The recollections of the five-day festival of art and discourse have continued to linger weeks after the programme ended. The event exuded profound impacts on attendees based on the panellists’ intellectual fervour and the organisers’ tenacity to continually deepen the frontiers of scholarly engagements for the benefit of humanity and the academic community.

The Director, Centre for Socially Engaged Theatre (C-SET) and festival Director, Dr Taiwo Afolabi, particularly appreciated the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canada Research Chair Program, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, Theatre Emissary International and its social enterprise, Mobile Research Lab for the right of the 2024 festival.

Mr Afolabi noted that the festival was a reflective, provocative and inspiring exploration of the various research activities connected to the Canada Research Chair in Socially Engaged Theatre Program at C-SET. Day one of the event titled “Staging Justice: Activism and Policing in Africa, ‘featured profound opening remarks around the festival’s central themes delivered by Dr Chris Yost and Dr David Dick. Mr Afolabi also made a captivating presentation titled, “Staging Justice: Theatre and Policing on the Canadian Prairies and Beyond.”

A graduate student under the supervision of Mr Afolabi, Victory Uchenna-Ike, presented her thesis titled, “Investigating the perception of Black Adolescents of Policing in Canada.’’ Activists from Nigeria such as Omoyele Sowore, Aisha Yesufu including Kenyan theatre and performing arts writer, Harry Kivayiru Kidavi, participated in an engaging panel discussion.

The opening remarks for day two of the festival with the theme “Policy, Processes and Policing in Canada” was delivered by Dr Jeff Keshen, while a researcher at C-SET, Dr Olusola John, made an appealing presentation on “Police Curriculum in Canada and Emotional Intelligence.” There was also a panel discussion by John Lilley and Michael Federico presented in partnership with the Canadian Coalition of Police Reform.

For day three, “Ar(c)tivism and Policing in Nigeria and Beyond,’’ an expert on police reform in Nigeria, Okechukwu Nwagunma, gave the opening remarks, another graduate student under the supervision of Mr Afolabi, Gabriel Friday, presented his thesis on “Policing and Ar(c)tivism” and a Bangladeshi, Md. Al Amin Rakib and a Nigerian Darlingtom Okeduwa, gave insights on impacts of civil disobedience in the two countries.
The title for day four is “Policing in Canada: Discourses, Debates and the Future,’’ and it witnessed opening remarks delivered by Dr David Dick. A keynote titled, “Bringing Police At the Table” was also rendered by Moussa Magassa. The final day of the event recorded the theme, “Staging Justice: Activism and Policing in Africa” and featured thoughtful opening remarks by the Dean and Professor, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research at University of Regina, Azeez Douai. There was also a play reading, “Past Shadows, Present Shades’’ and the launch of a website on activism, artivism.ca, featuring works on policing in Nigeria, Canada, UK and Bangladesh curated by Gabriel Friday. The exhibition extended for two weeks more for the viewing of the university community.