COMMENTARY (BuriedTruth).

• Aurea Foundation founder Peter Munk died in 2018. Likewise, the Aurea Foundation website (http://aureafoundation.com/) is dead. Later snapshots of that website (screenshots, below) in the Internet Archive briefly forwarded to "http://munkfoundation.com" (screenshot below), before that website also disappeared.

  It thus appears the "Peter and Melanie Munk Charitable Foundation," the "Munk Foundation," and the "Aurea Foundation" are the same entity (or closely related).

  Note the remarkable similarities between the lists of Canadian nonprofit charities ("think tanks" and other influencers) funded by the Aurea Foundation, and Koch family-linked funding!  Specifically:

  • [2019-09-03] Death of David Koch a reminder of who bankrolls Canada's right

  • [2018-06-23]  What Does the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Get From Its Right-Wing US Partner?.
    Atlas Network 'has reshaped political power in country after country,' report says

  Note also:

  "In 2016, Munk made a $5 million donation to the Fraser Institute, a think tank, to launch the Peter Munk Centre for Free Enterprise Education. As well, with a $12 million donation from Aurea Foundation, a sub-division of his primary charitable foundation, Peter Munk established the semi-annual Munk Debates in 2008."

  These associations and funding are of concern given the exceptionally toxic, well-funded and long-term ultra-conservative, neoliberal agendae of the Koch brothers (most recently in the dismantling of the U.S. Postal Service -- specifically described here) -- but also on long-term foreign influence on Canadian business, politics, and policies.

  Most glaringly, the fruits of those efforts are the policies and actions Alberta's Jason Kenney's government, which in parallel with similar initiatives in the United States are eroding the right to protest, eroding LGBTQ+ rights, and pushing neoliberal agendae including the privitization of education and healthcare.

Sources:

• CanadaHelps.org

• BigDatabase.com  |  local copy (pdf)

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  Aurea Foundation: Internet Archive snapshot [2014-01-02].
  [Image source. Click image to open in new window.]

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  Munk Foundation: Internet Archive snapshot [2014-10-05] -- redirects here from http://aureafoundation.com/.
  [Image source. Click image to open in new window.]

The Aurea Foundation is a charitable foundation established in 2006 by Peter Munk and Melanie Munk "to support Canadian institutions involved in the study and development of public policy. Aurea Foundation's grant program aims to facilitate exchanges in the marketplace of ideas to the benefit of all Canadians."

Peter Munk is the former CEO of Barrick Gold Corporation, and was a member of the World Gold Council. His son is Anthony Munk.

Funding History

SOURCE:  BigDatabase.com, captured 2020-08-13

Profile information updated: January, 2019:

I exported those data to a spreadsheet and reformatted (renaming older organizations to their current name, to assist sorting):

[Image source: BuriedTruth.com. Click image to open in new window.]

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[Image source: BuriedTruth.com. Click image to open in new window.]

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms [Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms] gratefully acknowledges the generous support provided by the Aurea Foundation, the Lotte & John Hecht Memorial Foundation,  the Donner Canadian Foundation, and numerous other donors across Canada. Our work in defending constitutional freedoms depends entirely on the voluntary donations of those who agree with our mission and vision. The JCCF neither asks for, nor receives, any government funding. All donations made to the JCCF are confidential. The JCCF only recognizes donors with their express consent.

Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms [JCCF]: Donor Recognition (captured 2020-08-16)
[Image source. Click image to open in new window.]

Munk Debates

SOURCE:  SourceWatch.org, captured 2020-08-13

"The Munk Debates provide a lively and substantive forum for leading thinkers to discuss the pressing issues of our time. Two debates are held each year in Toronto, one in the spring and one in the fall. The previous Munk Debate participants include Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, historian Niall Ferguson, UN Special Envoy for HIV AIDS Steven Lewis, Ambassador John Bolton, columnist Charles Krauthammer and activist Mia Farrow.

