Event Date: October 26, 2026 - 12:00pm to 3:30pm
Location: FSS 4004, 120 University Private, University of Ottawa

Registration: Google Forms

Presented by CIPS, the Gender, Peace and Development Research Network (GPD-RN), the Research Network on Women, Peace and Security and the Women, Peace and Security Network – Canada

This workshop will focus on Canada’s shift from explicit feminist values to values-based realism, and how women, peace and security (WPS) fits into Canada’s new national and foreign policy priorities. The first panel will provide context and insights into what is changing globally and nationally and where we see gaps and continuities in relation to WPS. Participants will have a chance to discuss this changing global landscape and share some of their strategies and priorities for ongoing work on WPS. The final, closing panel will provide an overview of knowledge sharing and advocacy strategies underway or in development.  We will hear from diplomacy and foreign policy experts, policy advisors, civil society organization staff, and scholars. 

Please note that there is only room for 15 additional participants for this workshop. Please register using the link above.

Presenters:

Dr. Yolande Bouka is the Canada Research Chair on Afrofeminist Thought and Political Transformation, and Assistant Professor of gender and politics and international relations at Queen’s University in Canada. Prior to her academic appointment, she worked as a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in the Conflict Prevention and Risk Analysis Division, focusing on Africa’s Great Lakes Region. Her research focuses on gender, political violence, and race and international relations.

Mithila Deshpande is a Gender Equality Advisor with Save the Children Canada, bringing more than 13 years of experience across international, government, and non-profit organizations in the humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding sectors. Over the past eight years, she has specialized in gender-transformative and integrated programming across fragile, conflict-affected, and post-conflict contexts. Mithila holds a Master’s degree in Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution and is passionate about advancing gender equality and championing the Women, Peace and Security agenda through approaches that foster peace, resilience, and social transformation.

For over thirty years, Odette McCarthy has worked with people from different backgrounds and levels of influence to advance the cause of gender equality with and for others. She is Executive Director of Equitas, the International Centre for Human Rights Education, a Canadian Organization that advances equality, social justice and respect for human dignity in Canada and around the world. She has decades of experience in international cooperation and has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including Cooperation Canada and Imagine Canada. She has been an active member of the working group for a feminist foreign policy and a member of the anti-racism advisory committee of Canada’s international cooperation sector. She is a current member of Canada’s Foreign Affairs Permanent Table on Human Rights and was a member of the Canadian government’s advisory committee for the Indo-Pacific Strategy 2022.

Dr. Bénédicte Santoire is a researcher and independent consultant. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Ottawa. Her areas of expertise encompass the Women, Peace, and Security agenda, gender, peacebuilding, and humanitarian disarmament and action, with a particular focus on Eurasia. Bénédicte has undertaken various research and evaluation consultancy projects with NGOs, civil society, international organizations, and United Nations agencies.

Beth Woroniuk is currently working on the challenge of updating evidence and narratives on gender equality. WPS, and financing for feminist movements for this moment of rupture, shifting geopolitics, and uncertainty. For over 40 years she has worked with global and Canadian organizations advancing policies and programs on gender justice. She is currently a senior fellow with the Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative.

Mayssam Zaaroura is Deputy Director and Senior Advisor to the Chief of Defence Staff on Women, Peace, and Security at the Canadian Department of National Defence. Ms. Zaaroura is a WPS/gender equality and women’s rights Subject Matter Expert, with a particular focus on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence during conflict. Her previous role within the Government of Canada was Deputy Director of Research and Knowledge Mobilization, with a focus on Gender-Based Violence in Canada. Upon joining the Government of Canada in 2021, Ms. Zaaroura worked on WPS and co-wrote the Department of Defence’s implementation plan for Canada’s 3rd National Action Plan on WPS. She has over 25 years’ experience as a human rights defender, working on gender transformation, knowledge translation, and engagement with multiple stakeholders on WPS, eliminating GBV, Gender and Forced Migration, and women’s political empowerment in conflict and post-conflict settings.

Moderator:

Dr. Rebecca Tiesssen is a Professor in the School of International Development and Global Studies, Director of the Gender, Peace and Development Research Network (CIPS) at the University of Ottawa, and co-Director of the Research Network on Women, Peace and Security. Her research explores the impact of feminist foreign policies, gender mainstreaming approaches and civil society activism for gender and development.