Centre for Refugee Studies Archives | Research & Innovation

91��ɫ honours four distinguished professors

fmaquito — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ bestowed titles of the highest order upon four of its long-serving faculty members at Spring Convocation this year.

Historian Nicholas Rogers and mathematician Jianhong Wu were named distinguished research professors for sustained and outstanding scholarly, professional or artistic achievement largely accomplished at 91��ɫ.

Political scientist David Dewitt and education scholar Don Dippo were named University professors for extraordinary contributions to 91��ɫ as colleagues, teachers and scholars.

The following profiles are based on citations given at convocation ceremonies in June:

Distinguished Research Professors

Nicholas Rogers (right) is one of the world’s leading scholars of the political culture of 18th-century British and Atlantic worlds.

In his writing, Rogers blends keen insights into the nature and operation of the early modern state with a detailed understanding of the social and cultural contexts in which it functioned. He has explored a remarkably diverse range of topics, from reactions to press gangs in British ports to religious conflicts amongst London’s crowds, from food riots to public reactions to blunders made by admirals, and even the genealogy of Halloween festivities. His compelling prose, intellectual rigour, powers of synthesis and painstaking archival research has allowed him to produce works that have served as models for subsequent writers on these and other topics.

In 1999, Rogers was awarded the Wallace Ferguson Prize for his book Crowds, Culture and Politics in Georgian Britain, a study of 18th-century Britain that fundamentally transformed our understanding of early modern Britain and prompted historians to reconsider how they treat the interplay between politics and culture. He brilliantly and persuasively mapped the pathways of political power and identified those who opposed, resisted and deflected its effects.

Jianhong Wu (left) is best known for his groundbreaking work on the application of mathematical modelling to the epidemiology of infectious diseases and was instrumental in establishing the MITACS Centre for Disease Modelling at 91��ɫ. This research has had a direct impact upon public health policy in Canada and abroad. After the SARS crisis in Toronto he was asked to establish a national working group on disease modelling and since then his research has advanced our understanding of H1N1, West Nile virus and avian influenza, to name but a few.

Wu joined 91��ɫ in 1990, and was named Canada Research Chair in Industrial and Applied Mathematics in 2001. He has made fundamental advances in a number of seemingly disparate areas, from wave theory to neural network theory to differential equations and his intellectual achievements have made him an international leader in the field of applied mathematics. His career exemplifies 91��ɫ’s emphasis on interdisciplinarity and on the application of research to real-time issues.

University Professors

Since political scientist David Dewitt (right) joined 91��ɫ in 1984, he has demonstrated the utmost commitment to 91��ɫ through his scholarship and outstanding service to other researchers, and in his two terms as the associate vice-president (AVP) of research in the humanities and social sciences.

Dewitt is a widely respected expert on human security and was instrumental in establishing the 91��ɫ Centre for International & Security Studies. At the heart of his research into arms proliferation, conflicts in the Asian Pacific and the Middle East and national defence policies have always been a concern for managing conflict and the safety of peoples. He has passed these essential concerns on in his mentoring and supervision of generations of graduate students and junior faculty.

As AVP, he has been pivotal in transforming 91��ɫ’s research culture. He has been a motivating force in improving service support for researchers, increasing the number of external grants, creating facilities for organized research units and establishing an influential 91��ɫ presence on national research councils. In all of these endeavours he has been mindful that research is not the exclusive preserve of those in science, engineering and medicine. His constant attention to 91��ɫ’s enduring research strength in the humanities and social sciences has made him an ideal ambassador both to this University and for research and scholarship in all fields of human knowledge.

Don Dippo (right) has made an extraordinary contribution to the University as a colleague, teacher, mentor and scholar. He has played an important, consistent and multifaceted role in the development of the Faculty of Education and to 91��ɫ. Through his teaching, administration and scholarship, he has also helped others learn how and why community engagement matters.

