SPEAKERS 

Senator Andrew Cardozo

Senator for Ontario

Senator Andrew Cardozo is a recognized expert on public policy, a columnist, and an artist. His policy areas of expertise span Canadian government and politics, broadcasting and cultural policy, skills development especially the future of work, multiculturalism and diversity.

He was appointed to the Senate on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in November 2022, before which he was the President and co-founder of the Pearson Centre for Progressive Policy.  Over the past decade he worked to elevate open public policy dialogue by bringing together thought leaders from all political backgrounds, from business, labour, NGOs and the broader public to address the major challenges facing Canadian society.  Prior to that he has been Executive Director of the Alliance of Sector Councils working on skills development across some 30 economic sectors, and Executive Director of the Canadian Ethnocultural Council, where he worked on policies and legislation in employment equity, immigration, multiculturalism and the Canadian constitution.

Senator Cardozo has been a columnist for the Toronto Star and Broadcast Dialogue, and since 2014, a regular contributor to the Hill Times.  He was also an Adjunct Professor and Lecturer at the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University.

He has served as a Commissioner of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) where he championed Canadian content, diversity in broadcasting, and played a key role in the licensing of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN).  Since then, he has volunteered as an adjudicator for the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

Senator Cardozo was a stay-at-home dad when his children were young. An immigrant from South Asia, with origins in Goa, India and Karachi, Pakistan, he has worked on the successful integration of diversity issues in the mainstream of Canadian public policy.  He was a board member of the Catholic Centre for Immigrants (Ottawa), the YMCA-YWCA of the National Capital Region, Media Awareness Network, the Institute of Media Arts, Policy and Civil Society (Vancouver) and has been active with Big Brothers Big Sisters (Ottawa).

He has been the recipient of several awards: the 2023 DreamKeepers Citation for Outstanding Leadership award commemorating the historic role of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal, the Reelworld Film Festival Guardian Angel Award (Toronto), le Prix annuel du Centre de recherche-action sur les relations sociales, CRARR (Montreal), and Big Brother of the Year (Ottawa).

Senator Cardozo holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Science from York University and a Master of Arts in Public Administration from Carleton University.  He has also studied art at the Ottawa School of Art and is an accomplished artist, generally of abstract landscapes and has been featured in several art shows in the Ottawa area, while his art hangs in many countries. He has two adult children who live and work in Ottawa.

Eric Cornuel

General Director & Chief Executive Officer European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), Brussels

Eric Cornuel is the Director General & CEO of EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development) in Brussels since 2000. He holds a degree of Sciences Po from IEP Paris, an MBA from HEC Graduate School of Management, Paris, and a DEA in strategy and management from Paris Nanterre University, together with a Doctoral Certificate in Strategy from HEC Graduate School of Management Paris and a PhD in management, written on international network organizations, from Paris Dauphine University. Eric started his career as an entrepreneur by setting up an hydroelectric power plant in France when he was still a student.

He served as Dean of the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research, KIMEP, at the time the leading Business and Economics school in Central Asia, from 1997 to 1999. He was awarded a honorary professorship for his achievements there. From 1996 to the present, Eric Cornuel has been affiliate Professor at HEC Graduate School of Management, Paris. He has taught for 15 years at various management schools in Europe and Asia.

Principal Patrick Deane

Principal and Vice-Chancellor Queen’s University

Patrick Deane became the 21st Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University on July 1, 2019.

Dr. Deane is the former President and Vice-Chancellor of McMaster University, a position he held for nine years. Prior to that he served as Vice-Principal (Academic) at Queen’s and also held a number of academic administrative appointments at Western University and the University of Winnipeg.

Dr. Deane is a Professor of English Literature, with his principal research focus being the relationship between cultural production and British politics in the first half of the Twentieth Century.

He read English and Law at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, before undertaking graduate studies and receiving both an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Western University. He also taught at Western from 1988 to 2001 following some years on faculty at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Deane was the first recipient of the John Charles Polanyi Prize for Literature in 1988, and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. He was made an Honorary Life Member of the Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University in 2010.

He is President of the Governing Council of the Magna Charta Observatory (Bologna), Vice-President and Treasurer of the International Association of Universities (Paris), served as Chair of the Universities Canada Standing Committee on Research, 2019-2023, and a member of the Campaign Cabinet for the United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington.

 

Vivian Forssman

ResilienceByDesign Lab at Royal Roads University

Vivian Forssman’s senior-level operational and project management experience is currently focused on applying learning strategies, learning networks and practitioner communities to foster climate change capacity-building and workforce development.

Her professional background includes leading post-secondary teaching-and-learning centres, implementing digital learning and communications strategies, and collaborating on innovative models for learning accreditation.

