EMAIL me at: Bob@BChrismas.com
And they’re off! 60 students partner with 60 officers for the 13th annual Copshop
It’s an excellent way to develop relationships with the young people in our community! I was so pleased to participate.
#16DaysofActivism. Day 4: Today we are highlighting Winnipeg Police Service: “The narrative at all levels must acknowledge that gender-based violence is everyone’s problem, never someone else’s. We need to all take responsibility and work together to solve serious social problems like rape; that is the path to significant change.” – Bob Chrismas. Bob is a Staff Sergeant for the Winnipeg Police Service and has his PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies. To learn more about what he offers to the community, please visit www.bchrismas.com.
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Honoured to be a guest lecturer for the University of Manitoba Law School, Robson Hall, Centre for Human Rights Research, 2019 series on sexual violence and reproductive rights, on my research and policing perspectives into sex trafficking and exploitation in Canada. Thank-you Professor Busby for inviting me, and my colleagues in the Manitoba Child Advocacy for Youth Office for your kind words on my work.
I was a little hesitant about committing to another term, but once I went there and met the folks, from all walks of life and many interested in starting new law enforcement careers – I’m happy I did. If they can give up every tuesday evening to further their education, the least I can do is accommodate that.
Teaching Policing in the 21st Century at Red River College. Thank- you for providing guest lectures and sharing your considerable expertise and experience: Sandra Hodzic (social innovation), Devon Clunis (Crime prevention), Kathleen Keating-Toews (addictions), Bonnie Emerson (community engagement), Lisa Alison and Rick Selensky (justice careers)
Great panel discussion today on social decolonization, reconciliation and a better shared future in Canada.
Join us for a panel discussion on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-spirit (MMIWG2). The event aims to bring awareness and continue dialogue around the topic.
On Saturday, March 30
At Eckhardt Grammatté Hall
(3rd Floor Centennial Hall at The University of Winnipeg)
From 10.30 AM – 2 PM
Free to attend | Child Minding Available | Lunch provided
Panelists include:
Bernadette Smith
Bernadette Smith is the NDP MLA for Point Douglas Constituency in the Province of Manitoba. Bernadette spearheads the No Stone Unturned Annual Awareness Concert for Missing and Murdered Persons, and the Drag the Red Initiative. Bernadette is proud to have co-founded the Manitoba Coalition of Families of Missing and Murdered Women in Manitoba, served on the Executive Board of Directors of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, and served as Co-Chairperson of Manitoba Moon Voices. Bernadette is Anishinaabe from Duck Lake and Pine Creek.
Nahanni Fontaine
Nahanni Fontaine is the MLA for the St. Johns constituency in the Province of Manitoba. She serves as the NDP critic for Justice, Status of Women, MMIWG and House Leader. Nahanni is Status Ojibway from the Sagkeeng Anishinaabe First Nation in southern Manitoba and is the proud mother of Jonah and Niinichaanis.
Lisa Forbes
Lisa Forbes is from Winnipeg and is a Cree/Metis/Scottish member of Peguis First Nation. She has worked for over 15 years in community development as a facilitator, writer, researcher, program developer, and advocate. Lisa is part of a team that implements the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations at her workplace.
Bob Chrismas, PhD
Dr. Chrismas is an author, scholar, consultant, passionate speaker and social justice advocate. He is a police professional with expertise in sex trafficking and exploitation, community engagement and crime prevention. His PhD dissertation was on Modern Day Slavery and the Sex Industry (2017).
Facilitated by Tammy Wolfe, Masters of Arts in Indigenous Governance.
Welcome speech by Meagan Malcolm, Indigenous Students’ Association Co-President.
Due to the triggering content discussed, the option to smudge will be available for attendees. Elders will also be present to speak with people in need of healing or guidance. A list of UWinnipeg support services will also be available.
