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Invitation to a talk by Svend Robinson, Feb.24




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An Evening with Svend Robinson!
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Federal NDP spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and International Human Rights
MP for Burnaby-Douglas

Thursday, February 24, 2000, 7 p.m.
30 Cleary Ave. 
(First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa)

Svend will speak on international issues including the links between trade
and human rights, the abolition of nuclear weapons, and other current peace
issues.

After his talk there will be a reception to socialize and to sample a
variety of complimentary, home-made desserts!  

During the reception, there will also be a silent auction.  (Please let us
know if you have items that you'd like to donate.)

This event is being organized by the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade,
with the support of the Peace and Disarmament subcommittee of the First
Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa.  

Admission is free, although donations are certainly welcome!  

Directions: Turn north off Richmond Rd. onto Cleary Ave. It's half a
kilometre (one traffic light) east of Woodroff Ave. 
(There’s plenty of parking).                                       Bus
routes: #2 and #18.  

For more information, please contact: Ria Heynen at 613-828-8468 or COAT at
<ad207@ncf.ca>

Please mark your calendars, and publicise this event through your networks!
Thanks

------------------------------------------
Background on Svend
	First elected to the House of Commons in May 1979, Svend Robinson
represents the federal constituency of Burnaby-Douglas, with a population
of over 100,000, in the Greater Vancouver area of British Columbia. He was
one of three New Democratic Party MPs elected from B.C. in the 1997
election.  When first elected, he was the youngest member of the federal
New Democrat caucus, having been nominated at the age of 25.  He is now the
senior MP from British Columbia and has been re-elected six times. 
	Mr. Robinson grew up in Burnaby, graduating from Burnaby North high
school.  He went on to study science and law at the University of British
Columbia and did post-graduate studies at the London School of Economics.
He was called to the B.C. bar in September 1978.  He was the first student
elected to the UBC Board of Governors and the recipient of UBC's highest
academic honour, the Sherwood Lett Memorial Scholarship.  In 1970, he
worked as a labourer-teacher with Frontier College while gold mining in
northern Ontario. 
	Mr. Robinson speaks English, French and Danish.  In 1990 he was awarded
the Ordre de la Pléiade in recognition of his support for la francophonie.
	He has been an active MP, in his riding, across the country and
internationally.  A strong advocate of human rights, he has served on many
Parliamentary Committees including the historic Special Joint Committee on
the Constitution in 1980-81, the 1985 Special Committee on Equality Rights,
the Justice Committee, the Human Rights Committee, and the Foreign Affairs
Committee.  He was a member of the Canadian Committee for the 50th
Anniversary of the United Nations in 1995, and is vice-chair of the
Canada-Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Group.  He was named an honourary
director of both the B.C. and Ottawa Civil Liberties Associations and of
Lawyers Against Apartheid.  He was the first recipient of the Edith Adamson
Award for Leadership in Issues of Conscience in 1995. 
	He was the first openly gay MP, having come out publicly in the spring of
1988, and has received many honours for his work for equality for lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgendered people. 
	Mr. Robinson believes in taking political leadership beyond Parliament and
has engaged in peaceful civil disobedience in support of environmental
protection in Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) in 1985 and in
Clayoquot Sound in 1993, which led in 1994 to a brief term of imprisonment.
 He was adopted into the Haida Nation in 1985. 
	He worked with Sue Rodriguez in the dying with dignity movement and
continues to seek changes in these laws.
	Mr. Robinson has been a New Democrat since the age of 14, and has held
many posts in the BC and federal party.  In 1992 he was named an Honourary
Life Member of the B.C. Young New Democrats.  In 1995, he was a candidate
for the federal leadership of the New Democratic Party.
Currently, Mr. Robinson is federal NDP spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and
International Human Rights.  He is a member of the House of Commons Foreign
Affairs Committee. 
	He enjoys sea kayaking, skiing, cycling and sharing his life with his
partner Max Riveron when not immersed in politics.
	Svend is a mentor of the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT).

For more information, please contact: Ria Heynen at 613-828-8468 or COAT at
<ad207@ncf.ca>
================================================================










------------------------------------------------------
                   Richard Sanders 
Coordinator, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)
  541 McLeod St., Ottawa Ontario Canada  K1R 5R2

      Tel.:  613-231-3076    Fax: 613-231-2614
          Email: ad207@ncf.ca

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