NB Media Co-op and partners hosted the Social Forum in Wolastokuk (on the Homeland of Wolastoq) in Fredericton the first weekend of October 2025. We are keeping this page live as an archive of the event.
This NB Media Co-op story published Oct. 4, below, has links to the livestream of both days of the Social Forum:
Activists organize for social change at Social Forum in Wolastokuk
Photos from the Social Forum by Mahus Dieuveille Samba, CEDAR project research assistant and grad student at Université de Moncton, HERE.
We will add more story and archive links here as they become available.
••• original Social Forum in Wolastokuk information below •••
Online schedule HERE • 40 workshops • 40+ Info Fair tables
PDF schedule HERE with clickable links to all the sessions
List of Info Fair tables: click here
Open to everyone free of charge • No registration needed
Saturday, Oct. 4 + Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025 • Fredericton, New Brunswick
Cathedral Memorial Hall, 168 Church Street • (downtown, near the Cathedral)
Download the Social Forum poster
Fredericton visitor information: click here (City info site)
Fredericton downtown map: click here or download • On the map, the Cathedral spire is at the right edge of downtown on Church Street. The Social Forum venue (168 Church St.) is almost next door.
Why a Social Forum?
Inequalities are deepening in New Brunswick and across the planet. New Brunswick has a strong activist community, labour unions, many civil society, community-based, and international solidarity groups and organizations, and university and college faculty, students and staff, artists and crafters and other workers committed to social justice. We’ve had many important wins but need to organize more collaboratively and strategically.
We are living in a time of economic upheaval when consequential decisions are being made by people representing the wealthy. We need spaces to imagine, debate and build sustainable alternatives together. The Social Forum will build capacity and solidarity to more effectively fight capitalism, colonialism, racism, patriarchy and other structures that divide and exclude us. The October event will share community-based solutions to create the conditions for a decent life for all.
A Social Forum objective is to support conversations that move beyond criticism, to organize and develop more ways to engage with our neighbours, colleagues, and all New Brunswickers, to root ourselves in our living spaces, to develop bonds of trust with those around us, to foster community. These alliances will be necessary to fight against exploitation, protect our natural spaces, and build lively, livable neighbourhoods together.
Earlier in 2025 the small group of volunteers with the Social Forum partners (listed below) put out a call for workshops, presentations and information tables. We received 40 proposals for presentations and workshops and 50 requests for Info Fair tables. We’re anticipating a lively and interactive two days!
Logistics
The Social Forum will be held in Fredericton on the first weekend in October 2025.
- The Social Forum is open to all participants, free of charge.
- No registration is required: everyone is welcome.
- Everyone: please share the links and invitation to your networks, friends and families.
- There are steps to the main entrance door (168 Church St.) and a stair lift at the door to the left of the building.
- On the schedule is the list of Social Forum spaces. The Main Hall, Lounge and Classroom are accessible by wheelchair. The upstairs Boardroom and Lower Hall are not accessible by wheelchair.
- Info Fair, Saturday, Oct. 4: 45 information tables by groups in New Brunswick and beyond. (Info fair participants are responsible to supply literature, table cloths or banners)
- Workshops and Presentations, Oct. 4 and 5: 40 sessions open to the public free of charge
- Participants can present information in either English or French, or both. Translation will not be provided.
- Food: There is no food at the Social Forum. The venue is in downtown Fredericton, near or within a 10-minute walk of coffee shops and restaurants. The link above to Fredericton Visitor Information lists all the options downtown.
- Food, continued. On Saturday, Oct. 4, the famous Fredericton Farmers Market is open from 7 AM to 1 PM, a short walk (less than two blocks) from the Social Forum venue, featuring many food trucks and fresh food options (the Market food court Brunswick St. entrance is between Regent and St. John Street).
- Food, continued. The Social Forum venue is near the Cathedral, which has a lawn with several picnic tables we can use (hoping for lovely weather) and the Wolastoq (St. John River) nearby with walking paths and a few benches to stop and enjoy the view with a snack or meal.
- Food, continued: A short walk from the Social Forum venue is the Walking Bridge (old train bridge) across the Wolastoq. On the other side is Picaroons Roundhouse, known as a great place for a drink and a meal (with many picnic tables, perfect if the weather is good).
Social Forum 2025 partners
The host, NB Media Co-op, currently in its 16th year of publication, is one of the longest-running media cooperatives in Canada. Our flagship publication, also called NB Media Co-op, began in 2009 following a successful New Brunswick Social Forum in 2008 in Fredericton That year, 200 people rooted in a variety of social movements gathered under the hopeful banner, “Another New Brunswick and World are Possible.” As an independent media outlet, we publish stories not covered in the mainstream commercial media. Our stories take a social justice lens and include the perspectives of workers, students, Indigenous and racialized peoples, and other groups marginalized by society.
Partner CEDAR (Contesting Energy Discourses through Action Research) is a five-year project studying and promoting independent and marginalized voices and perspectives on the so-called ‘energy transition’. CEDAR is based in the Sustainability and Environmental Studies program at St. Thomas University with partners in New Brunswick and across the country: Passamaquoddy Recognition Group Inc. (PRGI) representing the Peskotomuhkati Nation in Canada, Wolastoq Grand Council, NB Media Co-op, Sierra Club Canada Foundation, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, and academic researchers at Université de Moncton and University of British Columbia. CEDAR is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada.
NOTE: The CEDAR project is also co-hosting a poster exhibit – 80 Years of the Nuclear Age: Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki – every day during the month of October at the Fredericton Public Library downtown, about a 10-minutes walk from the Social Forum venue. Info HERE.
Partner Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre is dedicated to advancing migrant justice and supporting migrants with precarious status in New Brunswick, including migrant workers, refugee claimants, international students and people with irregular status.
Partner Wilmot United Church offers a strong social ministry, especially to folks experiencing food insecurity, and welcomes everyone into the life and ministry of their faith community, including persons of any age, ability, race, ethnicity, place of origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, family configuration, and social and economic circumstance.
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Questions? Contact us: forumwolastokuk@gmail.com
Our event draws inspiration from “La Grande Transition” in Montreal in May-June 2025 and “The Many vs The Money” event in Halifax in February 2025. Check back on this page for updates. Updated October 13, 2025
