The Centre announced that the Honourable Michael Ignatieff, PC, CM, will be the 23rd recipient of the prestigious honour.Ignatieff is a writer, historian, and former politician. Born in Toronto, educated at Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto, he earned a PhD in history at Harvard in 1975. He taught history at the University of British Columbia and then was elected to a Senior Research Fellowship at King’s College Cambridge. Between 1984 and 2000, he worked as a freelance journalist for the BBC, The Observer, and other outlets in London. Between 2000 and 2005 he was director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
He was elected to the House of Commons in 2006, serving as Deputy Leader and Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada between 2009 and 2011. He returned to academic life in 2011 and taught at the University of Toronto and Harvard’s Kennedy School until 2016. Between 2016 and 2021, he was Rector and President of Central European University (CEU) in Budapest and Vienna. He now teaches history at CEU in Vienna. He is the author of eighteen books and holds honorary degrees from fourteen universities as well as the Order of Canada.
The Symons Medal Presentation and Lecture will take place at Confederation Centre of the Arts on Wednesday, November 8, and the Charlottetown Forum will be held Thursday, November 9 – Friday, November 10.
Free admission. Click here to book your seat.
The medal and events are named for Professor Thomas H.B. Symons, CC, O.Ont—the founder of Trent University and a long-time board member and supporter of Confederation Centre.
The Symons Trust Endowment Fund was created in 1994 to help finance heritage programming, specifically The Symons Medal Lecture. All donations to this fund are eligible for up to dollar for dollar matching through the Endowment Incentives component of the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Canada Cultural Investment Fund. For more on our Foundation and to donate online please click here.
Symons Medallists: Since 2004, the Centre has honoured 21 distinguished Symons Medallists; the complete list can be viewed here.