Conference Program

Programming starts the morning of Sunday, January 18. Programming will end at noon on Tuesday, January 20.

Program details will be updated as they are confirmed.

Back by popular demand, prolific journalist Chantal Hébert returns to ROMA 2026 for another passionate address about public policy and national politics. Chantal Hébert is a freelance political columnist frequently featured on the radio, television, and in print. She is also a weekly participant on CBC’s The National’s political panel “At Issue” and Peter Mansbridge’s podcast, “Good Talk.”

Hébert began her career in Toronto as a reporter for the regional newsroom of Radio-Canada in 1975 before moving on to Parliament Hill for Radio-Canada. She served as parliamentary bureau chief for Le Devoir and La Presse.

Currently a Senior Fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto, Hébert holds honorary degrees from a dozen Canadian Universities and is a graduate of Glendon College at York University. She is a recipient of two Asia-Pacific media fellowships (Malaysia and Japan) and was awarded the APEX Public Service Award in 2005, the Hyman Solomon award for excellence in journalism and public policy in 2006, and York University’s Pinnacle Achievement Bryden Alumni award. In 2012, Hébert was appointed to the Order of Canada and in 2019, her peers in the Parliamentary Press Gallery awarded her the Charles Lynch award for her longstanding coverage of national issues.

Hébert is the author of two books: French Kiss: Stephen Harper's Blind Date with Quebec, and The Morning After: The 1995 Quebec Referendum And The Day That Almost Was.