Elle Reeve 

Award-winning journalist and CNN correspondent Elle Reeve was not surprised by the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. With years of in-depth research and on-the-ground investigative reporting under her belt, Reeve was aware of the preoccupations of the online far right and their journey from the computer to QAnon, militias, and racist groups. At the same time, Reeve saw a parallel growth of counterforces, with citizen vigilantes using new tools and tactics to take down the far right. This ongoing battle, long fought mainly on the internet, had arrived in the real world with greater and greater frequency. With a sharp eye for detail and a dash of dark humor, Reeve explains the origins of this shocking sweep of political violence. Drawing on countless interviews with sources in the white nationalist movement as well as hundreds of as-yet-unseen documents, she takes us on a surreal journey from the darkest corners of the internet to the most significant and chilling scenes of real-world political violence in generations.

Dr. Amal Elsana Alhjooj 

Dr. Amal Elsana Alhjooj is an Associate Professor at the School

of Social Work at McGill University and the Founder and

Executive Director of PLEDJ (Promoting Leadership for

Empowerment, Development, and Justice). Through PLEDJ,

she brings her vision of empowering marginalized communities

to tackle intractable social issues at the local, national, and

international levels. With over thirty years of experience at the

intersection of community organizing and peacebuilding in both

the Middle East and Canada, Amal's work focuses on

marginalized minorities. Amal is the author of Hope is a

Woman's Name, a personal memoir that recounts her

experiences growing up as an Indigenous Bedouin Palestinian

woman in Israel. The book explores her struggles against

patriarchal tribal traditions, systemic discrimination, and state

oppression, while also highlighting her journey of navigating

multiple identities-Bedouin, Arab, woman, Palestinian, and

Israeli citizen-and her lifelong commitment to social change.

Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh 

Senator WilliamMcMaster Chair in Global Human Rights, Expert-Rapporteur, United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, UN-OHCHR, Project Director

Bonny Ibhawoh teaches Global Human Rights in the Department of History and the Centre for Global Peace, Justice and Health. He also teaches in the McMaster Arts & Science Program and the Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition. He is the founding Director of the McMaster Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice.

He is an Affiliate Member of the Mary Heersink School of Global Health and Social Medicine, McMaster University.

   Honourable Judge, Rochelle Ivri 

Judge Rochelle Ivri is 1 of 10 Citizenship Judges in Canada and is currently assigned to the Greater Ontario Area, which includes Hamilton, Niagara, Kitchener, Windsor and London. She is an adjunct professor at Queen's University Law School and co-author of the textbook Tribunal Practice and Procedure. 

Judge Ivri is deeply committed to community engagement and involvement, serving on various boards and committees in the past and present, while continuing to lend her knowledge and expertise to advance the needs of the community. For her efforts and commitment, she has received numerous awards, including the Woman Who Rocks Award for Hamilton (2019) and the Leading Women, Leading Girls, Building Community Award for her work in Kitchener Centre (2020). In 2021, Judge Ivri received the Lincoln Alexander Award from the Law Society of Ontario, making her the first and only paralegal to receive this recognition in the awards' nearly 20-year history. In 2022, Judge Ivri was named one of 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women and received the Rev. John C. Holland Award of Merit by the Hamilton Black History Council.

She was also recognized as one of Canada's Top 100 Black Women to Watch of 2022 by CIBWE.

Bryce Kobe

Bryce Kobe is a Community Organizing Associate for PERIL's Community Advisory, Resource, and Education (CARE) program. As the on-the-ground presence for CARE in Michigan and a lifelong Michigander, he focuses on creating networks and responding to specific community needs to help build resilience to radicalization and hate-fueled violence (HFV). Bryce earned his BA in Psychology from Michigan State University and leverages his background in behavioral health and analysis to better serve the communities most impacted by HFV.

Dr. Jeremy Cohen 

Jeremy Cohen is an anthropologist of religion and Assistant Professor at McMaster University in the Department of Religious Studies. His research explores transhumanism, conspiracy theories, and technology. Jeremy has written for the Globe and Mail, The Conversation, and the Hamilton Spectator, and has been interviewed by CBC News, CHCH, MIT Technology Review, the NY Post, Adweek, Inverse Magazine, and more.

How the Far Right Spreads Hate Through Gaming

This presentation will discuss how far-right movements and organizations leverage gaming and gaming-adjacent platforms to spread their hateful ideologies and recruit new members. By creating their own hateful games, modifying others, infiltrating mainstream gaming platforms, posting hateful propaganda in gaming chats, harassing other gamers, and linking to extremist material on other platforms, extremists are able to translate online hate into fundraising opportunities and real-world action.