posted on Jan. 30: National civil rights advocate speaks about terrorism, technology, liberties

Alan Borovoy, general counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, is giving a public talk on Terrorism, Technology and Civil Liberties: The Unasked Questions, tonight (Jan. 30) at McMaster.

The free lecture is sponsored by the Theme School on Science, Technology and Public Policy. It begins at 7 p.m. in the Information Technology Building, Room 137.

In his role since 1968, Borovoy has made presentations to public inquiries and given testimony before parliamentary committees on issues such as mandatory drug-testing in the workplace, wiretapping and police-race relations.

His community organizing activities have included delegations to the federal and provincial governments on issues such as capital punishment, religious education in public schools, the War Measures Act, campus speech codes and national security and intelligence.

Borovoy was a fortnightly columnist for the Toronto Star from 1992-96 and has appeared on various public affairs programs on television and radio. He is the author of Uncivil Obedience: The Tactics and Tales of a Democratic Agitator and When Freedoms Collide: The Case for Our Civil Liberties, which was nominated for the Governor General's Award in 1988.

Borovoy has been a visiting professor at the faculties of law at Dalhousie University and the University of Windsor and a part-time lecturer at the University of Toronto's faculty of social work and York University's political science department.