Presidents Report 2010

It is remarkable how things can change when dialogue becomes collaboration and vision becomes action.  For MARL, this last year has been the work of like-minded people; determined to make a difference by committing themselves to change.  But, above all else, it is the level of interconnectedness that MARL has cultivated with other organizations, schools, universities and individuals that best resonates with us on this year’s progress.

Change was seen in the areas of educating numerous segments of our society in our schools and communities. On May 12, we held our MARL Youth Leadership Awards at the University of Winnipeg where 8 schools showcased their projects.  The success of this evening can best described as outstanding due to the interest that it has generated for next year.  There are potentially 16 schools that are interested in participating next year. Workshops were also given in 5 schools on how to start social justice clubs.  Rick Lussier from the Winnipeg Foundation was in attendance and he expressed his overall pleasure on the depth and breadth of the students’ projects. All students that participated in the program are now automatically youth members of MARL, thus expanding our network, our interconnectedness with educators and students.

Providing resources to our educators has also been a mandate and wonderful progress has been made in this area as well. The teachers’ toolkit, where support for educators will be provided in the form of lesson plans and other resources for all grade levels and subject areas for grade 9 -12, nears completion.  Some lesson plans have been piloted and many educators have contributed to the toolkit, such as the University of Winnipeg. This provides more evidence of everyone willing to connect in order to increase human rights across the program of studies.

MARL did not hesitate to take responsibility for the MARCH 21 Anti-Racism Day. Many of our ethnic communities came to listen to a forum on current issues surrounding racism. The level of participants surpassed MARL’s expectations and the feedback was extremely positive with many hoping that other forums would be held in the future. And again due to MARL’s willingness to highlight our organization, we have stepped forward to assume responsibility for June 26th Canadian Multicultural Day which will be held at Portage Place.

Charter Rights and Legislative Review Committee has met on numerous occasions to discuss various policies such as religious exercise and hate speech. In the Fall, a forum will be held at the Faculty of Law with the focus being the freedom of speech. A meeting with the Premier is also in place for July 8 to discuss the freedom of information legislation. This clearly demonstrates the willingness of others to hear our voice.

We are also making progress to increase our efficiency in the office in order to enhance our communication with all our members and communities. Our office has been update with much needed office computers due to a grant and, this summer, we will be redesigning our website to facilitate easy access of information from the various committees.  We are also monitoring our MARL Facebook as a means of staying connected with our members and beyond.

This year’s success is due to the dedication of our incredible staff; Roland Dion’s passion in bringing human rights alive within the youth program, Nadine McCaughan for her dedication in reaching deep into our community to find the best resources possible and, finally, Cindy Murdoch for her unlimited energy in bringing our vision to the forefront of our community.

The end of the year is also the time to say thank you to those who are leaving us; Jacques Marcoux, Angie Conrad and Robin Dwarka. Some have decided to leave because of other commitments and others because they have completed their term. Robin has kindly accepted to remain on the education committee. We thank you for all the hours that you devoted to MARL. You have made a difference.

It is also the time to welcome on our new board members Susanna Scott, Danielle Grzybowski and Nick Kulyk. We know that your life experiences will enable us to move our mandate even further in the community. Thank you for agreeing to be part of our vision. We wish you all a great summer and look forward to, what appears to be another, banner year for MARL.

-Estelle Lamoureux