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2017 Speaker Biographies

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Language of Presentation

The letter (E) or (F) after a speaker’s bio indicates whether the presentation will be given in English or French.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

The Honourable Charles N. Brower's 55-year career in the law has combined extensive practice at the bar with distinguished public service, both national and international, concentrating during 35 years in the fields of public international law and international dispute resolution. Judge Brower spent four years in the State Department (1969-1973), concluding as Acting Legal Adviser. He has served continuously since 1983 as a Judge of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague, The Netherlands, where he sat full-time from 1984 to 1988. That service was interrupted for some months in 1987 by White House service as Deputy Special Counsellor to President Reagan. Since 2001 Judge Brower again has been sitting full-time as a Judge of the Tribunal and, as of 2014, he also sits as a Judge ad hoc at the International Court of Justice.

 

Judge Brower has served as Judge Ad Hoc of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, as a member of the Register of Experts of the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva (UNCC), and as a member of the Panels of Conciliators and Arbitrators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) (a member of the World Bank Group). He has represented various governments in proceedings before the International Court of Justice (World Court) and is a member of the panels of arbitrators of a number of arbitral institutions around the world. As counsel or arbitrator he has handled cases on all six continents, principally under the rules of the ICC, UNCITRAL, the LCIA, the AAA, the UNCC, ICSID, SCC, ARIAS and LMAA. Judge Brower has served as President of the American Society of International Law, Governor of the American Bar Association, Chair of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, and on the Executive Council of the International Law Association. In 2009 Judge Brower was awarded the American Society of International Law's prestigious Manley O. Hudson Medal for "pre-eminent scholarship and achievement in international law . . . without regard to nationality". (E)

Dinah Shelton is the Manatt/ Ahn Professor of International Law Emeritus at George Washington University Law School. Professor Shelton has authored many articles and books on international law, human rights law, and international environmental law. She is a member of the board of editors of the American Journal of International Law and is a vice-president of the American Society of International Law.

 

In 2006 she was awarded the prestigious Elizabeth Haub Prize in Environmental Law. In 2009 she became the first woman nominated by the United States to become a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, established by the Organization of American States to promote and protect human rights in the Western Hemisphere. She served a four-year term, during which she went on to become President of the Commission.

AWARD RECIPIENTS

John E. Read Medal Recipient – Armand de Mestral

Professor de Mestral has recently retired from the Faculty of Law at McGill University where he was the Jean Monnet Chair in the Law of International Economic Integration. He has authored an impressive catalogue of books and articles on international trade law and served on WTO and NAFTA dispute settlement and arbitration tribunals.

 

Public Sector Award – Anne Daniel

Anne Daniel is a General Counsel with the Public International Law Team of the Constitutional, Administrative and International Law Section of the Department of Justice Canada. She has been with Justice for 35 years and has advised on multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) for approximately 25 years, primarily in the areas of mercury, hazardous wastes, ocean dumping, chemicals, biodiversity, biosafety, genetic resources, air pollution, liability, compliance and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) governance issues.  She has participated on numerous Canadian delegations as advisor and negotiator, including to negotiate many MEAs.  She has led Canadian delegations, and has chaired a number of UN meetings and negotiating groups, including during the negotiations of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, which will enter into force shortly. She has also chaired negotiations for compliance mechanisms, and been a chair or member of treaty compliance committees.  She recently was the Chair of the first Effectiveness Evaluation Committee of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, which examined how well the Convention is meeting its objectives. She has also published, lectured at universities and delivered training to international colleagues.

PANEL SPEAKERS (Panel Order)
Plenary

Oonagh Fitzgerald (Moderator) leads CIGI’s international law research agenda which includes policy relevant research on issues of international economic law, environmental law, intellectual property law and innovation, and Indigenous law. She has extensive experience as a senior executive providing legal policy, advisory and litigation services and strategic leadership in international law, national security, public law, human rights and governance to several federal departments including Justice Canada, National Defence and the Canadian Forces, and the Privy Council Office. She has taught at the University of Ottawa, as well as Carleton University, l’Institut international du droit de l’homme in Strasbourg, and the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo. She obtained a BFA (honours) from York University, an LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School, and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1983. She earned her LLM from the University of Ottawa, SJD (Doctor of Juridical Science) from the University of Toronto, and MBA from Queen’s University. (E,F)

 

Bernard Colas (Speaker) has over 30 years of experience in international trade law and intellectual property. This experience was acquired in Montreal, Sorel, London and Paris by advising manufacturing, technology and service businesses as well as foreign governments. As part of his practice, he advises and represents his clients’ interests during negotiations, transactions, licenses and international contracts and during their operations and implantation overseas and in international litigation. He provides advice pertaining to the enforcement and the development of international trade agreements and helps his clients develop commercial and industrial strategies while taking advantage of international trade laws. Before co-founding CMKZ, Bernard Colas worked at a law firm now called Dentons and as a legal advisor at the International Federation of Producers of Phonograms and Videograms (IFPI) in London and at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. (E,F)

 

Stéphane Beaulac (Speaker) is a full professor at the Université de Montréal; he began his academic career at Dalhousie Law School in 1998. He holds a PhD in international public law from the University of Cambridge, where he also earned an LLM (first class honour). His background is bijural: civil law at Ottawa (summa cum laude) and common law at Dalhousie (first in the national programme); he clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada. He was a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, a Neil MacCormick Fellow at the University of Edinburgh School of Law, and a visiting professor in Amsterdam, Ulster and Trento. He co-edited with E. Mendes the 5th edition of the collective book Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; he is also responsible, with J.-F. Gaudreault-DesBiens, for the public law series for JurisClasseur Québec.  His writings have won awards and, indeed, were cited by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. A lawyer with the Ontario Bar, he has been invited to testify before parliamentary committees in Ottawa; he is also a public intellectual, regularly contributing to current debates in the media. (E,F)

 

