Confronting Backlash and Barriers from the Global to the Local:

The 25th anniversary of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda marks both a milestone and a critical juncture. The resurgence of far-right and proto-fascist power holders poses serious threats to the progress achieved under WPS. Recent examples include a resurgence of White supremacist political parties linked to the rollback of reproductive healthcare, and attacks on transgender rights, among many more challenges. The emboldening of climate change denialism and the persistent crisis of gender-based violence, especially against Indigenous women and girls, further signal the far-reaching and multi-sectorial challenges we face. These threats range from climate catastrophes leading to loss of homes and livelihoods to deepening socio-economic inequality, and a violent anti-feminist backlash. Meanwhile, military expenditures are at an all-time high and growing, while wars in central Africa, the Middle East, and Europe rage on. These global issues have immediate consequences for the most vulnerable populations, particularly women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals. To resist the backlash, this conference addresses the urgent need to build on and implement the WPS agenda, at both the local and global levels.

In 2024, Canada released its third national action (2023-2029) plan on WPS, demonstrating more progress in intersectionality and anti-racism than previous plans. Following critiques by WPS activists (Leclerc et. al 2023), it also recognizes that gendered injustices are experienced in Canada, not merely beyond it. Although these aspects of the plan are valuable, questions persist over whether these changes are substantive or rhetorical. For example, Canada’s plan (2024, 9) acknowledges the crisis of violence against Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and gender-diverse persons as outlined by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). Yet, it does not engage with the role of law enforcement or armed forces in past and present gendered colonial violence (Bell and Schreiner 2018; García-Del Moral 2024; Wegner 2023;) or with the report’s recommendations. This omission becomes more concerning considering Amnesty International’s indictment of Canada for its ongoing criminalization of Wet’suwet’un land defenders, including the use of violence, intimidation and harassment against them, leading to a situation in which enduring colonial relations are disguised and depoliticized (Bergman Rosamond et. al 2023). These issues suggest that the WPS agenda can be best realized through sustained policy scrutiny and engagement not only internationally, but also in Canada.

For the first time, the Research Network on Women, Peace and Security is meeting in the Canadian prairies, providing an exciting opportunity to facilitate the inclusion of local agencies working on Indigenous and treaty rights, gender-based violence and discrimination and their vision of international, and settler-Indigenous cooperation. As Saskatchewan leads Canada in violent crime, intimate partner violence, and racialized incarceration rates (Statistics Canada 2023 a, b), there is no better place to convene this knowledge-sharing event on gendered insecurity and colonial violence. The conference will connect local agencies with national and international scholars, spotlighting the importance of local dynamics in the international agenda, and responding to the civil society call to include the domestic agenda in WPS.