Humans, On Rights Stuart Murray

On this episode of Humans, on Rights, we talk to Kirsten Wurmann, the Program Director for the Manitoba Library Association about how libraries are feeling pressure to remove certain books from the library and because of that libraries should not be neutral spaces. Libraries need to be accountable to our community and our community is comprised of people from a myriad of backgrounds. She believes that libraries must reflect the communities that we serve, and that all of our community members should feel represented within their library collection. Therefore, Wurmann says libraries are not neutral because we do care about the community so much and that’s what guides our work.Kirsten Wurmann is passionate about human rights, about diversity, about inclusivity and accessibility. And all those values need to be reflected when someone walks into a library.With the support of the Association of Manitoba Book Publishers, the Manitoba Library Association has announced a new award called the Human Rights Book Award. This Human Rights Book Award will support and recognize Manitoba libraries hard work to uphold library values of intellectual freedom while at the same time reflecting their community’s need for inclusive and diverse library spaces. If you want to nominate someone or a library, go to www.mla.mb.ca and go to the MLA Award Nomination Form.

NOTE: THE DEADLINE FOR THE NOMINATIONAS FOR THE 2024 AWARD IS MAY1, 2024.

Wurmann has worked tirelessly as a volunteer to bring books and create a library inside provincial carceral institutions where libraries are currently not legislated. She is a Member, Prison Libraries Committee. If you want to find a way to support this program, please go to www.mla.mb.ca.X:

Twitter: @MB_Lib_Assn

Facebook: Manitoba Library Association

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/mb_linbrary_assoc

LinkedIn: Manitoba Library Association

Youtube.com: Manitoba Library Association

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As a young Black man growing up in Winnipeg Rich Thomas remembers his parents saying to him “you are living in a society where you are not the majority, and a s a young Black person, you are going to have to work twice as hard for half as much”. Those words had an enormous impact on his early years. And when we spoke on this episode of humans, on Rights Rich talked about how he took the words of his loving parents to heart.

Rich Thomas shares his personal story of running his own business, his challenges and his success and his realization that regardless of how successful his business was, he was never acknowledged or recognized as the manager….simply because of the colour of his skin. That is when Rich recognized that he needed to establish himself as a champion for diversity. He believed that if he could chart a path as a successful champion of diversity, he could chart a course and mentor other marginalized people to becoming leaders.

Today Rich Thomas is a leadership coach. Rich is the Founder and Global Chair of Jet in Colour, an employee resource group focussed on marginalized ethnic communities currently spanning Canada, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.

As an avid collector of shoes, the large majority Nike shoes, Rich is a classic example of “just do it”.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“We absolutely should have publicly funded prevention of pregnancy and not just publicly funded abortion.”

On this episode oh Humans, on Rights we talk with Dr. Martha Paynter, Dalhousie School of Nursing scholar, researcher, writer, nurse, activist and board chair of Wellness Within about why she wrote her book Abortion to Abolition: Reproductive Health and Justice in Canada. Dr. Paynter believes that the history of abortion decriminalization and critical advocacy efforts to improve access in Canada deserve to be better known. Ordinary people persevered to make Canada the most progressive country in the world with respect to abortion care. But while abortion access is poorly understood, so too are the persistent threats to reproductive justice in this country: sexual violence, gun violence, homophobia and transphobia, criminalization of sex work, reproductive oppression of Indigenous women and girls, privatization of fertility health services, and the racism and colonialism of policing and the prison system.

Paynter encourages Canadians to ask their health-care providers about prescribing medical abortion through pharmaceutical drugs such as Mifepristone. Through further conversations with patients on abortion care, Paynter is confident that Canadian health-care providers will grow in confidence around providing access to abortion care, ultimately allowing the topic to become more normalized in Canadian society.

You can tag @marthpaynter on X, and @wellnesswithinns on Instagram and Facebook.

Full Transcription:

https://www.soundoff.network/show/humans-on-rights/dr-martha-paynter/










See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sunshine House is a community drop-in and resource centre focusing on harm reduction and social inclusion. The team at Sunshine House, led by Executive Director Levi Foy, provide programming that fulfills people’s social, community, and recreational needs. Participants can come as they are and are not expected to be “clean” or sober.Sunshine House has an abundance of programming – Brunch, 2S/Trans ID Peer Support, Street Feet, Gizhiwenimin, Like That and a first of its kind, very innovative program called MOPS or the Mobile Overdose Prevention Site.In 2022 Sunshine House was granted the opportunity to start a Mobile Overdose Prevention Site, also knowns as MOPS. Sunshine House started service delivery as Manitoba’s first and only formal; overdose prevention site on October 28, 2022. During the months leading up to the launch the staff at Sunshine House decided on the locations in the community where MOPS would be stationed. Purchased an RV and got staff trained in first aid and emergency overdose response.

According to Executive Director Levi Foy “we chose an RV as the mobile unit on advice from the community who wanted to keep a comfortable and “homey” setting as opposed to a medical van.The community was very receptive from the start, and once word started to spread Sunshine House was seeing 90 visits a day with 20 people a day using drugs in the RV.Sunshine House has created a safe, warm space where those who enter the doors are welcomed to feel like this is their home. Making that possible is evident by the passion that Executive Director Levi Foy has for the team at Sunshine House and the community that it serves.Facebook: Sunshine House

Instagram: sunshinehousewpg

Web site: www.sunshinehousewpg.org

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

During the celebration of Black History Month, Chef Rob Thomas talks about how he plans to create a special dinner to celebrate how Black culture has influenced the food we eat. To further promote and celebrate Black History Month Chef Rob is doing a livestream on Thursday February 22 to demonstrate one of his signature dishes. In addition to the livestream, the chef is preparing a special menu for a Winnipeg Jets hockey game as the Jets celebrate Black History Month. Go Jets Go!According to Chef Rob, being a chef is akin to being a mad scientist. He explains that while you are always trying to make the last meal your best, you are already planning on how you can make improvements to the next culinary creation.

When Chef Rob was asked about the relationship between importance of celebrating Black History and the preparation of food, the one take away that Chef Rob would like those that participate in his live stream show or participate in person is “I would love for the participants to take away that there is so much more to the cuisine than just what’s being shown to them. I’m not expecting someone to become a great historian on Caribbean food but take some of that knowledge that you you’ve learned and then just dig a tiny bit deeper just to further your knowledge and history a little.”You can get Chef Rob’s recipes to some of his signature dishes through the Home Trends magazine (https://canadianhometrends.com) and on his active social channels listed below.

A Transcription for this episode is available here.

www.chefrob.ca

www.facebook.com/Chef.Rob.Thomas

www.linkedin.com/in/chefrobthomas

http://instagram.com/chefrobthomas

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Laura Brandon is a band member of Waywayseecappo First Nation, she has three adult children and is a grandmother. Laura Brandon wants to know that when it comes to discussing the ribbon skirt, she speaks only for herself. The good news is that Laura Brandon generously shares her personal views on the history, the importance, the celebration, and the learning that comes from the making and the wearing of the Ribbon Skirt.

When 10 year old Isabelle Kulak drew international attention when she wore a ribbon skirt to a school formal event and was sent home because the school authorities said “the skirt did not match her shirt”. And part of that international attention was Manitoba Senator Mary Jane McCallum presenting a bill to parliament that would declare every January 4th as National Ribbon Skirt Day.In this episode, Laura talks about her personal journey as it relates to the wearing of a ribbon skirt. She shares what the colours mean and how they are interpreted.

Through the conversation Laura’s passion for the important role that the ribbon skirt can play when it comes to reconciliation is both refreshing and educational.

A Transcription of this episode will be made available here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.