Kingston International Lecture Series

As an arctic nation, Canada has a unique opportunity in terms of access to a region with immense potential. However, Canada is not alone in this opportunity and other arctic nations such as Russia, are actively pursuing this same potential and leaving Canada behind. In addition, states such as China, which although are not geographically contiguous to the arctic, are also making claims to arctic access. In this talk, Matthew will draw on his extensive experience, reflecting on what he has observed is happening in our own backyard and what it means for our prosperity and our country.

Matthew Fisher 

Resident Visiting Scholar in defence and security
The Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History and Massey College,
University of Toronto 

About Matthew Fisher 

Matthew Fisher is the first Resident Visiting Scholar in defence and security at the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History and Massey College, University of Toronto, and a fellow of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. He is Canada's most experienced foreign correspondent, with 45 years of experience, having been to 172 countries and lived in Belgium, Germany, Russia (8 years in Moscow), Hong Kong, Britain, Iraq, Jerusalem and Afghanistan.  During his travels he has observed 19 wars and conflicts from Central America and Rwanda (the genocide) to Chechnya, Nagorno-Karabakh, the Balkans, the Middle East, Somalia, Timor, South Asia and Abu Sayyaf's Islamic war in Mindanao and he visited 34 of Canada's 52 Arctic communities as well as Greenland, Alaska and Siberia. He was the international affairs columnist for the Toronto-based National Post and Postmedia for 17 years. Before that he worked as a columnist for Canada’s Sun Media newspapers and as the Toronto Globe and Mail's bureau chief for Alberta and the Far North.