Write for Rights

Think letters don’t make a difference? View this short video about the impact of letters

Letter writing report list

Below is the list of letter-writing events reported from across Canada

Name/Location:

Letters sent:

Event details:

Youth Unbound
Guelph, ON

In the front foyer of my high school, our social justice group got about 200 students to sign letters we had written on behalf of four different causes. The local newspaper came and took some pitures and wrote a small clip about it.

Human Culture Club
Toronto, ON

280

We organized a Write-a-thon during our homeroom classes. For 25 minutes each class wrote on behalf of one person or group on the Urgent Action List. During lunch periods for the entire week we had tea and cookies available in the library and students and teachers dropped in to write. This is our second year participating and each year kids become more aware of the many injustices around the world and are eager to help.

Immaculata High School
Ottawa, Ontario

Great Event-surprised that many people were interested in getting their voices heard and standing up for justice all around the world.

CHSS GLobal Village Club
Clinton

335

Members of the club spent all evening writing letters to over 30 different countries. We also held a letter-signing for the general populaion of the school at lunch.

St. Aidan's Anglican Church
London, Ontario

About 25 parishioners stayed after the service to write letters and greeting cards.

Jessica Hotson
toronto

Canadian College of Massage and Hydrotherapy
Cambridge, On

A display board was put up in our schools cafeteria. Information about all of the campaigns was available. There were pre typed letters and postcards ready for the students because the week of the display was also the week of final exams. The turn out was good nevertheless!

Sherona Chirkut
Brampton

Recognizing that serious human rights violations continue in many nations is the first step in realizing that we must act to initiate change for a better world.

Abbey Park Justice League
Oakville, ON

I always find it hard to get people to write full letters. I spend so much time organizing awareness and advertising that I myself don't get to write many letters. Next year, I'm going to try to build a social conscience in the school. :D

West End Amnesty Circle/ St John 's United Church
Vancouver, BC

Thanks to Florence Patterson for her tenacious committment to Amnesty and in encouraging all the letter writing!

Southminster United Church (at Bank and Aylmer Streets in Old Ottawa South)
Ottawa, Ontario Canada

100

We were happy with the turnout of 22 people for this first Write for Rights event at Southminster and the fact that we met our goal of 100 letters. Some aspects worked out very well (the local Bridgehead kindly donated fair trade tea and coffee, we kept our one child participant busy cutting out roses, delivering letters to our "mailbox", etc.), we blew up the photos in the greeting card campaign guide and had them posted around the walls of the room we used. And we have some ideas about how to make the event even better next year (more publicity, covering the costs of postage). Many thanks to AI head office staff for your help.

Neelin High School
Brandon, MB

Two grade ten classes competed to see who could write the most letters. Each student paid postage for his/her letter.

Sisters of St. Joseph
Peterborough, Ontario

We had letters and cards ready to sign. We invited people in the dining room to come after lunch and sign letters and cards.

123 - Beaches
Toronto

116

Jo Lechay
Hornby Island BC

420

Hornby Island is a community of about 900 people. About 35 of us wrote 420 letters and cards this year, an increase from last year's 385. Next year we hope to focus more on atrocities perpetrated by our own government and its closest neighbor.

Neighborhood Unitarian Action Circle A82
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

We joined with a group from our congregation in their monthly Music Night. It was also coincidently the anniversary of John Lennon's death so we sang a few of his songs calling for peace. The AI group set up an action table and provided snacks. We asked for donations to cover postage and even received stamps from one family. A few children wrote beautiful letters to a prisoner in Turkey. The event was simple but effective.

SQUAD of Heritage College
gatineau, qc

What started out as a small scale project between 15 friends progressively grew into a beautifully large tribute to human rights and freedoms. Students from all backgrounds and programs showed up to share some words of hope, protest and peace. As an organizer I was thrilled by the success of our write-a-thon. It was a wonderful opportunity to witness empowerment through the virtues of the pen. Thank you to all our participants and to Amnesty International for your guidance and devotion.

