2019-2020 Annual Report of the Canadian International Council
Click Here to Read the Annual Report and Draft Financial Statements...
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Author: CIC Editorial Staff
Ben Rowswell on The Agenda: Time for Canada to Scrap Pearsonian Diplomacy?
As the rules-based international order faces unprecedented threats, what’s Canada – a country that has thrived in traditional multilateralism – to do? Is it time to for Canada to abandon its historical “Pearsonian approach” to world diplomacy and focus more on power? To provide context, Ben Rowswell, president of the Canadian International Council joined Jennifer Welsh, director of the Centre for International Peace and Security Studies at McGill University; and Lloyd Axworthy, chair of the World Refugee & Migration Council, and former foreign minister of Canada on TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin to discuss the issue....
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The UAE-Israel-USA “Peace” Deal: Winners and Losers
Published: Fall 2020 | By: Jon Allen | Volume 68, No. 9
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Media Release: Michael Petrou Announced as Editor-in-Chief of Open Canada
The Canadian International Council (CIC) is pleased to welcome Michael Petrou as Editor-in-Chief of Open Canada.
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CIC Victoria Member Jonathan Manthorpe is set to release a timely new book on August 25th on Restoring Democracy Worldwide
Manthorpe’s new book, “Restoring Democracy in the Age of Populists and Pestilence” which is set to be released on August 25th is a thoughtful account of how we can save democracies from the despots and populists who provide easy answers to complicated situations. This is Manthorpe’s fourth book and is shortlisted for the 2020 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. Read the press release below and be sure to purchase the book when it’s released on August 25th. Learn more about Jonathan's book here Jonathan Manthorpe CIC Victoria...
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Ben Rowswell’s Op-ed in the Globe and Mail on the need for a Canadian Foreign Policy reset
Writing in The Globe and Mail, CIC President Ben Rowswell provides a new vision for Canadian Foreign Policy which takes into account the changing international climate characterised by a declining rules-based international order and the return of power politics. Read Ben's article in the Globe and Mail Ben Rowswell President...
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Ben Rowswell On Political Appointees to Diplomatic Missions
Challenging common wisdom, Ben Rowswell outlines why political appointments to high profile diplomatic posts, such as Prime Minister Trudeau’s recent appointment of Bob Rae to be the next Canadian ambassador to the UN, can actually be a good thing as they bring new perspectives and distinct skillsets to their positions. Read Ben's article on the Hill Times Ben Rowswell President...
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CIC President Ben Rowswell Calls for a Foreign Policy Update
In a recent article published on the Hill Times, CIC President Ben Rowswell called for an update to Canada’s foreign policy in preparation for a post-pandemic world. “The rules-based international order as it once was no longer exists.” Read the Full Article Ben Rowswell President...
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CIC President Ben Rowswell Provides a Perspective of Power Politics in Canadian Foreign Policy
CIC President Ben Rowswell’s article “Populist Unilateralism and the Threat to Canadian Power” was published in the most recent issue of the Canadian Foreign Policy Journal. Following the article, Ben spoke with iAffairs Canada to discuss the article and the state of Canadian foreign relations. Read the Interview Transcript Read the Full Article Ben Rowswell President...
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Our Response to the Death of George Floyd and Ongoing Protests against Anti-Black Racism
Our Response to the Death of George Floyd and Ongoing Protests against Anti-Black Racism Since George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis Police Department on May 25, we as an organization have been in deep reflection. While this movement is not about us, we believe strongly that this matter concerns us all. At the CIC, we would like to use this as an opportunity to support our members and we hope to contribute to global efforts to break an unsustainable status quo. We are using our platform in solidarity with people’s lived experiences of racism to make a tangible...
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CIC Virtual Event: The Canadian Centre for Peace, Order and Good Government: New Challenges to Democracy, New Responses
Virtual Event featuring Michael Petrou and Sujit Choudhry
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CIC Saskatoon: Dennis Horak on Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Canadian diplomacy
featuring Dennis Horak
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Results of the CIC Survey
This survey of the CIC membership was conducted between February 11th and March, and was filled out by 252 participants (approx. 20% of membership). The asked questions focused along two streams: demographic, and satisfaction. The CIC thanks National Office intern Hamza Naim for his work in organizing and running this survey. CIC Members: Education CIC Members: Income CIC Members: Gender CIC Members: Birth Place CIC Members: Determining Canada’s Role 1 CIC Members: Determining Canada’s Role 2...
