Welcome to the Winter 2026 edition of the Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice (CHRRJ) newsletter. This issue recognizes the conferences, publications, and other activities undertaken by the Centre’s members and its affiliates over the past few months. Highlights include a “Teaching Café” on democracy and archives and a conference on “Democratizing Human Rights.” The involvement of students in both these events demonstrates their important work in advancing our understanding of human rights and restorative justice. The Winter 2026 newsletter also draws attention to a recent publication from the CHRRJ-McGill-Queens University Press book series, “Confronting Atrocity: Human Rights and Restorative Justice.” Titled Narrating Transitional Justice: Memory in the Age of Truth and Reconciliation and co-edited by Dr. Paul Ugor and Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh, this essay collection emerged from the Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice’s conference on “Narrating Transitional Justice: History, Memory, Poetics and Politics.”
Finally, I’d like to welcome the Centre’s newest member, Dr. Jessica van Horssen. Her work on environmental health and contamination aligns with CHRRJ's research agenda, especially its social and environmental justice cluster. Her first monograph (A Town Called Asbestos: Environmental Health, Contamination, and Resilience in a Resource Community, UBC Press, 2016) explores the history of the community once known as Asbestos, Quebec, which housed the largest opencast chrysotile asbestos mine in the world for much of the 20th century. She is now a co-investigator on the "Mining Danger: Industrial Disease, Accidents, and Pollution in Canada's Mines and Mining Communities, 1870-1990," funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant. Welcome, Jessica!
During the months ahead, the members and associates of the Centre will have many opportunities to build on these accomplishments by continuing to pursue their research and other activities and by developing new and exciting projects.
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Group Picture Credit: Colin Czerneda
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We are pleased to report on the successful two-day hybrid conference held on October 23–24, 2025, titled "Democratizing Human Rights: Towards an Inclusive & Participatory Human Rights Agenda." Hosted and organized by the Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice in collaboration with Participedia at McMaster University, the event brought together scholars, practitioners and activists from around the globe to engage with the pressing intersections of human rights, democracy and participation. The conference was organized and run by a dedicated team of students and research assistants, leading to a highly successful two days that fostered a collaborative intellectual environment.
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The Conference Research Assistants
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The highlight of the conference was the keynote address by Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, the Fourth President of the International Criminal Court and the Distinguished International Jurist at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law at the Toronto Metropolitan University. His talk, titled “An Imperative of Accountability for Gross Human Rights Violations,” was followed by a lively Q&A session. Following the keynote, a panel discussion on Human Rights, Leadership and the Sustenance of Democratic Principles was held with Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh of McMaster University, Dr. Melissa Levin of the University of Toronto, and Dr. Lara Campbell of the Wilson College of Leadership.
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Pictures Credit: Melike Yilmaz
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The event was a major success, demonstrating the power of collaborative, student-driven academic spaces and highlighting the essential role of emerging scholars in shaping a more inclusive and participatory human rights agenda for the years ahead.
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Participedia’s first-ever hybrid Teaching Café, “Democracy’s Archives, Archiving Democracy”, was jointly organized and hosted by the Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice and the Department of History, bringing participants together for an engaging exploration of what archives are, what they hold, and how they shape our understanding of democratic life. Rather than viewing archives as static repositories, the Café emphasized them as dynamic, evolving spaces where community histories, struggles, and memories are preserved, contested, and reshaped.
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The main speakers were Melissa J. Nelson (Archivist, Educator, and Community Connector, Black Memory Collective), Krista McCracken (Public Historian and Curator, Algoma University), Michele Antoinette Johnson (Professor and Associate Dean, York University), Myron Groover (Archives and Rare Books Librarian, McMaster University), Denali YoungWolfe (PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia) and Roberto Falanga, José Ribeiro, and João Moniz (Inovações Democráticas em Portugal, Universidade de Lisboa, and INCITE-DEM). The Teaching Café reflected on where democracy resides, how it is remembered, and how archives can both safeguard and reshape its future.
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Following the talks, participants were divided into small groups, led by student facilitators, and presented with archival dilemmas to work through. These scenarios prompted lively debate about ethical choices, representation, access, ownership, and the responsibilities of archivists and communities. The activity allowed attendees to apply the Café's themes in a hands-on, collaborative way.
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Pictures Credit: Melike Yilmaz
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On November 15, 2025, the CHRRJ’s research coordinator, Melike Yilmaz, had the pleasure of attending “A World Without”, a play presented by McMaster’s School of the Arts, written and directed by Peter Cockett and created in collaboration with Donna-Michelle St. Bernard and Syrus Marcus Ware. The production explored urgent social justice issues, with a focus on transformative justice, prison reform, and the impacts of carceral systems on individuals and communities.
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Pictures Credit: Melike Yilmaz
The students in the iArts program delivered absolutely phenomenal performances, demonstrating remarkable creativity, depth, and commitment to the work. The play brought important conversations to the forefront and showcased the power of the arts in fostering social reflection and dialogue.
The Centre is a co-sponsor of this meaningful production.
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On November 13th, 2025, the Orchestrating Listening Situations in Restorative Transitional Justice Initiatives (ORLI) held a hybrid knowledge exchange event entitled Enforced Disappearances in Colombia and Indigenous Missing Persons in Canada. ORLI is a SSHRC-funded project exploring how institutions, artists, and educators in Canada and Colombia may create spaces for victims, offenders, and communities to engage in restoratively-oriented ways of listening as they work towards justice. The CHRRJ is a partner in the ORLI project and Dr. Kristina R. Llewellyn, a member of the CHRRJ, is a co-investigator on the project.