Before he joined 91��ɫ in 1987, Dippo was an elementary school teacher specializing in music. He has brought the same skills, knowledge, dedication, patience and energy he used as a teacher to his academic life to great and wide acclaim.

Dippo has served as graduate program director and twice as associate dean of preservice education. He has spearheaded new initiatives and educational innovations dedicated to enhancing social justice and inclusivity. He has encouraged advanced study that will transform lives and communities. And he has posed urgent and difficult questions.

Dippo devotes long hours to initiatives that involve schools and community organizations. He is actively affiliated with 91��ɫ’s Centre for Refugee Studies. He is sought out by graduate students who enjoy his lively mind and capacious scholarly reach.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Professor Jennifer Hyndman: Humanitarian aid can fuel a war if not done carefully

fmaquito — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ sociology and geography Professor Jennifer Hyndman knows a little about disasters. She also knows a benign water project run by humanitarian aid agencies can fuel a war if careful attention is not paid to the political and cultural landscape.

Hyndman was in Sri Lanka within months of the 2004 tsunami. She saw first-hand not only the devastation wrought by the tsunami, but the complications of delivering humanitarian aid in areas of Sri Lanka and Indonesia that were already conflict-riddled and impoverished. She also witnessed how the natural and man-made disasters intersected to change the political dynamics of both countries – a peace accord in Indonesia and the end of war in Sri Lanka between the government and the Tamils.

Her experiences led to the recently released book, and companion videos by Hyndman and geographer and humanitarian aid worker Arno Waizenegger, and . To watch the first video, enter the password, "Lhokse". Waizenegger also co-wrote one of the book's chapters with Hyndman.

The earthquake-triggered tsunami is estimated to have killed or displaced more than one million people – three women for every man – and billions in donations flowed in for relief efforts. Dual Disasters addresses pre- and post-humanitarian aid concerns and offers suggestions that are still relevant today.

“I examine two war zones that were then hit by the 2004 tsunami and trace how the conflict and the environmental disaster shaped one another in terms of outcomes,” says Hyndman of 91��ɫ's Department of Social Sciences in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, who has studied humanitarian emergencies, conflict-related human disaster and displacement for more than a decade. For the book, she focused specifically on Sri Lanka and Aceh, Indonesia.

Left: Jennifer Hyndman

The book examines the inequitable delivery of humanitarian aid, but also looks at how the cultural and political situation in both countries played into that. If more aid was given to the coastal areas of Sri Lanka, because of their tourist appeal, than to the people in the hinterland, who are hardest hit by war, that imbalance created a “potential and real threat to peace.” Similarly in Aceh, Indonesia, international tsunami aid was earmarked exclusively for tsunami survivors and not for civilians who had lost their homes and livelihoods in the decades old conflict. This became the cause of tensions and threats recorded in the book by Hyndman and her research assistants.

The problem was that aid agencies had little latitude to spend donated money. As it's often designated for specific things, some agencies collected more money than they could ethically spend, she says. That led to the hiring of sub-contractors who not only didn’t necessarily do the best job, but it also made it more difficult to monitor the funds. This could be remedied if donors gave aid agencies more leverage to spend their donations where needed, says Hyndman, associate director of the .

In addition, aid workers can unintentionally become wrapped up in the politics. “You need to pay very close attention to the political climate, otherwise you can become a political player in what you think is a humanitarian operation.” That can play out in as simple an act as talking to people living on one side of a road. What the aid workers may not realize is that the people on one side of the road are enemies with those on the opposite side, and the workers are seen as allies to one side only. “The unintended result is that humanitarian aid can actually fuel a conflict or create tensions."

Or, as in the case of the water pumps, what seemed like an easy and fast solution – provide villages with water pumps so they no longer had to dig wells – turned out to be not so simple in an area of Sri Lanka where tensions were already high between various factions. Bringing in water pumps heightened conflicting interests, instead of making life easier. “So unintentionally, a benign water project can fuel a war.”

