VIU CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT WEEK FEB. 3-7

Vancouver Island University (VIU) is hosting International Development Week events Feb. 3 to 7 that range from brown-bag learning sessions and lectures with guest speakers, to student presentations on international experiences, to a mini-documentary film festival. All events are free and open to the public.

“Our theme is ‘Community Engagement – from Local to Global',” says Meg Savory, International Grants and Projects Coordinator. “This is a wonderful opportunity for VIU to showcase the work our students and faculty are doing both here in our community and internationally.”

Highlights for the week include a presentation by Jon Steinman on his new television and web series, Deconstructing Dinner: Reconstructing Our Food System. Steinman, along with special guest Heather McLeod, co-author of Uprisings – A Hands-on Guide to the Community Grain Revolution, will make a presentation at 6:30 pm on Feb. 3 in Building 356, Room 109.

Steinman’s series takes viewers behind the shelves of the grocery store to examine the origins of six popular foods, and explores how we can reconstruct a healthier food system in our communities and in our kitchens.

A mini-documentary film festival titled “Architects of Change” will showcase short documentary films Feb. 4 on global issues that range from forest sustainability to tourism impacts, beginning at 11:30 am in the Royal Arbutus Room, Building 300.

The feature-length film Grow Your Own will be presented by VIU’s Worldbridger Film Series on Feb. 6 at 7 pm in Building 356, Room 109. This British film from 2007 centres on a group of Merseyside, UK gardeners at their garden allotment who react angrily when a group of refugees are given plots at the same site. After they get to know them better, they soon change their minds.

For a full schedule of the 13 different events taking place throughout the week, see

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Media Contact:


Shari Bishop Bowes, Communications Officer, Vancouver Island University


P:250.740.6443 C: 250.618.1535 E: Communications@viu.ca T: @viunews