These events are held at the David Thompson Astronomical Observatory located in Fort William Historial Park

Indigenous, spirituality, traditions, stories and seasonal rounds are influenced by all of creation, including the Earth, Moon and stars. With the sacred blanket of snow covering the land, it is time to share the stories of the night sky and creation. Experience the richness and wonderment of the night sky through Anishinaabe stories and traditional teachings.

Group bookings available, contact organizer for details.

$10 Adults, $8 Seniors/Students/Youth, Children 5 yrs and under are free

WSIB’s Health and Safety Excellence program will make it easier for you to improve workplace safety, whether you’re just getting started or want to optimize processes you already have in place.

Success in the program could earn you rebates and other recognition for your investments in health and safety.

  • Improve your workplace health and safety experience
  • Reduce injuries and illnesses
  • Save money
  • Tailored support and resources from WSIB approved health and safety providers

Earn cash REBATES on your WSIB premiums for each health and safety topic you implement. Additional financial incentives available for businesses with less than 100 full-time workers.

Sign up for a free in-person information session using the form below, scan or take a photo of the completed form and email to: healthandsafetyexcellence@wsib.on.ca

The session available in your area is:
Location: Construction Association of Thunder Bay
Address: 857 North May Street, Thunder Bay ON
Date: February 2, 2023
Time: 10:00am -11:30am EST

For more information about the health and safety excellence program, visit: https://www.wsib.ca/en/healthandsafety

Stories & Society

About the Series

Date(s): Wednesdays, January 25 to February 22, 2023
Time: 9:30 to 11:15 am
Place:  Virtual OR In-person
Price: $59 (plus HST)

Stories are central to human communication. We use stories to help us imagine, to better understand one another, and to solve problems and create solutions. Storytelling is more than just entertainment.

This Third Age Learning Lakehead (TALL) series will explore stories and the role of storytelling in society through a sociological lens. We’ll examine questions like: How do our narratives—the stories we tell and are told— shape our lives, our community, our country? How are these narratives constructed? Does science fiction try to predict the future? What is the role of alternative forms of storytelling – like podcasting – in the changing world of media? And how can stories be used in education?

Ways of Escape: The Use and Abuse of Narrative

Dr. Kim Fedderson

Dr. Kim Fedderson
Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Questions about identity are at the forefront today. It’s personal. Who am I? Where do I come from? Where should I be headed?

It’s also social. Who are we? What is our identity? Is there a national culture? Is there an underlying, sustaining coherence to Canada’s multicultural story or are we currently witnessing its unravelling?

The spaces in which these questions get addressed—mainstream media, social media, service clubs, coffee shops etc.—are turbulent ones.  We often find ourselves buffeted between an extreme populist right and an extreme populist left.

On the one side, an ALT right in the grip of a fear of otherness—other nationalities, other races, other sexes, other genders—is possessed by a fervent nostalgia that hopes to restore a pristine past that never was.

On the other, a CTRL left whose passionate commitment to difference—giving voice to the voiceless, bringing the marginalized to the centre—propels the unflinching zeal with which it judges both the past and present by the standards of a utopian future yet, if ever, to come.

One slams the brakes, the other hits the gas pedal.

How do our narratives—the stories we tell and are told— shape our lives, our community, our country? How are these narratives constructed? What materials do they use and how do they put these materials together? And, most importantly, can we step outside these stories that shape us, so that we can tell which ones we should remember and which ones we should forget?

Kim Fedderson was the founding dean of Lakehead University’s Orillia campus and is a Professor Emeritus in Lakehead University’s department of English.His research focuses on the history of rhetoric and rhetorical theory. His published work explores how cultural moments of the past, as represented in novels, films, paintings, ceremonies and monuments, are preserved, celebrated, transformed, or simply forgotten in the present.

Dr. Kim Fedderson will attend in-person.

Indigenous Storytelling (to be updated)

Armand Ruffo

Armand Ruffo
Wednesday, February 1, 2023

(To be updated)

(To be updated)

Armand Ruffo will attend virtually.