Poster artwork by Cody Wolf | Cree and Ojibwe translations by Cameron Adams and Aandeg Muldrew
Please email accessibility requests like ASL interpreters, alternate formats, accessible seating information etc. to events@theuwsa.ca
Inspiring and humbling today to participate in this unique gathering of experiential sex trafficking survivors from across Canada, and deeply touched and honoured to be presented by the grandmothers with a medicine pouch and to learn that my work is being read and appreciated much more widely than I realized. It is demoralizing to learn how our brothers and sisters have been hurt, and it could have been any of us; we need to stand together for a better Canada.
In collaboration with community partners in Manitoba, Ontario, and British Columbia, Clan Mothers Healing Village is hosting the first ever Experiential Voices National Knowledge Gathering. You as individuals are the experts with knowledge to collaboratively lead the way forward. We will be inviting culturally diverse persons as well as 2SLGBTQQIA survivors of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation to participate in this experiential-led project. The summit will take place a short distance from Winnipeg, Manitoba, from March 19-21, 2019. For far too long our Indigenous communities have been caught in a never-ending cycle of temporary fixes pertaining to our history of intergenerational trauma. We are taking a stance against the colonial approach which has affected all people, giving voices back to those who are the leaders of change – people with lived experience. We are opening this gathering to experiential persons that have exited the sex trade or who have been involved in sex trafficking and are currently contributing their knowledge as leaders in the field of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. Our goal is to capture the expertise of lived experience leaders. This is to allow for real, meaningful change to happen. The gathering will offer a gentle spiritual ceremonial aspect led by Elders and experiential persons. A critical component of the project consists of digital interviews to be collected and distributed in accessible ways to privilege the voices of experiential persons who, for too long, have felt unheard. The project’s main objective is to exemplify a representative model of lived experienced leadership to maximize and guide priorities and policies across Canada and beyond. Finally, there is an important outcome piece of this gathering: an on-line digital media book and film that will be developed and designed to emphasis and ensure that the expertise of people with lived experience in the sex trade will have far-reaching, real-life impacts to inform concrete changes moving forward.
This text book on a shelf at Red River College caught my eye, for what looks like a fascinating course called “policing in the 21st century” being offered this spring. I may have to check it out.
Heart-warming yesterday, Indigenous youth from all over Manitoba coming together with the police to break bread, so happy to have the opportunity to work with these guys in our Indigenous partnerships and diversity and crime prevention units.
What an honour, and stimulating experience this evening, presenting and leading a discussion on violence analysis, intervention and prevention for PhD Peace and Conflict students from five diverse countries, for Dr. Sean Byrne at the Mauro Center for Peace and Justice, University of Manitoba.
Saturday May 04 2019 7:00 pm – Grant Park in the Atrium, Winnipeg
Launch of Research Journeys in/to Multiple Ways of Knowing (DIO Press) hosted by Niigaan Sinclair and featuring guests Dr. Robert Chrismas, Iloradanon Efimoff, Naithan Lagace, and Belinda Wandering Spirit Nicholson
This book is an interdisciplinary collection of Indigenous research and scholarship that pushes boundaries of expectation and experience. While the topics are diverse there are many points of affinity across the issues including themes of identity, advocacy, community, rights, respect, and resistance. The authors present counter-narratives that disrupt colonial authority towards multiple ways of knowing.
Laura Forsythe, co-editor of this interdisciplinary and collaborative project, is a Métis Ph.D. student at the University of Manitoba in the Department of Native Studies working in Métis Educational Sovereignty with a University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship. Forsythe works as the Métis Inclusion Coordinator for the University of Manitoba.
Iloradanon Efimoff is a Haida and European Settler from the North West Coast of BC and a 2018 Vanier Scholar. As a Ph.D. student at the University of Manitoba in the Department of Psychology Efimoff focuses on creating anti-racist educational interventions to reduce racism directed towards Indigenous people on campus
Naithan Lagace is a Métis Masters of Arts in the Department of Native Studies whose research focuses on the complexities of Indigenous Peoples and their representations in video games. Currently, Naithan is teaching Indigenous focused courses at the University of Winnipeg as well as the University of Manitoba and will continue their academic career in a Ph.D. program in September 2020.
