The Centre for Human Rights Research regularly hosts a variety of events. These include workshops, interviews, roundtables, and seminar series.
Teach-In For Reconciliation
Friday, Sept. 29, 2023

In recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the Nursing Students’ Association in collaboration with the Office of the Vice-President (Indigenous), the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, the Centre for Human Rights Research, the University of Manitoba’s Student Union, PINE (Pathway to Indigenous Nursing Education), and the Indigenous Students’ Association will be hosting a day of events from 8:30 am to 3 pm.
Part of the day’s events will include a “Teach-In for Reconciliation” at Investors Group Athletic Centre from 8:30 am to 11 am.
- 8:30 am: Doors Open. The first 500 people will receive a free Orange T-Shirt.
- 8:45 am: Opening Prayer and Introductions
- 9:00 am: Dr. Sean Carleton — “Truth Before Reconciliation: How to Identify and Confront Residential School Denialism”
- 10:00 am: Dr. Cary Miller — “The Doctrine of Discovery and the Pope’s apology”
- 10:20 am: Marc Kruse — “The Peace and Friendship treaties, formed at the Treaty of Niagara”
- 10:40 am: Prof. Brenda Gunn — “The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”
We invite and encourage instructors to bring their classes to the Teach-In.
Dr. Sean Carleton is a settler historian and Assistant Professor in the departments of history and Indigenous studies. He is the author of Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of State Schooling in British Columbia (UBC Press, 2022).
A sixties scoop survivor, Dr. Cary Miller is Anishinaabe and descends from St. Croix and Leech Lake communities in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Hired as a faculty member in the History Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2002, from 2013 she served as the Director of American Indian Studies there. In 2017 she made the move to Winnipeg as the Head of Indigenous Studies and now serves as the Associate Vice President Indigenous – Scholarship, Research, and Curriculum at that institution. Her book Ogimag: Anishinaabeg leadership 1760-1845 was published with the University of Nebraska Press in 2010 and she is one of the editors of the most recent edition of Indigenous Peoples within Canada textbook from Oxford press (2023). Her research is in Anishinaabe leadership in the early 19th century, Anishinaabe women’s history, Treaties and sovereignty, Wisconsin Indian History, and Cultures of the Great Lakes Region. She is particularly interested in 18th and 19th century transborder North American Indigenous histories that centre narratives of sovereign Indigenous land use, kinship and diplomacy.
Marc Kruse, JD, is the Director of Indigenous Legal Learning and Services at Robson Hall. He is also an associate with Rees Dyck Rogala Law Offices, where he practices criminal defence representing youth and adult clients. His research interests focus on the relationship between philosophical ethics, political philosophy, and law, with special focus on the ways educational institutions can ameliorate or exacerbate legal problems. He has published work on the moral foundations of professional ethics, social justice education, and Indigenous educational ethics. Kruse completed his JD at the University of Manitoba and co-teaches Robson Hall’s Indigenous Course Requirement course – Indigenous Methodologies and Perspectives. He is a member of Muscowpetung First Nation in Saskatchewan.
As a proud Metis woman, University of Manitoba law Professor Brenda Gunn combines academic research with activism pushing for greater recognition of Indigenous peoples’ inherent rights as determined by their own legal traditions. After earning a JD at the University of Toronto and an LLM in Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy at the University of Arizona, Brenda worked at a community legal clinic in Guatemala on a case of genocide submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. She has also worked with Manitoba First Nations on Aboriginal and treaty rights issues. Brenda continues to be actively involved in the international Indigenous peoples’ movement. She developed a handbook that is one of the main resources in Canada on understanding the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and has delivered workshops on the Declaration across Canada and internationally. She has also provided technical assistance to the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 2013, Brenda participated in UN training to enhance the conflict prevention and peacemaking capacities of Indigenous Peoples’ representatives, which continues to impact her research. She aims to do research that will contribute building a more just world for her daughter, her nieces and all their relations.
Following the Teach-In for Reconciliation, we invite you to join the Nursing Students’ Association (NSA) annual walk and feast. You can also visit the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation for an Open House. More details will be shared as the event nears.
Orange Shirt Day is held in honour of Phyllis Webstad, a residential school survivor who had her new orange shirt taken away on her first day of school in Williams Lake, B.C. Learn more about Orange Shirt Day here.
Friday, October 6th, 2023 at 10am CT
An Event in Honour of the Provincial Day of Awareness & Education and the National Day of Action for MMIWG2S+
On Friday October 6th, please join Indigenous Engagement and Communications and the Centre for Human Rights Research at the University of Manitoba for an event in honour of the Provincial Day of Awareness & Education and the National Day of Action for MMIWG2S+ (which is held annually on October 4). The free event will take place in Room 543-544 University Centre, University of Manitoba.
- 10:00 – 11:15am: Dr. Karine Duhamel: “She is Sacred: Reflections on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.”
- 11:15 – 11:30 am: Health Break
- 11:30 – 12noon: Laughing Yoga with Dawn Chartrand
- 12:00 – 1:00pm: Lunch
Registration is required for the lunch. Register here!
In lieu of a registration fee, please consider donating to an Indigenous-led organization working with MMIWG2S+.
Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at 2pm CT
Islamophobia and Colonial Violence: Solidarity and Civil Resistance in Post-9/11 Manitoba
On Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at 2pm, CHRR will host Dr. Youcef Soufi who will present a seminar on “Islamophobia and Colonial Violence: Solidarity and Civil Resistance in Post-9/11 Manitoba.”
Dr. Youcef Soufi is a Research Associate with the Institute of Islamic Studies at the University of Toronto, where he led an international working group funded by the Connaught Global Challenge Foundation studying anti-Muslim racism within Western societies. He is an expert in the history of Islamic law and his first book, The Rise of Critical Islam: 10th-13th Century Legal Debate (Oxford University Press 2023), pushes back against secularist assumptions that Islam and critical speech are inherently at odds. His recent publications analyze North American Muslim communities’ responses to anti-Muslim racism in the aftermath of 9/11. He is a contributor to the volume Systemic Islamophobia in Canada, published by the University of Toronto Press earlier this year and his forthcoming book tentatively titled On the Outskirts of Empire: Radicalization and State Surveillance on the Canadian Prairies will be published with NYU Press in 2024. Dr. Soufi is a former faculty member of the University of British Columbia’s Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies Department, responsible for the department’s Islamic Studies program, and the former Chair of the Canadian Association for the Study of Islam and Muslims (CASIM).
The free talk will take place in Room 108 St. John’s College, University of Manitoba from 2:00pm – 3:30pm CT.
Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 7pm
Book Launch: Messy Ethics in Human Rights Work
On Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 7pm, the Centre for Human Rights Research is pleased to present the launch of Messy Ethics in Human Rights Work featuring co-editors Neil Bilotta, Christina Clark-Kazak, Maritza Felices-Luna, and CHRR Research Affiliates Shayna Plaut and Lara Rosenoff Gauvin.
The launch will take place at McNally Robinson Grant Park.
Live streaming will also be available through McNally Robinson’s YouTube channel here.