It is just as important for aid workers to be aware of a country's cultural practices. One aid agency built much-needed, but culturally inappropriate housing. The new houses only had one room, when two were required to keep the women separate from the men. Hyndman says many of these issues could be avoided by providing regional cultural and political sensitivity orientation and training to humanitarian aid workers.

Competition between aid agencies for donor dollars was another issue raised by the book, but it has, at least in Canada, been addressed to some extent. Care Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec and Save the Children formed a coalition after the 2004 tsunami to work together.

“It’s an excellent step in the right direction,” says Hyndman.

For more information, visit the .

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91��ɫ-led global project to examine criminalization of sexual orientation

fmaquito — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Nancy Nicol’s team receives $1 million to study LGBT human rights around the world

91��ɫ visual arts professor Nancy Nicol will lead a major international project on the impact of criminalizing sexual orientation and gender identity, with $1 million in funding over five years from the (SSHRC).

The award will fund Envisioning Global LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Human Rights, a collaborative project that will foster international research links between Canada and the global south.

Nicol, a professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts and faculty associate in 91��ɫ’s Centre for Feminist Research, will lead a 22-member research team as they explore how LGBT and human rights groups resist criminalization of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The researchers will also study the implications for human rights policy formation, social services, and immigration and refugee policies.

“Envisioning will capture and contribute to history-in-the-making of distinct but linked struggles at a key moment of national and global change,” says Nicol. “Our strategic alliance of partners has proven capacity in international LGBT human rights work, with grass roots partners in Canada and the global south. Our work will combine documentary and participatory video with qualitative interviewing, focus groups, legal data research and analysis and a limited use of surveys. We plan to make a unique contribution to documenting and analyzing criminalization, asylum and resistance to criminalization within and beyond regions.”

(CURA) awards, among the largest awarded by SSHRC, bring postsecondary institutions and community organizations together as equal research partners to jointly develop new knowledge and capabilities, provide research training opportunities, and enhance the ability of social sciences and humanities research to build knowledge in areas that affect Canadians and their changing communities.

“91��ɫ has developed a strong record in leading national and international collaborative research projects on key social issues,” said Stan Shapson, vice-president Research & Innovation. “Through its connections to the Faculty of Fine Arts, , the Center for Feminist Research, and the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies’ Department of Sexuality Studies, this project reflects the interdisciplinary strengths 91��ɫ offers in human rights research and the success of our researchers’ collaborative focus with local and global partners.”

Nicol’s research team includes 22 researchers and 32 partner organizations. The co-applicants include four 91��ɫ Professors: , director of the Centre for Feminist Research; Jennifer Hyndman, associate director of the ; and .

Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science & Technology), announced the funding on March 25. Nicol’s project is one of nine large-scale research projects funded through SSHRC’s CURA program at a total cost of $8,993,254.

“These grants highlight the excellence of our country’s talented researchers and recognize the importance of fostering collaboration to keep Canada at the leading-edge of research, development and innovation in the 21st century,” said Chad Gaffield, president of SSHRC.

For a complete list of CURA awards, visit Web site.

Project Partners:

Africans In Partnership Against AIDS (APAA)
Alliance For South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP)
ARC International
Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black Cap)
Center for Feminist Research, 91��ɫ
Coalition of African Lesbians
Egale Canada
Forum for Empowerment of Women (FEW)
Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK)
Global Alliance for LGBT Education (GALE)
Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)
International Lesbian and Gay Law Association (ILGLAW)
Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG)
Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO)
Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies
Naz Foundation (India) Trust
Naz International Foundation in conjunction with Maan AIDS Foundation
Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)
Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION)
Osgoode Hall Law School, 91��ɫ
Pride Uganda Alliance International (PUAI)
Rainbow Health Ontario
Sangini (India) Trust
Sexual Minorities Uganda
Sexuality Studies Department, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, 91��ɫ
Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD)
The 519 Church St. Community Centre
The Inner Circle
United and Strong
United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM)
University of Witwatersrand

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

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Judge blasts ruling by refugee board member with zero acceptance rate

fmaquito — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 10:00:00 +0000

The day the Toronto Star broke the story on a wide variation of acceptance rates by refugee board members, a Federal Court judge issued a decision chastising an adjudicator who had not granted asylum to anyone in three years, wrote :

In an order issued Friday on an appeal by failed refugee claimant Bingrou Xu, the judge eight times repeated that the credibility findings by Immigration and Refugee Board member David McBean were "unreasonable".

