This year, at the 16th annual PCJ Student Conference, speakers and attendees investigated the legacy of colonialism and imperialism as they affect the world today. As the international community continues to struggle with COVID-19, conference-goers were invited to consider the asymmetries of power that affect and are affected by the crisis.

The PCJ Student Conference is an annual PCJ student organized event which offers students an opportunity to learn about significant issues related to peace ,conflict and justice from scholars, community leaders, practitioners, and peers. This year’s theme, The Many Masks of Imperialism: COVID-19 & Consolidation of Power, consisted of four forums. The persistent impact of imperialism was discussed through forums focusing on financial interventions, the exercise of soft power, the military-industrial complex, and the international legal system.

The conference kicked off with a thoughtful keynote speech, delivered by Dr. Amitav Acharya, the UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance. His remarks created a stirring start to the conference, as Dr. Acharya detailed the extent to which imperialism hides in international structures—concluding, however, with an optimistic view to the future.

Dr. Acharya is a renowned scholar in the fields of multilateralism and global governance, human security, and international relations theory. In his speech, he unpacked the meaning behind “the many masks of imperialism,” emphasizing the need to look past the systemic lack of discussion on the subject: “One particular thing that concerns me is that the UN Charter and the universal Declaration of Human Rights does not make any link between imperialism and human rights. That imperialism and colonialism is the biggest violation of human rights is not mentioned.”

Dr. Acharya concluded his speech with several calls to action: that we must “unmask the liberal international order, we must recognize the legacies of slavery, empire, racism, and capitalism,” as well as acknowledge that “racism is by no means intrinsic to the human psyche. It is something that was learned, therefore, the positive message is that it can be unlearned.” Through efforts such as changing the curriculum in schools and work within international organizations, Dr. Acharya believes that the effects of imperialism and colonialism can be addressed directly.

Following Dr. Acharya’s opening, the conference started with the forum on financial interventions. Speakers in this panel included Dr. Sanjay Ruparelia, Sachini Perara, Wafaa Abdurahman, Dr. Carmen Logie, and PCJ student David Okojie. These panelists addressed socioeconomic issues that are caused or exacerbated by imperialism. Coming from a variety of backgrounds, the panelists respectively spoke on the inequity of public spending in the face of COVID-19, vaccine justice, COVID-19 in South Africa, quantitative data about COVID-19 in refugee populations, and Chinese investment in Africa.

The next forum addessed the topic of soft power. This panel included Laila Omar, Geetha Philipupilai, and PCJ students Neha Dhaliwal and Madhurie Dhanrajh. These panelists spoke on immigration and migration policies in relation to imperialism. Respectively, they addressed the relationship between forced migration and migrants’ experiences with time, the seasonal agricultural worker program, the role of migrants in decolonization, and finally a rousing personal account of the postcolonial psyche shared by colonized peoples. These case studies focused on aspects of the migrant experience that alienate newcomers to a country legally and emotionally. Through this panel, the speakers explored the complex dynamics of colonized peoples who in some cases must resettle in a different country.

In the third forum, we heard from an expert panel on the subject of the military industrial complex. The speakers on this panel included Dr. Walter Dorn, Ray Acheson, Dr. Terri E. Givens, and PCJ students Maryam   Rehman and Nivaal Rehman. The topics discussed included the imperative for Canada to increase peacekeeping efforts, military abolition movements, settler colonialism in Kashmir, and the intersection of racism with the military-industrial complex. These speakers provided sharp insights into the forces that uphold militarism and colonialism and the tools with which these forces can be dismantled.

To close out the conference, the final set of panelists presented on international legal systems. This panel included Roojin Habibi, Bryce Edwards, David Walders, Dr. Uchechukwu Ngwaba, and PCJ students Lina Lashin, Roya Aboosaidi and Hailey Marleau. These speakers addressed global health law, indigenous interactions with the colonial state, global health governance, Canadian residential schools, and British colonialism in India through many legal issues. This panel pointed to the coercive policies and legal institutions the colonial state asserts over its oppressed populations, an issue that has been exacerbated due the COVID-19 health crisis. Linking back to the keynote speech, this panel explored the international structures that need to be “unmasked.”

Through these expert discussions, conference goers were provided with a multi-faceted understanding of the ways imperialism, colonialism, and racism manifest themselves in today’s international relations. As the world continues to move out of the pandemic, the international community must face the implications of financial interventions, immigration and migrancy, the military industrial complex, and post-colonial international legal systems.