Law School Hosts Major Conference on U.S.' Canadian Relations
Duke Law School’s Center on Law, Ethics and National Security (LENS) will host a major conference on April 15 and 16 that will explore United States and Canadian relations across the broad spectrum of national security issues.
The conference, titled " US-Canadian Security Relations: Partnership or Predicament?," will be at the Hilton Durham Hotel , and is open to the public and media. Topics which will be addressed include joint counter-terrorism efforts, military cooperation and the interoperability of weapons systems, border issues, ballistic missile defense and each country's perspective on the International Criminal Court.
"We are bringing together a prestigious group of national and international scholars, policymakers and commentators to take an interdisciplinary approach to analyzing US-Canadian relations with regard to our common vulnerability to terrorism and the need for international cooperation to counter terrorist threats”, said Professor Scott Silliman, LENS’ executive director. “We are assured that this will be a tremendously productive two days.”
The conference speakers include Major General Raymond F. Rees, Chief of staff of HQ NORAD and the United States Northern Command; Gordon Giffin, former U.S. Ambassador to Canada and now a partner with McKenna, Long & Aldridge; Lloyd Axworthy, former foreign minister of Canada and now director and CEO, Liu Institute for Global Issues University of British Columbia; Gary Walsh, Chief, International/Operations Law Branch Headquarters, NORAD and U.S. Northern Command; Colonel Kenneth W. Watkin, Deputy Judge Advocate General/Operations Canadian Forces; David Halton, senior correspondent with CBC Television's “The National”, and the Honorable Paul Okalik, Premier, Minister of Justice and Minister of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs in Nunavut, Canada.
In addition to LENS, the conference is co-sponsored by Duke University’s Centre for Canadian Studies, the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, the Centre for United States Studies at University of Quebec at Montreal, the Liu Institute for Global Issues at University of British Columbia, Duke Law School’s International Law Society, and the Triangle Institute for Security Studies.
There is no registration fee to attend the conference, with the only cost being for meals, each of which will have a keynote speaker. For more details and a conference schedule, visit the LENS website and select "conferences," or call the center’s staff assistant, Eileen Wojciechowski, at (919) 613-7137.