Executive Director Report

This is a time of change and transition at MARL. In the spring, we reported on the completion of five successful years of the Asper Foundation Human Rights and Holocaust Studies Program. Our funding for the program has not been renewed and we will not be continuing with the program this year. While this means that we must say goodbye to a wonderful program and its even more wonderful coordinator, Dorota Praski, we do have the opportunity to develop a new program that will bring human rights education to a broader audience of high school students and educators. Estelle Lamoureux, Chair of the Education Committee will report to you here and in subsequent issues on the progress of this planning.

We have been busy reinvigorating MARL's committees as you will see elsewhere in this newsletter. Another change is the development of a Communications Committee which will focus on how MARL can raise awareness of human rights and civil liberties issues and how we let members and the community know about the work we are doing. The Communications Committee has already begun to work on improving MARL's newsletter. Our goal is to issue the newsletter more frequently to provide regular updates on MARL's work and issues emerging in our community. Joseph Nnadi will continue as Editor and will be assisted by a team of volunteers we are in the process of bringing on right now. We hope you will find this issue informative and will look for further improvements in the ones that follow next year.

Last month I had the opportunity to participate in a community conversation on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in relation to Canada's anti-terrorism practices, policies and legislation. Organized by Leadership Winnipeg and The Canadian Unity Council, the event was an opportunity to engage youth from many sectors in a conversation about the impact of anti-terrorism measures on civil liberties since 2001. While this issue has receded from the forefront of public discourse, the youth in attendance shared concerns with current practices and offered suggestions for practices that could be employed that would be more respectful of civil liberties. Many expressed interest in continuing the dialogue and finding ways to raise public awareness. We were pleased to participate and hope to stay connected with this process of engaging youth in civil liberties issues.

Ken has written to you in his report about our goals to increase our membership and the role you can play in helping us achieve our goal. In addition to passing this newsletter along, we are enclosing MARL's membership brochure which we ask you to pass along to another person who cares about human rights and civil liberties. You can also direct interested friends to MARL's website at www.marl.mb.ca where they can sign up and even pay online, if they wish, through PayPal, a secure way to handle payments on the internet. With your help, we know we can reach our goals and strengthen the organization. Warmest best wishes for a happy holiday season and a peaceful new year.