The McGill International Review
Oct 5, 2026 · 43 min · 10 segments
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…
So what has changed from that time, you know, 25 plus years ago, is that there are so many different actors that we need to work with.
For example, there are regional intergovernmental organizations that have a huge impact on peace and security.
In the Pacific, just staying with that region, there's the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat, for example.
And things have changed since 1946, when the organization was initially set up.
And changed since 1976, since Habitat One laid the groundwork to establish UN Habitat in Vancouver.
So what I've learned is sometimes we expect everything to come to the UN, but we have to know how to partner.
with other organizations because capacities are different now than they were decades ago and roles are very different now.
So we also have to learn how to be a good partner from sometimes behind the scenes as much as the U.S. to be out front waving the blue flag for principles of human rights, for principles of sustainable development, for principles of peace and security, especially for those organizations.
So that's something that I've seen as evolving from the antithesis of my start with the United Nations.
And how has your kind of approach to these partnerships changed as you interact with different versions of governmental bodies? I know you've served in some very governmentally diverse places.
In many cities that I worked in, you know, UN Habitat, we work very much on this relationship, this partnership between civil society and local government.
And, you know, originally local governments saw civil society as demanding, right? You know, we want more affordable housing.
So what has changed from that time, you know, 25 plus years ago, is that there are so many different actors that we need to work with.
For example, there are regional intergovernmental organizations that have a huge impact on peace and security.
In the Pacific, just staying with that region, there's the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat, for example.
And things have changed since 1946, when the organization was initially set up.
And changed since 1976, since Habitat One laid the groundwork to establish UN Habitat in Vancouver.
So what I've learned is sometimes we expect everything to come to the UN, but we have to know how to partner.
with other organizations because capacities are different now than they were decades ago and roles are very different now.
So we also have to learn how to be a good partner from sometimes behind the scenes as much as the U.S. to be out front waving the blue flag for principles of human rights, for principles of sustainable development, for principles of peace and security, especially for those organizations.
So that's something that I've seen as evolving from the antithesis of my start with the United Nations.
And how has your kind of approach to these partnerships changed as you interact with different versions of governmental bodies? I know you've served in some very governmentally diverse places.
In many cities that I worked in, you know, UN Habitat, we work very much on this relationship, this partnership between civil society and local government.
And, you know, originally local governments saw civil society as demanding, right? You know, we want more affordable housing.
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