Ted Jackson
Edward (Ted) Jackson is Chair of the Group of 78. He is a professor, consultant, and editor with current research interests in sustainable finance, gender lens investing, jobs in the transition economy, and community-university partnerships. He is a retired tenured public-policy professor, former associate dean (research) and co-founder of the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation, at Carleton University, where he continues to serve as a senior research fellow. He is also an honorary associate at the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University. As president of the consultancy E. T. Jackson and Associates, he has advised bilateral and multilateral development agencies and banks, investment funds, foundations, non-profits, and universities in 60 countries, including Bangladesh, Belize, Ghana, Kenya, Singapore, South Africa, and Vietnam. An active volunteer, he co-founded the McLeod Group and has advised the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, an American farmworkers’ rights non-profit, and the Singapore-based Sweef Capital impact fund.
Keynote Speaker: Peggy Mason
Friday, October 9, 2026 7 PM ET Reinventing the Architecture of Peace: How We Got Here and What Must be Done
Peggy Mason has been the President of the Rideau Institute on International Affairs since June 2014. Under her leadership, this independent think tank (which does not accept funding from government or industry) seeks – through policy research, advocacy, and public engagement – to revitalize Canada’s peacekeeping, diplomatic peacemaking, arms control and disarmament, and peacebuilding roles in the world, through inclusive multilateralism, strengthening the UN capacity for conflict prevention, and peaceful conflict resolution and the progressive enhancement of international law. Against the backdrop of an American administration intent on severely weakening the UN and international law, the Rideau Institute has partnered with the Canadian Pugwash Group in a joint project entitled “Laying the foundation for Common Security in a time of fundamental insecurity”.
An inaugural member of the University of Ottawa Common Law Honour Society (2003), Mason’s distinguished career highlights diplomatic and specialist expertise in the field of international security, with a particular emphasis on the United Nations, where she served as Canada’s Ambassador for Disarmament from 1989 to 1995. In 2016, she received an achievement award from Canadians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention for her commitment to a nuclear-weapons-free world.
Peggy Mason is proud to be a longstanding and active member of several Canadian non-governmental organizations focusing on peace and security, including the Group of 78 (past Chair and current Board Member), Canadian Pugwash Group (Vice-Chair), and the Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Advisory Board member). In 2016, she received an achievement award from Canadian Leadership for Nuclear Disarmament for her commitment to a nuclear-weapons-free world
Host and Moderator: Kizzann Sammy
Kizzann Sammy MA, MBA, FRSA, is a senior development professional with over 25 years of experience advancing inclusive, evidence-based policy and programming across government, non-profit, and international development sectors. She brings a strong record of volunteerism and advocacy, having served on boards and committees focused on governance, youth leadership, and social impact, contributing to strategic planning and governance strengthening for programs supporting survivors of human trafficking. Her development work spans more than 30 countries, with a focus on gender equality, sustainable finance, climate resilience, and inclusive economic growth. She works in both English and French, leading research, training, and evaluation initiatives that center equity, amplify marginalized voices, and inform policy at national and international levels. A strategic thinker and collaborative leader, Kizzann is deeply committed to advancing inclusive dialogue, strengthening governance systems, and contributing to public policy discussions that promote sustainable and equitable development.
Maryam Shafipour, Human Rights Advocate & M.A. Candidate, NPSIA, Carleton University
Maryam Shafipour is a Human Rights Advocate and Master’s candidate at the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA), Carleton University. A former political prisoner in Iran, she brings firsthand experience in democratic activism. Over the past few years, her work and advocacy in Canada have focused on transnational repression, defending exiled human rights defenders, and advising on policy responses to foreign interference.
Keynote Speaker: Dan Smith
9:00 am Keynote Address 2: Reinventing the Architecture for Peace: The Five Global Hinge Points of the Mid-21st Century
Dan Smith is an independent consultant based in Sweden and non-resident Senior Fellow of the UN Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva. He was Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute from 2015 to 2025. From 2003 to 2015, he was Secretary General of International Alert, the peacebuilding organization, and previously (1993-2001) Director of the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo. He chaired the UN Peacebuilding Fund Advisory Group in 2010–11. His current research focuses on the security impact of ecological crisis, and on world order, mediation, the Middle East and Northeast Asia. He has authored atlases of world politics and of peace and security in the Middle East and blogs on international politics at www.dansmithsblog.com.
