Humans, On Rights

Melissa Stone woks at Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata and is the coordinator for Astum Api Niikinaak and Amoo wig amig. Astum Api Niikinaak means “come sit at our home”. This project which offers affordable housing for people facing key barriers such as being unsheltered and addictions, alongside a communal lodge with culturally sensitive support services is the result of organizations End Homelessness Winni...

Millions of people are forced to leave their home country to find work. Each individual journey is filled with hope to rebuild and have a better life, but once they settle in their new home, the hardship doesn’t always stop there. Migrant workers face a much higher risk of vulnerability to exploitation in the workplace in large part because of their limited access to information and support networ...

“The way to preserve a language is to start the lessons at home. And listen to your elders.” Elder Mary Houle When it comes to giving voice to language, Rebecca Chartrand, the President & CEO of Indigenous Strategies has a voice. A very strong voice. Rebecca whose leadership style is based on Indigenous ways of teaching and learning, which orient towards holistic perspectives and contributions...

Devon Clunis solidified his place in history in 2012 when he became the first Black chief of police in Canadian history. Clunis immigrated from Jamaica with his family in 1975 at age 11 and he began his career in law enforcement with the Winnipeg Police Service in 1987. Clunis occupied several roles and moved up in ranks from patrol to community relations and then chaplain to the superintendent. H...

"Where are you from?” I would be asked. “Oh, I’m from here” would be my response. Simple enough, right? Nope. During Black History Month, Winnipeg’s Rhonda Thompson-Wilson says cultural organizations play an important role in helping preserve connections and the uniqueness of cultures. Manitobans celebrate the diversity and commonalities of the community during Black History Month in February. On...

As the Founder and CEO of Make Music Matter, Darcy Ataman, M.S.C., O.M. has dedicated his life’s work to bringing an alternate form of music therapy to survivors of sexual violence, conflict and trauma. Working in partnership with Nobel Laureate, Dr. Denis Mukwege, Darcy developed the Healing in Harmony program where patients become artists to begin the healing process by writing, recording and pr...

February is when the proud Black History Manitoba organization invites the whole community to come together to Remember, Recognize and Educate. To quote the BHM President Nadia Thompson, “February is the month in which we bear witness to the progress, richness, and diversity of the achievements and contributions of Black people in Canada and around the world.” And with that in mind, the Humans, on...

Learning. Teaching. Education is a human right. When exploring education as a human right in this episode of Humans on Rights, Mitchell DeFehr, education coordinator for MARL, discusses the importance of human rights learning when we reference the “other”. He shares his views about how systems developed by those of privilege are systems that oppress the “other”. And he explains how to use educatio...

"I wanted to be more than just a screamer!" - Yvonne Peters. To acknowledge World Braille Day, Humans, on Rights spoke with Yvonne Peters. Yvonne practiced as a human rights lawyer in Winnipeg for over 30 years. During this time she served as legal counsel and advisor on a number of equality test cases involving disability rights and women’s rights. Her work also included serving as a legislative...

Advocate. Community Engagement. Community Organizer. Judith Oviosun came from Nigeria to study medicine at the University of Manitoba. Along the educational pathway which Judith found herself recognized by being placed on the prestigious Dean’s list, she saw areas where International Students’ voices were not being heard. She quickly discovered that to create change, you had to more than just talk...

NOTE: During my conversation with Alex Lytwyn, I mentioned that he had one brother. In fact Alex has two brothers. Alex Lytwyn is an astonishing person. Alex has Cerebral Palsy and is in a power chair. Listening to Alex is not easy. First it is not easy because Cerebral Palsy, the most common lifelong physical disability, has affected Alex’s speech. He works work really hard to get his words out....

World Children’s Day is celebrated on the 20th November to commemorate the  Declaration of the Rights of the Child . To acknowledge World Children’s Day, Dorota Blumczynska shares her personal story as witnessed through the eyes of a refugee child. Since secretly fleeing Poland as a child, Dorota’s life has centered on survival. Surviving displacement, migration, poverty, the loss of a parent...

