Inspired by the fabled meeting place in ancient Rome, the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism (CHRLP) Forum is founded on the principles of inclusive citizenship and deliberative democracy. The Forum aspires to create a space for learning from the past, deliberating about the present, and building a common future together.
Archive of our 2020-2021 forums
- 31 March 2021 - Engaging with Indigenous Law: Redefining our Responsibilities, with students Simon Filiatrault, Poonam Sandhu, Sayre Potter, and Professors Aaron Mills and Omar Farahat.
- 19 March 2021 - Le mot en N... "Honorer la vérité, réconcilier pour l'avenir", avec Me Tamara Thermitus, Ad. E, LLM'13.
- 15 March 2021 - Speaking from Experience: Fostering Dialogue, Learning and Accountability in Law Students, with Bianca Braganza and Dimitrios Valkanas.
- 19 February 2021 - Emotion and (Dis)Connection in Legal Education, with Irfan Tahiri (3L), Delana Tavakol (BCL/JD’20), and Professors Shauna Van Praagh and Omar Farahat.
- 3 December 2020 - Broadening the Horizons of Disability Justice and Advocacy, with Professor Jonas-Sébastien Beaudry.
- 16 November 2020 - Are Law Classrooms White Spaces? A US Perspective, with students Fanta Ly, de Hulya Miclisse-Polat, and Professors Darren Rosenblum and Omar Farahat.
- 14 October 2020 - Participation and Deliberative Democracy, with Professor Vrinda Narain.
Populism, outrage, and building a more just future
The rise of populism and native nationalism, along with increasing income and wealth inequality has created a deep fault line within and across societies. Even the Covid-19 pandemic has been appropriated by populist demagogues to appeal to partisan interests and divisive political agendas.
Amidst these troubling trends, there is also a renewal of citizens’ and civic movements across the globe. The revolution in communication technologies has fostered a deep sense of solidarity, and empowered a digital civil society, seamlessly connecting socio-political movements around the world.
These movements are driven by profound moral outrage, and disillusionment with the state and societal failure to deliver on the promise of dignity and equality for all; a commitment made 72 years ago by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There is a palpable sense of urgency for redressing the wrongs of the past and for building a more just and sustainable future.
A call for discussion groups
We invite students, practitioners and scholars to participate in a discussion group that seeks to bring together a diverse group of individuals to engage with processes and pathways to social change.
Our main themes
This Forum aims to unpack the process of change and the effectiveness of various strategies such as protest, democratic mobilization and transnational activism from a historical perspective. The CHRLP Forum will look to the insights of the past to better equip ourselves to engage with contemporary issues of social justice and change.
Rooted in the CHRLP’s core mission of examining plurality in a globally connected world, the Forum aspires to foster a conversation on social change from a multitude of perspectives.
The Forum endeavours to create an inclusive and collegial space in which participants can deliberate over different theories of change and ideas of justice. Recognizing the importance of informed and thoughtful deliberation to strengthen our democracy, the Forum aligns with the Canadian and the McGillian endeavour of living together with respect and dignity.
