Program Cost, Content and Course Listing
The University of Manitoba launched Canada's first interdisciplinary Master of Human Rights program in September 2019.
Students will complete 18 course credits plus a thesis or a practicum and major research project.
- required courses (9 credits) include human rights theory, research methods and law.
- the other 9 credits of graduate-level, Law or post-baccalaureate courses may be selected from an approved list that will include courses from multiple faculties, including Arts, Education and Social Work.
Thesis stream: 16 to 24 months full-time.
Practicum stream: 16 months full-time, including a practicum of at least three months.
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Required Courses
HMRT 7100: Theory and Practice of Human Rights: Critical Perspectives (3 credit hours).
This course critically analyzes, from an interdisciplinary perspective, the theory and practice of human rights as a framework for social justice. The course examines historical and current human rights struggles to better understand the potential, politics, challenges and limitations of the international human rights framework. Students who have already completed SOC 7160 prior to enrolling in the MHR program will be required, in consultation with the MHR program director or Dean of Law, to take an alternative graduate-level course to achieve the 18 required credits.
HMRT 7200: Selected Topics in Human Rights Research and Methods (3 credit hours).
This seminar course will explore multidisciplinary approaches to qualitative, quantitative, legal, and/or community-based research methods, as applicable to academic human rights research and projects overseen by governmental and nongovernmental organizations. Particular attention will be paid to the intricacies of ethically, politically and culturally sensitive research.
HMRT 7300: Human Rights Law (3 credit hours).
Critical and constructive study, at an advanced level, of a significant major subject or set of topics in Human Rights Law. Students are not required to take this course if they have already completed a JD or LLB that included a human rights law course. In that case, they will be required, in consultation with the MHR program director or Dean or Law, to take an alternative graduate-level course to achieve the 18 required credits.
GRAD 7300: Research Integrity Tutorial
GRAD 7500: Academic Integrity Tutorial
Professional seminars (non-credit).
These seminars are intended to provide grounding in the skills required to undertake human rights work and will include such topics as non-academic writing (reports, funding applications, policy briefs, legislation etc.) social media, cross-cultural communication, budgeting, negotiation, professional ethics, working with journalists, presentation skills, human rights curation, and career paths. Tours will also be arranged of local archives and museums and relevant historical sites.
Practicum Stream
GRAD 7030: Master’s Practicum (pass/fail)
The student, working with an advisor and under the supervision of a site supervisor, will accrue at least 300 hours at a practicum site, usually during the summer. Students will meet with their faculty advisor on a regular basis to discuss related topics, experiences, and to problem-solve issues that may arise at the sites. Students are responsible for maintaining a Log of Practicum Hours and Project Notes. This log is to be signed by the site supervisor and submitted at the end of the semester to the faculty advisor supervising the practicum. The Practicum Agencies that participate in the practicum course will be selected because of the potential opportunities for student learning, unique program focus, and direct application of human rights skills and knowledge. Every agency must have staff members who apply human rights analysis in their professional work. Students will be asked to make a specific positive contribution to the operation of their host organizations in the form of a report, curriculum module, work of art, documentary film, workshop, website, strategic plan, or other such project. Prior to the start of this field experience, students will spend two to three weeks orienting themselves regarding the organization. Following completion of the practicum placement, students are required to write a major research paper of between 7,500 and 10,000 words.
Thesis Stream
GRAD 7000: Master’s Thesis
The MHR thesis is an independently written research document on a topic of relevance to human rights. The thesis would normally range from 80 to 100 pages of double-spaced typescript, including notes and bibliography. The thesis should demonstrate that the student has mastery of the specific field of human rights research under investigation, and is fully conversant with the relevant literature. The thesis should also demonstrate that the candidate has made an original contribution to knowledge in the field of human rights research. The thesis may entail co-operation with other faculties at the University of Manitoba, and agencies in the local and wider global community. In general, the overall goal of the thesis is to build or apply theory through disciplined and focused independent study. Consequently, the thesis should be based on scholarly study and research that encompasses both theoretical and empirical aspects of human rights research.
Elective Courses
Program-approved graduate-level elective courses are available through various faculties supporting the interdisciplinary MHR program (Arts, Education, Law, Social Work, Health Sciences, Environment and others), as well as through the Peace and Conflict Studies and Disability Studies programs. Courses such as the following may be open to MHR students with permission of the instructor/department and as space allows. Please visit the Aurora course catalogue to view full course descriptions.
