Award-winning Producer Rita Shelton and Manitoba MP Tina Keeper to Speak at Annual Lecture on Diversity and Canadian Media

Press Releases
Saturday, February 9, 2008

Montreal – Ms. Rita Shelton Deverell, one of Canada’s most respected Black broadcasters, TV producers and directors, actors and journalism educators,will be the keynote speaker at the third Annual Lecture on Diversity and Canadian Media. Her lecture is entitled, “Who Will Inherit the Airwaves?”. The event will take place on Thursday, February 28, 2008 from 6:00 to 8:30 pm at the Samuel Bronfman Building of Concordia University, at 1590 Dr. Penfield (corner of Côte des Neiges), Montreal.A co-founder of Vision TV, Ms. Deverell has held the positions of director of news and current affairs for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN); producer/director of the TV drama series, Solo Flight: International, broadcast on OMNI, and producer and host of numerous award-winning Vision TV programs. She has also received numerous prestigious awards from the arts and media sectors.

The lecture (at 7:30) will be preceded by a ceremony (at 6:30) to officially name the Annual Lecture after the late Dr. Gail Guthrie Valaskakis, one of Canada’s leading experts on Aboriginal communication. Dr. Valaskakis was Chair of the Concordia’s Communication Studies Department and Dean of the University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Research Director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and a CRARR Director. She was also a recipient of the Aboriginal Achievement Award.

Ms. Tina Keeper, MP (Liberal – Man.) and award-winning actress on the hit CBC TV series North of 60, will deliver a speech at the ceremony. Ms. Keeper, who has worked intensely in community development in Manitoba, is a member of the Order of Manitoba and a recipient of the Aboriginal Achievement Award. She is also Special Advisor for Aboriginal Outreach to Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.

Other guests of honor include Mr. Paris Valaskakis, National Account Director with the Canadian Management Center; Ms. Vera Houle, Director of News and Public Affairs of APTN in Winnipeg, and Dr. David Graham, Dean of Concordia’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Created in 2005 as a joint initiative between CRARR and Concordia’s Communication Studies Department, the Annual Lecture aims to promote research and other initiatives with the industry, government and the community on issues involving Canadian media and diversity. RBC, the Institute for Research and Education on Race Relations and the Wilfrid Laurier University Press are the event’s key sponsors.

Attendance is free. Due to limited space, seats may only be reserved for participants who register before February 26, by email at crarr@primus.ca

Information: Adrienne Gibson, Communication and Research Officer, Center For Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR) : (514) 939-3342