Paul Cormier
Paul is in his third year of a Philosophy and Great Ideas’ Honors, Human Rights’ Major at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He is a student representative on the St. Thomas Board of Governors, and the National Vice-President of SHOUT (Students Helping Others Understand Tolerance), a national leadership organization that seeks to educate Canadians about genocide and to promote respectful and inclusive communities. He is an appointed member to the Ministerial Taskforce on Citizenship Education, and works as a Page of the Legislative Assembly. He is widely traveled, having participated on student leadership programs to Germany, Poland, and the Middle East. Furthermore, he volunteered in Haiti with a center for street children in the summer of 2007. With the aspiration to study International Human Rights Law with a concentration in Children’s Rights, Paul wishes to devote his life to causes in the Global South.
Marc Brisson
Marc is a third year student at St Thomas University and working towards a double major in Human Rights and Political Science. As a Human Rights and Political Science student, he is interested in understanding and learning about different cultures and political systems. This knowledge will of course help him in understanding the problems different people face all around the world, and how to come to a solution for these problems that work for all parties. Recently, he went on a trip to Germany and Poland with the March of Remembrance and Hope that took students through old Nazi Germany and the Holocaust death camps in Poland. This trip was instrumental in helping him understand social injustices and why they must be stopped. It also gave Marc an insightful look at eastern European culture that gave a new perspective on how big and diverse the world is. Going to West Africa with the Lyceum Group fits very much into his Human Rights and Political Science education. To submerge oneself in a different culture is the best way to learn. The opportunity to go to West Africa and help out in anyway possible is very exciting. In the summer, Marc is usually situated in northern Ontario and northern Quebec planting trees. Although living in tents for months at a time and planting trees in northern Ontario and Quebec bears little resemblance to West African culture, it has taught him how to live in very different social situations and to work really, really hard. Marc hopes these lessons learned at tree planting will help him on the trip to Guinea, and he is sure that a trip to Guinea will help round him off into a more understanding person.
Falon Milligan
Falon is a student at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She is currently in her third year of a Great Ideas Honors and Human Rights Major. She first became interested in issues regarding Human Rights through participation in Theatre Fredericton with a production called I Never Saw Another Butterfly. The play focuses on the life of a child survivor of the Holocaust and the devastating effects of war and genocide. In her second year at St. Thomas University, the course Introduction to Human Rights fueled this interest and motivated her to join SHOUT, Students Helping Others Understand Tolerance. SHOUT is a national leadership organization that seeks to educate Canadians about genocide and to promote respectful and inclusive communities. Falon is now President of SHOUT St. Thomas. In the future, Falon plans to pursue a degree in Human Rights Law and hopes to have many opportunities to travel, work and volunteer in various countries around the world.
Anna Marie Galvin
Anna was raised all over Canada, moving from place to place as she went through the school system; however, Anna always call Pictou County, Nova Scotia home. This constant change of environment helped her to learn to understand and critically analyze the things in her environment from the time she was young. She is currently studying English and Human Rights at St. Thomas University in Fredericton and she is completing her third year. After her Bachelor’s degree is finished, Anna hopes to continue her involvement with social justice and social welfare through pursuing a degree in Social Work.
A passion for travel and adventure has always been a part of Anna, and this will be her first trip to Africa. Organizing a day camp for children ages 5-12 has occupied most of her summers as well as volunteering at the local YMCA. Helping and working with children has been one of the biggest parts of her life. She takes interest in teaching, and even more importantly, learning from children.
During High School she was an executive member of a Health Centre which provided confidential resources to students who were facing sexual identity crisis, needing pre/post-natal counseling, access to contraceptive, addictions counseling, help with body image and self esteem issues and promoting physically active lifestyles. Anna also chaired a committee and worked in conjunction with the provincial government to maintain funding for health centers in Nova Scotia. She has a great interest in issues of sexual health and violence, environmental studies, music and literature, physical activity, people living with disabilities, and children’s issues. She is currently an executive member of SHOUT Fredericton.
Elizabeth Eaton
Elizabeth is in her final year of a degree in Human Rights and Criminology at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She is currently the chair of the Women’s Rights Committee as part of the university chapter of SHOUT (Students Helping Others Understanding Tolerance). Elizabeth has experience working as an intern at the Prince Edward Island Human Rights Commission and as a part of the University Women’s Centre, as well as other activism projects. Thanks to her parents, who were involved in Southeast Asian development projects, and as she became older, to her own initiative, she has traveled quite extensively, though never to Africa. Elizabeth hopes to move into International Human Rights Law, and to concentrate on her passion of raising women’s status in this world.
Scott Christian
Scott was born and raised in Nova Scotia, spending the majority of his childhood in the Annapolis Valley. He attended high school in Windsor, Nova Scotia where he became interested in various social injustices and human rights issues in the international community. Scott decided to attend St. Thomas University to study social sciences and broaden his understanding of the world. He is now working on a double-major program in the disciplines of Human Rights, Criminology, with a minor in Political Science. Scott aspires to become involved in International Human Rights Law. The notion of cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity in relation to the universality of human dignity has spawned an endeavor that Scott has accepted as a life long journey to understanding how humans can exist harmoniously. He is passionate, committed and excited to experiencing the world and to do his part to ensure the advancement of dignity and respect for each and every human life. Scott is currently the Vice-President of SHOUT St. Thomas and the Chair of the Holocaust Memorial/Genocide Awareness and Darfur related issues.
