Conflicts and crises in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) contain layers of complexity – intraregional, international and historical. Over the course of five years, Canada has purposed investing up to $3.5 billion to contribute to international effort to enhance regional security and stabilization, as well as provide vital humanitarian assistance to those in need. Yet, limited economic and political interests as well as the current US reality in MENA regions question the significance of these efforts. Can Canada can make a difference? Can we make room for positive engagement within the region? Or is Canada simply bystanders to a region we were once deeply and boldly engaged in?

Speaker’s biography
Michael James Molloy has 35 years of experience in international and refugee affairs. In 1972 he helped resettle 6,000 Ugandan Asians. He led implementation of the refugee provisions of the 1976 Immigration Act including the refugee sponsorship program. He coordinated the 1979-80 program for 60,000 Indochinese refugee. Subsequently he served as Counsellor for Humanitarian Affairs at the Canadian Mission in Geneva and managed immigration operations in Jordan, Syria and East Africa. He was an advisor to the Canadian chaired Middle East Peace Process Refugee Working Group. Following Director General assignments in Ottawa and Toronto he was appointed Ambassador to Jordan (1996-2000) and was Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (2000 to 2003). Post retirement publications include three books on Jerusalem (“Track Two Diplomacy and Jerusalem”, “Governance and Security in Jerusalem” and “Contested Sites in Jerusalem”) and “Running on Empty: Canada and the Indochinese Refugees 1975-80”. He is president of the Canadian Immigration Historical Society and Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University.