This week the series features Kyla Shead, office assistant for Women & Gender Studies and Labour Studies. Shead (nee Bremner) played basketball in the 1987 Canada Summer Games in Cape Breton and 30 years after that memorable athletic experience she has signed-up to give back to a new generation of Canada Games athletes by volunteering for basketball and volleyball at this summer’s Canada Games.

What do you remember most about your experience in the 87’ Canada Games?

I remember being nervous because I was one of four high school players chosen to the team and the rest were university level players. We had a great group of ladies and I never felt out of place playing with them. Once we got sized for our gear and it started to get closer to the time to leave, I remember how exciting the whole thing was. People around me were so proud of me!

The thing I remember most once we got to the games was that it felt like a “mini Olympics”. The opening and closing ceremonies were amazing and I felt like a real athlete being cheered on as we entered the stadium. Everywhere we went, people would welcome us to Cape Breton and wish us good luck. I felt like a celebrity! I get goosebumps thinking about it.

How do you feel your experience at the Canada Games prepared you for other athletic competitions?

I had always played on summer teams and we traveled to other provinces but this was the farthest I had traveled to play basketball. The Canada Games was my biggest competition and a memory I will never forget.

What do you think about the U of M being a key hub for this year’s Canada Games, specifically as the athlete’s village?

I’m so excited to have it here at the University of Manitoba. I hope the campus community embraces this and makes all the athletes feel welcome. I also hope people attend the events here and everywhere in the city. This is the closest some of these athletes will ever get to going to an Olympic Games.

Anything else you’d like to tell us about your connection to the Canada Games and or the University of Manitoba?

I’m really excited to be volunteering. I love giving back. Winnipeggers always step up to help out and it’s going to be so much fun. I love working at the University of Manitoba. The people I have met in the Faculty of Arts are amazing and make me smile daily.

If you have been involved in the Canada Games or are participating this year, we would love to share your story. Please contact us at umtoday [at] umanitoba [dot] ca.

While studying microbiology and biology, Morriseau is also pursuing opportunities outside the classroom to defend human rights. She shared an inside look at the student trip to Ottawa and the importance of bringing Indigenous and female perspectives to Parliament Hill in this takeover on our UofM Student Instagram account.

Indigenous Awareness Week runs from March 20th to 24th at the University of Manitoba. Events are free and open to the public. Find out more at #umindigenous.

…Johise Namwira and Shania Pruden are 19-year-old Winnipeggers whose passion for social engagement and activism have set them on the road to Ottawa as part of Equal Voice’s Daughters of the Vote initiative….

“A friend told me about it,” said Johise Namwira, a third year honours student in women’s and gender studies at the University of Manitoba who also teaches karate at the North Kildonan Mennonite Brethren Church. “It sounded like such an incredible initiative to honour women’s vote and learn from women who are politicians. I thought, why not?”

Carly McLellan (left) and Taylor Morriseau. // Images from Daughters of the Vote.

This conference is a national historic initiative that will mark the 100th anniversary of women’s formal political engagement in Canada.

It will take place on unceded Anishinaabe/Algonquin territory (Ottawa, Ontario) from March 6-8, 2017 to coincide with International Women’s Day on March 8.

“100 years ago, some women in three Canadian provinces (Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan) won the right to vote in provincial elections. A year later, that same right was extended to a limited number of women in federal elections,” writes Equal Voice. “Following these partial victories, it would take another 45 years for the majority of women living in Canada (over the age of 18), including [I]ndigenous women living on federal reserves, to win the right to vote.

Equal Voice, the organizers of the conference, received more than 1,500 applications from which they selected 338 young women (aged 18 to 23), one from every federal riding in Canada, to take their seat in Parliament to represent their community and share their vision of Canada.

The objective of the conference is for emerging young women leaders to become familiar with the political system “so that they are equipped and inspired to participate in the formal political sphere in the years and decades to come,” writes Equal Voice. As part of the conference, participants will hear from outstanding women leaders from every sector and take part in provincial events leading up to the conference.

Participants receive an all-expenses paid trip to Ottawa.

Carly and Taylor are outstanding leaders and are excelling in academics, engaged in co-curricular activities, and actively involved in their communities. Carly is an alumna and Taylor is a current member of the Indigenous Circle of Empowerment Student Leadership Development Program.

“Equal Voice is a national, bilingual, multi-partisan organization dedicated to electing more women to all levels of political office in Canada,” says the organization on its website.

Justin Rasmussen 

Bio details on more University of Manitoba students selected for the Daughters of the Vote conference include:

Alana Robert – “Alana Robert is a first-year student at Osgoode Hall Law School, who aspires to pursue a career in Human Rights law. Alana is the Founder and President of Justice For Women (at the University of Manitoba), a student group that advocates for gender equality.” Read more on Alana here and here.

Jacqueline Keena – “Jacqueline holds a BSc in Agribusiness from the University of Manitoba. Throughout her academic career, Jacqueline was active in student government as the Chief Returning Officer, Chair of the Electoral Reform Board, and as a member of the Bylaws committee for the University of Manitoba Students’ Union.”

