Canada and East Asia Today: Panel Session

Why is a good understanding of the connections between Canada and East Asia important? How do we move our programs toward deeper integration with our partner universities? As part of the opening event for the ‘Intercultural Communication and Globalization – East meets West’ Summer 2026, Scholars and community leaders from various disciplines will openly share insights and experiences concerning Canadian and East Asian relationships.

Chair

• Dr. Anderson Araujo, Professor, Chair of the World Literature program, Dept. Languages and World Literatures (LWL), Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (FCCS), UBC Okanagan

Panelists

• Dr. Sean Lawrence, Associate Professor, Head of Dept. of LWL, FCCS, UBC Okanagan
• Dr. Meilan Ehlert, Lecturer, Dept. LWL, Coordinator for Transnational Education, FCCS, UBC Okanagan
• Dr. Annie Wan, Associate Professor, Dept. Creative Studies, FCCS, UBC Okanagan
• Dr. John Cho, Assistant Professor in Anthropology, Dept. Community, Culture and Global Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FASS), UBC Okanagan
• Fei Liu, Executive Director of OCCA Communities Association, Kelowna, BC, Canada
• Olivia Lai, 4th year student in Political Science, FASS, President of Student Union, UBC Okanagan

Panel Session Agenda

• 8:30-8:50 am: Check-in (light refreshments)
• 8:50-8:55 am: Opening: Dr. Meilan Ehlert, Coordinator for Transnational Education, FCCS
• 8:55-9:05 am: Welcome: Dr. Bryce Traister, Dean of FCCS, Dean pro tem of FASS
• 9:10-10:10 am: Panel session – Canada and East Asia Today
• 10:15-10:30 am: Presentation – “Campus Asia” and beyond Dr. Yuyang Deng, Chair of Campus Asia
  education centre, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, P. R. China
• 10:30-10:40 am: Coffee break
• 10:40-11:30 am: Keynote speech: “Walking Interculturalities: Learning with Languages, Art, and Place”
• 11:30-12:15 pm: Networking and brief lunch

Keynote: Walking Interculturalities: Learning with Languages, Art, and Place     

• Dr. Daniele Moore, Professor in the Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, Canada Intercultural learning extends beyond learning about other languages and cultures. Through examples of linguistic landscapes, language biographies, and plurilingual poetry, participants will explore how art and place can become powerful mediators for dialogue, reflection, and intercultural understanding. Drawing on contemporary perspectives on plurilingualism and intercultural education, the session will offer both theoretical insights and practical, creative approaches to engaging with linguistic and cultural diversity, inviting participants to view interculturality through the lens of plurilingualism, artistic inquiry, and the multilingual environments we inhabit.

This event is free an open to all. Registration is not required. ‘Intercultural Communication and Globalization – East meets West’ Summer 2026 is offered by the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, organized by Dr. Meilan Ehlert, Lecturer in the Department of Languages and World Literatures, and partially funded by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, UBC.