Robson Hall’s Mini Moot is a student-led initiative facilitated by the Clinical Experience Committee (CEC), who are appointed by the incoming Manitoba Law Students Association executives at the end of each academic year. This year’s CEC is made up of Keira Hasenack (Chair), Rachel Warner, Megan Filyk, Brayden Gray, and Chris Dick. The CEC’s objective is to promote the pursuit of clinical courses and opportunities at Robson Hall, in the interest of assisting students to become the most effective, well-rounded legal professionals possible upon graduation. 

This year, 46 students participated. The winning team was Genevieve Smith and Jayden Wlasichuk, both first-year law students, with runner-up team of Ashley Slagerman and Paige Gratton.

The judge’s panel was made up of lawyers, professors, articling students, and a sitting judge, all of whom made the Mini Moot possible through the generous provision of their time. Many thanks to all the Judges who included Assistant Professors Kennedy, MacNeil and Trask, Justice Bock, alumni and MBA members Amber Harms, Braeden Cornick, Chantal Boutin, Joan Holmstrom, Kosta Vartsakis, Eric Penner, Sharyne Hamm and Rhoni Mckenzie.

“It was so exciting to see the work we’ve been learning about in our other classes come to life in a practical way, so it was really fulfilling in that way for sure,” said Wlasichuk. “And also, a huge thank you to the folks who made it happen, and for the volunteers who spent their time and energy organizing, judging, etc., it was amazing!”

Congratulations to this year’s first and second place teams, and all the students who participated in the 2022 Mini Moot.

Williams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her efforts to ban antipersonnel landmines and for her defense of human rights. The University of Manitoba’s Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice is honoured to have her deliver the 15^th Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice.

The event series begins on Wednesday, October 24 at 2 p.m. in Marshall McLuhan Hall (UMSU University Centre, Fort Garry campus) with an open Q & A session moderated by Peace and Conflict Studies Graduate Programs Director, Dr. Adam Muller.

Williams will then meet with local women peace-builders and community activists in a session moderated by Dr. Anna Snyder, contributor to the development of the UM/UW Joint MA in Peace and Conflict Studies.

On Thursday, October 25, Williams will deliver the 15^th Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice, The Nobel Women’s Initiative: Women Supporting Women in the Pursuit of Peace at 1:30 p.m. at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

UN Landmines Treaty Earns 1997 Nobel Peace Prize

After a decade of work in the 1980s trying to stop US military involvement in El Salvador and Nicaragua, Williams was asked to create a civil society campaign to ban antipersonnel landmines. Beginning in early 1992 with two non-governmental organizations and no other staff but herself, Williams oversaw the growth of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines to over 1,300 organizations in 95 countries working to eliminate the weapon.

In an unprecedented cooperative effort with governments, UN bodies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, she served as a chief strategist and spokesperson for the ICBL as it dramatically achieved its goal of an international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines in September 1997. A few weeks later it was announced that Jody Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines would share the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.

Human Security, not National Security

Through it all, Williams continues to struggle to reclaim the real meaning of peace, which she defines by human security, not national security. “We must teach ourselves to believe that peace is not a ‘utopian vision,’ but a responsibility that must be worked for each and every day.” For Williams, working for peace requires dogged persistence and a commitment to sustainable peace, with socio-economic justice and equality.

Since January of 2006, Williams has served as the founding chair of the Nobel Women’s Initiative. Along with sister Nobel Laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi of Iran, she took the lead in establishing the Initiative. The Nobel Women’s Initiative uses the prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize and the influence and access of the women Nobel Laureates themselves to support and amplify the efforts of women around the world working for sustainable peace with justice and equality.

What: Q&A session with Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams

When: Wednesday, October 24 at 2:00 pm

Where: Marshall McLuhan Hall, 204 UMSU University Centre, Fort Garry campus

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What: 2018 Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice – “The Nobel Women’s Initiative: Women Supporting Women in the Pursuit of Peace”

When: Thursday, October 25 at 1:30 pm

Where: Canadian Museum for Human Rights

Both events are free and open to all.

