Whether you are passionate about interdisciplinary human rights research, social justice programming, or student training and mentorship, the University of Manitoba offers opportunities to support the opportunities most important to you.
Reflections: Marking NDTR and Reading the OSI Interim Report
October 03, 2023
Author
Adele Perry
By Adele Perry
Like the rest of the University of Manitoba, the office of the Centre for Human Rights Research (CHRR) closed in recognition of the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation or Orange Shirt Day. Last week, the CHRR joined with others on campus to build a Heart Garden in the Quad and host a Teach-In for Reconciliation, where about 500 people heard from speakers including CHRR research affiliates Dr. Cary Miller, Dr. Sean Carleton, and Brenda Gunn, alongside Marc Kruse.
In different ways, these events all foreground the need for truth before reconciliation, and the connections between residential schooling and related institutions and histories. The Indian Residential School System existed for more than a century, and is inextricably tied to a range of other institutions, including segregated medical treatment for Indigenous people, child welfare systems, and the ongoing crisis of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit people. As much as researchers have learned in the last decade, there remains a great deal to be learned about those interconnected systems, and what they meant for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada. There also remains substantial barriers for Indigenous communities who are seeking to document the impact of colonial institutions on their past, present, and future.
This is one of the points made by the Interim Report of the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools (OSI). Kim Murray, the Special Interlocutor, was appointed in June 2022 with a mandate to collaborate with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities and survivors to recommend a new federal framework to ensure the “respectful and culturally appropriate treatment of unmarked graves and burial sites of children associated with former residential schools.” The OSI builds on the crucial work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, especially Volume 4’s focus on Missing Children and Unmarked Burials associated with Residential Schools. It also responds to the announcements of potential unmarked graves that have been made since 2021, announcements which have confirmed longstanding community knowledge and shaken a wider Canadian public.
At an event sponsored by the University of Winnipeg’s History Department Indigenization Committee on 25 September, Dr. Mary Jane Logan McCallum noted that there is much for researchers to think about in the OSI Interim report. Referencing international human rights law, Murray’s introduction reminds us of the need for ethical truth-telling and justice-seeking research. She that her role is “not to be neutral or objective – it is to be a fierce and fearless advocate to ensure that the bodies and Spirits of the missing children are treated with the care, respect, and dignity they deserve.” (p. 3).
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
For communities and families seeking answers about children who never came home, the barriers to the truth and justice continue to be steep. The OSI Interim report documents how Canada’s current legal system and multi-jurisdictional patchwork stymies efforts to learn about individuals, families, and communities whose histories were touched by federal, provincial, and municipal institutions and their respective policies. The report documents the continued barriers communities face in accessing relevant records and potential burial sites, and in executing ground searches. The OSI Interim Report affirms Indigenous data sovereignty, and notes that mainstream media attention and an environment of increased residential school denialism pose additional challenges. So too does the lack of sustainable, long-term funding and Indigenous health and wellness reports. The Interim Report argues that there needs to be an Indigenous-led and sustainably funded policies for the repatriation of children who died at Indian Residential Schools, ceremony and burial sites. There need to be accountability and justice for survivors and their families and a new legal framework to protect “protect unmarked burial sites and support the recovery of missing children.” (p. 132).
As the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 2023 fades away, I urge you to read the OSI Interim Report. It reminds us of the work that still needs to be done, and the systems that need to change, in order for Indigenous families and communities to have the fullest understanding possible of the acts of genocide that took place in Indian Residential Schools, of those children that never came home.
Whether you are passionate about interdisciplinary human rights research, social justice programming, or student training and mentorship, the University of Manitoba offers opportunities to support the opportunities most important to you.
Reflections: Connecting through Water — Nibi Gathering 2023
July 10, 2023
Author
Eliza Maharjan
By Eliza Maharjan
As I sit here reflecting on my first ever Nibi Gathering, I realized that the experience could not be summed up in a few sentences. It was an experience jam-packed with learning and sharing, stories and humor, laughter, and tears. Co-led by Anishinaabe legal scholar Aimée Craft and Anishinaabe environmental justice scholar Deborah McGregor, the gathering took place at Manitou Api, Whiteshell, Bannock Point on May 25-28, 2023. With a focus on “Building Water Relationships,” the gathering highlighted the importance of the language, songs, ceremonies, and teachings of the water.
Whiteshell. Image: Eliza Maharjan, 2023.
Before attending the Nibi gathering, water, for me, was merely this non-living entity that aided my survival. But as I reflect on the teachings from the Nibi Gathering, I’ve come to see that water – Nibi – is life. It is to be protected, respected, and in the end, celebrated.
Attendees gathered in the teaching lodge, coming together in a collective spirit, to learn from stories and teachings. Smudge welcomed us to the teaching lodge helping purify and cleanse our souls and environment of any negative thoughts. The gathering embodied many Anishinaabe teachings. The Circle of the Medicine Wheel comprises the four elements: earth, water, air, and fire. Each of these elements accompanied the gathering. The lodge housed a sacred fire that was surrounded by the participants in a circle, the gathering was on land meaning the participants had a chance to connect with Mother Earth. The river enveloped the gathering place and the air helped keep the sacred fire alive. In a way, the gathering showed that everything is connected, just as the circle.
From Left to Right: Anamika Deb, Laura Westfall, Adele Perry. Front: Alejandra Diabb. Image: Jocelyn Thorpe, 2023.
My day at the Nibi Gathering began with a water ceremony, led by women, symbolizing life and the significance of women as caretakers of the water. The teachings covered the value of water, the role of women as protectors of water, and how water is changing in their communities.
