People's Choice Peace and Human Rights Award |
Previous award recipients
Adam Idris, 2015
Adam Idris is the 2015 winner of the People’s Choice Peace and Human Rights Award. At this extraordinary time in our nation’s history when collective social fear is actively used to spread hatred towards visible and religious minorities, Adam Idris has worked tirelessly for over a decade in Calgary at a local and international level promoting peace and understanding between our faith communities. Adam’s work has been important to organizations serving the common good, including: the Calgary Board of Education, United States Consulate, the Calgary Police Service, and the RCMP. Along with his interfaith network, Adam has championed the cause of curbing youth radicalization in Alberta by working with stakeholder organizations to identify root causes and remedies of radicalization. Adam has been a pillar of support for families facing hardships, particularly the families of youths in distress. He has been an indispensable resource to law enforcement, academia, government, and many organizations concerning religious tolerance and a model of sustainable and enduring social integration. Most importantly to Adam, however, he has been a resource to youths in distress and feels most rewarded when he makes a difference in a young person’s life. It is through Adam’s strength of conviction to see our city flourish as an international model for a sustainable multiculturalism built on respect, justice, mercy, patience, and love. Adam is a strong believer in the power of dialogue to resolve disputes and has always been available to participate in building bridges between faiths, cultures, genders, and social classes. Adam believes that true equality is not just a right we have, but a duty towards each other that we must continuously strive towards. The award ceremony reception took place on Sunday October 25, 2015 at 4pm at the ArtBox Art Gallery at 1807, 42nd St SE. Calgary. Rsvp to [email protected]
Saima Jamal, 2014
Saima Jamal is the 2014 winner of the People’s Choice Peace and Human Rights Award. Saima is a powerhouse of peace building activities in our Calgary community. She has a very extensive record in educating the public on the need for, peace, justice and development work with regard to various international conflicts as well as local community building project that promotes peace. One of the examples of her passion for this work was as a Program Manager of the Consortium for Peace Studies (CPS) at the University of Calgary (2010-2013). Through her work at the Consortium for Peace Studies and later through her work in the 2020 Vision for Humanity, Canadian Federation of Bridge Builders, Project Ploughshares Calgary, the Calgary Islamic Chamber Institute and many other organizations, she highlighted countless ways to reduce the human and environmental cost of conflict in a wide range of global and local issues.