Thursday, October 1, 2026
12 – 1:30 p.m. ET
📍 Online
The conversation will be moderated by Steven Staples, with an introduction by Rita Morbia of Inter Pares.
Panelists are Duha Elmardi, Kelsey Gallagher, Penelope Simons and Stuart Trew.
About the panelists
Duha Elmardi
Duha is a Sudanese organizer currently based in Tiohtiàke/Montreal. She is a member of the Sudan Solidarity Collective and supports a number of groups and organizations working towards social and climate justice.
Kelsey Gallagher
Kelsey is a Senior Researcher with Project Ploughshares, where he focuses on conventional arms control and the Canadian arms trade. He monitors the transfer of weapons and their use in conflicts abroad, as well as export control policy and transparency.
Rita Morbia (she/her)
Rita has worked with Inter Pares for over 25 years on a range of issues related to women’s rights, and feminist movement-building. Currently, she works with activists in the Philippines and Sudan on bodily autonomy and women’s political participation respectively.
Penelope Simons
Penelope is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Common Law, University of Ottawa and the Director of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre. A global leader in business and human rights, her research focuses on the human rights implications of domestic and transnational extractive sector activity, state responsibility for corporate complicity in human rights violations, the regulation of transnational corporations, gender and resource extraction, gender and business and human rights, as well as the intersections between transnational corporate activity, human rights and international economic law.
Steven Staples
Steven is an accomplished policy advocate, communicator and author with deep roots in many social movements, especially for peace and international cooperation. In 2006, he founded the Rideau Institute on International Affairs. Today, he promotes public health care through the Canadian Health Coalition, and promotes peace education through his weekly PeaceQuest columns on Substack.
Stuart Trew
Stuart is a senior researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives where he directs the centre’s Trade and Investment Research Project.
Co-hosted by the Women, Peace and Security Network – Canada (WPSN-C), Inter Pares, Sudan Solidarity Collective, Project Ploughshares, and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
