Remembering David Petrasek
- CIPS
- May 15, 2020

The world is turning its back on sexual and gender minorities. This Pride Month, Canada should double down on its support.
Across Africa, from Uganda to Senegal and Mali, many countries are imposing tough prison sentences for consensual same-sex …
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By Myka Burke, Torsten Geißler & Jan Claudius Völkel
Canada and Germany celebrate the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations this year. A 2-day symposium at the University of Ottawa’s Centre for International Policy Studies (CIPS) highlighted certain milestones in …
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On June 2nd, Dominic Leblanc, the federal Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs, Internal Trade and One Canadian Economy, was in Washington with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) chief negotiator, Janice Charette, to meet with U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Jamieson …
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Western governments have spent the past several years building increasingly elaborate frameworks to combat foreign interference, illicit finance, and democratic destabilization. In Canada, public debate has focused overwhelmingly on a familiar set of adversaries: China, Russia and, more recently, India.…
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Canada has been chosen to house the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB). Originally dubbed “the NATO bank,” the new institution will help NATO and non-NATO countries more easily direct funding toward defence and security needs.
This translates to hundreds …
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In May 2026, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney travelled to Yerevan to attend the 8th European Political Community Summit. This visit constituted the first visit by a sitting Canadian prime minister to Armenia in nearly a decade. The Canadian …
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In 2017, Canada introduced its Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP). It promised that by 2022, at least 95% of Canada’s international assistance spending would go toward women’s empowerment, and half of these funds would be allocated to Sub-Saharan Africa. Nine …
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The latest numbers on foreign aid are out, and 2025 proved to be a record-breaking year – but not for the right reasons. It was a historic retreat, with a devastating impact. And there is no sign that aid will …
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By: Rebecca Tiessen, University of Ottawa, Yvette Macabuag, Cuso International, and Anik Cooke, Cuso International
Bethlehem is a young woman completing grade 11 in secondary school in Ethiopia. As a participant in the U-GIRLS 2 project facilitated by Cuso International, …
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Since the start of the ongoing United States–Israeli military campaign against Iran, the human toll of the conflict has mounted relentlessly.
Civilian casualties have been reported across the country, and the bombing campaign has caused widespread destruction to infrastructure. …
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From the beginning of the Iran conflict, Donald Trump has presented an array of reasons and objectives for attacking Iran. Many of them are contradictory.

The new episode in the war against Iran is unlike the previous ones, which were either conducted directly or mainly through proxies. We are witnessing a large-scale aggression that is a turning point not only in the history of the …
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