspects. But both Franco and Anglo aspects had important sub-themes. Roger Savoie asserted that he was not Québécois. Yet he spoke French (and fluent English to boot). He was Acadian! Well, the notion of the ‘deux nations’ needed re-assessment. We got acquainted during the residential seminar at the Montclair hotel in Sainte-Adèle-en-haut. And, the Day of St.-Jean-Baptiste was very important in Quebec, but not so much in New Brunswick. We reached Algiers, via Orly, and Marseilles and the ship. It was clear that there was a big world out there, beyond Canada (well, I was just a recently arrived immigrant, a paper-Canadian), and all the inhabitants were struggling, coping, living.

So, what were we all learning, and through what personal filters? Some colleagues were attuned to the filter of the law and the constitution, some focussed on post-revolution infrastructure, others were attuned to the broad scope of education, others were charmed by the antics of little children -- which invited questions about their future. Which facet, dear reader, is the paramount, the most compelling? Fifty years later, I have no clue.

The study group of which I was a part was Geography and Related Sciences. Drinking water is an underlying prerequisite before you can militate for education, or gender equality, or a just constitution. So is fair access to food. The seminar experience validated for me that the voluntary work I was doing for a fledgling CUSO seemed right. This conviction led to 20 years working in Africa. Why? It seemed for me to be the path to contribute to a better world. Regrets? Yes. There were, and continue to be, major injustices and inequities right within the boundaries of Canada itself. We’ll build a better world only if all the fields of knowledge combine their expertise.

In university I studied Industrial Engineering. The métier is relevant, I’m certain.

A long way from Iberville

By Roger F. Roy he Algerian Seminar was the beginning of an international journey that continues to the present day. It was a turning point in my life. As André Gide put it: “One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very

long time.” It helped me to succeed in getting as far away as possible from small town, Iberville, Quebec, population 2,800. The WUSC Seminar helped to shape my future and WUSC was an important part of my life for a number of years.

Sainte-Adèle introduced me to Arab nationalism and yes, reform for the Arab World through what seemed to be an endless series of black and white films and lectures on “le choc culturel.” The Casbah was my first overseas experience with poverty, but I tried not to focus on it too much. I looked beyond poverty and started to realize that “les plus démunis du monde” were doing their best to find happiness and joy in their surroundings. This was reflected in their rich Algerian heritage of music, art, dance, food and dress and the FLN experimenting with their own brand of socialism with, of course, lots of Autogestion.

The fact that we were in a country that was trying to live a socialist ideology was dramatically illustrated on our first day at L’ Université d’Alger cafeteria. Our group

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slipped in for lunch almost unnoticed, and suddenly an incoming group was greeted with thunderous applause and the banging of aluminum cups. It was a delegation of Russians.

Our fellow students from Quebec introduced the politics of independence and nationalism into many of our discussions. I dare say that I became more assertive about the value of my French and English Canadian roots while travelling in Algeria.

The seminar embodied a spirit of camaraderie and fellowship that I had never known, and we soon developed many close relationships that were still much in evidence at our Sainte-Adèle reunion.

John Wood was an inspiration for many of us, and for me he set an example about how to enthusiastically embrace “foreign cultures.” I was struck by the huge contrast between the sacred and market cities of the Mozabite Berbers living in Ghardaia. The peace and solitude of the Sahara oases, starlit nights and 40 degrees C at midnight remain with me to this day. I remember reliving the desert in Paris as I watched the film Lawrence of Arabia a few days before our return to Montreal.

The street life in Alger was so noisy and vibrant. The strong smell of coffee, the smoke of Gitanes cigarettes, hawkers, a butcher holding up a slab of mutton for my appreciation, a call to prayer by a muezzin, the fading wall signs asking for Independence le 1ier Juillet, 1962. These are some of the sights, sounds and smells that continue to fill my life with curiosity, excitement and respect for foreign cultures after fifty years of travel to many parts of the globe.

By Sheila Haniszewska he experience of Algeria has stayed with me for half a century. To be thrust from the relative comfort of Canada into the midst of a distant land only just emerging from more than a century of colonization and nearly eight years of a brutal war for

independence has tremendous impact on a young person. Our voyages throughout Algeria brought us face to face with the manifold wrongs of the French occupation, the power of resistance to that oppression, and the reasons to hope for a better society, a better world that can emerge, must emerge, out of struggle and suffering. Algeria inspired and continues to inspire my support for social justice and political freedoms and has led me throughout my life and especially these days with the threat to our pristine BC lands and coast, to commit to ecological justice, justice for the earth, for the biosphere, our only home.

