Professional Documents
Culture Documents
NW Edmonton, AB T5H3J6
2013
Annual Report
Our Mission
The John Humphrey Centre of Peace and Human Rights advances a culture of peace and human rights through educational programs and activities, community collaboration and relationship-building guided by the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Board of Directors
Joan Cowling, President Christine Rapp, Vice President Robert Gardner, Treasurer Lewis Cardinal, Secretary Andy Knight Dominique Clment Gurchuran Singh Bhatia Raffath Sayeed Renny Khan Roxanne Ulanicki Salma Lakhani
Executive Director
Rene Vaugeois
his past year, the JHC created a volunteer program and procedures policy to begin incorporating volunteers into our organization operations in a more cohesive manner. With a new screening and application process, the JHC now has over 80 volunteers joined on our Volunteer Call Out list, and over 20 active volunteers helping out at JHC events and programs. JHC volunteers have contributed over 976 hours of volunteering since December 2012. Volunteers have been helpful with programming, office administration, and event preparation which have helped staff complete projects much quicker! Volunteers have also been critical in supporting our annual casino fundraising and main programs, like the 2013 Global Youth Assembly, Young Peace Builders Camp, and Rights in Play.
Table of Contents
The JHC also began working with the Serving Communities Internship Program (SCiP) which allowed us to welcome 19 office interns to our team throughout the year. Interns were a great addition to programs that require staff support as well as organizational support through research or event planning assistance. Some examples of SCiP intern positions include our Education Programs Intern, Gall Conference Coordinator, Research Assistants, and the GYA Logistics Intern. The JHC also hosted a Volunteer Appreciation Party in the fall to thank volunteers for their time and dedication. We enjoyed a simple night filled with crafts, live music, and a potluck dinner!
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Free2BeYOUth
JHC Peacebuilders
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Rights in Play
Artistic Justice
Gall Conference
#YEGrights
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Free2BeYOUth
ith the support of Servus Credit Union and the Alberta Human Rights Education and Multiculturalism Fund, the John Humphrey Centre, in partnership with (IN)spired, was able to launch the Free2BeYOUth inclusion initiative. Placing traditionally marginalized students in leadership roles, youth are given opportunities to critically reflect on barriers to inclusion within their schools and broader communities as they advocate for the dignity of each and every individual in society. Together, youth are encouraged to explore critical issues that affect marginalized groups, such as those with disabilities, LGBTQ individuals, Aboriginal youth, and immigrants and refugees. On Friday, October 25th, 17 youth along with 5 teachers from 5 different junior and senior high schools from across the province gathered at MacEwan University to receive their initial training for the F2BY program. For our pilot year, H.E. Beriault Catholic Junior High School, Jasper Place High School, Tofield School, McCoy High School, Strathcona High School and Holy Trinity Catholic High School joined the movement to bring meaningful change to their schools. Each month of the school year is dedicated to addressing various issues of marginalization within these schools, with plans to have these schools present their achievements of progressing towards a more inclusive school community at the JHCs Ignite Change Now! Youth Forum.
#YEGrights
n April, over 70 students came together at the Northlands Expo Centre to discuss issues of human rights. With a keen focus building bridges across communities in Edmonton, the JHC brought together young speakers from diverse backgrounds, abilities and orientations to discuss our experiences and reflect on the inclusiveness of Edmonton as a human rights city. We have heard great reports from students who left transformed from the experience - all the reason why we put our heart and soul to bringing all voices forward. Thanks to the support of the Edmonton Community Foundation for enabling us to make this inaugural event a reality!
Children need to be heard more and we need more opportunities, just like the ones the John Humphrey Centre gives us.
