EVOLVING EDUCATION
Maree Rodriguez
Honorary Youth Marshal
This sprite young ally to the community made headlines this year when she organized a Pink
T-shirt Day kickoff rally to advocate for anti-bullying awareness. In addition, she’s heavily
involved with other human rights and mental health awareness initiatives such as ‘No Means
No’ awareness, Take Back the Night, and the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health’s
National Youth Advisory Committee (NYAC).
Maree’s parents immigrated from the Philippines to Canada in search of a better life. Her
parents became strong supporters of human rights and were involved in Mayday rallies in
support of worker’s rights. Growing up, Maree attended these rallies and became passionate
about human rights issues. In junior high Maree faced bullying from her peers, however this
did motivate her to want to create positive change.
Today, Maree is focused on supporting youth through education. She leads a group of
individuals who perform workshops in schools in order to educate youth about stopping
bullying, LGBTTQ* issues such as language and gender stereotypes, and promoting
acceptance and equality. Maree also encourages everyone facing negativity to reach out to
family, peers, and community centres. Maree’s message to everyone is to ‘Stay awesome!’
EVOLVING RIGHTS
Manitoba Association
for Rights & Liberties
Honorary Community Group Marshal
The Manitoba Association for Rights & Liberties (MARL) exists to promote, support, and
celebrate human rights and civil liberties. This non-profit organization has been defending,
extending and creating awareness for the rights and liberties of citizens in Manitoba for over
37 years. MARL focuses its initiatives on three key areas: Monitoring and Response, Youth
Education, and Community Outreach.
For Monitoring and Response, MARL reviews and responds to legislation, responds to public
inquiries and performs a media watch on human rights issues. For Youth Education, MARL
has created teacher’s tool kits, connected high school students with human rights issues,
created social justice clubs and developed an under 18 handbook to educate youth about
their rights and liberties. For Community Outreach, MARL is one of the organizations
responsible for the Human Rights Commitment Awards of Manitoba, they also raise
awareness for March 21st the day for the elimination of racial discrimination.
MARL was also heavily involved in lobbying the provincial gover