Season 1

Episode 6: Spotlight on Bibi Hakim. The Power of Policy, and Showing Up

What does it really mean to work in government — and who gets to shape the decisions that affect our lives?

In the first episode of our Spotlight series, we sit down with Bibi Hakim, a parliamentary affairs professional and community advocate whose work bridges Parliament Hill, global diplomacy, and grassroots civic engagement.

Bibi has supported federal Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries, staffed international summits, and helped move complex legislation through committee. But her story doesn’t stop inside government. She’s also deeply invested in youth leadership, mental health advocacy, and building political power within Indo-Caribbean and South Asian communities in Canada.

In this conversation, we talk about:

● What working in parliamentary affairs actually looks like behind the scenes

● How young professionals can navigate power without losing their values

● Why civic engagement and voter education are essential to a healthy democracy

● Turning mental health advocacy into real policy change — including her role in advancing accessible, affordable, and inclusive services adopted by the federal government in 2021

● Mentorship, representation, and what it takes for young women to claim space in public life

This episode is for anyone who’s ever wondered how policy gets made, how advocacy becomes action, and how to show up — even when the system wasn’t designed with you in mind.

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Episode 4: 25 Years of UNSCR 1325: Feminist Resilience and the Future of WPS

This special anniversary episode of Bylines & Frontlines, the podcast of Women in International Security – Canada (WIIS-Canada), marks a quarter century since the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) — a landmark moment that changed how the world understands conflict, peacebuilding, and women’s leadership.

Hosts Dr. Stéfanie von Hlatky and Dr. Vanessa Brown are joined by two remarkable guests:

• Jaqueline O’Neill, Canada’s first and now former Ambassador for Women, Peace and Security, and

• Leona Ahn, Canadian Armed Forces officer, law student, and former Vice Chair of WIIS Canada.

Together, they reflect on what this milestone means — personally and politically — and what it takes to keep advancing an agenda that faces both momentum and mounting resistance.

From “ships passing in the night” in post-conflict Sudan to “feminist resilience” in moments of backlash, their stories bring the WPS agenda to life through lived experience, policy innovation, and leadership in action. The conversation explores:

• What real change looks like when policies translate into safety and opportunity for women and marginalized groups;

• How inclusion, leadership, and accountability intersect across defense, diplomacy, and law;

• The importance of networks — local and global — in sustaining courage and community; and

• Why the next phase of WPS must embrace intersectionality, dignity, and systemic change.

This episode captures both urgency and hope — a reminder that the WPS agenda was never just about representation, but about transforming the way power, peace, and security are understood and practiced.

Episode 5: CRSV - Prevention and Protection

📌 Content note: This episode discusses sexual violence and atrocities. Listener discretion is advised.

Recorded during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, this episode of Bylines & Frontlines confronts one of the most pervasive yet under-addressed crimes of modern conflict: conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV).

CRSV is not incidental. It is not inevitable. And it is not a by-product of chaos.
As our guests make clear, sexual violence is planned, enabled, and weaponized—used deliberately to terrorize populations, fracture communities, clear territory, discipline armed groups, and, in some cases, advance genocidal intent.

In this episode, we explore:

• CRSV as a tactic and weapon
  How sexual violence functions as a low-cost, high-impact weapon targeting the human and moral terrain of societies—from Tigray to Ukraine and beyond.

• Early warning signs and patterns
  Why mass sexual violence is rarely spontaneous, how it can be detected early, and why failure to act is often a matter of political and operational choice—not lack of information.

• The military’s role and responsibility
  From armed forces as first responders, to force protection, to the hard truth of preventing perpetration within one’s own ranks—this conversation examines command responsibility, accountability, and prevention.

• Children born of war
  A population rendered invisible by stigma, silence, and policy gaps. We discuss who these children are, why they remain excluded from reparations frameworks, and what governments and international institutions owe them.

• Survivors, justice, and recognition
  Including emerging efforts—such as survivor-informed reparations models—that challenge the historical failure to acknowledge sexual violence as a core international crime.