Johise Namwira – “Johise Namwira is a 3rd year student at the University of Manitoba pursuing an honours degree in Women’s and Gender Studies, and Sociology. In the future, she hopes to work in the field of International Human Rights with a focus on gender equity and decolonization.”

Chimwemwe Undi [BA(ADV)/16] – “Chimwemwe Undi was raised first in southern Africa and then as a guest on Treaty One Territory in south Winnipeg. She is currently pursuing an MA in Linguistics at York University, focusing on language use in alternative justice systems.”

I love riding my bike. On my bike, I feel strong, free and joyful. When I heard feminist abolitionist Susan B. Anthony proclaimed in 1896 bicycling had done more for the emancipation of women than anything else, I knew instinctively what she meant.

It’s not just the feeling of biking I love.

I love that I can get from my downtown neighbourhood to work in the south end of the city in 35 minutes, give or take. I love that I don’t have to run for the bus to get there or say no to one last goodbye hug from my children to avoid missing the only bus that gets me to work on time. I love that by the time I get to work I have moved my body, cleared my mind and spent a few moments riding along the riverbank. I love that parking is free and close to my office, and by the time I get home at the end of the day, I don’t have to worry about squeezing exercise in between dinnertime, bath time and bedtime. And I love that when I am biking, I am one less car on the road.

I do not know how to reconcile the anger I experience with my love of riding in this gloriously flat city. I sometimes see red when I’m told to “get off the road, stupid bitch,” as happened last week as I waited for a light, or when I read a poll that suggests Winnipeggers don’t like cyclists. Then I take a deep breath and remember why I am on the road, besides the obvious fact it’s illegal for me to ride on the sidewalk.

I know driving my car is dangerous, yet many of us, myself included, consider driving necessary. The province warns its citizens motor-vehicle injuries are the leading cause of death in children between the ages of five and 19, but still, I can’t envision myself hauling two kids plus groceries in the winter on my bike. Besides, driving doesn’t feel dangerous. No one ever tells me I am brave or insane for driving my car in Winnipeg.

For me, biking is just as necessary as driving. Driving and biking both get me somewhere, but biking brings me much driving does not: joy, hope and, occasionally, bugs in the teeth.

I hope we can collectively lessen our dependence upon a fossil fuel economy that threatens both the planet and the lives of people in our community who may find themselves at any one of Winnipeg’s most dangerous intersections.

Biking, small and everyday as it is, can be part of that necessary — pun intended — shift in gears. When I commute by car, I feel grateful toward the 7,000 and counting Winnipeggers who choose instead to hop on their bikes. They spare me up to 7,000 more vehicles on the already congested roadways. When I commute by bike, I smile more (hence the bugs in the teeth), get stuck in traffic jams less and know at least some people driving are glad I am one less car on the road.

Whether I am biking or driving, I just want to get to work safely and home again to see my family. I want that for everyone else, too. The bikes-versus-cars story is an unfortunate one. How can Winnipeggers dislike cyclists yet encourage our children to learn to ride bikes?

Let’s all refresh ourselves on the rules of the road, get used to sharing it and ask our governments to support us in ensuring our roads, bike lanes and sidewalks are safe for all. In a city this flat and this fabulous, biking need not be only for the fearless, but for anyone who finds joy on two wheels.

Brush up on bike stuff

There are over 500 bike-rack parking spots at the U of M and a number of cycling-related services run out of the Bike Dungeon.

The best way to bike to campus from Pembina

Bike helmet safety tips

5 tips for new cyclists 

Bike Dungeon

The three scholars are: Canada Research Chair in Arctic System Science David Barber, internationally recognized for his leading role in the changing sea ice dynamics resulting from the changing Arctic climate; Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Janice Ristock, a global leader in the development of LGBTQ studies and intimate partner violence and working with marginalized populations; and Mechanical Engineering professor Quan (Abraham) Wang, a pioneer in the use and application of smart materials and wavelets.

Election to the RSC is considered the highest honour an academic can achieve in the arts, humanities and sciences. The three professors are among 89 new Fellows elected for 2016.

“These scholars are fitting additions to the RSC, which represents the best of the best in Canada,” said Digvir Jayas, Vice-President (Research and International) and Distinguished Professor at the University of Manitoba. “I congratulate Professors Barber, Ristock and Wang on this meritorious honour.”

Janice Ristock (women’s and gender studies) conducts innovative research on violence in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Two-Spirit, and queer (LGBTQ) relationships. She has made ground-breaking contributions to the ways we conceptualize and respond to intimate partner violence. She is an internationally recognized trailblazer in the development of LGBTQ studies in Canada. Uniquely, she specializes in developing community-based research approaches for working with marginalized populations and studying their issues in ways that acknowledge their profound complexities.

David Barber

Distinguished Professor David Barber (environment and geography) has made significant, innovative and sustained contributions in the field of Arctic system science and climate change for 30+ years. He has illustrated how changes in dynamic and thermodynamic processes in sea ice have implications throughout the natural and human systems both within and outside of the Arctic, including the marine ecosystem; northern peoples; with the oil and gas industry; with various regulators, and with several space agencies.