Brenda L. Gunn (Speaker) is an Associate Professor Robson Hall Faculty of Law. She has a BA from the University of Manitoba and a JD from the University of Toronto.  She completed her LLM in Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy at the University of Arizona and was called to the bar in Ontario and Manitoba. She has worked at a community legal clinic in Rabinal, Guatemala on a case of genocide submitted to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights ans also with First Nations on Aboriginal and treaty rights issues in Manitoba. As a proud Metis woman she continues to combine her academic research with her activism pushing for greater recognition of Indigenous peoples’ inherent rights as determined by Indigenous peoples’ own legal traditions. Her current research focuses on promoting greater conformity between international law on the rights of Indigenous peoples and domestic law. She developed a handbook on understanding and implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that is quickly becoming one of the main resources in Canada on the UN Declaration and has delivered workshops on the Declaration across Canada and internationally. In 2013, she participated in the UNITAR Training Programme to Enhance the Conflict Prevention and Peacemaking Capacities of Indigenous Peoples’ Representatives, which continues to impact her research. (E)

 

Adelle Blackett (Speaker),Ad. E., is Professor of Law and Canada Research Chair in Transnational Labour Law & Development at the Faculty of Law, McGill University. Widely published in English, French and Spanish, in 2015, she co-edited a Research Handbook on Transnational Labour Law. Her book on the regulation of domestic work is under contract with Cornell University Press.  A former official of the International Labour Office in Geneva, Professor Blackett has been an ILO expert on international standard setting on decent work for domestic workers (2008-2011) and in a labour law reform process in Haiti (2011-2014). She founded and directs the Labour Law and Development Research Laboratory (LLDRL) at McGill, and was a Quebec human rights and youth rights commissioner from 2009-2016.  She received the Bora Laskin National Fellowship in Human Rights Research in 2010, the Barreau du Québec’s Christine Tourigny Award of Merit and the status of advocate emeritus in 2014, and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Fellowship in 2016 on transnational futures of international labour law. (E,F)

 

Mark Jewett (Speaker) is counsel to Bennett Jones LLP, where he provides legal advice on financial regulation, public law and public policy. Prior to joining Bennett Jones, Mark held senior positions in the federal public service, including General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the Bank of Canada, and Senior Assistant Deputy Minister in the Finance and Justice Departments. He is currently Counsel to a large Canadian financial services group, and a Member of the International Monetary Law Committee of the ILA. (E)

Panel 1A

Nicolas Lamp (Moderator, Speaker) is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law at Queen’s University. Before joining Queen’s, Nicolas was a Dispute Settlement Lawyer at the Appellate Body Secretariat of the World Trade Organization. He holds a PhD in Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research focuses on the history and practice of international trade lawmaking. (E)

 

Meredith Lilly (Speaker) holds the Simon Reisman Chair in International Affairs at The Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (Carleton University). She served as foreign affairs and international trade advisor to Canada’s prime minister from 2013-2015, during the conclusion of Canada’s free trade negotiations with Europe, Korea, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Her research focuses on international labour mobility in trade agreements, Canada-US relations, and demographic transition and the economy. (E)

Dan Ciuirak (Speaker) is Director and Principal, Ciuriak Consulting Inc., and a Fellow-in-Residence with the C.D. Howe Institute (Toronto), among other positions. Previously, he was Deputy Chief Economist at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT, now Global Affairs Canada). His research focuses on quantifying the impacts of modern trade agreements, the interface between trade and innovation, and the economic issues of global economic integration. (E)

Robert Brookfield (Speaker) is the Director General of the Trade Law Bureau of the Government of Canada, where among other tasks he is the lead lawyer on NAFTA renegotiations. Robert previously served in various positions in the Trade Law Bureau, where he was lead lawyer for Canada in a number of free trade agreement negotiations, and acted for Canada in several cases before the World Trade Organization. He was also the Director of the Technical Barriers and Regulations Division of Global Affairs Canada, where he led negotiations on elements of the free trade agreements with the EU and Korea, as well as the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. (E)

 

Panel 1B

Amanda Ghahremani (Moderator) is the Legal Director of the Canadian Centre for International Justice (CCIJ) and the Philippe Kirsch Institute, CCIJ’s educational division. She was formerly CCIJ’s Managing Director. In 2016, Amanda successfully spearheaded the international campaign to release the Canadian-Iranian political prisoner, Professor Homa Hoodfar, from Evin prison in Iran. Amanda has previously worked at large and medium-sized law firms and with international human rights organizations. She speaks English, French, Spanish and Farsi fluently. (E)

 

Fannie Lafontaine (Speaker) is a lawyer, full professor at the Faculty of Law at Laval University and holder of the Canada Research Chair on International Criminal Justice and Human Rights. She is the Project Director of the SSHRC-funded Canadian Partnership on Strengthening Justice for International Crimes and founder and co-director of the International Criminal and Humanitarian Law Clinic. Before joining Laval University, she worked at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, and in NGOs and law firms. She speaks French, English, Spanish and Portuguese. She holds an LL.B from Laval, an LL.M from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D from the National University of Ireland Galway. (E, F)

Linda Bianchi (Speaker) was counsel with the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda from 2003 to 2010, with her last role being Senior Appeals Counsel in the Appeals and Legal Advisory Division. Since coming back to Canada, from March 2011 to October 2015, Linda worked as a Crown Counsel for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada in Ottawa. In November 2015, she joined the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Section in the Department of Justice.  Since February 2012, Linda has also been co-teaching an upper year seminar course at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law in International Criminal Law. (E)

 

Valerie Oosterveld (Speaker) is the Associate Dean of Research and an Associate Professor at the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law. Her research and publications focus on gender issues within international criminal justice. She is a member of the SSHRC-funded Canadian Partnership on Strengthening Justice for International Crimes and is a Western University Faculty Scholar (2017-2019). Before joining Western Law, she served in the Legal Affairs Bureau of Global Affairs Canada, with a focus on international criminal law and tribunals. She holds a B.Soc.Sc. from the University of Ottawa, an LL.B from the University of Toronto and an LL.M and J.S.D from Columbia Law School. (E)

