Education Committee Update

The mandate of the Education Committee is obvious – it is to educate. As a committee we needed to answer who, how and what in order to give direction and substance to our goal. We are very fortunate to have received funding from the Winnipeg Foundation to support the development of a program and resources for senior high school students. Due to their commitment to educating youth, MARL has had the good fortune of hiring Debra Chorney, a qualified teacher, as our program developer.

Through Debra’s research and hard work, we are excited to say that we are entering a time of incredible possibilities for MARL’s Education Committee. Debra has anchored our program on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The values that are inherent within these documents are the cornerstones for the program.

Debra has made substantial progress in a very short time. She has surveyed numerous school divisions within the city to ascertain what is currently being done in the area of human rights education. She is in the process of developing a resource tool kit for teachers, with a piloting phase starting shortly. She is establishing relationships with teachers, students and the community in order to promote the program component of encouraging youth to action.

We hope that these initiatives will enlighten our youth to safeguard their rights and those of others. It is important for the next generation to know that MARL champions the rights and liberties of all our citizens. They need to be ready to take up the torch.

We also need to express our gratitude to Valerie Price, our executive director, for her ongoing support in overseeing the development of the education program. It is through her guidance and experience that we are where we are today, moving forward in the promotion of human rights in education.