Throughout the day, we heard from different speakers about the sacred nature of Nibi (water) and the work being done to protect the water. This included guests from Colombia and Australia, who brought with them stories and teachings. The gathering fostered a sense of community where people from across the world could come together and share their stories. Their stories made me realize that distance didn’t affect the connections, their stories were similar, and this is what the gathering was about – connectedness.
The afternoon saw a water walk to the river led by a water song. Each song was engaging and came with its own knowledge. The group was led to the nearby river where they could offer the water from their land and connect with the water there. The songs echoed in the vastness where the songs carried generational knowledge. Initially, it was led by a single individual, but as they spent more time around the water, the voices grew louder, and the water heard different songs from different parts of the world. Again, geography might separate individuals, but the songs and collective shared experiences never fail to bring people closer; this was definitely the case in the Nibi gathering. The common theme that echoed during the water walk was that the body of water has roles and responsibilities, but importantly, so do we, and it is thus important to take care of it.
There were teachings about treaties, the importance of Treaty education, and the water treaty. The speakers talked about the relationship of Anishinaabe people with water and the responsibilities people have to protect it. Recognition of water as a spirit and having a life, can help in decision-making, the water governance process, and recognizing their rights. Another important idea that was discussed was decolonization which simply means having the freedom to make your own choices. So, giving rights to water and acknowledging the roles and responsibilities is a step closer to decolonization and this gathering succeeded in promoting this.
Laughter filled the lodge with stories and teachings shared by the Elders. I felt like the gathering was all about connectedness. The language was used as an instrument to connect with the land and decolonize. Education was then a tool used to rebuild languages. And lands and water are active participants involved in the process of learning. So, all of these components are interrelated. Nibi Gathering is thus unique, and inspiring, and provided a safe space for learning, healing, and connecting. The gathering gave me a new outlook on water and as an Environmental student, it has prompted me to respect the water and taught me a decolonized approach to seeing water and its protection. Water is integral to our survival, so it is our duty to respect it and finds ways to celebrate it.
Craft, Aimée. (2021). Treaty Words: For as Long as the River Flows. Annick Press.
Craft, A., McGregor, D., Seymour-Hourie, R., & Chiblow, S. (2021). Decolonizing Anishinaabe nibi inaakonigewin and gikendaasowin research: Reinscribing Anishinaabe approaches to law and knowledge. In Decolonizing Law (pp. 17-33). Routledge.
Craft, Aimée. (2013). Breathing Life into the Stone Fort Treaty: An Anishnabe Understanding of Treaty One. UBC Press.
Craft, A., & King, L. (2021). Building the Treaty# 3 Nibi Declaration using an Anishinaabe methodology of ceremony, language and engagement. Water, 13(4), 532.
Whether you are passionate about interdisciplinary human rights research, social justice programming, or student training and mentorship, the University of Manitoba offers opportunities to support the opportunities most important to you.
The content in this blog post may be difficult and/or triggering. If you or someone you know needs emotional assistance related to this topic or the information in this article, help is available 24/7 through the MMIWG Support Line, 1-866-413-6649.
An Event in Honour of Red Dress Day
Ancestral Women Taking Back Their Dresses – 1990. By Sherry Farrell Racette.
On May 4th, the Indigenous Engagement and Communication team and the Centre for Human Rights Research held ‘An Event in Honour of Red Dress Day.’ It took place one day before Red Dress Day – the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirited People (“MMIWG2S+”). The event consisted of a seminar by Sandra DeLaronde and a beading workshop led by Gerri-Lee Pangman.
Sandra DeLaronde began by emphasizing the long history of Indigenous women’s activism in response to MMIWG2S+, as well as initiatives and government-based inquiries set to address the issue. From the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in 1988, to the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry (“Pickton inquiry”) in 2010, and more recently, the National Inquiry into MMIWG in 2015, the issue of MMIWG2S+ is not a new phenomenon. Rather than meaningfully act to address the issue, governments continue ordering studies and inquiries for information they already have. The state’s inaction towards the issue frustrates many advocates who say there needs to be more accountability from the federal government. This history shows that MMIWG2S+ has become so “normalized” that, too often, the police and the public are apathetic when a family is concerned about their missing relatives. Thus, advocates such as DeLaronde urge that we de-normalize when Indigenous women and children go missing.
DeLaronde identified a step towards this de-normalization in developing a “Red Dress Alert” system. Red Dress Alerts (RDA) would be similar to Amber or Silver Alerts, which alert the public to missing children and seniors, respectively; in this case, RDAs would alert the public when an Indigenous woman, girl, or Two-Spirited person goes missing. Lakota woman and Member of Parliament Leah Gazan presented a motion to “declare ongoing violence against Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people a national emergency,” which The House adopted unanimously. Additionally, Gazan’s motion called for “the government to provide an ‘immediate and substantial investment’ to create a public alert system for missing Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people.” However, DeLaronde said it is important that the decision to issue RDAs rests not with the police, but with a committee of survivors, families, and other community members.
DeLaronde’s presentation was titled Giganawenimaanaanig, meaning “we all take care of them” in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe), and she provided helpful advice when pronouncing daunting Ojibwe words: start from the end and work backward (“nig” –>“naanig” –> “maanaanig,” etc.). One of my favourite features of my language is the inclusive/exclusive “we,” with exclusive-we referring to “us but not you” and inclusive-we referring to “us including you.” In beginning her talk this way, I understood DeLaronde’s title as an implicit call to action for the event’s participants; that rather than continually “studying” this issue and its importance, we (including you) should support the work of advocates and pressure governments to meaningfully address the issue of MMIWG2S+.
