By Robin Tarnowetzki
Journal Staff Writer
[email protected]
Social justice activists from all over the province were in Humboldt on Oct. 18 for an Amnesty International (Saskatchewan branch) conference. Attendees took in three workshops and got to network with people active in Amnesty and other like-minded individuals.
"It went really well," said Gordon Barnes, volunteer Amnesty International field worker. "There was great feedback in terms of the people who attended the variety of workshops and some really good connections made in terms of the human rights discussions we were hosting."
Some of those discussions involved missing and murdered Aboriginal women, how to stop torture, being an LGBT ally, and helping Canadian refugees.
In the workshop about indigenous women, women stood up and shared how they felt about the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women and what it's like to see women go missing but nothing being done about it.
"Like one of the other guests said, we're Aboriginal people 24 hours a day, seven days a week," said Darlene Rose Okemaysim-Sicotte, one of the hosts of the workshop. "We walk out the door where we have to constantly be on guard of our rights, if we're going to be treated well, not treated well. It's a shame that we're constantly in that mindset because it takes away from things that could be going on that are good Sometimes we can put it aside but there are days where it's happening day after day and you're just kind of like, 'I don't want to go outside, I don't want to deal with that, and we're glad just to be among ourselves and don't have to face that."
Amnesty International has over three million members in 80 different countries, and is the most well-known human rights organization.
"It's a very far-reaching scope," said Libby Jeffrey, vice-president of the Regina chapter of Amnesty International.
Jeffrey said the good thing about Amnesty International is that it covers so many issues and has such a variety of campaigns that people who want to get involved can choose how much they participate and on what issues.
"That's the beautiful thing as well - you can participate to your own extent," Jeffrey said. "You can really pick and choose what speaks to you."
Jeffrey and Christal Lintott, the president of the Regina branch of Amnesty International, ran a workshop that was an introduction to Amnesty International. They talked about what it was, how it worked, and how to get involved. They also talked about the ally spectrum, a scale of how much an individual or company supports or opposes a certain issue and asked people to put an X on a diagram depending on how much they supported campaigning for missing and murdered indigenous women or how much they were for or against torture.
Barnes said about 60 people from all over the province - including Moose Jaw, Regina, Saskatoon, and Canora - attended the conference.
"There number of people who were new were very enthusiastic about having the opportunity to attend," Barnes said. "That was great. You're always a little nervous about whether the kind of info and workshops and stuff meets people's expectations. We were very pleased with the response."
