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Following a cross-country series of 11 conferences aimed at sparking a national conversation about Canada's upcoming 150th birthday, the CANADA 150/2017 STARTS NOW conference series will conclude with a summary event at the Canadian War Museum Barney Danson Theatre in Ottawa on Thursday, June 27^th from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET.

Visionaries and leaders will share their big ideas for the 150th anniversary of Confederation. The conference series partners — CBC/Radio-Canada, Community Foundations of Canada and VIA Rail Canada — will present key highlights from the series, including insights and contributions from a number of voices representing a cross-section of Canadian life. The summary event will also showcase performances by Canadian artists.

Speakers and performers will include:

• The Right Honourable David Johnston – Governor General of Canada
• Jean-Marc Blais – Director General, Canadian Museum of Civilization
• Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien – Co-Chair and Co-Founder, Business Families Foundation
• Chantal Petitclerc – Gold Medalist, Paralympian Athlete
• Bruce Croxon – Co-founder Round 13 Capital and Dragons’ Den Judge
• Lynda Thalie – Algerian-born Canadian Singer/Songwriter
• Jowi Taylor – CEO and Founder, Six String Nation
• Cindy Doire – Singer/Songwriter
• Barbara McInnes – President and CEO, Community Foundation of Ottawa
• Jim Watson – Mayor, City of Ottawa
• Marc Bureau – Mayor, City of Gatineau
• Sonnet L’Abbé – Poet and Critic
• Chorale De La Salle – with Artistic Director Robert Filion

Conference series partners are:

• Hubert T. Lacroix – President and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada
• Ian Bird – President and CEO, Community Foundations of Canada
• Yves Desjardins-Siciliano – Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer, Corporate Secretary, VIA Rail Canada

The conference will be co-hosted by Evan Solomon, journalist and anchor of CBC News Network’s Power & Politics with Evan Solomon and CBC Radio One’s The House, and Emmanuelle Latraverse, head of Radio-Canada’s parliamentary bureau in Ottawa and host of Les coulisses du pouvoir at Télévision de Radio-Canada.

Developed to inform and inspire, CANADA 150/2017 STARTS NOW has sparked local, regional and national conversations around what 2017 means, and how we should celebrate Canada’s upcoming 150th anniversary of Confederation. Since last April, the series, presented in partnership with other local and national organizations, has brought together citizens and leaders from communities across every region of the country, and this concluding event will summarize what has been learned and how we can harness the power of Canadians to develop and inspire new ways to connect Canadians around our sesquicentennial anniversary.

As part of the CANADA 150/2017 STARTS NOW conferences, the 2017 Starts Now Conversation Kit was launched to engage even more Canadians in the conversation. The kit helps families, friends, colleagues and neighbours host their own local conversations in communities and organizations across the country. It provides many tools and resources to help people incubate and inspire ideas for how Canadians will celebrate this milestone.

Canadians have the opportunity to watch the CANADA 150/2017 STARTS NOW finale presentation via live stream on the interactive digital platform at www.2017startsnow.ca. Additionally, Canadians can participate in the conferences live by submitting comments to @cbclive and using #Canada150 on Twitter.

For additional event information, speaker bios, and to view video presentations of the previous conferences in both official languages, please visit www.2017startsnow.ca.

• Community Foundations
  Anne-Marie McElrone,
  Vice President, Public Engagement
  tel. (613) 236-2664 ext. 304
  amcelrone@cfc-fcc.ca
  
• Radio-Canada
  Hélène Lachance
  Head, Regional Communications
  tel. 613-288-6289
  helene.lachance@radio-canada.ca
  
• Renee Weekes
  Senior publicist, CBC
  tel. 416-205-2053
  cel. 416-729-7945
  Renee.Weekes@cbc.ca
  
• VIA Rail Canada
  Jacques C. Gagnon,
  Senior Manager, Community and Media Relations, Legal and Corporate Affairs
  tel. 514-871-6604
  jacques_gagnon@viarail.ca