The 2026 Annual Policy Conference of the Group of 78
October 9-10, 2026, University of Ottawa
Venue: Room 4007, The Social Sciences Building, University of Ottawa, one of Ottawa’s premier conference venues.
OUTLINE AND PROGRAM
Purposes of the Conference
1) To develop an agenda of action to confront the institutions and forces that benefit from the spread and perpetuation of war.
2) To radically shift public and private resources and decisions toward peace, disarmament, and human security.
3) To lay the foundation of the architecture for peace in the 21st century, one that will be capable of addressing and ultimately reversing the complex threats facing humanity and the planet.
Current Context
The global community faces a cluster of dynamic, inter-related crises that have combined to ignite and sustain international, regional and local conflicts: unfettered arms production and territorial aggression by major powers; the growing existential threat of nuclear war; unprecedented disruptions in longstanding trading relationships and defence alliances; the deepening effects of climate change, including extreme weather events; mass migration by conflict and climate refugees; radical economic disparities within and across nation states; extreme political polarization fueled by social media; and wholly inadequate ethical governance of artificial intelligence.
The institutions created after World War II to maintain peace, security and a rules-based international order – especially the United Nations, its Security Council and many conventions; the International Criminal Court; and the Bretton-Woods organizations – have proven incapable of addressing the complexity of this polycrisis. From Gaza to Ukraine, Iran to Sudan, the world is less safe and more dangerous. New momentum must be built to meet this moment.
Core Questions
Keynote speakers and panelists will be asked to address a common set of questions:
1) What are the most promising new or emerging strategies, coalitions, and institutions for securing global peace and justice given the breakdown of the rules-based international order?
2) How can plurilateral alliances led by middle-power governments, civil society and Indigenous organizations drive change and renew institutions for peace?
3) What policies, practices, ideologies, and approaches have eroded and/or strengthened international institutions and the rule of law?
4) How can the main beneficiaries of war—militaries, arms makers, the fossil fuel industry, billionaires and coercive hegemons—be denounced, disrupted and defunded?
5) What twenty-first-century social and political developments or strategies show the most promise for redirecting capital towards peacemaking and sustainable development?
6) What lessons can be learned from successful youth-led peacebuilding organizations and political movements, and how could these lessons be adapted, leveraged, and scaled?
7) What can AI and other emerging technologies contribute to ethical governance, conflict transformation, ecological balance, and sustainable peace?
Canada’s Responsibility
Cutting across all these questions are the tasks of assessing the ways in which Canadian foreign policy promotes war and identifying and advocate for better policies that would hold the agents of conflict accountable, defund their operations and instead vigorously advance peace. We note Mark Carney’s clarion call for middle-power leadership in a world where, as he so clearly put it, the “powers that be” have long manipulated international law and empty rhetoric about human rights to create the illusion of a fair and defensible geopolitical system. Canada is a member of NATO whose member countries are ramping up their military spending and reject the international Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Canada is also a member of the International Criminal Court, the global community’s prime instrument for prosecuting war crimes, and must strengthen the Court against its well-resourced opponents.
At a time of growing geopolitical destabilization, reconfiguration and uncertainty, we need to critically assess the hidden and opportunity costs of this kind of spending – especially when urgent environmental and social challenges must be confronted – and more broadly reflect on the consequences of Canadian commitments to primarily military alliances, particularly NATO.
The conference will produce a set of policy recommendations to the Government of Canada.
CONFERENCE PROGRAM, October 9-10, 2026
Day 1: October 9, 2026, 6pm-8:30 pm, Room 4007, Social Sciences Building, University of Ottawa
6:00 Registration and Networking
6:30 pm Welcome, Land Acknowledgement and Dinner
7:00 pm Keynote Address 1: Reinventing the Architecture of Peace: How We Got Here and What Must be Done
Keynote Remarks: Peggy Mason, President, Rideau Institute, G78 Board Member and former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament to the United Nations
Host and Moderator: Kizzann Sammy, President, Kochi Consulting, G78 Board Member and Advisor to UN Women’s Caribbean Office
7:45 pm Moderated Q+A and Discussion
8:15 pm Thank You and Adjournment
Day 2: October 10, 2026, 8 am-5:30 pm, Room 4007, Social Sciences Building, University of Ottawa
8:00 am Registration, Networking, Coffee, Tea and Light Breakfast
8:30 am Welcome, Land Acknowledgement, Housekeeping, and the Agenda for the Day
9:00 am Keynote Address 2: Reinventing the Architecture for Peace: The Five Global Hinge Points of the Mid-21st Century
Keynote Remarks: Dan Smith, Senior Fellow, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, Blogger, Consultant and former Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Host and Moderator: Leah Darbyson, Researcher and G78 Executive Committee Member (To Be Confirmed)
9:45 am Moderated Q+A and Discussion
10:10 am Thank You and Closing
10:15 am to 10:30 am Break
10:30 am Panel 1: Women’s Peacebuilding Strategies: Experiences from Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine, and Iran
Panelists: To Be Determined
Host and Moderator: Susan Tanner, G78 Vice-Chair and Human Rights Advocate (To Be Confirmed)
11:20 am Moderated Q+A Discussion
11:55 am Thank You and Closing
12:00 pm-1:00 pm Lunch Break
1:00 pm Keynote Address 3: Reinventing the Architecture for Peace: Lessons from Organizations and Policies Aimed at Strengthening Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
Keynote Remarks: John Packer, Neuberger-Jesin Professor of International Conflict Resolution and former Director of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Host and Moderator: Sylvie Lemieux, G78 Board Member and CNANW Board Member (To Be Confirmed)
1:45 pm Moderated Q+A and Discussion
2:10 pm Thank You and Closing
2:15 pm Panel 2: New Politics, New Peacebuilding: A Conversation with Leaders and Scholars of Youth-Led Peace Organizations and Political Movements
Panelists: Alimi Salifou, Co-Chair, ImPACT Coalition for Future Generations, Nigeria, Others To Be Determined
Host and Moderator: To Be Determined
3:00 pm Moderated Q+A and Discussion
3:30 pm Thank You and Closing
3:30 pm to 4:00 pm Break
4:00 Wrap-up Session
Summary of insights and directions from conference deliberations by the Chief Rapporteur and team of Student Rapporteurs from Carleton and Ottawa universities. Comments from participants.
Host and Moderator: Richard Harmston, G78 Board Secretary and Chair, Peace and Security Working Group
5:15 pm Next Steps, Thank You and Closing
5:30 pm Adjournment of the Conference
Conference Speakers: The Group of 78 is identifying speakers for keynotes and panels who represent some of the most leading-edge and critical policy analysis, scholarship, and activism in the peace and security field. These include both international and Canadian leaders and experts. A priority is placed on recruiting speakers from peace-seeking civil-society, women’s, youth and Indigenous organizations in both the Global South and North. The conference will also draw on the deep experience and skill in peace and security among the Group of 78’s own Board of Directors.
Deliverables: Engaging a Chief Rapporteur supported by a team of Student Rapporteurs from Ottawa and Carleton universities, the conference will generate 1) a conference report; 2) conference background papers and list of pre-conference readings; 3) a video recording of the proceedings; and 4) a conference statement on how the Government of Canada can and should support, contribute to and lead the urgent and essential process of reinventing the architecture of peace.
Contact:
Richard Harmston, Chair, Peace and Security Working Group and Board Secretary, Group of 78; E-mail: richardharmston@gmail.com.
July 31, 2027