Director and project officer

Director

Serge Rousselle, professor at the Faculty of Law of the Université de Moncton since 1992, was its vice-dean and then dean. In addition to having been a visiting professor at several European universities, he has directed the Centre international de la common law en français, the Centre de traduction et de terminologie juridiques, as well as the Bureau des Amériques of the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie. He has published many publications and communications, particularly in the areas of language and Aboriginal rights.

Member of the Bar of New Brunswick since 1995, he has been involved in various cases relating to constitutional law and language rights in particular, including the Renvoi sur le Senat which he had the opportunity to plead before the Quebec Court of Appeal as well as the Supreme Court of Canada. In addition to having been an MLA and head of various departments, including Education and Early Childhood Development, he also served as Attorney General of New Brunswick from 2014 to 2018.

Very active in community service, he has, among other things, been president of the Council of Deans of the Faculties of Law of Canada and president of the Association des juristes d'expression française du Nouveau-Brunswick (AJEFNB), while being an analyst and columnist in various written and electronic media.
Over the years, he has received several distinctions, including the Gold Medal of the University of Ottawa for academic excellence and the Prix France-Acadie for his book "Éducation et droits collectifs" written with Rodrigue Landry. For his outstanding contribution to the advancement of language rights, the Association des juristes d'expression française du Nouveau-Brunswick also awarded him the Jurist of the Year Award and the Government of Quebec presented him with the insignia of the Ordre des francophones d'Amérique.
He holds two undergraduate degrees from the University of Ottawa, the first in political science (summa cum laude) and the second in law (summa cum laude). He also holds a master’s degree in law from the University of Cambridge and a Phd in law from McGill University.

Project officer

Ibrahima Diallo is a project officer at the International Observatory on Language Rights at the University of Moncton.
With two master's degrees, one in law and the other in humanities and social sciences from Clermont Auvergne University in France, he has always been interested in languages, cultures, and human rights. He completed part of his studies at the University of Vigo in the Galicia region of Spain. His end-of-study internships took him to the Puy-de-Dôme prefecture in France and to the non profit organization Catholic Charities in Fredericksburg, USA. After obtaining his bachelor's degree in languages, cultures, and communication in 2019, he realized a personal project by organizing a humanitarian trip to villages in West Africa. This experience taught him a lot about himself and others.

He began his career in the international relations department at Clermont Auvergne University, where he was responsible for welcoming and integrating international students. He then worked for the French Ministry of Education and the French Office for Immigration and Integration. Between 2021 and 2024, he was also an associate researcher at the Center for Analysis and Strategic Studies (CAES) before moving to Canada.

Having grown up and lived on several continents, he speaks six languages and likes to define himself as a citizen of the world.
Before joining the Observatory, he worked for the Francophone South School District in New Brunswick, where he contributed to initiatives in education, cultural diversity, and inclusion.
He is particularly interested in issues related to the protection and promotion of language rights in contexts of diversity and migration.
At the Observatory, he actively participates in research and dissemination projects aimed at analyzing and promoting Canadian bilingualism in relation to the international Francophonie.