August 27, 2025
What is on everyone’s mind in this, the digital and “information” age? It’s the deception of false Artificial Intelligence and its looming threat to the human race. It’s the tantalizing lure of social media and their deleterious effects on our children. It’s the explosion of information that bombards our environment with data that displaces wisdom and critical thinking.
Even though he died in 1980, Marshall McLuhan had something to communicate to us about exactly these phenomena. He was a global pioneer in understanding the cultural impact of media and technology on human beings. Through his work, McLuhan made critical thinking popular, foresaw the Internet, and cautioned against the excesses of technologies that could divorce us from our very humanness, technologies that we now call artificial intelligence and social media.
We at the Marshall McLuhan Initiative Inc (The Initiative), in cooperation with Kelvin High School, are taking an evening to celebrate the legacy of this great visionary. On Thursday, October 16th, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.) at the Lecture Theatre at Kelvin High School, 155 Kingsway, we will be sponsoring a program called “Remembering and Extending Marshall McLuhan, Kelvin Class of 1928”.
- The evening will begin with greetings from the officials from Kelvin and from Howard R. (J.) Engel, President and CEO of The Initiative.
- We will then share with the audience the award-winning PowerPoint about McLuhan, his Manitoba roots, and his importance today.
- This will be followed by the presentation of The Initiative’s The Medium and the Light Award and an address by the winner.
- The program will conclude with the announcement of “The Media and the Write” competition for Grade XII and University students.
- Light refreshments will follow.
Come and remember Marshall McLuhan, one of Kelvin High School’s most celebrated alumni, and arguably, one of Canada’s greatest public intellectuals.
Download the Poster
