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TORONTO World-renowned human rights defender Indai Lourdes Sajor will be the keynote speaker at a conference of more than 125 activists from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario, which opens in Toronto tomorrow night.

Sajor, a visiting professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), is a founder and former executive director of the Asian Center for Womens Human Rights. She served as a co-convenor of the womens international war crimes tribunal on Japans military sexual slavery and is an advisor to Amnesty International. Sajor, who is currently writing a manual on monitoring womens human rights violations in situations of armed conflict, speaks at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 21 at the Sheraton Centre.

Justice and Unity: Building an integrated approach to human rights at work and in the union is the theme of CUPE Ontarios annual human rights and equity conference. It opens at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow and runs until Sunday, with mini-conferences on Saturday of the unions international solidarity, rainbow, pink triangle, workers with disabilities, womens and young workers committees. Other highlights of the conference include:

  • Opening remarks by CUPE Ontario President Sid Ryan, 7:30 p.m., Thursday, October 21,
  • Interactive session with Ryan and Paul Moist, CUPE national president, 4:00 p.m., Friday, October 22,
  • Address by Mary-Woo Sims, former British Columbia human rights commissioner, 10:00 a.m., Sunday, October 24.

All events take place at the Sheraton Centre, 123 Queen Street West, Toronto.

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For more information, please contact:

Don Styles, CUPE Equity Coordinator, 416-292-3999 ext 213
Pat Daley, CUPE Communications, 416-299-9739 ext 264; 416-616-6142 (cell) COPE491/EW