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Human Rights a Day

Human Rights a Day

Written by: Stephen Hammond
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 Join me every day for Human Rights a Day. It's a journey through 365 Days of Human Rights Celebrations and Tragedies That Inspired Canada and the World. The short 2 minute readings are from my book Steps in the Rights Direction. Meet people who didn't want to be special but chose to stick their neck out and stand up for what they believed and in doing so changed our world. There's still room for you to make a difference. Start each day with something that will inspire and motivate you to take a chance - to make the world better for us all.

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Stephen Hammond Philosophy Social Sciences
Episodes
  • March 31, 1959 - Dalai Lama

    March 31, 1959 - Dalai Lama
    Mar 31 2018
    Dalai Lama of Tibet escapes to India. Tibet embraced Buddhism in the 7th century under head of state and spiritual leader Dalai Lama. The present and 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was identified at the age of two as a reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. From an early age, he tried to deal with the tensions between his country and China. But China, feeling its power threatened, invaded Tibet in 1950, asserting its sovereignty over the centuries-old region. Tibetan anger grew until an anti-Chinese uprising in 1959 prompted the Chinese military to attack. They fired hundreds of artillery shells, destroying the Dalai Lama’s summer place, killing thousands of Tibetans and leaving many more homeless. The Dalai Lama fled with 20 others, including six of his cabinet ministers. After a 15-day journey, they arrived in India on March 31, 1959 and were given asylum. Since then the Dalai Lama has set up a Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala, India, also known as “Little Lhasa.” The government of China has been strongly criticized for its human rights abuses in Tibet, in contrast to the Dalai Lama, who received the Nobel Peace prize in 1989 for his consistent promotion of peaceful resistance.

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    2 mins
  • March 30, 1992 - Native Women's Association

    March 30, 1992 - Native Women's Association
    Mar 30 2018
    Native women’s group loses discrimination case. In 1991, when the federal government was trying to change the constitution, it gave $10 million to four aboriginal groups to secure their input throughout an extensive consultative process. Unfortunately, the government overlooked the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), whose members felt they should have been at what they considered a male-dominated table. Belatedly trying to correct matters, the government gave NWAC $560,000, but it didn’t stop the women from taking the federal government to court for violating their charter rights – by denying them freedom of expression and discriminating against them based on gender. On March 30, 1992, Judge Walsh of the federal Court of Canada dismissed the case, saying that while more money would have given the NWAC more voice in the process, it is not up to the courts to ensure that every organization has money during a consultative process. The judge also found that the other four aboriginal groups represented both men and women, and therefore the court should not be interfering with the government’s choices. This decision was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which agreed with Judge Walsh in dismissing the case.

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    2 mins
  • March 29, 1993 - Catherine Callbeck

    March 29, 1993 - Catherine Callbeck
    Mar 29 2018
    Catherine Callbeck becomes Canada’s first woman elected premier of a province. Catherine Callbeck spent her life alternating between her love of business and her penchant for politics. Born July 25, 1939 in Central Bedeque, Prince Edward Island, she earned bachelors of commerce and education and did post-graduate work in business administration before teaching business in New Brunswick and Ontario. She then returned to PEI to join the family business until her interest in politics landed her in the provincial legislature in 1974 as a Liberal MLA and member of the cabinet. Another stint with the family business was interrupted twice by political stints: in Ottawa as a Liberal MP and then, in January 1993, a return to provincial politics. When the Liberal Party of PEI chose her as leader, she immediately assumed the position of premier, later becoming the first woman elected premier when she and her party won the general PEI election by a landslide (they captured all but one seat) on March 29, 1993. After three and a half years as premier, she returned to the family business, only to be coaxed back to politics in 1997 when appointed to the Senate of Canada. Among Callbeck’s many distinctions is an honorary doctorate of laws from New Brunswick’s Mount Allison University.

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    3 mins
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