Events

Los Altos Institute is getting back into the business of staging and co-sponsoring events in 2023. We are very excited to be one of three sponsoring organizations for a cross-partisan symposium on the life and work of George Gibault, a twentieth-century British Columbian populist political strategist and public intellectual primarily associated with the Social Credit Party of W R Bennett.

Past Events

Saturday, March 4th, 2023: The First Annual Michael Parasiuk Scholar Dinner: In memory of Michael Parasiuk (1970-2020), a Ukrainian diaspora activist, lifelong socialist organizer and key Los Altos activist 2015-20, we held the first annual Michael Parasiuk Scholar dinner, an event at which we honour one Institute member who has logged enough hours participating in our intensives, online courses and reading groups to exceed the criteria for an Associate of Arts degree from an accredited BC college or university. Our 2023 Michael Parasiuk Scholar was Margaret Byrne of Surrey.

Monday, November 28th, 2022: Eco-Anarchism and Fair Trade: We hosted a talk by veteran eco-anarchist organizer Ira Zbarsky who has been working for decades establishing fair trade links between Guatemalan and Mexican peasant organic coffee and cacao producers and other stateless/Fourth World peoples, like the Transnistrian and Donbas autonomists before the outbreak of full-scale war and First Nations in BC. A recording of the talk is available here.

Tuesday, December 15th, 2020: Ending Men’s Violence Against Women: We co-sponsored a panel with the Georgia State Green Party with a panel featuring prominent US feminist thinkers Vednita Carter and Robert Jensen, as well as Vancouver Rape Relief’s Hilla Kerner.

Friday, June 17th, 2017: Is Rojava the 21st Century’s Catalonia? Is a New Left internationalism Possible?: Author, journalist and socialist Terry Glavin discusses the Kurdish question in the Middle East with LAI President Stuart Parker at SFU – Habour Centre, at an event co-sponsored by the Institute and the SFU School of International Studies.

An audio recording of the event is available.

November 15, 2014: Metro Vancouver Election Watching Party: Informed party featuring commentary on the Surrey, Richmond, Burnaby, Vancouver and New Westminster elections. Los Altos Institute sponsored party, Burnaby

October 27, 2014: Toronto Election Watching Party: Informed party featuring comments by long-time political observer and election math wizard Chris Green, along with the usual LAI suspects. Los Altos Institute sponsored party, Burnaby.

September 6, 2014: Public Consultation vs. Representative Democracy: Panel discussion featuring Trevor Loke, Vision Vancouver Parks Commissioner, Elizabeth Murphy, founder, Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver, Stuart Parker, LAI President. How do public consultation processes interact with representative democracy at the municipal level? Los Altos Institute sponsored salon, Vancouver.

July 24, 2013: Substances and Citizenship: Dr. Amy Salmon, LAI Academic Board, UBC School of Population and Public Health. Intersecting discourses of substance use and citizenship in a neoliberal state. Los Altos Institute sponsored salon, Vancouver.

Photos by Edward Swatschek

April 19, 2013: Empire and Citizenship, a Canadian Case Study: Dr. Ashleigh Androsoff, Douglas College History Department. A comparison of Gilded Age Canadian and Russian immigration and citizenship policy and ideas of imperial expansion. Los Altos Institute sponsored salon, Burnaby.

March 9, 2013: Empire: Towards a Theoretical Framework: Dr. Stuart Parker, LAI President. An introduction to scholarship and comparative theories of empire. Los Altos Institute sponsored salon, Vancouver.

Academic Conference Appearances

Monday, May 30th, 2016: The Bronze Age: The Politics of Race, Memory, Family and History in the Memorialization and Narration of the Life of Harry Jerome, Dr. Stuart Parker, LAI President, BCIT Liberal Studies Department: A theorized piece examining the possible narratives of public figures in minority communities when situated within a dominant culture’s discursive space. Canadian Historical Association Annual Conference, Calgary. 

May 9, 2015: Ratepayer Conservatism and the New Left: Dr. Stuart Parker, LAI President, SFU History Department. A theorized personal narrative supplemented by scholarly research examining the structures of left political mobilization in Vancouver and their consequences in the 2014 municipal elections. BC Studies Annual Conference, Richmond.

June, 3 2013: The Failure to Socialize Canadian Green Politics: A BC Case Study: Dr. Stuart Parker, LAI President, SFU History Department. A theorized personal narrative of leading the 1990s BC Green Party. Society for Socialist Studies Annual Conference, Victoria.

May 3, 2013: From Social Experiment to Electoral Entity: the BC Green Party 1988-99: Dr. Stuart Parker, LAI President, SFU History Department. A theorized personal narrative of leading the 1990s BC Green Party. BC Studies Annual Conference, New Westminster.