St. Albert residents Keri McEachern and Velvet Martin are two of the 10 people who have been nominated for this year’s Human Rights City Edmonton Awards.
McEachern received her nomination for her work with the Self-Advocacy Federation. The Edmonton-based agency has a triple mandate of personal development, public education and advocacy on behalf of people with disabilities.
The nomination, she said, is good publicity of its own but she wishes that it were more about the organization than for her personally.
“It gets our name out there. We have more legitimacy. I would prefer that the nomination was under the Self-Advocacy Federation name. I just feel that it’s good for the movement, good for the federation. It’s not me that’s done the work. It’s the advocates who have led me.”
She was previously involved with the SKILLS Society, another Edmonton organization that offers a variety of supports to children and adults with developmental disabilities and acquired brain injuries.
“I’ve worked in the disability field all of my entire life.”
McEachern’s rĂ©sumĂ© includes other front line work, plus residential services and support in the same field. She has seen the ins and outs of life as a person with disabilities, even though she herself is one of their allies, meaning people without disabilities who still exhibit care and empathy towards those who do.
The Self-Advocacy Federation is a group of people with disabilities (and their allies) who discuss issues that they face in society, including transportation, housing, poverty, employment and citizenship.
“I think that as I’ve gone through my career I’ve just really been aware that we really shouldn’t be calling ourselves disability services. It’s human rights services. People with disabilities face many of the same hurdles as other marginalized groups.”
She has been the director of the federation for half a year. The Self-Advocacy Federation conducts public education campaigns to bring these issues to the community at large with the intent of promoting positive outcomes such as increased hiring of people with disabilities.
The organization tries to spread the message that disabilities don’t define people.
“They’re just a part of who we are. The advocacy work we do is about having a voice and giving a voice to others who don’t have a voice. Just because we have disabilities doesn’t mean we lose our human rights.”
She cited the example of one of her current projects, something she describes as “the right to love and the right to family.”
“Right now, if two people with disabilities want to get married, they need to have a doctor’s note. We’re working to change legislation around that. That goes back to the eugenics movement.”
Martin is well known for her work as the founder of Samantha’s Law and for being the spokesperson for Protecting Canadian Children. Her work as a child and family advocate began after her 13-year-old daughter, Samantha, died of cardiac arrest after living most of her life with a foster family because of her severe disabilities. Martin has worked tirelessly to promote better social services and has been vocal of shortfalls in government systems. Her work led to the Alberta government passing an amendment that would improve legislation for children with disabilities so that they could stay with their own families while accessing government support and therapeutic programs.
She indicated that she is honoured to receive this nomination.
“I am humbled to view my name amongst remarkable individuals, including keynote speaker, Cindy Blackstock,” she said, regarding the Gitxsan child welfare activist who is also the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada and an associate professor at the University of Alberta.
“Thank you to everyone putting children first.”
This is the eighth year that the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights has offered these awards. Executive director Renée Vaugeois said that the awards program is important to help highlight the good work being done in the community while showcasing that there is still much to be done locally to improve human rights overall.
“What we really wanted the awards to focus on was recognizing the people who don’t normally get recognized. They’re to recognize Edmontonians. We’ve been working on building a Human Rights City since 2004 and this was really a way to spark those conversations,” she offered, continuing her remarks.
“What we found is, a lot of times, those conversations about human rights are just really disheartening and we feel frustrated. We really wanted to create these spaces where we were bringing people together in celebration. We have all these great people doing great work … that never sometimes connect with each other. It’s gained a lot of momentum.”
The John Humphrey Centre started as the Human Rights Education Foundation, which was co-founded by the late Jerry Gall, a St. Albert resident.
The Human Rights City Edmonton Awards take place on Dec. 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the TransAlta Arts Barns, 10330 84th Ave. in Edmonton. Attendance is free but donations are welcome.
The event will feature keynote speaker Cindy Blackstock and a performance by Jay Gilday. A reception with silent auction will follow.
The full list of nominees includes Velvet Martin, Marnie Panas, Don Iveson, Amarjeet Sohi, Chelsey Smith, Heather MacPherson, Keri McEachern, Brianna Olson, Gary Moostoos, Rev. Audrey Brooks, Samina Sana, St. Paul's Church, and Mohamed El Daly.