Following DeLaronde’s presentation and a lunch provided by Indigenous-owned Brownee’s Urban Bistro, Gerri-Lee Pangman led a beading workshop where we made Red Dress pins. Pangman started with her sister’s story, Jennifer McPherson, who was murdered just over ten years ago, on April 29, 2013. Jennifer was murdered by her partner—a man who had gotten away with murdering another Indigenous woman, Myrna Letandre, in 2006. Gerri said Myrna’s disappearance was known to her family but not properly investigated by police. However, had a Red Dress Alert system been implemented, Jennifer would not have been killed; it took Jennifer’s murder to even discover Myrna’s.
Gerri-Lee Pangman and CHRR Office Assistant Denise McInnes work on their Red Dress pins.
Following this solemn story highlighting the importance of an RDA system, Gerri guided us through a beading session where we made Red Dress pins. She explained how she turned to beading to honour her sister’s spirit and to process her grief. The pin we were making was simplified to enable completion within a couple of hours; we were provided felt cut-outs of red dresses, then we were to bead a few flowers and finish with the edging. People chatted with their table-mates and helped explain the beading process to one another. I was inspired the next day, so I went out to buy more beading supplies to start beading on my own. Perhaps by next year, I’ll have completed a fully beaded red dress pin.
I don’t always understand my feelings in the moment; I know I felt honoured to be there, for having these women’s knowledge and stories shared with me. It was easier to recognize my feelings afterwards as I was doing background reading for this post: anger rooted in grief. This is the kind of hopeless anger that, previously, I would have wanted to hide from by studying more abstract topics. However, listening to these women speak highlighted the importance of not surrendering to apathy or hopelessness. By focusing on the good that women like Sandra and Gerri do for MMIWG2S+, I hope to carry their strength forward.
2021 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People National Action Plan: Ending Violence Against Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People. https://mmiwg2splus-nationalactionplan.ca
Whether you are passionate about interdisciplinary human rights research, social justice programming, or student training and mentorship, the University of Manitoba offers opportunities to support the opportunities most important to you.
Reflections: Moving Beyond the Symbolic — International Women’s Day and the Work to be Done
March 08, 2023
Author
Pauline Tennent
International Women’s Day (IWD) is recognized by the United Nations (UN) and the international community to celebrate the collective efforts of women – acknowledging the work, the sacrifices, and the social, economic, cultural, linguistic, and political contributions of women to society. Celebrated annually, IWD has its roots in the labour movement when in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City to demand better pay, shorter working hours, and the right to vote.[1] The following year, in 1909, the Socialist Party of America declared the first National Women’s Day in the United States. At the 1910 International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, 100 women agreed to communist activist Clara Zetkin’s (1857-1933) suggestion of making the day an international observance, and in 1911, International Working Women’s Day was marked for the first time by over a million people in Europe.[2]
The World Conference of the International Women’s Year Opens in Mexico City on June 19, 1975. UN Photo/B Lane
After decades of organizing and activism by women, the UN hosted the 1975 World Conference on Women in Mexico, the outcome of which was a ten-year World Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women. This report recognized the significant differences in the experiences of women around the world. It identified the role of women in the “elimination of imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism”[3] and outlined recommendations for governments, institutions, organizations, employers and unions, media, non-governmental organizations, and political parties with specific attention to the needs of different groups of women in the fight for equality. As part of this Plan of Action, the UN officially declared March 8 as an international observance. IWD is now celebrated in countries throughout the world, contributing to a growing international women’s movement.
Yet, this time for celebration is tempered by the continued need for organizing, for resistance, and for protest to achieve even the most basic of human rights for women, girls, and gender-diverse people.
In countries around the world, we see the ongoing and alarming assaults against women. Gender-based violence is embedded in heteropatriarchal societies and stands as one of the most widespread human rights violations in the world. Globally, an estimated 736 million women, or one in three women, have been subjected to intimate partner violence at least once in their life,[4] with initial evidence showing that this intensified for women across the globe during the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] It is estimated that in the Canada, as many as 85% of women in prison have experienced childhood abuse[6] and intimate partner violence[7] at some point during their life.
We have witnessed the deliberate targeting of, and violence against, trans women in countries around the world including the transphobic murder of 16 year old Brianna Ghey in broad daylight in February 2023 in the United Kingdom. This transphobic violence exists alongside and perhaps as a result of the rise of anti-transgender rhetoric, laws, and legislation.
We are also witnessing the deliberating targeting of women human rights defenders. In Iran, the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in September 2022, in the custody of the morality police after being arrested for an “improper” hijab, sparked demonstrations across the country, including in schools and universities. Iranian authorities have used excessive and lethal force in their response to the protests.
The harassment and deliberate targeting of women in politics threatens civil and political rights and is a barrier for their participation, thus threatening democratic process. This harassment, worsened in part by the anonymity afforded by online platforms, is accentuated towards Indigenous and racialized women, both within the political domain but also in the broader society. When Black artist Jully Black performed the Canadian national anthem and showed support to Indigenous peoples by changing one word of the anthem, she was subjected to a barrage of online vitriol. Harassment and discrimination against Muslim woman also demands our attention – a Manitoba-based report on Islamophobia found that 73% of those reporting experiences of Islamophobia were women.[11]
Image: Caregiving Work in Canada. Poster by Kwentong Bayan Collective Introduction by Ethel Tungohan. Available at: https://graphichistorycollective.com/project/poster-3-caregiving-work-canada
Women are also experiencing widening economic inequalities, inequalities that have been accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Women are more likely to be in low-wage and precarious employment positions, in undervalued positions and sectors, all while carrying the load of the social reproduction of labour. As an example, care workers in Canada, many of whom were immigrants working in a low-wage sector have faced high rates of COVID infections, widespread job losses, and ongoing and debilitating financial challenges.
