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Keynote Speakers

Sally Armstrong - "Is Anybody Listening? The Village Economy Depends on the Health of the Women"
Human rights activist, documentary filmmaker and award-winning author Sally Armstrong was editor-in-chief of Homemaker's magazine from 1988 to 1999. She is presently a contributing editor at Maclean’s magazine. She has covered stories about women and girls in zones of conflict all over the world. From Bosnia and Somalia to Rwanda and Afghanistan, her eye witness reports have earned her awards including the Gold Award from the National Magazine Awards Foundation and the Author's Award from the Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Letters. She received the Amnesty International Media Award in 2000 and again in 2002. Sally is the co-producer and host of several documentaries including They Fell From the Sky that aired on CBC’s Rough Cuts in November, 2001; The Daughters of Afghanistan aired on CBC Newsworld, The Passionate Eye on March 2, 2003. In 1996, Sally was honoured by the YWCA of Toronto with the prestigious Women of Distinction Award in Communications. In 1997 she received the Achievement Award for Human Rights for Women from Jewish Women International; in 1998 Media Watch's Dodi Robb Award and in 2003, the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement from the National Magazine Awards Foundation. In 2005, she received the Athena International Award (Chicago), the World of Difference Award from the International Alliance for Women (Florida) and the Red Cross Humanitarian Award - New Brunswick Region. In 2008 she received the Clarkson Laureate for public service at Massey College, University of Toronto. And in May 2008, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Journalism Foundation. She received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Royal Roads University in 2000 and an Honorary Doctor of Letters from McGill University at the October, 2002 convocation, and an Honorary Doctor of Letters from St. Thomas University in 2004. In 2007 she was made Doctor of the University at the University of Ottawa and received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Guelph University and in 2009 a Doctor of Laws from Mount Allison University. In 1998 she was made a Member of the Order of Canada. Her book Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan was published by Penguin Books on May 23, 2002. The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor was published by Random House in March 2007. Her new book Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: the Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan’s Women was published in November 2008.
Carol Devine - "Stop That, Start This: Gender Empowerment as HIV Prevention"
Carol Devine is a humanitarian and activist for human rights, gender equality, and access to medicine. She recently worked as Rapporteur for the Stephen Lewis Foundation for a groundbreaking meeting in Malawi of grassroots organizations working with orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS. Carol does advocacy advising to and is a Board member of Dignitas International, a Canadian medical humanitarian organization working with the Malawi Ministry of Health to respond to the HIV crisis there. She coordinated Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF’s) participation in the International AIDS Conference in Toronto in 2006. She was the Access to Essential Medicine Campaigner for MSF Canada, seeking sustainable solutions to the crisis of lack of medicines for common global infectious diseases. In Southern Sudan during the famine of 1998 Carol helped lobby for international attention to the forgotten crisis. Carol worked for MSF in Rwanda and Zaire in 1996. Carol was also a Program Director with the Diplomacy Training Program (DTP), in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales, Australia. The DTP is a human rights and international law training program for grassroots activists, founded by Nobel peace laureate José Ramos-Horta. Carol organized practical trainings for Burmese and Tibetan refugees, and human rights defenders in the Asia-Pacific.
Don't miss your chance to hear these exceptional women, live in Hamilton this October 2nd!