UM TodayCanadian Forum for Business and Human Rights – UM Today

Canadian Forum for Business and Human Rights event strengthened global research network

Christine Mazur — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 15:21:52 +0000

Days before the Grey Cup, Winnipeg was the gathering place for another group of people with a shared passion. On November 13-14, 2025, the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law hosted the inaugural Canadian Forum for Business and Human Rights Conference. Scholars from across the globe met first at Robson Hall for a workshop, and then at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights for a conference to share research, knowledge, and ideas about Business and Human Rights – a critical area of law that deeply affects all aspects of the economy, society, and the environment worldwide.

Conference organizer, Dr. Akinwumi Ogunranti, Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba. Photo by Adam Dolman.

The first day was dedicated to 10 excellent early-career researchers who presented on various Business and Human Rights (BHR) intersectional themes, including investment, climate, environment, labour, politics, and transnational litigation. These scholars received feedback and career advice from established scholars whose work continues to shape the BHR field. “We appreciate their generosity and dedication to mentoring young scholars,” said workshop and conference lead organizer, Dr. Akinwumi Ogunranti, an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law.

Yasmina Salama is a PhD candidate at the Peter Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia, Canada, who presented her paper at the workshop. Photo by Adam Dolman.

The workshop ended with a film screening by Dr Malcolm Rogge, titled “The Tribunal,” which attendees found deeply affecting. Peter A. Allard School of Law (University of British Columbia) PhD candidate Yasmin Salama shared that the film was “a powerful highlight, particularly a scene showing an interviewee leaving through hundreds of pages of arbitral reasoning, her face marked by disbelief as she searched for acknowledgement of the ‘week of terror’ her community endured, which serves as a sobering reminder of the disconnect between ISDS [Investor-State Dispute Settlement] and the lives it impacts.”

At the workshop, Salama had presented her paper “Contesting the Political Risk Paradigm: Socially Driven Measures and the Limits of ISDS Exception,” and received feedback from commentators, Professors Linda Reif (Faculty of Law, University of Alberta) and Sara Seck (Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University).

“The total of twenty-eight hours of travel between Nuremberg and Winnipeg was absolutely worth it,” said Otgontuya Davaanyam, a postdoctoral researcher on Business and Human Rights, and Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights for Indigenous Peoples at Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen Nuremberg, Germany, who presented a paper at the workshop. “It was inspiring to meet many leading BHR scholars whose work I have read and cited for more than a decade. I received exceptionally generous feedback that will significantly strengthen the next stage of my work.”

Similarly, Loveth Ovedje, a PhD candidate at the Schulich School of Law, said she deeply appreciated the quality of feedback and discussion from the senior scholars attending the workshop. “The level of intellectual exchange, the incisive questions, and the generous comments from Dr. Hassan Ahmad will significantly strengthen my work going forward… It is a rare privilege to have one’s work read so carefully and taken so seriously in such a stimulating environment,” she said.

As for the conference held the next day at the CMHR, Ovedje said she “left with new insights, fresh perspectives, and a renewed sense of motivation for my own research.”

PhD candidates and post-doctoral scholars from across the globe gathered at the University of Manitoba for the opportunity to present their research to established, expert scholars in the field of Business and Human Rights. This workshop was hosted by the Canadian Forum for Business and Human Rights at Robson Hall. Photo by Adam Dolman.

Conference keynote speaker, Fernanda Hopenhaym, Business and Human Rights specialist and member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.

The conference brought together over 50 participants from Canada and beyond, including the United Kingdom and the United States. Starting with a traditional Indigenous water ceremony and Dean Richard Jochelson’s welcoming address, Fernanda Hopenhaym, a member of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, delivered a thought-provoking keynote address on the state of BHR in times of transition. This was followed by a plenary session and parallel panel sessions that addressed various issues, including Indigenous rights, judicial and non-judicial remedies, climate change, investment, and child labour.

The two-day event provided a safe space for frank conversations and networking opportunities among scholars, practitioners, policymakers, NGOs, and rights-holders.