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CIC Halifax: A changing Global Order: the view from Washington and Halifax
featuring Kevin Skillan and Brian Bow
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CIC Distinguished Fellow Jon Allen on Trump’s Proposed Peace-Plan
Jon Allen Distinguished Fellow Jon Allen is currently a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Canadian International Council, a Diplomat in Residence at Fulbright Canada and a Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. He is engaged in research and writing on tax havens, Spanish and Israeli-Palestinian issues and populism. Among other diplomatic postings, from 2006 to 2010, he was Ambassador of Canada to Israel. From 2012 to 2016 he was Ambassador to Spain and Andorra. From December 2012 to July 2014, he was Chargé d’affaires a.i. to the Holy See. Profile ...
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Ben Rowswell Interviewed By 900 CHML On The Extradition Hearing of Meng Wanzhou
On January 20th, CIC President and Research Director spoke with 900 CHML of Hamilton on the extradition hearing of Meng Wanzhou that was set to start that day. Ben Rowswell Speaks with 900 CHML on the extradition hearing of Meng Wanzhou https://thecic.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Rowswell-Interview-900CHML_3.mp3...
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An Invitation to Members to Engage in Discussion on Populism and Democracy
Populism – and particularly its authoritarian variant – has been making increasingly frequent appearances in liberal democracies, and solidifying gains in illiberal ones. In Canada, such a phenomenon can appear a distant threat, it hovers over foes and allies alike, but hasn’t yet taken hold north of the 49th parallel. But with a handful of similar electoral systems still wrestling with populism’s rearranging of the political landscape, we’d be wise to engage in a serious discussion on its proliferation. Consequently, the Canadian International Council has initiated a series of talks and events, all with the intention of familiarizing Canadians...
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CIC Winnipeg: Ukraine Election Observers Event
featuring Denys Volkov and Nick Krawetz
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CIC Winnipeg: Presentation by Colonel Kevin Brown
featuring Colonel Kevin Brown
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CIC Winnipeg: Event Report: Now what? Safety, security and defence challenges facing Canada today
A Davos-style debate about security and defence experts on issues facing the new Government of Canada.
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CIC Winnipeg: Event Report: Foreign Policy Panel, 16 October 2019
The Winnipeg Branch hosted a panel of local experts to discuss foreign policy issues a week before the federal election on 21 October 2019.
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CIC National Capital: Canadian foreign policy – Is Canada Back?
On June 5, the CIC National Capital Branch, in partnership with the Centre for International Policy Studies (CIPS) at the University of Ottawa, and the Retired Heads of Mission Association (RHOMA), hosted a pre-election panel on Canadian foreign policy – Is Canada Back? The CPAC video of this event is now available here.
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CIC Vancouver: How to End Homophobic Laws Across the Globe
On August 1, 2019, the CIC Vancouver, in partnership with Pride Vancouver, held a public speaking event on How to End Homophobic Laws Across the Globe. Jason Jones explained how his legal victory in Jones v. Trinidad and Tobago helped set the precedent for India in getting homosexuality decriminalized, thereby guaranteeing freedom for over 50 million Indian LGBTQ2+ citizens.
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New Executive for Winnipeg Branch
Winnipeg Branch welcomes new members to its Executive.
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CIC National Capital (Ottawa): Africa Study Group
The CIC Ottawa’s Africa Study Group has been busy putting together its bilingual vision paper for Canada-Africa relations. Make sure to take a look!
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CIC Senior Fellow Amarnath Amarasingam in The New Yorker
Earlier this week, CIC Senior Fellow Amarnath Amarasingam was featured in a New Yorker article on how religious conflict shapes Sri Lanka.
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CIC Toronto: Canada-UK Relations Moving Forward
On Monday April 8, 2019, H.E. Kevin McGurgan, British Consul General in Toronto, delivered a luncheon address on “Canada-UK Relations Moving Forward,” organized by CIC’s Toronto Branch.
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CIC Toronto: International Perspectives on How Technology Shapes Democracy
On March 22nd, the Canadian International Council – Toronto Branch and the Ryerson Leadership Lab, in partnership with the CIC National Office, hosted a panel discussion on the impacts of technology at democrcy at Ryerson University’s DMZ with the Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould.
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CIC Vancouver: Threats to Canada’s National Security: Russia, China and the Leaderless West
On 2 April 2019, CIC Vancouver hosted Mr Richard Fadden, a former National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, who provided a practitioner’s perspective on the national security threats facing Canada.