Host and Moderator: Leah Darbyson, Researcher and G78 Executive Committee Member
Leah Darbyson holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) at Carleton University, where she specialized in Health, Displacement, and Humanitarian Policy. Her research has examined climate-induced displacement and reproductive health, property rights and legal ambiguity in conflict settings, and the implications of artificial intelligence for international development. Her broader interests include international cooperation, peace and security, global governance, and responses to social and environmental change. She is now based in the United Kingdom, where she is working towards a career contributing to advancing progressive public policy.
10:30 am Panel 1: Women’s Peacebuilding Strategies: Experiences from Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine, and Iran
Evelyn Namakula Mayanja, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Carleton University
Evelyn Namakula Mayanja is an interdisciplinary scholar passionate about global peace and security, with focus on Africa. Her research follows trajectories of critical theory, decoloniality, phenomenology, Afrocentricity and African Indigenous philosophy to explore issues around international political economy of resource; wars, conflicts and cooperation in natural resource sectors; race; politics; and governance in global systems of accumulation and asymmetric international relations. Evelyn’s research centers on the agency, interests, human rights and human security of those marginalized by colonial and neocolonial systems of oppression, resource looting, environmental destruction, neoliberal authoritarianism and political repression. Her current research examines mineral resource-based wars/armed conflict and the extraction of the minerals for green/renewable energy, and the consequences of destruction (community, socio-economic, and environmental), cultural obliteration, land grabbing, displacement, and peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“I believe that the world will know real peace, security and prosperity when the power of love, knowledge of one’s mortality, awe and care for the dignity of every person and the environment will overcome the love for power, greed, the illusion of immortality, environmental destruction, and the dehumanization of those whose rights, voice, place and space to prosper is denied – the historical and contemporary wretched of the earth.”
Dr. Zeina Mohanna, Member, Board of Directors, Amel Association, Lebanon
Dr. Zeina Mohanna –Member Board of Directors at Amel Association currently coordinating the Programs and partnerships, a 45 years old NGO established in Lebanon, with 40 centers, 14 mobile Units and 17 programs. Zeina is a holder of a PhD in Human Rights and Citizenship a scholarship awardee for a program on “Forced Migration” from Oxford University in 2015. She is a also a professor of Political sciences and Public Administration at the American university or Beirut. She is currently a member to the Social, Economic and Environmental Council in Lebanon.
Her work includes more than 23 years of experience in Humanitarian and the Developmental field as well as in Academia, strategic planning, advocacy for public policy reform, research, among others. Her areas of specialty include migration, health, combatting human trafficking, emergency preparedness and response, youth leadership, women empowerment, supporting Older People, support to refugees, livelihood, sustainable agriculture, environment and climate change, among others.
Zeina was nominated by OCHA to represent Lebanese NGOs in the Global Humanitarian Review of 2025 in Kuwait in December 2024, and was invited by WHO to be the spokesperson of the Lebanon in the WHO high-level event of the WHO Global Emergency appeal 2025 in multiple platforms to support the fundraising efforts.
Anna Vogt, Director, Advocacy and Public Policy, Mennonite Central Committee
Anna Vogt serves as the director Advocacy and Public Policy for Mennonite Central Committee’s Peace and Justice Office, based in Ottawa. Anna has worked with MCC in peacebuilding and advocacy for over a decade and is passionate about the ways in which communities can come together across differences to create sustainable and creative change. Previous to this role she worked in a variety of positions with MCC in Latin America, based out of Colombia, where she engaged with woman peacebuilders, human rights documentation, advocacy for migrant justice, and a variety of other topics.