ST. Annes Catholic Secondary grade 12 Religion class.
Clinton, Ontario

700

This was a school awarness project that a group of grade 12 students embarked upon. The group went to many classes and got them to write letters themselves after hearing all of the facts that the group had prepaired. They set up a booth right in the main hall and many students wrote or signed letters to Russia, Jamacia, and Canada. This campaign worked very well.

Melissa Tate
White Head Island

Barrie Action Circle
Barrie, Ontario

112

We set up a booth in the foyer of the Barrie Public Library. Members of the Barrie Amnesty International Action Circle met there with members of the general public to discuss cases and to sign letters. The event was well-attended.

Arnprior District High School Youth Chapter
Arnnprior,Ontario

Our small group of seven visited seven classes (English, History, and Politics) in the high school, showed an Amnesty short video, had a student enact Omar Kadr's role with a speech as if given directly to the students, and letters were written and faxed to both Prime Minister Harper and the American Attorney GEneral.

Fort Richmond Collegiate Amnesty International Club
Winnipeg, MAnitoba

In our high school of approximately 1000 people, we had a booth set up for Write for Rights in the library (right in front of the entrance so that people saw it right when they walked in!). It displayed some currents issues and we tried to raise awareness of human rights violations in the world. Our letters were mainly petitions that we sent, and we had many signatures, over 100 at least. With each signature, we explained to that individual that the issue is real and that human rights violations are happening in the world today. Hopefully they will take that with them in their future. With the materials provided by you (Amnesty International), we gave out many phamphlets to students and teachers, so maybe they will be making a donation soon!

Grade 9 students ADJH
Halifax, NS

We had a letter writing luncheon. My students and I ate together while writing letters and discussing how these might help others.

Social Action Team
Kitchener, Ontario

It was a very successful high school event. Many students stopped during their lunch hour to write a letter. We had a draw for fair trade hot chocolate as well as an "unlearn" t-shirt.

Amnesty International UBC
Vancouver, BC

We set up a display in the middle of the Student Union Building, and had people dropping by to write letters all day long. Lots of attention attracted!

Catholic Central High Scholl Gr 12 English classes
Windsor

The students felt very empowered by this event and some of them have already received replies. We'll do it again next year. Thanks.

ReGenesis III
toronto, ontario

John McCrae S. S.
Ottawa, Ontario

681

We will now be signing a petition so that our member of parliament can take our concerns about Sudan to the Speaker of the House. Many students were deeply effected by the video we viewed. There was also a very nice article about our event printed in The Barrhaven Independent. Next year, we hope to be able to plan on including community members who wish to also involve themselves in the campaign. I love this event! Deb Grinnell

Groupnine
kitchener

192

We had people come out that had never been to an ai event before and had a total of 22 writers :-)

Montrose Jr High 9F
Grande Prairie, AB

Used in conjunction with Language Arts curriculum in French Immersion. We have been focussing on social justice and our role within humanity this year and Write for Rights fit in nicely!

Vanier Catholic Secondary School students
Whitehorse, Yukon

150

We started the day with a lawyer from Yukon Legal Aid speaking with three classes in the school library about human rights and the rights of the wrongly convicted. While listening to world music and eating popcorn, Vanier students wrote letters and discussed the Amnesty cases.

St. John's United Church
Chesley, Ontario, Canada

We wrote letters on two issues. The first was to request that the Canadian government act with the United Nations to stop the violence and human rights abuses taking place in Darfur and Chad. We feel that this is a humanitarian crisis that needs to be addressed with immediate action. Our second letter was also to Canadian goverment officials, asking for mandatory standards for Canadian transnational companies operating overseas. We are concerned that many transnationals do not respect the human rights of the people in the countries where they operate.

Jennifer Auten
Ottawa, ON

A small group of friends came over to my place to write letters together. It's become an annual tradition!

Muskoka 51
Huntsville, ON

The 96 letters are the sum of: 44 letters and greeting cards at the write-a-thon at the local shopping mall, 20 letters by one local high school class and 32 letters and greeting cards at our Dec. AI meeting.

