Friday, 25 October 2019

Speaker: Louise Plouffe

Lecture title: What makes a city age-friendly?

Lecture Summary

Major global trends in this century include the aging of the population and urbanization.  However, most cities and towns are built to accommodate a working age-population and their families, with little thought of the growing numbers of increasingly older persons with a wide spectrum of physical and cognitive abilities. In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) undertook to identify the key features that make a city ‘age-friendly’ and to mobilize municipal governments, older persons and community groups to change their cities and towns in that direction. Starting with consultations in 33 cities in 22 countries, the age-friendly city concept has since evolved into a world-wide network.  In Canada alone, over 1000 communities in all 10 provinces have joined  the movement, including Mississippi Mills.  In this presentation, you will learn from the WHO project leader how the ‘age-friendly’ idea became a global tipping point in urban planning.

Slides: Age-friendly Communities

Bio: Louise Plouffe

Louise Plouffe (Ph.D., Psychology) has extensive experience in leading policy research and analysis on health and social dimensions of aging within Canada and internationally, notably with the Government of Canada, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Longevity Centre (ILC) Brazil and ILC Canada.  She developed the conceptual framework and led the consultations which launched the global WHO Age Friendly Cities initiative.  Louise has contributed to the expansion and evaluation of Age Friendly Cities within Canada, and most recently, was actively engaged locally in the implementation of Age Friendly Ottawa.  She has published and presented widely on age-friendly communities and cities in Canada and internationally. Louise has received the Contributions to Gerontology Award from the Canadian Association on Gerontology as well as a Knowledge Translation Award from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Friday, 27 September 2019

Speaker: Rachelle Elie

Lecture title: Finding Your Funny

Lecture Summary

A whimsical tour with personal anecdotes of the life of a professional comedian and clown. Where do jokes come from? How do the people who make us laugh for a living create their material? How do they learn their art and craft? What do they learn from practising their profession? And how does its practice affect their lives?

Slides:

Find your funny

Bio: Rachelle Elie

Rachelle has written and performed five one woman shows and was nominated for Best BreakOut Artist with the Canadian Comedy Awards in 2018. She has been a supporting act for legendary Comedians Mike McDonald and Tommy Chong. She won an Outstanding Comedy Award with the Ottawa Fringe and recently performed her one woman show S#!t I’m In Love With You Again at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was one of Mervyn Stutter’s Pick Of The Fringe at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017. Her show was also invited to be a part of the Off-Broadway Encore Series in New York. She has participated in the First Air Arctic Comedy Festival in Iqaluit, HubCap Comedy Festival in New Brunswick and returns in May to the Women In Comedy Festival in Boston. She was also nominated for a Just For Laughs Comedy Award and performed in JFL 42 last year.