Inquires please contact our Executive Director, Debra Miko at ED@speechanddebatecanada.com

Speech & Debate Canada Foundation - Code of Conduct for Attendees!

Speech & Debate Canada Foundation is proud to be hosting the Canadian Student Debating Federation 2025 Annual National Seminar this year. The 59th Annual Seminar will run from  August 11th – 15th, 2025. The event will be online via zoom, allowing for participation of all Canadian youth in grades 6 to 11 to participate regardless of where they reside in Canada, with a small team on location in Windsor, Ontario to bring us live coverage of cultural aspects of our event. Please visit our 2025 CSDF National Seminar Page for more information on how to register for this event.

MODEL PARLIAMENT WORKSHOP

A new offering for this year is our Model Parliament Workshop.  Ever wondered about our democratic process? How bills are passed? Who speaks when, in a legislature, or the House of Commons? Our political practices and traditions? Who is really in charge when the house is in? At Speech & Debate Canada Foundation we believe that a healthy transfer of information begins at an early age. Starting in April of 2025, we hope to deliver to students across Canada a monthly Model Parliament Workshop. These sessions will be offered to students in grades 6 to 11, who currently attend a school located in Canada. This is a non-competitive event as we work towards educating our youth who would not otherwise have the opportunity to learn this important process in our democratic system.  There is no charge to attend, however, we ask that you only register if you truly intend to attend, should anything change kindly let us know in advance. Our instructors Rowena, Paschaline and Lindsay have been working very hard to build a program which is not only educational but offers an opportunity for you to practice a new found skill.

Date: Saturday, May 17th, 2025 - what a great way to start off your long weekend!

Time: 8:00AM - 1:00PM Pacific Time (BC)

Cost to Attend: None

Registration Link:  https://forms.gle/PERoLbpc6qkzLCXw5

Beginning in September and for the 2025-26 school year we will endeavour to host one a month with the exception of December and June.

Please spread the word as Model Parliament is only successful when we have a large attendance.

WORKSHOPS FOR 2024-25 SCHOOL YEAR

We have partnered with the Hart House Debate Club at U of T to deliver 3 debate workshops for the 2024-25 school year. They will be on Wednesdays from 7:00 to 9:30PM Eastern Time. It will be a workshop on the style as listed below followed by one or two rounds of debate and feedback. These workshops are on a first come sign up basis and is open to all students in grades 6 to 11 across Canada. They will be online.

Here are the tentative dates for now:

• Confirmed September 26th - British Parliamentary - Open to Grades 9 to 12
• Registration Closed
• NEW DATE: November 27th - Canadian National - Open to Grades 6 to 10
• Registration Closed
• February 12th - Worlds Style - Open to Grades 8 to 11 and presented by Brent Schmidt - Team Canada Co-Coach - Hailing from the small lakeside town of Goderich Ontario, Brent is a history graduate from the University of Toronto/Western, and has been coaching debate of all levels for over 10 years. As a debater, Brent was a national top speaker, and champion of numerous university tournaments. Brent’s main interests outside of debating surround history of all kinds (though a particular focus on the Cold War), as well as fealty to almost exclusively terrible sports franchises.

Registration Closed on Monday, February 10th @ 10 am Pacific Time.

CUSID National Calendar

Information regarding our 2025 Annual National Persuasive Speech Competition can be found  here! 

This year we shall be accepting speeches in both of Canada's Official Languages, please check the link above for more information.

Important dates are:

• Registration and submission deadline is Sunday, January 12th, 2025.
• Finalists contacted by Monday, February 10th, 2025
• The finals will be on Saturday, February 22nd, 2025 via zoom

Again for the school year we will host two online (zoom) debate events. These are intended strictly for students who are new to debate, maybe you have only ever attended one other debate tournament, or even better, none! We are discovering a lot of students are taking part in debate club but are too intimidated to attend a debate tournament in their city, or town. We want to remove that anxiety by offering events that are geared towards students who have just learnt this new skill and would like to practice it in a non-competitive environment.

Each year we will host at least one online tournament intended strictly for students who are "new to debate" these are students who are now learning the skill and may have attended 1 or 2 tournaments prior, but have absolutely no other experience. It will be in the Canadian National Style (2 per team with 2 teams in a round)  with 3 rounds of debate and ran on zoom, between 8:30 and 11:30am Pacific Time. The speaking times will be 6/6/6/6/ with 3/3 minute reply speeches at the end. Rounds will be judged to provide feedback only. If you can provide a judge that would be appreciated.  There is no cost to attend these events, but do sign up early as spaces are limited and it is open to students across the country. We would sincerely appreciate that should you sign up and then decide not to partake, a polite email letting us know this would be appreciated.

Check back regularly on this page as we offer more workshops for speech and debate programs, both for students and coaches!