Bill Fairbairn

Bill Fairbairn is a graduate of the University of Guelph where he specialized in international development and French literature. He became deeply involved with solidarity work – in particular around Latin America – after spending time with Argentinean and Chilean refugees fleeing the military regimes in their countries in the late 1970’s  and studying in Guatemala in the early 1980s during the Lucas Garcia dictatorship. Since then, his work has largely focused on the defense of human rights in Latin America and the promotion of Canadian solidarity.

He has worked with the Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America (ICCHRLA), KAIROS, York University’s Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC) and Horizons of Friendship.

Bill joined the staff at Inter Pares in 2011 and is part of the Latin America team with main responsibilities for Inter Pares’ work in Peru and Colombia.

Bill has taken part in many electoral observer missions and led various fact-finding missions to a number of countries in Latin America. He is the author of numerous human rights reports. Bill has also worked as a volunteer with several organizations including the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT) and Peace Brigades International-Canada (PBI), serving as the latter’s representative on PBI’s International Council.