"The Crying Need For Indian Foster Homes": Indigenous Women Challenge State Child Welfare Practices With Sarah Nickel, PhD.
March 12, 2024
Dr. Sarah Nickel

The Centre for Human Rights Research (CHRR) hosted a seminar titled “The crying need for Indian foster homes”: Indigenous Women Challenge State Child Welfare Practices with Dr. Sarah Nickel (UAlberta) on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at 2:30 pm in 543-544 UMSU University Centre.
Sarah Nickel is Tk’emlúpsemc, French Canadian, and Ukrainian, and an associate professor of History at the University of Alberta. Her work focuses on twentieth century Indigenous politics and the gendered nature of political work drawing on community- engaged methodologies. Her first book, Assembling Unity: Indigenous Politics, Gender, and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs was published in 2019 with UBC Press and won the Canadian Historical Association’s prize for Best Book in Indigenous History in 2020. Sarah’s second monograph, Active Women: Indigenous Women’s Social and Political Work in Kanata’s West will be published with the University of Toronto Press in late 2024.
This seminar is a part of our annual Critical Conversations seminar series. This year, the seminar series focused on the CHRR’s research theme Reproductive and Bodily Justice and explored histories of the body, reproduction, and care in Canada and beyond.

Innocents Behind Bars: Systemic Racism and Wrongful Convictions
Innocents Behind Bars: Systemic Racism and Wrongful Convictions
November 28, 2023
Amanda Carling, James Lockyer, Alice Kim, Gregory Banks, Niigaan Sinclair, Elder Robert Greene

On November 28, 2023, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Centre for Human Rights Research (University of Manitoba), and the Faculty of Law (University of Manitoba) co-organized and sponsored a public event “Innocents Behind Bars: Systemic Racism and Wrongful Convictions.”
We were honoured to welcome:
- Amanda Carling, CEO, BC First Nations Justice Council
- James Lockyer, Founding Director, Innocence Canada
- Alice Kim, Director of Human Rights Practice, Centre for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture
- Gregory Banks, Torture Survivor and Learning Fellow, Chicago Torture Justice Center (joining virtually)
- Facilitated by Dr. Niigaan Sinclair, Indigenous Studies, University of Manitoba
- Opening remarks from Elder Robert Greene, Canadian Museum for Human Rights

Messy Ethics in Human Rights Work Book Launch
Messy Ethics in Human Rights Work Book Launch
October 26, 2023
Dr. Neil Bilotta, Dr. Christina Clark-Kazak, Dr. Maritza Felices-Luna, Dr.Shayna Plaut, Dr. Lara Rosenoff Gauvin.

Every day, those doing human rights work are confronted with irresolvable ethical dilemmas that extend beyond institutional ethical processes. Messy Ethics in Human Rights Work invites readers into a series of overlapping conversations, as activists, researchers, artists, and others reflect on the complex disorderliness of ethics in practice, and the implications for human rights work. Contributors share situations when they were ethically stuck between a rock and hard place. What happened? What would they do differently next time? This work proposes that personal reflection and collective, sometimes uncomfortable discussion, are essential components of critical human rights practice.
On Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 7pm, in collaboration with McNally Robinson Grant Park and UBC Press, the Centre for Human Rights Research hosted a launch of the book with a conversation with the co-editors exploring what ethics means in the human rights work they do.
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Islamophobia and Colonial Violence: Solidarity and Civil Resistance in Post-9/11 Manitoba
Islamophobia and Colonial Violence: Solidarity and Civil Resistance in Post-9/11 Manitoba
October 25, 2023
Dr. Youcef Soufi

On October 25, 2023, the Centre for Human Rights Research (CHRR) hosted a seminar on the topic of islamophobia and colonial violence with Dr. Youcef Soufi from the Institute of Islamic Studies at the University of Toronto. The event focused on the experiences of solidarity and civil resistance of Muslim Canadians in the aftermath of 9/11 and during the US’s global war on terror.
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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.
She is Sacred: Reflections on the National Inquiry into MMIWG2S+
She is Sacred: Reflections on the National Inquiry into MMIWG2S+
October 6, 2023
Dr. Karine Duhamel, Dawn Chartrand

