"...how about our humanity? What was it like living before we thought of human rights? What was it like before we thought of responsibilities, and moral function and compassion?" - Zane Zalis, music teacher and internationally recognized composer, discusses the background to his "I Believe" concert and demonstrates the power of music in teaching for human rights.

The Bio –

Zane Zalis is an internationally recognized composer and producer, as well as the music teacher at Miles Macdonell Collegiate. Zane graduated from Murdoch MacKay Collegiate and completed a Bachelor of Education at the University of Manitoba, majoring in music and history. Zane is the founder of the music production program at Miles Mac, and has been involved in the development of music education curriculum in Manitoba. Zane also developed the Prodigy vocal program, which has had radio and television performances with CBC and extensive radio play with recording stations in both Canada and Mexico. The students in Prodigy have performed in Austria, the US, Mexico and Scotland, and were guest performers along with Loreena McKennitt, Tom Jackson and others in a gala co-conducted by Zane as part of The Queen’s Jubilee tour.

"...when I think of a global citizen, it's someone who appreciates the significant challenges we are facing as a planetary society; in the area of human rights, environmental degradation, issues of community and social development, globally as well as locally."

The Organization –

Global College is an action-oriented, multi-disciplinary forum for Canadian and International students which brings students and community members together with local faculty, visiting scholars and speakers from around the world and engages them in sharing their diverse perspectives about issues of global citizenship, human rights, and issues affecting the planet. The goal of this dialogue is for people to discover their role within the local and global community, and to better recognize and understand the rights and responsibilities of individuals in a changing world.

"It's important that students are speaking up, because adults do that all the time, but when people see young people speaking out, it makes a difference."

The Organization –

The Unity Group has been a feature of Maples Collegiate for 13 years.  It was initiated, according to teacher Chuck Duboff, when a federal politician made racist remarks about East Indian people. Many students at Maples Collegiate were upset by this and wrote letters about it.  The responses they received were “generic”. When they spoke to Mr. Duboff about this he suggested, “If this were the ‘60’s we’d be out there with signs demonstrating.” Thus, the Unity Group was born.

Welcome to the premier edition of WYREZ, a new feature e-magazine of the Manitoba Association for Rights and Liberties - Youth and Education Program (MARL-YEP).  WYREZ is dedicated to discussions about human rights and civil liberties.  We hope WYREZ will be a home for debate about human rights and social justice issues. It is intended to be informative and thought-provokng, with an emphasis on youth and education.