McBean rejected Xu’s refugee claim last summer, stating 14 times that the claimant’s story was unsatisfactory and lacked credibility. Xu fled Belize in 2007 with his two children, claiming his wife was shot to death in a botched robbery of their convenience store and his family continued to be threatened.

“The (refugee) board’s conclusion . . . appears to have been based on the cumulative effect of the ‘discrepancies, contradictions and other problems’ that the board identified,” Justice Paul Crampton ruled.

. . .

Data analysis by Osgoode Hall Law School Professor revealed last week that McBean granted asylum to none of the 169 cases assigned to him since his 2007 appointment, with most of his rejections citing claimants' credibility as an issue. The data also showed several board members had extremely high acceptance rates.

Rehaag's and reveals startling differences in the acceptance rates of individual adjudicators. His findings were later .

Rehaag is also a member of the .

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Refugee board disputes Professor Sean Rehaag's study on bias and refugee boards

fmaquito — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Asylum rejection rates have no bearing in the quality and consistency of decisions made by adjudicators, says Canada’s refugee board, reported the :

In fact, the board insists that each decision must be examined on a case-by-case basis.

“Statistics on the acceptance and rejection rates of individual IRB members who determine refugee claims made in Canada require context,” Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) spokesperson Anna Pape said Friday. “Each refugee protection claim referred to the IRB is reviewed on the evidence presented in that individual case and decided on its merits. Each case is unique.”

The IRB was responding to a by Osgoode Hall [Law School] Professor that found a wide range of rejection rates among its members, even when dealing with claims from the same country.

The findings have already cast doubt on IRB member David McBean’s ability to judge fairly. McBean rejected all his asylum cases since his 2007 appointment – 62 in 2010, 72 in 2009 and 35 in 2008.

Rehaag also discussed the study, which examines the practices of the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board and reveals startling differences in the acceptance rates of individual adjudicators, on CBC’s “As It Happens”, “Au Dela De La 401” and “Le Telejournal Ontario” March 4.

Rehaag is also a member of the .

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Osgoode Professor Sean Rehaag's study raises concerns about bias on refugee board

fmaquito — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 10:00:00 +0000

If you were a refugee seeking protection in Canada, you wouldn’t want to cross the path of David McBean, wrote the , in a story about a new 91��ɫ study that shows evidence of bias among different adjudicators on the Immigration & Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada:

According to an analysis of IRB data obtained through an access-to-information request, McBean was one of a handful of board members who granted asylum in fewer than 10 per cent of cases last year, said the Star. The others were Anna Brychcy (6.45 per cent), Pasquale A. Fiorino (6.93 per cent), Michele Pettinella (6.67 per cent), Edward Robinson (4.29 per cent), Carolyne Wedgbury (9.66 per cent), Andrea Wojtak (2.94 per cent) and Colleen Zuk (9.46 per cent).

“There is a concern of bias,” said Osgoode Hall Law School Professor , who obtained and analyzed the data. “It is an issue if the case outcome hinges on who made the decision. You’re lucky if you had Cathryn Forbes (who granted asylum in 35 out of 35 cases). If you had David McBean, you would have no chance.”

Individual claimants may vary in their personal profiles and circumstances of persecution even if they are from the same country. However, the discrepancies remain when Rehaag controlled the variables such as the country of origin of the claimants.

