view . spring 2012
15
Being named Windsor’s first poet laureate is a great
honour, says Marty Gervais.
“I’m very proud of this community and I’m a great
promoter of it and so for them to choose me to lead the
way in this regard makes me feel great,” he said.
Windsor city council appointed Gervais, resident
writing professional in the UWindsor English department
and a publisher, columnist and poet, to the post last
November.
Gervais has written fiction, non-fiction and poetry
about his hometown of Windsor, including the Canadian
bestseller
The Rumrunners
and his
Windsor Star
column
“My Town.” Among his previous honours are a 1998
Toronto Harbourfront Festival Prize for contributions to
Canadian letters, a 1996 Milton Acorn People’s Poetry
Award, and a 2010 honorary doctorate from Assumption
University.
He has started a blog about his newest appointment
and plans to organize a major reading by a number of
poets laureate – something he said has never been done
anywhere in the country.
“I think it’s really important for the city to promote the
arts,” said Gervais. “This gesture of creating a poet laureate
position is significant of the fact that the city believes that
the arts matter.”
UNIVERSITY WRITER- IN-RESIDENCE NAMED CITY’S
FIRST POET LAUREATE
Marty Gervais, UWindsor’s resident writing professional, is a
prolific author.
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
celebrates its 30th birthday in April 2012.
In
honour of the milestone, 30 Windsor Law students are
spearheading the “Charter Project”.
The Charter Project is a national public education
campaign to increase awareness and engage discussion of
The Charter.
UWindsor law students will be co-ordinating
both public service announcements and high school
workshops to ignite local students’ interest in
The Charter
and to help them understand their rights and freedoms.
Windsor Law student Mandy Kinzel is a former teacher
who is enjoying her involvement with
The Charter
project.
“My experience teaching high school, along with my law
school education, helped me to create
Charter
-focused
workshops as a tangible learning tool for Canadian youth,”
she says.
Public Service Announcments star Canadian celebrities
including Howie Mandel and paralympian Rick Hansen. The
students are also filming interviews with legal pioneers and
academics providing diverse perspectives on
The Charter
.
Faculty, staff, and external donors, namely the Law
Foundation of Ontario are supporting the law students.
“Our students have created this unique opportunity for
law students to further their knowledge, awareness and
understanding about
The Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms
in a way that engages a broad spectrum of
Canadians,” says Karen Momotiuk, of the Alumni and Fund
Development Office. “They began this project during their
first month of law school, and will see it through beyond
graduation. They are leveraging their education in a way
that benefits our entire community.”
For more information on how you can get involved,
please contact
or visit the
team’s website
WINDSOR LAW CELEBRATES THE CHARTER
Law student Joshua Knox (centre) spent Canada Day in Ottawa
chatting with fellow Canadians about the Charter Project.
