Posted on July 29: Human rights educator a catalyst for change

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Muklewich.JPG” caption=”Jane Mulkewich”]While everyone is entitled to human rights, not everyone is educated about them. But the view that human rights at McMaster are important is clear. Especially to Jane Mulkewich.

“University is a place of higher learning and there are people here from all over the world, so we should be accessible to people from all over the world,” she says. “If it doesn't happen on a university campus, then where is it going to happen?”

McMaster's new human rights educator wants to create an environment free from harassment and discrimination. But she can't do it alone. “Everyone needs to take responsibility to make this an equitable environment,” she says. “I want to be a catalyst for change.”

Since starting her new position in June, Mulkewich has found others feel the same. “Everyone that I have talked to so far, all say that there is a huge need for human rights education,” she says.

These views were presented to her during recent focus groups with faculty organized by her office. This is important since it is faculty and staff who set the climate, she says. “We want to find out from them what things we need to do on camps to make it a more safe and equitable place.”

In the part-time position – 22 hours a week – Mulkewich is responsible for the development and implementation of training workshops and educational programs dealing with human rights, anti-discrimination and sexual harassment.

“There are a lot of people who don't know about human rights,” she says. “Racism and discrimination continues because they are unaware and they do not know about what kind of impact their actions have. People will often know when their rights have been violated but they often don't know what to do about it. They need to know what resources are available.”

Before joining McMaster's Sexual Harassment and Anti-Discrimination Office (SHADO), the McMaster alumna worked with the Hamilton Police Service for eight years as the anti-racism and anti-discrimination co-ordinator. She worked on a range of issues, including hate crime, which escalated after the terrorist attacks on New York on September 11, and the burning of the Hindu temple in Hamilton on September 15, 2001. Mulkewich has worked with campus groups and organized meetings with faith leaders from diverse religions, city politicians, police and community leaders. In March 2001, she won a national award for her work in police race relations.

Mulkewich, daughter of Walter Mulkewich, former mayor of Burlington, also has politics in her blood. She was a candidate in a federal election in 1988, and worked as a constituency assistant for a member of provincial parliament from 1990 to 1994. She was also an elected member of the Student Representative Assembly at McMaster from 1981 until 1984.

Mulkewich also has been involved with international human rights issues in a variety of countries, and most recently participated in a human rights delegation to Guatemala in May.