Gender-Based Violence and Displacement: The Human Cost of War, Colonialism and the Climate Crisis

May 4, 2026

Joy Chadya, Brenda Gunn, Helga Hamilton, Olga Khamedova, Shirley Robinson, and Alex Wilson

In honour of International Women’s Day, the Centre for Human Rights Research and Giganwenimaanaanig hosted a panel discussion titled “Gender-Based Violence and Displacement: The Human Cost of War, Colonialism, and the Climate Crisis” on Thursday, March 5th. This discussion explored gender-based violence in the context of conflict, structural violence, and displacement, and the ways in which love — for the lands, waters, and for all our relations — can sustain us.

Watch a recording of the panel below.

Watch on Youtube+

April 23, 2026

Rivers, Relatives and Reciprocity: How we care for the waters

Event Date: April 23, 2026

Event Location: 2nd Floor Event Space, The Forks Market

Event Time: 5:30-8:30 pm

Ambe omaa!!

It is time the waters break free from the winter sleep, and it is the time when Anishinaabe-Kwe place water offerings to bodies of water in their respective traditional territories. At Just Waters, we have journeyed through a year of listening to grandmothers share the teachings of respecting water, what is our relationship to water and what are our responsibilities to water– now we come full circle and share the importance of reciprocity.

Come spend the evening with Grandmother Judy Da Silva, Grandmother Chickadee Richard, and Grandmother Ivy Canard as they share teachings about the water offering and conduct the water offering ceremony at the traditional meeting place which we know as The Forks, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers.

Offerings are a way of acknowledging and honouring a respectful relationship with the spirit of all living things – people, land, water, and all of Creation. Offerings are given with humility and gratitude, acknowledging that nothing is taken without giving something in return. Offerings carry intention, prayers, sincerity, serving as a bridge between spiritual world and this physical world.

The gathering will also feature an artist talk with KC Adams, Jaimie Isaac, and Val. T. Vint in respect to Niimaamaa, a 30-foot-tall sculpture located at Niizhoziibean (the pedestrian loop connecting The Forks and St. Boniface and linked to the Tache Promenade). Niimaamaa was created by a collaboration of KC Adams, Jaimie Isaac and Val Vint.

Following the artist talk, we will work together to create posters that can be used on water walks and to advocate for the waters. Stencils, paper and pastels will be provided. All are welcome- whether you consider yourself to be an artist or not, you will be able to create something powerful!

We invite you to bring your hand drums and shakers (rattles), if you have them, to join us in singing the water song. No registration is required and there will be a light supper available. The event will take place in the 2nd Floor Event Space in The Forks Market. If you have any questions, please reach out to sarah.deckert@umanitoba.ca

The event will look something like this:

5:30 Water offering teachings & ceremony
6:15 Those who are able can walk down to the river to place the offering
6:45 Artist talk with Jaimie Isaac and Val T. Vint
7:15 Poster making
8:30 Closing

About the Speakers

Benais Quimiwin Ikwe – Thunder Rain Woman, or Chickadee Richard, is a member of the Sandy Bay First Nation, raised alongside the west side of Lake Manitoba. She is a mother of three biological children and two adopted sons, a Grandmother of seven children, and an aunt or grandmother to many in the Indigenous communities across Turtle Island. She has worked alongside many great grassroots leaders of the Indigenous communities making safe places for our peoples. Chickadee has done a lot of community capacity building in creating and delivering workshops. She is a proud Anishinaabekwe who has dedicated her life for the betterment of the life of our land, our water, and our Indigenous communities. She has been a believer and educator for change and for justice for many years regionally and nationally, by creating awareness and sharing the strength and beauty of our Indigenous culture. She has worked with peoples who are open and willing to change the current ways that still harm our land, waters, and our peoples’ ways of life.

Judy Da Silva, a Grassy Narrows community member, is a mother to 5 children. They help her to have the positive energy to continue to look for justice and for the solution to the mercury poisoning of their river system in Grassy Narrows & Mother Earth. She recently was awarded the Michael Sattler Peace Prize in Germany and Human Rights Watch Award in Toronto, the Art Manuel Environmental Award & Wilfred Laurier honorary doctorate in recognition of her lifelong work to advocate for her community members for environmental protection using peaceful, nonviolent direct actions. Judy suffers from the effects of mercury poisoning. She works in the band office of her community as environmental health coordinator.