"The Munk Debates is a signature initiative of the Aurea Foundation, a Canadian charitable organization established in 2006 by philanthropist Peter Munk and his wife Melanie Munk to support Canadian institutions and individuals involved in the study and development of public policy."

• Rudyard Griffiths and Patrick Luciani, are co-director and moderator of the Munk Debates.

Munk Debates

SOURCE:  Wikipedia, captured 2020-08-13

The Munk Debates are a semi-annual series of debates on major policy issues held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are run by the Aurea Foundation, a charitable foundation set up by Peter Munk, founder of Barrick Gold, and his wife Melanie Munk. The debate series was founded in 2008 by Peter Munk and Rudyard Griffiths, who moderates most of the debates.

The Munk debates are held in Toronto, at steadily larger venues as they have proven popular. Tickets are sold to the general public, and sell out shortly after being made available.

A poll is taken from the audience both before and after each debate. The winner of the debate is determined by how many people are persuaded to move from one opinion side to the other.

The debates have been broadcast on CBC Radio's "Ideas" as well as CPAC. The more recent ones have also appeared on international broadcasters including BBC and C-SPAN.

[ ... snip ... ]

Munk Foundation

SOURCE:  wikipedia, captured 2020-08-13

Charitable contributions

In 1992, the Peter and Melanie Munk Charitable Foundation was founded. It has disbursed more than $300 million to a variety of organizations that work to improve the health, education and international reputation of Canadians. In a speech he delivered in September 2017, on announcing a $100 million donation to the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at the Toronto General Hospital, Munk spoke of his philanthropy in the context of his gratitude to the country that saved his life: "You opened the door. You gave us everything," he added, referring to Canada as "paradise."

Education

Munk was a major donor to the University of Toronto, his alma mater. Beginning with a gift of $35 million in 2010, the Munk Foundation enabled the establishment of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. In total, Munk gave $51 million to his alma mater. The Peter Munk Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management is named after him.

• Aside: in 2019 the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto received a grant of $90,000 from the Donner Canadian Foundation.

Peter Munk also made a substantial donation of $43 million to Technion -- Israel Institute of Technology to establish that university's Peter Munk Research Institute.

Public policy

In 2016, Munk made a $5 million donation to the Fraser Institute, a think tank, to launch the Peter Munk Centre for Free Enterprise Education. As well, with a $12 million donation from Aurea Foundation, a sub-division of his primary charitable foundation, Peter Munk established the semi-annual Munk Debates in 2008.

Health

In 1997, Munk helped create the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at the Toronto General Hospital with an initial donation of $6 million. In May 2006, he announced that he would donate another $37 million, at the time the largest gift ever made to a Canadian medical institution. In September 2017, he donated another $100 million. As well, Peter and Melanie Munk established University Health Network's first endowed chair for the cardiac program: the Melanie Munk Chair in Cardiovascular Surgery.

Controversy

A contract between the Munk Foundation and the University of Toronto came under criticism due to the secrecy that shrouded its approval, and the fact that Munk's contribution of $35 million were conditional on $25 million contributions each by the federal government and the university. Coming at a time of downsizing and threats to the funding of other academic units, critics charge that these decisions are emblematic of the government's and the University's ceding of academic resource allocation decisions to the corporate sector.

According to Linda McQuaig's book, "The Trouble with Billionaires," Munk's donation to the University of Toronto came with strings attached to ensure that the school would "fit with the political views and sensitivities of Peter Munk." McQuaig writes that "according to Munk's written agreement with the university, the Munk donations will be paid over an extended time period, with much of the money to be paid years from now -- and subject to the Munk family's approval of the school. For that matter, the school's director will be required to report annually to a board appointed by Munk 'to discuss the programs, activities and initiatives of the School in greater detail.'"

University president David Naylor rejected personal attacks on donors as "a deplorable affront to the values of rational and respectful discourse that are supposed to characterize a university" and stated "I later served on the board of the University Health Network, in the years when Dr. Munk made two gifts exceeding $40 million to support the cardiovascular program at that hospital. There was not a single instance where Peter Munk interfered with the educational, research or clinical priorities of the institution."

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