About
The Human Rights & Democracy Project is a two-year Changemaker-in-Residence initiative led through Mount Royal University’s Institute for Community Prosperity in partnership with Dignity Forum. The project responds to the need for deeper public education, dialogue, advocacy, and systems-level understanding of human rights in Alberta and Canada. It positions human rights as a foundation of community prosperity and creates a structured platform for campus-community learning, civic engagement, and action.
The animating question of the Human Rights and Democracy Project is “can human rights be guaranteed under a democracy?” The project is centered around exploring this question through programs that bridge Mount Royal University with the broader community.Core activities include public lectures, community and campus workshops, guest lectures, Lunch & Learns, student programming, publications, special projects, and facilitated conversations on the relationship between human rights, democracy, systems change, and civic responsibility.
Key programs include the MRU Lectures on Human Rights and Democracy, campus and community workshop series, student engagement through Map the System and the Catamount Fellowship, a proposed high school human rights certificate, human rights publications, and institutional learning work related to academic freedom, freedom of expression, and institutional neutrality.
The project will strengthen human rights knowledge, build reusable engagement and learning infrastructure, support student research and leadership, deepen campus-community relationships, and leave behind practical tools, publications, lessons learned, and transition recommendations for future programming.
Changemaker in Residence
Hello, my name is Courtney Walcott. I was born in Toronto, Ontario, on the traditional and treaty land of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, as well as other Anishnabeg, Chippewa, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat peoples. However, my family first came to this land through Nova Scotia, as immigrants settling in Cape Breton, one of the seven traditional districts of the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq Nation known as Mi'kma'k. I now call Calgary, or Moh’kinstsis, home.
I am an award winning educator, human rights advocate, city builder, public speaker, and a former Calgary City Councillor. I am the founder and principal at Civic Society, a consulting firm dedicated to human-rights centered policy design. Further, I serve as a member of City Action Lab, an international collaborative of city builders working on imagining cities of the future.
Read Courtney's fill bio here.
Project Launch
On November 19th, 2026, join us in the Trico Changemakers Studio as we celebrate the launch of the Human Rights & Democracy Project.
The Human Rights & Democracy Project will be stewarded by the Changemaker-In-Residence, Courtney Walcott. An educator, human rights advocate, and former City of Calgary Councillor, Courtney will share his vision for this project with the MRU community and share ways for faculty, students, and the broader community to join in on this project.
In addition, hear from Cori Ghitter, CEO of Dignity Forum and the Ron & Myrna Ghitter Foundation, Chad London, Provost and Vice President Academic, and Lena Soots-Haley, Executive Director of the Institute for Community Prosperity.
Food and Drinks will be available.
Please note, this is an internal event, intended for Mount Royal University staff, faculty, and students.
Location: The Trico Changemaker Studio, EB 3013, 3rd Floor, Bissett School of Business.
Date: November 19th, 2026
Time: 4:00PM – 6:00PM
Human Rights & Democracy is presented by the Institute for Community Prosperity and Dignity Forum
Stay tuned for project updates and ways to engage.