August 18, 2019. Judy DaSilva helps build a new wigwam on the blockade site in Grassy Narrows First Nation. Ontario, Canada.

I am from Sagkeeng First Nation. I am a water and land protector. I have received my water teachings from Grandmother Florence Paynter. I also am learning the teachings from Judy Da Silva and Chickadee Richard. I am first degree Medewin for 2 years now. I am also a pipe carrier. I go to various communities in Manitoba to share the water teachings and ceremony.

Ramona has two traditional names, Miskoginewawaashiik and Waabishki Mikinak Iskwew. She is third degree Midewiwin and is from the Migizi (Bald Eagle) Clan. Ramona is Anishinaabe, Cree, and Nakoda from the Peguis First Nation within Treaty 1 territory. She has spent most of her career working in roles that protect and uphold the Treaty and Aboriginal Rights of Indigenous peoples, particularly in the development and implementation of policies and programs related to natural resource management and to wholistic healing. Ramona is dedicated to learning and working with traditional medicines, attending ceremonies, and travelling to and dancing at powwows.

KC Adams (Ininnew/Anishinaabe/British) is a registered Fisher River Cree Nation member living in Winnipeg. KC is a relational maker, educator, activist, and mentor who creates work that explores technology in relation to her Indigenous culture. Adams is nationally and internationally known maker with a B.F.A. from Concordia University and an M.A. in Cultural Studies, Curatorial Stream from the University of Winnipeg. KC has had numerous solo and group exhibitions, residencies and biennales. KC was awarded the Winnipeg Arts Council’s Making A Mark Award, Canada’s Senate 150 medal, the Ohpinamake Award, and the Quill & Quire’s 2019 Books of the Year.

Jaimie Isaac (she/her/hers), Just Waters Research Matriarch, is a curator and interdisciplinary artist, Anishinaabe member of Sagkeeng First Nation and is of British heritage. She was the Chief Curator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria from 2021-2023, and advisor 2023-2024.

As the Curator of Contemporary and Indigenous Arts at the Winnipeg Art Gallery 2015-2021, she was awarded the Canadian Museums Association outstanding achievement award in exhibitions category with the Boarder X exhibition. Isaac has a degree in Art History and a Masters of Arts from the University of British Columbia focused on decolonizing gallery/museum practices.

Through academic, curatorial, consulting/advisory, collaborative and artistic projects, Jaimie engages in areas of reconciliation, resistance, decolonization in art and in sport, Indigenous feminism, environmental justice, language and cultural resurgence. Isaac has lectured, curated internationally with research trips and residencies in Norway, Finland, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Chicago, and New York. Bodies of art commissioned and exhibited take form in film, public art, installation and mixed media. With published work, Isaac has contributed to scholarly collections of writing within textbooks and journals.

Valerie Vint (Rainbow Horse Womyn) is a Red River Métis artist, educator, and cultural worker whose multidisciplinary practice explores identity, blood memory, and ancestral strength. A leader in public art and reconciliation, she co-created Niimaamaa in Winnipeg and leads Healing Forest projects that respond to the TRC’s Calls to Action through art, mentorship, and community leadership.

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April 15, 2026

The Last Drop: Advances in water management to improve crop yields in the Canadian Prairies

Event Date: April 15, 2026

Event Location: Zoom Webinar

Event Time: 9 am CDT

Join us to learn about “Advances in water management to improve crop yields in the Canadian Prairies,” with Dr. R. Sri Ranjan.

Controlled drainage and irrigation research conducted in fully instrumented fields in southern Manitoba have shown the potential for conserving water and nutrients within the field while increasing productivity. Controlled drainage in clay soils require closely spaced tile drains (4.5 m or 15 ft) which were also found to be effective for use in subirrigation through the tiles. Real-time field data has been used to develop computer models of the agricultural fields to simulate best management practices (BMPs). The computer models are then used with long-term weather data to simulate different BMPs to help the farmer improve yields while maintaining the soil health and water quality.

