Akaash Maharaj
@maharaj.org
180 followers 94 following 55 posts
Peacemaking, Pluralism, and Conservation 🕊️ • Ambassador-at-Large, GOPAC • Head of Policy, Nature Canada • Senior Fellow, Munk School of Global Affairs • Governor, Royal Canadian Geographical Soc • Canadian Equestrian Team 🥇🥇🥇🥉 🔗 https://maharaj.org/links
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
maharaj.org
It is just as well that there are few occasions when Canadians are called to wear public honours: all the metal makes me feel like a discount Mr T.

I was moved that my peers nominated me for Canada's Coronation Medal, and I thank the @rcgssgrc.bsky.social for hosting a lovely investiture ceremony.
I was relieved that no one asked me to pass through a metal detector. Investiture ceremony hosted by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society Reception at the Centre for Geography and Exploration King Charles III Coronation Medals conferred at the ceremony
maharaj.org
I am sorry for that unhappy development, for you both.

I hope you and Knox will find other ways to enjoy green fields together.
maharaj.org
The #Gaza peace plan is exceptionally fragile. It may prove to be only a fleeting ceasefire, rather than an enduring end to hostilities.

Yet, it is a glimmer of hope amidst profound darkness.

I spoke with @chchnews.bsky.social about what it will take to sustain peace.

via.maharaj.org/gzpp 🕊️
Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal marks major breakthrough
Akaash Maharaj, fellow at Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, joins Trending Now to talk more about the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
via.maharaj.org
maharaj.org
I look forward to being part of the Sport Diplomacy Conference, with athletes, diplomats, and legislators.

🗓️ Wed 08 October
📍 @globalpluralism.bsky.social
🎟️ via.maharaj.org/sptdip

We will chart a course for Canada to press intl sport into the service of development, trade, and peacemaking.
The Canadian Sport Diplomacy Conference: Wednesday 08 October 2025 in Ottawa
maharaj.org
Our discussions were on the future, but I felt much nostalgia at the Couchiching Conference.

It was heartening to reunite with many friends, optimistic about the good we can do in the world.

Jean Chrétien recounted Canada’s role creating the Intl Criminal Court and Ottawa Treaty against landmines.
At the Couchiching Conference: Jean Chrétien is interviewed by Peter Donolo
Reposted by Akaash Maharaj
naturecanada.bsky.social
Tomorrow, as we observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as #OrangeShirtDay, we honour and remember the First Nations, Inuit and Métis children who suffered at the hands of government-sanctioned residential schools.

Learn more at the links in our bio.
maharaj.org
I thank @moorefound.bsky.social for convening marine conservation institutions in Vancouver, on how to press our work forward in a time of international turmoil.

My @naturecanada.bsky.social colleagues and I were heartened by the deep collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians.
Indigenous art at the Vancouver airport The Pacific Ocean at Vancouver The Vancouver port
maharaj.org
Sport has a unique potential to project Canadian values into the international system and to draw allies to us.

I look forward to joining my colleagues at the Canadian Sports Diplomacy Conference on 08 October 2025, to begin realising that potential.

via.maharaj.org/csdc 🍁
The Canadian Sport Diplomacy Conference 2025
maharaj.org
PM @mark-carney.bsky.social announced his first “Projects of National Interest”, industrial initiatives granted accelerated federal approval.

They are certainly in the interests of the corporations backing them. But do the benefits to Canadians outweigh the risks of reduced environmental oversight?
markhamhislop.bsky.social
From Finance to Politics: Carney’s Challenge in Delivering Nation-Building Projects

@AkaashMaharaj, @munkschool, @UofT, discusses political challenges faced by @MarkJCarney and whether the PM is up to it.
#canada #cdnpoli
youtu.be/A8-bVGptUm0
From Finance to Politics: Carney’s Challenge in Delivering Nation-Building Projects
YouTube video by Energi Media
youtu.be
maharaj.org
The ideal that to lead is to serve, is as old as civilisation itself.

That we live in a time when such ideals are often sneered at, diminishes none of their power.

I felt energised by my visit with Alfredo Martínez Serrano @embespcanada.bsky.social, who has spent his life serving the public good.
Alfredo Martínez Serrano, Spain’s Ambassador to Canada, and Akaash Maharaj, Ambassador-at-Large for the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption, at the Spanish Chancellery in Ottawa
maharaj.org
I had a lovely afternoon hosting a welcome luncheon for new students at @UToronto.ca #MunkSchool.

L to R: Natasha Rehan; Olivia Daley; Diego Martínez; Aisha Assan-Lebbe

I was impressed by their breadth of experiences and depth of commitments to vocations in public affairs.

via.maharaj.org/munk 🎓
At the Munk School welcome luncheon.  Left to right: Akaash Maharaj; Natasha Rehan; Olivia Daley; Diego Martínez; Aisha Assan-Lebbe. The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto.
maharaj.org
The bitterest irony of the terrible bloodshed in #Gaza is that Israelis and Palestinians desperately need one another, to endure in a region that is home to them both.

