Somia Sadiq, EP, MNRM, RPP (she/her) is an Impact Assessment Professional and Peacebuilder with ancestral roots in post-colonial Punjab and Kashmir. She has a background in environmental sciences, natural resources management, negotiations, counterterrorism and countering/preventing violent extremism.
Somia is the founder of Narratives Inc., an award-winning consulting firm based out of Winnipeg that provides services in impact assessment, conflict transformation, and territorial planning, and the founder of Kahanee, a non-profit organization focusing on amplifying stories and storytelling for peacebuilding.
Somia brings a strong drive to decolonize our ways of thinking, knowing, and being, and amplifying multiple knowledge systems and tools to create creative solutions to conflicts. She pushes for this to happen in a trauma-informed way for communities as well as practitioners while challenging traditional boundaries of research and analytics. Her portfolio includes negotiations, strategic communications, social programming, capacity building and training, and the development and execution of trauma-informed engagement and organizational programs. Somia has facilitated the creation of an impact assessment model that brings together multiple knowledge systems and recently created a model called the Identity-based conflict transformation model to support peacebuilding, healing, and transformation efforts between groups.
Somia is a Registered Professional Planner with the Canadian Institute of Planners, an Environmental Professional with Eco Canada, an Associate with the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society, a member of the War, Peace, and Justice community of practice at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs in The Hague, and a Peacebuilder with Mediators Beyond Borders International.
Somia has held several advisory roles throughout her career and is regularly invited to provide input and advice on impact assessment, conflict transformation, and negotiations to several levels of government and the private sector. Somia has served as a Director on the Board of Directors for various organizations throughout the course of her career. Somia co-chaired the Women in Mediation Action group as a part of the United Nations Multilateral Working Group for Mediators Beyond Borders, running several initiatives, including leading a delegation to the Commission on the Status of Women in 2022. Somia currently sits on the Minister’s Advisory Council for Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Somia’s vision is to continue to inspire, amplify, and uplift young leaders of today, particularly traditionally marginalized and minority populations, so they can continue to inspire and uplift generations to come and promote workplaces and societies that embody principles of humility, respect, and reciprocity. Somia has delivered multiple talks and keynote addresses on leadership, entrepreneurship, and conflict transformation topics
