Global College
Student Exchange/Action
Report on the Delivery of Recommendations
from the
“No More” Landmines Youth Symposium, to Waterloo and Ottawa – December
1, 2007
Presenters: Cameron Derksen, Nicole Jowett, Claire Picard
The “No More” Landmines symposium held at the University of Winnipeg on November 30, harnessed the creative energy of high school and university students to look at the Landmines Ban treaty and the Ottawa Process. Students worked in small groups to look at two questions: Why did the Ottawa Treaty succeed, and could its success be replicated for other humanitarian issues; what can Canada do to support countries in demining, and how can young people be engaged in the process? The discussions were fuelled by presentations from former Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Lloyd Axworthy; Vanna Minn, a landmines survivor: Paul Fawcette from the Canadian Landmines Foundation; and journalist Chris Cobb. The results of the small group discussion were presented in a plenary session, after which a group of editors met to distil the ideas generated by the students into a set of recommendations.
The recommendations were presented at the Symposium on the 10th Anniversary of the Ottawa Treaty Banning Landmines in Waterloo, ON, on December 1. The symposium was organized by the Canadian Landmines Foundation, and held at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. The presenters were Cameron Derksen, an International Development and Politics student and Deputy Chair of the UW Rights and Democracy Network delegation; Nicole Jowett, a student at the University of Winnipeg Collegiate; and Claire Picard, an Anthropology student at the University of Manitoba, a Youth Champion for the Canadian Landmines Foundation, and a Master Corporal in the Canadian Army Reserve. The report was well received, and was referenced by Dr. Lloyd Axworthy in his keynote presentation at a landmines fundraiser the same evening.
On December 3, the student representatives went to Ottawa to facilitate a discussion group at the Mines Action Canada Global Town Hall at the Chateau Laurier. The discussion centred on the questions of how the next generation of civil society activists could advance humanitarian causes. The presenters shared many of the ideas generated at the Manitoba symposium with the group to create a presentation to deliver to the plenary session.
Wesley, Mine sniffing dog!Donations for "Wesley" can be made at the University of Winnipeg Foundation (click on the drop down box / Global College / Wesley, Mine sniffing dog.
For more information about the work of these dogs please go to the attached link.
Scroll down for more links related to the No More Landmines Action Week.
John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights will be hosting the
*Reach Out, Speak Up! Ignite Change Now - Global Youth Assembly*
http://www.johnhumphreycentre.org/content/view/76/125/
a satellite project of the annual Youth Assembly at the United Nations.
The John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights
www.johnhumphreycentre.org