Brian Stewart, one of Canada’s most prominent and award-winning journalists, will give the 2015 Winegard Visiting Lecture on International Development Jan. 27 at the University of Guelph.
Stewart will speak on “The Arc of Struggle: Perspective on Conflict and Development in an Age of Crisis” from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Ontario Veterinary College, Room 1714. The talk is free and open to everyone.
“We’re at a critical juncture,” Stewart said. “In Canada and other donor countries, the very nature and future possibilities of development aid are being debated and rethought with an increasing sense of urgency.”
He said stories of development aid told by “crisis-addicted” media often focus on graphic failures.
“In the field as a reporter, however, I’ve also seen inspiring successes and devoted efforts to help societies in need. It’s so complex, and we need to find clearer patterns of what works in aid and what just doesn’t.”
A respected foreign affairs analyst and journalist since 1964, Stewart is best known for his news stories and documentary features as a senior correspondent for CBC’s The National. He also hosted CBC’s Our World, a weekly current affairs program.
Throughout his reporting career, Stewart has worked extensively in conflict areas, and is known for bringing compassion and humanity to foreign coverage.
He was the first North American reporter to focus on the Ethiopian famine of 1984. His report about efforts to track down a girl that he met during the famine received international coverage. Stewart and the girl, now a college graduate and businesswoman, appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show years later.
During the Gulf War, he was the first Canadian reporter to enter liberated Kuwait City.
He has covered many of the world’s conflicts and reported from 10 war zones, from El Salvador to Beirut to Afghanistan. His interest in military affairs and extensive conflict coverage has made him CBC’s primary commentator on Canadian and allied defence issues.
He has filed award-winning reports from Somalia; from Sudan, where he covered child slavery during the civil war; and from Rwanda, where he uncovered warnings of mass murders and won a Gemini award for his reporting.
He also won a Gemini in 1996 for “Best Overall Broadcast Journalist.”
Stewart retired from daily journalism in 2009 and continues to contribute news and documentary reports for CBC News.
He is currently a distinguished senior fellow with the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto.
The Winegard International Development Lectureship was created in 2005 with an endowment from former U of G president William Winegard and his family.
Winegard served as president and vice-chancellor from 1967 to 1975 and as Guelph MP from 1984 to 1993. He became Canada’s first minister of science, and chaired the House of Commons standing committees on external affairs and national defence, and external affairs and international trade. Winegard served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of international trade. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1998.