He has also been awarded the Order of Merit of Portugal.
and the Order of Rio Branco from Brazil.
Silva holds a B.A.
in Political Science from the University of Toronto, a "Certificat de Langue Francaise" from Paris-Sorbonne University, and a master's degree in International Human Rights Law from University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Silva holds a Ph.D.
in the Faculty of Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Silva's Ph.D.
thesis is titled "Failed and Failing States: Causes and Conditions." On December 15, 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed him to chair the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (formally the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF)) in 2013.
He is currently a Distinguished Fellow, Law and Business at Ryerson University in Toronto.