Hannah Woolaver (Speaker) is a Senior Lecturer in International Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town. She is also currently a Visiting Fellow at the University of New South Wales, Australia and a Visiting Scholar at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto. She was awarded an LLB (First Class) at the University of Durham, BCL (Distinction) at the University of Oxford, and PhD at St. John’s College, University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on the use of force and international criminal law, and the interaction between domestic and international law. (E)

Panel 1C

John Currie (Moderator) is a Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa, where he teaches public international law, the use of force by states and the law of armed conflict, among other subjects. The Editor-in-Chief of The Canadian Yearbook of International Law, he is a past president of the Canadian Council on International Law; Scholar-in-Residence in the Legal Affairs Bureau of the (then) Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada; instructor in international law at the Canadian Foreign Service Institute; and civil litigator in private practice. He is currently serving as the University of Ottawa’s Vice-President, Governance. (E,F)

 

Elise Hansbury (Speaker) is a Substitute Professor at the Department of Juridical Sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal and Interim Director of the International Clinic for the Defence of Human Rights at UQAM. Having completed her masters in international law, she is currently pursuing doctoral studies regarding the inter-American system of protection of human rights. A member of the Quebec Bar, she has practiced law in Montreal and with the International Labour Organization in Geneva. (F)

 

Bernard Duhaime (Speaker) is a Professor of international law with the Faculty of Political Science and Law at the University of Quebec in Montreal and a specialist in the inter-American system of protection of human rights. He is also Vice-President of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Professor Duhaime has contributed to the promotion and defence of human rights for more than 20 years. He has worked as a lawyer with the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights of the OAS and founded the International Clinic for the Defence of Human Rights at UQAM. Professor Duhaime is a fellow of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation (2017-2020). (F)

 

Charles-Emmanuel Côté (Speaker) is Vice-Dean and Secretary of the Faculty of Law at Laval University, where he is also a full professor and Co-Director of the Centre for International and Transnational Law (CDIT). He is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). As a member of the Quebec Bar, he holds a Doctorate in law from McGill University (Dean’s Honour List) and his thesis on the participation of private persons in the resolution of international commercial disputes was published in Brussels by Bruylant. Professor Côté was formerly counsellor for international and constitutional policy with the Secretariat for Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs (SAIC) with the Government of Quebec, as well as a researcher with the Centre for Consumer Law at the Catholic University of Leuven. (F)

 

Gib van Ert (Speaker) is the Executive Legal Officer to the Chief Justice of Canada, the Rt Hon Beverley McLachlin PC. The Executive Legal Officer is the Chief Justice's principal advisor in matters concerning the administration of the Supreme Court of Canada, the Canadian Judicial Council and the National Judicial Institute. He is on leave of absence from Hunter Litigation Chambers, Vancouver, where he has a broad civil litigation practice. He is the author of Using International Law in Canadian Courts and other works on the reception of international law in Canada. He was a law clerk to Justices Charles Gonthier and Morris Fish of the Supreme Court of Canada and Madam Justice Joanne Prowse of the Court of Appeal for British Columbia. He has a B.A. (Hons.) from McGill, an M.A. in law from the University of Cambridge and an LL.M. from the University of Toronto. (E,F)

 

Joost Blom (Speaker) is Professor Emeritus at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC. He taught full-time at the Allard School of Law from 1972 to his retirement in 2017, and continues to teach part-time. His fields of specialization are Private International Law, Contracts, Torts, and Intellectual Property and he has published extensively in those fields. He was Dean of the UBC Law Faculty 1997-2003 and served as an elected bencher of the Law Society of British Columbia 2004-2011. He has been Treasurer of the International Academy of Comparative Law since 2014. (E)

Panel 2A

Konstantia Koutouki (Moderator) is a Professor of law at the Université de Montréal and Lead Counsel for Natural Resources with the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law at McGill University. She is also the Executive Director of Nomomente Institute and the President of ILA-Canada. Her research examines the links between international trade, intellectual property, and environmental protection. She has extensive experience working on issues concerning social, economic and cultural development of Indigenous and local communities, as well as the preservation of natural spaces and traditional knowledge. (E)

 

Christopher Waters (Speaker) is Dean of the Faculty of Law, Windsor University. He is currently on sabbatical at the Asser Institute in the Hague. Dr. Waters' research interests include public international law, international humanitarian law, and law and politics in Eastern Europe. Dr. Waters is co-editor of the Canadian Bar Review and is on the editorial board of the Journal on the Use of Force and International Law.  He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Ontario Law Commission and is the Canadian representative on the International Law Association's committee on the recognition of states and governments. (E)

 

Kevin R. Gray (Speaker) is counsel at the Government of Canada’s Trade Law Bureau. He has over 15 years’ experience working on international trade agreement negotiations and WTO litigation.  He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. (E)

 

Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger (Speaker) is an expert scholar, jurist and author on international law and governance for sustainable development. Laureate of the 2016 international Justitia Regnorum Fundamentum Award, she serves as Senior Director of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), fellow of the Centre for Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Governance and the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (LCIL) at the University of Cambridge, and Professor of Law, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, Canada. She is Rapporteur of the ILA Committee on the Role of Law in Sustainable Resources Management. (E)

 

Mark Jewett (Speaker) is counsel to Bennett Jones LLP, where he provides legal advice on financial regulation, public law and public policy. Prior to joining Bennett Jones, Mark held senior positions in the federal public service, including General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the Bank of Canada, and Senior Assistant Deputy Minister in the Finance and Justice Departments. He is currently Counsel to a large Canadian financial services group, and a Member of the International Monetary Law Committee of the ILA. (E)

 

Panel 2B

François Larocque (Moderator) is a Professor and Interim Dean at the Common Law Section of the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. He is also counsel at Power Law. His research and practice focus on language rights, civil liability, private and public international law and human rights and has argued numerous cases in these areas before all levels of court in the country. François’ doctoral thesis (Cambridge, Trinity College) examined the adjudicative jurisdiction of national courts in civil proceedings for serious violations of international law and human rights. He clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario. (E,F)

 

