Human Rights Talks

AI and COVID-19 Digital Disinformation Initiative, Marcus Kolga, Macdonald-Laurier Institute

The "AI and COVID-19 Digital Disinformation Initiative" is carried out in partnership with the OSCE's Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media's #SAIFE project.

Marcus Kolga is an international award winning documentary filmmaker, journalist, digital communications strategist, and a leading Canadian expert on Russian and Central and Eastern European issues. Marcus has a focus on communications and media strategies as tools of foreign policy and defence, and continues to write commentary for national and international media including the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. He is the co-founder and publisher of UpNorth.eu, an online magazine that features analysis and political and cultural news from the Nordic and Baltic region. He frequently comments on Russian, Eastern and Central European issues on North American radio and television and at foreign policy conferences. Marcus is involved with international human rights organizations and national political organizations. In 2008 he spearheaded an effort to make August 23rd, the anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a Canadian national day of remembrance for the European victims of Nazism and communism - Black Ribbon Day - by drafting a parliamentary resolution that was introduced and passed by Hon. Bob Rae. In 2015, Marcus was awarded the Estonian Order of the White Star by President Toomas Hendrik Ilves.

AI and COVID-19 Digital Disinformation Initiative: John Villasenor, Brookings

The "AI and COVID-19 Digital Disinformation Initiative" is carried out in partnership with the OSCE's Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media's #SAIFE project.

John Villasenor is a nonresident senior fellow in Governance Studies and the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings. He is also a professor of electrical engineering, law, public policy, and management at UCLA, as well as co-director of the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law, and Policy. Villasenor’s work considers the technology, policy, and legal issues arising from key technology trends including the growth of artificial intelligence, the increasing complexity and interdependence of today’s networks and systems, and continued advances in computing and communications.

He has written for the Atlantic, Billboard, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Fast Company, Forbes, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Scientific American, Slate, and the Washington Post, and for many academic journals. Prior to joining the faculty at UCLA, Villasenor was with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he developed methods of imaging the earth from space. He holds a B.S. from the University of Virginia and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

AI and COVID-19 Digital Disinformation Initiative: Fabio Chiusi, AlgorithmWatch

The "AI and COVID-19 Digital Disinformation Initiative" is carried out in partnership with the OSCE's Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media's #SAIFE project.

Fabio is Project Manager at AlgorithmWatch for the 2020 edition of the Automating Society report. After a decade in tech reporting, he worked as a consultant and assistant researcher in data and politics (Tactical Tech), and AI in journalism (Polis LSE). He coordinated the ‘Persuasori Social’ report on regulating political campaigns on social media for the PuntoZero Project, and worked as a tech-policy staffer within the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament during the current legislation. A Fellow at the Nexa Center for Internet & Society in Turin, he is Adjunct Professor at the University of San Marino, teaching ‘Journalism and New Media’ and ‘Publishing and digital media’. He is the author of several essays on technology and society, the latest being ‘Io non sono qui. Visioni e inquietudini da un futuro presente’ (DeA Planeta, 2018), that is currently being translated into Polish and Chinese. He writes as a tech-policy reporter at the collective blog ValigiaBlu.

AI and COVID-19 Digital Disinformation Initiative: Ather Gattami, RISE

"AI and COVID-19 Digital Disinformation Initiative" is carried out in partnership with the OSCE's Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media's #SAIFE project.

Gater Gattami is Senior Researcher at RISE. He worked at MIT as a research associate in 2008 and joined KTH during 2009-2012 as an assistant professor. Dr. Gattami served as a Senior Researcher at Ericsson Research from 2012-2015 where he was leading the Emerging Technologies team for the 5th generation (5G) communication system. He holds over 20 international patents. He is currently a senior AI expert at RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden) AI. His research interests are within the mathematical foundations of Machine Learning in general and Deep Learning in particular, Reinforcement Learning, and learning in dynamical systems and games, with applications to tele-communication, energy network modelling and optimization, recommender systems, anomaly detection, predictive maintenance, and Natural Language.

Covid-19 and Future of Internet Governance

Join this digital townhall to learn about COVID-19 disinformation and the future of internet governance and content moderation.

• Tina Purnat, World Health Organization
• Fenwick McKelvey, Concordia University
• Elizabeth Dubois, University of Ottawa
• Rory Smith, First Draft News
• Philippe-Andre Rodriguez, Global Affairs Canada

The Canadian Coalition to Counter COVID Digital Disinformation is a project organized by the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies with funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage's Digital Citizens Initiative. The team is working to enhance Canadian citizens' digital literacy and resiliency as they come in contact with misinformation and disinformation relating to COVID-19.

As part of this work, a series of digital townhalls will be held on issues like foreign interference, conspiracy theories and fake news. Stay tuned for more events hosted on these topics.