The Centre for Human Rights Research (CHRR) at the University of Manitoba was established in 2012 with the goal of supporting and fostering research around human rights, broadly defined. Researchers associated with the CHRR work to address the myriad of ways through which heteropatriarchy, colonialism, and white supremacy have impacted different groups of women. Researchers working with the CHRR have also highlighted those voices that have been deliberately silenced and ignored.
Dr. Jane Ursel is undertaking a longitudinal study to understand why attrition rates in sexual assault cases have been impervious to change. Professor of Law Brenda Gunn has argued for the importance of using a human-rights based approach to understand and address violence against Indigenous women. Dr. Kiera Ladner and Dr. Shawna Ferris are leading the effort to create a digital archive of the Walking With Our Sisters project initiated by Métis artist and activist Christi Belcourt. Dr. Karine Duhamel, Dr. Adele Perry, and Dr. Jocelyn Thorpe have created a podcast (produced by Olivia Macdonald Mager) on some of the links between MMIWG2S+ and dwindling public transit options. Dr. Lindsay Larios works on research exploring issues of reproductive justice in the Canadian context. Dr. Nancy Hansen is a disability rights scholar and activist who explores the employment experiences of women with physical disabilities and disabled women’s access to primary health care. Dr. Julia Smith focuses on the history and politics of women’s labour activism. Dr. Lorna Turnbull leads research projects looking at the leading court decisions regarding motherwork and equality, the overlap between children in the child welfare system and youth in the criminal justice system, and economic supports for caregivers.
Alongside the widespread challenges faced by women and girls in countries around the world, we continue to see, as we always have – women’s resistance. Women are at the forefront in calls to action for gender-based violence, and here in Canada, Indigenous advocate and activists have been relentless in their demands for action. While the US overturned Roe vs. Wade, advances in access to abortion have been made in countries such as Ireland, and with movements such as the ‘Green Wave’ movement in Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia. Women lead the way in climate justice movements, as well as movements for food sovereignty.
IWD’s origins lay in socialist-feminist struggles. Feminist movements that have focused on equal rights have often failed to make substantive change for all women, or account for the ongoing impacts of colonialism on Indigenous women, the experiences of racialized women and girls living at the intersection of racism and misogyny, the impacts of disability, or the particular experiences of trans and non-binary people.
Women’s March, London, 2017. Image; R4vi, CC BY-SA
International Women’s Day must go beyond the symbolic. It must work to challenge white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, and settler colonialism and build networks and communities of solidarity and allyship if we are to work towards enacting social and political change for all women. So we can pause to celebrate, and then we, collectively, must continue to do the (primarily unpaid) work.
[1] For an overview of some of the key moments in the history of IWD, and in the labour movements that were crucial in its development, including prior to 1908, see: www.un.org/en/observances/womens-day/background
[8] McGuire, M. M., & Murdoch, D. J. (2022). (In)-justice: An exploration of the dehumanization, victimization, criminalization, and over-incarceration of Indigenous women in Canada. Punishment & society, 24(4), 529-550.
[10] Owusu-Bempah, A., Jung, M., Sbaï, F., Wilton, A. S., & Kouyoumdjian, F. (2021). Race and Incarceration: The Representation and Characteristics of Black People in Provincial Correctional Facilities in Ontario, Canada. Race and Justice, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/21533687211006461
[11] Sotiriadou, E., and I. Elbakri. (2022). Friendly Manitoba: Community Experiences With Islamophobia. Manitoba Islamic Association. Available at: www.miaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/report-4-6.pdf. Accessed March 7, 2023.
Whether you are passionate about interdisciplinary human rights research, social justice programming, or student training and mentorship, the University of Manitoba offers opportunities to support the opportunities most important to you.
Reflections: Fighting to have our Voices Heard: Moving Winnipeg Towards a Human Rights City
December 23, 2022
Author
Carlie Kane
By Carlie Kane
In acknowledgement of Human Rights Day, the Centre for Human Rights Research together with the Centre for Social Science Research and Policy at the University of Manitoba hosted a virtual conversation with scholars, practitioners, activists, and people who identify as all three, entitled “Imagining the Peg as a Human Rights City” on December 9, 2022.
Eleanor Roosevelt of the United States holding a poster of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Lake Success, NY, November 1949. UN Photo.
We were joined by panelists, Dr. Warren Clarke (Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Manitoba), Dr. Nathan Derejko (Assistant Professor and Mauro Chair in Human Rights and Social Justice at the UM Faculty of Law), Reanna Merasty (Artist, Author, and Chair of the Welcoming Winnipeg Committee), Dr. Joel R. Pruce (Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of Applied Research and Learning at the University of Dayton Human Rights Centre), and Karen Sharma (Executive Director of the Manitoba Human Rights Commission and member of the UM Master of Human Rights Program Committee). Introductory remarks were from Leah Gazan, Member of Parliament for Winnipeg Centre, NDP critic for Women and Gender Equality; Children, Families and Social Development; Deputy Critic for Housing. Erica Bota, an illustrator from Thinklink Graphics also participated in the event behind the scenes, graphically recording the conversation.
Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December — the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR is a milestone document, which proclaims the “inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being – regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status.” (United Nations, n.d.)
[su_pullquote]“We have a long way to go in Winnipeg to ensure we are a human rights city. We need to fight for human rights for all and the time is now.”
– Member of Parliament for Winnipeg Centre, Leah Gazan[/su_pullquote]
In the week before the event, the Treaty 1 territory was dealing with the devastating and disheartening news. A serial killer targeted and took the lives of four Indigenous women; Morgan Harris (39), Marcedes Myran (26), Rebecca Contois (24), and a fourth victim who has not yet been identified, but named and addressed by Elders as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman. Only a few days later, Kayla Rae, a member of North Spirit Lake First Nation passed away in a Winnipeg Transit bus shelter.
