Stage Door News
Stratford: The Stratford Festival announces the 2025 CBC Ideas Forum themed week
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
We are thrilled to announce the topics that Nahlah Ayed will be covering when she returns to the Meighen Forum with CBC Ideas this coming July. They will explore four pivotal attempts to make peace over the last three decades, and ask what we can learn from the best—and worst—thinking of the past. The series culminates in an exploration of what it takes to make peace in the fraught context of the 21st century.
The Good Friday Agreement
Lazaridis Hall, Tom Patterson Theatre
Wednesday, July 9 | 10:30 a.m.–noon
Over three sleepless nights in 1998—after years of failed negotiations—unionists and nationalists hammered out the final details of the Good Friday Agreement, bringing peace to Northern Ireland. It was a “masterclass in constructive ambiguity” that allowed different factions to hold on to core convictions while committing to resolve conflicts through peaceful means. Nahlah Ayed and guests discuss the agreement that’s still hailed as a gold standard for addressing intractable conflicts worldwide.
The Oslo Accords
Lazaridis Hall, Tom Patterson Theatre
Thursday, July 10 | 10:30 a.m.–noon
When Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat met in Washington, D.C. in 1993 to sign the first Oslo Accords, it was supposed to usher in a new era of peace and lay the groundwork for a Palestinian state. But three decades later, the Oslo Accords are primarily remembered as a failure, and the dream of peace is farther away than ever. Nahlah Ayed and guests discuss what went wrong, and what lessons the Oslo Accords hold for the future.
The Dayton Accords
Lazaridis Hall, Tom Patterson Theatre
Friday, July 11 | 10:30 a.m.–noon
In 1995, rival Bosnian factions met in Dayton, Ohio to negotiate a ceasefire to a brutal war and decide on a new border. Today, the agreement is still holding—but only just. Nationalist fervor, genocide denial and the ghosts of the past still threaten a fragile peace, and the Dayton Accords are remembered as “a synonym for inertia, neglect and despair.” Nahlah Ayed and guests consider the legacy of Dayton, the unresolved questions that remain today and the decision to pursue peace before justice.
Peace, Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa
Lazaridis Hall, Tom Patterson Theatre
Saturday, July 12 | 10:30 a.m.–noon
After Nelson Mandela was released from prison, the South African apartheid government and its opponents began negotiating the terms of the transition from apartheid to democracy. The 1991 National Peace Accords set a date for the first democratic election, established an interim constitution and, controversially, promised some form of amnesty to perpetrators. They also paved the way for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that’s still praised as a model for healing—but according to Desmond Tutu, Mandela’s successors left the process “scandalously unfinished.” Nahlah Ayed and guests consider what other countries, including Canada, can learn from South Africa about how to dismantle injustice and build truly equitable, multiracial democracies.
Making Peace in the 21st Century
Lazaridis Hall, Tom Patterson Theatre
Sunday, July 13 | 10:30 a.m.–noon
What can we learn from the successes and failures of the past about how to create a more peaceful world, from Gaza to Ukraine and beyond? What ideas do Indigenous leaders in Canada bring to the work of peace and rebuilding? Nahlah Ayed and guests explore what peacemaking means in our own time, and try to chart a course for the future.
For tickets visit www.stratfordfestival.ca.