“Our government is currently being much more ambitious and dedicated to this than the past government was,” said Prof. Shauna Labman, who specializes in immigration and refugee law. “And so they’re starting from zero in doing a lot of this and I think we should be supporting finding ways to make it work.”

For Abdikheir Ahmed, co-ordinator of Immigration Partnership Winnipeg, this would include the creation of a national housing strategy, certification for those teaching English to newcomer kids, and arms control to curb the supply of weapons to other countries.

A diverse group of community members came for the Visionary Conversation on Refugees – Are We Getting it Right? // Photo by Luc Desjardins

Exemption from repaying transportation and medical exam costs should not be limited to Syrians, argued Labman. “There are other refugee populations whose needs for protection are as great.”

Canadian Museum for Human Rights curator Armando Perla is still waiting for his mother to get permission to move to Canada 16 years after he came here as a refugee from El Salvador. He challenges the assumption that young men from countries plagued by terrorism are a threat to Canada. Perla originally feared he would end up cleaning streets in his new country but instead he became fluent in English and French, acquired a couple of law degrees and is giving back to the country that saved his life.

“When immigrants move to your neighbourhood, the crime rate goes down,” sociologist Lori Wilkinson pointed out. She also tackled the myth that helping refugees comes at the expense of vulnerable Canadians. “The research shows that in areas where there is more volunteerism, more giving, that begets more volunteerism and more giving and more work on social problems.”

Perla’s personal story had a powerful effect on the almost 200 people who joined the conversation but an audience member warned against parading recently arrived refugees in front of cameras to boost the image of sponsors. “How can we educate the public in Canada to stop treating refugees as pets sometimes?”

Continue the conversation at #umvisionary and save the date for upcoming Visionary Conversations events on February 24, March 16, April 20 and May 18.

After the Conversation

If you were not able to make it to the event, the full webcast is available below.

Speaker slide presentation

• Lori Wilkinson

Suggested articles

• As Europe takes a fortress mentality, Turkey quietly struggles with its own refugee crisis, Toronto Star
• IOM Regional Response to the Syria Crisis 2015, International Organization for Migration

Related websites

• Migration Law Research Cluster
• International Organization for Migration newsdesk
• Immigration Research West
• The UN Refugee Agency
• Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford

Event

• U of M International Week 2016 – Rethink Forced Migration

Join the discussion, led by University of Manitoba professors and community experts, on Wednesday, February 3, 2016, in the Robert Schultz Theatre at St. John’s College on the Fort Garry campus. The panel discussion gets underway at 7 p.m., followed by a lively question period moderated by Karen Busby, director, Centre for Human Rights Research.

“Getting it right would be a world without refugees,” says panelist Dr. Shauna Labman from the Faculty of Law. “A world in which no one had to flee home in fear, put their children’s lives at risk on sinking boats, wait for years in limbo in crowded camps or spend lifetimes separated from family. Even in moments of energized humanitarianism such as we are now seeing in Canada with the Syrian resettlement, we are merely scratching the surface of getting it right.”

The panel will also include Armando Perla, a curator from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Abdikheir Ahmed of Immigration Partnership Winnipeg and University of Manitoba sociologist Dr. Lori Wilkinson.

“Many people wonder why we are so concerned about refugees when there is so much poverty and injustice in our own society,” says Wilkinson. “Although settling 35,000 Syrian refugees in Canada sounds like a lot of people, it is a mere speck in the current worldwide refugee crisis. If Canada wants to be an active, respected player in international politics, development and diplomacy, then we must understand that it is our duty to help not only the Syrians, but the Greeks, Macedonians, Turks, Lebanese and Jordanians as they struggle to provide protection to these war-torn people.”

This event is part of the Visionary Conversation on Campus series. Admission is free but seating is limited, so please RSVP online. You can also watch a webcast of the event. Follow the conversation on Twitter using #umvisionary.

WHAT: Blackmore plays a key role in the Polish Canadian community and champions the university’s Polish program. She is the speaker series coordinator for the Central and East European studies program. As such she works in partnership with the Polish Consulate, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the Ogniwo polish Museum Society to bring world-class speakers to the U of M. She is also the coordinator for the Polish Language and Culture Travel/Study Course, which gives students the opportunity to study at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Students participate in Polish language classes and lectures delivered in Polish and English on Polish culture, history, literature, and contemporary issues. It offers a variety of cultural and social activities such as excursions in Krakow, and day trips to picturesque places in the Krakow region. Students are also given the opportunity to see some of the masterpieces of Polish art and architecture.