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Panellists and respondents included:
- Kimberley Murray, former Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools (Canada)
- Luz Marina Monzón, founding director of Colombia’s Unit for the Search of People Deemed Disappeared
- Artist Constanza Ramirez, known for flashmobs highlighting enforced disappearance in Colombia
- Mohawk writer Sara General, director of Indigenous Studies at United College
- Dr. Luis C. Sotelo (Acts of Listening Lab - Concordia University and ORLI’s principal investigator)
- The discussion was chaired by Dr. Nancy Tapias (Human Rights, United College) and a co-investigator in the ORLI project.
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Dr. Luis C. Sotelo, the Principal Investigator for ORLI, has offered a reflection on the event:
Words shape how we understand violence and justice. In Canada, the disappearances and deaths of Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people are often referred to as ‘missing.’ In Colombia, similar abuses—affecting both Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons—are referred to as “enforced disappearance.” Though the contexts differ, international human rights obligations are the same for both states. However, while Canada acknowledges “missing” Indigenous persons, they do not acknowledge cases of “enforced disappearances.” Meanwhile, Colombia, despite challenges, has implemented its obligations in both matters. This raises urgent questions: What are the differences and impacts of both concepts – “missing” and “enforced disappearances”? What role can art and education play in engaging the public with the suffering of families still searching for loved ones? How do terms like “missing” and “enforced disappearance” overlap, and how do they diverge in practice? These questions were at the heart of the first knowledge exchange event for the Orchestrating Listening Situations in Restorative Transitional Justice Initiatives.
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2025 Social Forum
Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh, chair of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development (EMRTD), delivered a keynote presentation at the United Nations Social Forum, held on 30 - 31 October 2025 in the Assembly Hall of the Palais des Nations, Geneva. His presentation topic: "The contribution of education in realizing the right to development, economic and social justice, equality and non-discrimination."
The Social Forum is an annual meeting convened by the UN Human Rights Council. It is a unique space for open, interactive dialogue among civil society, representatives of Member States, and intergovernmental organizations on a theme chosen by the Council each year. In accordance with Resolution 56/12 of the UN Human Rights Council, the 2025 Social Forum will focus on the contribution of education to the respect, promotion, protection, and fulfillment of all human rights for all.
Dr. Ibhawoh expressed his appreciation to the Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice (CHRRJ) for its support.
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COP 30
Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh joined COP30 in Belem, Brazil, from November 10 to 16, 2025. He presented major findings from a climate justice study developed with extensive support from the McMaster Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice (CHRRJ). Researchers from the Centre were central to shaping the study’s recommendations, which highlight how climate impacts are unevenly distributed and call for policies that prioritize marginalized communities during the transition away from fossil fuels.
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The Gandhi Peace Festival, in collaboration with McMaster University’s Centre for Global Peace, Justice and Health (CGPJH), the Global Peace and Social Justice Program, the India-Canada Society of Hamilton, and the City of Hamilton, hosted a Workshop on Nonviolence on November 1, 2025, titled “On Becoming a Voice for Change: Defending Democracy Collectively.”
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The workshop was led by Dr. Paul Dekar, Professor Emeritus at McMaster University and Memphis Theological Seminary. Participants discussed Gandhi’s key ideas on democracy, reflected on their personal experiences, and explored how these ideas could be applied to the current context, both in large and small group discussions.
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For more information about the Gandhi Peace Festival, please visit the Centre for Global Peace, Justice and Health’s (CGPJH) website.
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Pictures Credit: Melike Yilmaz
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On June 26, 2025, Dr. Ingrid Waldron (Professor and HOPE Chair in Peace and Health, Global Peace and Social Justice Program, Faculty of Humanities) held the event “Mental Health in Hamilton’s Black Community: A Symposium at McMaster’s Center for Continuing Education.” The symposium aimed to create a collaborative space for knowledge exchange, strengthening partnerships across sectors, and identifying pathways toward culturally responsive and equitable mental health care for Black communities in Hamilton. This symposium was based on Dr. Waldron’s 2024 study on the structural and social determinants of mental health among Black youth in Hamilton (Waldron et al., 2024).
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The overall goal of the symposium was to generate sustainable connections between scholars and students, mental health policymakers, community leaders, community organizations, mental health service providers, and Black people to create integrated networks seeking to support the mental health of Black Hamiltonians. This involves leveraging strategic multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral partnerships and targeted knowledge mobilization approaches for addressing the challenges Black individuals experience accessing culturally competent mental health services in Hamilton.
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Pictures Credit: Abigail Samuels
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 Congratulations to Dr. Paul Ugor and Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh on the publication of their edited book, Narrating Transitional Justice, in December 2025. This volume emerged from the Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice’s two-day virtual conference, Narrating Transitional Justice: History, Memory, Poetics and Politics, held on July 29–30, 2021.
For more information about the book, please visit the McGill-Queen’s University Press website below:
Narrating Transitional Justice | McGill-Queen’s University Press
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Congratulations to Dr. Ibhawoh on his co-edited book, The Role of Networks in Advancing Human Rights: Making Human Connections, with Dr. Shareen Hertel and Dr. Mark Gibney, to be published by Edward Elgar Publishing in October 2025.
For more information about the book, please visit the Edward Elgar Publishing website below:
The Role of Networks in Advancing Human Rights
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