Canadian Economic and Public Diplomacy Counsellor visited Prague Student Summit
On Saturday, 28 January 2017, the third preparatory meeting of the Prague Student Summit took place at the University of Economics, Prague. Among all morning seminars aimed mainly at self-improvement and self-actualization of the participants, there was also a seminar held by Kim Cowan, who is Political, Economic and Public Diplomacy Counsellor of the Embassy of Canada to Czech Republic.
The topic of the seminar was multiculturalism in Canada. In a 45-minute presentation, Canadian approach to immigration was introduced. With the help of several interesting videos and sidelights, the participants had an opportunity to learn about the types of immigrants in Canada, history of its multiculturalism policy, current model of this policy promoted by the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the challenges of the model. Several case studies (e.g. on Syrian refugees or private sponsorship of refugees) were also presented.
The second half of the seminar was dedicated to a discussion with the participants. After the first few shy moments, an active discussion took place and both the participants and the Counsellor were answering questions of the other side. The discussed topics were, among others, possible application of features of the Canadian model in the EU and especially in the Czech Republic, specific conditions of immigration to Canada or situation of Syrian refugees. The Counsellor herself stated that the knowledge level of the participants concerning immigration and facts about Canada had been a pleasant surprise and that the participants had been smart and quick-witted in discussion.