Rehaag said his data also showed that those claimants who had legal representation at the asylum hearing tended to have a much higher success rate (48.58 per cent) than those who were unrepresented (11.79 per cent). Refugee board members are appointed by the government from a pool of qualified applicants who must pass an exam to prove their knowledge of immigration and refugee issues. The terms are between one and three years. They are paid in the range of $102,300 and $120,400 a year.

Rehaag is also a member of the .

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Centre for Refugee Studies provides statistics on refugee status in Canada

fmaquito — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +0000

After medical and security checks, anyone arriving in Canada may apply for refugee status, wrote the , in a story that used statistics provided by Michele Millard, coordinator of the Centre for Refugee Studies at 91��ɫ:

The process takes anywhere from six months to 15 years.

A new law passed this year, Bill C-11, is expected to expedite applications and reduce the current wait-list of about 55,000 claimants. Canadian refugee claimants either stay with family or friends, at homeless shelters or, if the government considers them a security threat, in jail. The onus is on the claimant to prove that he or she faces persecution in the country of origin. Rejected applicants are deported, though many stay in Canada illegally.

The country is on track to receive about 20,000 refugee claims in 2010. Canada once accepted as much as 89 per cent of the applicant pool but now admits half that.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Professor Kyle Killian, Centre for Refugee Studies: Boat people are rarely welcomed anywhere

fmaquito — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Canada's first boat people were the Norse who came ashore a thousand years ago in Newfoundland. They fit the refugee pattern: farmers and simple artisans, maybe a few fierce Vikings among them known for terrorizing Europe, people driven out of their homeland by population pressures and political unrest, :

The great boat-people success story in Canada, of course, has been the refugees from Indochina – the Vietnamese, Vietnamese Chinese, Lao and Kampucheans who now number a quarter of a million people, most of them originally sponsored in the late 1970s and early 1980s by church and community groups with federal government assistance after the US-supported South Vietnamese government fell to the North Vietnamese communists. Most of the refugees were highly educated professionals who fit quickly into Canadian society.

Similarly, the so-called Mariel boatlift of 130,000 Cubans to the United States over a few short months of 1980 transformed Miami.

But Professor Kyle Killian of 91��ɫ's Centre for Refugee Studies says boat people are rarely welcomed anywhere, even in Canada.

"First, they have been displaced as a result of a conflict elsewhere in the world, and therefore are often deemed as ‘someone else's problem’.

“Second, they have been displaced often as a result of an armed conflict with another ethnic community. And as history is written by the victors, representatives of the ethnic community who displaced the boat people are often quick to sound an alarm about the supposed inherent dangers that the boat people represent. These attempts at negative public relations can be successful because they activate xenophobic responses in citizens of the prospective host country.

“Third, it has long been established in social psychological research – the ‘bystander’ studies – that human beings tend to be more helpful to persons in need when they are perceived as attractive and possess characteristics similar to bystanders."

The complete article is available on the 's Website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Program teaches students how to improve refugee settlement experiences

fmaquito — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

A 91��ɫ certificate program aimed at training front-line workers who deal with refugees has graduated its first cohort of students and is already showing promising results.

The , run out of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and the Centre for Refugee Studies, teaches students how they can improve the settlement experience of refugees and newcomers to Canada. It aims to better their knowledge of national and international immigration policies, and to teach them how to address the emotional and psychosocial needs of clients of varying cultural backgrounds. Everyday issues such as how to access benefits and navigate online government services are also tackled.

“Working in this setting, you are dealing with people who have lost everything. We need to be able to give them the tools to start their lives over,” says Luis Alberto Mata, who graduated with the program’s first class at the end of March. After completing the course, Mata landed a job as a settlement and employment counsellor at the Mennonite New Life Centre of Toronto. He helps newcomers, immigrants and refugees to access health benefits and housing, provides job search guidance, and assists with applications for citizenship and residence.“The knowledge I obtained was very valuable,” he says. “I not only upgraded my skills – I was also able to network with settlement workers and agencies. This course really pulled everything together for me.”

