Resources - Centre for Human Rights Research

Interconnections of Water and Menstrual Justice: Understanding Water Justice as a Menstrual Justice Issue in Canada

July 9, 2026

Emma Cowman

Cover of SG&P volume 9 features a rainbow swirl of colour.

Menstrual justice is deeply interconnected with water justice, yet these topics remain largely siloed in policy and research—particularly in Canada, where water access is often assumed to be a non-issue. However, existing literature reveals that inadequate water and infrastructure significantly affect menstrual hygiene, dignity, and health, which are key to achieving menstrual justice. While much of the research on menstruation and water is focused on the Global South, the reality of water access, infrastructure, and injustices for menstruators in the Global North, particularly in Canada, remains vastly overlooked. In Canada, unhoused individuals, incarcerated populations, and Indigenous peoples disproportionately experience water insecurity in addition to facing limited or costly access to menstrual supplies. Without access to clean water and hygiene resources, menstruators face heightened risks to their health and safety, while also being denied the ability to manage their monthly cycles with dignity, thus perpetuating gender inequality. Through an examination and analysis of the existing literature, this paper discusses the issues and interconnections of menstrual and water justice, highlighting the historical focus on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in the Global South, and the vast oversight of these issues in the Global North. Specifically in Canada, where the issues of menstrual and water injustices are contextualized within broader structures of settler-colonialism, patriarchy, racism, and capitalism, thus illustrating how systemic inequities shape access to water and the experiences of menstruation.

See the full article by Emma Cowman in Sexuality, Gender & Policy (SGP), a journal that focuses on the social, political, and cultural dimensions of sexuality, as well as policy-relevant research on issues related to sexual health, sexual rights, and sexuality education. The journal aims to examine and expand traditional definitions and boundaries within the realm of gender and sexuality, while acknowledging conditions of inequality, marginality, and post-coloniality.

Indigenous Feminism & Critical Approaches to Relationality with Dr. Gina Starblanket

June 22, 2026

Dr. Gina Starblanket

The Centre for Human Rights Research was honoured to host Dr. Gina Starblanket for a talk on Indigenous feminism and critical approaches to relationality. The talk was held on Friday, February 27th, 2026 on the University of Manitoba – Fort Garry Campus. This talk explored Indigenous feminist and other critical approaches to relationality in academic research and writing. It provided examples of applied practices and reviews the implications of Indigenous feminist approaches across diverse sites and scales.

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Just Waters is Learning With the Land

June 2, 2026

Sarah Deckert, Aiden Hindmarch, Majestic Moerland and Ashly Persaud

On May 21, 2026, Just Waters participated in the Louis Riel School Division’s 2nd annual Learning With the Land: A Gathering to Celebrate and Dream. Held at The Forks, students and staff came together with community organizations to celebrate and learn more about land-based learning, Indigenous worldviews, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Just Waters Indigenous Summer Intern Majestic Moerland, Centre for Earth Observation Studies student researcher Aiden Hindmarch, and Centre for Human Rights Research student researcher Ashly Persaud planned and facilitated an interactive booth exploring issues of water and justice. Read on for their reflections!

This event was an exciting opportunity to engage with young people on various topics regarding the environment and our relationship with water as humans.

Our interactive booth varied with presentations highlighting PH testing, and density tank demonstrations of salt water and fresh water, relating them to current on-going climate issues. It was a great experience listening to and connecting with students on what they observed through the examples. Allowing students to engage and communicate with own hypothesis on the tests was insightful and interesting.

As youth watched and listened to demonstrations, they were able to practice their artistic abilities and create buttons to take home from the event. Students were prompted with the question “What does water mean to you?” and asked to creatively design their personal button in response.

This activity allowed not only students, but everyone present to reflect on what water truly means to them. It was powerful and refreshing to connect with students on their relations to water. While students expressed their creativity with button making, we were able to witness our youth think holistically about their answers and consider all living things such as animals, plants, and insects. These buttons represent a deeper reflection into personal connection and relation with water.

The Learning With the Land event was an exciting opportunity to teach and learn from young brilliant minds who were equally passionate about protecting and living with our relative nibi (water).
Majestic moerland

Ashly Persaud, Majestic Moerland and Aiden Hindmarch at the Just Waters booth

Ashly Persaud, Majestic Moerland and Aiden Hindmarch engage with a group of students

Participating in the Learning with the Land event was so much fun. One thing I love to talk about is encouraging the youth to look at our environment from a different perspective. Normally, from my experience, many children see rivers and lakes as places for recreation, like fishing, swimming, or transportation… while they aren’t wrong, there are many ways to look at water such as understanding how these systems function, the biodiversity they support, the wildlife that depends on them and the important role they play in sustaining communities.

To help students think more critically about how our water systems are being used, we held three demonstrations that students were free to explore. They could learn about the pH scale and what happens when water systems skew too far on both ends of the pH scale, discover what happens when salt water and freshwater mix, or reflect on their personal connection to water by creating a button based on a word, phrase or symbol that is meaningful to them.

For me, the best part of the day was when I made a mistake during one of my demonstrations, and the group of students was quick to point it out. I found it inspiring to see the courage in that group to correct a university student, their enthusiasm and engagement, and it left me with a reinforced belief that learning goes both ways, especially when connecting different perspectives, and that experience highlights the importance of these events.
Aiden HindMarch

Creating Systemic Change through the Red Dress Alert with Sandra Delaronde

May 26, 2026

Sandra Delaronde

On Thursday, May 7th, 2026, Giganawenimaanaanig and the Centre for Human Rights Research at the University of Manitoba hosted 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. In 2026, we were honoured to host Sandra Delaronde to speak on “Creating Systemic Change through the Red Dress Alert”.