And always in the background has been Albert Camus. Visiting Tipaza, travelling through Belcourt. In those places, I think many of us followed, perhaps at times unconsciously, his shadow, his glimmering ghostly presence. He has been a lodestar in my life, a hero, and a guide. “Au milieu de l'hiver, j'ai decouvert en moi un invincible été”.

Even though I grew up in a family for whom discussing ideas and politics was an important aspect of our days, especially around the dinner table, I think that without Algeria, at that particular historic and hopeful moment two years after independence, I might never have carried within me this strong sense of recognition of injustice and how it must be challenged.

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I had my eyes set on an academic career that year but changed my mind. (I had been accepted as an Honours history student at UBC just before we left for Algeria), such was my distaste and discomfort at the vestiges of colonization, of occupation.

So, alongside a lengthy non-university-based teaching career, I continued in my own low-key way to try to help the world along. A very big involvement was establishing the Prince George branch of the national nuclear disarmament group “Operation Dismantle” in the early 1980s. Always there has been my individual and group work with Amnesty International. At the time of Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth, along with a friend, we organized the first climate change action group here on Gabriola. Now I am with our Save our Shores here, attempting to stop the pipelines and the tankers that are imperiling our lands and our coast. I am proud to call the First Nations and Métis who travel this difficult road with us, my brothers and sisters.

WUSC gave me a great opening to the Moslem world and for that I will be forever grateful. The world is so different now from that long ago summer and youth can travel almost anywhere, gleaning tremendous experience of different lands, different ways of life. But things are becoming more homogenized now, more standardized and we travelled in a special time. We experienced, with the still lingering trauma of the war of independence, our various individual encounters and adventures, and the explosion of the Star of Alexandria on that fateful July 23, more than most experience even in a lifetime. Be it small, be it bigger, I truly believe we have all been formed in some way by Algeria 1964.

gained an initial impression at Sainte-Adèle-en-haut of the immensity of our continent-country and the diversity of thinking, although at that time Canada seemed to be mainly white and Judeo-Christian in outlook. The seminar, and the lady I met

afterwards (Chantal, my spouse since 1967 – Centennial project of uniting English and French) gave me an appreciation for French (with which I have lived and worked ever since) and francophone thinking and culture. The Algeria part, confronting the “choc culturel” also introduced me to the racial, linguistic, religious and cultural diversity which became a part of Canada in the 1970s and later.

When I was in Toronto around 1999-2000, I bought a “school-boy six” of Mel Lastman’s “Toronto’s Finest” beer, brewed by Molson of Montreal, by the way! It had a pile of interesting (to me) statistics. Apparently at that time over 50 per cent of Toronto’s inhabitants were not born in Canada, there were over 100 languages and over 100 nationalities represented, and UNESCO had made Toronto the world standard for tolerance.

I suspect that what I brought back from the seminar was a more tolerant, less “small-town Ontario” attitude, with much more acceptance of diversity of all kinds.

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Algerian Echoes

Forced to defend my views By Len Varrasso

he Algerian Seminar of 1964 was an amazing experience in my life. As a young graduate from Hamilton representing the new University of Windsor, I met students from all of Canada’s diverse regions each having their own distinct views

and opinions about their province and country. Several of the representatives from Quebec were separatists. I had read about them, formed opinions on the issue but now was forced to defend my views against real people who had a strong passion for Quebec separation. My own subsequent passionate belief in a united Canada no doubt was fuelled by these encounters.

My introduction to Arab North Africa helped me understand some of the present day developments in the area. French colonialism was still very much in evidence at the time but so was the strong nationalism of this young country. In 1964 Algeria could barely govern itself yet was reaching out to all of Africa and offering its leadership for a future Pan Africanism. The internal divisions in Algeria were also very clear. The European North coast, the strong Moslem faith and culture in the Sahara, the proud independence-seeking Berbers in the mountains and the wandering Bedouins were all part of this new independent country.

There was strong criticism of the government and then-President Ben Bella amongst many of the Algerians we met and Ben Bella was ousted a year later.

I saw a country receiving aid from both sides of the Cold War -- food and machinery from the West and personnel from the East. The international oil companies had already commenced oil exploration and building refineries.