Host and Moderator: Sylvie Lemieux
Sylvie Lemieux is a retired Lieutenant-Colonel Army Engineer and a retired executive from the Public Service of Canada. She has served across Canada and has participated in a UN humanitarian mission in Pakistan as a teacher for mine awareness to support Afghans’ repatriation. Upon her retirement, she completed a masters in Globalization and International Development at the University of Ottawa and a doctorate in Conflict Studies at Saint-Paul University. Her thesis was centered on the process of global treaties through the lenses of the Ottawa Treaty. A former Green Party of Canada Candidate for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell Sylvie is a board member of G78, CNANW, CPRA and IPB, and a member of Pugwash.
1:00 pm Keynote Address 3: Reinventing the Architecture for Peace: Creating a Peace Agenda for Canada
Keynote Speaker: Lloyd Axworthy Former Foreign Minister of Canada
Lloyd Axworthy is a Canadian elder statesman, academic, and politician. He has served as Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, as president and vice-chancellor of the University of Winnipeg and chancellor of St. Paul’s University College (University of Waterloo). Dr. Axworthy recently retired from his post as Chair of the World Refugee and Migration Council. He remains Co-Chair of the Americas Task Force on Migration.
He served for 27 years in the public service, first as an elected member of the Manitoba legislature and later in the Federal House of Commons. In the Foreign Affairs portfolio, Minister Axworthy became internationally known for his advancement of the human security concept. He provided exceptional leadership on challenging issues such as anti-personnel mines, the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, the establishment of the International Criminal Court and the plight of child soldiers in Africa. He retired from elected politics in 2000.
Dr. Axworthy is the recipient of multiple awards: the Order of Manitoba (2001), Officer of the Order of Canada (2003), and Companion of the Order of Canada (2015). He is also the recipient of multiple honourary doctorates. The Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba made Dr. Axworthy an honourary member and he was given an Ojibwe name (2010). Due to his contributions to international human rights and his leadership in support of Aboriginal students in post-secondary education at the University of Winnipeg, Indigenous Elders bestowed the title of Pipe Carrier to him (2012).
Lloyd Axworthy has been published multiple times – his latest book Lloyd Axworthy: My Life in Politics was published in 2024.
Host and Moderator: Susan Tanner, G78 Vice-Chair and Human Rights Advocate
Susan Tanner previously held positions in both the Federal and Ontario governments Susan has maintained an active role in community organisations as both a board and staff member. Susan was a founder of Halton Hills Community Legal Services (1978) and founding chairperson of LEAF (Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund) (1985). She represented Friends of the Earth at the 1992 UNCED in Rio and in 1995, Friends of the Earth Canada accepted a UNEP award for work on the Montreal Protocol done under her leadership. While serving as Executive Director (2007-10) Canadian Environmental Network, Susan was honoured as a United Nations Association of Canada “Championne” for her work on human rights and the environment. Her federal government positions included: Senior Advisor to the Deputy Minister, Justice Canada, on Gender and Diversity; Senior Manager, Federal participation, Expo 86; Forum Lead, Disaster Management, World Urban Forum, Habitat Jam; Counsellor, Association of Executives (APEX). Her provincial positions included: Member of the Ontario Environmental Assessment Board; Vice Chair of the Social Assessment Review Board; Mediator at the Ontario Grievance Settlement Board, Clinic Education Officer for the Ontario Legal Aid Plan. Susan holds a Masters’ of Environmental Studies and a Masters’ of Law, is a member of the Ontario Bar, has consulted in the private sector on sustainability, and taught as a sessional lecturer at Carleton University.
2:15 pm Panel 2: New Politics, New Peacebuilding: A Conversation with Leaders and Scholars of Youth-Led Peace Organizations and Political Movements
Alimi Salifou, Co-Chair, ImPACT Coalition for Future Generations, Nigeria
Alimi Salifou is a Beninese-Nigerian jurist, intergenerational fairness advocate, and community builder. He is widely recognized for his advocacy in long-term governance, intergenerational justice, and the safeguard of the rights and interests of future generations in policy-making across Africa and globally. Based in Lagos, Nigeria, Alimi is a prominent figure in the Impact Coalition for Future Generations as its co-chair and a convener of Partnership for Future Generations in Africa. He co-founded Effective Altruism Nigeria and Intergenerational Centre for Global Action. His research interests include intergenerational justice and peace, AI governance, democratic resilience, the politics of hope, wellbeing economy, global policy and international cooperation. He works to build resilient and transformative communities by promoting human dignity and promoting policies to improve the wellbeing of current and coming generations. A renowned thought leader, Alimi frequently speaks at the World Future Council, the World Federalist Movement-Global Policy Institute, EA Summits and contributed book chapters and coauthored many articles.