74
Toronto

Scott Walker
Toronto, Ont

St. John's United Church
Vancouver, BC

Hi; Here I am reporting in on our Writeathon for St Johns United church in Vancouver. I believe it was a good consciousness raising effort and here are our statistics. We did this over three sessions at the church on the 5th of Dec., before and after the service(pictures taken) the second at our women's meeting on the 10 th when they really appreciated a chance to write a personal note to prisoners; and the third at a craft sale in the church where 3 petitions were signed by some folk from the community and a few added letters. We had a map displayed on Sunday with all the countries noted to whom we were writingas well as a second table for writing. For our first effort I think we did well --- 88 in all--our womens grou[p writes monthly,I am their writer.

Group 137
Niagara-on-the-lake

235

Group 137, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. had our annual Open House for Human Rights Day on 11 Dec. The numbers are 230 cards and letters plus 5 petitions.

Centre Wellington District High School
Fergus, ON

400

We, in total, wrote about 400 letters which were all dedicated to violence against indigenous women in Canada. Thanks you Amnesty for all you help for putting this event together. For us, it was a great success!

Judith Perron
Sherbrooke, QC

450

Because of the teachers strike on Dec. 8+9, we could not hold the Write-a-thon event as planned. However, several teachers asked their students to participate and we managed to write more than 450 letters.

Group 162
London, ON

Our group set up a display in the YMCA. There was a lot of traffic but only one person was willing to sit down and add his name to an already written letter on the computer. Group members supervising the display wrote 11 letters during the 5 hrs. I have not heard from other members as to the numbers they wrote so I will submit our total as 12. It is very difficult to get a passerby to actually write a letter and we also found it hard to write in the open, with all the distractions. Oh well, exposure is key and we did get some petition signatures.

Group 91
Regina, SK

120

The Regina AI Group 91 and University of Regina AI Club co- hosted our Write-a-thon event on Dec 10th. This was a public event "Human Rights Open House." The 'Sudan African Choir in Regina' sang (this was a wonderful performance, we watched a very powerful video presentation about the terrible consequences of landmines in Myanmar, made by a Regina woman,and also a very moving video called 'Red Star Woman' about Amber Redman who has been missing from Fort Qu'Appelle since July 2005. We had a candle lighting to remember murdered and missing aboriginal women in Saskatchewan and Canada. The attendence throughtout the open house was very good and over 120 letters were written!!!! Every time a letter was written one of the blank spaces in our candle was coloured in

Ghazihumanrights
Punjab,Khanewal.

AI Group 65
Toronto, Ontario

209

Members of Group 65, their families and friends signed a total of 209 letters prepared by members, got a total of 191 signatures on 12 petitions and sent 48 greeting cards. We started our campaign at our monthly meeting on December 5th and continued to collect signatures and write greeting cards throughout the month.

Kothai Kumanan
Osaka, Japan

151

The 3rd Annual writeathon was a great success! We had lots of people show up and become aware of the plight of others and also about Amnesty's activities to help these people. Democrats Abroad showed the documentary Outlawed, which many found thought provoking. We also showed the movie Hotel Rwanda. Looking forward to next year!!

Amnesty Action Circle A71
London, Ontario

Lisa
Toronto

Family
Louisbourg

We spent the weekend learning about the appeal cases. It was the first time my boyfriend and his teenaged son wrote letters on behalf of these unfortunate individuals. They worked very hard and wrote effective letters. My teenaged sons also emailed letters of support, as they've done previous years. We look forward to seeing the benefits of the time all the letter writers invested for this worthwhile cause.

ESCAPE (Esquimalt Students Caring About Peace and the Environment)
Victoria, BC

314

ESCAPE organized our high school's third annual Write for Rights event and it was a resounding success! We increased our letter count by more than 75 letters, despite a decrease in our school population of over a hundred students since last year. Students in more than 20 classes wrote letters, and other students gathered in the library to write letters at lunch. Students and staff were supportive and found the event interesting, enlightening, and empowering.

