On September 26, 2024 renowned academic, government and industry experts will gather at the University of Ottawa to explore possibilities for a more sustainable and equitable future through trade.
The expert panel will include Jean Charest, former Premier of Quebec and former federal Minister of the Environment; Chantal-Line Carpentier, Head of the Trade, Environment, Climate Change, and Sustainable Development Branch of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s Division on International Trade and Commodities; Jean Simard, President and CEO of the Aluminum Association of Canada; and Professor Geneviève Dufour, an expert in the intersections between trade law, environmental law and human rights based at the Civil Law Section of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law. The panel will be moderated by Jeffrey Simpson, former National Affairs columnist for The Globe and Mail and current Chair of the Canadian section of the Trilateral Commission.
The experts will discuss how trade law is evolving towards a new function – transitioning from a means of facilitating economic growth to a mechanism for promoting environmental protection, human rights and inclusion. Specifically, they will examine this topic from a Canadian perspective, exploring possibilities for a new Canadian industrial strategy. Law can serve as both a transformative tool in realizing this potential and an obstacle slowing down progress. Change is underway, but what form a new trade landscape ultimately takes – and whether the transition will be easy or painful – is still up for debate.
WHAT:
Expert Panel: “Quel rôle pour un commerce durable, responsable et inclusif dans une nouvelle stratégie industrielle canadienne ?” (“What role can sustainable, responsible and inclusive trade play in a new Canadian industrial strategy?”)
Please note that this event will take place in French.
WHEN:
Thursday, September 26, 2024
4:15 – 7:00 p.m.
WHERE:
Huguette Labelle Hall (TBT 112)
Tabaret Hall
550 Cumberland
University of Ottawa
REGISTRATION:
This event will be open to the general public and will be followed by a cocktail.Click here to register.
This event will take place within the larger context of the launch of the University of Ottawa Research Chair in Sustainable, Responsible and Inclusive Trade Law, held by Professor Dufour. Through this Chair, Professor Dufour undertakes research into how governments can take action at national, regional and international levels to pursue trade that is more respectful of the environment and the rights of people involved along the supply chain. She will lead a full academic symposium on September 26 and 27 analyzing possibilities for sustainable and inclusive trade law from multilateral, plurilateral and national perspectives. The aim of the project is to bring together the necessary expertise to offer a global, forward-looking, practical analysis of the use of trade as a tool for sustainable development.
To realize this project, Professor Dufour has partnered with the International Trade and Foreign Investment Law program (overseen by Professor Céline Lévesque), the Hyman Soloway Chair in Business and Trade Law (held by Professor Wolfgang Alschner) and the CN-Paul M. Tellier Chair on Business and Public Policy (held by Professor Patrick Leblond), in collaboration with the Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability. This event is also part of the first biennial of the Société québécoise de droit international. The conference is also made possible by support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
More information is available on the conference website (only available in French).
