Members Blog

Last week, Queen’s Faculty of Law welcomed distinguished international law expert Natasha Hausdorff for her lecture, Genocide Defined: Demystifying International Law. In her lecture, Natasha examined the legal meaning of genocide — a term coined by Raphael Lemkin in the aftermath of the Holocaust and later codified in the United Nations Genocide Convention — and explored its interpretation in contemporary international law. The afternoon brought together members of the legal community and the broader Kingston community.

We appreciate the Faculty of Law for hosting the program, and Dean Colleen Flood for her assistance. We are deeply grateful to B’nai Brith, whose early commitment was instrumental in ensuring the event moved forward; to Cary Kogon at NECA for his partnership from the earliest stages and steady support throughout; and to Professor Michael Greenspan for his collaboration and extraordinary efforts in helping bring the program to fruition. We are also grateful for the partnership and support of Jewish Federation/UIA (Perry Romberg), the Jewish Law Students Association (Chelsea, Lauren, and Hannah), Queen’s Hillel (Leora Tarshish), the Queen’s Coalition Against Antisemitism (QCAAS), and Run For Their Lives Kingston.

A special appreciation to Professors Jacob Weinrib and Samuel Dahan, as well as Associate Dean Joshua Karton, whose role in hosting and participating in the program was essential to the success of the afternoon. Professor Weinrib’s beautiful and thoughtful introductory words about the importance of engaging with varied perspectives laid the foundation for the lecture and for our gathering that afternoon. He and Professor Dahan then facilitated a substantive and respectful question-and-answer period that enriched our discussion. We are especially grateful that each of them made significant personal and professional accommodations to ensure they could be present.

We are thankful as well to Richard Kizell, Ed Smith, Michael Springer, Professor Oded Haklai, and Stephen Burnett for their meaningful contributions and encouragement throughout the process. Stephen first introduced many of us to Natasha’s work shortly after October 7th and truly planted the seed that eventually grew into this visit.

We are also grateful to Rabbi Polansky for her thoughtful message to the congregation, and to others whose outreach helped bring the event to our broader community.

We are also grateful to the professional security teams — both on campus and accompanying our speaker — whose calm and careful coordination ensured that the afternoon proceeded smoothly and provided peace of mind for all involved.

Following the lecture, I had the opportunity to share a few personal words with Natasha. Click here for my message and pictures.

A heartfelt thank you to Natasha for gracing our city and to our community for coming out to support this unique and special opportunity!

— Melissa Greenberg 

PS. For those who wish to donate towards this event, enabling more opportunities like this to come to Kingston, please contact Richard Kizell at rkizell@ipckingston.com.  Thank you!