The event achieved the following objectives:

• Created greater awareness of business and human rights (BHR) issues among emerging scholars in Canada;

• Provided mentorship for doctoral students and early career researchers to produce innovative, rigorous scholarship that contributes to the BHR literature and policy debates in Canada;

• Provided an opportunity for students to engage and network with a range of experts from across Canada and all over the world, including the United States, and the United Kingdom;

• Provided an opportunity for participants to publish short paper contributions in a special issue of the peer-reviewed open-access Manitoba Law Journal;

• Laid the foundation for consolidating current knowledge on the subject and for developing an interdisciplinary global research team to support the development of future collaborative research on these pressing issues;

• Provided an opportunity for some members of local Indigenous communities to share their experiences of corporate abuse and brainstorm on pathways forward.

The organizers express deepest thanks to the workshop and conference’s generous sponsors: the University of Manitoba, the Faculty of Law, Desautels. The Business Law Accelerator, Research Manitoba, The Manitoba Law Foundation, Law Commission of Canada, and the Legal Research Institute.

The event would not have been possible without the organizing team led by the Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba’s Assistant Professor Akinwumi Ogunranti, Penelope Simons, Sara Seck, Anil Yilmaz, and Laura Reimer.

Insights ’25 conference explores business law through a human rights lens

Christine Mazur — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 23:38:07 +0000

A University of Manitoba, Faculty of Law professor is bringing a host of top international legal scholars to Winnipeg on November 14 for the inaugural Insights ’25 Canadian Forum for Business and Human Rights conference. Dr. Akinwumi Ogunranti, an assistant professor and business advisor for the Faculty of Law’s Marcel A. Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law, has collaborated with Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law Marine and Environmental Law Institute, and the University of Essex’s Human Rights Research and Education Centre to present “Corporate Accountability in Canada: At the Crossroads of Scholarship, Legislation, Litigation, Policy-making and Community Resistance.”

The Conference will take place at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights after a day-long workshop for scholars on Thursday, November 13, at Robson Hall, the Faculty of Law building on the University of Manitoba’s Fort Garry Campus. Dr. Ogunranti hopes the workshop and subsequent conference will serve to bring together legal scholars from across the globe to share ideas and collaborate on projects that could have impact for positive change in the way business is conducted and legislation and policy are created.

“This conference marks the end of the beginning of a timely and critical conversation about the role of Canadian businesses operating in Canada and abroad,” said Dr. Ogunranti. “It heralds the birth of a think-tank forum in Canada that is dedicated to mentoring young scholars, amplifying the voices of marginalized groups, and fostering collaboration among all stakeholders working in the business and human rights field.”

“Hosting the inaugural Insights ’25 Business and Human Rights Conference reflects our Faculty’s deep commitment to advancing legal scholarship that connects business practices with human rights principles,” said Dr. Richard Jochelson, Dean of the Faculty of Law. “Through the Desautels Centre and collaborations like this, we’re fostering a space where research, advocacy, and education converge to address some of the most pressing global challenges in law and commerce.”

The origins of the idea for a Canadian Forum for Business and Human Rights was born of a conversation between Dr. Laura Reimer, Director of Program Development for the Faculty of Law, and Dr. Nathan Derejko, Mauro Chair in Human Rights and Social Justice at UM. Reimer had attended a forum of Business and Human Rights in Geneva, and Derejko had recently come to UM from his role as Director of the Human Rights Centre Clinic at the University of Essex. When Ogunranti arrived with his specialization in Business and Human Rights, the CFBHR came together and the idea for a workshop and conference became a reality.

“The Desautels Business Law Accelerator is proud to have provided the seed money that established Canada’s only Canadian Forum for Business and Human Rights. Working collaboratively with four other leading scholars in the field and their institutions, Professor Akin Ogunranti and his excellent Research Assistant, Jovinel Evangelista have led the way for a national first in the establishment of this international conference,” said Dr. Laura Reimer, Director of Program Development for the Faculty of Law. “We are excited to welcome scholars and activists from all over the world to Winnipeg, and stand proudly with Dr Ogunranti and the founding partners of the CFBHR as we meet together (appropriately) at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.”

