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Pensions at Work Conference, October 20 – 21, 2006

Room 12-199
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)
University of Toronto
252 Bloor Street West
Toronto, ON

This conference was an opportunity for university researchers, union and employer pension trustees, social investment consultants, and those working in the pension industry to discuss cutting-edge research issues facing pension trustees. This was the last annual conference of a research/education project on the socially responsible investment of pension funds in the new economy, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. This small conference was structured to allow for full dialogue by all participants. The Canadian Labour Congress and all Federations of Labour were partners in this project.

Friday, October 20

9:00 Conference Convenes

9:05 Conference Introduction
Professor Jack Quarter, Principal Investigator, Pensions at Work, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto)

9:15 Workplace Pension Challenges for Canadian Trade Unionists
Presentation by Bob Baldwin, independent pensions consultant and former director of Social Policy, Canadian Labour Congress

10:15 Union Strategies for Pension Fund Representation
Johanna Weststar and Anil Verma (Centre for Industrial Relations, University of Toronto)

11:15 Pension Fund Management and Socially Responsible Investment: Questions to Consider
Wes Cragg (Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada) and Ran Goel (Faculty of Law, University of Toronto)

Commentator: Joel Harden, National Representative, Department of Social and Economic Policy, Canadian Labour Congress

12:45 Presentation

2:00 Integrating and Reporting an Economically Targeted Investment's Economic, Social and Environmental Value Added: The Case of a Master Planned Community
Laurie Mook, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto

3:15 Mapping Economically Targeted Pension Fund Investment in Canada
Professor Ted Jackson and Tessa Hebb, Centre for Community Innovation, Carleton University

4:15 Economically Targeted Investments, Union Pension Funds and Public-Private Partnerships in Canada
John Loxley (University of Manitoba)

5:15 Adjourn for the Day

Saturday, October 21

9:00 Program for the Day

9:05 Educating in order to better intervene: Evaluation of the FTQ's Education Programme "The Negotiation and Administration of Pension plans"
Alain Dunberry (Université du Quebec à Montreal), Michel Lizée and Denise Gagnon (Federation du Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Quebec).

10:15 Assessing the Potential of Socially Responsible Investments
in Asian Pension Systems
Priti Shokeen (Kingston Business School, UK), Kobboon Chotruangprasert, (Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada), Dan Li (Economics Department, York University, Canada)

11:15 Adult Education Perspectives on SRI and Pension Fund Investment
Lisa Duggan (OISE/ University of Toronto)

12:15 Closing Remarks
Eugene Ellmen, Director, Social Investment Organization

1:00 Adjournment

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