The Last Drop Water Researchers Speaker Series is co-hosted by Just Waters and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 Impact Hub.

About the Speaker

Dr. (Ranjan) Sri Ranjan is a Professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering at the University of Manitoba teaching and doing research in water management since 1990. He completed his PhD (1989) and MS (1986) degrees from Colorado State University, USA. He is a registered professional engineer.

Dr. Sri Ranjan has been conducting irrigation and drainage research in fully instrumented fields in Manitoba and helping farmers see the benefits of advanced water management techniques through computer modelling and simulation using long-term weather data. He is a pioneer in testing controlled drainage with subirrigation in his research plots in Manitoba showing the economic and environmental benefits. He has been designing aeroponic systems to promote urban and northern agriculture. He holds many competitive grants, including NSERC, and has published over 140 papers at national and international journals and conference proceedings and made over 30 invited presentations in Canada, the USA, India, China, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. He has four patents on electronic instruments that were designed to improve water management at the field level.

Macro shot of a perfect water droplet splash creating ripples on a blue background.

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March 19, 2026

The Last Drop: Indigenous Science Fair Panel Discussion

Event Date: March 19, 2026

Event Location: Zoom Webinar & 222 Education

Event Time: 11 am

Student participants in the Indigenous Science Fair will share their science research, contributing to broader conversations about water, Indigenous knowledge systems, and sustainability. Join us for a conversation with Janelle Malcolm, Angie Papineau, Boston McKay and Nishae Paupanekis.

No registration required for in-person attendance. The in-person panel will take place in 222 Education, 71 Curry Place at the University of Manitoba’s Fort Garry Campus.

The Last Drop Water Researchers Speaker Series is co-hosted by Just Waters and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 Impact Hub.

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March 19, 2026

Methods and Mediums: Screen-Printing Basics - Building Community through Art

Event Date: March 19, 2026

Event Location: 342 Education Building

Event Time: 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

Join us for a workshop with Natalie Baird and Toby Gillies on basic screen-printing techniques. The workshop will be held on Thursday, March 19, 2026, from 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm in Room 342, Education Building, Fort Garry Campus – University of Manitoba.

In this workshop, you will learn basic screen-printing techniques to create your own prints. You will have the chance to use art as a medium for exploring and communicating ideas about how to build community and find connection.

All are welcome to attend. All materials and light refreshments provided. Registration is encouraged.

Registration: Methods + Mediums: Screen Printing with Natalie Baird and Toby Gillies – Fill out form

For information on getting to the University of Manitoba, visit https://umanitoba.ca/about-um/our-campuses/getting-here.

For more information, please email chrrman@umanitoba.ca.

About the Presenters

Natalie Baird and Toby Gillies work on art projects together nearly every day. Their shared practice is rooted in collaborative experiments and a playful exploration of materials and ideas. Multigenerational relationships, characterized by a curiosity about personality, imagination, and memory, are a cornerstone of their work. For many years, Natalie and Toby have been artists-in-residence alongside Francesca Carella Arfinengo at Misericordia Health Centre, creating projects with patients and long-term care residents. In 2024, they released their short animated documentary Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying, produced by the National Film Board of Canada. In 2025, they started working with Madeline Burghardt from the University of Manitoba and survivors of the Manitoba Developmental Centre on the Manitoba Development Centre Artefact Project, a collaborative art project in which survivors are reclaiming and transforming artefacts from the recently-closed institution into artworks.

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March 17, 2026

Respecting That Which Gives Us Life

Event Date: March 17, 2026

Event Location: 108 St. John's College, 92 Dysart Rd, Winnipeg, MB

Event Time: 9:30 am to 4:00 pm

Everyone is welcome to come spend the day with Anishinaabe-Kwe as they share ceremony, teachings, and conversations grounded in their sacred relationship with water.

The gathering will feature a water ceremony with water drum along with teachings respecting spiritual connections and water stewardship with Nookomis Hilda Atkinson, Roseau River Anishinaabe First Nation, and her grandchildren. Nookomis Louise Pierre, along with her daughter and granddaughters, will embark in discussions regarding water lineage teachings and the responsibilities they carry. You will hear Anishinaabe grandmothers, mothers and youth offer songs for the water.

