By Staff
December 3rd, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
The Halton District School Board will host the fifth annual Human Rights Symposium on Monday, Dec. 11, 2023 to engage in vital conversations and challenge thinking.
The theme of this year’s event is Holistic Health: Our voices, our stories, our calls to action, and centres around holistic health (including physical, emotional, mental, spiritual and social) as a human right regardless of age, background or socio-economic status. This year the symposium has been designed by students for students.
The Human Rights Symposium will feature a speaking panel of students and will be a virtual event for HDSB students (Grade 7-12) and staff. Registration is not required and information on how to access the event will be shared with students and staff.
Throughout the week, students and staff are encouraged to share what they are learning on social media with the hashtag: #HDSBsymposium.
The HDSB Human Rights Symposium (Dec. 11, 2023) aligns with Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, which is observed annually to recognize the day on which the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The principles originally enshrined in the Declaration are still relevant today.
Curtis Ennis, Director of Education for the HDSB explains: The Human Rights Symposium supports the HDSB’s Equity and Inclusion and Mental Health and Well-Being areas of focus in the HDSB Multi-Year Strategic Plan 2020-2024 and our Human Rights Equity Action & Accountability Plan: The Way Forward, The annual Human Rights Symposium unites diverse voices in a shared commitment to addressing common issues. It is a standing reminder of the value of coming together to engage in collaborative dialogue and collective action.”
Amy Collard
Amy Collard, Chair of the HDSB asks students and staff to to engage, question and reflect on our traditional thinking regarding health and well-being.”
Perhaps our members of council and staff should spend some time there given the recent issues contravening the Respect in Workplace policy that meet the Ontario Huan rights code definition of “harrassment”. All the Marsden complaints are delegation, record removal and legislation non-compliance related. The Ombudsman has acknowledged the Marsdens’ repeated efforts to resolve the issues through a meeting with the Acting Head of Human Resources, the City Manager, Head of Legal and City Clerk and gave the complaint an ID number. However, as usual and following Deputy Mayor Stolte’s August example, the City addressees including the Acting Head of Human Resources refuse to acknowledge. (See Gazette August article “Communicating with City Hall and members of Council throttled for some people.”)
Looking for an Acting Director of Human Resources name from Service Burlington we were informed former Director Laura Boyd is still working at City Hall until end of December. We were put through to Laura Boyd’s number at City Hall and Laura herself identified she retired in September and gave us an email address for an Acting Head that proved to be inaccurate. Her instructions to leave a copy of our request for a meeting to try and resolve the issues, addressed to the Acting Head of Human Resources she named and marked confidential at the Service Burlington desk, was followed, but again no acknowledgement.
The owners of the Titanic claimed “unsinkable” too, but history proved different.