Danielle Kamtié World Bank Water Champion, Co-Founder, African Youth Parliament for Water, Global Policy and Advocacy Leader, WPSN-C steering committee member
Danielle Kamtié is a World Bank Water Champion and Co-Founder of the African Youth Parliament for Water, a pan-African youth governance organization active across 26 African countries engaging +30 000 youth leaders working at the intersection of water governance, gender equality, climate resilience, and peace and security. She serves as Global Partnerships Coordinator for Africa and Climate Justice at KAIROS Canada, leading a programme on women peacebuilders in DRC and South Sudan, and sits on the Steering Committee of the Women Peace and Security Network Canada. In April 2026 she delivered the opening statement at the Water Forward launch at the World Bank Group Spring Meetings. Bilingual in English and French, she works across Canada, the African continent, and multilateral platforms at the intersection of youth co-governance, feminist foreign policy, and institutional accountability.
Francois Zankih, Executive Director of the Guardians of Equality Movement (GEM)
Francois Zankih is a young policy practitioner and activist focused on peace, security, conflict and human rights, including advancing the Youth, Peace and Security agenda. He is the founder of the Tukhum Institute for Syria–Israel Affairs, an Ottawa-based think-and-do tank advancing diplomatic and geopolitical transparency, and the founder and Executive Director of the Guardians of Equality Movement (GEM).
His activism emerged from his experiences of war, family loss and authoritarian persecution in Syria. His fieldwork has examined conflict dynamics, armed non-state actors, deradicalization and civilian protection. Zankih has published with institutions including the Atlantic Council, appeared on Voice of America, and spoken on more than fourteen international panels hosted by institutions including the University of Cambridge, the Council of Europe and the United Nations.
Moderator: Kaima George-Chuka
Kaima George-Chuka is a PhD Candidate in International Development at the University of
Ottawa, examining when and how corporate accountability mechanisms shape outcomes in
energy sector governance. Her work explores the interplay between home-state regulation, hoststate institutional capacity, and community agency across diverse settings. Situated in Business and Human Rights scholarship, her research engages human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD), Indigenous consultation and consent, grievance and remedy mechanisms, benefit-sharing arrangements, and the political economy of energy transition. She examines how accountability regimes shape corporate conduct, dispute resolution, access to remedy, and why similar instruments produce divergent outcomes across jurisdictions. She holds an MBA and an MA in International Law and Diplomacy, with cross-sector experience spanning higher education, technology, consulting, and banking. She is a member of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre (HRREC), the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) UK, and the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) UK, Chartered Institute of Bankers in Nigeria (CIBN) and currently serves as a Teaching and Research Assistant at the School of International Development and Global Studies.
4:00 Wrap-up Session
Host and Moderator: Richard Harmston, G78 Board Secretary and Chair, Peace and Security Working Group
Richard Harmston worked with and for internationally-focused civil society organizations for more than 50 years, primarily in the field of international development and North-South cooperation. He has specialized in organizational development, NGO-government relations, inter-organizational cooperation, and strengthening civil society, particularly on themes of development, peace, & governance. He directed the International Student Movement for the United Nations (Geneva), created and managed the Public Participation Program in the Canadian International Development Agency (Ottawa), and was Executive Director respectively of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (now Cooperation Canada) and South Asia Partnership Canada. He was on the founding board of directors of the North South Institute, the Group of 78, the Canadian Committee for UNIFEM, and the Civilian Peace Service Canada. He is retired in Ottawa, Canada, and continues engagement with the Group of 78 (Chair, 2006-24) and CPSC.