“We are raw right now, we are shaken right now, and to be honest we were unsure of moving forward with this event.” Dr. Shayna Plaut stated as she prefaced the discussion. However, the decision to press forward was inspired by the strength of the families of these women, as well as Indigenous activists and advocates who were speaking truth to power and demanding justice.
What are your passions?
Reanna Merasty, constantly being aware doesn’t align with safety and freedom from fear.
Reanna Merasty is Nihithaw from Barren Lands First Nation, and is currently an Architectural Intern at Number TEN Architectural Group. She holds a Master of Architecture and a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Manitoba. She is an artist, writer, and advocate for Indigenous inclusion, representation, and Indigenous rights in design education and urbanism. Her work centers and amplifies Indigenous voices and communities. Reanna is the Chair of the Welcoming Winnipeg Committee with the City of Winnipeg, guiding the process of renaming place names to reflect and honor Indigenous histories, and the contributions Indigenous people have had in the city. Additionally, she is a board member of the local design advocacy organization Storefront Manitoba, co-founded the Indigenous Design and Planning Student Association, and co-edited the publication “Voices of the Land: Indigenous Design and Planning from the Prairies,” a book addressing representation and dedicated to Indigenous youth.
Reanna emphasized that her lived experience is one of always being vigilant, and that this does not align with feelings of safety, a right to security of person, and freedom from fear. As an Indigenous woman, she shared her experiences moving to the city and navigating the colonial system on her own. Reanna’s father always told her to stay safe, because he knew there was a target on her back. As an Indigenous woman, it’s not a way to live or move about across the city. She told of witnessing youth in care being mistreated and discriminated against by the child welfare system, a system that should work to ensure the safety of Indigenous children. Reanna emphasized, “to achieve safety, we must create spaces that provides comfort, confidence and pride for Indigenous peoples.”
For Reanna, “a human rights city is one where we no longer seen as unworthy of safety and security, one where we are no longer seen as insignificant, and one where we no longer have to reiterate and preface young indigenous women that they are unsafe.”
Warren Clarke, Appreciation of lived experience and building solidarity.
Dr. Warren Clarke is an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba in the Department of Anthropology. Warren focuses on sociocultural anthropology, with research in youth cultures, social citizenship, neoliberalism, gentrification, race and ethnicity, anti-colonialism, social justice, and masculinity. Dr. Clarke is also a consultant who leads anti-oppression and anti-racism programs to create and sustain a more inclusive work environment for Canadian organizations that seek to understand the complexity of managing diverse teams of people with different social identities and lived realities.
Warren’s appreciation of lived experience stems from establishing solidarity with all people by way of recognizing and identifying that everyone is unique. Considering the tragedies in Winnipeg, Warren spoke about the importance of having difficult conversations that can allow for heal for some, but also work to educate folks and raise awareness. Warren emphasized the importance of dismantling barriers and challenge systemic oppression in areas like access to housing. For Warren, “this is a social oppression that impacts everyone.”
Nathan Derejko, human rights at a community level.
Dr. Nathan Derejko is the Mauro Chair in Human Rights and Social Justice and Assistant Professor of Law at Robson Hall Faculty of Law. Derejko’s research and teaching interests span three interrelated fields of international law: international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and collective security and the use of force (jus ad bellum). He has a particular interest in the applicability and application of human rights law during armed conflict, counter-terrorism and human rights, climate change and human rights, and the law and practice of non-international armed conflict.
Nathan’s passion for human rights begins at community level and building bridges between academia and grassroots organizations by respecting a diversity in tactics for building social justice and human rights. Nathan highlighted a participatory approach and the importance of listening to those most impacted by the issue. He turned the conversation to how we can mobilize communities to move towards a human rights city, as individuals, organizations, and communities. He also stressed the importance of a transparent process which recognizes issues such as access to housing as a human right, rather than a commodity. Once something is considered a human right, it is a legal right, which means we should have guaranteed access to them, and that the government should be held accountable to uphold that right. Policies and the law could be an avenue to leverage compliance and action within the government to uphold these rights. “Human rights are almost always realized on the ground at the bottom at community level.”
Karen Sharma, bringing that ‘Auntie energy.’
Karen Sharma (She/her) is a first generation South Asian, living in Treaty 1 territory. She is A/Executive Director with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, where she oversees the Commission’s complaint process and human rights education mandate. Previously, Karen worked with the Commission as the Director of Investigations and Policy, and with the Government of Manitoba as the Director of Labour Market and Strategic Initiatives for Manitoba Labour and Immigration, and the Manager of the Secretariat to the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Working Group on Foreign Qualifications Recognition of the Forum of Labour Market Ministers. Karen is pursuing her Masters in Public Administration from the University of Manitoba, where her research and publications focus on the use of apologies as instruments of public policy. Karen co-chairs the Board of Directors of the Women’s Health Clinic and is an organizer with Queer People of Colour Winnipeg.
Karen has a passion of being an auntie. Karen acknowledges and honours the aunties in our life that have supported the work they have done, celebrated them, and gave them safety. Karen works to strive to bring that aunty energy in the community work they do. “My passion is about doing community work, supporting my community, and being a good aunty to members in my community”
Karen discussed the disconnect she sees from Winnipeg’s identity of a human rights city to how that plays out in reality. Winnipeg is home to various academic programs focusing on human rights, as well as home to organizations and institutions such as the Centre for Human Rights Research and the Canadian Museum Human Rights Museum, and with that, it seemed that there was an opportunity to brand ourselves as a human rights city, as claiming that identity. But for Karen, the city lacks the policy and legal infrastructure that is required to be a human rights city in practice.
Dr. Joel R. Pruce, dreaming of a better future.
