For Charlie Angus, punk rock is about more than the music. Though that’s part of it, too.

It’s about standing up for what you believe in. Whether you’re denying the body of Christ in favour of legalizing same-sex marriage or taking your final months as an MP to make a bold statement against Donald Trump.

The politician turned grassroots activist, self-proclaimed “accidental fascist fighter,” and Juno-award nominated musician took time out of his Resistance Tour to visit Acadia in early March. On campus, he spent the day in conversation with our students and an evening engaging our local community with a public lecture.

In her piece about Charlie’s visit for Salt Wire, Wendy Elliot reported that over 300 people came out to his lecture, “There Are No Bystanders in the Age of Monsters: Where Canada Goes From Here,” delivered in Fountain Commons.

The lecture was the 2025-26 Sydney Taylor Memorial Lecture, a series held by the department of Politics in memory of Sydney Taylor (‘13), an Acadia grad who tragically passed away in 2013. Each year, the department invites a guest to campus to deliver a talk about human rights and the environment.  

First-year politics student Caet Moir was instrumental in bringing Charlie to Acadia. They said they first saw him at an event in Edmonton in April of 2025. “I knew then that I wanted to bring this dynamic speaker to Nova Scotia, particularly to the Kings-Hants area.”

“Charlie was part of my inspiration to return to school as a student of politics and being part of the team that brought him to campus was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget.”

You can learn more about the Sydney Taylor Memorial Award and make a donation here.