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CIC Victoria: Vancouver Island University Model United Nations Conference 2019
On 8-9 March 2019, students at Vancouver Island University (VIU), joined by students from local high schools, held a very successful Model United Nations (MUN) conference in Nanaimo, British Columbia. the conference commenced with a key note speech by Dr. Chris Kilford, President of CIC Victoria. Chris was joined by CIC Victoria Executive Committee member, Gerry Thompson. Gerry is the CIC Victoria, VIU liaison officer, and later in the day he had the honour to present a donation of $500 from CIC Victoria to the conference organizers
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CIC Halifax: Insights on Saudi Arabia and the Middle East
On 26 February 2019, CIC Halifax hosted Mr. Dennis Horak, former Canadian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, who provided a front-line perspective on the situation in the Middle East.
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RCI: Caso Huawei: “China respondió secuestrando a ciudadanos canadienses”
El presidente de CIC Ben Rowswell habla con Radio Canada Internacional sobre Canadá, China y Huawei
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CIC Vancouver: Insights on Saudi Arabia and the Middle East
On 21 February 2019, CIC Vancouver hosted Mr. Dennis Horak, former Canadian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, who provided a front-line perspective on the situation in the Middle East.
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CIC President Ben Rowswell speaks to Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade
On February 21st 2o19, Ben Rowswell, President and Research Director of the Canadian International Council, provided testimony to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He explained how the embassy determined that a very large majority of Venezuelan citizens support the National Assembly in their dispute with the Maduro regime.
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The Hill Times: Trudeau ‘masterful’ at soft power, falling short on hard power, says ex-diplomat Rowswell
“Soft power, in international relations, means being able to convince other countries to line up behind international commitments or objectives in your interest”, said Ben Rowswell, the president of the Canadian International Council.
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Trump, Trudeau and the Rules-Based Order
Robertson spoke about the problematic nature of liberal countries like Canada believing their ideologies of democracy are right, that the way we do things is the only right way in terms of governance.
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CNN: Why China, Russia and Turkey are standing with Maduro—in the US’s backyard
“If Maduro is forced out, it will help those countries that believe that final political authority should rest with citizens, like most of Latin America, Canada and the US,” Ben Rowswell tells CNN.
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The Current: Citizens must become leaders in order to combat populism, says former diplomat
Ben Rowswell talked with The Current’s Anna Maria Tremonti about his time as a diplomat and witnessing the rise of populism in recent years.
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The Rohingya Crisis: Options for Canadian Foreign Policy
On November 19, the Canadian International Council — Winnipeg Branch hosted an event on the humanitarian crisis faced by the Rohingya people in Myanmar and Bangladesh and how Canada can respond.
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Book Launch: discussion about power-balancing with T.V. Paul
CIC Montreal hosted McGill political science professor T.V. Paul, whose new book, “Restraining Great Powers: Soft Balancing from Empires to the Global Era”, has just been released.
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CIC Toronto: Resolution of Longstanding Disputes and Humanitarian Law – A Perspective from South Asia
On July 5, 2018, CIC Toronto welcomed the president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Sardar Masood Khan, who provided his point of view on the Kashmir dispute and resulting human rights issues.
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CIC Victoria Annual General Meeting and building for the future
On 19 September, CIC Victoria held its Annual General Meeting and also heard from the Directors of the Centre for Asia Pacific Initiatives (CAPI) and the Centre for Global Studies (CFGS) at the University of Victoria (UVic).
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The Other Three Amigos: International Negotiations – Cuba, Mexico And The U.S.
Galo Carrera, Honorary Consul of Mexico in Nova Scotia spoke to CIC Halifax members and guests about international negotiations among Cuba, Mexico and the United States.
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July and August Roundup
CIC fellows were featured in a variety of publications and outlets.
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CIC to Brief Department of National Defence on Mali
CIC research will identify the structure and mechanisms in place to assist victims of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Mali.
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ICI RDI: Hyperinflation au Venezuela
Entrevue avec l’ancien ambassadeur du Canada au Venezuela, Ben Rowswell.
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CTV News: Israel Passes Jewish Nation-State Bill
Distinguished Fellow Jon Allen shares his thoughts on the so-called “nation-state” bill that Israel just passed.
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Senior Fellow Samantha Bradshaw Examines the Hacking of Public Opinion
Why deep threats to democracy are ahead of us, not behind us.
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CIC Member Receives Luciano Tomassini Award
Dr Sean Burges’s book, Brazil in the World: The International Relations of a South American Giant, awarded best book in international relations.
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Is Canada Truly Back?
Jocelyn Coulon, a former adviser to Stéphane Dion, launched his new book “Un selfie avec Justin Trudeau” at the CIC Montreal Branch on May 3, 2018.
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