Brown Bag Lecture Series

The Attack of the Peacekeepers

3 March 2023 – Dr. Nathan Derejko, Assistant Professor and Arthur V. Mauro Chair in Human Rights and Social Justice, University of Manitoba. Dr. Derejko’s presentation explores the legal implications of so-called “robust” peacekeeping mandates, and investigates the conditions under which ‘peacekeeping’ forces operating during situations of armed conflict should be considered as a ‘Party’ to the armed conflict and therefore bound by and subject to International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

• The Attack of the Peacekeepers (YouTube)

So, I Lost the Mayor’s Race: What Now? What Unelected Citizens Can Do To Make Real Change in Winnipeg

17 February 2023 – Shaun Loney, Encompass Co-op and 2022 Winnipeg Mayoral Candidate. In his talk, Shaun addresses the question of what unelected citizens can do to effect real change, drawing on his experiences in creating and supporting social enterprises, using community bonds to launch a housing land trust, and the financing of renewable energy.

• So, I Lost the Mayor’s Race: What Now? What Unelected Citizens Can Do To Make Real Change in Winnipeg (YouTube)

The Impact of War on Journalism in Ukraine

13 January 2023 - Olga Tokariuk, Independent Journalist and Journalist Fellow, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (Oxford, UK). Olga Tokariuk’s lecture focuses on the impact Russian full-scale invasion had on Ukrainian journalists, their professional and personal life. Based on her own experience, interviews with her colleagues and research conducted since February 2022, she presented the challenges and opportunities Ukrainian journalists and media organizations are currently facing. Follow Olga Tokariuk on Twitter.

• The Impact of War on Journalism in Ukraine (YouTube)

Competing Visions of Secularism, Tolerance, and Inclusion

4 November 2022 Dr. Félix Mathieu, Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of Winnipeg. Dr. Mathieu offers an original interpretation distinguishing Canadian multiculturalism and Quebec interculturalism (from the perspective of political theory). The lecture and discussion touches upon Quebec Bills 21 (secularism) and 96 (reform of the Charter of the French language) and how they align with interculturalism in some ways, but clash in other ways. Based on research presented in his recent publication, Taking Pluralism Seriously.

• Competing Visions of Secularism, Tolerance, and Inclusion (YouTube)

Green Technologies Exacerbate Exploitation in the DRC

14 October 2022 Fr. Jacques Nzumbu SJ, Jesuit Central African Province. In partnership with Canadian Jesuits International, Fr. Jacques Nzumbu SJ shared his experience in understanding the harmful impact of green technologies on human rights, conflict, and inequality in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Fr Nzumbu proposed solutions to both address climate change and not worsen the inequality between the Global North and South.

• Green Technologies Exacerbate Exploitation in the DRC (YouTube)
• Lecture Handout: CJI Green Justice: Human rights and energy transition

From Child Soldier to War Criminal: The Story of Dominic Ongwen

23 September 2022 Dr. Kjell Anderson, Director of the Master of Human Rights Program and Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Manitoba. Dominic Ongwen was abducted by Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) at the age of 9, becoming a child soldier, and eventually a commander responsible for a range of atrocities. Ongwen was recently convicted by the International Criminal Court. Dr. Kjell Anderson will discuss his research, which informs the dilemma posed by prosecuting a man for the same crimes that he is himself a victim.

• From Child Soldier to War Criminal: The Story of Dominic Ongwen (YouTube)

Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’- What It Is and What It Isn't: A Perspective

18 March 2022 (11:30 am to 12:30 pm CDT) - Dr. Kawser Ahmed, Executive Director, Conflict and Resilience Research Institute, Canada. The ‘Freedom Convoy’ has garnered national and now international attention for its three weeklong demonstrations in Canada. The protesters had a two-fold demand: to end COVID-related mandates or for the federal government to step down. Researchers studying the convoy have received substantial amounts of digital data that hint at a bigger issue in Canada at play. In his lecture, Dr. Kawser Ahmed will shed light on the findings.

• Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’- What It Is and What It Isn't: A Perspective (YouTube)

Preventing Violent Extremism While Protecting Human Rights?

11 March 2022 New Date (12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Winnipeg time) - Dr. Chuck Thiessen, Coventry University (UK). The use of international peacebuilding and development as delivery vehicles for preventing violent extremism (PVE) initiatives is a recent and pivotal change inside many international organizations. However, two major challenges for human rights exist. This lecture will critically assess the ability of international organizations to prevent violent extremism while promoting human rights.

• Preventing Violent Extremism While Protecting Human Rights? (YouTube)

Resonant Violence - Affect, Memory, and Activism in Post-Genocide Societies

29 October 2021 (11:30 am to 12:30 pm CST) - Dr. Kerry Whigham, Assistant Professor, Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Binghamton University; Director of Research and Online Education, Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities. From the Holocaust in Europe to the military dictatorships of Latin America to the enduring violence of settler colonialism around the world, genocide has been a defining experience of far too many societies. In this lecture, Dr. Whigham explores both the enduring impacts of genocidal violence and the varied ways in which states and grassroots collectives respond to and transform this violence through memory practices and grassroots activism.

