On March 4 at 1:00 PM ET, the Group of 78 will be hosting a webinar The Cuba Emergency: What should Canada do?
Cuba is facing a crisis that has been exacerbated by the US embargo on Cuban oil imports in the wake of its intervention in Venezuela. The crisis is geopolitical and threatens a humanitarian disaster in Cuba.
This webinar will explore ways to avert disaster and de-escalate geopolitical tensions, including roles that Canada can play along with Mexico and others. The webinar will feature experts on Cuban society, politics and economy.
Please join us March 4 at 1 PM ET for a webinar with three experts on Cuban society, politics and economy as they discuss ways to avert disaster and de-escalate geopolitical tensions, including roles that Canada can play along with Mexico and others.
John Kirk is Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University. He is the author/coeditor of several books on Cuba and has published on Cuban foreign policy (including two books on Canada-Cuba relations), political history, religion, and medical internationalism. The most recent are: Contemporary Cuba: The Post-Castro Era (2023) and Healthcare without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism (2015). He has been traveling to Cuba since 1976, most recently in April 2025. He has worked as a consultant for Canadian and European firms that invest in and export to Cuba. In 1994 and 1996 he accompanied the Nova Scotia premier as interpreter/counsellor for meetings with Fidel Castro and members of his Cabinet. He has also worked as a consultant for the Swiss and British governments, analyzing development issues in Cuba. For many years he was the editor of the University of Florida series on Cuba, and currently is the co-editor of the Bloomsbury series on Cuba.
Over the past 18 years, Ron Berezan has led 28 groups of Canadian farmers, students, and food security advocates on agricultural tours to Cuba. He most recently returned from Cuba on February 18 of this year. Ron works closely with several Cuban state and nongovernmental organizations, facilitating the agroecology, permaculture and urban agriculture movements throughout the country. He is currently raising funds to assist Cuban small farmers in developing solar energy systems to ensure on-farm energy security and farm resilience. Ron is a cofounder of Blueberry Commons Farm and Housing Cooperative in Powell River, BC where he manages a diverse organic farm. For the past 25 years Ron has led diverse educational and community-based food security projects throughout Canada in urban and rural areas and with First Nations (www.theurbanfarmer.ca) In his spare time, Ron plays with fire while making biochar and does his best not to get lost on long forest trails.
Moderator: Laura Macdonald is a Chancellor’s Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Institute of Political Economy at Carleton University. She has published numerous articles in journals and edited collections on such issues as the role of non-governmental organizations in development, global civil society, social policies and citizenship struggles in Latin America, Canadian development assistance, Canada-Latin American relations and the political impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Her recent work looks at transnational activism in North America around labour rights, migration, and human rights in Mexico, and labour reform in Mexico. She is the current president of the Canadian Association for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CALACS).