The content in this video 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 October 6, 2023, Indigenous Engagement and Communications and the Centre for Human Rights Research hosted “An Event in Honour of the National Day of Action on MMIWG2S+” with Dr. Karine Duhamel and Dawn Chartrand.
Dr. Karine Duhamel’s talk was entitled “She is Sacred: Reflections on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.”
Karine Duhamel is Anishinaabe-Métis and a member of Red Rock First Nation. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Allison University, a Bachelor of Education from Lakehead University and a Master’s degree and PhD in History from the University of Manitoba. From 2018 to 2019, she was Director of Research for the historic National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, drafting the Final Report, directing the Legacy Archive, and managing the Forensic Document Review Project. She is now Director of Indigenous Strategy for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, working to implement the strategic plan focused on supporting Indigenous research and researchers.
Following Dr. Duhamel’s talk, we participated in a Laughing Yoga workshop with Dawn Chartrand.
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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.
Teach-In For Reconciliation
Teach-In For Reconciliation
September 29, 2023
Dr. Sean Carlton, Dr. Cary Miller Marc Kruse, Dr. Brenda Gunn

On September 29th 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 that took place at the Investors Group Athletic Centre. The Teach-In covered topics including combating Residential School denialism; the Doctrine of Discovery and the Pope’s apology; the Peace and Friendship treaties which were formed at the Treaty of Niagara; and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

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When the land hurts: Indigenous Feminism on Suicide, Environmental Violence, and the Struggle for Inhabitability
June 15, 2023
Dr. Jeffrey Ansloos

On June 15, 2023, CHRR was thrilled to host Dr. Jeffrey Ansloos for a seminar entitled “When the land hurts: Indigenous feminism on suicide, environmental violence, and the struggle for inhabitability.”

What Could Harm Reduction Look Like in Manitoba?
April 20, 2023
Dr. Marcia Anderson, Tristan Dreilich, Dr. Shawna Ferris, Levi Foy, Shohan Ilsley. Introductions from Elder Margaret Lavallee and facilitated by Kohkum Leslie Spillett
Harm reduction is founded in public health, community, and social justice. Health, safety, and freedom from discrimination are all rights enshrined in Canadian, Indigenous, and international laws and protocols. They have also become highly politicized points of policy here in Manitoba – with sharp distinctions between urban and rural realities. The focus on political calculation rather than health and wellness has led to an increasing amount of neglect, hospitalizations, and deaths of fellow Manitobans – particularly in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
On April 20th, 2023, we hosted a roundtable to learn from practitioners, scholars, and advocates (and those who identify as a combination of all three) involved in harm reduction throughout the province. The event was co-organized by the Centre for Social Science Research and Policy (UM), the Centre for Human Rights Research (UM), Ongomiizwin, and University of Winnipeg’s Global College.

Housing Discrimination and Human Rights
April 5, 2023
Dr. Megan Earle, Mary Burton, Azarias Butariho, Dr. Nancy Hansen, Ryan McKay

On Apr. 5, 2023, the Centre for Human Rights Research (CHRR) and the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) co-hosted a virtual webinar to learn about the CCHR’s new discrimination audit report and engage with local advocates, community workers, and researchers in a discussion about housing discrimination in Winnipeg. Read the full CCHR report: “Sorry, it’s rented” at https://housingrightscanada.com/reports/sorry-its-rented-2022/

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Rethinking Borders: A panel on Transnational Movements, Resistance, Identity, and Gender
April 3, 2023
Dr. Lorena Fontaine, Dr. Shauna Labman, Dr. Rob Lorway, Dr. Shayna Plaut, Dr. Lori Wilkinson

In collaboration with Global College at the University of Winnipeg, our third critical conversation took place on Apr. 3, 2023 and featured Drs. Lorena Fontaine, Shauna Labman, Rob Lorway, Shayna Plaut, and Lori Wilkinson.
The conversation was wide-ranging and touched on a variety of topics. Panelists identified – based on their research and expertise – the borders that matter, how they matter, who made them and why, as well as what they cross, both literally and metaphorically. They also discussed the limits and power of borders, the ways in which their research (or the subjects of their research) cross borders, the research and/or activism that has most guided or inspired them, and the kind of research that is most needed to meet the challenges of the present.

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