In the afternoon, Dr. Tasha Beeds will speak about her experiences participating in water walks across Canada and the United States and raising awareness about the condition of our water systems. We will close the day with storytelling shared by Taylor Galvin and Kookum Nameo.

REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT IS NOW FULL.

For information on getting to the University of Manitoba, visit https://umanitoba.ca/about-um/our-campuses/getting-here. For more information, please email sarah.deckert@umanitoba.ca. Please leave extra time to find parking.

About the Presenters

Mizhakoduk indizhiniikaaz, Mikinaak dodaim.

Hilda Atkinson is a Fourth Degree Midewiwin of the Three Fires Lodge and Minweyweywigaan Lodge in Roseau River.

Since 2006, she has participated in sacred water walks around Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior alongside her family and her adopted mother, the late Josephine Mandamin. She also walked in the 2011 Four Directions Water Walk from Churchill, Manitoba to Bad River, Wisconsin, and has continued to support the Anishinaabe Migration Water Walk.

Hilda carries the Little Boy Water Drum and has been entrusted with sacred water songs passed down through her family. She continues to uphold the responsibility of caring for the water and sharing its teachings.

Boozhoo, Dabasasheek Indizhinikaz, Mikinak Dodaim, Niizhing gi biindigah Midewiganing, Midewahnikwe Indow, Bagwaniskoozibiing Indoonjiba. My English name is Louise Pierre, I am from the Turtle Clan, I have entered the Midiwiwin Lodge twice. I was raised as Grandmother of the Three Fires Midiwiwin Lodge Water Line along with my daughter, Belinda Johnson and two grand-daughters Trinity and Paige. We are from Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation. Along with my sisters, Hilda, Joanne and Barb and our sons and our grandsons and grand-daughters, we have walked with our adopted mom/grandmother, the Late Josephine Mandamin around the Great Lakes in Ontario as she raised awareness for the state of the waters.

Dr. Tasha Beeds is a Black‑Indigenous scholar of nêhiyaw, Scottish‑Metis, and mixed Bajan ancestry from the Treaty 6 Territories of Saskatchewan. She moves through the world in the layered fullness of those lineages. She lives her work through many intertwined roles: mother, kôhkom, Aunty, creative artist, poet, Water Walker, and Midewiwin woman from Minweyweywigaan Lodge, grounded in the territories of Roseau River First Nation and Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory.

Internationally recognized for her research and Water protection work, Tasha has been supported by the Bibliographic Society of America, NdN Collective, and Na’ah Illahee, and has held various roles with the University of Saskatchewan, University of Windsor, Carleton University, Queen’s University, and Kenjgewin Teg.

Carrying Water Walk teachings from the late Josephine Mandamin‑Ba, Elder Shirley Williams‑Ba, and Liz Osawamick, Tasha has Walked for the Water for 16 years around the Kawartha Lakes, Otonabee River, the Great Lakes, Junction Creek, and the Saskatchewan River.

Her academic, creative, and life’s work honours the brilliance and sovereignty of Indigenous nations, carrying forward the memories, teachings, and responsibilities entrusted by her Ancestors for the future generations.

Taylor Galvin Ozaawi Mashkode-Bizhiki (Brown Buffalo) is a proud Anishinaabe woman from Brokenhead Ojibway Nation and a member of the Sturgeon Clan. She is a graduate student at the University of Manitoba, where her Master’s thesis explores Lake Sturgeon conservation through Indigenous science, oral storytelling, and community-based knowledge. She is also one of the lead plaintiffs and knowledge keepers in the Lake Winnipeg personhood case, advancing Indigenous water governance on the legal stage.

Taylor served as the Brokenhead Wetland Ecological Reserve Chair and is the community coordinator for an Indigenous-led environmental monitoring project in Tataskweyak Cree Nation. She is a lifelong student of many Elders and Knowledge Keepers across Manitoba. She walks in both worlds, using Western and Indigenous sciences to guide her work in land guardianship, ceremony, and environmental protection.

Taylor’s advocacy centers Indigenous youth, especially young women, whom she mentors through teachings on plants, medicines, and ceremony. She brings them into spaces of leadership to see themselves reflected in this work. Taylor has shared Indigenous knowledge internationally – from the Netherlands to Belize to World Water Week in Sweden to the United Nations in New York City – and attributes every opportunity to the strength of her people, the power of ceremony, and the resilience of community teachings.

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February 27, 2026

Methods and Mediums: Indigenous Feminism and Critical Approaches to Relationality

Event Date: February 27, 2026

Event Location: New Location! 200 Education Building

Event Time: 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

Join us for a talk by Dr. Gina Starblanket on Indigenous feminism and critical approaches to relationality. The talk will held on Friday, February 27th, 2026 from 12:00 pm – 1:30pm in Room 200 Education, Fort Garry Campus – University of Manitoba.

This talk explores Indigenous feminist and other critical approaches to relationality in academic research and writing. It provides examples of applied practices and reviews the implications of Indigenous feminist approaches across diverse sites and scales.

All are welcome to attend. No registration required. For information on getting to the University of Manitoba, visit https://umanitoba.ca/about-um/our-campuses/getting-here.

For more information, please email chrrman@umanitoba.ca.

This workshop is a part of CHRR’s Methods and Mediums workshop series which explores different research methodologies and ways to publish research within human rights and social justice.

Funding for this event is made possible, in part, by the Canada Research Chair in Miyo We’citowin and Digital Sovereignties and the Faculty of Law Endowment Fund. We are grateful to the Faculty of Education for their in-kind contributions.

About the Presenter

Gina Starblanket is an Associate Professor in the School of Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria. She is Cree/Saulteaux and a member of Star Blanket Cree Nation in Treaty 4 territory. Her work is rooted in prairie Indigenous political life and examines Indigenous–settler relations through the lens of treaty, Indigenous governance, and relationality. Dr. Starblanket’s scholarship brings together Indigenous political thought, the on-the-ground politics of treaty implementation, and Indigenous feminist analysis. She is co-editor of NAIS, the journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association and her publications include Making Space for Indigenous Feminisms, 3rd ed. (Fernwood Press, 2024), Storying Violence: Unravelling Colonial Narratives in the Stanley Trial (ARP Press, 2020), and Visions of the Heart: Issues Involving Indigenous Peoples in Canada, 5^th and 6^th eds. (OUP, 2019 & 2025).

A vibrant butterfly rests on wildflowers in a breezy summer meadow, capturing nature's elegance.

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March 05, 2026

Gender-Based Violence and Displacement: The Human Cost of War, Colonialism and the Climate Crisis

Event Date: March 05, 2026

Event Location: Winnipeg Art Gallery - Qaumajuq, 300 Memorial Blvd.

Event Time: 12:30 pm - 3:00 pm

In honour of International Women’s Day, please join the Centre for Human Rights Research and Giganwenimaanaanig on Thursday, March 5th for a panel discussion titled “Gender-Based Violence and Displacement: The Human Cost of War, Colonialism, and the Climate Crisis.” This discussion will explore gender-based violence in the context of conflict, structural violence, and displacement, and the ways in which love — for the lands, waters, and for all our relations — can sustain us.

The event will take place in the Learning Steps of the Winnipeg Art Gallery – Qaumajuq.

Doors will open at 12:30pm with light snacks and refreshments in Ilavut — the Entrance Hall. This will be followed by the panel discussion in Ilipvik (the Learning Steps) beginning at 1:00pm.

We are grateful to Aubrey Yuol for their artwork for the poster.

To ensure we have enough food and space, registration is required. Register now via Eventbrite.

Giganwenimaanaanig

About the Presenters

Joy Chadya is a twentieth century social historian whose interests are on Africa in general, but Southern Africa in particular. She is interested in transnational histories of liberation struggles, cross-border migration of labor in the Southern African region; women and urbanization; Zimbabwean the shifting practices in the Zimbabwean deathscape since the inception of colonial rule and African diaspora.

Brenda L. Gunn is a Professor in Robson Hall Faculty of Law. She has a B.A. from the University of Manitoba and a J.D. from the University of Toronto. She completed her LL.M. in Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy at the University of Arizona. She articled with Sierra Legal Defence Fund (now Ecojustice Canada). She was called to the bars of Law Society of Upper Canada and Manitoba. Brenda also worked at a community legal clinic in Rabinal, Guatemala on a case of genocide submitted to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. She has also worked with First Nations on Aboriginal and treaty rights issues in Manitoba. As a proud Red River Métis woman and citizen of Manitoba Métis Federation, she continues to combine her academic research with her activism pushing for greater recognition of Indigenous peoples’ inherent rights as determined by Indigenous peoples’ own legal traditions. Her current research focuses on promoting greater conformity between international law on the rights of Indigenous peoples and domestic law. She continues to be actively involved in the international Indigenous peoples’ movement, regularly attending international meetings. She developed a handbook on understanding and implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that continues to be a main resource in Canada on the UN Declaration and has delivered workshops on the Declaration across Canada and internationally. In 2013, she participated in the UNITAR Training Programme to Enhance the Conflict Prevention and Peacemaking Capacities of Indigenous Peoples’ Representatives, which continues to impact her research.

Professor Gunn is the Expert Member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 2026-28.

Helga Hamilton is the Health Director for Cross Lake Health Services, where she provides the delivery of comprehensive, community centered health programs. With experience in health administration, emergency management, and intergovernmental collaboration, she works alongside Chief and Council, and regional and federal partners to strengthen access, continuity, and culturally respectful health care.

Helga played an integral role in coordinating and supporting health services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and has been a key member of the Emergency Management Team during the wildfire evacuations of 2023 and 2025. She is currently involved in community evacuation efforts related to the December power outage, assisting with coordination alongside the Red Cross, Chief and Council, and emergency response partners. Helga is a strong advocate for community driven solutions and sustainable health systems that meet the evolving needs of Cross Lake and its members.

Helga’s grandchildren are her primary source of motivation and inspiration in all that she does. She is deeply committed to helping create a better future for them and for the generations to come, with a strong focus on ensuring they grow up grounded in their cultural identity and spiritual way of life. Helga believes that teaching and preserving these values provides a foundation that will guide them throughout their lives.

Olga Khamedova is a feminist media scholar from Ukraine who has been researching media coverage (news reports and crime reporting) of violence against women, including harassment, rape, and murder, for several years. In 2022, she arrived in Canada due to the Russian–Ukrainian war and worked as a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies | German and Slavic Studies at the University of Manitoba. She is the author of the book Gender Display in the Ukrainian Press of the 1920s–1930s: Representations and Interpretations, in which she analyzes some of the earliest crime news reports on violence against women, examining them in the context of postcolonial discourse and trauma. She currently teaches the course Ukrainian Feminism, Media, and Popular Culture at the University of Manitoba.

Check back soon to learn more!

Shirley A. Robinson is a dedicated Indigenous leader from Pimicikamak, a Cree community in Northern Manitoba with a population of 10,000 people, both on and off reserve. With extensive experience in local governance, Shirley has served multiple terms as an Executive Council Member for Pimicikamak, including holding leadership positions such as Acting Chief and Vice Chief. Her commitment to her community is evident through her tireless advocacy, crisis response efforts, and negotiations with provincial and federal governments.

Shirley has been a prominent voice in addressing critical issues affecting her community, including social health, infrastructure disparities, and Indigenous rights. She has played a pivotal role in responding to Emergency Crisis in Pimicikamak including seeking immediate supports from government authorities to provide services, resources, and other urgent needs. Her leadership during crisis highlights her unwavering dedication to the well-being of her people, and her advocacy have solidified her reputation as a trusted and impactful leader in Northern Manitoba.

In addition to her crisis response efforts, Shirley has been an advocate for addressing the historical and ongoing impacts of development on Pimicikamak. She continues to speak out on behalf of her community, ensuring their voices are heard and their needs are prioritized.

Her expertise in emergency management extends beyond crisis response, as she continues to advocate for long-term solutions to systemic issues such as mental health, healthcare access, and infrastructure disparities. Shirley’s ability to navigate complex negotiations with government authorities has been instrumental in securing resources and support for Pimicikamak during times of critical need.

As a mother and grandmother to six grandchildren, Shirley remains deeply connected to her community and its future. Her leadership and advocacy have made her a respected and influential figure, committed to creating positive change and addressing the urgent challenges facing Pimicikamak.

Dr. Alex Wilson (Opaskwayak Cree Nation) is an acclaimed educator, scholar, and researcher. She is a professor in the Department of Educational Foundations in the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan. Dr. Wilson’s work has greatly contributed to building and sharing knowledge about Two-Spirit identity, history, and teachings; Indigenous research methodologies; and the prevention of violence in the lives of Indigenous peoples. Her work in and with Indigenous communities has focused on revitalizing culture through land based education.

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April 01, 2026

Pushed Out, Worn Down: Urban Displacement and the Crises of Social Reproduction in Delhi

Event Date: April 01, 2026

Event Location: 108 St. John's College

Event Time: 1:00 - 2:30 pm

In collaboration with the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, the Centre for Human Rights Research (CHRR) is hosting Dr. Arpita Biswas for a lecture titled “Pushed Out, Worn Down: Urban Displacement and the Crises of Social Reproduction in Delhi.”

The lecture will be held on Wednesday, April 1, 2026 from 1:00 – 2:30 pm in 108 St. John’s College at the University of Manitoba – Fort Garry Campus. For information on getting to the University of Manitoba, see: https://umanitoba.ca/about-um/our-campuses/getting-here

This is a free event. No registration is required.

This seminar is a part of our annual Critical Conversations seminar series. This year, the seminar series will focus on feminist research methodologies. Funding for this series was made possible, in part, by the Faculty of Arts Endowment Fund.

About the Lecture

In the past two to three decades, profit-driven urban renewal projects have transformed low-income informal settlements in developing countries into hotspots of population displacement. A rich body of literature is emerging on this topic, but research on its gendered impacts remains slender. Marxist scholars have conceptualized expropriated land primarily as a means of production and analyzed displacement’s effects on the productive sphere. Marxist-feminists remedy this by examining displacement from the viewpoint of its effects on the reproductive sphere. In doing so, they give us a much broader understanding of the processes that constitute and shape the capitalist system. Drawing inspiration from the approach, this paper aims to explore the effects of displacement on women’s burden and capacity for social reproduction. By undertaking a case study of Delhi, it examines the implications of forced eviction and resettlement for the crises of social reproduction for labor – the mechanisms that have led to the crises and the forms such crises have taken. Using data collected in the field, both qualitative and quantitative, it demonstrates how displaced women struggle to reproduce labor power and familial and community relations. In the process, the paper contributes to our understanding of displacement’s effects on life-making activities for a long time.

About the Speaker

Arpita Biswas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Manitoba. Her research interests lie at the intersection of political economy, urban development, and feminist economics. She is currently working on two research projects: one examines the political economy of urban displacement in South Asian cities and the other studies the relationship between women’s employment status and the incidence of spousal violence. She uses mixed methods in her research and has carried out field work in Delhi, India.

Image of Arpita sitting in front of greenery

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Event Type: Past Event

Methods and Mediums: Oral History Methodology

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Gender-Based Violence and Displacement: The Human Cost of War, Colonialism and the Climate Crisis

May 4, 2026

Joy Chadya, Brenda Gunn, Helga Hamilton, Olga Khamedova, Shirley Robinson, and Alex Wilson

Rivers, Relatives and Reciprocity: How we care for the waters

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The Last Drop: Advances in water management to improve crop yields in the Canadian Prairies

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The Last Drop: Indigenous Science Fair Panel Discussion

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Methods and Mediums: Screen-Printing Basics - Building Community through Art

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Respecting That Which Gives Us Life

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Methods and Mediums: Indigenous Feminism and Critical Approaches to Relationality

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Gender-Based Violence and Displacement: The Human Cost of War, Colonialism and the Climate Crisis

Giganwenimaanaanig

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Pushed Out, Worn Down: Urban Displacement and the Crises of Social Reproduction in Delhi

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