The explosion of a grain ship loaded with contraband weapons seemed to be a fitting end to the seminar. All of us in some way were involved in the rescue operation that night in Annaba. As fellow students returned with stories of what they had seen and done to help the wounded in the hospital, I felt a sense of pride in our accomplishments.

I left Algeria on a cold night in a dingy boat full of sea sick North Africans bound for Marseilles. I disembarked in Majorca and thought I had found Heaven!

All of these memories stayed with me for a long time. I would view my movies and talk to my students about the trip when Algeria or North Africa was in the news. However, over the years the memories did fade only to be revived when I recognised the name of a participant who had achieved some national prominence.

The fifty-year reunion at Sainte-Adèle in 2014 brought back many memories, all of them wonderful. Reading the bios and listening to all of the accomplishments in the fields of law, education, civil service, foreign service, politics re-instilled a sense of pride in having been associated with a group who has made such a positive contribution to Canadian life.

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Algerian Echoes Part 2

Our lives, briefly Alumni from the 1964 seminar were asked to condense their subsequent careers into 150 words.

Beverley Bie Brahic, Poet, Translator Poet, critic and translator, I have published two poetry collections, White Sheets, a finalist for the 2012 Forward Prize for Best Collection, and Against Gravity. My translations include Guillaume Apollinaire, The Little Auto, winner of the 2014 Scott Moncrieff Prize for Translation from French; Francis Ponge, Unfinished Ode to Mud, a finalist for the 2009 Popescu Prize for Poetry in Translation, and books by Yves Bonnefoy, Hélène Cixous, Jacques Derrida and Julia Kristeva. I live in Paris and Stanford California, with my husband, Michel Brahic. I have three children.

Susan Bricker, Early Childhood Educator After returning from Algeria I graduated in philosophy. Participating in the seminar influenced me to learn more about Canada and I decided to further my studies in conversational French at l’Université de Montreal and political science at McGill. I was active in the student peace movement (CUCND and SUPA). I purchased a farm in the early seventies north of Kingston, which I still have today. In the mid seventies I was drawn to early childhood education, which I studied at St. Lawrence College in Kingston. I returned to Toronto to work in the late 70s. After working in a variety of settings I began a 26-year career as a home child care coordinator supervising workers who provided child care service for low income families. Many of the families and the care givers were recent immigrants from everywhere. Although I have done little travelling since being in Algeria that experience opened the world to me. I retired in 2008 and live in Toronto.

Rosalind Brown, Pediatric Endocrinologist I completed a McGill medical degree and pediatrics residency in Montreal, then studied endocrinology at Tufts University in Boston. The University of Massachusetts Medical Centre hired me to start the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology in the new Department of Pediatrics. I spent 21 years at UMass where I rose through the academic ranks to Professor, with tenure. In 2002, I left UMass to join the Division of Endocrinology at Boston Children’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical

School where I direct the Clinical Trials research program. I see patients, teach, and do research, mostly on pediatric thyroid disease. I chaired the American Board of Pediatrics, Sub-Board of Pediatric Endocrinology, co-edited three textbooks on Pediatric Endocrinology, participated in the development of practice guidelines for thyroid disease, and participated in studies demonstrating the dramatically improved cognitive outcome of children with congenital hypothyroidism, detected on newborn screening and treated early.

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Stuart Brown, Anglican Priest With my Carleton BA and my McGill MA, I taught Islamic history at the new university college in Kano, Nigeria. After completing my McGill PhD, I taught African history at Kenyatta University in Nairobi. I moved to Dakar for six years with the International Development Research Centre, then to Geneva with the World Council of Churches. I returned to Canada as General Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches. Then it was back to Nairobi with the Project for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa, then to Nigeria and Cameroun for other Church projects, then back to Montreal as Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism. From 2006 to 2010, I was the Professor of Religious Studies at the American University of Nigeria in Yola. In retirement, I was ordained as an Anglican priest in November 2012 to serve in Aklavik, Tuktoyaktuk, Ulukhaktok and Sachs Harbour.

Aileen Carroll, Cabinet Minister A native Haligonian, and a graduate of St Mary’s University and York University, I represented Barrie, Ontario, as the Member of Parliament from 1997 until 2006. During that time, I served as Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs from 2001 until 2003 when I was appointed to cabinet as Minister of International Co-operation, responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency. From 2007 until 2011, I was the Member of Provincial Parliament for Barrie. I was a member of cabinet,

serving as Minister of Culture and Minister for Seniors. I did not seek re-election in 2011. Prior to my political career, I was a partner, owning and operating Canadiana Curtains for fourteen years, in Barrie, Unionville and Oakville. Prior still, I worked as a public servant at both the federal and provincial levels. I am married to D. Kevin Carroll,Q.C., a Barrie lawyer.

