[Lois]

McMaster Amnesty is having their 2nd annual mini-conference on human rights. The focus of this year's conference is Human Rights in Canada.

Our first workshop will be by Settlement Integration Services Organization (SISO), which will be focused on immigration rights and the challenges that new immigrants face. 6:15 to 7 PM in MDCL 1010

Our key note speaker will be by Dr. Ibhawoh, who is the Director for the Centre of Peace Studies and a History Professor at McMaster.

His talk will be on "Canada and International Human Rights." The talk will focus on Canada's implementation of international human rights standards - the successes that have made and violations that persist. 7-8 PM in MDCL 1309

A letter write/sign-a-thon will follow shortly after. Some cases of interest are the Bill C-300, Stolen Sisters campaign, and the case of Huseyin Celil (a Canadian citizen from Burlington, who is being detained in China after an unfair trial).

Admission is free and there is free food.

This sounds like a bash Canada event.

Jo, it's not intended to be.

During many of his talks, Dr. Ibhawoh constantly mentions how Canada is a world leader in human rights. This discussion is an assessment of where we're at now, how have we been successful, and what areas need to be improved upon. One of the interesting things about Dr. Ibhawoh talks is that he always manages to put a positive and constructive spin on topics.

From my personal perspective:
I can definitely see areas where Human Rights injustices are happening (e.g. with respect to Indigenous Rights) in Canada. But, I can assure you that I love this country. It's about taking something good and making it even better.

I enjoy learning about and protecting human rights, but I've found that many of the cases are focused on international issues. I have always been a strong proponent of being globally aware, but also acting locally - thus, any opportunity to learn more about helping the local (Canadian) community is definitely interesting.


Any questions can be directed to [email protected]

Dr. Ibhawoh is a very good speaker, his guest lecture was quite possibly the only thing I didn't hate about Peace Studies 1A03.

Just because Canada is a great Country doesn't mean it doesn't have room for improvement. There are people who can be very over the top and their comments could be considered bashing but I don't think Dr. Ibhawoh is one of those people.