Quan (Abraham) Wang

Quan (Abraham) Wang (mechanical engineering) has invented, formalized, and applied accurate structural health monitoring and structural repair methods through his pioneering work in smart materials and wavelets. He solved the problem of how to monitor highly voluminous nanomaterials used in civil, mechanical, aerospace engineering applications, and solved this problem through the application of nonlocal continuum theory. His advances have also contributed to the use of smart materials to harvest energy from ambient vibration.

Fellows and award winners from across the country will be officially inducted and honoured on Nov. 18 in Kingston, Ontario.

Founded in 1882, the Royal Society’s mission is to recognize scholarly, research and artistic excellence, to advise governments and organizations, and to promote a culture of knowledge and innovation in Canada and with other national academies around the world.

Rachel Carnell

Dr Rachel Carnell, Professor of English at Cleveland State University, is a leading researcher in the intersections between the 18^th century novel and the political sphere. She has published numerous articles on female authors who combine the two, such as Aphra Behn and Eliza Haywood, as well as a monograph on the political history of the British novel and a political biography of Delarivier Manley. She is currently co-editing a collection of essays on secret history during the long 18^th century for Cambridge University Press.

“The Secret History of Secret History: From Procopius to Primary Colors”

A public talk by Dr Rachel Carnell (Cleveland State University) presented by the University of Manitoba Institute for the Humanities Alternate Histories Research Cluster and co-sponsored by the Department of English, Film and Theatre and the Dean of Arts.

Wednesday 13 January, 3:30-5 pm

UMIH Boardroom (409 Tier)

WHAT: Frohlick researches how international tourism affects the lives of residents living in rural towns in the Caribbean Costa Rica.

HOW IT STARTED: “In 2012 I teamed up with a University of Costa Rica researcher Dr. Lopez-Ruiz and student Carolina Meneses to conduct a pilot study on sexual health,” says Frohlick. “One of our primary goals was to understand meanings and practices of sexual health from the perspectives of local people. To conduct the study we were assisted by a public health nurse who runs a small publicly funded but underutilized sexual and reproductive health clinic. We also sought to engage with teens and young adults because this is an age group widely affected by tourism through sexual relations with tourists. We were inspired by the enthusiasm of several local youth who initiated the idea of a condom distribution event where they distributed free condoms along with information about the free clinic on World AIDS Day.”

THE IMPACT: “This outreach activity reached approximately 300 people in a community where sex education has been silenced by the government and the Catholic Church,” she notes.

WHY IT MATTERS: “A stand out moment for me occurred during the event [when I saw] the topic of sexual health enter into a public domain in a new and visible way that was significant to the young people we had hoped to reach with the project,” says Frohlick. “For me, this was a measure of success because it indicated that our research was in line with issues already on the minds of local people and that we can move forward building on the youths’ interest in social change at the community level.”

FUNDERS: The International Development Research Centre (IDRC); the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC); Canada-Latin America and the Caribbean Research Exchange Grants (LACREG) Program; Faculty of Arts, University of Manitoba; Women’s and Gender Studies Program, University of Manitoba; and the Institute of Social Research, the University of Costa Rica

LEARN MORE

• Ethnographic Resources Lab
• Office of International Relations

The guest speaker is Dr. Lilia Cortina, Associate Professor of Psychology and Women Studies at the University of Michigan.

Her talk is titled, Workplace Harassment: The Dark Side of Gendered Organizational Life. 

Sexual harassment typically has little to do with sexuality – more often than not, it’s about gender. This talk will highlight new findings on gender harassment: conduct that disparages employees of one gender/sex but implies no sexual pursuit. This harassment, I will argue, puts pressure on all employees (not only women but also men) to conform to a narrow standard of gender “appropriate” behavior. As a result, gender oppression is maintained in society and replicated on the job.

When: Friday, June 13 at 10:30 a.m.
Where: Room 530 Drake Centre (181 Freedman Cres.), Fort Garry campus.
This lecture is free and open to the public

The Stu Clark Distinguished Speaker Series comes from a $90,000 endowment to the Asper School of Business from University of Manitoba alumnus Stu Clark. The purpose of the Series is to invite prominent researchers from outside of the University of Manitoba to the School to give research seminars and to interact with faculty and graduate research students. Guest speakers considered for the Series must be distinguished or up-and-coming in their area(s) of research, external to the university, be good presenters and have a strong appeal to Asper faculty and graduate research students.

This bill is in response to a Supreme Court of Canada decision, which struck down key provisions of the country’s prostitution laws in December 2013.

What this bill should look like has been discussed and debated at the Centre for Human Rights Research at the University of Manitoba.

Experts on the matter include:

Professor Karen Busby, Faculty of Law
Email: busby@cc.umanitoba.ca

Professor Shawna Ferris, Women’s and Gender Studies
Phone: 204-474-876
Email: shawna.ferris@ad.umanitoba.ca