OLDS — Until this summer, Olds resident Davina Merritt had never been any further away from her home than Water Valley.
But in August, the Grade 12 École Olds High School student took the plunge to travel to Winnipeg by herself to attend the Rotary Adventures in Human Rights program.
The week-long program, organized by the Rotary Club, was attended by 17 students.
Attendees at the week-long event learn about various human rights issues like racism and how they can raise awareness of them.
The main venue was Canadian Museum for Human Rights. However, participants also visited the Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba and served lunch for members of the community in a Winnipeg park.
A big eyeopener for Merritt was when she learned about the Jim Keegstra case.
Keegstra, a former public school teacher and mayor in Eckville, near Red Deer, was charged and convicted of hate speech in 1984 for disparaging Jews in general and telling students that the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during the Second World War, was a hoax.
That began a battle that eventually went all the way to the Supreme Court which upheld the constitutionality of hate laws in Canada.
“I never heard the name Jim Keegstra before, which was really surprising, given that he was right (near) Red Deer,” Merritt said.
“I had never heard about him at all and I was very shocked to see that it made its way all the way to the Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg.”
Merritt (who says she’s no relation to former town chief administrative officer Michael Merritt) learned about the program in Winnipeg from Tane Skotheim, who serves as an advisor for the Interact Club, a kind of junior Rotary Club.
Merritt is co-president of that club and heavily involved in the school’s student leadership program.
She says the only trip she made from home prior to this summer was when she attended a Rotary Youth Leadership Awards program in Water Valley.
Merritt was asked what it was like to travel all the way to Winnipeg by herself.
“I was pretty nervous, but I met some pretty cool, awesome Rotarians who made sure that all of us were super-safe all the time,” she said.
"I’ve always just wanted more exposure, because growing up in Olds I guess I don’t see as much diversity as I would like to, so I definitely got to experience many experiences that I wouldn’t have been able to in Olds,” she said.
“I really went there to learn, was my main goal.”
Merritt plans to work in the veterinary field in the future.
However, she said this summer’s experience might change those plans a bit. She might try to get into the animal rights field.
Merritt was really impressed with her experience in Winnipeg and would recommend it to others.
“All the people that I met; especially the young leaders that I got to be with and just the amazing conversations that we had and just how many ideas that were shared and perspectives,” she said.
“It was so awesome.”
