Solving conflict the Santamarian way

The Saint Mary's University Conflict Resolution Society and their Senior Program Coordinators with Saint Mary's President Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray.

For the 13th consecutive year, Saint Mary’s University students representing both undergraduate and graduate study within the faculties of Arts, Science and Commerce, will depart for Northern Ireland to facilitate peace education workshops. These 18 students leave for Northern Ireland today and will begin working with elementary school children throughout Belfast, Northern Ireland, once they arrive.

This long-standing and unique experiential program is a remarkable collaborative effort, coordinated through Saint Mary’s University, Peaceful Schools International and the student led, Conflict Resolution Society. Between November 2016 and February 2017, Saint Mary's students have successfully facilitated a series of peace education and conflict resolution workshops with more than a thousand local children.

Saint Mary’s students visited schools across Halifax for the workshops including: St. Catherine’s Elementary, Inglis Street Elementary, St. Mary’s Elementary, Oxford School Elementary, Halifax Independent School, Halifax Grammar School and Sacred Heart School of Halifax.

"This project is a reflection of the long term commitment made by Saint Mary's University and Peaceful Schools International to the promotion of peace education and conflict resolution locally and globally," said Bridget Brownlow, the Conflict Resolution Advisor at Saint Mary's and a Senior Program Coordinator for this initiative. "Over the past 12 years, the deep and transformative impact of this program is consistently highlighted by student participants as 'life changing'."

"It remains a true privilege to work alongside our students as they volunteer with children and youth in a spirit of collaboration and goodwill that may help to eventually create a more peaceful world."

The topic for the 2017 workshops is ‘Diversity and Inclusion: Sharing Being Unique’.

 The 2017 student group will be accompanied by Senior Program Coordinators Bridget Brownlow, Conflict Resolution Advisor and Part-time faculty, Political Science / Irish Studies and Emily Anderson, Vice-President, Peaceful Schools International and B.A. Program Advisor. Three faculty members will also be accompanying the group, Dr. Ashley Carver, Assistant Professor, Sociology/Criminology, Dr. Catherine Loughlin, Associate Dean, Research, Sobey School of Business and Dr. James Morrison, Professor, History.

University-community partnership launch YouTube-based sign language tool

Interpreter Ashley Campbell and Dr. Linda Campbell

Imagine travelling across Atlantic Canada without knowing how to properly pronounce the names of the towns and cities you are visiting. For members of the deaf community, knowing the local sign for place names across Atlantic Canada has been difficult—until now.
 
Today, Jan. 30, marks the launch of the Atlantic Provinces Sign Language Place Names Map. This map is a first of its kind online tool that contains place names from across Atlantic Canada in American Sign Language (ASL) and the regional dialect Maritime Sign Language (MSL) shared with viewers through YouTube.
 
“Anytime you travel or go to a new place, one of the first things you want to know is the name of that place,” said Dr. Linda Campbell, a member of the project team and professor at Saint Mary’s. “For deaf people, we often have difficulty knowing the correct sign for places we visit as each community often has its own local sign to refer to their area.”
 
“The last thing anyone visiting a new community wants to do is to continually mispronounce that name and it is pretty obvious when you are signing the wrong sign.”
 
There are many cities across the Atlantic Provinces that have unique sign names that demonstrate the present day sign languages used, which is a mix of both ASL and MSL. This map will be particularly helpful to ASL and MSL communicators as using correctly articulated and appropriate signs is critical for clear sign language communication.
 
All on-screen signers are local deaf community members, and the project was funded by deaf and interpreting community organizations.
 
Try the map.