Board of Directors:

Eli Turk – Chair
Eli Turk is the Vice-President of the Canadian Electricity Association (CEA), the national forum and voice of the electricity sector in Canada. Previously, Mr. Turk was Vice-President of Business Development and a member of the management team of Alcatel Canada and held management positions with Newbridge Networks Corporation, both global telecommunication firms. He has also been Senior Policy Advisor to the Canadian Industry Minister (subsequently Deputy Prime Minister). In the early 1990s, he acted as constitutional negotiator and Director of Policy for the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC), Canada''s national Inuit organization. In that role, he led many of the organization''s human rights work both domestically and internationally. Mr. Turk has been a Research Fellow at Harvard University. He is a graduate of the University of Ottawa and Harvard University where he received a Littauer fellowship for academic excellence.

Ron Hoffmann
Ron Hoffmann is Minister (Political Affairs & Public Diplomacy) at Canada''s High Commission to the United Kingdom. From 2002 to 2004 he served as Director, Defence and Security Relations, with Canada''s Department of Foreign Affairs. He has also been Senior Departmental Assistant to two Canadian Foreign Ministers. He has been posted to Canadian Diplomatic Missions in the Netherlands, South Africa and China. Earlier in his career, he was Economic Policy Analyst in the Office of the Premier, Government of Ontario (Canada) and Special Assistant to the Ontario Minister of the Environment. He holds a B.A. Hons. from the University of Manitoba and a M.A. in International Affairs from the Norman Paterson School, Carleton University, and has studied European Integration at the University of Amsterdam.

Kirt Ejesiak – Vice-Chairman
Kirt Ejesiak is the owner and Creative Director of Uqsiq Communications. Born and raised in Iqaluit, Nunavut, he has extensive public and private sector experience. Kirt has been Chief of Staff and Principal Secretary to the Premier of Nunavut. He has also served as Deputy Mayor of the City of Iqaluit, and vice-chair of Nunavut Trust. Kirt has worked for several Inuit organizations (NTI, Kakivak ITK, Pauktuutit) and served as President of the Ottawa-based Inuit Non-Profit Housing Board. In 2005, Kirt was one of six Canadians profiled at World Expo in Japan. He remains an enthusiastic ambassador both for Nunavut and for Canada. Kirt holds a Masters of Public Administration, from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and is Nunavut''s first Harvard graduate and Fulbright Scholar. He lives with his partner Madeleine and their two sons Noah and Jayko in Iqaluit.

Angie Forte
Angie Forte is currently a lawyer with Health Canada working in the area of regulatory policy. She has worked in the areas of transportation, competition and privacy law. Ms. Forte has worked with the OSCE on an election observation mission in the Ukraine and served on the Board of Pax Humana, an NGO dedicated to international peace and conflict resolution. She has traveled extensively in Asia, Africa and Latin America and is a graduate of the University of Ottawa Law School.

Scott Leckie
Scott Leckie is the founder and Executive Director of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), a non-profit advocacy organization working toward adequate housing and protection from forced evictions and specializing in economic and social rights. Mr. Leckie regularly advises various United Nations agencies including UNHCR, UNDP, IOM, OHCHR, OCHA and UN Habitat. He has written extensively on various human rights issues, including the preparation of a draft policy on incorporating housing, land and property rights into future UN and other peace operations in post-conflict settings. He holds degrees in politics and law, has published some 100 articles and books and has lectured around the world. His most recent book Returning Home (vol. 2) examines housing and property restitution rights of refugees and internally displaced persons throughout the world. Scott lives in Bangkok, Thailand.

John Packer
John Packer is the Director of the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex and Senior Advisor to the Initiative on Conflict Prevention through Quiet Diplomacy. He is former Director of the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (2000-2004) where he was previously Senior Legal Advisor to the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (1995-2000). During 2003-2004, he was a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and Visiting Assistant Professor of International Law at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University. From 1991-1995, Mr. Packer was a Human Rights Officer at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights responsible for investigating serious violations of human rights in Iraq and Burma (Myanmar) and assisting the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. He was also a consultant for the International Labour Organisation and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (1987-1991).  In a pro bono capacity, he is on the Boards of Minority Rights Group International (MRG), the Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) and the World Federalist Movement-Canada (WFM-C), as well as on the editorial boards of a number of journals.

Staff

Corinne Packer – Executive Director
Dr. Corinne Packer is Executive Director of Human Rights Internet (since 2006) and has worked with Human Rights Internet since 2004. In addition to her duties at HRI, she is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Ottawa''s Institute of Population Health, working on global health equity matters. Corinne has previously worked as a consultant for, inter alia: The Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (evaluating the Technical Cooperation Branch of the UN''s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights); the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (notably on the matter of reproductive health in refugee situations); the World Health Organisation (on population and reproductive health standards); the Council of Europe (on women''s reproductive health equality and on Romani women''s reproductive health in general); and for The Netherlands'' Ministries of Foreign Affairs (with regard to the successful Dutch campaign for membership on the UN Security Council) and of Social Affairs and Employment (regarding Dutch policy on the human rights of women). In 2003-2004, Corinne was a research fellow at the Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University''s School of Public Health. Corinne holds an M.A. in Applied Population Studies (Exeter University), an M.Phil in International Relations (Cambridge University) and a PhD in International Human Rights Law (Utrecht University). She has authored two books, co-edited two books, and contributed to numerous scholarly compilations and journals, conferences, and policy and training programmes.
 
Jean-Claude Lizé – International Internship Coordinator
Jean-Claude Lizé is the International Internship Coordinator. He has a Combined Honours in Human Rights and Law from Carleton University and is currently working on his MA in Conflict Studies from Saint Paul''s University. Jean-Claude has spent several years in the Balkans, specifically in southern Serbia working with local NGO''s in developing programs in women''s rights and civil society. Currently, Jean-Claude is mandated to recruit, train and assist interns in overseas internships.