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Position: President (1 position, 1 candidate)

Candidate: Stephanie Stobbe, Manitoba

Gender: Female

Biography: Dr. Stephanie Phetsamay Stobbe is Associate Professor in Conflict Resolution Studies, a program of Canadian Mennonite University located at the University of Winnipeg, and in the Redekop School of Business at Canadian Mennonite University. She is a leading expert on Southeast Asian dispute resolution processes and has conducted conflict resolution and peacebuilding workshops around the world, including in Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand, with political leaders, NGOs, and civil societies. As part of an American Bar Association team of experts, Stephanie discussed “Gender-Responsive Peacebuilding: Implementing the Secretary-General’s Report on Women’s Participation in Peacebuilding” and provided recommendations to the United Nations Development Programme, Peacebuilding Support Office as they address UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1889. She also served as a Visiting Professor/Researcher at the Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Hawaii.

Her current research includes oral histories of Southeast Asian refugees, and European and International policies on refugees and forced migrants. Stephanie is the Lexington Publishing Editor for Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding in Asia. A noted author, she has published books with Emerald Publishing, Routledge, and Lexington Books. Stephanie served as an Expert Advisory Board member for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies at Auckland University and is currently the President of Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies. She is a researcher for the Canadian Southeast Asian Historical Research Project and the Curator of the Hearts of Freedom – Stories of Southeast Asian Refugees museum exhibition that is travelling across Canada to national and provincial museums and venues, including the Canadian Museum of History, the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, PCHC – Museum of Migration, and Manitoba Museum.

Candidate’s statement: I have served one term on the CARFMS executive committee as a Director at Large. During that time, I led the CARFMS Meets student networking and knowledge mobilization initiative, coordinated the Student Essay Contest, collaborated in developing the new Lived Experiences of Displacement Award, and served on the November 2022 CARFMS Conference Organizing Committee. My ongoing work on the executive would focus on two primary objectives: 1) to continue to support emerging refugee and forced migration scholars and practitioners and 2) to enhance CARFMS networking and outreach via the organization of events in between conferences. This would include efforts to better connect with students and potential members in smaller centres and regions that are not as plugged into wider refugee and forced migration studies networks (for example, in western Canada/Alberta where I am located). I will draw from my networks across North America and globally in the areas of refugee studies, border studies, and geography in supporting these events.

Position: Vice-President (1 position, 1 candidate)

Candidate: James C. Simeon (Ontario)

Gender: Male

Biography: Dr. James C. Simeon, LLM (Cantab), Associate Professor, Head of McLaughlin College, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada, is a past President of the Canadian Association of Refugees and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS) and Director-at-Large. He serves as the Coordinator of the International Association for Refugee and Migration Judges’ (IARMJ) Inter-Conference Working Party Process. His areas of research includes international refugee law, human rights law, humanitarian law, criminal law, and public policy and administration. He publishes in these areas of research and organizes and leads academic and professional conferences, symposia, and workshops. Prior to joining the faculty at York University, he served on the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) and as the Executive Director of the International Association of Refugee Law Judges (IARLJ), the predecessor of the IARMJ.

Candidate’s statement: I am seeking re-election as Vice-President of CARFMS after a very eventful term as the VP of CARFMS. I served as the Chair of our 2023 Conference Organizing Committee that held its first in-person conference since the pandemic at Congress at York University. I also served on the Conference Organizing Committee for our online 2022 Conference, hosted by United College at the University of Waterloo. In addition, I assist with the review and revision of CARFMS Bylaws, the production of the CARFMS Newsletter, and I helped to establish and to launch the Lived Experience of Displacement Essay Award, and I have regularly contributed to our CARFMS Blog, and I continue to promote the development and use of our CARFMS Online Research and Teaching Tool (ORTT).

If re-elected, I hope to continue all of the activities noted above as well as to organize a number of CARFMS Workshops on pressing issues that are confronting refugee and forced migration studies.