HER INSPIRATION: As a history student at the University of Winnipeg, she was encouraged to join a European study group that connected professors and students. They met only a handful of times during the year to learn about multidisciplinary research topics related to Europe but the experience made a lasting impression.

IN HER OWN WORDS: “As a student I felt included in the academic exchange and that inspired me,” Blackmore says.

FUNDERS: Canadian Polish Congress Manitoba Branch; Ogniwo Polish Museum Society; The Center for the Polish Language and Culture in the World of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland; School of Polish Language and Culture of the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; Department of Canadian Studies (Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora of the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland); Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Toronto; Central and East European Studies Program at the University of Manitoba

LEARN MORE

• Magdalena Blackmore

The University of Manitoba has four such centres that focus on human rights; in addition to Mauro Centre, there’s also the Centre for Human Rights Research and the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics and the Institute for the Humanities, both in the Faculty of Arts.

Human rights is one of the research strengths identified at the U of M, with themes relating to healthy, safe, secure and sustainable food and bioproducts, sustainable prairie and northern communities, public and population health, new materials and technologies, and culture and creativity. Because of its background in human rights research, the university has been an active partner and integral part of the dialogue leading to the opening of the CMHR, with contributions from faculty, staff and students across many disciplines.

If there is one place on campus where the entire world seems to come together, it’s the Mauro Centre. Here, doctoral and masters-level students from many different countries converge.

If there is one place on campus where the entire world seems to come together, it’s the Mauro Centre.

Jodi Read, a U of M student working on public policies regarding border security, says she came to Winnipeg and the Mauro Centre at the insistence of a professor at her university in Virginia. “I realized that my goal of working to build a world with more peace and justice fit well within the program,” she says.

Other students have come to the centre from countries around the globe, including Kenya, India, Uzbekistan, Nigeria, Botswana, Russia, Brazil, Ukraine, Germany and Venezuela.

The Mauro Centre was established in 2001 with an initial donation of $1 million from Dr. Arthur V. Mauro. A former chancellor of the U of M, Mauro is a philanthropist with a lifelong commitment to opening dialogue between people about peace and justice. In its brief history, the centre has established a PhD Program in peace and conflict studies and created the joint MA program in peace and conflict studies with the Global College at the University of Winnipeg. It also coordinated the North American Conflict Resolution Student Exchange Program from 2003 to 2007 and has organized numerous outreach activities, such as the annual Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice in the fall and spring’s annual International Storytelling Festival — a festival that has reached a cumulative audience of more than 75,000 young people and adults.

St. Paul’s College has also provided more than $750,000 in scholarships to support PhD and MA students.

The Mauro Centre’s primary emphases are the cultural, religious and philosophical dimensions of peace and justice, including social, economic, and environmental aspects. The centre is also concerned with peace education, human rights, the role of international organizations and standards in the quest for peace and justice. Course topics at the doctoral level include interpersonal communication, international peace and conflict resolution, violence intervention, gender and conflict, theories of conflict and conflict resolution, and children and war.

The diversity and passion shown by its students paint a remarkable picture of a global community working towards a brighter future for people around the world.

The diversity and passion shown by its students paint a remarkable picture of a global community working towards a brighter future for people around the world.

Maureen Flaherty was the first to receive a PhD in peace and conflict studies and is Mauro Centre’s first graduate. In fact, her research received an award and was recently published as a book. Now part of the faculty of the Mauro Centre, Flaherty recently returned from the Ukraine where she was doing work on the empowerment of women in that country.

Sean Byrne and Jessica Senehi of the Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice.

Mauro Centre director Sean Byrne is pleased the centre has attracted students from around the world who are dedicated to peacebuilding. Byrne has built a reputation as a researcher involved in the peace process in Northern Ireland, studying conflict resolution in an area of extreme tension.

