April 1, 2026 – A timely and unflinching conversation with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa, moderated by Adrienne Arsenault, Emmy Award-winning CBC News chief correspondent and host of The National newscast, starts at 7:30 and ends at 9:00 PM on Thursday, April 2 at the Chan Centre.
The talk will address the fight against digital disinformation, protecting democratic values, and insights from her career as a journalist fighting for freedom of the press in the Philippines. The event is sponsored by the Peña Family Foundation.
Maria Ressa, named one of TIME’s Most Influential People and one of its Women of the Century, has spent her career on the front lines of the global fight for truth and democracy. As co-founder and CEO of Rappler, the top digital-only news site leading the fight for press freedom in the Philippines, she has endured relentless political harassment under the Duterte government.
Faced with 11 arrest warrants in just over a year of daily harassment during the 6-year Duterte murderous regime, she has become one of the world’s most powerful advocates for press freedom and the integrity of global information ecosystems. In 2021, Ressa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to safeguard freedom of expression.
Ressa’s most recent bestselling book, How to Stand Up to a Dictator, charts the global battle over digital truth and the future of democracies everywhere. The Financial Times called it a “highly personal, powerful and important book” while The Guardian praised Ressa as a “moral giant.”
In 2022, Ressa was appointed by the UN Secretary-General to the Leadership Panel of the Internet Governance Forum and serves as its Vice-Chair. She is also a Professor of Practice at Columbia University where she leads projects within the Institute of Global Politics related to artificial intelligence and democracy.
In 2022 Ressa spoke at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver about the rise of dictators and the dangers of misinformation, highlighting the importance of holding social media platforms accountable for the spread of “fake news.”
With so much “fake news” from Trump about his so called “good talks with Iran” (denied by Iran), on ending the war he started, “fake news” has taken on a dangerously new meaning. “Fake news” from Trump can be used to manipulate the stock markets which react instantly. Trump who is motivated by markets can move markets to fluctuate quickly with “fake news” causing major losses or gains for watchful big investors, some of them Trump’s supporters. Even POTUS should be accountable for such “fake news.”
See also https://www.canadianfilipino.net/news/nobel-peace-prize-laureate-maria-ressa-at-ubc-s-chan-centre-on-april-2
Editor of Canadian Filipino Net
Eleanor R. Laquian has written four best-selling books, and co-authored four others with husband Prod Laquian. She has served in various capacities at the University of British Columbia’s Institute of Asian Research as manager of administration and programs; editor and chair, publications committee; and primary researcher of the Asian Immigration to Canada project. She has a degree in journalism from Maryknoll College in the Philippines, and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of the Philippines. She did postgraduate studies at the School of Public Communications, Boston University in the U.S.
She has been researching and writing about Filipino immigration to Canada since 1969. For her Master's degree in Public Administration at the university of the Philippines, she conducted in 1972 the first, and up to now, the only nationwide survey of Filipinos in Canada. It was done by mailed questionnaires with self addressed stamped envelopes for replies and followed up by personal in depth interviews of respondents who agreed to be interviewed, Interviews were done on a two-week drive from Ottawa to Vancouver in the summer of '72.
Her Master's thesis was published in 1973 in Ottawa by the United Council of Filipino Associations in Canada. It was titled A Study of Filipino Immigrants in Canada, 1962 - 1972. As the primary researcher of UBC Institute of Asian Research immigration Project, she edited in 1998 a book titled The Silent Debate: Asian Immigration and Racism in Canada published by UBC. In 2005 she co-authored with her husband a book to update her MA thesis and titled it Seeking a Better Life Abroad: A Study of Filipinos in Canada 1957 - 2007. It was published in 2008 by Anvil Publishing in Manila.In 2023 she edited Indomitable Canadian Filipinos, a book on the 70-year history of Filipinos in Canada, published by Friesen Press in Manitoba, Canada.
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