In September 2024, some of the world’s leading advocates of the right to be known will come together at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Together with community, they will explore the concept, encourage diverse conversations and create an art piece that represents a plurality of voices.
You are invited to join us for this large evening event that will bring people together and into the concept of “right to be known.”
About the event
The focus of the evening is a collaborative art project that will allow participants to work together on the creation of a large mosaic. The event will be facilitated by Dr. Bruno de Oliveira Jayme, an art educator based at the University of Manitoba who has done many community‐created murals. There will be food and music.
The resulting image, designed in consultation with Elders, will belong to those who came together for this project. It’s hoped that the art will be displayed publicly once completed.
Please join us!
What is the right to be known?
When people have suffered grave human rights abuses, they have the right to justice. This justice is often called reparations and has typically been legal and/or economic.
But the people affected want something even more basic – the right to be seen, to be heard, to be known. They want (and indeed demand) a space to share their stories and have them heard. This process – which has been coined “the right to be known” – is a process of both healing and reparations. It allows a survivor of a human rights abuse to reclaim their identity, which has often been suppressed, and be recognized for themselves.
The right to be known is practiced in societies and cultures worldwide. But although it is not new, it’s a concept that is taking hold around the globe. Today, it is drawing attention from activists who are focusing on wrongful convictions (Chicago), Apartheid/post‐Apartheid (South Africa), and the ongoing legacy of residential schools including murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls+ and the current child welfare system in Canada.