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- 2024/25: Bringing Justice Home with Judge Abby Abinanti
- 2021/22: Reimagining Social Justice and Racial Equity with adrienne maree brown
- 2019/20: Climate Change and Human Rights with Sheila Watt-Cloutier
- 2017/18: Peace, Pluralism and Gender Equality with Alice Wairimu Nderitu
- 2015/16: Climate Solutions with Tim Flannery
- 2013/14: Reconciliation with Chief Robert Joseph
- 2011/12: Twelve Days of Compassion with Karen Armstrong
- 2009/10: Widening the Circle with Liz Lerman
- 2005: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Right to Health with Mary Robinson
- 2002: Environmental Sustainability with Maurice Strong
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- 2026: Economics for the People: Inside Inequality with Mohsen Javdani
- 2024: AI: Beyond the Hype—Shaping the Future Together with Stephanie Dick and Daniel Barcay
- 2022: Facing the Flames: New and Old Ways of Co-Existing with Fire with Joe Gilchrist and Paul Hessburg
- 2021: All My Relations: Trauma-Informed Engagement with Karine Duhamel
- 2019: Power of Empathy with Kimberly Jackson Davidson
- 2019: Rethinking BC Referendums with John Gastil
- 2017: Strengthening Democratic Engagement with Valerie Lemmie
- 2015-16: THRIVE! Surrey in 2030
- 2014: Citizen Engagement and Political Civility with Dr. Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer
- 2013: Building a Culture of Participation with Dave Meslin
- 2012: Riots and Restorative Justice with Dr. Theo Gavrielides
- 2011: Growing Out of Hunger with Will Allen
- 2010: The Age of Unequals with Richard Wilkinson
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When the Map Is Useless
When the Map Is Useless is a multi-year initiative that brings SFU and the wider community together to strengthen public sense-making and civic discourse in a time of profound social, political, and ecological transition.
When familiar frameworks no longer hold, this work invites us to think—and live—beyond easy answers. It centers on cultivating the capacities that matter most in conditions of uncertainty: engaging across difference to make sense of what is unfolding, adapting personal and collective leadership to meet the moment, and reclaiming shared decision-making even amid polarization. Through spaces for dialogue, reflection, and practice, the program works to renew the civic relationships we need to find our way forward.
About The Initiative
The initiative has two parts:
Conversations for a World in Transition is a public dialogue series of thoughtfully curated, interdisciplinary, fireside-style conversations with innovative scholars and practitioners.These dialogues create opportunities to engage complexity without resorting to simplification or despair. Guided by three core questions—what is unfolding in this moment, what contexts help us make sense of it, and how we sustain ourselves while navigating profound change—the series invites the public into collective reflection beyond soundbites. Its aim is to deepen understanding and foster critical optimism, public imagination, and the personal and collective capacities needed to live through transformation with curiosity, care, courage, and integrity.
Bridging the Political Divide is a series of programming that focuses on the growing erosion of civility and trust in the public sphere. Through facilitated conversations, reflective spaces and public events, this initiative brings together people with influence over public life—including elected and former elected officials, journalists, union leaders, philanthropists, academics, and community leaders—to explore how disagreement can remain rigorous without becoming dehumanizing. By modeling how leaders can engage in heated conversations while remaining grounded and respectful, this work seeks to strengthen the quality of public discourse in British Columbia and Canada, and to encourage broader and more diverse participation in public leadership and democratic life.
This program is supported in part by the North Family Foundation.
Programming Partners