Joel R. Pruce is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Dayton and Director of Applied Research and Learning at the University of Dayton Human Rights Center. Joel is the author of The Mass Appeal of Human Rights (2018) and the editor of The Social Practice of Human Rights (2015). Through his work with the UD Human Rights Center, Joel leads the Moral Courage Project: a Storytelling Initiative that foregrounds the voices of individuals who shaped major human rights events and produces traveling exhibitions, interactive websites, and a podcast series, Moral Courage Radio.
Joel passionate about dreaming about a future better than the society we currently have. Joel increasingly wants to spend all effort and time building communities in power with others. “Human rights is a central thread, organizing, shaping movements, and to be able to dream and build together.” Joel is very active in the Human Rights Cities movement in the United States.
Moving Forward in the Fight for Human Rights
More than 100 attendees tuned into this event signalling the importance of this much needed conversation. This conversation was powerful, insightful, and liberating. Listening to all the speakers and hearing from the audience through questions, clearly showed how engaged everyone was and how passionate our community is for human rights. As Nathan shared, human rights begin at a community level. Further, with this conversation and many more conversations in the future, will impact how we move forward as a human rights city.
This image was taken at the intersection of Portage and Main during the Wet’suwet’en Protest against the Coastal GasLink Pipeline. In the moment I took this photo, the temperature was cold, but the feeling was powerful. The beat of the drums kept everyone’s motivation and spirits high. Reflecting upon this moment, and what is currently happening in Winnipeg, we need to continue to fight to have our voices heard. The fight does not stop, but having each others support makes it bearable, manageable, and not completely impossible.
To see the graphic recording of the event, click here.
For more information on human rights cities and for some resources, check out here!
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Reflections: A Human Rights Crisis at Home: MMIWG2S+
December 21, 2022
Author
Adele Perry
By Adele Perry
The content in this blog post may be difficult and/or triggering. If you or someone you know needs emotional assistance related to this topic or the information in this article, help is available 24/7 through the MMIWG Support Line, 1-866-413-6649.
On 1 December 2022, a Winnipeg man with a history of intimate partner violence and far-right racist, bigoted, and misogynistic views, including residential school denialism, was charged with first degree murder of four Indigenous women. We must begin with their names, and the communities they have been taken from: Rebecca Contois of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, Morgan Harris of Long Plain First Nation, Marcedes Myran of Long Plain First Nation, and a woman who elders have named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe or Buffalo Woman.
The losses of these four women to violence is a sharp reminder that murdered and missing Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual Plus people (MMIWG2S+) in Canada is an ongoing human rights crisis. Colonialism has created a world where Indigenous women and Two-Spirit plus people can be, and too often are, targeted for violence, where Indigenous advocates and activists have been silenced or ignored, and where available responses and remedies have too infrequently been marshalled in response to that violence.
‘Injustice’ by Jacqueline Traverse. See: https://www.jackietraverse.com/
The events of early December 2022 also remind us where social and historical change most often comes from. We have seen MMIWG2S+ families and Indigenous leadership work tirelessly to demand appropriate resources and attention from all levels of government. The Harris family have spoken difficult truths to entrenched power. Winnipeg Centre MP Leah Gazan has used her position as opposition member to demand federal resources and initiate a parliamentary “Take Note” debate on MMIWG2S on 7 December 2022. Long-term Manitoba advocates including Sandra DeLaronde, former co-chair of the Manitoba MMIWG Coalition, Nahanni Fontaine, MLA for St John’s, and Bernadette Smith, MLA for Point Douglas and sister of Claudette Osborne-Tyo, missing since 2008, have worked to demand action. First Nations governments, including Southern Chiefs Organization, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, and Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and the Assembly of First Nations have all called for the Winnipeg Chief of Police’s resignation.
The crisis of MMIWG2S+ is far from new. The targeting of Indigenous women is embedded deep in Canada’s history. So are the social, economic, and cultural circumstances that enable it, and the failure of available institutions to substantially respond to violence against Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit plus people.
In the past three decades, Indigenous women’s activism has forced Canada to recognize MMIWG2S+ as a problem that is widespread, damaging, and pressing. Manitoba’s Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, struck in 1988 and tabled in 1999, was in part a response to the murder of Helen Betty Osborne in The Pas in 1971. In 2004, Amnesty International released Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canadaand the Native Women’s Association of Canada launched the Sisters in Spirit initiative. The National Inquiry on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women began 2016 and tabled its two volume report three years later.
The Centre for Human Rights Research (CHRR) at the University of Manitoba was established in 2012 with the goal of supporting and fostering research around human rights, broadly defined. Researchers associated with the CHRR are addressing MMIWG2S+ in a range of ways. Dr. Kiera Ladner and Dr. Shawna Ferris are leading the effort to create a digital archive of the Walking With Our Sisters project initiated by Métis artist and activist Christi Belcourt. Dr. Karine Duhamel, Dr. Adele Perry, and Dr. Jocelyn Thorpe have been examined some of the links between MMIWG2S+ and dwindling public transit options. You can listen to some of that work on a podcast produced by Olivia Macdonald Mager. Professor of Law Brenda Gunn has argued for the importance of using a human rights based approach to understand and address violence against Indigenous women.
It is a good time for all of us, including non-Indigenous people like myself, to ask why Indigenous families, communities, and activists must do so much to get so little. It is also a good time consider how all of us can contribute to the ongoing efforts to understand and address this human rights crisis of MMIWG2S+.
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Reflections: 2nd National Truth and Reconciliation Day at the Winnipeg Art Gallery
October 12, 2022
Author
Carlie Kane
By Carlie Kane
Some of the information and content in this blog post may be difficult and/or triggering.
