The courses I studied have pushed me to inquire inequality within the system, to question existing policy and ways of governance. In the course HRSJ 5010, ‘Foundation for Human Rights and Social justice’, I studied various theories and frameworks which led me to think that injustice is not accidental, but deliberate. It is closely connected to the system of power. In another course HRSJ5020, ‘Indigenous ways of knowing: Resurgence of land-based pedagogies and practice’, I learnt that how colonial violence destroyed Indigenous ways of living that was practicing by Indigenous communities since thousands of years in the land of Canada. Learning about histories of Residential school, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, resource extraction, epistemic Injustice led me to realize how one whole community can be pushed to the corner and let be marginalized through racist system and unfavorable policies. The reality that still now Indigenous women are missing and murdered, disproportionate rate of Indigenous women incarceration are not accidental, but systemic, and this is how, the power system sustains injustice within the very center of it’s functionality.

In my research paper on ‘role of justice system on Violence Against Indigenous Women’ I argued that the criminal justice system of Canada is not free from racism, and colonial mentality still dominates within the system. as a result, violence against Indigenous women, specially missing and murdered Indigenous women is amounted by Indigenous groups as an ongoing genocide. Moreover, over incarceration rate of Indigenous women in prison also reflect same mentality. Thus, from the social justice perspective, as a social justice activist, I believe this should be stopped as soon as it is possible.

My work :

My understanding deepened further through my course HRSJ 5250 ‘Risk, Place, and Social Justice’. My essay is on food insecurity in Canada and through this course I realized even a developed country like Canada is suffering from food insecurity. The reasons are deep and structural. Due to risks, such as inequality, racism, homelessness, climate change, policy failure marginalized people are suffering from food insecurity in Canada (Longlo, 2016, Weiler et al, 2014). It is to be noted that, not everyone is suffering from food insecurity, it is only the groups of people, such as economically marginalized due to structural problems, people of color, Indigenous communities, immigrants are affecting mostly.  Through this course I understood how capitalist economy, colonial power structure, location, policy failures are impacting people’s everyday food system.

In my presentation, I showed, food insecurity in Canada is created by social and structural forces. It is not a personal choice or a matter of food supply. Canada has abandon of foods, despite that some people, are suffering from food insecurity. Studies say, around 15.9%, people in Canada is suffering some forms of food insecurity (Marginal, moderate or severe level) ( Deaton & Scholz, 2022). The main risk factors are low income and geography. People with low income do not have access to healthy, nutritious food due to price. Low earners have to maintain their budget with food price, housing cost, transportation cost, utility costs. So, overall, they are left with limited amount to spend on food. As a result, often they are left with foods with low price, frozen foods, unhealthy foods with low nutritional value (Deaton & Scholz, 2022). On the other hand, people who live rural and remote areas, specially in the northern part of the country, are facing high price for foods. Due to remoteness, availability of foods is uncertain, transportation cost is high, scarcity of food stores. For these reasons, norther areas people, and people of Indigenous communities who are residing in these areas, are facing food insecurity (Deaton & Scholz, 2022).  Apart from these two main aspects, racial identity, Indigenous Identity, single mothers, people with disability are also facing food insecurity. An Intersectional lens help us to realize the overlapping forms of discrimination and oppression (Weiler. et al., 2015). Climate change is another significant factor of food insecurity. Agricultural production cause emission of large amount of Co2. The effect of climate change is changing our eco system. in BC Okanagan and Fraser valley, 75% of fruits and crops were damaged due extreme heat (CBC, 2021). As a result, food price also went high, and ultimately caused food insecurity among many people. Another important factor of food insecurity is policy failure (Miller, 2020). Government rely on food bank instead of addressing the structural barriers cause policy failure and due to this, Canada is facing food insecurity. Food bank is an immediate relief and already proved that it doesn’t reduce food insecurity among people. instead of relying on charity Canada should focus on reforming structural barriers such as improving people’s income, making affordable housing, making local and community food system to reduce transportation costs, to empower Indigenous food sovereignty so that their cultural food system may sustain (Tarasuk & Mitchell, 2020). Along with improving policies, Canada should also strengthen it’s monitoring system regarding food policy (Seed et al, 2022). To show community driven solutions, I also discussed two case studies, one is ‘Indigenous food forest’, and the other one is ‘Fresh Routes’. These two case studies prove when policy fails, government initiatives become inactive, then community people take remarkable lead fight against the problem.    

My work :

In the course HRSJ 5110 Genocide in the Twentieth Century, I learned that our world is not immune from future genocide. Previously I thought probability of genocide has been taken care by United Nations. However, through this course, I realized that our human civilization has severe risk of facing genocides again, because of various reasons. Among them, using genocide memory for wrong purpose is significant. I learnt through various reading materials of this course that, memory of genocide is being used selectively by political parties for their interest. The moral lessons of Never Again, the ethical teachings of the Holocaust are not remembered for the right reasons. Rather, some countries are using the remembrance as their silent weapon to get their political interest (Jones, A, 2024). For example, what is happening in case of Israel-Palestine is a perfect example of using memory selectively (Jones, A., 2024). In my essay on ‘Never again and the politics of selective memory’ I searched for this aspect, where I argue by using case studies of Israel-Palestine, Rwanda and Bangladesh genocide of 1971.

My work:

 

So, overall this program and courses taught me that such aspects of human rights and social justice that I didn’t know about. Being a person with legal background, my understanding was that, human rights are some set of rules which are universal rights. However, this course taught me, that the periphery is not limited to that, rather it includes multidimensional aspects of politics, economy, history, status, place, geography. This course helped me to realize that it is not enough to be only aware about these factors, but one should come forward to support actively, do advocacy for those who are fighting for rights on the ground for better good.

Reference:

• CBC News. (2021, July 16). B.C. heat wave destroyed 70%–75% of Okanagan cherry crops, farmers say. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia
• Deaton B.J., & Scholz, A. (2022). Food security, food insecurity, and Canada’s national food policy: Meaning, measures, and assessment. Outlook on Agriculture, 51(3), 303-312, https://doi.org/10.1177/003072702211136016
• Jones, A. (2024). Genocide: A comprehensive introduction (4th ed.). Routledge.
• Longo, S. B. (2016). Food justice and sustainability
• Miller, S. (2020). Policies to reduce food insecurity: An ethical imperative. Public Health Ethics.
• Seed, B., Kurrein, M., & Hasdell, R. (2022). A food security indicator framework for British Columbia, Canada. Health Promotion Practice, 24(3), 482-495.  https://doi.org/10.1177/15248399211073801
• Tarasuk, V., & Mitchell, A. (2020). Household food insecurity in Canada, 2017–2018. Research to Identify Policy Options (PROOF).  https://proof.utoronto.ca/resources/proof-annual-reports/household-food-insecurity-in-canada-2017-2018/
• Weiler, A. M., Minkoff-Zern, L.-A., Hannan, S., & Young, C. A. (2015). Food sovereignty, food security and the quest for justice in Canadian food policy. Journal of Peasant Studies, 42(6), 1197–1216.