Carol Off, a long-serving and highly regarded television reporter for the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC), reporting for The National and current host of the popular radio program As It Happens, will deliver the University of Regina School of Journalism’s 2008 James M. Minifie Lecture on Wednesday, March 12, at 7:30 p.m., in the Education Auditorium. The title of her lecture is “The Canadian Narrative: Time for a Rewrite.”

Off, who just returned from assignment in Pakistan, has been reporting on Canadian and international issues for many years, covering such significant events as the Meech Lake Accord and the 1988 federal re-election of Brian Mulroney’s Conservatives. Off was the recipient of a B'nai Brith Award, an international Gabriel Award, and an Investigative Journalism Citation of Merit for a groundbreaking series on refugee women in Canada. She is also the recipient of a gold medal from the New York Television and Film Festival for an investigative report on Bosnian war criminals.

The annual James M. Minifie lecture is named after one of Canada’s most courageous and acclaimed journalists. Born in Burton-on-Trent, England in 1900, Minifie was the son of a hay and feed dealer who joined the adventurous pioneers then emigrating from England to Saskatchewan in 1909.

Minifie talked his way into the Canadian Army at the age of 16, serving in Europe during the First World War. On his return to Canada he attended Regina College, forerunner of the University of Regina, and went on to the University of Saskatchewan, graduating in 1923. He studied further at Oriel College at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and finished his education at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Minifie's journalism career began in 1929 when he joined the staff of the New York Herald Tribune. Throughout his career he reported from Paris, Rome, and London. Minifie had a long association with the CBC as its Washington correspondent. For 15 years, first on radio, then on television, he built up a large following of devoted listeners.

Minifie wrote several highly regarded books before being overtaken by illness in 1968. He died in 1974.

In June 1980, the James M. Minifie Fund was set up to help support the School of Journalism at the University of Regina. The fund has provided the school with modern facilities for classes in all aspects of journalism.

Previous Minifie lecturers include: Knowlton Nash, Pamela Wallin, Arthur Kent, Charles Lynch, Valerie Pringle, Peter Mansbridge, Helen Hutchinson, Lloyd Robertson, Rex Murphy, Adrienne Clarkson, Wendy Mesley, Patrick Watson, and Alanna Mitchell to name a few.

The event is free to the public. Free parking is also provided in lots 14, 15, and 17 in the “M” areas. Phone 585-4420 for more information.