Neither can survive if the other perishes

This is my full radio interview on Gaza, with CBC Metro Morning.

via.maharaj.org/gaza 🎙️
War in Gaza: A Conversation on CBC Radio's Metro Morning
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
via.maharaj.org
maharaj.org
I spoke with David Common on @cbcradiocanada.bsky.social Metro Morning about escalating bloodshed in Gaza.

Ultimately, Israelis need a democratic, peaceful, and secure Palestine, just as Palestinians need a democratic, peaceful, and secure Israel.

Neither people can survive, if the other perishes.
In the CBC Radio studios in Toronto, for my interview with Metro Morning
maharaj.org
Last year, the then-Minister of Sport declared that Canada’s sport system “is in crisis”.

She created the Future of Sport in Canada Commission to remedy institutional abuse & misgovernance. I thank the Commissioners for meeting with me.

Please consider taking their survey.

via.maharaj.org/fscc 🐴
The Future of Sport in Canada Commission survey: 
https://via.maharaj.org/fscc
maharaj.org
(2/2) If it fulfils its SINAA commitments, the federal government will protect nature, meet its treaty obligations, and defend Canada’s territorial integrity.

If it does not, all will be imperilled.

via.maharaj.org/sinaa 🍁
Reception after the launch of the SINAA Conservation Agreement Areas protected by the SINAA Conservation Agreement
maharaj.org
(1/2) Earlier this year, I joined the launch of the SINAA Conservation Agreement, with @inuittapiriit.bsky.social President Natan Obed.

It will protect vast swathes of Nunavut.

This will be the front line in struggles to uphold our sovereignty, as foreign powers covet Canada’s Arctic territories.
ITK President Natan Obed and Nature Canada Head of Policy Akaash Maharaj
maharaj.org
It is just as well that there are few occasions when Canadians are called to wear public honours: all the metal makes me feel like a discount Mr T.

I was moved that my peers nominated me for Canada's Coronation Medal, and I thank the @rcgssgrc.bsky.social for hosting a lovely investiture ceremony.
I was relieved that no one asked me to pass through a metal detector. Investiture ceremony hosted by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society Reception at the Centre for Geography and Exploration King Charles III Coronation Medals conferred at the ceremony
maharaj.org
The Oxford Union recently celebrated its 200th anniversary, as @ox.ac.uk’s debating society.

Its assets are safeguarded by Trustees, who protect the institution for successive generations of #Oxford students.

I am delighted to have been elected a Director of the Trust Corp.

via.maharaj.org/ousl 🎓
Explore Explore the Library in 3D
Matterport 3D Showcase.
via.maharaj.org
maharaj.org
In November, @uofguelph.bsky.social will host its tenth-anniversary Equine Industry Symposium.

I have been delighted to volunteer with Guelph, to help Canada's horsepeople build common cause.

This year’s theme is “Inspiring Change in Equestrian Culture”.

Offer ideas at via.maharaj.org/eis10srv
University of Guelph’s survey for its 2025 Equine Industry Symposium
maharaj.org
(2/2) Left to Right:

me;
Anita Bromberg;
Labeed Ahmed;
Parminder Singh Gill;
Jamileh Naso;
Rocky Baronins;
Omar Siddiqui.

I am now at work distilling their insights, to shape the work of Canada’s All-Party Parliamentary Interfaith Caucus.

via.maharaj.org/appic21 🍁
Faithful Election Conversation 2021
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
via.maharaj.org
maharaj.org
(1/2) I am grateful to my colleagues from Canada’s Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, and Yazidi communities, for inviting me to moderate our discussion on hope, pluralism, and interfaith engagement.

We met as part of the Our Whole Society gathering, at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Left to Right: Akaash Maharaj; Anita Bromberg; Labeed Ahmed; Parminder Singh Gill; Jamileh Naso; Rocky Baronins; Omar Siddiqui
maharaj.org
I enjoyed speaking with Matt Ingram, on @mark-carney.bsky.social's decision to recognise the State of Palestine.

Does Mahmoud Abbas have any capacity to meet Carney's conditions? Will Benjamin Netanyahu now allow more water and food to reach Gaza's civilians, or instead tighten his grip on them?
maharaj.org
Can Canadians of different faiths stand together, in defiance of social and political conflicts that would drive us all apart?

I will moderate a discussion on fostering hope through #interfaith understanding, during the Our Whole Society conference, in Winnipeg.

interfaithconversation.ca 🕊️
Hope and Interfaith panel, at Our Whole Society 2025.

Left to Right: Labeed Ahmed; Rocky Baronies; Anita Bromberg; Akaash Maharaj; Jamileh Naso; Parminder Gill Singh
maharaj.org
I have bid my final goodbye to Jumblie, the best dog in the world.

He lived to nearly fifteen, an exceptionally long life for a Dalmatian.

The house is too quiet without the patter of his paws.

I like to think that I will still be Jumblie’s boy, and he will still be my dog, in the world to come.
Jumblie Far and Few
maharaj.org
Is it possible to spend a full day laying plans to confront the global withering away of biodiversity, yet smile the entire time?

It is if you are meeting at Mādahòkì Farm, and you periodically slip out to pet the baby goats.

madahoki.ca 🐐
Baby goats, kidding around in the sunshine