April 21, 2017
Educating for Action
The Manitoba Teachers’ Society (MTS) and the Manitoba Association of School Superintendents (MASS) proudly presented a joint conference on April 20th and 21st entitled “Our Human Rights Journey: Educating for Action”. Over 1000 educators, including 150 students, attended the two day event, which featured over 60 sessions on some of the most controversial human rights and educational issues in Canada.
Topics in the sessions included: the queering of our classrooms, human trafficking, decolonizing education, 60’s scoop, mental illness stigma, stress management, building community, teaching about gender, newcomers and refugees, religious rights, black history in Canada, speaking truth to power, Down Syndrome, FASH, Autism and Aspergers, children in care and more. Two student performance groups opened up the sessions each morning, including a drum group from Maples Collegiate and a production by Fort Richmond Collegiate’s Drama class. Keynote speakers included John Ralston Saul, Raheel Raza, Chief Wilton Littlechild and Dr.Cindy Blackstock.
MTS President Norm Gould called the conference “….the premiere human rights conference in the country.”, while MASS president Brett Lough said “This conference is a wonderful example of the collaborative leadership demonstrated by MTS and MASS in bringing together a program that supports our shared deep and ongoing commitment to equity and human rights in public education.”