Human Rights Talks: Vérification des faits et rôle des médias

Lors de la troisième session de notre série d'évènement sur la COVID-19 et la désinformation, nous parlons des acteurs principaux, des thèmes clés, et du rôle des médias dans la vérification des faits.

En partenariat avec Agence Science Presse

Ce joindront à nous:

- Eve Dubé. Anthropologue. Chercheure à l'Institut national de santé publique du Québec

- Nicholas de Rosa. Journaliste, Les Décrypteurs, Radio-Canada

- Eve Beaudin. Journaliste et reporter. Détectrice de rumeurs à sciencepresse.qc.ca

- Patrick White. Journaliste et professeur de journalisme à l'Université du Québec à Montréal.

La Coalition canadienne pour contrer la désinformation en ligne sur la COVID-19 est un projet mis sur pied par l'Institut Montréalais d'études sur le génocide et les droits de la personne grâce au financement de Patrimoine Canada. Notre mission est de développer la littératie numérique et la résilience au sein de la population canadienne alors qu'ils font face à de la désinformation et de la mésinformation liées à la COVID-19.

Dans le cadre de ce projet, nous organisons une série d’assemblée numérique sur des thèmes tels que l’influence étrangère, les théories du complot et les fausses nouvelles. Demeurez à l’écoute pour en apprendre davantage sur nos prochains évènements sur ce sujet.

Human RIghts Talks: Canada launch of the Global Terrorism Index

In collaboration with the Institute for Economics and Peace,MIGS hosted the Canadian launch of the IEP's 2020 Global Terrorism Index.

 

This event was streamed live on our YouTube channel as well as our Facebook page.

The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) recently published the 2020 Global Peace Index (GTI). The GTI is an annual report produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace. Now on its eighth edition, the GTI provides a comprehensive summary of the key global trends and patterns in terrorism. Our speakers provided an overview of the report's findings and look at the socio-economic conditions under which terrorism occurs, some of the recent geopolitical drivers and how terrorism changes over time.

Featured Speakers:

- Michelle Shephard, journalist and filmmaker

- Michael Collins, Institute for Economics and Peace

- Mia Bloom, Fellow, International Security Program, New America

- Mubin Shaikh, Professor of Public Safety, former security intelligence and counter terrorism operative

Human Rights Talks: Conspiracy Theories & COVID-19 Disinformation

In this second installment of our series on COVID-19 and disinformation we discussed key actors, themes, and impacts of conspiracy theories and disinformation in the Canadian context.

We will be joined by: Dr. Joan Donovan (Shorenstein Center at Harvard University), Melanie Smith (Graphika), and Dr. Heidi Tworek (UBC & CIGI). Aphrodite Salas (Concordia University) moderated this discussion.

The discussion was streamed live on YouTube

The Canadian Coalition to Counter COVID Digital Disinformation is a project organized by the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies with funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage's Digital Citizens Initiative. We are working to enhance Canadian citizens' digital literacy and resiliency as they come in contact with misinformation and disinformation relating to COVID-19.

As part of this work, we are holding a series of digital townhalls on issues like foreign interference, conspiracy theories, and fake news. Stay tuned for more events hosted on these topics.

Ethiopia on the Brink of Mass Atrocities

One year after Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a humanitarian crisis is developing in the Horn of Africa as thousands of people are fleeing the two-week conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region. Since the start of the conflict between the Ethiopian Defence Forces and the Tigray Regional Paramilitary Police and militia loyal to the Tigray People Liberation Front, 25,300 refugees have fled the country into Sudan. According to Amnesty International, "scores, and likely hundreds, of people were stabbed or hacked to death" the South West Zone of Tigray. Many others have been killed in airstrikes.

This panel discussion shed light on the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the region, the different narratives of the groups involved in the conflict, unpack the structural and political causes, and look at the regional implications of the conflict.

Speakers:

- William Davison, Senior Analyst for Ethiopia, Crisis Group

- Sarah Hunter, Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect

- Dr Semahagn Abebe, Assistant Professor, Endicott College

- Susan Stigant, Director of Africa Programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace

The discussion is moderated by Marie lamensch, Project coordinator at MIGS

Human Rights Talks: Digital Townhall -Foreign Interference & COVID19 Disinformation

In this first installment of our series on COVID-19 and disinformation we discussed key actors, themes, and impacts of foreign interference and disinformation in the Canadian context.

- Marcus Kolga (Founder of DisinfoWatch and Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute)

- Camille François (Chief Innovation Officer at Graphika)

- Alice Stollmeyer (Executive Director of Defend Democracy). 

- Michael Petrou (Editor-in-Chief of Open Canada) will moderate the discussion.

This event was livestreamed on the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies' Facebook and YouTube pages.

The Canadian Coalition to Counter COVID Digital Disinformation is a project organized by the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies with funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage's Digital Citizens Initiative. We are working to enhance Canadian citizens' digital literacy and resiliency as they come in contact with misinformation and disinformation relating to COVID-19.