Position: Policy Partnership Officer (1 position, 1 candidate)

Candidate: Aziz Rahman (Manitoba)

Gender: Male

Biography: Aziz Rahman is a Research Fellow at CERC at the Toronto Metropolitan University. Aziz holds a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Manitoba. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship and perspectives, Aziz’s research and publications have focused on sociological and criminological issues including refugee integration, public views of policing, ethnic violence, colonialism, terrorism, and gig work. Aziz’s postdoctoral research examines the self-employment patterns of refugees resettled in Canada. His doctoral work examined the labour market outcomes of two groups of resettled refugees, Government Assisted Refugees (GARs) and Privately Sponsored Refugees (PSRs), using the 2016 Canadian census data. Aziz is the recipient of a number of scholarships including the SSHRC Joseph Bombardier Doctoral Scholarship and the SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship. Aziz has taught sociology, criminology, and migration and displacement courses at the Universities of Winnipeg and Manitoba. He has taught as a faculty member in Bangladeshi universities for over ten years. He is an alumnus of the inaugural cohort of the President Student Leadership Program (PSLP) at UM. He currently serves on the Board of Winnipeg Immigrant Partnership advisory table on Immigration and Indigenous Peoples, the Canadian Association of Refugees and Forced Migration Studies, the Institute for Justice, Decolonization, and Peace, Canada, the Institute of Cultural Affairs Bangladesh, and the Bangladesh Criminological Association.

Candidate’s statement: Given my affiliation and work with some non-profit NGOs on various social issues including refugee and forced migration along with my academic background and research experience, I wish to serve on CARFMS to apply my practitioner-academic experience and skills in partnership and policy advocacy. I wish to establish partnerships with some refugee serving and research organizations, organize events on policy-relevant issues about refugee and forced migration with some of those organizations under the auspices of CARFMS, and also do some research in partnership with refugee communities in Canada and overseas.

Position: Practitioner and Advocacy Officer (1 position, 2 candidates)

Candidate #1: Brian Dyck (Manitoba)

Gender: Male

Biography: Brian Dyck has been the Migration and Resettlement Coordinator at MCC Canada since 2015. Before that he was Refugee Assistance Program Coordinator at the MCC Manitoba office for seven and a half years. From 2012 to 2019 he was chair of the Canadian National Refugee Sponsorship Agreement Holder Association, a national organization that meets with the Canadian government to help form Canadian policy on refugee resettlement. He has received degrees from Canadian Mennonite Bible College, University of Winnipeg and Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary.

Candidate’s statement: I think it is important to bridge the worlds of academia and practitioners. It can be challenging because the goals can be different on the surface, but exchanges can lead to fruitful discussions.

Candidate #2: Lynn Weaver (British Columbia)

Gender: Female

Biography: As a scholar-practitioner, Lynn holds an MA in Global Leadership from Royal Roads University (with a research focus on refugee agency and autonomy) and works with the Canadian Refugee Sponsorship Association. A volunteer board director with Social Planning Cowichan, she focuses on poverty reduction strategies, anti-racism, and truth & reconciliation work. Previously, she served nearly a decade as executive director of an immigrant and refugee serving agency on Vancouver Island, BC. She is honoured to have been a recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Community Service, the Royal Roads University Founder’s Award, and the Eve’s Global Leader award. She underscores her unearned privilege in being able to access higher education and seeks to advance global justice and equitable access to education.

Candidate’s statement: In my capacity with the Canadian Refugee Sponsorship Association, as well as in prior roles, I have worked closely with the Canada Council for Refugees (CCR) and other refugee/migrant rights organizations. I currently serve on the Overseas Protection & Resettlement (OPR) Working Group with CCR and wish to maintain and strengthen relationships with and support for advocacy bodies in Canada. Further, interconnections between scholars and those « on the ground » are vital to both parties for the benefits of their work to be fully realized. It would be an honour and a delight to contribute in this important area.

