Amnesty International’s Hamilton/Burlington Group meets on-line via Zoom at 7:30 pm, usually on the 4th Monday of the month. Our meetings are open to all, but all attendees are asked to review our community guidelines before attending. Please feel free to reach out using our contact form if you would like to be added to our contact list!
2025-2026 EVENTS
regular meetings
October 27th, 2025 at 7:30 pm – Presentation – Calling for the Repeal of Fast Track Development Bills Passed by BC, Ontario, and the Canadian Government (online). We will discuss the threats that the “fast-track” bills pose to Indigenous rights and the environment.
November 24, 2025 at 7:30 pm – Presentation – Human Rights in Mexico (online). We will learn about the human rights situation in Mexico, with a Focus on Disappearances and the threats to women searching for their loved ones.
Jan. 26, 2026 at 7:30 pm – Update on Project Harvest and Human Rights in Guatemala (online). This meeting will feature a presentation on Guatemala, an update on the humanitarian work being done by Project Harvest, and letter writing on Guatemala.
February 23rd at 7:30 pm – Monthly Meeting – Alex Neve and Massey Lectures (online). Amnesty Canada’s former Secretary General (Alex Neve) is giving this year’s Massey Lectures on the theme of Universality of Human Rights. We will listen to one of the lectures at our meeting.
March 23, 2026 at 7:30 pm – Monthly Meeting: Taking Action on Climate Change (online). Climate change is a human rights issue! We will invite a speaker to give us an update on the current and projected future impacts of climate change, and to share ideas about what we can do.
April 27, 2026 at 7:30 pm – Presentation – The Housing Crisis and Housing Rights in Canada (online). Within the last 10 years a housing crisis has developed, with the costs of housing skyrocketing to unaffordable levels and a spike in the number of people who are homeless. We will explore the causes and learn about opportunities for action.
May 11, 2026 at 7:30 pm – Monthly Meeting: Planning our Fundraising Picnic (online). In addition to fundraiser planning, we’ll have an update on the campaign to free Prisoner of Conscience Huseyin Celil from a Chinese prison.
Special events
December 10 2025, 7:30 pm- Write for Rights (online) – Greeting Cards to Prisoners of Conscience. December 10th is celebrated globally as Human Rights Day, and Amnesty’s biggest annual letter-writing campaign (“Write for Rights”) happens in communities around the world on and around December 10th. At our December meeting we’ll write letters and send greeting cards to Prisoners of Conscience from the Write for Rights campaign. Our chapter runs a low-key online meetup that contributes to the high impacts and outcomes of this campaign. For W4R newbies: Amnesty chooses around a dozen cases each year that could really benefit from a massive global spotlight. Even where a prisoner of conscience is not freed, there have been cases upon a later release where they have spoken to suddenly getting medications they were needing around this time. It lets people know the world indeed cares and is watching. If you are interested, get in touch and we will send you an invite leading up to the date. 🙂
June 13 (Saturday), 2026 at 5:00 pm – Annual Fundraising Picnic (in-person). Our annual fundraising dinner is held at the home of one of our members, and features great food and drink and good company! For details, please contact Wilf at deerspring1[at]gmail[dot]com.
PAST MEETINGS AND EVENTS
October 28 2024 at 7:30 pm – Presentation – Introducing Amnesty’s Urgent Action Network. An important component of our members’ work is writing in response to Urgent Actions posted by Amnesty Canada. This presentation included a review of the Amnesty Canada website, and letter writing on one of the featured cases!
November 25 2024, at 7:30 pm – Update on the Case of Huseyin Celil, Prisoner of Conscience. This was an update on the campaign to free Prisoner of Conscience Huseyin Celil from a Chinese prison, and Amnesty’s efforts to support his family (who live in Burlington).
December 9, 2024, at 7:30 pm – Write for Rights online event: We connected online with holiday beverages in hand and wrote letters for the Amnesty Write for Rights cases. We also sent greeting cards to Huseyin Celil, a local community member who is held in a Chinese prison.
December 14 2024, at 2 pm – Write for Rights in-person drop-in event: Folks (adults and children alike) joined us to spend time and to write letters/draw pictures for cases they connected to at the Central Branch of the Hamilton Public Library. Huge thanks to the HPL for hosting us!
Jan. 27, 2025 at 7:30 pm – Monthly Meeting: Harm Reduction and Site Closures. We learned about what is happening locally regarding harm reduction initiatives in Hamilton, including the proposed closure of consumption and treatment services sites in the province. Letters of advocacy were also reviewed and sent during and after this meeting.
February 24, 2025 at 7:30 pm – Update on Project Harvest and Human Rights in Guatemala. This meeting featured a presentation on Guatemala, an update on the humanitarian work being done by Project Harvest, and letter writing on Guatemala.
March 24, 2025 at 7:30 pm – Monthly Meeting: International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day was on March 8th. We focused on women’s rights in Afghanistan and Iran, and wrote related letters.
April 28, 2025 at 7:30 pm – Presentation – Human Rights Issues Related to Cobalt Mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We learned about the impacts of increasing technological resource demands and the ties to forced, unsafe, and child labour in cobalt mines.
May 12, 2025 at 7:30 pm – Monthly Meeting: Planning our Fundraising Picnic. We planned our annual fundraiser and provided an update on the campaign to free Prisoner of Conscience Huseyin Celil from a Chinese prison.
June 14 (Saturday), 2025 at 5:00 pm – Annual Fundraising Picnic. Our annual fundraising dinner was a great success! Monies raised and we enjoyed great food, drink, and company!
Amnesty International - Hamilton/Burlington ON Chapter 