Belinda Wandering Spirit Nicholson is an Indigenous Ally and Master student in the Department of Native Studies whose research focuses on deconstructing the coded messages of whiteness found in missionary’s texts used with Indigenous children in the Great Lakes area. Wandering Spirit Nicholson is a mother of five and a long-standing teaching assistant at the University of Manitoba.
Dr. Bob Chrismas completed a Doctorate in Peace and Conflict Studies at the Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice at the University of Manitoba focused on interrupting sex trafficking and exploitation of Indigenous women and girls in Canada. Chrismas was awarded the University of Manitoba Distinguished Dissertation Award. With over thirty-five years of law enforcement experience in Manitoba, Chrismas started his career during Manitoba’s Aboriginal Justice Inquiry and has published widely on Justice issues in Canada.
Host Dr. Niigaan Sinclair is Anishinaabe (St. Peter’s/Little Peguis), a Winnipeg Free Press Columnist, and associate professor in the Department of Native Studies at the University of Manitoba.
Thank-you Jennifer and Laura, for adding my chapter on violence the Canada’s strong Indigenous women have contended with.
Research Journeys in/to Multiple Ways of Knowing is an interdisciplinary collection of Indigenous research and scholarship that pushes boundaries of expectation and experience. While the topics are diverse, there are many points of affinity across the issues including themes of identity, advocacy, community, rights, respect, and resistance. The authors present counter-narratives that disrupt colonial authority towards multiple ways of knowing.
Regardless of worldview or specialization, the chapters in this book have something to offer. Like the whorl of a spiral, the curve can be observed as traveling inward or outward. At different points in the conversations, the assertions may be congruent or disparate from the reader’s perspective. The discussions may resonate on individual or societal levels. While tensions may arise, the push and pull of competing constructs demonstrates that the ideas are connected and held in relationship to one another—negotiating alterity is a space of reconciliation. Together the pieces contrast, blend, and broaden the landscape of Indigenous research and decolonizing discourse.
“I hope you enjoy the critical and creative gifts here and witness and participate in the vibrancy, dynamism, and beauty of Indigenous scholarship.” – Niigaan Sinclair, Associate Professor, Department of Native Studies, University of Manitoba, from the Foreword of Research Journeys in/to Multiple Ways of Knowing.
Cover art by: Jonathan Chin. The spiral image was drawn to represent the seven sacred teachings and honours the artwork of Dr. Joane Cardinal-Schubert. The art piece was created in winter 2016, as part of a final assignment in the EDUC 530 – Indigenous Education course, within the undergraduate teacher education program in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary.
My great pleasure to speak to Kathleen Keating-Toews’ class on Indigenous people and justice, Feb, 13th, 2019, for her class on Native People of Canada 1945-present.
Great pleasure to guest lecture for Sandra Krahn’s class on conflict analysis and resolution January 7th, 2019.
Staff Sgt. Bob Chrismas, a 30-year veteran of the Winnipeg Police Service, is the newly appointed instructor of RRC’s Justice and Public Safety program, available via part-time or online delivery.
“They (the College) reached out to me. They said they needed an instructor for a course called Policing in the 21stCentury,” says Chrismas, now 56.
“I called back and said ‘Are you kidding? I literally wrote the book.’”
He’s not joking. In 2013, McGill-Queen’s University Press published Chrismas’ book Canadian Policing in the 21stCentury: A Frontline Officer on Challenges and Changes. It was the runner up for best non-fiction at the 2014 Manitoba Book Awards.
Like the book, RRC’s Policing in the 21stCentury course will examine the history of policing and changes in policing philosophy, while also exploring what law enforcement may look like in the future.
“Some major issues are how we engage technology, centralizing versus decentralizing, and being proactive as opposed to reactive — community-oriented rather than just reacting to issues,” Chrismas explains.