1st Gold River Guides
Gold River, BC

Four of our girl guides and two leaders participated in the action concerning the three missing sisters from Laos. We wrote six letters to the Prime Minister and sent six cards to the parents of these missing girls. They are being mailed very soon.

St. Dunstan's Anglican Church
Victoria, BC

We held our letter writing event during and after our church service. We sent 23 hand written letters and we had 35 postcards signed. It was a great success for our first write-a-thon!

Dawson college
montreal

We sent a total of about 60 cards and letters which 2nd year students signed during the pause of their clinical nursing exams on the 15th december. Next year we hope to do more, but this was for many a first introduction to the existance of Amnesty, and they were happy to take the time to read some of the cases and write cards even in the midst of a stressful exam.

High School Grade 8 class
Prince George, BC

I showed my class some of the video "Light in the Darkness." A video without a fundraising format for educational purposes would be very helpful. I then had them write a letter to one of the actions given on the web site. Not all wanted to send their letter but 25 students were educated in the work of Amnesty International. The following is an entry to the class Blog after the letter writing event. Amnesty I think that amnesty is an extremely good thing. Amnesty helps bring justice, equality and freedom to our world. It gives us people a chance to stand up and fight for human rights. Even though we may not even know any of the people being tortured, we can help them by simply writing a letter. We are all just people, shouldn’t we help each other out? All they are doing is expressing their opinion, is that so wrong? Whatever happened to freedom of speech speaking the truth? Every day we are allowed to say what’s on our minds, but for some people just simply doing that could cost them their life. I do not think it is right to be punished for doing nothing wrong. posted by *Serena* at 5:45 PM 0 comments

Hampton Amnesty Group
Hampton, N.B.

101

Members of the Hampton High School Student Amnesty Group set up a display in the school lobby and invited students to write urgent action letters. A total of 58 letters were written during noon hour on December 7th. On December 9th, the Hampton Amnesty Group invited members of the public to participate in the letter writing campaign at a local law office on Main St. in Hampton. Forty three letters were written during this event.

Southeastern Alberta Racial and community Harmony Society
Medicine Hat, Alberta

Participants were very quiet after watching the documentary "Uganda Rising". One letter was written in support of the young people walking to safety each night. Others were written to urge Canada to adopt the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Tara Fleming
Halifax NS

I wrote 2 letters and 1 card.

Manitoba Justice
Winnipeg, MB

We had a lunch-fuelled writing session that prompted people to send both letters and postcards. Two of our office members wrote 28 postcard messages between them!

St. Albert Catholic High School
St. Albert

270

St. Albert Catholic High School hosted a write a thon on Dec 19 and generated 270 letters. Students chose to focus on the issue of Child soldiers and sent letters to Sudan and Uganda. They also chose a prisoner of conscience, Ma Khin Khin Leh who has been in jail in Burma.

Paul Thompson

300

Students at Madawaska Valley High School in Barry's Bay, Ontario collected 300 signatures on behalf of Myo Min Zaw in Myanmar. The letter, made of bed sheets, was slowly raised up the cafeteria wall as students signed it during lunch hour.

School group
calgary

200

My three religion classes sent homemade non-religious cards to the Women of Zimbabwe arise and to the prisoners in Guantanamo bay! the students really enjoyed putting the cards together and learning about the individuals we were supporting

Group 2 and 57
calgary

158

We had 12 people at our event, watched the Cry for Justice video, ate goodies and wrote letters!

AI Edmonton 12/26
Edmonton, Alberta

257

Michael Kalmanovitch generously invited 122/6 to hold Write for Rights at his Earth's General Store. It was an enjoyable event for all.

Group 10, Amnesty I.
Orillia, ON

105

On Human Rights Day, and the following Sunday, 3 members of Group 10 provided letters, greeting cards and post cards to be signed after church and gave people the opportunity to sponsor us. We also signed cards at our Christmas pot luck gathering. We also hung our Amnesty flag on the city flag pole.