The conference begins with a Keynote address from Fernanda Hopenham, Vice-Chairperson of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, and the Co-Executive Director at Project on Organizing, Development, Education and Research (PODER), Latin America. Plenary sessions and panels throughout the day will include topics including:

Business and Human Rights in a time of transition: The effect of cross-border relationships
Indigenous Rights, Gender, and Benefit Agreements
The Role of Non-state Actors’ Advocacy in BHR: Prospects and Challenges
Judicial Remedies: Civil and Criminal Liability | Transnational Corporate Accountability
Non-Judicial Remedy
Transparency Laws, Supply Chain, and Human Rights Due Diligence
Rights of Nature Litigation as Business and Human Rights Litigation: The Lake Winnipeg Case and Prospects for Canada
Climate Change, Sustainability, Corporate Governance, and National Security
Canadian Extractive Industry: Colonialism, BHR Norms, and Investment Law

Panelists and presenters include law professors and legal practitioners from all across Canada and the United States, as well as the United Kingdom.

Dr. Ogunranti expressed deepest thanks to the conference’s generous supporters, including the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law, the University of Manitoba, the Desautels Centre, the Manitoba Law Foundation, the Law Commission of Canada, the Legal Research Institute, and Research Manitoba.

More to business law than meets the eye

Christine Mazur — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 02:22:36 +0000

Describing her own legal career as being “all over the place,” Dr. Sara Seck, Director of the Marine and Environmental Law Institute at Dalhousie’s Schulich School of Law revealed an immense wealth of knowledge gained from her academic and professional journey when visiting Robson Hall this fall as the inaugural Desautels Centre lecturer in Business and Human Rights law. Students attending engaged in a question and answer session following her talk regarding careers in the combined fields of Business and Human Rights.

Having initially articled at a Bay Street business law firm, Seck eventually found her way to a PhD in Law at Osgoode Hall Law School, and a research program in international human rights law, the environment, and how business law and the conduct of business impacts these critical areas. Her focus today is on the rights of local and Indigenous communities, and she has researched and published extensively on home state duties and business responsibilities in the context of extractive industries (such as mining, oil and gas). Currently, she is an Associate Professor at Dalhousie’s Schulich School of Law, where she holds the Keddy Chair in Human Rights Law, in addition to the Directorship of the Marine and Environmental Law Institute in Halifax, NS.

Seck was invited by the Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law to speak at the Faculty of Law on October 22, 2024, as part of the Business and Human Rights speaker series. The series is supported by the emerging Canadian Forum for Business and Human Rights, an initiative of the Desautels Centre, to bring together scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to explore the intersection of corporate activities and human rights, addressing topics such as corporate social responsibility, supply chain ethics, and legal frameworks for ensuring human rights standards in business practices globally.

Dr. Sara Seck of the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University was the inaugural speakerfor the Desautels Centre’s Business and Human Rights Lecture Series.

As the inaugural speaker in this series, Seck shared an overview of Business and Human Rights laws in Canada, and discussed career paths in the field with an audience of law and graduate students in law and human rights programs at the University of Manitoba. For the question and answer period, she was joined by her former PhD student, Dr. Akinwumi Ogunranti, who is now an Assistant Professor at the Faculty, a member of the Desautels Centre’s research group, and a founding member of the Forum.

A full recording of Dr. Seck’s lecture can be viewed on the Faculty of Law’s YouTube channel.

Call for Abstracts

The Canadian Forum for Business and Human Rights is currently accepting abstracts for INSIGHTS ‘25, an upcoming International Business and Human Rights Conference taking place in Winnipeg, MB, Canada on November 14, 2025 at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. The deadline for submissions is January 30, 2025.

The inaugural theme of the Insights ’25 conference is Corporate Accountability in Canada: At the Crossroads of Scholarship, Legislation, Litigation, Policy-making and Community Resistance.

This conference is presented in collaboration with the Faculties of Law at the University of Essex, Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law Marine and Environmental Law Institute, and the University of Ottawa. Learn more about the conference.