By Staff
November 20th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Stephen Lewis and Michel Chikwanine will lead a Human Rights Symposium on December 5th in Burlington,
A full-day of learning is planned at the Symposium with a selection of workshops led by children’s rights advocates and educators including UNICEF, Halton Environmental Network, Special Olympics Ontario, Community Development Halton, Rick Hansen Foundation, and more.
“This year’s Human Rights Symposium provides an opportunity to learn about the important role each of us plays in the lives of youth,” says Rob Eatough, Superintendent of Education for the Halton District School Board. “We look forward to once again bringing educators and community partners together to engage in vital conversation on how we can all work together to support the success and well-being of all members of our society.”
Michel Chikwanine
Keynote speakers Stephen Lewis and Michel Chikwanine will lead education and community partners through an important day of learning and collaborating about children’s rights.
Stephen Lewis – a full blast speaker who truly soothes the souls of the forgotten. If you’ve never been in the room where he was speaking – attend this event, you will be better for it.
“I spent a large chunk of my life” said Stephen Lewis, “ dealing with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.”
“When I worked with UNICEF, I was responsible for travelling around the world to persuade governments to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child and take all of its clauses seriously. The Convention provides a tremendous range of rights for children, all of which I hope to be addressing before you.”
“I’m really looking forward to the Human Rights Symposium,” says Michel Chikwanine, motivational speaker, author and human rights activist based in Toronto and originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo. “There are so many workshops that have many implications for young people, not just here in Canada but across the world.”
Chikwanine is more than a child advocate. When he was not much more than a young boy he was kidnapped from the soccer field outside his school in the Democratic Republic of Congo; he and his childhood friends were “recruited” to be rebel soldiers.
The Human Rights Symposium will take place on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019 at the Holiday Inn Burlington Hotel & Conference Centre (3063 South Service Rd, Burlington).
Register HERE
For event details or support with the registration process, email symposium@hdsb.ca.
