Janice Stein	(Chair of the Board)
A. Wayne MacKay	(Vice Chair of the Board)
Jean-Louis Roy	(President)
Saad Eddin Ibrahim	(International Member)
Sofia Macher	(International Member)
Vitit Muntarbhorn	(International Member)
Baha R. Abu-Laban
Peter S. Li
Nancy Riche
Michael Small

---

Janice Stein

Janice Stein has substantial knowledge and expertise in political conflicts in unstable areas of the world, and in Middle East issues. She is currently Director of the Munk Centre for International Studies and Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management and Negotiation in the political science department of the University of Toronto. She has authored many books and articles on the management and resolution of crises and conflicts, on the cold war, and on questions of international safety and the Middle East. She is a member of a number of editorial and advisory boards on international issues, including Foreign Affairs Canada’s Working Group on the Middle East. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science.

A. Wayne MacKay

Professor of Law at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Alexander Wayne MacKay is former Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission. A lawyer by training, he recently returned to Dalhousie University after serving as President and Vice-Chancellor of Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick. Mr. MacKay is a pioneer in educational law, having written five books on the subject, including Teachers and the Law (2nd ed., Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2006). In December, 2005, he delivered the report Connecting Care and Challenge: Tapping Our Human Potential: A Review of Inclusive Education in New Brunswick. He is also a noted commentator on constitutional and human rights law. In 1995, he was sent to Malawi by the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute to train magistrates and tribal chiefs to be judges under the African country's new constitution. Mr. MacKay is the founding director of the Law Programme for Indigenous Blacks and Mi'kmaq at Dalhousie University. After graduating from Dalhousie law school in 1978, Mr. MacKay was a law clerk to the late Bora Laskin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Mr. MacKay was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada in June, 2005.

Jean-Louis Roy

Jean-Louis Roy holds a Ph.D. in history from McGill University and a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the Université de Montréal. Jean-Louis Roy’s postings include Director at the Centre d'études canadiennes françaises at McGill University (1971 to 1981), Director of the daily newspaper Le Devoir for six years (1981 to 1986) and Quebec’s General Delegate in Paris for four years (1986 to 1990). Elected Secretary-General of l’Agence intergouvernementale de la francophonie (La Francophonie) in 1990 and re-elected to the post three years later, Jean-Louis Roy worked to improve cooperation among its 50 French-speaking member states. During this mandate, he also prepared and ensured the follow-up of several international Summits, which were attended by the Heads of State and chief representatives of La Francophonie’s member governments.  Jean-Louis Roy is currently President of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights & Democracy), a position he assumed in August 2002, thus renewing commitments he first undertook during his presidency of la Ligue des droits de l’homme du Québec, his role as Commissioner for la Commission des droits et libertés de la personne du Québec, and the implementation of a legal and judicial cooperation programme within La Francophonie. Jean-Louis Roy is also Chancellor of Université Sainte-Anne in Churchpoint, Nova Scotia, a position he assumed in 2001.

Saad Eddin Ibrahim

Saad Eddin Ibrahim is a professor of Political Sociology at the American University in Cairo; Secretary General of the Egyptian Independent Commission for Electoral Review (ICER); President of Cairo’s Union of Social Professions; Trustee of the Arab Thought Forum (Amman, Jordan); Member of the club of Rome (Paris); Chairman of the Board of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies; served on the World Bank’s Advisory Council for Environmentally Sustainable Development (Washington D.C); the Board of Minority Rights Group (London); Middle East International Forum (Terra Media); and Transparency International’s Council on Governance. He received his PhD from the University of Washington (1968). Authored, co-authored, and edited over 35 books in Arabic and English. Some of his hundred scholarly articles have been translated to as many as 13 foreign languages. A frequent commentator in the major world media networks for years, Dr. Ibrahim attracted more media attention when he was arrested in June 2000, tried by an Egyptian Security Court and sentenced to seven years imprisonment. Amnesty International described his trial as politically motivated to punish him for his human rights activism and advocacy of democratic reform in Egypt and the Arab World. On March 18, 2003, Egypt’s High Court of Cassation declared his earlier trials improper, and acquitted him and all 27 of his associates of all charges. In that landmark ruling, the Court rebuked the Executive Branch of the Egyptian State for having fabricated the case against he defendants and the Ibn Khaldun Center. Dr. Ibrahim has received many decorations, scholarly and human rights awards, including the Kewit Prize in Social and Economic Sciences (1985), the Jordanian Order of Independence (1990), the German Fredrich Schilleer University Zeirner Prize for International Understanding (2001), the Middle East Studies Association Award for Academic Freedom (2001), the Freedom House Award for Defending Democracy and Human Rights (2002), the Lawyers Committee for Defense of Human Rights (2002), the American Sociological Association Award for Life Contribution to the Social Sciences and Freedom (2003). He as also awarded honorary decorates from the New School University (2003) and the University of Washington (2003).