Position: Director at Large (2 positions, 2 candidates)

Candidate #1: Julie Young (Alberta)

Gender: Female

Biography:  Dr. Julie Young is Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Critical Border Studies and Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. Much of her research to date has focused on how bordering policies play out on the ground and how migrants and advocates in Canada-US and Mexico-Guatemala border communities interact with and challenge those borders and policies. Julie is co-editor, with Dr. Susan McGrath, of the open-access book, Mobilizing Global Knowledge: Refugee Research in an Age of Displacement (University of Calgary Press, 2019).

Candidate’s statement: I have served one term on the CARFMS executive committee as a Director at Large. During that time, I led the CARFMS Meets student networking and knowledge mobilization initiative, coordinated the Student Essay Contest, collaborated in developing the new Lived Experiences of Displacement Award, and served on the November 2022 CARFMS Conference Organizing Committee. My ongoing work on the executive would focus on two primary objectives: 1) to continue to support emerging refugee and forced migration scholars and practitioners and 2) to enhance CARFMS networking and outreach via the organization of events in between conferences. This would include efforts to better connect with students and potential members in smaller centres and regions that are not as plugged into wider refugee and forced migration studies networks (for example, in western Canada/Alberta where I am located). I will draw from my networks across North America and globally in the areas of refugee studies, border studies, and geography in supporting these events.

Candidate #2: Sorpong Peou, Ontario

Gender: Male

Sorpong Peou is a Professor of Global Peace and Security Studies, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada. He is a Member of Eminent Persons Group at the Asian Political and International Studies Association and a Fellow of McLaughlin College, York University. Previous positions include Interim Director, MA Program in in Public Policy and Public Administration; President of Science for Peace, based at the University of Toronto; Chair of the Department of Politics and Public Administration, Toronto; Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Winnipeg (Manitoba); and Chair of the Advisory and Recruitment Committee for the Manitoba Chair of Global Governance Studies — a joint program between the University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba. Prior to these academic appointments, he was a Professor of International Security at Sophia University in Tokyo (Japan), a Canada–ASEAN Fellow, and a Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Singapore). He has written extensively on global peace and security issues.

Personal experience of forced migration: A refugee from Cambodia in the early 1980s.

Candidate’s statement: My personal experience and my academic work on human security, regional security, and global governance deal with global issues, including migration may be of some value to CARFMS.

Position: Student Affairs Officer (1 position, 1 candidate)

Candidate: Cassie Dong (Manitoba)

Gender: Female

Biography: Ha Bich (Cassie) Dong (she/her) is a Ph.D. student in Peace and Conflict Studies at University of Manitoba. Her research focuses on engaged peacebuilding (peacebuilders as healers), women’s peacebuilding, and decolonization in education and development in Vietnam and North America. She is currently a Research Assistant on the Hearts of Freedom Project and the Managing Editor at At The Forks, an open-access journal for writings on the intersection of Indigenous rights and human rights. Outside of her studies, Ha serves on several boards of directors and committees at different organizations across Canada, the United States, Vietnam, Kenya, and Nepal in areas of education, human rights, and sustainable development.

Candidate’s statement: I am interested in working with CARFMS because of my research interests in healing from colonial and war violence, particularly within the immigrant and refugee communities. Part of this stems from my personal background as an international student from Vietnam who had studied in the United States and has been exposed to different narratives around the Second Indochina War. Working with the Hearts of Freedom Project gave me the courage to start my own oral family history project in which I documented stories from my family members and host family who were war survivors in Vietnam, Vietnamese diasporas in the United States, and American veterans who fought in the war. I strongly believe such research provides a ground for personal healing and reconciliation, which is the foundation for collective peacebuilding. Therefore, I want to make use of my B.A. in Marketing and current Peace and Conflict Studies knowledge to work in a position that allows me to encourage young people to learn more about immigration and refugee issues in Canada and beyond, contributing to research and advocacy that leaves positive impacts.