Alain-Guy Sipowo (Speaker) holds a Doctorate in law from Laval University (LL.D., 2014). His thesis on the International Criminal Court and the protection of confidential information won the René Cassin Prize from the International Institute of Human Rights in 2015. He is a lecturer with the Department of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Law at McGill, where, in 2015-2016, he conducted post-doctoral research on the responsibility of multinational corporations for violations of human rights overseas. (F)

 

Amanda Ghahremani (Speaker) is the Legal Director of the Canadian Centre for International Justice and Director of the Philippe Kirsch Institute, CCIJ’s educational division. She was formerly CCIJ’s Managing Director. In 2016, Amanda successfully spearheaded the international campaign #FreeHoma to release the Canadian-Iranian political prisoner, Professor Homa Hoodfar, from Evin prison in Iran. Amanda has previously worked at large and medium-sized law firms, with international human rights organizations, and has volunteered with many community organizations on refugee and gender justice. (E)

 

Penelope Simons (Speaker) is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law (Common Law Section) at the University of Ottawa. Her research focuses on business and human rights and in particular on the human rights implications of domestic and extraterritorial extractive sector activity. She has published widely on these issues and is the co-author with Audrey Macklin of The Governance Gap: Extractive Industries, Human Rights, and the Home State Advantage (Routledge, 2014). (E)

 

Panel 2C

Wolfgang Alschner (Moderator) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law. He holds a PhD in International Law from the Graduate Institute in Geneva and a Master of Law from Stanford Law School. He has published in peer-reviewed journals on WTO law, regionalism as well as investment law and arbitration. His current research focuses on the empirical and computational analysis of international economic law. (E)

 

Jason Yackee (Speaker) is an Associate Professor of law at the University of Wisconsin Law School. He received his JD from Duke University, and his PhD in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has written widely on international investment law and administrative law. (E)

Taylor St John (Speaker) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the PluriCourts Center of Excellence, University of Oslo, and a Senior Research Associate at the Global Economic Governance Programme, University of Oxford. She holds an MSc and D.Phil from the University of Oxford. Her book, The Rise of Investor-State Arbitration: Law, Politics, and Unexpected Consequences, will be published with Oxford University Press in 2017. (E)

 

Heather Bray (Speaker) is a PhD researcher at the University of Amsterdam. Her PhD research is part of the Lex Mercatoria Publica Project directed by Dr. Stephan Schill. She is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Law Society of Upper Canada. She holds an LLM in Business Law and Taxation from the University of Western Ontario, an LLB from the University of New Brunswick, and a BA in Justice Studies from Royal Roads University. (E)

Panel 3A

Debra Steger (Moderator) is a full professor at the University of Ottawa, where she holds the Hyman Soloway Chair in Business and Trade Law.  She teaches and conducts research in the areas of international trade, investment, dispute settlement, international arbitration and the governance of international organizations. She was the first Director of the Appellate Body Secretariat of the World Trade Organization from 1995-2001. During the Uruguay Round, she was the Senior Negotiator for Canada on Dispute Settlement and the Establishment of the World Trade Organization as well as the Principal Counsel to the Government of Canada for all of the Uruguay Round agreements. She also served as General Counsel of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal. She has also been a visiting professor at The Hague Academy of International Law, Columbia University, Washington College of Law American University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Victoria. (E)

 

Armand de Mestral (Speaker) is professor emeritus and Jean Monnet Chair in the Law of International Economic Integration at McGill University and a CIGI senior fellow. He is an expert in international economic law. He has taught constitutional law, law of the sea, public international law, international trade law, international arbitration, European Union law and public international air law. He has prepared books, articles and studies in English and French on international trade law and on Canadian and comparative constitutional and international law. He has served on World Trade Organization and North American Free Trade Agreement dispute settlements and public and private arbitration tribunals. He was made a member of the Order of Canada in December 2007. (E,F)

 

Hugo Perezcano Díaz (Speaker) is the deputy director of International Economic Law with the International Law Research Program (ILRP), and was previously a CIGI senior fellow with the ILRP. Prior to joining CIGI, he was an attorney and international trade consultant in private practice. Hugo worked for the Mexican government’s Ministry of Economy for nearly 20 years, serving as head of the trade remedy authority, and formerly as general counsel for international trade negotiations. Hugo was lead counsel for Mexico in investor-state dispute settlement cases under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other international investment agreements. He also worked on dispute settlement cases between states, conducted under trade agreements that include NAFTA and the World Trade Organization agreement. (E,F)

 

David A. Gantz (Speaker) is the Samuel M. Fegtly Professor of Law and co-director of the International Trade Law Program at the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law and a CIGI Senior Fellow. He teaches courses on international environmental law, international trade law, international investment law and regional trade agreements. Previously, he was a visiting professor of law at American University and George Washington University Law School, a lecturer in law at the University of Pennsylvania and visiting assistant professor of law at the University of Costa Rica. He has also taught at Georgetown University, Loyola University, the University of San Diego Law School and Universidad Rafael Landívar. He was a law clerk to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, an attorney-adviser and assistant legal adviser with the US Department of State, and has been a partner at various law firms in Washington, DC. He holds a JSM and JD from Stanford Law School and an AB from Harvard College. (E)

Panel 3B

Gary Luton (Moderator) is currently Director of the Treaty Law Division at Global Affairs Canada (GAC).  A career diplomat, he has served  in Kuwait and Iraq covering the Gulf States; in Paris, and at Canada's Mission to the European Union in Brussels. His last two postings, to Mumbai covering Western India and to Doha, Qatar were as Head of Mission.  In Ottawa he has worked on a variety of legal, economic, and policy roles both as a negotiator and advisor.  He is  a member of Global Affairs' Standing Rapid Deployment Team (SRDT) and is currently an LL.M Candidate at Queen’s University.  He has a BA (Honours) from Queen's, an MA from Dalhousie and an LLB (Common Law) from University of Ottawa  Following legal studies, he articled with the Ottawa office of a major Canadian law firm. (E, F)

 

