Tomson Highway: Enlightening Talks for Evolving Times
Enlightening Talks for Evolving Times
We live in times that sense the need for change. The flames of change are fanned by eminent, enlightening, inspiring personalities. Sudbury’s Place des Arts invites you to come and listen to outstanding public figures who have used the keys of art to open gateways to the future.
This prestigious series of talks presents voices that are vital for our times. Their creative works and innovative thinking can be catalysts for self-renewal through the sharing of mutually respected identities. Their presence at Sudbury’s Place des Arts promises enlightening moments for evolving times.
Please join us for this prestigious series of talks hosted by Dr. Simon Laflamme, a distinguished sociologist and philosopher.
Tomson Highway
“Life is an act of joy,” says Tomson, and the phrase is basic to his outlook.
Born in a tent urgently pitched in the snows of northern Manitoba, he has become one of Canada’s foremost authors with a series of acclaimed plays, novels and musical works that celebrate his Cree culture and convey its importance for our society.
His talk will focus on Laughing with the Trickster on sex, death, and accordions, published in The CBC Massey Lectures 2022.
Tomson Highway was born in a snowbank on the Manitoba/Nunavut border to a family of nomadic caribou hunters. He was raised off-reserve, in the spectacularly beautiful natural landscape that is Canada’s sub-Arctic.
He had the great privilege of growing up in two languages, neither of which was French or English; but Cree, his mother tongue, and Dene, the language of the neighbouring nation; a people with whom they roamed and hunted.
Following an education where he earned both a Bachelor of Music and the equivalent of a Bachelor of Arts with an English major, he spent seven years immersed in the field of Native social work. He then combined his education and training and poured himself into writing. Today, Tomson enjoys an international career as a playwright, novelist, pianist, and songwriter. Tomson is best known for universal hits such as The Rez Sisters, Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, Rose, Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout, (The Post) Mistress and the best-selling novel Kiss of the Fur Queen and his recently published memoir Permanent Astonishment. He has also written children’s books, namely Caribou Song, Dragon Fly Kites and Fox on the Ice. His work has been translated into eleven languages.
For many years Tomson was Artistic Director of Canada’s premiere aboriginal theatre company, Toronto based Native Earth Performing Arts, from which has emerged an entire generation of playwrights and theatre artists. Tomson is the recipient of eleven honorary doctorates and is an officer of the order of Canada. His awards and nominations include Dora Mavor Moore Awards, Governor General’s Literary Award, Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award, Toronto Arts Award, National Aboriginal Achievement Award, and the 2022 Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award at the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards. The (Post) Mistress was nominated for a 2015 Juno Award for the best aboriginal recording of the year, and in the spring of 2022, Tomson released his first album of country songs, Cree Country-Tomson Highway.
Tomson is the recipient of the 2021 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction for his memoir Permanent Astonishment. In September of 2022, Tomson delivered the CBC Massey Lectures to audiences across Canada in the series’ first live event since 2019. Fluent in Cree, French and English, he continues to write, teach, lecture, and perform across Canada and around the world.
Simon Laflamme – Host of the Enlightening Talks for Evolving Times
Simon Laflamme studied philosophy and sociology. He has been teaching at Laurentian University (Sudbury, Ontario) since 1984 where he lectures in theory and methodology in the sociology program and the interdisciplinary Ph.D. in human studies.
He is one of the founders of the journal Nouvelles Perspectives en sciences sociales.
His research focuses on various issues of communication, economics and relationships between populations according to whether they constitute a minority or a majority.
He develops a relational theory at the macrological and micrological levels. At the macro level, he has created a trialectical model by which it is possible to analyze simultaneously, in a given society, the circulation of goods, ideas and people. At the micro level, by focusing on relational dimension of human being, he has been critical of phenomenological approaches and he has created, in 1995, the concept of emorationality.