Mata, who has extensive experience working with internally displaced people in his native Colombia, says the course enabled him to put his skills to work within a Canadian context.

The program was developed with a flexible format in mind so that those working full time in the sector could access it, according to Victoria Caparello, acting director of 91��ɫ’s Division of Continuing Education.

“This program has proven to be pivotal in providing a Canadian context for those who are currently working with not-for-profit and government organizations dealing with refugee issues and settlement programs both nationally and internationally,” Caparello says.

91��ɫ was also able to offer subsidies of up to $500 per student for those who were otherwise not eligible for other tuition subsidies.

The certificate consists of three components:

International Conventions & Canadian Legislation provides participants with an overview of the Canadian refugee determination system as well as the international conventions and remedies applicable to refugees. Among the topics examined are refugee hearing and pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) procedures, the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement, and special populations of refugee claimants (sexual minorities, claimants with disabilities, child claimants). It also looks at the broader role of various non-governmental organizations in refugee law and policy.
Settlement Theory & Practice deals with settlement policies adopted by the countries receiving refugees. Students review case studies and examine the history of different nations’ refugee policies in order to help understand the refugee experience and how it interrelates with Canadian refugee policies.
Trauma, Psychological and Psychosocial Issues and Vicarious Trauma critically examines concepts of emotional, psychological and social distress as they relate to the experience of newcomers. Students learn to identify trauma-specific reactions and help ameliorate them. Cross-cultural responses to traumatizing experiences are discussed, including the potential limitations of western psychology when dealing with newcomers from different cultures.

91��ɫ’s Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) is engaged in research on refugee issues. It informs public discussion as well as policy development and practice innovation by international, governmental, advocacy and service organizations and it supports teaching in refugee and migration studies. As part of its commitment to strengthening the capacity of front-line workers in providing services to refugees, it currently runs a number of professional development programs, including the CRS Summer Course on Refugee & Forced Migration Issues. Efforts are currently underway to launch an online distance education program that would make the program available to settlement workers outside the GTA area.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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High-powered workshop and conference examine international refugee law

fmaquito — Mon, 31 May 2010 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ hosted two major international events in the field of refugee studies, one of its widely recognized areas of research excellence, during the week of May 17 to 20.

On May 17, the War Crimes and Refugee Status Research Workshop took place, followed by a welcome reception to launch the 91��ɫ 2010 International Conference on Forced Displacement, Protection Standards and the Supervision of the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol and Other International Instruments held over the next three days. Both international events featured distinguished senior jurists, legal scholars and academics, government officials, intergovernmental officials, non-governmental organization officials, advocates and students.

The idea for both the international research workshop and the conference grew out of discussions at the Research Workshop on Critical Issues in International Refugee Law, held at 91��ɫ’s Keele campus in May 2008. The War Crimes and Refugee Status Research Workshop was the result of a concerted effort to continue work begun at the 2008 research workshop with a wider international collaborative and compartative research project . The international conference came out of a proposal by Justice Tony North of the Federal Court of Australia, immediate past-president of the , for the establishment of an International Judicial Commission for Refugees.

Above: Conference participants from around the world gather for a group photo

The conference’s opening was delivered by Volker Turk, director of the Division of International Protection for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), who outlined seven points for enhancing the monitoring and supervision of international protection standards for those forcibly displaced in the world today.

Among Turk’s seven points were two substantive proposals: the establishment of an expert advisory committee on the implementation of international instruments, and reconstituting a special committee of the Executive Committee that would focus specifically on international protection.

, professor in 91��ɫ’s School of Public Policy & Administration in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and a former Immigration & Refugee Board of Canada judge, is leading both initiatives, supported by , 91��ɫ’s associate vice-president research & innovation, and , director of the Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) at 91��ɫ.

