Drawing Justice: Graphic Novels and Human Rights
Have you ever wondered what makes graphic novels uniquely powerful for telling stories of injustice and human-rights abuse? How do they reach audiences and convey experiences in ways that traditional reports, journalism, or academic writing often cannot?
Join artists, scholars, journalists, and storytellers for a conversation on graphic novels, visual storytelling, Indigenous narratives, and human rights. We’ll explore collaborative, arts-based approaches that center community, lived experience, and survivor agency, and discuss how visual narratives can educate, advocate, and move people to action.
The event is on June 11 from 7-9 at the Agowiidiwinan Centre (located adjacent to The Forks market). It will be a public event.
Drawing Justice: Graphic Novels and Human Rights
Date: Thursday, June 11, 2026
Time: 7:00 – 9:00 pm CST
Location: Agowiidiwinan Centre (15 Forks Market Road, adjacent to The Forks market)
Event & registration info: https://umanitoba.ca/law/drawing-justice-graphic-novels-and-human-rights
Speaker Profiles
Sonya Ballantyne (she, they) is a Swampy Cree writer, filmmaker, and speaker based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her work explores contemporary and futuristic portrayals of Indigenous women and girls. Her award-winning projects include the documentary Nosisim (2024 Barry Lank Award) and the graphic novel Little by Little (In The Margins, 2025 Top Ten Title). Her film The Death Tour screened at Cannes in 2023 with a world premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2024. She has also worked as a sensitivity consultant for gaming properties such as God of War Ragnarok.
Candida Rifkind has a BA (Hon.) in English from Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS), an MA in English from Concordia University (Montreal, PQ), and a PhD in English from York University (Toronto, ON). She is a Professor in the Department of English at the University of Winnipeg, where she specializes in alternative comics and graphic narratives, Canadian popular and political writing, and feminist auto/biography theory.
Duncan McCue is an award-winning CBC broadcaster and leading advocate for fostering the connection between journalism and Indigenous communities. He teaches at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication specializing in Indigenous Journalism and (Story)telling. He is the host of Helluva Story on CBC Radio, and Kuper Island, an eight-part podcast on residential schools for CBC Podcasts. He is also the author of a textbook, Decolonizing Journalism: A Guide to Reporting in Indigenous Communities. Duncan is Anishinaabe, a member of the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation.
Mike Auksi, an Anishinaabe and Estonian doctoral candidate in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education at McGill University, connected to Lac Seul First Nation and Pelican Lake hockey team, and played for the Lac Seul Eagles and Stars hockey teams. His study on ice hockey in his home community of Lac Seul First Nation is a perfect complement to the graphic novel, Indians Do Cry, part of the SCVN project. His vision of a more collective hockey narrative rooted in First Nations worldviews and values works alongside communities like Lac Seul to overcome some of these barriers.
Moderator:
Kjell Anderson is a jurist and social scientist specialised in the study of mass atrocities and human rights. He is the author of Perpetrating Genocide: A Criminological Account (Routledge 2019) and the co-editor (with Erin Jessee) of Researching Perpetrators of Genocide (University of Wisconsin Press, 2020). His book – The Dilemma of Dominic Ongwen (Rutgers University Press, forthcoming) draws from extensive qualitative interviews to examine the life of Dominic Ongwen. Ongwen is a former child soldier in the Lord’s Resistance Army (Uganda), who was recently convicted by the International Criminal Court of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