“The doctorate is designed to provide a holistic and interdisciplinary approach that will prepare students to pursue independent research aimed at analyzing and resolving complex global issues on peace and justice,” Byrne notes. “We emphasize a variety of conflict resolution, social justice and peace studies tools, processes and methods.”

Another faculty member with the Mauro Centre is Jessica Senehi, who has been involved in the creation and organization of the Winnipeg International Storytelling Festival. The festival brings attention to peacebuilding and conflict resolution through children’s presentations on topics such as war, violence and bullying.

Senehi stresses the importance of the peace and conflict studies program in the context of today’s global conflict crises.

“Research in peace and conflict studies is essential and demands a high standard of commitment, scholarship and professionalism,” she says. “Graduates from this program will make an important contribution to a wide variety of organizations, institutions, and government departments and to society as a whole.”

Graduates of advanced study in peace and conflict studies can bring their perspective to a range of professional settings, adds Senehi. The far-ranging possibilities include not-for-profit and advocacy organizations at the community, national, and international levels,  businesses requiring cross-cultural training, programs to prevent violence in the workplace or ombudspersons. In addition, governmental and nongovernmental agencies are finding a greater demand for researchers in these fields, especially in international settings and developing countries.

Peter Karari, Ph.D. student at the Mauro Centre.

This need is most obvious to Peter Karari, a student from Kenya whose academic work focuses on political violence and organized crime. His passion for peace is driven by his own terrible experience.

He explains, “My focus on peace and conflict studies is influenced by my background in poverty, my work with the poor in the Kibera slums in Kenya, the 1998 terrorist attacks on the American Embassy in Kenya and ethnic violence in 2008. We had started a self-help group for the marginalized and the vulnerable in Ufundi House next door to the Embassy. We lost fourteen of our close friends in the attack.”

Karari: “My focus on peace and conflict studies is influenced by my background in poverty, my work with the poor in the Kibera slums in Kenya, the 1998 terrorist attacks on the American Embassy in Kenya and ethnic violence in 2008…. We lost fourteen of our close friends in the attack.”

Karari was desperate to understand how best to intervene in the conflict and help the lives of those who were suffering — mostly poor and destitute people at the mercy of the rich and those in power. He asked many questions about what he saw and experienced in his native country.

“Why did innocent Kenyans have to die? What did the terrorists want? Why not use peaceful means?

“I wanted to learn why there is terrorism in the world and how we can avoid such aggression,” he says.

Karari joined Compassion International, a non-governmental organization working in Kenya, and found himself working with orphans, single mothers and people with HIV/AIDS — as he calls them: “the poorest of the poor.”

After pursuing a bachelor’s degree, he wanted more knowledge and ideas. In 2007, he was among eight out of eight thousand applicants to receive a scholarship to study peace and conflict studies in Germany. He studied conflict on many diverse subjects: war in Afghanistan, the Bush Doctrine, climate change and terrorism.

But while he was there, ethnic violence swarmed his homeland and he became grief-stricken.

While Karari was in Germany on a scholarship for peace and conflict studies, ethnic violence swarmed his homeland and he became grief-stricken.

His questions multiplied and became more urgent. “I understood that I had to gain more knowledge on how to bring peace in the world and how to solve conflicts peacefully,” he says.

Like so many others, Karari came to the U of M specifically for the PhD program in peace and conflict studies at the Mauro Centre. His personal experience and his drive for peace likely best exemplifies the goals and direction of the centre.

“What can buy eternal peace in the world?” he asks solemnly.

Perhaps he is in the right place. The bell tower of St. Paul’s College rises above the Mauro Centre and its bells peal every hour, alerting the world that the U of M is helping to establish Manitoba as the global capital for learning and studies in fields related to human rights, towards the betterment of humankind.

When people around the globe think of human rights, they’ll think of Winnipeg — and they may just think of the University of Manitoba, too.

University of Manitoba researchers and scholars are excited to be a part of this new chapter in our city.

With a long-standing history of scholarship and research in this area, U of M faculty and staff have collaborated with the CMHR throughout its development. They’ve contributed to projects on a diverse range of topics, from Metis rights to the anti-apartheid movement to state terrorism in Argentina.

There are multiple other points of alliance between the museum and the U of M.

