Alumni Profiles: Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies
From peacebuilding to conservation: A CMU alum’s journey of justice, community, and care for creation
Aaron Janzen knows being an environmentalist is as much about working with people as it is with the land.
The self-described "social scientist type-person," graduated from CMU in 2008, majoring in Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies (PACTS).
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Stitching together community and sustainability
Anna-Marie Janzen's earliest childhood memory is sewing.
She recalls sitting on the kitchen floor with her grandmother, playing with giant, oversized plastic needles and shaped cards as her grandma taught her the fundamentals of stitching and threading.
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From courtroom dreams to restorative justice: A journey in conflict transformation
Odelia Duffus wanted to become a lawyer after she graduated high school in Jamaica. Many years later, she's liaising with the court—but not in the role she expected.
Duffus is a mediator and caseworker with Mediation Services, a Winnipeg-based organization offering conflict resolution and training to workplaces, families, and communities. She wants to make a safer and more just future for all people involved in conflict, by navigating it in ways alternative to conventional punishment. Through mediation, she acts as a neutral third party that hears each side's perspective. She helps create an agreement that benefits everyone and develop an appropriate solution.
Continue Reading![Odelia Duffus (Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies, '22): "The best and most effective way to [solve] conflict is restorative justice and I'll preach that forever. I did not believe in it when I started at CMU, but now I do..."](https://www.cmu.ca/phpthumb/phpThumb.php?src=/uploaded/Odelia_Duffus_sq_2454.png&w=1500&h=1000&aoe=0&q=100&f=.jpg "Odelia Duffus (Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies, '22): \"The best and most effective way to [solve] conflict is restorative justice and I'll preach that forever. I did not believe in it when I started at CMU, but now I do...\"")
CMU alumna transforms dream for justice through peace program
CMU alumna Odelia Duffus wanted to be a lawyer after she graduated high school. Six years later, she's liaising with the court—but not in the role she expected.
Duffus is a mediator and caseworker with Mediation Services, a Winnipeg-based organization offering conflict resolution and training to workplaces, families, and communities. She wants to make a safer and more just future for all people involved in conflict, by navigating it in ways alternative to conventional punishment. Through mediation, she acts as a neutral third party that hears each side's perspective and helps create an agreement that benefits everyone and an appropriate solution.
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Alumni Profile: Shota Yoda (CMU '11)
Japan-native Shota Yoda came to CMU in early 2008 with a desire to study peacebuilding from a biblical perspective; after graduating from CMU in 2011, he begins graduate studies with an ignited passion and a clear sense of direction and purpose.
"My studies at CMU enabled me to look at pursuing peace and justice as compatible with God’s vision of the gospel of his kingdom," says Yoda, who graduated in April with a four-year Bachelor’s degree, majoring in Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies (PACTS), after first becoming interested through a peace and conflict-related course that he took at Langara College, Vancouver.
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