Featuring:

• Emily Prey — Director of the Mass Atrocities & International Law Portfolio and the Gender Policy Portfolio at the New Lines Institute

• Lieutenant Colonel Melanie Lake, MSM, CD — Canadian Armed Forces; former Commander, Operation UNIFIER; NATO gender leadership expert

• Commander Tyson Nicholas, RAN — Strategic Military Advisor, UN Women

Hosted by: Riel Erickson

Episode 3:  From Tragedy to Accountability: Gender-Based Violence and State Responsibility

In this powerful episode of Bylines and Frontlines, hosts Frieda Castellanos and Dr. Colleen Bell take on one of the most urgent global issues of our time—gender-based violence in contexts where states are unresponsive or complicit. Recorded on the eve of Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the discussion bridges histories of harm and the ongoing struggle for justice.

Our guests bring deep expertise and lived commitment to this topic:

• Murwarid Ziayee, Senior Director at Right to Learn Afghanistan, reflects on how women’s rights and safety have been systematically eroded under Taliban rule—and the quiet networks still keeping hope alive.

• Sheila North, journalist, filmmaker, and former Grand Chief of MKO, shares hard-won insights from her work on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada, including her acclaimed documentary 1200+ and memoir My Privilege, My Responsibility.

• Soma Bidarpour, Kurdish scholar and PhD researcher at the University of Ottawa, unpacks how authoritarian regimes in Iran and Afghanistan weaponize control over women’s bodies as a form of state violence.

Together, they examine how impunity is sustained, how journalism and advocacy can shift narratives, and how communities across Afghanistan, Iran, and Canada are resisting and reshaping their futures.

Listeners will come away with both structural insights and concrete actions—from survivor-centered reporting to data sovereignty, legal reform, and transnational solidarity.

Episode 2: Equity, Diversity & Inclusion in Action: Canada’s Approach to Women, Peace & Security

In this episode, we’re diving into what may be one of the most debated topics in security circles today: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. For some, it’s only a lightning rod. For us, and especially for our guests, it’s foundational to how Canada thinks about Women, Peace and Security.
Joining our WIIS-C co-hosts, Dr Colleen Bell and Frieda Garcia Castellanos, are two guests who bring both operational credibility and deep policy expertise to this conversation:
Dr. Sara Greco, a political scientist with experience across the Defence Team—from advising senior leaders, to teaching at the Canadian Forces College, to shaping policy within Chief Military Personnel. She is also a WIIS-Canada board member and a research collaborator with the Canadian Defence and Security Network.
And, LCol Riel “Guns” Erickson, one of Canada’s first five female fighter pilots. Over nearly three decades in uniform, she has flown the CF-18 Hornet, trained the next generation of pilots, and made history intercepting Russian bombers in Canadian airspace. Today, she serves as the CAF Liaison Officer to Canada’s Ambassador for Women, Peace and Security.
Together, we’ll explore what EDI and WPS look like when they move off the page and into practice what works, what resists change, and why Canada’s experience stands out at a time when some of our allies are moving in the opposite direction.

Episode 1: WIIS Canada - Past, Present and Future Vision

In this inaugural episode of Bylines and Frontlines, WIIS Canada Chair Erin Koenig and CDSN Director Dr. Steve Saideman sit down with Dr. Stefanie von Hlatky, founder of WIIS Canada to trace the organization’s roots, reflect on the current moment, and explore where it’s headed next.

Stéfanie von Hlatky is the Canada Research Chair on Gender, Security, and the Armed Forces, Full Professor of political studies at Queen’s University, and Fellow with the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. Her latest books are Deploying Feminism: The Role of Gender in NATO Military Operations (2022) and Total Defence Forces in the 21st Century (2023). She is the founder of Women in International Security – Canada and the Honorary Colonel of the Princess of Wales’ Own Regiment.

This episode lays the groundwork for a podcast series that goes behind the headlines and into the stories of those changing the field.