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On December 15, Amnesty International sent an open letter to the Ontario provincial government and Ontario’s donor transplant agency calling for the province to ensure non-discriminatory access to healthcare, including organ transplants, for all Ontario residents. This is the first time that Amnesty International has commented on access to organ transplant services in Canada, and we wanted to publicly respond to some of the questions we have received to help advance discussion on this issue.

By Sareema Husain

#WriteForRights, Amnesty International’s biggest local event of the year, took over the Centre for Social Innovation Annex on December 10.

Every year, people from more than 180 countries take part in the day-long marathon to write, tweet, email and sign petitions urging governments around the world to release prisoners of conscience and protect human rights defenders. Mary Macrae has been attending the event for years. “There’s always this question if it really works,” says Macrae. “It does.”

“The fundamental issue is First Nations in the region have entrenched constitutional rights. Not just the requirement for consultation and accommodation, which we always hear about when we’re talking about resource projects. But they have entrenched constitutional rights to practice hunting and fishing as before, And that’s going to be violated by this dam.” - John Horgan, May 8, 2014

In announcing his government's decision to allow continued construction of a mega-project he once opposed, BC Premier John Horgan said that construction was already past "the point of no return." That's blatently false. Here's why:

"I can’t believe there are this many people, from so many countries, standing with me and my family." - Veronica Razo’s mother, Austreberta Casales

Late last month, at the end of a day of meetings in Mexico City, along with other Amnesty International leaders from across the Americas, I joined activists for a demonstration drawing attention to the case of Veronica Razo, who has been imprisoned for over six years now, on the basis of information obtained through torture and rape. We came to present the Attorney General’s office with the signatures of over 135,000 people from all over the world, demanding that she be freed.

With us were her son and her mother, both of whom were clearly moved by the signs of support from so many people the worldover. Veronica’s mother Austreberta told me that she could not believe there were this many people standing with her and her family; and that she felt tremendously strengthened by that support.