Béatrice Maillé (Speaker) was a successful litigation attorney at the firm Robinson, Sheppard, Shapiro senc. in Montreal, Quebec before she joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1999.  At Headquarters, Ms. Maillé held several positions, including playing an active role in the G8 Political Director’s Team during Canada last G8 presidency. Most recently, after working with our consular network as Director General Consular Policy, she recently joined the Legal Affairs Branch as Executive Director of the Criminal, Security and Diplomatic Law Division (JLA). Overseas, Ms Maillé served at the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations (2001-05), the Canadian Embassy to the United States, Washington DC (2005-09), as well as to the Canadian Embassy to Belgium, with accreditation to Luxembourg, Brussels (2010-13). She also served as the Deputy Permanent Observer to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (2010-12). (E, F)

 

Alain Tellier (Speaker) is Director of the Oceans and Environmental Law Division at Global Affairs Canada. Over the 26 years he has spent at GAC, he occupied the positions of Director of Treaty Law, Deputy Director of Criminal Law and Privileges and Immunities, and Deputy Director of Oceans and Environmental Law. He also worked in multilateral policy divisions addressing environmental issues, and international security issues. He was posted abroad at the Canadian Mission to the UN in New York, the Canadian Mission to the UN in Geneva, the Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong, and the Joint Delegation of Canada to NATO.  Mr. Tellier is member of the Quebec Bar. He practiced in environmental law in the private sector before joining the Federal Government. (E, F)

 

Kenneth Wong (Speaker) joined the Department in 1999 as a career foreign service officer. He has had overseas assignments in Johannesburg, Los Angeles and most recently Beijing. Since returning to headquarters from his last assignment in August 2014, he has been part of the team at Global Affairs Canada responsible for the legal and policy aspects of Canada’s extended continental shelf submissions. Mr. Wong is also responsible for Canada’s engagement with the International Seabed Authority(ISA). For the last two years, he was Canada’s Head of Delegation to the ISA’s annual conference in Kingston, Jamaica. Mr. Wong holds a B.Sc. (Mech. Eng.), a B.A. and an LL.B. (E)

Roland Legault (Speaker) is the Director, United Nations, Human Rights and Economic Law Division (JLH). Mr. Legault is a career foreign service officer and has served at Canada’s Embassy to the United States in Washington DC as well as Canada’s Mission to the European Union in Brussels. At headquarters he has served in several parts of the Legal Branch, including as counsel in the Trade Law Bureau and as Director of the Criminal, Security and Diplomatic Law Division. Mr. Legault received a Canadian Foreign Service Officer Award from the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers in 2011 while Deputy Director of JLH for his central role, through the preparation of sanctions, in Canada’s actions against the regimes in Iran and Libya and responses to the changes in Tunisia and Egypt. (E,F)

Panel 3C

Ellen Policinski (Moderator) is Managing Editor of the International Review of the Red Cross. She holds a JD from Villanova Law School, and an LLM from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. (E)

François Bugnion (Speaker) is a member of the ICRC's governing body, the Assembly. He holds a BA and a PhD in political science and is an independent consultant in the fields of international humanitarian law and humanitarian action. He joined the ICRC in 1970 and served as a delegate in Israel and the occupied territories, Bangladesh, Turkey and Cyprus, and then as head of mission in Chad, Viet Nam and Cambodia. From 2000 to 2006, he was Director for International Law and Cooperation at the ICRC. He has published more than 50 books and articles, mainly on international humanitarian law and the history of the Red Cross, including The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Protection of War Victims. (E)

Marco Sassòli (Speaker) is Professor of International Law and Director of the Department of International Law and International Organization at the University of Geneva. He is Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists’ (ICJ). From 2001-2003, he taught at the Université du Québec à Montreal, Canada, where he remains an Associate Professor. From 1985-1997 he worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) at the headquarters, inter alia as deputy head of its legal division, and in the field, inter alia as head of the ICRC delegations in Jordan and Syria and as Protection Coordinator for the former Yugoslavia. During a sabbatical leave in 2011, he joined again the ICRC, as Legal Adviser to its delegation in Islamabad. (E)

Paul Frost (Speaker) is a Lieutenant-Colonel serving with the Office of the Judge Advocate General for the Canadian Armed Forces. He is currently the Director of International and Operational Law at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa, where he works as the principal military legal advisor on international law issues, with a particular focus on international humanitarian law. LCol Frost has previously served as legal advisor to the military’s Strategic Joint Staff, as the senior regional supervising legal advisor for Central Canada, and as a tactical unit legal advisor with Canadian Special Operations Forces Command. His operational experience includes international deployments as the Canadian Task Force Legal Advisor in Afghanistan, Haiti, and the Mediterranean, and domestic deployments with the military legal teams supporting civil authorities at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games and the Toronto G8/G20 conference. LCol Frost holds a master’s degree in law from Columbia University. (E)

 

Panel 4A

Geneviève Dufour (Moderator) is the President of the Quebec Society for International Law (SQDI), an associate professor and director of the masters’ program in international law and applied international policy at the University of Sherbrooke. (F)

 

Patrick Leblond (Speaker) is an Associate Professor and Associate Director in public and international affairs at the University of Ottawa. (F)

 

Maxime St-Hilaire (Speaker) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Sherbrooke, where he teaches constitutional law. (F)

 

Gaëlle Breton-Le Goff (Speaker) is an Associate Professor with the Department of Juridical Sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal, where she teaches international law of economic and social rights. (F)

 

Jean-Simard (Speaker) is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Aluminum Association of Canada. (F)

 

Panel 4B

Elle Agnew (Moderator) is the Manager for International & Regulatory affairs at the Canadian Space Agency where she is, among other duties, Canada’s lead for UN COPUOS. Prior to coming to the space agency a year ago, she retired as a Lieutenant-Colonel from the Canadian Armed Forces where she served in various space assignments over 29 years, including tours in the US Air Force Space Command, the Joint Space Operations Centre, as the Space Liaison Officer to the Commander International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and finally as the Director of Space Strategic Plans in Ottawa. (E)

 

