Featuring the University of Manitoba
2018 Robert and Elizabeth Knight Distinguished Visitor

Jody Williams
1997 Nobel Peace Laureate
Founding Chair, Nobel Women’s Initiative

The Nobel Women’s Initiative:
Women Supporting Women in the Pursuit of Peace

The founding chair of the Nobel Women’s Initiative, Jody Williams is an outspoken peace activist who began to find her voice protesting the Vietnam War. Her work continued as chief strategist and spokesperson for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) that led to an international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines in September 1997. Jody will share her experiences as an activist and the important role of women’s activism in pursuit of peace with justice and equality.

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Sponsored by the Richardson Foundation, the Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace & Justice at St. Paul's College is very pleased to partner with the University of Manitoba's Robert and Elizabeth Knight Distinguished Visitors Program and to collaborate with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and Rotary District 5550 | World Peace Partners in hosting 1997 Nobel Peace Laureate, Jody Williams.

After a decade of work in the 1980s trying to stop US military involvement in El Salvador and Nicaragua, Jody Williams was asked to create a civil society campaign to ban antipersonnel landmines. Beginning in early 1992 with two non-governmental organizations and a staff of one – herself, Williams oversaw the growth of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines to over 1,300 organizations in 95 countries working to eliminate the weapon.

In an unprecedented cooperative effort with governments, UN bodies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, she served as a chief strategist and spokesperson for the ICBL as it dramatically achieved its goal of an international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines during a diplomatic conference held in Oslo in September 1997. A few weeks later it was announced that Jody Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines would share the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for their groundbreaking work leading to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Since January of 2006, Williams has served as the founding chair of the Nobel Women’s Initiative. Along with sister Nobel Laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi of Iran, she took the lead in establishing the Initiative. The Nobel Women’s Initiative uses the prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize and the influence and access of the women Nobel Laureates themselves to support and amplify the efforts of women around the world working for sustainable peace with justice and equality. Mairead Maguire (Northern Ireland), Rigoberta Menchú Tum (Guatemala), Shirin Ebadi (Iran), Leymah Gbowee (Liberia) and Tawakkol Karman (Yemen) are the other members of the Initiative.

Williams is the Sam & Cele Keeper Endowed Professor of Peace and Social Justice in the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston, where she has taught since 2003.

Her memoir on life as a grassroots activist, My Name is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl’s Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize was released by the University of California Press in 2013. Through her story she hopes to inspire others to understand that helping bring about positive change for everyone is not “magic” or something only “important people” can do. Change occurs when so-called ordinary people act with others to help create the world in which we want to live. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is not defined by who we are, but by what we do for the common good.

portrait photo credit (above, left): John Murphy - Aurora Photography

PREVIOUS SOL KANEE LECTURES ON PEACE AND JUSTICE
(click on lecturer name or photo for biographies, videos, and transcripts)

	October 4, 2017 2017 Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice Steve Killelea "Peace Through Prosperity"
	September 28, 2016 2016 Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice Dr. Oscar Arias "Seeking the Hero of Heroes: Human Development as the Key to Peace"
	October 6, 2015 2015 Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice Fr. Gregory Boyle, SJ "Jobs not Jails: Providing Hope, Training, and support to Formerly Gang-Involved and Previously Incarcerated Men and Women"
	September 29, 2014 2014 Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice Justice Murray Sinclair "What Do We Do About the Legacy of Indian Residential Schools?"
	October 2, 2013 2013 Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice Ms. Anuradha Koirala   "Maiti Nepal’s Initiatives Against Human Trafficking: A Model of Peace Building"
	October 10, 2012 2012 Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice Dr. Martin Mansergh "The Resolution of the Northern Ireland Conflict"
	September 29, 2010 2010 Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice Dr. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela "Narratives of Dialogue and Healing: Stories of Remorse and forgiveness in the Aftermath of Mass Trauma and Violence"
	November 2, 2009 2009 Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish "Forgiveness as a Pathway in the Journey of Peace"
	November 19, 2008 2008 Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice The Honourable Flora MacDonald "Peacebuilding, Development, Hope...The Other Afghanistan"
	November 8, 2007 2007 Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice Chief Oren Lyons "The Politics of Human Beings: The Nature of Global Warming"
	November 15, 2005 2005 Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice Rabbi Michael Melchior "The World at a Crossroads: Dialogue and Coalition-building between Religions and Cultures"
	September 28, 2003 2003 Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice   The Honourable Lloyd Axworthy "Global Citizenship"
	October 9, 2002 Inaugural Sol Kanee Lecture on Peace and Justice His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan "From a Culture of Participation to a Culture of Peace"