Looking Beyond: Science Fiction and Our Future in Space

 Julie Czerneda

Julie Czerneda
Wednesday, February 8, 2023

At its core, science fiction is a thought experiment told as a story. Writers speculate what might happen if, for example, we start living on Mars, or discover extra-solar planets. Ideas once considered far-fetched—science fiction– are now in the daily news. Yet science fiction doesn’t try to predict the future. Writers pay attention to what’s possible now and predicted soon, then use their imaginations to look beyond and consider what if…? To celebrate wonder and reveal potential consequences. It’s powerful stuff. Join acclaimed author Julie E. Czerneda for a look at space and what we might do and become there, through the lens of science fiction.

Former biologist and textbook author Julie E. Czerneda has always been fascinated by space. Several of her science fiction novels speculate on what our future there might be like, including the Aurora-Award winning In the Company of Others, and her latest, To Each This World. Her anthology, Space Inc., explored work in space beyond the astronaut. Julie has conducted workshops for the Smithsonian Institute and Chandra Telescope on potential alien forms of life. She was inducted in 2022 into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Julie is published by DAW Books NY and represented by Sara Megibow of KT Literary.

Julie Czerneda will attend in-person.

The Power of Podcasting: A New Home for Long-Form Narrative in a Changing Media World

Liz Beatty

Liz Beatty
Wednesday, February 15, 2023

As page counts and advertising revenues shrivel in traditional print media, podcasting is booming  — from new audio ventures of established media outlets to lone-wolf storytellers with a recording setup from Best Buy.  Award-winning print, radio broadcast and podcast journalist Liz Beatty has experienced firsthand this speed-light-morphing of the media landscape.  She’s transitioned from feature writer for the likes of National Geographic and The Walrus, to documentary podcasting veteran, garnering top awards in her travel/culture beat from across North America. And all this after the age of 50.  In this talk, Liz will share not only the power of this exploding new medium, but how she’s found success among podcasting peers most often half her age.

 Liz Beatty is an award-winning feature writer, broadcaster and podcaster. She’s won all the top awards for podcasting, radio broadcasting and feature writing in the travel and culture lane. Her show North Americana took the 2021 Silver, and both 2020 Gold and Silver Lowell Thomas Awards for Best Podcast from the Society of American Travel Writers, as well as the 2021 Gold and Bronze for Best Podcast from the North American Travel Journalists Association. She is also a regular contributor to National Geographic Travel magazine, books and blogs, and writes for The Guardian, T+L, AARP, The Walrus, Toronto Life and others. She has photographed, written about and produced award-winning stories on everything from the great climbs of the 100th Tour de France for National Geographic to finding the last vestiges of nomadic gaucho culture off the grid in Northern Argentina.

Liz Beatty will attend in-person.

Global events, local stories: Narratives of education and youth across former colonies

Dr. Gary Pluim
Dr. Gary Pluim
Wednesday, February 22, 2023

(To be updated)

Dr. Gary Pluim is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead Orillia. He has a PhD from the University of Toronto, where he completed his doctoral thesis on constructions and conceptualizations of youth participation in the context of the post-earthquake, national reconstruction in Haiti. Informed by his work as a classroom teacher, an outdoor educator, and an international program director, Gary’s current research examines the nexus between global citizenship education and local, place-based education. He has received numerous awards for his research, including an International Research Partnership Award from Lakehead University and a Partnership Engagement Grant award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, provided to investigate the benefits, limits, and consequences of transferring educational curriculum between small states of the Commonwealth.

Dr. Gary Pluim will attend in-person.

How to Buy Tickets

This session of Third Age Learning Lakehead will be delivered in a hybrid format – virtually and in-person at the St. Paul’s Centre in Orillia. Light refreshments (coffee and cookies) will be served in-person. Please bring a reusable mug. Tickets for the series are $59 plus HST.

https://ec.lakeheadu.ca/tall/stories-society

*Please register for the attendance type (virtual or in-person) you intend to attend the most.*

Are you a business leader, general manager or sales executive serious about growing your sales and profitability?

Join us in Thunder Bay on January 25 for a one-day intensive sales boot camp designed to help companies maximize their resources and drive sales in every business cycle.