Christina Cassels, Senior Manager For me, Algeria was the beginning of a journey in cross-cultural learning, which led me to India with CUSO where I was a teaching volunteer and later became a program coordinator. A career in social services followed. When we were having our CUSO–Asia orientation someone remarked, “Why aren’t we working with First Nations people in Canada?” Later, I became more aware of the history we share with First Nations people and their culture. Working with and supporting Indigenous participants and staff in a culturally respectful way became a large part of my job as a senior manager in a large private social services organization in Winnipeg:

New Directions for Children, Youth, Adults and Families. I have lived in Winnipeg since 1970 and stayed to be a support to my parents and for my love of the Prairies. I am now retired and with my partner, Sandra Summers, enjoy the many opportunities retirement brings.

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Raymond Chrétien, Ambassador After passing my Québec Bar exams, I joined the Foreign Service in 1966, working in a series of posts in Ottawa and oversesas. I went to Zaire in 1978 as the youngest ambassador Canada had ever appointed. After four years back in Ottawa, I was appointed Ambassador to Mexico in 1985, returning to Ottawa in 1988 as Associate Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs. I was Ambassador to Belgium from 1991 to 1994 and then became Canada’s eighteenth representative to the United States. Concurrently, I was sent to assess the humanitarian crisis in the Great Lakes region of Africa for the UN Secretary General and to advise the Security Council how to resolve it. From 2000 to 2003, I was Ambassador of Canada to France. After 38 years of service, I retired and joined the law firm of Fasken Martineau Dumoulin as a partner and strategic advisor.

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Algerian Echoes Part 3

Our lives, briefly, (continued)

David Dodge, Central Banker I graduated from Queen's and did my PhD at Princeton, then moved to the Finance department in Ottawa. I taught in Washington DC from 1977 until 1980, when I rejoined the public service as an assistant deputy minister at Employment and Immigration. In 1984, I rejoined Finance as ADM of fiscal policy, then as Senior ADM of tax policy. Appointed Canada's G7 Deputy in October 1989, just before the Berlin Wall came down, I spent the next two years sorting out the consequences of the end of the Soviet Union. As Deputy Minister of Finance from 1992, I wrestled with the deficit. I taught for a year at UBC and Simon Fraser and returned to Ottawa in 1998 as Deputy Minister of Health. I went to the Bank of Canada as Governor in 2001. After leaving the Bank in 2008 I spent six years as Chancellor of Queens.

Gordon Echenberg, Lawyer After Algeria, I returned to the law firm of Chait Aronovitch (later DeGrandpré Chait) where I stayed for 30 years. My practice focussed on business, finance and real estate. I served on the McGill University Board of Governors from 1970 to 1985. Later I was made a Governor Emeritus. I was asked by the Mayor of Jerusalem to become the first President of the Jerusalem Foundation of Canada. Later I was invited to join the Board of Governors at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. My involvement with Ben Gurion University introduced me to the physical, political and strategic realities of Israel in the Middle East. My wife Penny and I, with McGill University, sponsor The Echenberg Family Conferences on Human Rights We recruit young leaders from around the world to take part. My ocean sailing days are over, but I still sail a 13-foot Hobie Cat on Lake Champlain.

Marcien Ferland, French Professor After the Algerian Seminar, I completed a Master of Arts in French Literature at the University of Manitoba. I pursued a career as a French professor at different universities along with a musical career. In Manitoba, I am known as a choral and orchestral director and a composer of symphonic works including a cantata, a Te Deum, two ballets and a musical comedy, Les batteux, which won me the Prix Riel. I wrote a dramatic trilogy, Manitoba, which focuses on the fur trade, the birth of Manitoba, and the school question. I also wrote The

Third Way, a philosophical play about man’s limitless propensity for evil. I was awarded the Order of Canada in 2007. With my wife Brenda, I raise pigs, sheep, chickens and bees on our 40-acre farm while finishing a solar house, which I built myself. Further details in Canadian Who’s Who.

