PANELISTS
Steven Wise JD
Founder & President, Nonhuman Rights Project
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Steven Wise is the founder and President of the Nonhuman Rights Project. He is the only discussant traveling from outside of Canada. He has practiced animal law for over 30 years and teaches animal rights law courses at numerous U.S. law schools including Harvard. Wise has authored several books and articles, including Rattling the Cage – Toward Legal Rights for Animals. His work with the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) is unprecedented. “Unlocking the Cage” features Wise himself. After the audience sees the film, Wise will be elaborating on his work and the work of the NhRP. He has experience speaking to lay audiences, and even appeared on TED Talks in March 2015 to discuss the idea that chimpanzees and other autonomous, self-aware nonhuman animals should be recognized as legal persons with specific fundamental rights.
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Gloria Grow
Founder & Director, Fauna Foundation
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Gloria Grow is the founder of Canada’s only chimpanzee sanctuary, the Fauna Foundation, Carignan, Québec. Grow attended the Nash Academy of Animal Sciences and participated in the Chimpanzee and Human Communications Institute’s program “Caring for Chimpanzees”. She has co-authored two papers on the psychological effects of captivity and research on chimpanzees. She has served in consultative, advisory board and practical capacities for over 15 other chimpanzee sanctuaries, including The Jane Goodall Institute, Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Uganda. She has appeared in PBS, National Geographic, and Animal Planet documentaries. She briefly appears in “Unlocking the Cage” and her interaction with the chimps (as daily and medical caregiver, therapist, friend and family) will enable her to bring a unique perspective and will be discussing the complex emotional and psychological behaviour of rescued chimpanzees. She has experience communicating with lay audiences across Canada and the U.S. and has been described as a “charismatic speaker” (New England Anti-Vivisection Society).
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Dr. Mary Lee Jensvold PhD
Associate Director & Primate Communication Scientist, Fauna Foundation
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Dr. Mary Lee Jensvold, PhD is a primate communication scientist and board member at the Fauna Foundation, Carignan, Québec. Dr. Mary Lee Jensvold has worked with chimpanzees who communicate with sign language since 1986. She is also a Senior Lecturer at the Primate Behavior and Ecology Program, Central Washington University. Dr. Jensvold specializes in ethological studies of apes, animal intelligence, communication, language, and culture. Her studies include conversational behaviours, private signing, phrase development, chimpanzee to chimpanzee conversation, and imaginary play. Other research includes caregiving practices, zoo visitor effects, and public education about chimpanzees. Dr. Jensvold also briefly appears in “Unlocking the Cage”. She will be bringing the scientific perspective to the panel and will be providing remarks on the complex cognitive and communicative capacities and behaviours of chimpanzees.
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Dr. Will Kymlicka PhD
Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy, Queen's University
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Dr. Will Kymlicka, PhD is a Canadian Professor of Philosophy and the Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He is very well-known for his work on multiculturalism, minority rights, citizenship, democracy, and animal ethics. He has published eight books and over 200 articles. He has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Ku Leuven in 2014, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Copenhagen in 2013, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, and the Killam Prize by the Canada Council for the Arts in 2004.
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Sue Donaldson MA
Fellow, Department of Philosophy, Queen's University
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Sue Donaldson is a Canadian author, member of the Writers’ Union of Canada, and a Research Associate in the Philosophy Department at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. Donaldson has extensive experience communicating to a lay audience, including as a panelist at Kingston’s VegFest 2016, in Later Life Learning, a Quinte Arts Council program in Belleville, Ontario (2013), and in a public panel called “Animals in Political Theory”, NYU (2013). She has published a vegan cookbook called Foods that Don’t Bite Back and wrote a play on animal ethics and existentialism which won first prize in the Ottawa Little Theatre’s national one-act playwriting competition (2005). Kymlicka and Donaldson co-authored Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights (Oxford UP, 2011) which was awarded the 2013 Biennial Book Prize from the Canadian Philosophical Association. They also co-founded Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics (APPLE) – a research initiative at Queen’s. They have co-authored over 16 publications on animal rights and political theory. Both will draw on their ideas in Zoopolis to discuss what they think are the best strategies for confronting some of the legal hurdles that the NhRP continues to face.
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MODERATOR
Prof. Vaughan Black MA LLB LLM
Professor of Law, Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University
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Prof. Vaughan Black is a law professor at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, Halifax. During his 37 years at Schulich, he has been the Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Transborder Studies at Arizona State University, a visiting professor at the University of Auckland, the James Lewtas Visiting Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School (twice), and a lecturer at The Hague Academy of International Law. He has written two recent books, Statutory Jurisdiction: The Court Jurisdiction and Proceedings Transfer Act (Carswell, 2012) and Foreign Currency Claims in the Conflict of Laws (Hart, 2010), and co-edited Canadian Perspectives on Animals and the Law (Irwin Law, 2015). He has taught Animals and the Law for years and has written several articles and book chapters on animal law, including comments on Reece v. City of Edmonton.
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