HYBRID WEBINAR / WEBINAIRE HYBRIDE | 10 JUNE 2025, 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, ET
The Africa Study Group, in Partnership with the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs of Carleton University and the Continental African Diaspora Scholars Network-Canada (CADSN-Canada) presents: A Partnership for Shared Prosperity and Security: The Canada Africa Strategy.
ONLINE ZOOM REGISTRATION: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WUPV0698Qn2Yp406pBtbeQ.
IN-PERSON: Carleton University, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Richcraft Hall 5320 D
On March 26th 2025, Canada launched its first global Africa Strategy aiming “…to strengthen its economic and national security, including through diversifying its investments, improving supply chain resiliency, enhancing peace, security and human rights and contributing to efforts that maintain transport routes for critical goods, while promoting local benefits in Africa. This new foreign policy represents a strengthening of Canada’s engagement with Africa, toward greater economic cooperation, strengthened peace and security partnerships, enhanced engagement of African diaspora communities in Canada, and international assistance that supports economic development and youth employment”.
In this context, Canada will work with African partners across 5 strategic areas, that are aligned with the African Union’s “Agenda 2063” and informed by numerous consultations with African, Canadian, and international stakeholders:
- Strengthening our diplomatic engagement and people-to-people ties
- Enhancing economic cooperation
- Reducing poverty, supporting economic development, empowering youth, assisting in humanitarian crises and climate adaptation
- Bolstering partnerships for peace, security and human rights
- Advancing shared priorities through increased engagement on the global stage.
In this hybrid Webinar, informed speakers will jointly share their reflexion and perspectives on the first Canadian Africa.
Nadège Compaoré: Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Toronto. Her current research is concerned with claims of sovereignty by states and communities affected by natural resource extraction in Africa. Nadège’s work lies at the intersection of International Relations theory, African politics, global resource/environmental politics, as well as gender and race in global politics. She is co-editor of New Approaches to the Governance of Natural Resources: Insights from Africa (Palgrave), and her work has been published in journals such as International Studies Review, International Studies Perspectives, Etudes Internationales, Water International, and in numerous book chapters. She received her Ph.D. in Political Studies from Queen’s University, where her research on the global governance of oil revenues was informed by fieldwork in Gabon, Ghana, and South Africa. Nadège is a board member of Women in International Security Canada and of the Canadian Association of African Studies.
Edward Ansah Akuffo: Associate Professor of International Relations, and chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, Canada. He is also the immediate Past-President of International Studies Association, Canada Branch. Edward is an Adjunct Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of New Brunswick-Fredericton, and a member of the University of Waterloo based Defense and Security Foresight Group. Edward’s research focuses on Canada’s foreign and security policy in Africa, African Union-NATO interregional security cooperation, and maritime security in Africa. His work has appeared in several academic journals and edited books. He is the author of Canadian Foreign Policy in Africa: Regional Approaches to Peace, Security, and Development(Ashgate/Routledge, 2012).
Marcia Burdette: Former Canadian Diplomat, Vice –Chair of the Africa Study Group, Ottawa. With a PhD in the Political Science from Columbia University (New York, 1979), Marcia Burdette pursued an academic career followed by 25 years with Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has a longstanding interest in Africa, in particular central and southern Africa. Her book Zambia: Between Two Worlds and a series of articles focused on the major economic transition of the country when its new leaders embarked on the nationalization of the copper industry, the country’s main economic engine. Subsequent articles dealt with input industries for Zimbabwe’s agriculture sector in the 1980s and 1990s.
David Black: Professor of Political Science at Dalhousie University, Lester B. Pearson Professor of International Development Studies, Halifax. He has longstanding research interests concerning Canadian involvement in Sub-Saharan Africa, including development cooperation, human security and peace operations, the extractive sector, and multilateral diplomacy. Other research interests include: post-apartheid South African foreign policy, particularly in Africa; sport in global politics and development; and disability and global development. His publications include: Canada and Africa in the New Millennium: The Politics of Consistent Inconsistency (2015); Rethinking Canadian Aid (2016, co-edited with Stephen Brown and Molly den Heyer); and South African Foreign Policy: Identities, Intentions, and Directions (2016, co-edited with David Hornsby).
Adetoun Ilumoka: Program Officer, Lead on policy, British Columbia Council for International Cooperation, Vancouver. An accomplished law and policy researcher, she has done extensive work on law and social change, constitutional development and land law, making vital linkages between academic research, policy and community rooted initiatives. She is passionate about promoting land rights and sustainable livelihoods within the context of more equal national and global economic exchange. A committed feminist, Dr Ilumoka has worked through several local and international organisations and networks to advocate for anti-racist and decolonial approaches to education and policy making.
Thomas Kwasi Tieku: Associate Professor of Political Science in King’s University College at The University of Western Ontario (UWO), London and a former Director of African Studies at the University of Toronto where he won the Excellence of Teaching Award. He is also an award-winning author who has authored, edited or co-edited 5 books, and written over 35 refereed book chapters, and journal articles, including The Legon School of International Relations which won the 2021 Review of International Studies Best Article Prize. His latest co-edited book is The Politics of Peacebuilding in Africa (Routledge, 2022). His current research, which is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), focuses on informality in international organizations. He has consulted for several organizations including the World Bank Group, the United Nations, and the Canadian as well as the American governments.
