MONTREAL — Cirque du Soleil founder and CEO, Guy Laliberté, former Montreal Canadiens coach and senator, Jacques Demers, and television host Ben Mulroney are among the Montrealers the 350 major international supporters of Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science will meet at a conference in Montreal next month.
The biennial Science & Savoir Faire! Weizmann Global Gathering takes place here from May 6 to 9, with delegates coming from 10 countries. The most recent such gatherings were held in Washington and Paris.
“It’s a great privilege to host this event,” said Weizmann Canada executive vice-president Susan Stern. “It’s a recognition of the fact that Canadians have always played an important role in the university and that that support has gone to the next level in the last little while.”
The program is a mixture of panel discussions by about a dozen Weizmann scientists talking about their research, dinners and social events, policy meetings and tours of the city.
Laliberté will open a scientific presentation on sustainability May 8 at Marché Bonsecours in Old Montreal. He’s head of the One Drop Foundation, which is trying to improve accessibility to safe water in developing countries and raise awareness of water conservation.
That evening delegates will attend the Cirque’s new production, Amaluna at the Old Port, preceded by a private cocktail with Laliberté in the VIP tent.
Cirque du Soleil will perform in Israel for the first time in its 28-year history this summer. It will present one of its earlier shows, Alegria, at Tel Aviv’s Nokia Arena Aug. 8 to 18.
Demers was a head coach of several teams in the National Hockey League, as well as the World Hockey Association, before being appointed to the Senate in 2009. At the opening of a scientific presentation on personalized medicine on May 7 at the Montreal Science Centre at the Old Port, Demers will speak about his life, its triumphs and struggles, including his having to overcome functional illiteracy as an adult.
That evening, Mulroney, best known for hosting the CTV entertainment news program eTalk, will host a dinner celebrating real estate mogul and philanthropist David Azrieli’s 90th birthday to be held at the chalet atop Mount Royal.
The Global Gathering will open May 6 with the President’s Circle dinner at Le Windsor ballrooms. Weizmann president Prof. Daniel Zajfman will induct 11 donors of at least a million dollars to the university into this prestigious honour society.
The Canadians are Azrieli and Lorna Greenberg Scherzer of Montreal and Murray and Marvelle Koffler and Jay Smith, Weizmann Canada’s national chair, of Toronto.
The gathering’s co-chairs are McGill University astrophysicist Victoria Kaspi and Francie Klein, chair of Weizmann Canada’s women and science committee in Toronto. Kaspi’s McGill colleague, biochemist Nahum Sonenberg, who earned his doctorate at Weizmann, will also participate.
The delegates’ “extracurricular” options include a fashion show by Montreal designer Marie Saint Pierre and bus and walking tours of the city. The May 8 bus tour called “A Taste of Jewish Heritage” is expected to be great fun: the itinerary along St. Laurent Boulevard will pass such sites as one-time home of Yiddish theatre, old synagogues and where Leonard Cohen lives when he visits his native city. The sightseers will be treated to smoked meat, bagels and other typical Jewish fare along the way.
The daytime scientific programs are open to the public. Registration can be made with Weizmann Canada at 514- 342-0777.