“I would rather be a little nobody than an evil somebody” – Abraham Lincoln School violence and bullying including cyberbullying is widespread and affects a significant number of children and adolescents. On this episode of Humans, on Rights Clifford Weekes, anti-racism team lead for the Seven Oakes school Division shares his personal experiences on how, at a young age, he was bullied at school. H...

Brent Bellamy is a Winnipeg architect and public advocate who shares his vision on how to create a sustainable city based on building and human focussed design. He writes passionately about this subject, challenging the conventional perception of architectural and urban form. His thoughtful and provoking columns, always anticipated, have appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press since 2010. He explores...

Al Wiebe went from earning $120k a year and driving a new Mercedes to living for 26 months in a 40-year-old wrecked Mercedes in the back lane behind an auto wrecker. After losing his $120k a year job, Al Wiebe was rocked by the trauma of job loss and suffered from unchecked clinical depression. Al attempted suicide numerous times. On one of his suicide attempts, Al plunged into the Assiniboine Riv...

The Chair of the Peace Alliance Winnipeg, Glenn Michalchuk is convinced that the War in Ukraine could have been averted but was not. In this episode Glenn explains his strong belief that this war in not based on anything of substance but more on political fanaticism. And that Canada has played a roll, wrongly in his view, of advancing that political fanaticism. Active in the peace and anti-war mov...

Lifelong learning champion Stacey Bradley was asked to “just come to one meeting”. She did and that is how she became the President of the Manitoba Reading Association. September 8th is International Literacy Day and on this episode, Stacey talks about the incredible appetite young children have when they start to learn to read, but she also talks about the challenges of losing interest in reading...

If I asked you what country comes to mind when you hear the words, Jim Crow. The Ku Klux Klan. Enslaved persons, I bet you a US dollar that you would say ’the United States of America.” While you are not completely wrong, you may be surprised to learn how my guest Laurelle Harris educates the listener on how those terms of racism are also very much a history of the place we call home – Canada. Lau...

Racism is a mental health issue because racism causes trauma. Every day, the BIPOC Community are exposed to far more trauma than those whose lives have not been devalued. On this episode of Humans, on Rights, Kyla Bernardo, M.Ed, CCC, CGE, CGP addresses the challenges that the BIPOC Community has getting help when faced with mental health issues. Through her deep knowledge of mental health and fro...

Ininew Public Speaker. Author. Host. Community Organizer. Advocate for Children, Youth & Families. Michael Redhead Champagne inspires every time he speaks to an audience or brings his pen to the page. His storytelling connects communities across North America and around the world. Michael’s commitment to action and solutions comes from his experiences growing up in Winnipeg’s North End, his id...

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) states that we are approaching over 100 million displaced peoples world-wide. In this episode of Humans on Rights, the Executive Director of IRCOM (Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba) Shereen Denetto shares her passion of about working with and supporting newcomers to Winnipeg. She has seen first-hand the incredible talents and knowledge these ne...

From working in a four generations family owned and operated grocery store in the inner city of Winnipeg to receiving 2020 Terry G. Falconer memorial Rh Institute Foundation Emerging Research Award, Dr. Natalie Riediger has been either working in or researching about food security. Natalie walks us through the Four Pillars that describe food security: availability, access, utilization, and st...

What do Heavy Construction and being a mother have in common? What about stone crushing and breaking a glass ceiling…what do they have in common? To answer those questions and more, I spoke with Nicole Chabot, the Vice President of L. Chabot Enterprises Ltd. In her own words, Nicole said “I am a woman, I have an Indigenous background. I am a wife, and I am a mother. And I am very proud to work in...

Shannon Sampert is a political analyst and media specialist who serves as a bridge between th academy and the community. As a former journalist, she explores the intersections of media, politics, and gender. Sampert is a sought-after media commentator during Canadian elections and for her expertise in areas such as political communications and sexism. She cut her teeth in media at the tender age o...

Those were the words Karyn Lazareck said to the medical profession when they had doubts about her intuition of her son Jordan’s autism. On this episode of Humans, on Rights, Karyn talks about how she and her husband Mel raised three amazing boys who are now all men. And how one of the boys, Jordan led her to mobilize a community to create a place where anyone with a disability could find a sa...