Professor Ramirez, possibly better known for having written the scenario of the award-winning films Café Italia and La Sarrasine, is an expert on migratory patterns to and within North America.

The lecture, the first of a series of events, is entitled "Quebec in the North Atlantic Socioeconomy: A Transnational historical perspective". Quebec, like Canada as a whole, was built thanks to a complex migratory network, regionally integrated and yet part of the world economy, from the mid-to-late nineteenth century. These migrations involved immigrants to Canada as well as Canadians, as they responded similarly to rapidly changing economic circumstances which directly affected their lives.

Ramirez’s talent lies in a clever mix of local analysis and international perspective. He was among the first to shift the core migratory analysis from a continental to a transatlantic viewpoint. Professor Ramirez is one of Canada’s leading experts in the history of migration and is able to grasp Quebec’s (and Canada’s) unique position in the vast North Atlantic migratory movements as a receiving and sending society.

Currently, Bruno Ramirez is Chair of Quebec Studies at Glendon College (York University), the only such Chair established in English Canada. It was created with the support of the Government of Quebec to foster a better knowledge of Quebec society within Academic circles in Toronto and interested segments of the public at large. To achieve this, the Chair teaches a number of courses and coordinates various activities designed to stimulate positive interactions and a constructive dialogue such as conferences, special lectures and symposiums.