Thirty-six members of the Dawson College Model United Nations society (DCMUN) represented Dawson College at the North American Model UN conference (NAMUN), organized by the University of Toronto. NAMUN is Canada’s oldest Model UN simulation, and attracted over 400 delegates from across North America.

The delegates engaged in debate across a challenging slate of committees, addressing historical circumstances such as the Congo crisis of the 1960s, the decolonization of French Indochina, and the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, as well as contemporary issues, such as cyber warfare in Iran, Israel, and the United States, and the current political and economic challenges facing the government of Greece.

Our delegates gave strong performances in each of these committees, and ultimately Dawson claimed six awards, with Kamila Majidove (Health Science) winning an Honourable Mention, Elizabeth Roy (Health Science), Feodora Chouakri (Psychology), and Jonathan Boretsky (First Choice Science) winning Book Awards, Ommu Abdul-Rahman (Law, Society, and Justice) winning Outstanding Delegate, and Klio Fotis-Zoubris (Liberal Arts) winning Best Delegate. While these awards are exciting, we would like to highlight the exceptional professional and diplomatic performance of the entire delegation throughout the event. Dawson was well represented.

NAMUN 2016 Delegation

Nine members of the Dawson College Model United Nations society (DCMUN) represented Dawson College at the CANIMUN Model UN, organized by the United Nations Association in Canada, held in Ottawa. CANIMUN is one of Canada’s premier Model United Nations competitions, and we can be proud to count a number of Dawson alumni among the organizers of this year’s conference.

Our delegates attended diplomatic briefings at a variety of Embassies and High Commissions, notably those of Malaysia, Norway, the United States, and Argentina, and also met with two senior Canadian diplomats, who spoke on the practice of diplomacy and the current exigencies of climate change facing the international community.

As usual, our delegates were heavily engaged in committee work throughout the conference. They discussed global partnerships and financing for the world’s sustainable development in the UN General Assembly, adapting to climate change on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, evolving situations in North Korea and Syria in the UN Security Council, and maritime law enforcement and the drug trade in the International Court of Justice. All of our delegates distinguished themselves through their perseverance, professionalism and diplomacy. We would also like to salute two delegates, Alec Sader (Law, Society, and Justice) who won Best Position Paper and Micko Benrimoh (Liberal Arts) who won Outstanding Delegate.

CANIMUN 2016 Delegation