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Margita Gailitis, Poet, Translator After the seminar in Algeria, I worked in advertising, specializing in media and research, eventually serving as a consultant for agencies. In 1998 I returned to Riga, Latvia, the city of my birth, to work at the Translation and Terminology Center as part of a Canadian International Development initiative -- the translation of Latvian laws into English to be harmonized with EU legislation – as Canada’s support for Latvia’s entry into the European Union, achieved in 2004. Today, I focus on literary translation and poetry. My English translations of Latvia’s finest poetry and prose have been published in Canada and the United States. During 50 years of Soviet occupation, Latvian writers’ voices were not heard in the West. In 2012 I was awarded the prestigious President’s Order of Three Stars for my work on behalf of Latvia. My own poetry has been published in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

Jean-Franççois Gautrin, Development Economist After my University of Montreal MA and my London School of Economics MSc and PhD, I taught economics at Laval and then worked in the P.E. Trudeau government as Director in the Department of Regional Economic Expansion (DREE) and with Lavalin, as vice president of Econsuit. In 1980-81, I worked for a World Bank project financing the expansion of the port of Algiers.

I travelled extensively in the 1980s directing Asian economic projects. After leaving Lavalin in 1991, I worked with the Economic Council of Canada and after its disbanding, moved to Thailand as a World Bank technical assistant at the Thai Ministry of Transport. I now do freelance consulting for the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank and research for the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research. I have directed many large economic development and transportation projects. I currently live in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sheila Haniszewska, Teacher After Algeria, I completed a Masters degree in French at UBC. I taught French, ESL and Art at all levels throughout BC. I retired on Gabriola Island, my home for the last 23 years. Haniszewska is my mother’s maiden name, which I proudly “retrieved” after my marriage ended. This is important as there was much ethnic prejudice in the 1930s in this country, with many Slavic people, my mother included, having to anglicize their names. Politically, I campaigned for nuclear disarmament and lately against the threat from pipelines and tankers. Recently I worked to stop Vancouver’s incinerator at Duke Point, near our island. I have been a long-time member of Amnesty International. I write a lot, paint a lot and learn as much as I can about our endangered biosphere. The example of Algeria’s overthrow of French colonial power encourages my constant political and environmental activism.

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Barbara Janes, Film Producer I was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland. I hold degrees from Memorial University (BA, Modern Languages) and Université Laval (MA, French Literature). I enjoyed a 30-year career with the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax and Vancouver and served in a variety of positions including producer and executive producer before becoming the NFB’s senior operational executive, Director General of English Programs. During my career, I oversaw the production of more than 500 films including many award-winning

documentaries and animation shorts. After leaving the NFB, I worked for four years as the first executive director of the Ottawa-based Hnatyshyn Foundation, a private charity for the arts, established in memory of the Right Honourable Ramon John Hnatyshyn, Canada’s 24th Governor-General. I currently live in St. John’s, where I am involved in a wide range of volunteer activities.

Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of Canada I grew up in Pincher Creek, Alberta and in 1968 received both an M.A. in Philosophy and an LL.B. from the University of Alberta. I practised law in Alberta and British Columbia. Starting in 1974, I taught for seven years in the Faculty of Law at the University of British Columbia as a tenured Associate Professor. In 1981, I was appointed to the Vancouver County Court in April and then to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in September. I was elevated to the British Columbia Court of Appeal in December 1985 and made Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in September 1988. Seven months later, I was sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, becoming Chief Justice of Canada on January 7, 2000 -- the first woman to hold this position.

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Algerian Echoes Part 4 Our lives, briefly, (continued)

Terence Moore, Editorial writer After the Algeria seminar, I completed my University of Manitoba BA and then went to Montreal to work for the Montreal Star as city room reporter, Ottawa correspondent and finally editorial writer. I married Vi in 1972 and we went backpacking in North Africa and southern Europe in 1973 and 1974. After the Star was closed by its owners in 1979, we moved to Winnipeg and I wrote for John Dafoe on the editorial page of the Winnipeg Free Press. My coverage of the Manitoba French language question in 1983 earned me a National Newspaper Award for editorial writing. I travelled for the Free Press in East Asia in 1989 and in Mexico in 1995. After John’s retirement, I took over the running of the Free Press editorial page in 2001 and retired in 2005. Now I write freelance and play my cello in string quartets.

