MIR Meets: Omar Siddique

Host Sydney Murray sits down with Omar Siddique, the new Head of Office at UN-Habitat Canada, to discuss his path into urban planning and journey through the UN system, Canada's role in advancing affordable housing, the meaning of sustainability across communities, and how UN-Habitat is bringing together partners to drive housing solutions in Canada and beyond.    

Host Lina Boehmer sits down with Agatha Gorski and Naomi Nemickas, founders of the Shadows Project, a youth-led NGO and digital media platform dedicated to promoting and protecting Ukrainian culture and heritage, while harnessing the power of culture to build resilience and combat misinformation and fear.

Host Margot Walkowicz sits down with former World Trade Organization Chief Economist Patrick Low to discuss international trade, the challenges facing the multilateral trading system, the growing intersection of trade and climate policy, and what it all means for developing countries.

Host Galia Pakman Arrojo chats with Gabe Rottman, Vice President of Policy at the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press, a Washington D.C. -based non-profit. They discuss the state of media freedom in the United States under Trump's second term up to late February 2026, touching on protest coverage, social media and citizen journalism, legal challenges in court, and more.

Host Sydney Murray sits down with Dre. Joanne Liu, the former international president of Médecins Sans Frontières and founder of PERL, the new pandemic evaluation and readiness lab at McGill. 

Host Ava Francin speaks with Daniel Martinez HoSang, Professor of American Studies at Yale University, whose research examines the rise of the multiracial right. HoSang is the co-editor of the forthcoming volume The Politics of the Multiracial Right and co-author of Producers, Parasites, Patriots. They discuss a political phenomenon that has puzzled many observers: the growing support for Donald Trump among voters of color. Drawing on his research, HoSang explains the complex political, social, and historical forces behind this shift and challenges common assumptions about race and political alignment in the United States. Learn more about his work at https://www.politicsmultiracialright.org, and on the Substack What’s Going On: A Notebook on Political Transformation.

Host Theo Shouse interviews economist Dominik Leusder about European political economy. They discuss European economic growth and stagnation, the Eurozone crisis, and the energy shocks from the Ukraine and Iran wars.

Host Kai Samuel-Szablowski speaks with P. Sainath, founder of the People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI) and author of the acclaimed Everybody Loves a Good Drought. Sainath won the Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia’s most prestigious prize, for his journalism advocating for India's rural poor.   They discuss his mission at PARI, India’s agrarian crisis and increasing inequality, and the state of journalism and media in India.  

Host Devina Briggs-Hammoud speaks with Karen Cocq, co-executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, about Bill C-12 and what it could mean for immigration in Canada.

Host Kai Samuel-Szablowski speaks with Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, to discuss the latest trends in Canadian public opinion.