If you or anyone you know is experiencing difficulty related to this topic or the information in this article, help is available 24 hours a day through the Indian Residential School Survivors Society Crisis Line, 1-866-925-4419.
For the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the Winnipeg Art Gallery (“WAG”) in collaboration with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, hosted various programming throughout the day honouring, reflecting upon, and listening to survivor stories. As a daughter and granddaughter of Indian Residential School survivors, I showed up in my ribbon skirt and orange t-shirt ready to learn, remember and honour my family members.
Programming began with a survivor’s circle which featured a series of short episodes from Indian Residential School survivors. The series began with a story from John Thomas of Halalt First Nation in British Columbia and a moving story of John’s late uncle, Richard Thomas, who attended and had died at Kuper Island Indian Residential School. John talked about his life living on Halalt First Nation, and his childhood living with the intergenerational impacts of residential schooling. During the course of the interview, the interviewer shared with John that he had discovered a few stories written by Richard Thomas at the Vancouver Library. One of Richard’s stories was about Halalt First Nation origins and how the Halalt First Nation was named after a powerful matriarch. John never knew about this story and to experience this archival finding for the first time was emotional and beautiful. John said, “a piece of Richard was found.” On June 2, 1966, Richard, 16, was found dead, hanging in the school’s gymnasium, just days before his Grade 8 graduation. Richard’s stories recount instances of abuse. While the official explanation stated that Richard died by suicide, Richard’s family and friends felt this couldn’t be true.
Following this series of episodes, the WAG hosted NCTR’s live video Remembering the Children in Ottawa, Canada. This event was attended by Justice Murray Sinclair, Her Excellency Governor General of Canada Mary Simon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and others. Justice Murray Sinclair spoke about the importance this day brings for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples alike. It is because of the courage and strength of Indian Residential School survivors that there is a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Sinclair states “For the non-Indigenous people, the way you have been educated has had an influence on who you are and who we are (as Indigenous peoples).”
Beatrice Deer, an Inuk singer from Nunavik performed a moving song for the mothers whose children were stolen to these schools. While singing she wore traditional Inuit parka amauti which beautifully carried and allowed her baby to rest behind her.
A speech by Stephanie Scott from the National Truth and Reconciliation Centre reiterated the importance of understanding the truths from these schools. “For too long, the truth was hidden and denied. Children were taught to keep it hidden.” This day marks the importance of bringing Canada together to acknowledge the on-going impacts of the Indian Residential School System.
As emotions continued, a drum group performed an honour song while the National Students Memorial Register, a 50-metre red cloth had been carried through the crowd that contained all the names of the children that had been stolen to these schools. There were so many names. Everyone stood in silence and disbelief. Something so visual put into perspective all the lives lost, all the generations lost.
Dennis Saddleman shared his poem “Monster: A Residential School Experience”, a poem that allowed the audience into the perspective of an Indian Residential School survivor. Monster was a powerful poem filled with sadness and triumph. Saddleman’s poem shared his hate for residential schools, while eventually coming to peace and forgiveness.
This was just a short perspective of the programming that took place on September 30th at the WAG. The WAG’s display of Indigenous art and artists, highlighting the importance of Indigenous traditions, culture and history made this event a success in so many ways.
As an Indigenous woman, this day was more than wearing an orange t-shirt, it’s my reality. It’s the life I was born into, and through all the difficulties and trauma, it will always be the life I am proud of. However, Indigenous peoples need allies, we need people to support us and learn these truths. As Stephanie Scott said, “Indigenous peoples cannot walk alone.”
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Reflections: CHRR marks the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
September 28, 2022
Author
Adele Perry
By Adele Perry
One of the Centre for Human Rights Research (CHRR) areas of focus is Indigenous peoples and human rights. As we approach Canada’s second official National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Friday, September 30th, 2022, how do we understand and engage with the shifting and contested conversation about residential schools and its meaning for Canada’s past and present? More important, how can we, as a university-based research centre support engaged, ethical research on Canadian colonialism, and work to communicate it to the public?
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was created by an act of parliament passed in 2021, following renewed public attention to the history and ongoing impact of the Indian Residential School System. In May of that year, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced that research with ground penetrating radar found 215 possible unmarked graves near the former Kamloops residential school. The months that followed were punctuated by more solemn announcements from First Nations across western Canada about unmarked graves, including an estimated 751 potential unmarked graves of both children and adults near the Marieval Indian Residential School on Cowessess First Nation in southern Saskatchewan.[1]
These findings were hardly news to many First Nations whose oral histories had long spoken of widespread undocumented deaths at residential schools. These announcements were also not much a surprise to those who had read the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released in 2015 — an entire 255-page volume was devoted to the subject of “Missing Children and Unmarked Burials.”
In practice, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation has revealed persisting limitations to Canada’s commitment to addressing the harms that residential schools have done. The prime minister’s decision to take a surfing holiday on the first National Day confirmed the suspicions of those who doubted the substance of his commitments to reconciliation and Indigenous people. The response of provincial and territorial governments, who regulate the vast majority of Canadian workers, was mixed in 2021, and it is perhaps even more mixed in 2022. So far, only PEI, New Brunswick and the Northwest Territories recognize the day as a statutory holiday. Indigenous Studies professor and CHRR Research Affiliate Niigaan Sinclair explains that the response to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation has been “uneven, confusing and indecisive,” particularly in comparison to the quick action honouring the Queen’s death.