• Resonant Violence - Affect, Memory, and Activism in Post-Genocide Societies (YouTube)

Our Shared Future: Windows into Canada’s Reconciliation Journey

22 October 2021 – Dr. Laura Reimer, Research Affiliate, Arthur V. Mauro Institute for Peace & Justice. Our journey for reconciliation in Canada is, in many ways, just beginning. Dr. Reimer's lecture draws upon contributions to her recent publication Our Shared Future: Windows into Canada’s Reconciliation Journey to share the collected thoughts and deeds of dedicated and respected reconciliation practitioners in our country.

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• Our Shared Future: Windows into Canada’s Reconciliation Journey (YouTube)

Gendercide

1 October 2021 (3:30 pm - 4:30 pm Winnipeg) - Dr. Katerina Standish, Senior Lecturer, University of Otaga; Director of Research, National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (New Zealand). Gendercide includes deliberate life-ending acts and acts that deprive people of the right to live fully human lives because of their sex/gender identity. This illumination of gendercidal violence will include: androcide, transicide, queericide, femicide, Indigenous gendercide, feticide, and infanticide.

• Gendercide (YouTube)

Fostering Dialogue: A Local Initiative to Humanize Conversations about Israel and Palestine

26 March 2021 - Izzeddin Hawamda and Frances Ravinsky, two members of the Gesher/Bridge/Jesr community, a local group committed to respectful dialogue in the Jewish and Arab/Palestinian communities, shared their perspectives on the struggle for peace and its impact on both Palestinians and Israelis. Using poetry and story, they reflected on the ways in which personal identity and life experience have informed their understanding of, and emotional response to the struggle for peace and justice.

• Fostering Dialogue: A Local Initiative to Humanize Conversations about Israel and Palestine (YouTube)

Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding in Asia

19 March 2021 - Dr. Stephanie Stobbe and Dr. Wendy Kroeker highlight the findings in two books from a new book series, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding in Asia. The books explore the many processes of resolution that are found in Asia, accounting along the way for the complex mix of distinct ethnic groups and their contrasting languages, cultural lineages, and practices. The goal is to move beyond the typical top-down negotiation styles to look at the wide variety of negotiation styles used by people in different parts of Asia.

• Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding in Asia (YouTube)

The Predicaments of ‘Belonging’ in Kaduna State, Nigeria

19 February 2021 - Dr. Benjamin Maiangwa presented the findings of his newly published book detailing the uses and power of storytelling to explore the contested notions of belonging among the Fulani and other ethnic groups in Kaduna state, Nigeria. The book argues that these controversies center around Indigenous, nomadic, and autochthonous claims of belonging. Dr. Maiangwa identifies these differing notions of belonging as a major condition of violent conflicts in Kaduna and across various postcolonial societies.

• The Predicaments of ‘Belonging’ in Kaduna State, Nigeria (YouTube)

Perceptions of Ethnicity, Religion, and Radicalization among Second-Generation Pakistani-Canadians: Unity in Diversity?

5 February 2021 - Based on interviews with Pakistani-Canadians from various backgrounds, as detailed in his new book, Dr. Saad Ahmad Khan argues that radicalization is a complex and layered process stemming from multiple sources ranging from childhood experiences to the role of Saudi Arabia in exporting its brand of Islam. Individual, social, national, and international factors need to be addressed holistically, if radicalization of second-generation individuals is to be pre-empted and subsequent generations saved from the scourge of violence and terrorism.

• Perceptions of Ethnicity, Religion, and Radicalization among Second-Generation Pakistani-Canadians: Unity in Diversity? (YouTube)

Sex Industry Slavery in Present-Day Canada: Protecting Canada’s Youth

20 November 2020 - Dr. Robert (Bob) Chrismas details the findings in his new book, Sex Industry Slavery: Protecting Canada’s Youth by presenting first-hand perspectives on the problem of sexual exploitation and human sex trafficking: gut-wrenching stories that describe how many young women are coerced into oppressive relationships in the sex industry, often starting in childhood. Representing decades of collective knowledge, Sex Industry Slavery presents first-hand perspectives on the problem as well as proposes practical solutions.

• Sex Industry Slavery in Present-Day Canada: Protecting Canada’s Youth (YouTube)

‘Unwanted’ Peoples their Citizenship Struggles: Rohingya and Banyamulenge

13 November 2020 - Dr. Kawser Ahmed presents key similarities between two contested and violently displaced minority groups, the Rohingya of Myanmar/Bangladesh and the Banyamulenge of the Eastern DRC/Great Lakes region. Based on the findings of a joint collaboration between the Institute of Social Studies (ISS)-Erasmus, Netherlands and the Conflict Resolution Research Institute of Canada (CRRIC), he asks what role the international community can have to transform the conflicts.

• ‘Unwanted’ Peoples their Citizenship Struggles: Rohingya and Banyamulenge (YouTube)

Searching for the Disappeared: Vulnerability and Resistance on the Migrant Route

6 November 2020 - In 2019, the Mexican government estimated that 40,000 persons were registered as ‘disappeared’ among them thousands of Central American migrants. Central American women have organized local advocacy groups and a transnational protest movement to search for the disappeared and demand justice. Drawing from ethnographic research, Dr. Lisa McLean argues that the women’s strategies represent a form of grassroots peacebuilding that challenges the structural relations of power that lead to displacement and disappearance.

• Searching for the Disappeared: Vulnerability and Resistance on the Migrant Route (YouTube)