Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, and provide access to justice for all
Related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Research
Alberta Civil Liberties Research centre
The mission of this UCalgary center is to promote respect for civil liberties and human rights in Alberta. This is achieved by undertaking research on contemporary issues that are of concern to Albertans. The projects are diverse and include proposals for a reform of human rights legislation, a report on citizen complaints about police conduct, and a manual for lawyers who represent mentally disabled clients.
Development, Power and Justice Research Group
This UCalgary research group brings together faculty members and graduate students from across the globe to focus processes and linkages between economic and social development, power relations, and justice issues in our society. Some of their focus areas include Indigenous land rights, environmental and Indigenous movements, public policy issues around regional growth and change, natural resource development, community-based resource rights, mining conflict and local resistance, and social justice issues.
Teaching, learning and student experience
Harm-reduction training
Open to current UCalgary students, faculty and staff, this training provides tools to reduce stigma towards people who use substances. Training attendees will learn strategies for reducing harms related to substance abuse, and how to recognize and respond to overdoses.
Race-based data used to examine Charter rights violations
UCalgary Law students made history competing in the Julius Alexander Isaac Moot competition for the first time. This year’s problem allowed students to explore the interplay between the COVID-19 pandemic, the collection of race-based data, and potential violations of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Lecture series in applied ethics
The Calgary Institute for the Humanities launched a new resident fellowship and lecture series, the objective of which is to support research and community engagement on the topic of applied ethics, which can include environmental ethics, medical ethics, Indigenous ethics, professional ethics, social justice and moral standing, among others.
Campus and community impact
Campus
UCalgary Law is developing responses to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and improve the Indigenous student experience at the school, including access to jobs, training and education opportunities, and the need for meaningful consultation with Indigenous communities when developing new educational programming.
Local
UCalgary’s Public Interest Law Clinic provides law students the opportunity to provide legal support to the Calgary community under the supervision of staff to gain theoretical and practical exposure to public interest. The Clinic focuses on cases that address systemic issues, environmental concerns and access to justice.
National
A Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Development Grant is funding the Canadian Municipal Barometer project — a three-year survey of leaders in hundreds of communities across the country that will generate high-quality data on municipal democracy and public policy.