Colonel Rob Holman (Speaker) has been a member of the Canadian Armed Forces since 1986. His service has included being a flight instruction, a military prosecutor and deployment to Afghanistan where he served as a legal advisor and mentor to the senior leaders of the Afghan National Army. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the United States Army. In 2010, he earned a Masters degree in international law from McGill University’s Faculty of Law where he researched the application of International Human Rights Law to “rogue” civil airliners used as weapons. Promoted to his present rank in 2013, he assumed the responsibilities of Deputy Judge Advocate General for Military Justice. (E)

 

Gilles Doucet (Speaker) recently retired from a 35-year career as a research scientist with the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) during which time he held numerous positions researching and assessing space capabilities relevant to military and national security applications. As the founder of Spectrum Space Security Inc., he is an independent space security consultant specializing on the challenges emerging from the rapid technology-enabled growth in space applications within the context of a lagging international security and regulatory environment. Mr. Doucet serves as a technical expert for the MILAMOS international space law project and is a technical consultant with ABH Aerospace, a U.S. company offering legal services to the international aerospace and cyber security sectors. (E)

 

Bayar Goswami (Speaker) is a Doctoral student at the Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University (IASL). He finished his LLM in Air and Space Law from the IASL where he wrote a thesis titled “Theorizing Cosmic Environmental Law”. He is a recipient of the Erin J.C. Arsenault Fellowship awarded by McGill University for both his LLM and DCL and was also awarded the Assad Kotaite Graduate and Postdoctoral Fellowship by the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization in 2017. He has worked as an Indian delegate to represent India’s legal position at the 39th Triennial Assembly Session of the International Civil Aviation Organization held in October 2016. Further, he is a Research Coordinator for the International Space Law Group under the Manual on International Law Applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space project and has previously contributed significantly as a Research Assistant to key projects undertaken at the IASL like the International Study on Global Space Governance and the Space Security Index, 2016 and 2017. (E)

Panel 4C

Cameron Jefferies (Moderator) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alberta. His research focuses on environmental law, natural resources law, ocean law and energy law/ climate change, with particular emphasis on the operationalization of sustainability and rational resource management. Among his publications is Marine Mammal Conservation and the Law of the Sea (Oxford University Press, 2016). (E)

 

Anna-Maria Hubert (Speaker) is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Calgary. She is also an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society (InSIS) at the University of Oxford. Her research interests generally lie in the field of public international law, focussing on the law of the sea, international environmental law, and international law and policy relating to science and technology. (E)

 

Aldo Chircop (Speaker) is Chair of the Comité Maritime International’s International Working Group on Polar Shipping. His previous positions include directorships of the Marine and Environmental Law Institute, Marine Affairs Program, International Ocean Institute and the Mediterranean Institute at the University of Malta. Dr. Chircop was also Canadian Chair in Marine Environment Protection at the IMO’s World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden. Dr. Chircop has published extensively. His principal areas of research are in Canadian maritime law, particularly the international regulation of shipping in polar regions. (E)

 

David VanderZwaag (Speaker) is a Professor with the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University. His research covers a wide range of topics in the field of international ocean law and governance, including aquaculture regulation, fisheries management, marine species at risk, maritime boundary delimitation, transboundary cooperation, the Arctic, Canada – US ocean relations, and principled ocean governance. (E)

 

Panel 5A

Colonel David Antonyshyn (Moderator, Speaker) joined the Canadian Armed Forces 1990 as a reservist. He practiced law in general private practice before joining the Office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) in 1998. Colonel Antonyshyn holds a Master of Laws from the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa, with a focus on international human rights law, the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law, an international criminal law. He has deployed twice to Bosnia, once as a legal advisor to the Canadian Contingent of NATO’s Stabilization Force (SFOR) and once as a legal advisor to the Commander and staff of SFOR. His career includes serving as Defence Counsel in the Directorate of Defence Counsel Services, Legal Advisor to Joint Task Force 2, as legal advisor in the Strategic Joint Staff, as Director in the Directorate of International and Operational Law, as Assistant Director of Military Prosecutions and most recently became the Deputy Judge Advocate General Military Justice. (E)

Bruce MacGregor (Speaker) is a Colonel in the Canadian Forces, having joined the Office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) in 1997. He has deployed to the Arabian Gulf with HMCS Regina in support to Op AUGMENTATION (1999) and to Sudan as the legal advisor to the UNMIS Force Commander (2009). Colonel MacGregor has played a significant role in the Office of the JAG’s engagement in the independent review process led in the first instance by former Chief Justice of Canada, Antonio Lamer, and in the second instance, by Mr Justice Patrick Lesage. In 2014, Colonel MacGregor was promoted to his current rank and assumed the duties of DJAG Operations and later that year was appointed by the Minister of National Defence to the position of the Director of Military Prosecutions. (E)

Major Bas van Hoek (Speaker) is a Ph.D. candidate and legal advisor with the Royal Netherlands Air Force.  He has been a legal advisor in the Dutch Public Prosecution Service and the Head of the Expertise Centre for Military Criminal Law.  As a military legal advisor, he has deployed on operations in Bosnia and Afghanistan. He is an adjunct professor of military and criminal law at the University of Amsterdam.  He has published several academic articles including within the Military Law and Law of War Review, and recently published a chapter in the leading comparative military law treatise, Military Justice in the Modern Age (2016: Cambridge University Press. (E)

 

Lars Stevnsborg (Speaker) is Denmark’s Military Prosecutor General, holding a rank of Major-General.  He has previously been a prosecutor at various levels in the Civilian Prosecution Service for 25 years.  He holds a Master of Laws from the University of Copenhagen.  From 1995-2007, prior to his current appointment, he was Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions and prosecutor at the Supreme Court.  He has, inter alia, been a long standing member of the Ministry of Justice Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice, and a member of the Ministry of Defence Committee on the Military Criminal Justice Reform.  He is also a Member of the Board of Directors, The International Society for Military law and the Law of War. (E)

 

