Couchiching Annual Conference

The Changing Global Order: Canada’s Role in a Post-Neoliberal World

Panel One

September 29, 2025

The decline of traditional multilateral institutions, shifting alliances, and Canada’s strategic position in a world where trade and security are being redefined.

Cassie Heward

JD/Master of Global Affairs Candidate University of Toronto Faculty of Law and Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Cassie is a third-year student in the J.D./Master of Global Affairs program at the University of Toronto, dedicated to a career in law and foreign policy. Cassie most recently worked this summer as a research fellow for the Global Justice Lab, affiliated with the Munk School, on matters of police governance and community-driven justice. Cassie has also previously worked as a summer student with the Criminal, Security and Diplomatic Law division (JLA) at Global Affairs Canada.

Prior to law school, Cassie was the Political and Public Affairs Officer for the British Consulate-General in Montreal. She previously obtained her undergraduate degree (2020) in International Affairs from the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, DC. While in Washington, she completed numerous internships with the Brookings Institution, the Wilson Center, and the Canadian Embassy.

Bessma Momani

Associate Vice-President, International Professor, Department of Political Science University of Waterloo

Dr. Bessma Momani is Associate Vice-President, International and Full Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo; Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI); and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, D.C. She is currently a Governor of the International Development Research Council, Advisory Board member on the Canadian International Council, and a Fulbright Scholar. She was a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at both the Brookings Institution and Stimson Center in Washington, D.C., a consultant to the International Monetary Fund, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University’s Mortara Center, and a 2015 Fellow of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.

Dr. Momani also formerly sat on the National Security Transparency Advisory Group (NS-TAG) to advise the Deputy Minister of Public Safety Canada and other Government officials on improving transparency on Canada’s national security and intelligence departments and agencies. She is a frequent contributor to international media on international affairs and writes regular op-eds in the Globe and Mail.

Honourable David Collenette, PC, O.Ont,

Former Minister of National Defence Chair of the NATO Association of Canada

The Honourable David Collenette served for more than 20 years as a Member of the House of Commons, representing a Toronto constituency. First elected in 1974, he served as a minister under three Prime Ministers, Pierre Trudeau, John Turner and Jean Chretien, for a period of eleven years, holding several portfolios including Minister of Multiculturalism, Minister of National Defence, Minister of Veterans’ Affairs, Minister of Transport and Minister of Crown Corporations.

Since retiring from politics in 2004, David has been an advisor to many companies in the transportation, infrastructure, defence and information technology industries as well as Senior Counsel, Hill+ Knowlton Strategies. He is past Chair of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, North America and currently is Chair of the NATO Association of Canada. David is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (FCILT); BMO Senior Fellow, Glendon School of Public and International Affairs; Senior Fellow at the Bill Graham Centre, Trinity College, University of Toronto and Fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, University of Waterloo.

David holds a BA (Hons), MA and LL.D from York University and is a Member of the Order of Ontario. He is bilingual.

Honourable Catherine McKenna, P.C.

Chair, UN High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities

Catherine McKenna is the founder and principal of Climate and Nature Solutions. She is Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s new High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments of Non-State Entities (companies, investors, cities and regions) and is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Columbia University’s Climate School and launched “Women Leading on Climate” at COP26.

Catherine was Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government where she was asked by France to facilitate the negotiations of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement (the market text) at COP 21. She led negotiations of Canada’s first national climate plan which included a price on pollution across the country. In this role she helped establish a number of global initiatives including the Powering Past Coal Coalition, the Ministerial on Climate Action and the Nature Champions Summit.

Later, as Minister of Infrastructure and Communities she made historic investments in public transit and green and resilient infrastructure, leveraged private sector investment to get more public infrastructure built through the Canada Infrastructure Bank, and led the development of Canada’s first National Infrastructure Assessment to drive Canada to net-zero emissions by 2050.

Before politics, Catherine practiced trade law in Canada and Indonesia, worked as a legal advisor for the United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor, and co-founded Canadian Lawyers Abroad. She is a mother to three and spends her free time swimming.