The work of this multidisciplinary group of scholars supports the mandate of the CHRRJ and advances the crucial task of expanding our understanding of human rights and restorative justice. The Centre would not .exist without their commitment and hard work. In this newsletter, we showcase our colleagues’ achievements.

With the end of most pandemic restrictions, we have been able to transition to in-person events which have allowed for rich and exciting exchanges. But the virtual techniques we used during the pandemic remain useful and indeed, most of our events are now hybrid. One example is the recent and very successful colloquium on “Narratives of Trauma and Memory: The Legacies of the Human Rights Violations Investigations Commissions in Nigeria and the National Reconciliation Commission in Ghana.”This event was held in Nigeria, but the hybrid format allowed attendees from Canada and elsewhere to participate.

The Centre’s new speakers’ series is also benefitting from these innovations. With support from McMaster University’s Research Centre and Institutes Engagement Fund, we will hold two hybrid events in the 2023-24 academic year. On October 4, Dr. Sascha Auerbach, the director of the Institute for the Study of Slavery at the University of Nottingham, gave a talk on “Late-Stage Slavery and Encounters with the Colonial State in the British Empire, 1823-1831.” And in February 2024, I will join a PhD student from the History Department (Matthew Monrose) to interview Dr. Michele Johnson about her research, her experiences as the director of the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on Africa and Its Diasporas and her new book, Unsettling the Great White North: Black Canadian History.

Under the auspices of this series, CHRRJ will also co-sponsor a hybrid talk with McMaster University’s new Centre for Research on Community Oriented Entrepreneurs (CRCE) in October 2023. The hybrid format for these events will allow researchers at all career stages from across Canada and beyond to attend and contribute to our discussions.
Our recently established book series is another exciting development that reflects the intellectual energy and commitment of the Centre’s members and collaborators. Created in collaboration with McGill-Queens University Press, “Confronting Atrocity: Human Rights and Restorative Justice” would not exist without the vision and hard work of my two co-editors, Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh and Dr. Paul Ugor. The series’ first book - Truth Commissions and State Building – will be published in November 2023. Co-edited by Bonny Ibhawoh, Jasper Abembia Avelazuno and Sylvia Bawa, this volume consists of articles produced for a recent CHRRJ-sponsored conference. We expect that the series will provide an outlet for research projects undertaken at the Centre as well as external manuscripts that speak to the series’ themes.

The faculty members, visiting scholars, and students affiliated with the Centre have accomplished a great deal to be proud of over the past months. Over the next year, we will build on their achievements by continuing to work together and strengthen our research collaborations in Canada and abroad.