Gordon Parks, Public Servant

After Algeria, I spent the next three years completing first, an Honours BA in English and History, then the course work and first draft of a Master’s thesis in History, on the role of an executive suspensive veto and the collapse of the first French constitutional monarchy. I completed the thesis and defended it in 1970 while working in the Privy Council Office. I had married and joined the Transport department in 1967. I stayed with the federal government

for 35 years, the last 15 with predecessor offices to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. I obtained two certificates that have been of some use: Certified Internal Auditor, and Canadian Securities Course. My training helped when I served on the board of our condominium corporation, the last three as president. My wife Chantal and I stayed in Ottawa. Our daughter is here, our son in Mexico City.

Uwe E. Reinhardt, Health Economist I teach health economics, comparative health systems, general micro-economics and financial management at Princeton University. The bulk of my research has been focused on health economics and policy, both in the U.S. and abroad. I am a member of the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Science and has served as president of the Association of Health Services Researchers (now Academy Health) and of the International Health Economics Association (iHEA). I served on a number of government commissions, including the Physician Payment Review Commission (now part of Medicare Payment Advisory Commission or Medpac). I am also a Commissioner of the Kaiser Family Foundation Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. I have been a trustee of Duke University and

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also of the Duke University Health System, and have served or still serve as director of several health-related publicly traded corporations.

Roger F. Roy, Development Consultant After my Mount Allison University BA and Carleton MA, I spent four years as General Secretary of WUSC. Then I managed a technical assistance program in Northern Nigeria. When we returned to Canada I joined Hawker Siddeley Canada as Marketing Director International. I was the Marketing and Communications Director for Canada Place and the Canada Pavilion at Expo 86 in Vancouver. After Expo I joined the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada for three years as Senior Advisor. In 1990 to 2000 I was a UNDP Team Mission Leader and from

2003-5, with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), implemented an e-Parliament project in cooperation with UNDP-Kosovo. In 2010 I wrote the UNDP Project Document on Parliamentary Development and Social Policies for Kosovo. I just retired as voluntary Executive Director of the Native Brotherhood Working Skills Institute assisting First Nations in the natural resources sector.

Roger Savoie, Judge I was born in Rogersville, NB, in 1940 and graduated from the Université de Moncton and the University of New Brunswick Law School. Later I studied at the Université de Paris at the doctoral level. I practiced law in New Brunswick for 15 years before being appointed judge in 1983. I sat as a trial judge in criminal, civil and family law cases, in both official languages, for 30 years. I represented UNB at the WUSC Algerian seminar in 1964 and was selected to represent Canada at a WUS international work camp at

the University of Khartoum in Sudan in 1965. I am married to Rachel Daigle and now retired.

Ozzie Schmidt, Development Researcher After my engineering degree, I kept in touch with WUSC, did prosthetics research, and served on the Board of Canadian University Service Overseas (CUSO). After six years as country programme director for CUSO in Zambia and Botswana, I moved to southern Botswana in 1978 to work for a German-sponsored Rural Industries Innovation Centre. In 1981, I went to work in Edmonton and later in Nairobi for Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) supporting agri-food research in the Third world, done by Third World researchers. After the government down-sized IDRC, I returned to Canada in 1996, lost my wife, re-married and settled in Kingston.

Algerian Echoes

Algerian Echoes Part 5 Our lives, briefly, (continued)

Fred Sexsmith, Oil Consultant In 1960, after UBC, I attended the University of Cape Town graduating in 1962, and then worked in the chaotic Congo. I returned to UBC in 1963 but later returned to Africa at least 50 times to countries from Algeria to Moçambique and from Somalia to Cape Verde. I joined Shell in the mid-sixties. I enjoyed the oil industry’s global scale and many challenges – politics, corruption, pollution, money – and the chance to help make the world a better place. Ten years later I worked in Abu Dhabi for an oil consulting company; subsequently I worked mainly in the Middle East. Moving back to B.C., I started my own consulting firm in 1995. I only worked for governments or organisations such as the World Bank and only in developing countries. I retired in 2010 into volunteer work, gardening, tracking world affairs, and generally playing pioneer.

Lynn Smith, Judge After philosophy at the University of Calgary, I completed a law degree at the University of British Columbia. I became a partner in Shrum Liddle & Hebenton in Vancouver (now part of McCarthy Tetrault), doing civil litigation. With the Vancouver Community Legal Assistance Society and later with the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, I did pro bono cases about women’s equality. In 1981, I was appointed associate professor in UBC Law, and became Dean in 1991. Appointed

to the Supreme Court of B.C. in 1998, I was a trial judge until my retirement from the court in 2012. I was involved in judicial education through the National Judicial Institute, where I was executive director in 2005-06, and led programs on Evidence, the Charter, and Social Context. With the NJI, I have been involved in judicial exchanges in Ghana, Viet Nam, China, Scotland and Chile.