Learn how to see past the headlines to surface opportunities and create your own upsides

Your guides for the day will be expert sales coaches Mel Sauve and Shawn Casemore. Their interactive and practical sessions will deliver actionable market insights and proven sales strategies applicable in any sector.

Gain the insight and tactics you need to:

  • decipher economic forecasts,
  • leverage current conditions, and prepare for the future,
  • uncover new prospects,
  • increase your win rate; and
  • generate more revenue, with less effort!

 

Value Provided

Your registration fee includes all sessions and access to our experts, onsite parking, continental breakfast, lunch, and tea/coffee breaks throughout the day.

BONUS OFFER! The first 10 people to register will receive a complementary copy of Shawn Casemore’s most recent book “The Unstoppable Sales Machine: How to Connect, Convert and Close New Customers.”

 

Program At A Glance

The final workshop schedule will be provided to registrants the week prior to the event.

Session #1: How to Close More Business, More Profitably!

Shawn Casemore, Owner and Founder of Casemore and Co., Inc.

Is your sales team finding it difficult to close new business? Are you finding it challenging to create predictability in your sales revenue, riding a rollercoaster of peaks and valleys? You’ll leave Shawn’s energetic session with a clear plan to:

  • Create a sense of urgency to close sales without reducing your price.
  • Increase the size of every sale to generate more revenue with less effort.
  • Have your customers, suppliers and partners sell for you (at no cost!).

Session #2: Four Sales Strategies That Open Doors

Mel Sauve, President, Global Growth Results

You have two choices in a downturn: You can choose a doom-and-gloom perspective, trimming staff and pulling back efforts in preparation for “inevitable” setbacks. Or you can re-strategize and refocus to go after opportunities in this new business context.

In turbulent markets smart companies focus on building new business, creating new opportunities, opening new clients and closing more deals. Mel will be our expert guide through tried and tested strategies that can turn these economic times to your advantage. Learn how to:

  • Develop a New Business – Winning Sales Strategy
  • Reframe your value proposition to reflect current realities
  • 5 Best Practices – that will increase your WIN rate
  • Have a winning attitude and share it with your team.

Session #3: How Smart Companies Access Funding to Accelerate Their Sales Growth

Jenni Myllynen, Northern Ontario Exports Program

Since 2011, the Northern Ontario Exports Program has supported companies to improve their profitability and expand sales outside of Ontario. Leave this session knowing how to:

  • Connect with and hire experts in sales development and training (such as those showcased today).
  • Secure additional support for export marketing activities.
  • Qualify for up to $21,000 in funding.

 

Start 2023 off right! Join us on Wednesday, January 25 to refresh your sales skills and seize the opportunities that come from selling smarter.

 

Get to Know Our Experts

Shawn Casemore

Owner and Founder of Casemore and Co., Inc.

As a consultant, speaker, and executive advisor, Shawn enables companies, their leaders and teams to accelerate their sales results. His global consulting firm has attracted over 200 leading organizations such as CN Rail, Tim Hortons, PepsiCo, Kids Help Phone, and Sick Kids. A prolific writer, his insights can be found online in publications such as Fast Company, PLANT Magazine, and INC magazine and his latest book “The Unstoppable Sales Machine” was released in August 2022.

www.shawncasemore.com

Mel Sauve

President, Global Growth Results

Mel’s career has spanned over 30 years working primarily in Export Sales, Marketing and Business Development for Canadian manufacturing companies selling highly engineered products and services worldwide to industries including mining, steel, metal fabrication, security and nuclear. Since starting Global Growth in 2010, Mel has worked with over 50 Canadian mining supply and industrial companies helping them export their products worldwide.

www.globalgrowthresults.com

Jenni Myllynen

Program Manager, Northern Ontario Exports Program

Jenni has more than 15 years of experience advising companies and sectors on how to innovate and grow. Having worked on four continents in industries including consulting engineering, global finance, and cleantech, she has advised companies, governments and the United Nations on issues including ESG reporting, technology commercialization and market transformation. Today she applies her global business acumen to assist companies from Northern Ontario to undertake international expansion.

Connect with Jenni on LinkedIn.