Mauro Centre leads way for peace studies in Canada and beyond

North American Conflict Resolution exchange program gives students international experience, education

Andrew Sain, Staff

The University of Manitoba’s Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice allows students to experience perspectives on peace in other cultures through the North American Conflict Resolution (NACR) exchange program.

The Mauro Centre offers the only doctoral level program of its kind in Canada, and is one of only three such institutions in North America. The centre is one of the Canadian components of the NACR, which is an exchange program offered for students in conflict resolution between universities in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

Christopher Cunningham is a student in the exchange and is originally from the University of Louisville in Kentucky. He has been at the University of Manitoba since the beginning of the semester. He said it has been “an absolutely terrific experience” so far.

He believes that “from an American point of view, it’s very relevant to come to Canada, especially during this time with the United States in Iraq . . . who better to have a critique on the United States than its closest neighbour?”

Though he has found that the tactics employed by professional conflict mediators in the two countries are very similar, he said that “the attitudes of peacemaking in the United States and Canada are very different.”

He added that Canadians in general have a greater sense of world cooperation with regard to peacemaking, acting as a world leader in the field.

He said that he believes that American attitudes are more conflicted in the area “because there is more of an assessment of threat, and that changes a lot of people’s perspectives.”

Students in the program take a semester of classes in peace and conflict studies, and in addition to this there is a requisite unpaid internship that provides students with hands-on conflict analysis and mediation experience.

Sean Byrne, the director of the Mauro Centre, said that the internship is an important component of the program in that it builds the experience and skills of the students involved, as well as immersing them in a different culture. He calls this combination of theoretical learning and practical experience, the “pracademic model.”

“Every culture has its unique way of looking at conflict and resolving conflict,” said Byrne, though he points out that there are also common elements that transcend borders.

Cunningham said the program offers the opportunity to explore “not only how we see ourselves, but how the rest of the world sees us . . . . [to] bring greater awareness, and stop conflict before it starts.”

He explained the perspective most Americans have on Canada is that it is cold, anti-war and has very different social values than the United States. He said that he hopes to dispel these myths about Canada when he returns to Kentucky.

He added that he looks forward to seeing how far the Mauro centre comes, as the doctoral-level program is just in its first year of operation.

The Mauro Centre is unique in that it is one of only three North American organizations to offer a doctoral-level program in peace studies, and the only one in Canada. The Centre also created the first joint Master of Arts program between the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg.

Byrne said that interest in the PhD program has been high, with over 70 individuals inquiring locally, and hundreds worldwide. “These people, once they go back to their countries, will become agents of social change,” he said.

Byrne believes that the Mauro Centre provides “a way for Winnipeg, through the University of Manitoba, to reach out to the world.”