Panel 5B

Christopher Waters (Moderator) is Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor. Dr. Waters’ research interests are in the areas of public international law, international humanitarian law, law and politics in Eastern Europe, and active transportation and the law. He has extensive human rights and election monitoring field experience in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Dr. Waters is co-editor of the Canadian Bar Review and is on the editorial board of the Journal on the Use of Force and International Law. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Ontario Law Commission and is the Canadian representative on the International Law Association’s committee on the recognition of states and governments. (E)

 

Rob Currie (Speaker) is a Professor of Law at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University and Director of the Law & Technology Institute. Professor Currie is a specialist in the area of international and transnational criminal law. His 2010 book, International and Transnational Criminal Law, was shortlisted for the Walter Owen Book Prize for Outstanding Legal Literature in 2011. He has also co-edited the Routledge Handbook of Transnational Criminal Law (2015) and has authored and co-authored numerous articles and comments in this field and his work has been cited by Canadian courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada. (E)

Joanna Harrington (Speaker) is a Professor of Law at the University of Alberta. Her work focusses on matters of international law, constitutional law, and public policy, including the law and practice of international organizations, international human rights law, and international and transnational criminal law. She is co-author of the Canadian international law textbook, International Law: Doctrine, Practice, and Theory, 2nd ed. (Irwin Law, 2014), and a co-editor of Experts, Networks and International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2017). She has also served as a legal officer with what is now Global Affairs Canada, representing Canada in the negotiation of new international instruments at the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. She holds a B.A. from the University of British Columbia, a J.D. from the University of Victoria, and a Ph.D. in law from the University of Cambridge. She was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1995 and the Bar of Ontario in 2002. (E)

 

Jeff Johnston (Speaker) is Senior Counsel with the International Assistance Group at Justice Canada. He specializes in criminal law, including various aspects of transnational and international criminal law, and has regularly appeared before the courts in extradition and mutual legal assistance matters. He has also served as a Part-Time Professor with the Faculty of Common Law at the University of Ottawa. He holds a B.A. (Honours) from the University of Western Ontario, an LL.B. from the University of Victoria, and a Master of Studies from the University of Oxford. He clerked with the Ontario Court of Appeal and has practiced with the International Assistance Group since 2003, first in Vancouver and then in Ottawa. (E)

Sara Wharton (Speaker) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law. She researches in the fields of international criminal law and transnational criminal law and teaches courses in Canadian criminal law, international criminal law, and access to justice. Prior to joining Windsor Law, Dr. Wharton was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National University of Singapore and a Visiting Fellow at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, where she held an Endeavour Research Fellowship (Government of Australia). She also worked as a legal intern in the Trial Chamber at the International Criminal Court. Dr. Wharton holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law. She also holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, a J.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School, and a B.A. (Honours) from Queen’s University. Dr. Wharton is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and was called to the Bar of Ontario. (E)

 

Panel 5C

Silvia Maciunas (Moderator) is the deputy director of international environmental law, with CIGI's International Law Research Program where she was previously a CIGI senior research fellow focusing on climate issues.   Silvia came to CIGI from Global Affairs Canada, where she served as deputy director within the Oceans and Environmental Law Division.  Silvia has a bachelor of commerce from the University of Manitoba, an LLB and an LLM in international law with an emphasis on trade and environment from the University of Ottawa. (E)

 

Anne Daniel (Speaker) recently retired as a General Counsel with the Department of Justice Canada where she worked for over 35 years.  Anne has advised on multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) in the areas of chemical management, biodiversity, air pollution liability, compliance, and UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Additionally, Anne has led or been a member of numerous Canadian delegations, and has chaired numerous negotiating and expert groups. Anne holds an LLB (Windsor) and LLM (Ottawa, thesis on MEA compliance), and is the 2017 winner of the CCIL Public Sector Lawyer Award. (E)

 

Jutta Brunnée (Speaker) is Professor of Law and Metcalf Chair in Environmental Law, University of Toronto. Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of Public International Law and International Environmental Law. Professor Brunnée is co-author of a number of seminal publications on climate change most recently International Climate Change Law (Oxford University Press, 2017), and Legitimacy and Legality in International Law: An Interactional Account (Cambridge University Press, 2010), which was awarded the American Society of International Law’s 2011 Certificate of Merit for preeminent contribution to creative scholarship. She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2013, and Associate Member of the Institut de Droit International in 2017. (E)

 

Richard Ballhorn (Speaker) headed the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade’s (DFAIT) Environment Division in 1992 and became the first Director General of the new Environment Bureau in September 1998 where he served until September 2005. Richard has been actively involved in a senior capacity in a wide-range of international environmental negotiations and initiatives including: Biosafety, Rio+20, the Johannesburg Conference on Sustainable Development, and in the trade and environment negotiations in the Doha Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations at the WTO. (E)

 

Dean Sherratt (Speaker) retired in 2016 as Legal Officer, Environmental and Oceans Law Division at Global Affairs, Canada with a focus on Canada-USA bilateral environmental negotiations, the International Joint Commission and environmental law litigation. He also served as the Head of the Treaty Law Section and a Deputy Director of the Legal Advisory Division and provided legal advice on territoriality issues with the Economic Law division in GAC.  Dean holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in History and Political Science from Victoria College, University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School. (E)

Panel 6A

Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger (Moderator), DPhil (Oxon) MEM (Yale) BCL and LLB (McGill), BA Hons, is a distinguished professor, scholar and expert jurist in law and governance on sustainable development. She serves as Senior Director of the CISDL in a pro bono academic capacity, where she mentors CISDL lawyers and fellows, and guides new international legal scholarship and education. She is also a Full Professor of Law (part-time) at the University of Waterloo and Fellow of the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Canada; and Fellow and Advisor of the Centre for Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Governance (C-EENRG) and Affiliated Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (LCIL) in the University of Cambridge. Prof Cordonier Segger also holds 20 years of international treaty negotiations, research and capacity-building experience that spans 79 countries of the Americas, Africa, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. (E)

 

Sara Mainville (Speaker) is a senior associate at OKT and she work with First Nations as legal counsel, advisor, and negotiator.

