University of Ottawa
Professional Development Institute

Event Overview

In collaboration with the International Commissions of Jurists, Canada 

Canada’s resilience to disinformation has been tested these past years with concerted campaigns from foreign adversaries and a thriving domestic disinformation ecosystem – not to mention the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. These dynamics were fully on display with the contentious February Freedom Convoy protests against vaccine mandates in Ottawa and other major Canadian cities. Our speakers discussed the challenges and dangers to Canadian democracy posed by disinformation.

Disinformation has emerged as one of the fundamental challenges facing society. The expression “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth puts on its boots” has never been more accurate – the rapid development of social media and communication technologies has resulted in an environment that not only aids the spread of disinformation but incentivizes its creation. Disinformation has been used to create and exploit social divisions and to manipulate social discourse, including, and perhaps especially, surrounding politics and elections.

Webinar Chair 

• Errol Mendes, President, International Commission of Jurists Canada, Full Professor, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law

Speakers

• Kevin Sheives, Associate Director at the International Forum for Democratic Studies, US National Endowment for Democracy
• Eve Gaumond, Director, Innovative Ideas Incubator Program, International Observatory on the Societal Impacts of AI and Digital Technology, Faculty of Law, University of Laval, Quebec
• Chris Tenove, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Political Science, University of British Columbia
• Vivek Krishnamurthy, Samuelson-Glushko Professor of Law and Director of the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC)
• Michele Austin, Head of Policy, Twitter, Canada
• Rachel Curran, Public Policy Manager, Facebook, Canada