Global Dignity Day: Launching Dignity in a Pandemic Podcast

On Global Dignity Day, the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights launches a larger conversation about dignity in collaboration with the community in a new  podcast - Dignity In a Pandemic.

The theme for the podcast is ‘no one left behind’.  The discussions explore what dignity looks like for vulnerable members in our community and how it has been affected by the COVID19 pandemic. 

#YEGdignity was first created by members of our Youth Action Project in 2015 to use arts to challenge perceptions on poverty. The campaign launched that year with the public painting of four murals looking at dignity and poverty. Five years later, the project has expanded to include a podcast to give voice to the vulnerable by allowing them to share and to shine a spotlight on injustices to call for action. 

Our team began gathering stories in March when the pandemic began to take hold of the world. Our first episode features Shima Aisha Robinson, a poet, community organizer, and activist.  We talk  about Camp Pekiwewin, which is led by Indigneous 2 Spirit women working in solidarity with Black and 2SLGBTQ communities.

This podcast intends to uplift local stories and lived experience in order to call to action and name the injustices we are seeing during COVID. The voices you will hear highlight tough realities, while imagining futures where the human rights of all are upheld.

Each week over the next three months, JHC will publish the next in the series of episodes bringing the perspective and voice of diverse Edmontonians. This effort is part of JHC’s commitment to building a Human Rights City, where all participate, belong and are included.

The first in the series of podcasts: https://www.jhcentre.org/dignity-during-a-pandemic-podcast

The John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights works to advance a culture of peace and human rights through education and community building guided by the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.