A conference titled "Settlement, Security, and Social Justice: Immigrants and Refugees in the US-Canada Border Regions" will bring government leaders and academic experts to UVM on Friday, November 6.

Participants will include the executive directors of the Vermont State Human Rights Commission and the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, the director of the Canadian Centre for Refugee Studies, representatives from Sen. Patrick Leahy's office and the Canadian Consulate in Boston, as well as many UVM students and faculty.

The keynote talk, "Spectre as Silence: Haunting Migrations Along the Canada-US Border," will be delivered by Alison Mountz. A professor of geography at Syracuse University, Mountz is the 2009-10 William Lyon Mackenzie King Research Fellow with the Canada Program at Harvard University. Her forthcoming book, Seeking Asylum: Human Smuggling and Bureaucracy at the Border (University of Minnesota Press), explores encounters between authorities and undocumented migrants.

The event is from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in John Dewey Lounge, Old Mill. Registration is required: uvmborders2009@gmail.com. Questions: Pablo Bose, assistant professor of geography, (802) 656-5717.