Day 2: Opening Keynote - Irwin Cotler, P.C., O.C.

Irwin Cotler is Emeritus Professor of Law at McGill University, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, long time Parliamentarian, and recent founder and Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.

He is an international human rights lawyer, involved in the defence of political prisoners, including Natan Sharansky (Former Soviet Union), Nelson Mandela (South Africa), and more recently, imprisoned Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi and leader of the Democratic Opposition of Venezuela, Leopoldo Lopez.