Kristi Kenyon on city’s first Human Rights Committee of Council
Fri. Feb. 1, 2019
“It’s an honour to be nominated to serve with such an interesting and engaged group of people,” said Kenyon. “To me, this is an unparalleled opportunity to link my research and values with service to the city I call home.”
This newly created committee, which will focus on human rights, diversity, equity, peace, and inclusion, is part of a commitment by the city to position Winnipeg as an international human rights leader.
“I’m inspired by the vision of Winnipeg as a human rights city and I want to be part of thinking through what that means, and putting it into place,” said Kenyon. “I’m excited by the opportunity to provide input into city programming and infrastructure decisions.”
While this is Kenyon’s first experience on a municipal committee, she has more than 15 years working in, on and with civil society organisations in Southern Africa, South East Asia and Canada. She supports scholarship and teaching of human rights through active engagement with the Human Rights Section of the International Studies Association, and is UWinnipeg’s faculty rep at the Winnipeg branch of the Canadian International Council, where she helps foster public conversations on international affairs including many topics with strong links to human rights. She is looking forward to teaching a new special topics course this fall, Human Rights Approaches to Health, as well as the opportunity to teach a section of the course, History of Human Rights in Canada, (a required course for a BA in Human Rights) at UWinnipeg’s Merchant’s Corner Campus.
Kenyon is a 2017-2019 Canadian Institute for Advanced Research – Azrieli Global Scholar, and a research fellow with the Centre for the Study of Security and Development at Dalhousie University. She has worked as a human rights practitioner with a variety of groups in Canada and internationally, including the Amnesty International Secretariat in London, the Asian Institute for Development Communication in Kuala Lumpur, and the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS in Gaborone.
“This is an exciting opportunity for The University of Winnipeg’s Global College faculty and alumni to collaborate and grapple with issues concerning human rights in the local and global communities,” said Dr. Jan Stewart, UWinnipeg’s Deputy Provost and Associate Vice-President Academic and Acting Executive Director of The Global College.
Of the ten appointments to the Human Rights Committee of Council, three have connections to UWinnipeg. In addition to Kenyon, Andi Sharma and Jason Hart are also being appointed.
UWinnipeg alumna, Andi Sharma, completed a Masters of Public Administration jointly from The University of Manitoba and The University of Winnipeg in 2013. She was recognized in 2017 with UWinnipeg’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
Jaron Hart took part in a paid internship with Global College in 2015 as a course assistant in UWinnipeg’s fifth annual human rights summer institute; Emerging Issues in Human Rights, which introduces students to local and global human rights challenges and opportunities, and their implications for global citizenship.
“Global College staff and faculty are looking forward to partnering and collaborating on future human rights initiatives with The City of Winnipeg,” said Stewart. “These researchers, teachers, practitioners, and policy-makers are committed to issues related to human rights and global citizenship, and together they can make Winnipeg a true human rights city!”
MEDIA CONTACT:
Jennifer Cox, Communications Officer, The University of Winnipeg
T: 204.988.7671 E: j.cox@uwinnipeg.ca