OTTAWA – The program put together by the organizers of this year’s International Institute of Communications Canadian Chapter conference should attract a good crowd this Halloween.
Scheduled for October 31st and November 1st at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, the annual policy and legal gathering looks to take a deep dive into the federal government’s Broadcast and Telecom Legislative Review – and will feature the first public appearance of the expert panel examining the Broadcasting, Telecom and Radiocommunication Acts.
All seven members of the panel, announced in June, will close the two-day event on November 1st in a town-hall style discussion moderated by Stikeman Elliott senior counsel Lawson Hunter.
Prior to that, however, organizers have done an excellent job lining up crucial topics for panels and important speakers to give keynotes. As we write this, there are still some speakers to be confirmed.
Those keynoters include Erik Kruse, Ericsson’s “networked society evangelist”, CBC CEO Catherine Tait, TFO CEO Glenn O’Farrell will talk about blockchain, Vubble CEO Tessa Sproule will talk about social media and fake news (which is something the BTLR panel is examining), PIAC’s John Lawford, and CRTC chair Ian Scott, among others.
Federal Communications Commission commissioner Michael O’Rielly will also take the stage for a live interview and other key leaders such as Corus CEO Doug Murphy, APTN CEO Jean LaRose, Iristel CEO Samer Bishay, TV5 Quebec CEO Marie-Phillipe Bouchard, will be on stage during various panels.
The sessions start Tuesday morning with two bi-lingual sessions which will both dive into the challenges and opportunities facing the BTLR experts. An afternoon session that day will speak to the realities of regulation in a global market with thinkers from Taiwan, Austria, Canada, France and the United States.
Day two will see an interesting morning panel on artificial intelligence and what possible regulatory or policy implications that may have for the industry and will close with the BTLR panel.
Various keynotes dot the rest of the schedule, which you can see, and register for, here. It promises to be a pretty packed couple of days of learning.