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Building Peace
n celebration of the 65th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the John Humphrey Centre held the second annual Gall Conference and Human Rights Awards on December 10, 2013 for International Human Rights Day. The Gall Conference, in honour of founding member Gerald L. Gall O.C., was planned with the intent of assessing and discussing the state of economic rights in Canada. Despite economic rights being a central aspect to building strong, inclusive communities, oftentimes, they are left from the discussion. Addressing poverty and racism are heavily connected to our ability to embed economic rights as a priority and integrate them in the discussion. In 2013, the Gall Conference brought over 100 people together including high school students, academics, bureaucrats, elected officials and community groups to reflect on the state of economic rights but also consider possibilities for collaborative change. The Conference was heavy in content and dialogue leaving participants with a sense of urgency about issues in Canada but a of hope given our collective efforts. The Human Rights Awards extended the Conference dialogue with Howard Sapers, federal ombudsperson for Corrections, providing a real and touching image of our penitentiaries today. His heartfelt talk reminded us that how we treat our prisoners is a sign of how strong we are as a country and that we have a lot of work to do. The sharing of the six human rights awards for the evening brought the event to a strong close reminding us that through our individual efforts, we make great strides collectively in human rights. We were honoured to recognize the work of Dennis Edney, Amin Amir, Mackenzie Martin, GRIT (Getting Ready for Inclusion Today), Butterfly Moon Project, and Jim Gurnett. Thank you to the City of Edmonton, University of Alberta Office of Safe Disclosure and Human Rights, Bank of Montreal, and Retrofit Learning for making these events an incredible success and continuing our efforts to build Edmonton as a Human Rights City.
upported by the Inspirit Foundation, the JHC Peacebuilders united 15 diverse youth, aged 18-30, in an exploration of Edmontons faith diversity through the months of January to April 2013. They were given the unique opportunity to tour eight of Edmontons diverse faith centres and were taught the central aspects of each faith from its members. They learned that Edmontons diverse faith communities value each others religions and believe in tolerating each others differences. They also began to realize that a central underlying theme unifies the worlds major faiths; all eight faith centres the Peacebuilders visited emphasized the importance of treating others with the utmost respect, kindness and compassion. Inspired by what they had learned during their visits to faith centres, the Peacebuilders worked together throughout the summer to coordinate a two day peace camp for children ages 10-12. In commemoration of the International Day of Peace, the camp, titled Young Peace Builders, was held on September 19th and 20th. Attended by 55 grade five/six students from three of Edmontons schools, Young Peace Builders encouraged youth to treat others with compassion, despite their differences, and promoted the benefits of working together to build better communities. Children engaged in a variety of activities to explore their common humanity, collaborated on a We are Peace quilt, formed tangible goals related to topics such as bullying, stereotypes, discrimination and cultural conflict and formed plans for making their schools more compassionate. As the children expressed a desire to build a better world together and demonstrated the understanding that treating others with compassion, kindness and respect can be seen as the first steps in doing so, it became evident that the they both believed in and understood the Peacebuilders message of compassion and appreciation. JHC would like to thank Reach Edmonton and the Inspirit Foundation to helping us build a foundation for peace-building in Edmonton!
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Artistic Justice
rtistic Justice was a collaborative project between the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, artist Maigan van der Giessen and McNally High School in Edmonton Alberta. The program involved a twelve week arts exploration of human rights and social justice issues, facilitated by the artist in order to tell a story- through art - about an issue that the youth were passionate about. The three youth that participated in the program were very interested in the prominence of media advertising in the daily lives of so many, especially underprivileged communities, while there remained a lack of access to basic human rights such as health care and medical supplies. It became our task to figure out how to tell this through art.
he fourth bi-ennial Global Youth Assembly (GYA) took place in Edmonton from August 7th to 10th, 2013. With the theme of Human Rights. Health. Ignite Change Now, the GYA exposed delegates to a variety of topics related to human rights and health and encouraged them to broaden their perspectives on the many interconnections between these crucial topics. 150 delegates from across Canada united at the GYA and had the unique opportunity to meet other socially engaged youth, passionate community leaders and inspirational GYA speakers and workshop presenters. They enjoyed hearing the presentations of a variety of enthusiastic and passionate speakers, including Emmanuel Jal, Devon Harris, Nina Kohari, Dr. David Swann and Abdullah Saleh, were inspired by their peers during the RBC Movers Shakers and Change Makers presentations and Open Mic sessions, spent an afternoon of discussion and action planning to tackle issues they are passionate about, engaged in a variety of thought provoking workshops, took part in a Social Justice Walk through Edmontons inner city and much more! Various delegates have expressed motivation to volunteer at inner city organizations, create a drama program for newcomer children, engage in political advocacy, form social justice groups at their high school and ensure that global health takes priority on the international stage. It is incredibly important to connect youth in their efforts to make this world a better place and we are excited to have made such an impact this year! We would like to thank the RBC Foundation, Canadian Commission for UNESCO, the University of Alberta and the City of Edmonton for their support of the GYA.
