SASKATCHEWAN (CUP) — University of Winnipeg Students’ Association (UWSA) president Megan Fultz has received one of Manitoba’s top awards for human rights, adding to her long list of accomplishments and activism.
The Sybil Shack Human Rights Youth Award is given out each year to recognize an individual’s impact on the advancement of human rights and freedoms in Manitoba. Fultz received the award on Dec. 10, the United Nations’ Human Rights Day.
Having worked alongside past-recipients of the award, Fultz said being recognized for her endeavors was humbling, especially in a province where there is no shortage of supporters of human rights.
“I’ve known a few people that have received the award in past years and they are definitely people that I look up to. That’s always quite a humbling experience to be amongst company like that,” she said.
With a keen interest in women’s rights, access to justice and persons with disabilities, Fultz ran for president of the UWSA hoping that her connections to the community would benefit the campus, located in the heart of downtown Winnipeg.
“I hope that my work in the students’ association this year has been positive for post-secondary students in Manitoba in ensuring that they are having a well rounded and a very good quality experience in their university education,” Fultz said.
As a person who identifies as having a physical disability, Fultz said her focus this year has been on the challenges students with disabilities face in having equal opportunities and access to education as well as the benefits of better career prospects they may receive later on.
“Something that really interests me in the realm of human rights is not really the idea of human rights, but rather the idea of human responsibility — the idea that we are all created equally and we all have an equal responsibility towards ensuring that the world is accessible and fair for all people,” Fultz said, referring to a speech she made at Free the Children’s We Day event on Oct. 30 where she spoke to 16,000 Manitoban youth about equality, inclusion and human rights in Winnipeg.
“If we create a world where everyone has equal access and opportunities, there really isn’t such a thing of disabilities, there are only differ-abilities.”
Fultz first became interested in human rights when she was 16 and was an integral part in the foundation of the U of W chapter of Oxfam Canada — an organization working to end global poverty through women’s rights. After high school, she became more involved with the organization and was co-chair of the Global College Student Advisory Council, the student association for the human rights program at the U of W. Before running for president, she volunteered with the UWSA and was the accessibility director for the association’s Board of Directors.
However, Fultz’s work extends far beyond the university campus as she was the prairie regional chairperson for Oxfam Canada for a number of years while being involved with the Legal Help Centre of Winnipeg and the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund.
Bringing together community groups for collaboration and learning is the next step for Fultz, who said Manitoba is in no way lacking human rights organizations.
Fultz convocated from the U of W in June majoring in international development studies as well as human rights and global studies, though she’s still a student. She is currently working on a writing project about the shared experience persons with disabilities have, not only in Manitoba but across the world and is interested in studying international and human rights law.
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