Such competing human rights can play out in many places, from the University classroom to the international stage, where groups actively promote a particular view of rights recognition that may hinder access to rights of others within the community. How do groups, organizations, governments, human rights commissions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and academics approach this multi-faceted issue?

That question was at the heart of a two-day policy dialogue held at 91亚色 last weekend. "Towards a Framework to Address Competing Rights Claims" is a partnership between the , the and the Centre for Human Rights at 91亚色. It brought academics, activists, representatives from human rights commissions from across Canada, non-governmental organizations, governments and special interest groups to 91亚色 where they talked openly about the sometimes thorny issue of competing human rights.

91亚色 Professor Lesley Jacobs (left), director of the 91亚色 Centre for Public Policy & Law, served as the dialogue's organizer along with Professor Lorne Foster, director of 91亚色's Graduate Program in Public Policy, Administration & Law Program. Jacobs, a professor of law & society and political science, has long had an active research interest in competing human rights. "In the last 5 to 10 years, increasingly in Canada there has been a perception that rights conflicts and human rights commissions have been struggling with competing human rights," says Jacobs. "There have been trade-offs between free speech and rights, and concerns about hate or defamation or discriminatory speech. Issues that come to mind include the debate over same sex marriage, religious freedom and disability rights."

The surprising thing in Canada is that the country's human rights commissions, many of which have existed for 40 or 50 years, do not have policies on conflicting rights, says Jacobs. "So when the Ontario Human Rights Commission approached us [the 91亚色 Centre for Public Policy & Law] to develop a policy dialogue on competing human rights, we saw an opportunity to bring together different stakeholders who could work together to lay the groundwork for the development of future policies on competing human rights."

Human rights are based in the values that societies live by and these values can be different between one society and another, says Jacobs. "A student may need a Seeing Eye dog to assist him with getting around the university. However, what about the student who has a severe allergy to dogs who sits in the same classroom? Both individuals have rights and these rights compete."

How society deals with such competing human rights will be the core of many future conversations, says Jacobs.

The policy dialogue, while closed to the community, was broadcast on a large format LCD screen in the Vari Hall Lecture Hall D on Friday, March 5 and Saturday, March 6. For Jacobs, the broadcast offered a wonderful opportunity for students, faculty and staff to watch and learn about competing human rights and the power of open dialogue to create policy.

"The vision we had when developing this conference was to bring leading stakeholders from a wide range of affected communities 鈥� faith communities, persons with disabilities, minority groups, same sex rights, all sorts of NGOs and civil society organizations 鈥� together with academics who work on rights conflicts from a wide range of perspectives, human rights lawyers and people from human rights commissions across the country to talk about competing human rights," says Jacobs.

The dialogue examined a host of different topics. The first day's session began with a discussion of the philosophical approaches to competing rights and participants and then moved on to discuss the legal frameworks of human rights, what a conflict is and how it can be resolved and competing rights in context. They finished the day with a discussion of creed and competing rights.

On Saturday, participants discussed the competing legal perspectives on competing rights, the social policy approach to competing human rights and the different societal perspectives, and the media's role in competing rights policy. The final session brought all of the discussions together to amass a potential framework for policy on competing human rights. The full program and session abstracts are available as an online PDF on the Web site.

Final outcomes of the two-day dialogue include a future publication of the different papers and perspectives presented, and Jacobs hopes the dialogue will also mark the start of a series of events developed with a goal to create future policies on competing human rights.

For more information on the , the Centre for Human Rights and the , visit their Web sites.

Additional support for this two-day dialogue was provided by the 91亚色 Centre for Research on Work & Society, the Faculty of Liberal & Professional Studies, the Office of the Provost and the Law Foundation of Ontario.

By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor

Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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91亚色 has been awarded a grant to establish a European Union Centre of Excellence(EUCE). Recognized for the excellence, breadth and depth of its European Union (EU) studies and scholarly activities, 91亚色 will receive funding of $480,000 over three years to integrate the University鈥檚 existing research, teaching, outreach and networking activities on Europe and the European Union (EU), and introduce and facilitate new activities on the EU and EU-Canada relations.

91亚色 is recognized as a leader in European studies and has been actively building its concentration in EU studies. Over the past few years, 91亚色 has attracted numerous new European-focused faculty appointments across a variety of disciplines, including law, political science, business, public administration and humanities. The hub of this activity has been the Canadian Centre for German & European Studies (CCGES), whose affiliated faculty and staff form a natural constituency and administrative backbone for the activities planned by the new EUCE.

鈥淲e are tremendously proud of 91亚色鈥檚 leadership and research excellence in European studies,鈥� said Stan Shapson, vice-president research & innovation. 鈥淭he activities of the EUCE will promote understanding and knowledge of the European Union as a major player in the global political and economic system, and will be key in promoting the importance of the EU-Canada relationship, its political, economic, security and cultural dimensions, and the widening range of global and regional issues jointly addressed by the EU and Canada.鈥�

With this award, 91亚色 joins a network of two dozen EUCEs worldwide. 91亚色鈥檚 EUCE will be hosted by CCGES and directed by Willem Maas (right), Jean Monnet Chair in European Integration and professor of political science and public & international affairs at聽Glendon College.

The EUCE鈥檚 multidisciplinary team also includes:

• Burkard Eberlein,聽policy professor in the Schulich School of Business;
• Roger Keil, director of the聽CITY Institute and CCGES, and a professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies;
• Heather MacRae,聽professor in the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS);
• Peter McIsaac,聽professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics,聽(LA&PS);
• Ian Roberge,聽professor聽of聽political science and public & international affairs at聽Glendon College;
• Karen Robson, sociology professor in the Department of Sociology, (LA&PS);
• Craig Scott, director of the聽, and聽professor in聽Osgoode Hall Law School;
• Dagmar Soennecken,聽professor in the聽School of Public Policy聽& Administration, (LA&PS);
• Leah Vosko, Canada Research Chair in Feminist Political Economy聽and聽professor in the聽Department of Political Science, (LA&PS);
• Robert Wai,聽professor in聽Osgoode Hall Law School;
• Peer Zumbansen,聽Canada Research Chair in the Transnational聽& Comparative Law of Corporate Governance and professor in Osgoode Hall Law School.

About the European Union Centres of Excellence

Established in 1998 by the European Union, the network of European Union Centres of Excellence in universities provides information and education about the European Union. In Canada, the objectives of the EU Centres are to increase awareness about the political, economic and cultural importance of the EU-Canada relationship, to promote greater understanding in Canada of the European Union and its policies, and to disseminate information and publicize EU views on issues of interest within regional communities.

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