Anthropology
ANTH 4780 - Museums, Memory, and Witnessing
ANTH 7900 – Topics Course:
- Problems in Ethnological Research
- Environmental Conflict, Rights and Justice
- Anthropology of Human Rights
Architecture Interdisciplinary
ARCG 7102 – Studio Topics in Environmental Processes (topic is Service Learning in the Global Community)
Community Health Sciences
CHSC 7490 – Empirical Perspectives on Social Organization and Health
CHSC 7870 – Health Survey Research Methods
Disability Studies
DS 7010 – Disability Studies
DS 7020 – History of Disability
DS 7040 – Selected Topics in Disability Studies when topic is any one of the following:
- Environment and Disability
- Global Disability Studies
- Disability and the Media
- Women and Disability
Education
EDUA 7100 – Summer Institute on Fostering Leadership Capacity to Support First Nations, Metis and Inuit Learners (Topics in Educational Administration)
EDUA 5080 & EDUB 5220 – Summer Institute on Human Rights Education: A Partnership with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights
EDUA 7250 – Comparative Education
EDUA 7270 – Seminar in Cross-Cultural Education 1
EDUA 7280 – Seminar in Cross-Cultural Education 2
EDUA 7330 – Cross-Cultural Teaching and Learning in Ethiopia 2 (Topics in Educational Foundations)
EDUA 7560 – Cross-Cultural and Diversity Counselling
EDUA 7600 – Action Research in Education
EDUB 7212 – Critical Applied Linguistics in a Global Context
EDUB 7270 – Culture, Citizenship and Curriculum
EDUB 7340 – Writing Workshop: Writing for/as Human Rights (Seminar in Educational Thought)
EDUB 7350 – Curriculum Development: Writing for/as Human Rights (Independent Studies in Curriculum)
EDUB 7990 – Seminar in Environmental Education
English
ENGL 7030 - Studies in American Literature
ENGL 7140 - Studies in International Literature
ENGL 7860 – Topics in Cultural Studies (when topic is An Introduction to Genocide Studies)
ENGL 7XXX – Other human-rights-related graduate courses
Geography
GEOG 7010 - Political Ecology, Discourse and Power: Understanding Contemporary Environmentalism
German
GRMN 7360: Representations of the Holocaust in English Translation
GRMN 7330: Sex, Gender, and Cultural Politics in the German-Speaking World in English Translation
History
HIST 7392 – Selected Topics in Archival Studies (when topic is Archives, Public Affairs, and Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada)
HIST 7772 - Imperialism, Revolution, Democracy: Latin American History since the Cuban Revolution
Human Rights
HMRT 7510 Special Topics in Human Rights: Critical and constructive study, at an advanced level, of a significant major subject or set of topics in Human Rights. Students may earn multiple credits for this course only when the topic subtitle is different.
HMRT 7800 Research Paper in Human Rights: An independent reading and/or research course on a selected topic in human rights, undertaken and arranged in consultation with the prospective instructor, upon the approval of the program director, the course content may vary. Students may earn multiple credits for this course only when the topic subtitle is different.
Law
LAW 3364 – Law and Resistance
LAW 3070 – Gender and the Law*
LAW 3090 – Children, Youth, and the Law*
LAW 3212 – Immigration Law*
LAW 3230 – Aboriginal Peoples and Land Claims*
LAW 3310 – Aboriginal Peoples and the Law*
LAW 3380 – Issues in Law and Bio Ethics*
LAW 3740 – Public International Law*
LAW 3940 – Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms*
LAW 3980 – Current Legal Problems B* when topic is any one of the following:
- A Seminar on Truth and Reconciliation
- Aboriginal Law - Criminal Justice and Family Law
- Advocating for the Rights of Indigenous People in International Law
- International Criminal Justice
- Language Rights
- Metis Peoples and Canadian Law
- Indigenous People and Oral History
- Philanthropy and the Law
- Poverty Law
- Reproductive and Sexual Rights
- Transitional Justice
Native Studies
NATV 7240 – Issues in Colonization
Natural Resource Institute
NRI 7200 – The Role of Information Management in Sustainable Resource Use
NRI 7222 – Human Dimensions of Natural Resources and Environmental Management
NRI 7340 – Environmental Justice and Ecosystem Health
NRI 7370 –Sustainable Livelihoods, Food Resources and Community Food Security
Peace and Conflict Studies
PEAC 7030 – International Conflict Resolution and Peace-building
PEAC 7040 – Violence Intervention and Prevention
PEAC 7050 – Intercultural Conflict Resolution and Peace-building
PEAC 7110 – International Human Rights and Human Security
PEAC 7120 – Peacebuilding and Social Justice
PEAC 7124 – Gender, Conflict and Peacemaking
PEAC 7126 – Ethnic Conflict Analysis and Resolution
PEAC 7128 – Storytelling: Identity, Power and Transformation
PEAC 7300 – Special Topics in Peace and Conflict Studies when the topic is:
- Children and War
- Critical and Emancipatory Peacebuilding
Political Science
POLS 7000 – UN Security Council
POLS 7790 – International Relations Theory
POLS 7850 – Contemporary Strategic and Security Studies
Psychology
PSYC 7660 – Intergroup Relations
Religion
RLGN 7300 – Seminar on Religion and Culture
Sociology
SOC 7160 – Topics Course:
- The Power of Social Movements
SOC 7310 - Seminar in Intergroup Relations
SOC 7320 - Political Sociology
SOC 7450 – Selected Topics in Criminology (may include Crime and the Camps, Genocide and War Crimes, Restorative Justice, and Truth and Reconciliation)
Social Work
SWRK 7440 – Policy Analysis in Social Work Practice 3
SWRK 7600 – Critical Perspectives and Social Work
SWRK 7730 – Indigenous Research Methodologies and Knowledge Development
SWRK 7750 – Indigeneity, Power, Privilege, and Social Work
Woman’s Studies
WOMN 7270 – Advanced Topics in Women’s Studies
WOMN 7170 – Directed Readings in Women’s Studies
WOMN 4200 (7XXX) - Mother Load: Analyzing Mothers and Mothering as Transformative Agents