“My passion that’s developed within the police service is trying to be more proactive and preventative. You get a much better bang for your buck out of crime prevention in the long run. With reacting, you’re often not addressing the root of the problem. You’re just reacting and arresting people.”
Currently, Chrismas is second in charge of the WPS’s Community Support Unit, overseeing such sections as Crime Prevention, Diversity Relations, Indigenous Partnerships, Victim Services, School Education and School Resource Officers, and the Cadet program.
“It’s all proactive, community engagement, community relations-type work,” Chrismas says.
“I guess mid-career, I took on a stronger interest in being more collaborative and community-oriented. I was a hardcore investigator. I worked in a lot of specialty areas, but when I started getting involved in counter-exploitation work and child abuse — eventually I ended up running our Missing Persons Unit — I really realized that the police can’t tackle any of these major social issues alone. We need to be only a part of a system, a collaborative effort.”
Last year, Chrismas earned a doctorate in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Manitoba. In 2009, he earned a Master of Public Administration jointly from the University of Winnipeg and University of Manitoba.
Chrismas’ dissertation, titled Modern Day Slavery and the Sex Industry: Raising the Voices of Survivors and Collaborators while Confronting Sex Trafficking and Exploitation in Manitoba, Canada, won the university’s Distinguished Dissertation Award for 2017.
Chrismas’ success in his studies is made all the more impressive by the fact that at age 16 he quit high school to enter the workforce.
“I wanted to be a good role model for my four kids. I wanted to exercise my full potential and try to self-actualize,” he says.
“I left school when I was young, but I knew it was important to eventually go back. When I had an opportunity to do it later as an older adult, I just couldn’t waste the opportunity. I always tell people not to flush an opportunity down the toilet. There are billions of people in the world who would give their right arm to go to school.”
In addition to being a police officer and a published author, Chrismas recently started a consulting company, writing and speaking on “policing trends, community collaboration, collective impact and governance,” according to his website, www.bchrismas.com
The Canadian Policing in the 21st Century course will run Thursday evenings starting in April.
“I’ve had the privilege of being able to go all the way through my MPA and PhD — and my career in policing — and I really feel compelled to give back to the community by teaching a course,” Chrismas said.
“I’m trying to pay it forward for all the opportunities that I’ve had.”
Profile by Jared Story (Creative Communications, 2005)
What a privilege and career highlight for me today, to host a Citizenship Swearing-In Ceremony for 20 new citizens from 10 different countries, right in my office!
This was great event, deep discussion on crime prevention, community engagement and resilience building to help keep youth safe from being targeted for gang and sex industry involvement.
DATE AND TIME: Friday, 14 September 2018, 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM CDT
LOCATION: Knox United Church, 400 Edmonton Street , Winnipeg, MB R3B 2M2
DESCRIPTION:
The Winnipeg Connector Partnership and Rotary Peace Builders are coordinating a special event for immigrants and refugees to network and socialize. This will take place during the “Be the Change” portion at the Peace Days Festival. Please join us.
Come and celebrate the Peace Days Festival with dance, music and other entertainment! Let’s work for peace building.
For more information, please visit:
This was a wonderful experience, the film was moving and so well done, and the panel discussion was impactful and insightful; I was privileged to participate in the discussion with such giants in social justice advocacy: Diane Redsky, Joy Smith, David Matas, Andrew Kooman (new/great film producer).
The She Has A Name Film Screening and launch of Power of Her gender equality initiative will be held at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) on Tuesday, September 11, 2018 as part of the Peace Days Festival and in partnership with The Rotary Club of Winnipeg and Manitoba Council for International Cooperation.
The event will feature a screening of the 2016 film She Has a Name followed by a moderated expert panel with the filmʼs screenwriter Andrew Kooman, Diane Redsky – Executive Director of Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre Inc., Dr. Bob Chrismas – Staff Sergeant of the Winnipeg Police Serviceʼs Community Support Division, Joy Smith – Joy Smith Foundation; and a representative of Beyond Borders/ECPAT Canada.