 

Sofia Macher

Sofia Macher is the Executive Secretary of Peru's National Coordinating Committee for Human Rights. She is a sociologist who has worked with human rights and socio-economic non-governmental organizations over the past 15 years to modernize management systems and to promote socio-economic human rights and democracy. She has been closely involved with Amnesty International since 1987, and was that organization's Vice-President of the International Board of Directors. Ms. Macher is currently a member of the Consultative Committee of the International Human Rights Internship Program, based in Washington, D.C.

 

Vitit Muntarbhorn

A professor in the Faculty of Law at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, and a barrister of the Middle Temple in London, Vitit Muntarbhord has taught at a number of human rights institutions around the globe, including in the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria. He has worked for several United Nations agencies, conducting studies, and acting as special rapporteur, advisor and committee chair, mostly in the area of children's and women's rights. Mr. Muntarbhorn wrote Thailand's first report for the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. He has produced human rights and children's rights educational materials, and is the former Executive Director of Child Rights ASIANET, which collaborates closely with UNICEF. In 1992 he was spokesperson for Thailand's Campaign for Popular Democracy. He has published extensively on the sexual exploitation of children, and on democracy and human rights.

Baha R. Abu-Laban

Baha R. Abu-Laban has taught at the University of Washington, Stanford University, the American University of Beirut, and the University of Alberta, where he is Professor Emeritus of Sociology. He has made important contributions at the University of Alberta in his roles as Chair of the Department of Sociology, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and Associate Vice-President (Research). His publications include 16 books and research monographs, as well as some 90 articles appearing in major Canadian and international journals. Dr. Abu-Laban is the co-founder and past editor of the Journal of International Migration and Integration (JIMI), and is also Co-Director of the Prairie Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Integration in Edmonton.

Peter S. Li

Peter S. Li has been a professor for 30 years. He is currently a faculty member of the Department of Sociology at the University of Saskatchewan, as well as editor of the JIMI and Chair of the Prairie Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Integration‘s economic domain. He has served as a consultant and advisor to several Government of Canada departments, working on immigration, multiculturalism, race relations and social statistics. Dr. Li has published 11 books and over 60 academic papers on a variety of subjects, including immigration and race relations in Canada. He has lectured in many countries, including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, India, Australia, as well as in Europe.

Nancy Riche

Nancy Riche has served as Secretary-Treasurer and Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress. As one of Canada’s leading female labour leaders, Ms. Riche also served as Vice-President of the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and Chair of its Women’s Committee. A community college instructor in Newfoundland and Labrador, she served as Secretary-Treasurer of the National Union of Public and General Employees and as Director of Education, Research and Communication with the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees. She has been recognized for her outstanding contribution to the lives of working women in Canada and around the world. She received both the National Action Committee on the Status of Women Woman of Courage Award and the Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case. She also received the AFL-CIO George Meary-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award and was awarded the Order of Canada in 2003. Since 2002, she is mainly involved in various volunteer activities.

Michael Small

Michael Small is currently Director-General of the Human Security and Human Rights Bureau at Foreign Affairs Canada. In this capacity, he is responsible for the formulation of Canadian foreign policy regarding the protection and advancement of human rights and human security. Mr. Small joined the Canadian Foreign Service in 1981. He has had postings in Malaysia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico and most recently, Cuba, where he served as Canadian ambassador from 2000-2003. In Ottawa, he has served as the Coordinator for the Canadian delegation to the Rio Earth Summit and as Director of the Peacebuilding and Human Security Division, during the formative stages of Canada’s peacebuilding initiative and the development of Canada’s human security agenda.