Agnès Blais
Agnès Blais is a research professional and the scientific coordinator of the Canada Research Chair in Global Migration Processes. In this capacity, she is involved in the organization of events, administration, student supervision and research development. An anthropologist, she is a specialist in post-Soviet Russia, migration and NGOs. Her doctoral dissertation, completed under the joint supervision of Université Laval and the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), is entitled: « Les combats des défenseurs des droits en Russie post-soviétique: l’exemple d’une association d’aide aux migrants et aux réfugiés » / “The struggles of human rights defenders in Moscow: the example of an association helping migrants and refugees”. She has five years of field experience as an interpreter and helper of migrants and refugees from different African countries in Moscow, helping them in their dealings with the Russian authorities, in the defense of their rights and in their interactions with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Her main research topics are: the rights movement, authoritarianism, forced migration, NGOs and solidarity in the post-Soviet space. She is developing a new research on Ukrainian displaced persons exiled in Quebec City and Winnipeg due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.