ESAI -Grade 7
Ste Anne, Manitoba

Students wrote greeting cards to political prisoners in China, Tunisia, Thailand and South America.

112
St. Catharines, ON, Canada

720

We gathered 720 signatures over three Sunday's consisting of letters, post cards, greeting cards, and two petitions. Our main day was December 10th where we held our annual Human Rights Day Candlelight Vigil in downtown St. Catharines, ON. The first part of the event took place on the steps of City Hall followed by a human rights fair at the Church hall across from City Hall. Speakers were from our own group and the topics covered were Cluster Bombs, Violence Against Women, Aboriginal Rights, and Renditions/Guantanamo Bay.

St. Patrick High School
Yellowknife, NWT

We set up a display table in the hallway at our high school. Students & teachers were invited to sign a letter on behalf of the imprisoned student leaders in Myanmar, as well as the appeal postcards for other actions. It was a good opportunity for students to see Amnesty posters & pamphlets.

Group 79
Gabriola Island, B.C.

964

964 signed cards and letters were collected from Gabriola and Nanaimo on Saturday, December 9 during our local write-a-thon for human rights! Dozens and dozens of enthusiastic and dedicated island letter writers took the time to stop and send a message of hope to individuals around the world who are in prison or under threat for standing up for human rights. A big thank you to Harvest Thyme Whole Foods on Gabriola, the PHC Resource Centre at the Commons and the Thirsty Camel Café in Nanaimo for providing the great spaces in which to display human rights information and to write all those letters and sign all those cards.

Serina Zapf
Victoria

Fantastic get together and drop in at the Black Stilt coffee shop! Thanks everyone for coming out!

Dixie Public School
Mississauga, ON

200

All of our students from Grades 1-5 participated in our first Write event. The students wrote messages of support and made paper flowers for "Women of Zimbabwe Arise", lending their support and sharing what they had learned about human rights. It was a very positive experience for everyone involved, and we are looking forward to next year!

Halifax Action Circle
Halifax, NS

287

We also made a large number of roses that we sent to WOZA. We're not sure of the exact number, but there was a box full of them!

Audrey Johnston
Chilliwack, BC

Had promised to write more, but when it came to one that was particularly difficult / stressful with lingering results decided that had to be the limit.

Dawson Community
Dawson City, Yukon

Harriet
Vancouver BC

11 letters and 8 greeting cards.

Group 142
Toronto, Ontario

We sent 78 letters on behalf of Ahmed Rodriguez Albacia, a Cuban journalist. We also signed a petition to the Canadian government concerning Canadian corporations operating overseas. We raised $1,050 in donations and sold $417 in Amnesty merchandise.

Sinclair Secondary School
Whitby

216

St. James-Assiniboia Library Staff
Winnipeg, Manitoba

The event was spread over a few days as staff work at various times. People became well informed about Amnesty's work and many letters as well as emails were sent out.

HASTA (Hopeful, Aware Students Taking Action)
Winnipeg

120

Seven student volunteers have presented, so far, to some 10 classes and letters are beginning to come in. So far we have received,proof-read and addressed envelopes for approx. 120 letters. The response from students and staff -- many of whom who have never had anything to do with human rights advocacy before -- has been enthusiastic and inspiring!

carolina
sevilla, spain

i wrote about 6 letters and sentd about 10 more by email

LaurenHill Academy
Montreal, Quebec

393

Students were engaged in vivid discussions and letter writing campaings in their English and social studies classes. It was a first time event at our school and its success was phenomenal. The students helped pay for postage by donating whatever they could. They raised $162 and the school helped cover the rest of the cost.It was a great success and we look forward to participating again in the future!

Irene Friesen
Winnipeg Manitoba

We gathered for a pot luck. Before we started writing, we had a sharing circle about what we most valued about our freedom.