A close relationship exists between the CMHR and the U of M, highlighted by the museum’s partnership with the university’s Centre for Human Rights Research (CHRR), which was established in 2012.

The work of the CHRR currently focuses on the themes of sexual and reproductive rights, drinking water as a human right, documenting human rights, and truth and reconciliation related to Indian residential schools. Since its inception, 43 professors and 11 faculties have signed on as research affiliates.

Earlier this year, the U of M’s Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics partnered with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the CBC to bring some of the world’s preeminent human rights thinkers to Winnipeg for an original lecture series.

Under the leadership of Arthur Schafer, professor of philosophy and director of the centre, the lecture series explored the global struggle for human rights. It featured such notable speakers as Germaine Greer, A.C. Grayling, and Kwame Anthonly Appiah.

In celebrating the opening of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the U of M is also proud to recognize the outstanding leadership of our alumni whose tireless efforts have transformed a vision into a reality.

The museum is the result of the efforts of a number of people, in particular, Gail Asper [BA/81, LLB/84, LLD/08], whose dedication to this historic project is also a testament to her mother, Babs Asper [BA/54], and her father, Israel Asper [BA/53, LLB/57, LLM/64, LLD/98], a prominent alumnus and business leader whose initial vision to establish a museum dedicated to human rights in Winnipeg has made our city an international centre for human rights research, education and advocacy. Moe Levy [BComm(Hons)/73, MBA/74], a long-time colleague of Israel Asper, has been instrumental in building support for the museum across the country.

The university is home to the new National Research Centre on Residential Schools, which will house the archives of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, including: thousands of video- and audio-recorded statements from survivors and others affected by the schools and their legacy; archival documents and photographs, works of art, artifacts and other expressions of reconciliation presented at TRC events.

The opening of the CMHR is also attracting top graduate students to the province, making Manitoba the premier destination for human rights research. In fact, the museum’s research department already includes two University of Manitoba graduates.

The connections don’t end there. Clinton Curle, the museum’s head of stakeholder relations and a professional affiliate of the U of M’s Robson Hall Law School, also serves on the advisory board for the university’s Canadian Journal of Human Rights, the only journal of human rights scholarship in Canada.

As it opens this weekend, the university supports the museum as it celebrates and promotes human rights at the national and international levels.

Human rights are essential to the establishment of a just, egalitarian and peaceful society. Let’s celebrate the work being done by University of Manitoba researchers and graduate students in collaboration with the Canadian Museum of Human Rights in helping to realize this vision.

After more than a decade of planning and development, the CMHR today marks the beginning of a new era in public education about and recognition of the importance of human rights issues throughout the world.

It is gratifying to see the Canadian Museum for Human Rights open in Winnipeg. Much hard work and planning went into its creation, from the wonderful, award-winning building that is an example of striking and breathtaking architecture, to its dramatic content that will inspire and educate us all.

The University of Manitoba has been an active partner and integral part of the dialogue leading to the opening of the CMHR, with contributions from faculty, staff and students across many disciplines.

At the University of Manitoba, we describe trailblazers and visionaries as the people who see beyond obstacles to build a better world. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is the product of hard work of people like our alumni Gail Asper, Moe Levy and the late Israel and Babs Asper. It has launched under the direction of pioneers such as Stuart Murray and all the Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Their shared commitment has allowed us to see this project to completion.

Human rights is one of the areas of research strengths we have identified at the University of Manitoba. In addition to expertise residing in 12 faculties and as many as 150 researchers, we are home to three centres devoted to issues of human rights research: the Centre for Human Rights Research, the Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice, and the National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

Manitoba’s position as a hub of human rights research in Canada will be strengthened further by our development of a Master of Human Rights (MHR) program here at the University of Manitoba. It would be broadly interdisciplinary, branching into the social sciences, sciences and humanities, taking advantage of expertise in the university’s professional schools, including medicine, social work education, nursing and law.

The University of Manitoba is committed to an enduring partnership with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights; one that establishes Manitoba as the global capital for learning and studies in fields related to human rights, towards the betterment of humankind.

Again, I offer congratulations to those involved with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights as it begins its voyage of discovery and illumination.