Ernie Regehr, O.C., Senior Fellow in Arctic Security

Ernie Regehr, O.C.

Ernie Regehr, O.C. will join The Simons Foundation as Senior Fellow responsible for the Foundation’s Arctic Security programme, effective October 1, 2012.   Mr. Regehr’s activities will involve research and writing for the purposes of disseminating information on issues of Arctic security and the pursuit commitments to region-wide cooperative security principles and arrangements.  While the focus will be on regional conflict and security, particular attention will be paid to Canadian approaches to Arctic security, including the examination of national security policies and defence policies of Canada, as well as deployments, relevant to Arctic security. This work will explore policies conducive to the permanent demilitarization of Arctic regional security and to the management of political conflict in support of cooperative security.

Ernie Regehr is one of Canada's most prominent and respected voices on international disarmament and peace. He is Co-Founder and former Executive Director of Project Ploughshares, an ecumenical agency of the Canadian Council of Churches implementing the churches' call to be international peacemakers and upholders of justice. He is also currently a Research Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, Conrad Grebel University College, the University of Waterloo.

Mr. Regehr has served as an NGO representative and expert advisor on a number of Government of Canada delegations to multilateral disarmament forums. He is a former Commissioner of the World Council of Churches Commission on International Affairs and is an Officer of the Order of Canada. In January 2011, he was named as the 26th laureate of the Pearson Peace Medal.

Jennifer Allen Simons and Ernie Regehr have worked together for many years, partnering their organizations, Project Ploughshares and The Simons Foundation, to convene conferences, workshops and seminars on the major disarmament issues of the times and look forward to continuing their association to address the wide range of security threats facing the Arctic Region.