She currently works with Dr. Robin Cox, Resilience by Design Lab at RRU. Recent efforts have been focused on program management of Adaptation Learning Network involving several BC universities; climate adaptation micro-credential strategies; and co-developing a climate adaptation competency framework to support skills development for individuals and organizations in a climate-changed reality.

Dr. Chris R. Kilford

President Canadian International Council

Chris is a member of the national board of the Canadian International Council, the editor (articles) of CIC’s online foreign policy magazine Open Canada, president of the CIC Victoria branch and a sessional professor with the Canadian Forces College and the Royal Military College of Canada.  He also holds a PhD in history from Queen’s University with a focus on civil-military relations in the developing world. Chris also enjoyed a 36-year career in the Canadian Army. He is a graduate of Canada’s Advanced Military Studies Course and was granted an equivalency for the year-long National Security Program in 2009. He also commanded 4^th Air Defence Regiment, followed by various senior positions in the Department of National Defence including Director Future Security Analysis and Military Liaison Officer to the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence. From July 2009 until July 2010, Chris deployed to Canada’s Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan as the Deputy Military Attaché. On his return to Canada, he commenced Turkish language training after which he was sent to Canada’s Embassy in Ankara as the Canadian Defence Attaché with cross accreditation to Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkmenistan from July 2011 until July 2014. Chris retired from the military in September 2014.

Richard Muller

Senior Advisor and Peer Leader, Impact United Social Venture Connexion (SVX)

Richard leads our Impact United initiative to build and curate a community of foundations, family offices and HNIs in Canada who are committed to deploying their capital for both social and environmental impact, alongside financial return. Previously, Richard held a number of executive positions at Toniic, a global network of active impact investors from more than 25 countries.

James Stauch

Institute for Community Prosperity at Mount Royal University

James Stauch is the Director of the Institute for Community Prosperity at Mount Royal University, which connects learning, research and change leadership to build community and strengthen the common good. James has served as a foundation executive and consultant with nearly two decades of experience working in the field of philanthropy, including as senior executive for the Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation in Toronto. He has also chaired or helped found a number of membership-based philanthropic foundation networks and collaboratives, including the Arctic Funders Collaborative, International Funders for Indigenous Peoples, Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada, and the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers Network.

Dr. Reeta Tremblay

Professor Emerita Political Science, University of Victoria

Reeta Chowdhari Tremblay is Professor Emerita of comparative politics in the department of Political Science at the University of Victoria.

Her major areas of research are secessionist movements (Kashmir) in South Asia, the politics of subaltern resistance and accommodation in post-colonial societies, democracy and governance and comparative federalism.

During her career, she has held several administrative positions including Vice President Academic and Provost at the University of Victoria; Vice President (Academic) and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Pro Tem) at Memorial University in Newfoundland; dean of the Faculty of Arts at Memorial; and chair, Department of Political Science at Concordia University, Montreal.

Reeta Tremblay is past president of the Canadian Political Science Association (CPSA), Canadian Asian Studies (CASA), and the Canadian Council of Area Studies of Learned Societies (including Canadian Asian Studies, Latin American Studies, African Studies and the Middle Eastern Studies). She has also served or is serving on editorial boards of several disciplinary journals including PS Political Science (APSA), Pacific Affairs, Canadian Journal of Law and Society, Politics and Governance.

Reeta Tremblay holds an MA and PhD in political science from the University of Chicago. She also has an MPhil degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, India and an MA and BA from the University of Kashmir.

She has authored or co-authored several books, articles, and reviews. Her work is widely reviewed and cited—in particular, her writings on Kashmir and India-Pakistan relations, a subject on which she is widely considered the leading North American expert. She has been recognized for her exceptional teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate levels and has received the Concordia University Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2002.

Reeta Tremblay’s selected recent publications include: “The Political Economy of Natural Resource Funds” (2021 with Eyene Okpanachi); “Religion and Politics in Jammu and Kashmir” (2020) “India: Federalism, Nationalism, and the Marginalized – Covid India” (2020); Kashmir Elections: A Precursor to ‘No More Two Flags, Two Constitutions” (2019); “Modi’s Foreign Policy” (2017 with Ashok Kapur); “Contested Governance, Competing Nationalisms, and Disenchanted Publics: Kashmir beyond Intractability?” (2017) “Kashmir’s Contentious Politics: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same” (2015); “Beyond Parochialism and Domestic Preoccupation: The Current State of Comparative Politics in Canada” (2013) and “Labor Migration, Citizenship, and Social Welfare in China and India” (2013 with Josephine Smart).

She also contributes commentaries on South Asia, in particular on Kashmir and on South Asian regional politics to South Asia Monitor (projects of the New Delhi-based think tank, Society for Policy Studies) and to KashmirConnected. In 2015, she was recognized as one of the top 40 prominent Indo-Canadians and was profiled in The Indian Diaspora’ A-List.