In addition to Turk, the international conference featured two other keynote speakers, Justice Nicholas Blake, president of the Asylum and Immigration Chamber, Upper Tribunal, UK, and Professor Sriprapha Petcharamesree of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights and Centre for Human Rights Studies at Mahidol University in Thailand.

Panel presentations covered a variety of topics on current monitoring and supervisory practices and experiences of the UNHCR and states party to the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, as well as possible ideas, proposals and reforms for enhancing the supervision of international protection standards in the context of forced displacement. The international conference also considered the effectiveness of legal instruments and remedies in the Global South and the Global North. The final day was devoted to presentations on International Protection and Public Accountability: The Role of Civil Society.

Above: Participants at the research workshop gather for a photo. Front row seated left to right: Professor Sharryn Aiken, Queen's University; Barbara Harrell-Bond, OBE, UK; Professor James Simeon, 91��ɫ; Professor Jane McAdam, University of New South Wales, Australia; Justice Anthony North, Federal Court of Australia; First row standing: Professor Ian Greene, 91��ɫ; Susan Davis, Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy; Professor Susan McGrath, 91��ɫ; Professor Elspeth Guild, Radboud University, The Netherlands; Kees Wouters, UNHCR, Geneva, Switzerland; Judge-President Bernard Ngoepe, South Africa; Justice President Ana Calzada, Costa Rica; Second row standing: Nico Mol, European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France; Justice Professor Dr. Harald Dorig, Germany; Justice Dr. Bostjan Zalar, Slovenia; IRB Chair Brian Goodman; Joseph Rikhof, senior counsel, Justice Canada; Professor Guy Goodwin-Gill, University of Oxford; Dr. Alice Edwards, University of Oxford; Mary Teresa Glynn, Canada Border Services Agency; Geoffrey Care, Shetland Islands, Scotland.

The War Crimes and Refugee Status Research Workshop was divided into two panel presentations and roundtable discussions. The morning panel session on the war crimes and refugee status research project, funded by an International Opportunities Fund grant from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada, included presentations from Professors Geoff Gilbert, School of Law, University of Essex, UK; Kate Jastram, Berkeley Law, University of California Berkeley; and Simeon.

The afternoon panel focused on the developing content on exclusion under Article 1F(a) of the 1951 Convention, which included presentations from Joseph Rikhof, senior legal counsel, Justice Canada; Justice Professor Harald Dorig, Federal Administrative Court, Germany, and Kees Wouters, senior refugee law adviser, Division of International Protection, UNHCR.

Canadian government officials in attendance at the research workshop or the international conference included: Chief Justice Allan Lutfy of the Federal Court of Canada and fellow Justices Luc Martineau and Russel Zinn; Brian Goodman, chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), Ken Sandhu, deputy chair of the IRB's Refugee Protection Division, Sylvia Cox-Duquette, senior general counsel, and other IRB officials; Kristen Mlacack, director of Citizenship and Immigration Canada; and officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Canada Border Services Agency.

Among 91��ɫ faculty members who participated in one or both events were: Nergis Canefe, associate director of the Centre for Refugee Studies, a political science professor in 91��ɫ’s School of Public Policy & Administration and adjunct faculty member in the Faculty of Law at Turkey’s Istanbul Bilgi University; Obiora Okafor, professor in 91��ɫ’s Osgoode Hall Law School; Michael Barutciski, professor and director of graduate studies in Glendon’s School of Public & International Affairs, and Professor Emeritus Howard Adelman, founding director of the CRS.

In addition to visitors from across Canada and the United States, the research workshop and international conference participants came from such countries as Australia, Costa Rica, India, Japan, Thailand and South Africa. European participants included representatives from France, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom.

Both the research workshop and international conference were chaired by Professor Guy Goodwin-Gill, senior research fellow, All Souls College, University of Oxford, England. A Canadian, Goodwin-Gill is one of the world’s leading authorities in international refugee law.

For further information on the research workshop and the international conference, visit their Web sites.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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