Humans, On Rights

Stuart Murray sits down with Winnipeg writer, filmmaker, and environmental advocate Erna Buffie. After more than two decades producing science documentaries for CBC's The Nature of Things, Erna has turned her attention closer to home — documenting why Winnipeg's urban forest is in crisis, and what it will take to save it. Her book Out on a Limb makes the case that trees aren't a civic amenity. They're essential infrastructure. We're talking:Why Winnipeg — despite its iconic canopy of elms — scores among the lowest of major Canadian cities for greenness, and what's driving that declineThe health benefits of urban trees and the argument for treating trees as infrastructure: for every $1 invested in a tree, the city sees $6 in benefitsWhy "we'll just plant more" isn't the answer — and why it takes a minimum of 10 years for a sapling to deliver even a fraction of what a mature tree providesThe case for a private tree bylaw — why more than 700 cities have passed them, and why Winnipeg has been reluctant to follow As Erna puts it, trees aren't just a pretty way to beautify a city. They cool the air, capture pollutants, absorb rainwater, support biodiversity, and help us build the kind of climate resilience we're going to need. The science is clear. What's missing is political will. “Out on a Limb” is out now. There will be a book launch event on Wednesday May 20, 7:00 pm, at McNally Robinson in Grant Park Check out Out on a Limb Learn more about Trees Please Winnipeg 

On this episode of Humans, On Rights, we sit down with Suzanne Winterflood, Program Manager of WISE Kinetic Energy — Manitoba's largest STEM outreach program. What started over 35 years ago as a small group of professors working to bring more girls into science and engineering has grown into a province-wide initiative reaching over 43,000 young people a year. And yet, Suzanne is the first to admit: the needle hasn't moved nearly as far as it should have. This conversation gets into what equitable access to STEM education actually looks like — and what keeps getting in the way. We're talking:Why early exposure to STEM matters most, and why grades 8 and 9 are such a critical turning point for girlsThe barriers specific to Black and Indigenous youth in accessing STEM education and careersWhy WISE Kinetic Energy is building toward land-based, culturally specific programming for Indigenous youthThe role of undergraduate students as near-peer role models — and why that model worksHow AI hype is pulling government funding away from the foundational, youth-focused work that actually builds the next generation of workers WISE Kinetic Energy website

On this episode of Humans, On Rights, we sit down with Bruno de Oliveira Jayme, a Brazilian-born artist, educator, and community arts practitioner who has spent 25 years making Canada his home. Now a full professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba, Bruno brings together curriculum theory, arts-based research, and a deep commitment to social justice. His work explores what happens when art stops being decoration and starts becoming dissent. Bruno introduces us to the concept of "artivism" — the intersection of art and activism — and makes the case that creative expression is not a softer substitute for protest, but a distinct and powerful tool for surfacing stories, building collective identity, and opening space for conversations that more traditional forms of advocacy often can't reach. We're discussing:How Bruno's upbringing in Brazil during the end of a military dictatorship first opened his eyes to art as a political forceThe roots of community art and artivism in the social movements of the late 1960s and '70s — from the Black movement and second-wave feminism to the landless movement in Latin AmericaWhy art is uniquely capable of addressing difficult issues "in a light manner" — and why that accessibility matters for movements like environmental justiceHis advice to aspiring artivist students: start with what you know, what you're struggling with, what you're hopeful for. Bring that to your community, and think together, collectively, about what you can do next. Bruno's website (edited) 

At 21 years old, Divya Sharma has already led a $16 million student organization, represented Manitoba at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, and is writing her honours thesis on the human rights implications of artificial intelligence. Her story is a reminder that age isn't a barrier to meaningful change — and that the most powerful advocacy often starts right in your own community. We're talking:Her COVID-19 project that started with a few micro-grants and grew into 16,000 care packages for frontline workers across Canada — recognized by the United Nations as one of the top stories of the pandemicHer path to becoming the 100th and youngest president of the University of Manitoba Students' Union (UMSU)Advocating for international students' access to healthcare as a human right, and the successful push to expand bursaries and bring menstrual products into university washroomsHer take on the biggest human rights challenge facing Canadians today: literacy, in every sense of the word If you want to know what the next generation of Winnipeg changemakers looks like, Divya's a pretty good place to start. Get Involved: Manitoba Council for International Cooperation: Provincial press releases: Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba email list:

For our second Black History Month episode, we're going beyond celebration and into accountability. Stuart Murray sits down with Janet James, Edmonton entrepreneur and leadership strategist, whose journey from growing up as one of the only Black families in Lancashire, England to becoming a corporate executive and business owner is both a personal story of resilience and a lens on who gets access to power, capital, and opportunity. Janet is the founder of Janet James Growth Leadership, and has been involved with the National Black Coalition of Canada, Black History Manitoba, and leadership events for Indigenous youth — work that reflects her belief that real progress is about closing gaps, not checking boxes. We're talking:Why representation alone isn't enough, and what economic equity actually looks like in practiceThe concept of "dark work" — the inner work nobody sees that makes everything else possibleHow the word "woke" got weaponized, and what it actually means to the people who've always used itWhat performative allyship looks like up close, and how to redirect it without coming from a place of anger Janet's path took her from suppressing her identity in an almost entirely white town in England, to finding community and courage in Edmonton, to rising through corporate ranks and eventually building her own business. Along the way, she ran DEI programs, spoke publicly about racism at a time when she feared it would cost her her job, and led leadership training for Indigenous youth in Winnipeg — drawing the through-line between different communities' shared experiences of being told what they can't do. As Janet puts it: "In order to grow yourself, you must know yourself first." Janet James' Website