As governments waffle about 30 September, what CHRR Research Affiliate and historian Sean Carleton calls ‘residential school denialism’ circulates online, in print, and in conversations. Arguments that deny the corrosive impact of residential schools in favour of a flattering story about the schools and Canada are hardly new. But these arguments have taken on a new tenor in the last year. Daniel Heath Justice and Carleton identify some of the core shaky claims that residential school denialists make: that international legal definitions of genocide do not apply to Canada, that residential schools are comparable to boarding schools in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, that Indigenous children learned valuable and transferable skills in residential schools, that school officials and architects had good intentions, that residential school students learned valuable skills, that there were positive student experiences, that residential schools were in keeping with the times, and that Indigenous people must express their experience in specific ways if they are to be included in mainstream conversations.[3]
What is at stake in these arguments is not simply how we understand histories of residential schools, but it is also about how we understand Canada’s past and present of colonialism. In the last year, the blow-back has increasingly focused on the specific terrain of unmarked graves. In both niche publications and mainstream media, authors have raised alarm about both the evidence and how it is being interpreted.[4] In response, University of Alberta archaeologist Kisha Supernant and Carleton explain that “Residential schools are not fake news,” but rather a long, carefully documented story of dispossession, destruction, and enduring loss.[5]
The CHRR takes seriously the need to investigate and explore that difficult history of dispossession, destruction, and loss, and to do so in ways that make this ethical research and thinking available to as wide a public as possible. There are events and programming exploring the history of residential schools across Canada this week. One of these is a day of programming in which we are collaborating, hosted by National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. This will include screening of Truth & Reconciliation Week program episodes as well as the NCTR’s national broadcast Remember the Children. At 1:15, you can learn about Carleton’s new monograph, Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of State Schooling in British Columbia (UBC Press, 2022). Public discussions will follow exploring “Language Revitalization, Intergenerational Learning and Reconciliation” with Pat Nadeau, Maeengan Linklater, and Aandeg Muldrew; and “How to be a Good Ally” with Erin Millions and Carleton. Family friendly craft areas will also be set up throughout the day.
The day’s events at the WAG are one of the many events being held across Canada on the 30th, and a reminder of the importance of people and organizations continuing to do the work, even when governments drop the ball or lose interest. It is also a reminder of the importance of research, and communicating that research well and broadly, to change the conversation about Canada’s ongoing history of colonialism, and the role that residential schools have played within it.
[4] See, for a range, Jacques Rouillard, “In Kamloops, Not One Body Has been Found,” Dorchester Review, 11 January 2022; Terry Glavin, “The Year of the graves: How the world’s media got it wrong about residential school graves,” National Post, 27 May 2022; Dana Kennedy, ‘The biggest fake news story in Canada’: Kamloops mass grave debunked by academics,” New York Post, 25 September 2022.
Whether you are passionate about interdisciplinary human rights research, social justice programming, or student training and mentorship, the University of Manitoba offers opportunities to support the opportunities most important to you.
Centre for Human Rights Research marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
September 29, 2021
Author
Adele Perry
September 30, 2021 is Canada’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Since 2013 this day had been commemorated as “Orange Shirt Day” where people wore orange as a public display of solidarity for those who survived, or did not survive, Residential Schools as well as their descendants. The creation of a statutory holiday responds to number 80 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) 94 Calls to Action, which specifically asked for the federal government to establish a statutory holiday “to honour Survivors, their families, and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.”
The Centre for Human Rights Research (CHRR) at the University of Manitoba, located on Treaty One territory and the homeland of the Metis Nation, was established three years before the TRC issued these calls to action. The CHRR’s mandate is to foster and communicate research around human rights in and around the University of Manitoba. Within the particular context of where we work, this means a substantial and ongoing engagement with Indigenous rights, and with the many moments in Canada’s past and present where the human rights of Indigenous peoples have been violated, sidelined and/or ignored. It also means uplifting those who are working to demand both Indigenous and human rights for Indigenous peoples and communities.
On the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we urge people to access some of the many resources around the history of Indian Residential Schools from the 1880s to the 1990s and their ongoing connections to the current over-representation of Indigenous children in the child welfare system, the disproportionate number of Indigenous people in Canada’s jails, and murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls, and Two Spirit Plus people.
You might visit the wealth of information available at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. You might attend some of the events, many of them virtual, being held around the University of Manitoba’s campus on this day and this week. You also might participate in one of the many events being organized by community -based Indigenous organizations in the city of Winnipeg including a healing walk beginning at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights at 11 am on 30 September 2021.
If you are a non-Indigenous person who is looking for ways to better understand the history of residential schooling, its relationship to colonialism both past and present, the CHRR has compiled resources here. In addition, the Winnipeg Public Library’s guide to residential schools includes a wealth of knowledge and material. You might read CHRR manager Dr. Pauline Tennent and colleague’s recent discussion in The Conversation, or Kathleen McKenzie and CHRR research affiliate Dr. Sean Carleton’s timely contribute to Active History.
Readers can also learn more about the histories of residential schooling and their implications in contributions to the CHRR’s and Mamawipawin new project, At the Forks. Recent articles include William Osborne and Anne Lindsay’sdiscussion of researching residential school family histories, and Sarah Carter’s analysis of the first wave feminist Emily Murphy’s work, including her connection to residential schooling. A difficult but important discussion of the connections between residential schools, child labour and unfreedom authored by Karlee Sapoznik Evans, Anne Lindsay and Niigaan Sinclair will be posted soon.
In the last months, longstanding knowledge about unmarked graves around residential school sites across Canada, and the children who were never able to grow up to be Elders, have been confirmed and brought to new light and attention. Ongoing discussion about what accountability can, and should look like continues. There is much work to be done to fully understand and document the devastating and ongoing impact of residential schooling for First Nations, Inuit and Metis people — and its implications for Canada as a whole. For the CHRR, September 30, 2021 is a day of learning, reflection, action – to sharpen our commitment to doing this work in partnership, community, and solidarity.
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