aving Megan run artistic justice is really refreshing. This class is only one lunch hour a week (30 mins) yet it is one of my favourites. Its not like the mandatory subjects that were forced to sit through. Artistic Justice makes me think about issues that people tend to ignore. We discuss human rights and problems of the world and its just a nice change from the regular classes. Its so important to me that I chose to be a part of artistic justice. It made me realize so many things. Up until grade ten I had no desire to care about anything except my realities, and my issues. Artistic justice opened up my mind. It also revealed my artistic side. Im very thankful for this class!
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Rights in Play
his year marked another successful year for Rights in Play. With 26 confirmed sessions just within the span of July to August 2013, we were able to reach 1,015 youth. From September to December 2013, the JHC reached another 367 youth. Sessions were and will be implemented in elementary, junior and senior high schools as well as youth organizations and youth camps throughout the year, including: 1 session with Camp Wohelo 1 session with Chimo Youth Retreat Centre 4 sessions with the Old Strathcona Youth Society 12 sessions with Camp Kasota West 1 session with Camp Fyrefly 7 sessions with YMCA Daycamps (Jamie Platz, Don Wheaton, Castle Downs, William Lutsky) 1 session with Cape Horn Elementary 1 session with McNally High 2 sessions with Our Lady of the Prairies Catholic Elementary 1 session with H.E. Beriault Catholic Junior High 2 sessions with Evansdale Elementary 1 session with Ecole St. Stanislaus Reaching 1401 youth this year, the total revenue for the RiP program in 2013 is $4,750. Thus, the evident demand for RiP sessions will allow the JHC to continue educating youth on human rights and peace through experiential and transformative learning opportunities.
HC is proud to partner with the RBC Foundation to facilitate the RBC Movers Shakers and Change Makers program. Ten dynamic youth projects have been selected to take part in this innovative year-long program to gain valuable leadership and project management skills. At the Global Youth Assembly in August, the youth presented their projects to the GYA audience where they received feedback from a panel of judges. Based on audience votes, three projects received funding of $1,500, $1, 000 and $500: Sunrise of Life Street Kid Picnic Project, Safe Spaces Retreat for Young Women and Drinking Water Quality in Sri Lanka, respectively. Throughout the remainder of the year, the youth involved have continued to meet through monthly webinar sessions to gain knowledge and skills to enhance their projects, share ideas and discuss the importance of human rights in fostering positive community change. Webinars on conflict resolution and anti-oppression have already took place, with more to come on topics such as time management, facilitating dialogue, coaching/mentoring and more! We are excited to continuing working with these youth to support them in reaching their project goals!
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he John Humphrey Centre was honoured this year in becoming one of Canadas Lead Agencies for the UNICEF Canada Rights Respecting School (RRS) Program. Over the past two years, Northmount and Evansdale Schools in Edmonton made incredible strides with Evansdale becoming the First RRS in Alberta. The Honourable David Blair Mason Q.C., Chief of the Commission and Tribunals of the Alberta Human Rights Commission officially presented the plaque to Evansdale in April. With funding support from the Alberta Human Rights Education and Multiculturalism Fund, we are looking forward to being able to work with an increasing number of schools in Alberta to bring childrens rights to the centre of programming and policy. With RRS, we are also looking forward to an expanded presence of the JHC through work with three schools in Vancouver and Coquitlam. Each of these certified Rights Respecting Schools will be supported by the JHC on their journey. Rene Vaugeois was honoured to travel to meet these schools in September and build plans for a solid and fruitful relationship. Plans are currently underway to build a community of practise via peer learning webinars over the next year.
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