Ms. Mainville brings a diversity of experience as a lawyer and policy advisor at both the Chiefs of Ontario as well as for First Nation governments. Sara has a growing practice in negotiations, strategic planning and governance and policy development. Sara’s strength is engaging provincial and Federal governments in bilateral/trilateral negotiations around difficult issues. Sara is a member of Couchiching First Nation and held the honour of being elected Chief of the community in 2014-2016. (E)

 

Sandra Leduc (Speaker) is a lawyer for the Government of Canada.  She just completed two years working in Afghanistan, and three years in Ramallah. In Ottawa at the moment, she am knee deep in crazy plans and big ideas.  On occasion, Sandra fly small planes and tinker with big cameras. (E)

Merle Alexander (Speaker) is a partner in at Gowling’s Vancouver office and a member of the Kitasoo Xai'xais First Nation. His practice area, Aboriginal resource law, affirms Aboriginal Peoples' title and rights, their economic development participation and environmental sustainable management within their Territories. A professional and personal interest of Merle's is the protection of Aboriginal intellectual property rights, particularly traditional knowledge. Merle is knowledgeable on protective mechanisms of indigenous knowledge both domestically and internationally. (E)

Panel 6B

Ton Zuijdwijk (Moderator) is a Senior Fellow in the International Law Research Program of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and a former General Counsel in the Trade Law Bureau of the Government of Canada. He is also a part-time Professor of European Union Law at the Faculty of Law (Common Law Section), University of Ottawa. (E)

 

Jeremy de Beer (Speaker) is an award-winning professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law and a co-founding director of the Open African Innovation Research network, Open AIR. As a practicing lawyer and expert consultant, he has argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court of Canada, advised businesses and law firms both large and small, and consulted for agencies from national governments and the United Nations. (E)

Shane Spelliscy (Speaker) is currently a Senior Counsel and Deputy Director in the Investment and Services Group in the Trade Law Bureau of the Government of Canada. He joined the Trade Law Bureau in 2008, and his practice since that time has focused on providing advice on Canada's obligations under its trade and investment treaties, on providing counsel in trade and investment treaty negotiations and on representing Canada in disputes under its investment treaties.  Prior to joining the Government of Canada, Shane practiced in the international disputes group at the firm of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York, where he represented both ‎States and investors in investment treaty disputes. (E)

 

Sanjay Venugopal (Speaker) is legal counsel at the Department of Justice. For the past 13 years he has been at Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) Legal Services working in the field of patent law.  Previously, he worked at CIPO in international Affairs as well as Industry Canada in patent policy.  Much of his work involves patent litigation at CIPO as well as current intellectual property issues both domestically and internationally.  He has been involved both at WIPO and APEC-IPEG as well as providing legal advice to senior management in the Department as well as the Commissioner of Patents. Sanjay completed his Master of Science in 1996 and Law degree in 1999 both from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. (E)

Bassem Awad (Speaker) is Deputy Director of international intellectual property law and innovation, in the International Law Research Program of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).  A specialist in intellectual property (IP) law, Bassem works as a head tutor and professor at the Master’s Degrees organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Academy, and as an instructor with the Institute for Training and Technical Co-operation at the World Trade Organization. Bassem served for several years as a judge at the Appeal Court in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates; a consultant for the African Union; and as an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Awad received his Ph.D. and LL.M degrees in Intellectual Property from the University of Montpellier, and an LL.M in International Business Law from University of Sorbonne. His experience includes working in both common and civil law systems and conducting a number of research projects for international and regional organizations. He is a member of the Editorial International Committee of Revue “Cahiers de Propriété Intellectuelle”. Bassem's research interests include Patent Law; Copyright Law; Comparative Intellectual Property and Governance of Intellectual Property.  (E)

Panel 6C

Pacifique Manirakiza (Moderator) is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law. In 2015, Professor Manirakiza completed a 4-year term as a member of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights. In that capacity, he was the Chairperson of the Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights. Professor Manirakiza used that position to spend a great deal of his time advocating for the rights and the empowerment of local communities affected by the extractive industry in Africa. In 2014, he was appointed a member of the first African Union-led Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan. In the same year, Professor Manirakiza led a team of lawyers before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, arguing a landmark case on behalf of the Ogiek indigenous community of Kenya. (E, F)

 

Errol Mendes (Speaker) is a lawyer, author and professor, and has been an advisor and consultant to corporations, governments (including senior advisor in the Privy Council Office of the Government of Canada), civil society groups, the World Bank and the United Nations. He is also a Commissioner on the Ontario Human Rights Commission. In 2014, he was elected President of the International Commission of Jurists, Canadian Section. On January 20, 2016, he was appointed to the Order of Ontario by the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. In March 2016, he was awarded the Law Society Medal by the Law Society of Upper Canada for his distinguished service to the legal profession. (E)

 

Céline Lévesque (Speaker) is an expert in international investment law, a Professor of Law and Dean of the Civil Law Section at the University of Ottawa. She has written extensively in this field including many publications on NAFTA Chapter 11 (Investment) and on Canadian international investment treaty practice. In 2008-2009, she was a Scholar-in-Residence at the Trade Law Bureau of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (as it then was).  In that capacity, she contributed to the defence of NAFTA Chapter 11 claims and to bilateral investment treaty negotiations. From 1995 to 1998, before joining the University, she worked at the World Bank in Washington, DC where she was involved in projects dealing with public-private partnerships in the water and energy sectors, especially in Western Africa. (E, F)

 

John Packer (Speaker) is Director of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre and an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa.  He previously taught at the Fletcher School (Tufts University) and the University of Essex, held Fellowships at Cambridge and Harvard Universities, and has lectured at academic and professional institutions around the world.  Over his 30-year career, he was an inter-governmental official for 20 years (UNHCR, ILO, OHCHR, UNDPA, OSCE) and has advised numerous governments, communities and other actors in over fifty countries. In 2012-2014, he was the Constitutions Expert on the UN’s Standby Team of Mediation Experts. (E)

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