Group 52, Vancouver Westside chapter
Vancouver, BC

182

Gatchell
Sudbury

100

This was the first Write for Rights event at our special needs school. The students had fun writing for human rights.

1
Hamilton

172

Dublin St. United Church
Guelph, Ontario

We were prepared for lots of people - even a free lunch - but for a number of reasons beyond our control our numbers were very small. We will continue to have letter packets available for folks to follow up in the days ahead to hopefully boost the number of letters sents. Thanks for this wonderful opportunity.

Ballenas Secondary School Civic Action
Parksville, British Columbia

142

We did presentations in classes at our school, and ended up getting 142 letters written. It was a fun project for us and the students, we ended up spreading awareness about poitical prisoners. It was successful.

Peterborough Collegiate
Peterborough, ON

120

Our student group "African Connections" did an excellent job of organizing our first school-wide Write-a-thon. They set up "action" tables in the main hall of the school during lunch hour for passing students and staff to write letters, and sign postcards and petitions. The student organizers also led some letter writing workshops with classes and student groups. They were also interviewed by journalists with the two local newspapers. It was very inspiring to see this effective leadership and level of participation on the part of the students of our school. Along with the letters that were sent, we mailed 345 postcards and 3 petitions with a total of approximately 200 signatures on them. Our students are committed to participating in the Write-a-thon next year!

Alexis Ratz
Vernon, BC

Well, this is the first time I've been involved in the writeathon. Next year I'd like to get a group together. And, since I'll be doing the urgent actions all year long, I'm gong to make a list of them to use as examples while soliciting sponsors. Not that I'm not happy with $115, but I'd like to hit $500 next year.

Jasmine Lysenko
Nelson, BC

I felt pleased to participate in this event. It really met my need for meaningful contribution to our global community.

Melanie Bechard
Fort Frances, Ontario

Julia Otto
Vancouver, B.C.

My grade six class spent Monday morning writing letters to China, Turkey, and the Canadian Minister of Indian Affairs. The students added colourful pictures to their pieces. For our first time, I think the write-a-thon went well. I can't wait for next year when I can expand it and advertise more.

JEAN MORRISON
Thunder Bay, Ontario

I combined the Write-a-Thon with an Open House to celebrate my 80th birthday. Thunder Bay's daily, the Chronicle-Journal, covered the event and did a front page story. CBQ-CBC Radio One also interviewed me. The public is now well informed about Amnesty and its work for human rights.

Amnesty International Group 161
Kelowna, BC

292

Group 18
Toronto

133

We wrote the letters and mailed them the same evening

Robyn and Sarena
Burnaby, BC

We wrote to the Canadian Government to ensure accountability for human rights and environmental abuses by Canadian companies overseas.

Arnet Hales
Port Hardy, BC

A letter was sent to the honourable James Prentice regarding the Lubicon Cree. The letter was submitted for public publication as an open letter. Publication date has not yet been decided by the North Island Gazette. Once it is published, an appendum will be added to seek interest in forming a North Island Amnesty group in Port Hardy, BC.

Jackie Rioux
Victoria, BC

This was my first time organizing and participating in a "write for rights" event, and it was a small but definite success. I held a candlelight writing party at my apartment and between the five people in attendance, we write eleven letters of support and appeal.

Susan Campbell
Gatineau, QC

Not sure if you want cards to prisoners here, too. I wrote to brothers and sisters in the Dominican Republic, Syria, and Algeria to say they are appreciated and remembered.

Susan Campbell
Gatineau, QC

I wrote to the Minister of Indian Affairs about the Lubicon. I received a pro-forma reply saying nothing and asked to be kept informed.

I' m alone
Iroquois Ontario

When I write for the write a thon I always light my amnesty candle & have it on the table beside me.For every 5 letters I write I put a candle in the window.It was great to have 6 candles in the window & even greater when friends asked me about the candles.I may end up getting a new member

Note: The "Letter-writing Report List" is a public posting appearing on Amnesty's website; Amnesty may edit entries that are too long or contain messages that are not suitable for the listing.