[TheGCC]

Globe and Mail journalist Sonia Verma has been confirmed as the closing keynote speaker at the upcoming McMaster University Global Citizenship Conference (GCC) on March 5th. Verma was recently in Cairo reporting on the protests over the presidency of Hosni Mubarak. During this time, she and her colleague Patrick Martin were held at gunpoint for three hours by Egyptian military forces. Throughout her ordeal, Verma continuously updated her followers on twitter with details of her detainment. Upon being released Verma tweeted, "What's worse about being detained three hours by Egyptian army? Watching a four year old girl being detained with you even longer. #Egypt".

The protests gained notoriety when the Egyptian government implemented an Internet and SMS blackout over the nation in an effort to prevent further organization of protests through social media networks. Since then, Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon has called on Egyptian military to guarantee the safety of foreign reporters in the region and has strongly urged all Canadians in Egypt to leave immediately.

The GCC will take place on March 5th at Burke Science Building (BSB) at McMaster University. To register for Sonia Verma's closing keynote address and other conference sessions, visit http://www.mcmaster.ca/gcc

To read Sonia's account of the protests in Cairo, click here.

did she snap a pic of this with her phone and post it on twitter?

No I don't believe she posted this on her twitter but if you would like to read through her twitter posts made while she was in Cairo, visit http://twitter.com/soniaverma

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4nv9qfM45c

There are 4 days left until the sixth annual McMaster Global Citizenship Conference! Register today at www.mcmaster.ca/gcc or at Compass!

Highlights of the conference this year include:
Sonia Verma - Globe and Mail Journalist who was detained in Egypt while reporting on protests in Cairo
Dr. Kevin O'Brien - Executive Director of Canadian Physicians for Aid Relief
David Berkal - Founder of Operations Groundswell and Canadian Roots
EWB
MSF
Invisible Children
Hayden King and many more...!

Check out our website for full programming: www.mcmaster.ca/gcc!