After a long day of learning and interacting, dinner was a welcome break, where great discussions about the day’s activities were had. Some highlights were discussions on health and Aboriginal issues, although everyone had something interesting to talk about and to contribute to the discussion.

After dinner, we went on a walk around Victoria, heading down to the ocean and checking out an awesome little boat that is just off the inner harbour in Victoria. Climbing on the sea cliff and watching the waves crash against the shore basked with moonlight and the reflection of Victoria’s iconic legislature building and Empress hotel was a beautiful way to end an amazing day.

Saturday started with Jeremy from UVic’s Laughter Yoga, a neat twist on Yoga that utilized laughter to bring energy to the day. Following that, the Vancouver Island Delegation hosted an amazing workshop on the Human Rights Impact Assessment of Foreign Direct Investment. In this awesome simulation, we were broken up into groups, each representing a group of people who are impacted by Foreign Direct Investment. My group was an Indigenous group who had lived on the land for as long as could be remembered, but had not been included in discussions. This was an amazing activity that really shed light on the human impact that investment and development has on the different groups involved.

During lunch we discussed access to food, and the importance of ensuring food as a fundamental human right. After lunch, Saima from the U of A presented on the Tarsands/ Northern Gateway Pipeline, highlighting the impacts that these development projects have on Albertans, in particular Indigenous groups. During this workshop we had some non- Rights and Democracy participants who brought some amazing insight and questions to the discussion.

In the months following the conference, important decisions about the McKenzie Valley Pipeline have been made, which could impact the proposals for the Northern Gateway Pipeline. For more info, check out  Hearing Order Anounced for Proposed Northern Gateway Project

The day concluded with an awesome downtown scavenger hunt. Each group was given a category of goods to investigate the origins and materials used. My group went around downtown to clothing stores, asking questions about the clothing that sought to discover whether the store employees knew the origins of the clothing and the materials, and to discover whether the articles of clothing were produced in ethical conditions. Later in the day, we met for dinner and an evening of music and art at The Fort Cafe in downtown Victoria, where we discussed the findings of our scavenger hunt. It seemed that clothing was produced under the most ethical conditions, while electronics and games were produced under unknown conditions.

The evening at the Fort Cafe was a ton of fun. There was music provided by the zumbido collective and Torrey Archer. Rights and Democracy member Winnie from Winnipeg provided an amazing spoken word poetry presentation on rights and Mother Earth. It was a great night where we could all hang out and socialize, play Jenga, and talk about our awesome experiences at the conference! If you’re in Victoria, you should definitely check this place out for a great meal and some live music, check out the facebook page for details about what’s going on! Fort Street Cafe

Sunday morning we embarked towards the Juan de Fuca trail, about an hour and a half away from Victoria. We were joined by Gordon O’Connor of the Dogwood Initiative, who acted as a guide as we hiked this amazing path. We learnt that the are was currently under consideration to be used for houses. Throughout the hike, Gordon shared with us information and history of the area, and Kat from UVIC taught us about some of the flora we saw.

The hike was absolutely beautiful, as we saw the ocean on every other bend, trekked up and down hills, over streams, and most importantly in the midst of the beautiful trees. The best part was that there was no snow! (Totally shocking to an Edmontonian coming from four feet of snow covering my city) If you are in Victoria with some free time, go hike the Juan de Fuca trail, it is absolutely amazing. Check out the BC Gov site here: Juan de Fuca Trail

It was hard to imagine that anyone in their right mind would consider destroying this beautiful natural area to build housing. It raised the question for us about the connectedness of environmental justice and social justice, and who should be entitled the rights to the land.

After the hike, we said some emotional goodbyes, because we made some great friends in such a short period of time. Overall the conference was an amazing experience which really opened my eyes to the different global resources, and how they are currently being managed.

Since the conference, I have been closely following the developments in the Juan de Fuca trail negotiations. After hiking the trail I felt a real connection with the land, that I’m sure most people who do the trail feel. It was a truly beautiful and surreal experience, being such a natural haven so close to the city.

Here are some recent news articles about the development debate:

Land Use Follows Rules, not Emotion

Wee Hours Land Use Vote Okays Massive Juan de Fuca Trail Development

To wrap up the week we will be hosting a Congolese Celebration complete with traditional food and dancers!

All events are free, so please feel free to drop by!

For a list of all the events, check out the facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=146321298718882

Hope to see you all out!

Event Poster

Just finishing up website training here in Montreal.  The retreat is going great.  So far we’ve got to meet the very passionate staff here at Rights and Democracy, and had a fantastic dinner at Robin des bois.  A great not for profit restaurant, check them out: www.robindesbois.ca

Maxime gave us a briefing on democratic development while Lauren discussed the benefits of quota systems to encourage women in politics.  Bolivia and indigenous women is a great example.  These  human rights initiatives along with picnic lunches, meeting tons of great people (Virginie), and getting geared up for another awesome year.  Gotta love Montreal!  Thanks to Elana and the great people here in Montreal for a fun few days.

Some campaigns in the works this year is a campaign on the extinction of indigenous groups in Columbia along with some human rights workshops.

Come check us out at clubs fair September 7th and 8th or on facebook for more information: search “rights and democracy at the u of a”.  Hope to see you all there.

RDN is involved in human rights and democracy movement in over 20 countries around the world.

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Human Rights Violations in Zimbabwe: What can you do?

Événement régional du Réseau pour l’Ouest du Canada (participation)