JHC Partners with the Alberta Teachers’ Association for the Diversity, Equity and Human Rights 2024 Conference

The John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights (JHC) had the privilege to partner with the Alberta Teachers’ Association for their Diversity, Equity and Human Rights (DEHR) 2024 Conference. This year, the Conference delved into how to uphold human rights in challenging landscapes and bringing inspiration into action. The JHC led the event by delivering a session on supports available to teachers looking to address human rights concerns within their schools. From there, the JHC co-facilitated a session with Deborah Dobbins, the founder of the Shiloh Centre for Multicultural Roots, following the screening of Black Lives in Alberta: Over a Century of Racial Injustice Continues. 

While the event was primarily focused on educators, the JHC felt it was essential to have the voices of young people present at the event, and invited three young individuals from rural areas across the province. During the conference, they had the opportunity to engage with educators from their communities and attend sessions to speak on their lived experiences in the education system. In reflection of his time during the conference, one of the youth participants, Russell Willier, shared:

“As an Indigenous person hearing about teachers trying to teach every student about Truth and Reconciliation was heartwarming, but the feedback from students was heartbreaking, as most of the [domestic] students and [those] who came from foreign countries feel they don’t have to learn about Indigenous Culture, colonization, or Reconciliation, as what is taught about it is taught in past tense.”

The affinity circles, which were sessions delivered for people with shared identities to connect, were particularly powerful both for JHC staff and the youth participants that joined us. They created a space of welcoming, but also allowed for impactful conversations on some of the struggles that come with belonging to marginalized groups. The educators in the circles are eager to progress human rights in their schools, but often face resistance from their schools, school boards, and from the larger community. 

The breakout sessions provided through the conference highlighted how eager Albertan educators are to create change at the grassroots level, and while they face resistance and struggles, the DEHR Conference provides those initial avenues to ignite the change they want to see.