The 2025 Massey Lecture delivered by human rights activist and former secretary general of Amnesty International Canada Alex Neve.
In this lecture, Alex Neve will lay out the unprecedented and daunting challenges humanity faces and offer a vision, both aspirational and pragmatic, that is grounded in the vital truth enshrined over 75 years ago in the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
The Massey Lectures are co-sponsored by CBC Radio, House of Anansi Press, and Massey College in the University of Toronto. The series was created in honour of the Right Honourable Vincent Massey, former Governor General of Canada, and was inaugurated in 1961 to provide a forum on radio where major contemporary thinkers could address important issues of our time. The 2025 Massey Lecture delivered by human rights activist and former secretary general of Amnesty International Canada Alex Neve. • AUTHOR EXPERTISE: Alex Neve is a highly regarded expert human rights internationally. Working with organizations like Amnesty International and the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, he has led delegations to more than 20 countries and communities worldwide.
• A VISION FOR THE FUTURE: This year's Massey Lecture is a timely and necessary treatise on the ongoing struggle for human rights in our modern world. Alex Neve's steadfast belief in humanity and his pragmatic vision of the future is a balm for the soul.
• MASSEY LEGACY: Produced in partnership with CBC Radio, Massey College (at the University of Toronto), and House of Anansi, Massey Lectures have provided a forum for contemporary thinkers to address important issues since 1961. Alex Neve's five lectures will be delivered live on a tour across Canada, with stops in Ottawa and Toronto and will later be broadcast nation-wide on CBC Radio's Ideas in Fall 2025.