Ronald D. Stewart, Medical Educator After Dalhousie medical school, I took up general practice in a fishing village near my Cape Breton Island birthplace. After a residency in emergency medicine at the University of Southern California, I joined the USC medical school staff in 1975, then became professor and head of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and Medical Director of the Pittsburgh paramedic system. I returned to Canada in 1987 to the University of Toronto, then to Dalhousie in 1989. Elected to the Nova Scotia legislature in 1993, I was Minister of Health until 1996. I have worked on projects in Niger, Cuba and the Caribbean. Beginning in 1996 I campaigned to ban antipersonnel landmines. I teach Medical Humanities, Emergency Medicine and Anaesthesia at Dalhousie and Emergency Medicine at Pittsburgh. I am an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Member of the Order of Nova Scotia.

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Leonard Varrasso, School Administrator By 1970, with my MA in History from Waterloo, I was teaching history as department head at my old high school, Cathedral Boys in Hamilton. I became a curriculum coordinator for four years and travelled through many Western provinces to visit innovative schools and programs. In 1974, I was asked to start a new high school as principal and stayed on in that role till 1985. By 1981 I had my Masters in Business and Educational Administration from Niagara

University and Supervisory Officer Certificate from the Ministry of Education. I moved to the Central Office in a series of supervisory posts. In 1998 I was appointed Director of Education of the Hamilton Wentworth Catholic School Board and retired from that position a year later. I campaigned for full grants to Catholic Secondary Schools, which were received in 1984. In retirement, I do volunteer community work.

In Memoriam

Irénée Pelletier (17 March 1939 – 11 February 1994) Irénée earned a BA from St Francis Xavier University and a PhD from the University of Toulouse and taught political science. His doctoral thesis, La politique canadienne d'aide au developpement, was published in 1971. He won Sherbrooke for the Liberal party in 1972 and was re-elected in 1974, 1979 and 1980, losing to Jean Charest in 1984. On the occasion of Irénée’s death at age 54, Jean Charest told the House of Commons: “He was very interested in peace and disarmament issues. In fact -- I remember because he told me himself -- he had to make a

personal, very difficult decision when the House held a debate on cruise missiles and he felt compelled to vote against his own government on a motion to test these missiles. He told me how torn he was feeling during this debate and how he finally decided to take a very personal position that, incidentally, reflected his deep concern over the hunger problem and other issues affecting to different degrees people suffering around the world.”

Shirley Thomson (née Cull; February 19, 1930 – August 10, 2010) Shirley earned a B.A in history in 1952 from the University of Western Ontario, an M.A. in art history in 1974 from the University of Maryland and a Ph.D. in art history in 1981 from McGill. From 1982 until 1985 she was Director of the McCord Museum in Montreal. From 1985 until 1987 she was Secretary-General of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. From 1987 until 1997 she was Director of the National Gallery of Canada. From 1998 until 2002 she was Director of the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2003 she was appointed Chair of the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board. Shirley was also a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Canadian Studies (1998-2005); a member of the Board of Trustees of the Lewis Perinbam Award for International Development (1998-2006); a founding member and chair of the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) (2000-2006); a member of the Fellows Committee and chair of the

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Awards Committee of the Canadian Museums Association (2000-2005); a member of the Advisory Council for the David J. Azrieli Institute of Graduate Studies and Research in Architecture at Carleton University (2005); and a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (2004-2006).

Faculty update Maurice Barbeau Professor Barbeau was director of the Pedagogy faculty of Laval University and chairman of the Sainte-Foy school board. In recognition of his contributions to education in Quebec, the new occupational training school in the Sainte-Foy district of Quebec City, in 2003, was named Le Centre de formation professionelle Maurice-Barbeau.

Marcel DDrolet Nommé Professeur émérite en médecine et sciences de la santé de l’Universite de Sherbrooke en 1990, le professeur Marcel Drolet s’est installé à Sherbrooke en 1955, débutant sa carrière comme interniste au Centre hospitalier Saint-Vincent-de-Paul. Il a été associé aux démarches préliminaires qui ont conduit à la fondation de la Faculté de médecine en 1956. Il a également été un leader dans l’organisation de la pratique de la médecine au Québec, et sa vision a été déterminante pour la Faculté. Marcel Drolet a été le premier à proposer la formation d’un groupe de pratique multidisciplinaire. C’est ainsi qu’est née la polyclinique de Sherbrooke en 1959. L’équipe de cliniciens de qualité qu’il avait réunie dans une polyclinique avait déjà goûté les avantages académiques d’une pratique de groupe, et cette équipe même a créé la Société des médecins de la Faculté de médecine en 1969.