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Calling for Justice and Re-Imagining Governance: A Zotero Library

May 26, 2026

Hope Ace, Kyra Campbell, and Ashley Daniels

The Calling for Justice and Re-imagining Governance project aims to bring together knowledge on the interconnected historical and contemporary factors contributing to the systemic marginalization of Indigenous women to outline actionable steps towards rematriation – to restoring Indigenous women’s human rights and leadership roles. This Zotero library compiles various journal articles, books, reports, and other resources used within the project.

Access the Zotero library here.

Artwork by Micaela Gilbert, 2025.

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

May 15, 2026

Arpita Biswas

In collaboration with the Faculty of Arts and the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, the Centre for Human Rights Research hosted Dr. Arpita Biswas from the Department of Economics at the University of Manitoba for a lecture titled “Pushed Out, Worn Down: Urban Displacement and the Crises of Social Reproduction in Delhi”. The lecture was held on On Wednesday, April 1, 2026.

This seminar is a part of our annual Critical Conversations seminar series. This year, the seminar series focuses on feminist research methodologies, exploring various ways research is done within feminist and anti-oppressive scholarship.

Watch a video of the lecture below.

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The Interconnections of Water and Menstrual Justice in Canada

February 6, 2025

Emma Cowman

Images of blue and pink, with white swirls and drops

As part of the Just Waters project, researchers, students, and co-resistors from the University of Manitoba, Douglas College, and Moon Time Connections are coming together to explore the interconnections between water and menstrual justice in Canada. Check out this primer to learn more.

Water and Menstrual Justice_Feb 2025 Download

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.

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Calling for Justice and Re-Imagining Governance - A Final Report

May 1, 2026

Hope Ace, Sandra DeLaronde, Adele Perry, Pauline Tennent, Kiera Ladner, Shawna Ferris, Ashley Daniels, Kyra Campbell, and Brenda Gunn

Inspired by and responding directly to the Calls for Justice offered in the National Inquiry on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls Final Report, in particular Call 1.4 which demands “urgent and special measures to ensure that Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people are represented in… governance and leadership,” the “Calling for Justice and Re-Imagining Governance” project contributes to the ongoing work of Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse kin who are actively working to stop a genocide through their leadership and governance. The aim of this project is to propose new systems of governance and expressions of self determination which centre gendered realities. This report synthesizes the key findings from the project.

Calling For Justice Report_May 2026 Download

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bell hooks mural

April 1, 2026

Bruno de Oliveira Jayme

About the Artwork

This mural was created by Dr. Bruno de Olivera Jayme as a collective art piece from his travels around the world. The mural reflects Dr. de Oliveira Jayme’s teaching pedagogy, which uses art as a way of learning about issues in social justice alongside one another. Each piece of the artwork was made by event participants who were given a 10×10-inch piece of canvas to paint or write on as guided by a prompt.

The mural is now displayed in the office of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Manitoba.

…people come to the events… and they receive a 10 by 10 little square, not very intimidating. Because when you ask adults to paint something, to make art, it’s scary… But when you ask them to paint something in a little scary, it’s not that intimidating because it’s not very big. And I give them a prompt. And so they did, and once they did, we assembled the pieces together. And a larger collective image formed. But it was so not scary because it was just a small piece that they were able to tell their stories through that little square. It’s so important for the collective because if one square is missing… the whole story is going to be compromised. So that’s what I’m saying. Art helps us have these difficult conversations in a light manner. The idea of community is very important… Community is an art of its own.”

Bruno de Oliveira Jayme, Humans, On Rights (March 2026)

bell hooks (1952-2021)

Author, Feminist, Activist and Scholar

From the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Born Gloria Jean Watkins to working-class parents in 1952, bell hooks grew up in the segregated city of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Her interest in poetry began at a young age as she recited the likes of Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes and Elizabeth Barrett Browning for her church community.

Despite having work published in her Sunday school magazine, hooks did not always receive praise for her writing. Always ridiculed for “talking back,” or in her perspective, daring to speak to an adult as an equal, hooks developed a sense of defiance about her. As she pursued writing, she decided to take the name “bell hooks” after her great-grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks, who was known to have sharp opinions. She chose to spell her name in lowercase to shift attention toward her ideas rather than toward her identity.

hooks received her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and was just 19 when she began working on the draft for her first book, Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism. After receiving her master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her doctorate at the University of California, Santa Cruz, hooks published her book in 1981.

Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism began a long literary career for hooks. She went on to publish over 40 books, and she won the National Book Award for Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. In her book, Remembered Rapture: The Writer at Work, hooks writes, “Writing is my passion. It is a way to experience the ecstatic. The root understanding of the word ecstasy—“to stand outside”—comes to me in those moments when I am immersed so deeply in the act of thinking and writing that everything else, even flesh, falls away.” Her most notable works, including 1994’s Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom and 2000’s All About Love: New Visions, further influenced generations of feminists, educators and artists to approach their work with love and purposefulness.

After teaching at Yale, UC Santa Cruz, Oberlin College and San Francisco State University, hooks joined Berea College in Kentucky as a “Distinguished Professor in Residence” in 2004. In 2010, Berea College opened the bell hooks Institute, which serves as a center for hooks’ poems, novels and personal artifacts.

Creating over 70 pieces of published work ranging from films to children’s books, hooks will be remembered as a force in feminist theory and in cultural criticism. Inspiring a multitude of Black and women writers after her, hooks displayed to the world that the best way to make an impact is by “talking back.” And she desired that all people, female and male, be liberated from sexist patterns, domination and oppression.”