When Building Canada Strong, Don’t Forget About Soft Power
In an increasingly complex world, Canada’s aid program is not a ‘nice to have’ – it’s a ‘need to have.’
Valerie Percival
Associate Professor, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA), Carleton University
Valerie Percival is an Associate Professor and Associate Director at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) at Carleton University. Her research focuses on the impact of violent conflict on civilians, backlash against gender equality, and health in fragile and conflict affected contexts. She was a Commissioner for The Lancet Commission on Peaceful Societies through Health and Gender Equality and authored the Commission Report published in September 2023. In partnership with the Aga Khan Foundation of Canada, she is the Principal Investigator for GenLab – a Community of Practice in Mozambique that works to understand how gender norms influence access to and delivery of healthcare services. She was a senior fellow with the Wilson Center, and has worked with the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, the International Crisis Group directing their Kosovo office, the UNHCR, and PRIO. She holds a DrPH from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, an MA from Carleton University (NPSIA) and a BA from the University of Toronto.
Most Recent Posts
What Canada and the world must learn from our failures on COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the complexity of our world. A world where interconnection brings unprecedented opportunity and risk. And one where rigid institutions and hierarchical policy processes seem unable to effectively manage that risk.
What a real feminist foreign policy looks like
Canada has been working to empower women
globally for decades — why aren’t we making more progress? As Valerie Percival
writes, efforts to build gender equitable societies must work on both the
bricks (laws, formal institutions and services) and the mortar (societies’
beliefs around gender).
Reframing the global health debate
International health is not just a development issue — it is connected to trade deals, conflict and the climate. That’s just another reason why Canada should prioritize it, and here’s how.
The trouble with Canada’s approach on maternal health
Canada helps provide vital services that keep women alive. Then these women return to the same unequal world that almost killed them.
The Syrian Crisis: A three-pronged strategy for Canada
Global advocacy. A G7 meeting and a donor conference. Financial aid for those still in Syria. These are initiatives Canadians and government should push for.
The sorry state of Canada’s foreign policy debate
Master buzzwords and be rewarded — is that the Canadian way? A call for more substance and innovative thinking in policy discussions and practice
Ebola: What Went Wrong
Valerie Percival on what the latest outbreak in West Africa can teach us about our response to infectious disease outbreaks globally.