Paul Earnest Vandall A $1,000 award is granted annually to the graduating University of Windsor student achieving the highest academic standing in the Honours Environmental Studies Program. This award was established in 1984 by the family, friends and former students of Professor Vandall and the faculty and staff members of the University of Windsor. Professor Vandall, a strong supporter of Environmental Resource Management, established the Geography Department, taught at the University of Windsor from 1952 to 1983 and was actively involved in environmental and historic issues impacting on Windsor and the surrounding tri-county area. The University’s map library has also been named in his honour.

Information is still needed on Professors André Desgagné and John Wood.

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Algerian Echoes Part 6

The lasting impact of the WUSC International Seminar By Chris Eaton

he WUSC International Seminar, since the first in 1948, has opened the eyes and minds of approximately 2,250 of Canada’s brightest, most motivated students to the realities, possibilities and the most critical challenges in world affairs. Through

68 International Seminars in as many countries ̶ and at home within some of Canada’s distinct regions and cultural communities ̶ WUSC’s unique experiential learning and research tour has had a considerable impact on Canadian foreign affairs and our country’s approach to the world.

WUSC’s first International Seminar, bravely and remarkably, was held in 1948, in Germany, when the ravages and ruin of the Second World War were the raw reality of life for the European counterparts of the Canadian students. Against many odds, students and academics gathered with their peers from recent enemy countries to rekindle the ideals international cooperation through education and intercultural understanding.

The Seminar soon expanded beyond post-war Europe to Asia, Africa and the Americas to focus young participants on the profound challenges of global poverty and inequality. WUSC took on an increasingly important role in developing Canadian students for international relations via the International Seminar as well through other programming such as volunteer cooperation, international scholarships and public engagement at home. The International Seminar helped develop responsible and informed thinking about international affairs for Canada as the needs to internationalize Canadian campuses and worldviews only grew. Through WUSC’s university and college membership, the Seminar also helped forge fruitful links among post-secondary academia worldwide which has undoubtedly preserved and facilitated international cooperation.

With accelerated globalization, the demand for international experience grew across all fields and other opportunities arose for students to work, travel, study and volunteer overseas, but often without a development focus. Always at the forefront, WUSC has continually raised the bar for the International Seminar; innovating the format and refining the focus to ensure a meeting of minds, perspectives and fields for Canadian and international youth that would serve to advance sustainable development. The International Seminar remains at the core of WUSC’s programming. In 2014, the 67th and 68th seminars, held in Burkina Faso and Peru respectively, turned to youth entrepreneurs and students to stimulate their insights on youth employability and unemployment which are issues of intense global concern. The models and innovations that arise from the field research done in these most recent seminars are valuable for informing development plans and programs. These latest seminars have also achieved the perennial goal of equipping and empowering young leaders to make positive contributions in their world and communities.

Each seminar provides exemplary Canadian students with their first experience in a developing country and a distinct opportunity to concentrate with peers from other

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countries on issues of global development importance. As one of my predecessors, Marc Dolgin, stated at the time of the International Seminar’s 50th anniversary, “the Seminar has been an important lodestar for WUSC itself… .” Indeed, the Seminar invigorates our passion for change through education; it keeps the WUSC approach energetic, forward-thinking and optimistic despite the complex challenges of international development.

The Seminar is central to this unique Canadian international development organization that is engaged in 20 countries on 24 programs that are creating education, employment and empowerment opportunities for youth – and ensuring Canadian youth have a hand in shaping the world in which they are coming of age.

The ultimate outcome of the International Seminar has been better Canadians, and better citizens of the world. As you of the 1964 seminar have eloquently stated and exemplified, WUSC’s International Seminar is a learning tradition worth keeping and adapting, as it clearly has for almost seven decades.

I congratulate you on producing this compendium and at the same time, I urge you to continue championing WUSC and the International Seminar, which has been formative to you and other WUSC seminar alumni. With your support, WUSC will continue its work to inspire hope and provide educational opportunities which can help change the world. Chris Eaton is Executive Director of World University Service of Canada

September 2014 re-union, Sainte-Adèle