Mário Silva

Nº OF MEETING: XI

Mario Silva is a politician who was born on June 11, 1966 in the municipality of Ribeira Grande, São Miguel, Azores.

He graduated from the University of Toronto, where he earned a BA in Political Science – International Relations. Later he studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France, where he received the Certificat de Langue Francaise. He earned a Master’s Degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford, UK. He also holds a doctorate from the Law School of the National University of Ireland, Galway.

He was elected councilor of the city of Toronto and vice president of the municipality between 1994 and 2004. From 2004-2011, he was a member of the Federal Parliament of Canada (Liberal Party), representing theconstituencyof Davenport (Toronto).

He was a member ofthe board of various Provincial Organizations of Toronto, namely the Hydro, the Transit Commission, the Mount Sinai Hospital and the Opera Company.
As a Member of Parliament, Mario Silva held, among others, the positions of Chairman of the Inquiry Panel of theCanadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism, Vice-Chairman of the Environment Committee and also of the Committee for International Human Rights.

He has been invited to speak at several universities and has published several articles in legal journals such as the “International Journal of Rights and Security,” the “California Western International Law Journal” or the “Florida Journal of International Law,” among others.

The French President made him a Knight of the Legion of Honor and he was awarded the Order of Merit of Portugal and the Insignia of the Autonomous Region of the Azores. On September 14, 2012, he received the Commendation of the Order of Rio Branco, awarded by the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, for the role he played as an MP in strengthening the dialogue between Canada and Brazil and for supportingthe Brazilian community in Toronto.

On December 15, 2011, he was appointed by Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, as the chair of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF) from 2013.
He is currently the chair of the International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS).