On Monday, May 5th, 2025, Indigenous Engagement and Communications, the Centre for Human Rights Research, and the Margaret Laurence Endowment Fund (Women’s & Gender Studies) at the University of Manitoba invite you to join an event in honour of National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ (MMIWG2S+) people, also known as Red Dress Day. The event will take place in Centre Space, Russell Building, 84 Curry Place at the University of Manitoba.

The event will begin with a traditional Pipe Ceremony and Water Ceremony at 1:30 p.m., creating a space for reflection and connection. For the ceremony, ribbon skirts are encouraged but not necessary. You may also bring tobacco, but some will be available.  

Following the ceremony, Cambria Harris, whose work is driven by her family’s loss and the crisis affecting the Indigenous community, will share her advocacy work, raise awareness about MMIWG2S+ crisis, and share ways to get involved in the community. 

At 3:30 p.m., all are invited to participate in an informal beading circle. Dr. Sherry Farrell Racette will be working on a community art piece, incorporating beadwork created on October 4, 2024 during the Provincial Day of Awareness and the National Day of Action for MMIWG2S+. 

This event is an opportunity to honor and remember all those affected by MMIWG2S+, to come together in community to heal and reclaim spaces.  To learn more about MMIW2S+, please see our Resource Guide.

Light snacks will be served. For information on getting to the University of Manitoba, see: https://umanitoba.ca/about-um/our-campuses/getting-here

About the Presenters

Cambria Harris, MMIWG2S+ Community Advocate/Impacted Family Member

My spirit name is West Flying Sparrow Woman, and I am a proud member of Long Plain First Nation. I became a MMIWG2S+ advocate after learning that my mother Morgan Harris was murdered, alongside three other Indigenous woman by a serial killer in 2022. From learning of my mom’s disappearance, to fighting for her justice, to fighting to get her out of a landfill, I hope to share my stories of resilience and strength with everyone in. I was 22 when I started this fight, to now being 24, and ready to share my story and reclaim space, as a mother and a matriarch.

Dr. Sherry Farrell Racette

Sherry Farrell Racette is an interdisciplinary scholar with an active arts and curatorial practice. Her work is grounded in story: stories of people, stories that objects tell, painting stories, telling stories and finding stories. She has done extensive work in archives and museum collections with an emphasis on retrieving women’s voices and recovering knowledge. Most recently she was cross-appointed to the Departments of Native Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Manitoba. Farrell Racette also had an extensive career in Saskatchewan education, working at SUNTEP Regina (GDI), First Nations University of Canada, and the University of Regina. She remains committed to experiential learning and Indigenous pedagogies. 

Join Jaimie Isaac (Just Waters Artist In Residence), Dr. Aimée Craft (Decolonizing Water, University of Ottawa), KC Adams (Artist) and Taylor Galvin (Mother Earth Protector, Scientist, Community Organizer) for a conversation about water and the role of art and community organization in a precarious time. Recognizing our relationship to water encourages a responsibility to protect what is sacred. As water carriers, the women carry a responsibility for water stewardship. Walking with community in support, how can we make change and live in reciprocity with the land and water? 

Many Indigenous peoples globally recognize that water is sacred, and countries have passed groundbreaking laws granting legal personhood status to their water systems, honoring the Indigenous peoples’ perspective of waters as relatives and ancestors. This discussion will focus on interdisciplinary perspectives on community advocacy for water, living in relation to water and seeing the messages in the water through art. 

6:00 pm Doors open + food

6:30 pm Panel

FREE

No registration required

Note: Use the entrance at the corner of Memorial Blvd and St. Mary Ave- the new part of WAG-Qaumajuq. The event takes place in Ilavut – Entrance Hall and Ilipvik – Learning Steps.

If you have accessibility requirements, including translation, please email sarah.deckert@umanitoba.ca at least one week before the event.

This event is the third and final installment in the CHRR’s 2025 Critical Conversations series. This year, the series of three public events is held in partnership with WAG-Qaumajuq and focuses on water and justice. Just Waters: Thinking with Hydro-Social Relations for a More Just and Sustainable World, the Centre for Human Rights Research, and the University of Manitoba’s United Nations Academic Impact Hub for Sustainable Development Goal 6 Last Drop speaker series, are collaborating to host these events. Funding is provided by the University of Manitoba’s IGNITE program, with in-kind contributions from WAG-Qaumajuq.

About the Speakers

Jaimie Isaac

Jaimie Isaac (she/her/hers) 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.

KC Adams

KC Adams (Anishinaabe/Ininnew/British) is a registered Fisher River Cree Nation member living in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with a B.F.A. from Concordia University and an M.A. in Cultural Studies, Curatorial Stream from the University of Winnipeg. She is a relational maker, a creator whose work connects to Indigenous knowledge systems and is also an educator, activist, community member and mentor. KC has had several solo and group exhibitions and residencies and has been in three biennales, including the PHOTOQUAI: Biennale des images du monde in Paris, France. Twenty pieces from the Cyborg Hybrid series are in the permanent collection of the National Art Gallery in Ottawa, and four trees from Birch Bark Ltd are in the Canadian Consulate of Australia, NSW collection. Adams was awarded the Winnipeg Arts Council’s Making A Mark Award, Canada’s Senate 150 medal, the Ohpinamake Award in Indigenous Art and the Quill & Quire’s 2019 Books of the Year.

Dr. Aimée Craft

Aimée Craft is an award-winning teacher and researcher, recognized internationally as a leader in the area of Indigenous laws, treaties and water. She holds a University Research Chair Nibi miinawaa aki inaakonigewin: Indigenous governance in relationship with land and water.

An Associate Professor at the Faculty of Common law, University of Ottawa and an Indigenous (Anishinaabe-Métis) lawyer from Treaty 1 territory in Manitoba, she is the former Director of Research at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and the founding Director of Research at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. She practiced at the Public Interest Law Centre for over a decade and in 2016 she was voted one of the top 25 most influential lawyers in
Canada. In 2021 she was awarded the prestigious Canadian Bar Association President’s Award.

Prof. Craft prioritizes Indigenous-lead and interdisciplinary research, including through visual arts and film, co-leads a series of major research grants on Decolonizing Water Governance and works with many Indigenous nations and communities on Indigenous relationships with and responsibilities to nibi (water). She plays an active role in international collaborations relating to transformative memory in colonial contexts and relating to the reclamation of Indigenous birthing practices as expressions of territorial sovereignty.

Breathing Life Into the Stone Fort Treaty, her award-winning book, focuses on understanding and interpreting treaties from an Anishinaabe inaakonigewin (legal) perspective. Treaty Words, her critically acclaimed children’s book, explains treaty philosophy and relationships.

She is past chair of the Aboriginal Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association and a current member of the Speaker’s Bureau of the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba.

Taylor Galvin

Taylor Galvin, an Anishinaabe-Kwe scientist from Baaskaandibewiiziibiing (Brokenhead Ojibway Nation), is a graduate student at the University of Manitoba. Her research centers on protecting Lake Sturgeon in Manitoba through the use of Indigenous science. She has made significant contributions across various fields, notably as a knowledge keeper in the Lake Winnipeg Personhood case in partnership with the Southern Chief’s Organization. On the international stage, she has worked with Maya youth in Belize to advance planetary wellness and food sovereignty initiatives. Additionally, she has provided counsel to the Canadian Ambassador in the Netherlands on the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge into sustainability projects. As a guest lecturer, she teaches First Nations ecology, Indigenous medicinal plants, and land-based healing practices. Taylor is currently the Host & Creator of the TeaPee Podcast, Director of the Brokenhead Wetland Ecological Reserve and holds positions on several boards that advocate for Indigenous perspectives.

What if the river was a person? If it held personhood status, what rights would that provide the river, if any? Nibi is an ongoing work that poses the concept of the Red River and Lake Winnipeg gaining personhood through supporting the work of others that have been advocating on behalf of these waterways. Embedded in the project is a collective worldview that water is sacred. 

Join Jaimie Isaac, Just Waters Artist-in-Residence in a workshop that promotes collective care through building resonant relationships and connections with water. Invited guest Daniel Gladu Kanu of the Lake Winnipeg Indigenous Collective will share a large-scale watershed map, offering an experience in geography, history and culture. Participants will also engage in a collective activity of mixed media art-making and advocacy for water protection. (No art skills required!)

Register here!

Join Dr. Jeffrey Ansloos (University of Toronto) and Rick Harp (Media Indigena) for a conversation about water and colonial injustice in a time of climate crisis.  From waterless reserves, to flooded homelands and weaponized water, water flows through Indigenous peoples’ experience of colonialism in what is now Canada and beyond. How can we navigate the politics of water and colonialism in a world being remade by climate change, especially considering the mental health implications for communities whose connections to water are disrupted? This discussion will center on the intersection of environmental justice and mental health, and the urgent need for healing and reclamation.

6:00 pm Doors open + food

6:30 pm Conversation

FREE

No registration required

If you have accessibility requirements, including translation, please email sarah.deckert@umanitoba.ca at least one week before the event.

This event is the second installment in the CHRR’s annual Critical Conversations series. This year, the series of three public events is held in partnership with WAG-Qaumajuq and will focus on water and justice. Just Waters: Thinking with Hydro-Social Relations for a More Just and Sustainable World, the Centre for Human Rights Research, and the University of Manitoba’s United Nations Academic Impact Hub for Sustainable Development Goal 6 Last Drop speaker series, are collaborating to host these events. Funding is provided by the University of Manitoba’s IGNITE program, with in-kind contributions from WAG-Qaumajuq.

About the Speakers

Dr. Jeffrey Ansloos

Jeffrey Ansloos, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Indigenous Health and Social Policy and is the Tier II Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Studies of Health and Environmental Justice. His ongoing SSHRC Insight research project investigates the effects of extractivism, neoliberalism, and climate change on suicidal distress among First Nations and Inuit populations. As the founding director of the Critical Health and Social Action Lab, Ansloos oversees a Canada Foundation for Innovation-funded research center that supports community-based action research aimed at promoting health, social, and environmental justice. He is the theme lead for the Indigenous suicide prevention and complex crisis response stream within the Ontario Network Environment for Indigenous Health Research through CIHR. He is the author of The Medicine of Peace: Indigenous Youth Resisting Violence and Decolonizing Healing and Thunder and the Noise Storms, with forthcoming titles including Indigenous X: Networks of Relations and Resistance During and After Twitter and Against Annihilation: Indigenous Struggles for Inhabitable Worlds and Livable Lives. Ansloos is a Member of the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists in the Royal Society of Canada. Dr. Ansloos is Cree and English and a citizen of the Fisher River Cree Nation (Ochekwi-Sipi; Treaty 5).

Rick Harp

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Rick Harp is part of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in what’s currently known as northern Saskatchewan. First bit hard in the 90s by the radio bug at campus/community station CKCU-FM in Ottawa, Harp’s 30-odd-years in media includes national and regional stints at CBC Radio, NCI-FM, and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), along with 350+ episodes as host/producer of the MEDIA INDIGENA podcast.

Are you planning a multi-media artwork but want some feedback? Interested in what it’s like to be a curator? Have some ideas about combining art and advocacy?

Come meet with Just Waters Artist-in-Residence Jaimie Isaac on March 19 from 11 am to 2:30 pm in 342 Education! 

Set up a 30-minute appointment by emailing sarah.deckert@umanitoba.ca, or just stop by.

Stay tuned for more information about Jaimie’s Action through Art Workshop on March 26.

Join Just Waters, the Centre for Human Rights Research, and The Last Drop at WAG-Qaumajuq for a panel on Indigenous Water, Indigenous Science with Dr. Myrle Ballard (University of Calgary), Dr. Az Klymiuk (University of Manitoba) and Dr. Miguel Uyaguari-Diaz (University of Manitoba).  The panelists will speak to the relationality of their work, the challenges and possibilities, and what keeps them going.

This panel is the first installment in the CHRR’s annual Critical Conversations series.  This year, the series of three public events is held in partnership with WAG-Qaumajuq and will focus on water and justice.  Just Waters: Thinking with Hydro-Social Relations for a More Just and Sustainable World, the Centre for Human Rights Research, and the University of Manitoba’s United Nations Academic Impact Hub for Sustainable Development Goal 6 Last Drop speaker series, are collaborating to host these events.  Funding is provided by the University of Manitoba’s IGNITE program, with in-kind contributions from WAG-Qaumajuq.

6:00 pm Doors open + food

6:30 pm Panel discussion

FREE

No registration required

If you have accessibility requirements, including translation, please email sarah.deckert@umanitoba.ca at least one week before the event.

About the Speakers

Dr. Myrle Ballard

Dr. Myrle Ballard is a Canada Research Chair in Weaving Indigenous Science and Sustainability Science and Associate Professor in the Dept. of Earth, Energy, and Environment at the University of Calgary. She stood-up the new Indigenous Science Division at Environment and Climate Change Canada. Anishinaabe from Lake St. Martin First Nation, Dr. Ballard’s research explores Three-eyed seeing and how her fluency in Anishinaabe mowin can transform approaches to water resource management using Anishinaabe mowin baseline indicators.  Dr. Ballard also serves on a number of committees and working groups, with a recent appointment as Chair, World Water Quality Alliance. She was also appointed as a Scoping expert for the second IPBES global assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services; and Expert for the IPBES task force on Indigenous and local knowledge. Her other research interests include but are not limited to, climate change, and sustainability of flooding/displacement. 

Dr. Az Klymiuk

Dr. Az Klymiuk, an assistant professor and Indigenous Scholar in Science at the University of Manitoba, is an autistic, two-spirit, first-generation Cree Métis and Slavic citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta.  Klymiuk grew up in subsistence-dominated lifeways in Treaty 8 Territory in northern Alberta, near the confluence of the Peace and Notikewin rivers.  They remain deeply connected to this land, and Indigenous ways of relating to other-than-human kin.  At the University of Manitoba, Klymiuk conducts research into plant mycobiomes, and is currently investigating how plant-fungal partnerships can be utilized to support Indigenous-led initiatives for manômin (wild rice) conservation, restoration, and food sovereignty.  Their work is supported by NSERC-CRSNG, SSHRC-CRSH’s New Frontiers in Research Foundation, and the University of Manitoba’s Collaborative Research and Fieldwork Support programs.

Dr. Ayush Kumar

Ayush is a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Associate Dean-Strategic Initiatives in the Faculty of Science at the University of Manitoba. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, he was President of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists (2021–22). His research focuses on multidrug resistance in Gram-negative bacteria, including antibiotic resistance mechanisms, environmental factors, and genetic tools. His group also studies water quality in First Nation communities in Manitoba.

Dr. Miguel Uyaguari-Diaz

Assistant Professor/Indigenous Scholar at the University of Manitoba since July 2019. I hail from Naranjal, a small town in the countryside of Ecuador. I did my undergraduate in Ecuador in Marine Biology. I migrated to the USA in 2005 to pursue graduate studies in Aquatic Ecotoxicology and Molecular Microbial Ecology. I was a postdoctoral fellow and Senior Research Associate for ~8 years at the University of British Columbia and British Columbia Centre for Disease Control. My current research focuses on anthropogenic activities and their impact on water quality and aquatic ecosystems. I use culture independent approaches such as function and sequenced based metagenomics, quantitative PCR, bioinformatics and statistical tools to study diversity, abundance and dynamics/interactions of microbiomes particularly the resistome.

On Thursday, February 13 at 10:15 am, please join the Centre for Human Rights Research (CHRR) and the Community-Based Research Training Centre (CBRTC) at the University of Winnipeg for a workshop with Dr. Julie Chamberlain (UWinnipeg) and Dr. Christine Mayor (UManitoba) introducing community-based research to human rights and social justice researchers. The workshop will be held in 108 St. John’s College. Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome to attend.

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.

Register now: https://forms.office.com/r/wChANCDUym

About the facilitators:

Dr. Julie Chamberlain is Assistant Professor in Urban and Inner-City Studies at the University of Winnipeg, and co-lead of the Community-Based Research Training Centre, which is a joint initiative of the Manitoba Research Alliance and the University of Winnipeg. Her research and teaching focuses on anti-racist and anti-oppressive approaches to urban spaces and social relations, including community planning and development, and community-based research at the neighbourhood scale. Find out more about her work at https://juliechamberlain.org/

Dr. Christine Mayor is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba. She is the founder of Creative Community Change Research and a Research Affiliate at Centre for Human Rights Research, with a commitment to community-based scholarship on traumatizing conditions, racist and systemic oppression, and the advancement of liberatory and creative practices, policies, and education.

For more information, email us at chrrman@umanitoba.ca or h.scotland@uwinnipeg.ca

On Thursday, February 6th 2025, at 1:30 pm, please join the Centre for Human Rights Research and the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Manitoba for a webinar on “My Body, My Choice, Our Struggle: A Conversation on Reproductive Justice.”

We are honoured to host this panel discussion on the struggles and movements for reproductive justice featuring: Kemlin Nembhard (Women’s Health Clinic); Jacquie Nicholson (Feminist AF Marching Band), Harlie Pruder (Northern Reproductive Justice Network), and Linda Taylor (Founding Board of Directors of Women’s Health Clinic).

If you are interested in supporting reproductive justice in Winnipeg, please consider a donation to Women’s Health Clinic.

About the Panelists

Kemlin Nembhard

Kemlin Nembhard has been a passionate supporter of Women’s Health Clinic for many years. She was a member of the Board of Directors for two terms in the late 90’s and early 00’s.  

In October 2021, Kemlin became WHC Executive Director, after filling the role of Interim Executive Director for over a year. 

Kemlin is dedicated to equity, justice and building stronger communities. She’s been involved with the Canadian Federation of Students, Daniel McIntyre St. Matthews Community Organization and The Canadian Women’s Health Network, where she was the National Health Educator. Kemlin has also served on the boards of community organizations such as SEED, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, Herizons Magazine, and West End Cultural Centre. 

Kemlin uses her extensive experience as a community leader, organizer, facilitator and collaborator to guide WHC in its role as a unique, innovative and essential part of Manitoba’s health care network. She and WHC always focus on putting the client first – hearing and trusting people’s understanding of their own bodies and health and wellness needs  

Jacquie Nicholson

Jacquie Nicholson is a founding member of the Feminist as Fuck (FAF) Marching Band, a group of activist musicians devoted to promoting reproductive justice in Winnipeg and beyond. The band was originally formed in 2018 to confront anti-choice activists harassing people outside the Health Sciences centre but has since evolved into a more all-purpose feminist musical presence at picket lines, Pride parades, pro-choice rallies, and other community events. They are always welcoming new members of all skill levels, so if you’re feminist af and play an instrument, or want to learn one, feel free to get in touch!    

Harlie Pruder

Harlie Pruder (she/they) is a Two-Spirit Métis activist, community organizer, and researcher based in Northern Manitoba. With a deep commitment to reproductive justice and 2SLGBTQIA+ rights, Harlie works at the intersections of gender, Indigeneity, and Northern realities to advocate for equitable access to healthcare and safe, affirming spaces. Harlie’s activism is grounded in a vision of self-determined, community-led solutions that center the voices of those most impacted by systemic injustice. Through research, advocacy, and grassroots organizing, they continue to push for policies and initiatives that reflect the needs and realities of Northern and Indigenous communities. 

Linda Taylor

Linda Taylor has been involved in the women’s movement since 1969, with a focus on women’s liberation, reproductive justice, and abortion rights. In 1981, she was a Founding Board member of the Women’s Health Clinic. She also developed and managed Resources for Adolescent Parents to provide supports for young sole parents. She was co-Chair of the Coalition for Reproductive Choice which worked to establish the abortion clinic now part of Women’s Health Clinic.