January 18, 2018
For Immediate Release
OTTAWA – The U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, in partnership with the Strong Cities Network, have invited seven mayors and other representatives from Canadian cities to Washington, D.C., for a workshop January 24, 2018, with American and international mayors on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). The participants will also attend the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) 86th Winter Meeting on January 25 and 26.
The goals of the CVE workshop are to build the capacity of local government officials and to improve community resilience against the threat of violent extremism. Canadian participants will learn about and discuss CVE-related topics including integration and social cohesion, prevention, intervention, and strategic communication. Alongside their American and international counterparts, they will discuss best practices applied in cities across America, and learn about efforts by states, counties, and municipalities, as well as initiatives of the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security to fight extremism. The participants will also have the opportunity to share Canadian approaches to combatting the threat of violent extremism.
Canadian participants will also have full access to the USCM winter meeting, with structured sessions and networking with U.S. mayors. The U.S. Department of State will organize meetings for Canadian mayors with their U.S. counterparts to facilitate further cross-border discussion on CVE.
Participants in this program are:
- His Worship Don Iveson, Mayor of Edmonton
- His Worship Charlie Clark, Mayor of Saskatoon
- His Worship Drew Dilkens, Mayor of Windsor
- His Worship Matt Brown, Mayor of London
- His Worship Jim Watson, Mayor of Ottawa
- His Worship Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin, Mayor of Gatineau
- His Worship Régis Labeaume, Mayor of Quebec
- Tom Gill, City Councillor of Surrey
- Stéphanie Jecrois, International Affairs Advisor, City of Montreal
For more information about this U.S. Department of State initiative, please contact ottawa-press@state.gov.
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About Strong Cities Network
Strong Cities Network facilitates systematic sharing of knowledge, expertise and lessons learned on building social cohesion and community resilience to prevent violent extremism across cities on an international basis, through both regional workshops and international conferences. For more information, please visit http://strongcitiesnetwork.org/.
About The United States Conference of Mayors
The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. For more information about the conference, please visit https://www.usmayors.org/.
