Model citizens

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From Feb. 26-28, approximately 150 McMaster students gathered at the David Braley Health Sciences Centre to discuss and find solutions to global issues.

Acting as delegates representing nations around the world, the weekend was the first large-scale effort in hosting a Model United Nations at McMaster University. Model UNs serve as both a conference and simulation to allow students to immerse themselves in numerous complex issues that they can debate and learn about from other students.

Saad Ejaz was one of these students and a delegate for the United States at the Economic and Social Council, one of three groups that discussed recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues.

“ I learned a lot from this conference ... all the delegates that came were well-informed about their topics,” he said.

“I had to defend different topics that I didn’t necessarily agree with, topics that certain countries had strong stances on.”

Each student delegate was assigned a country whose stances they had to defend. In preparation for the conference, they had to research its policies and produce a paper on the subject.

Teddy Saull and Ramya Kancherla, the Secretary General and Director General at the conference, respectively, echoed the value of defending an unfamiliar country’s position; in many ways, this was the cornerstone in hosting a model UN.

“The reason why it is important ... is because it provides the opportunity for student dialogue through a mechanism they haven’t [used] before,” said Kancherla.

“When you’re given a country to represent that isn’t necessarily aligned with your own views, it truly allows you to empathize and get a better understanding of views that may not be similar to your own,” she said.

The conference was the latest milestone in the Perspectives on Peace initiative that McMaster President and Vice-Chancellor Patrick Deane has worked on with Saull since late 2014.

Originally started as a project under Forward With Integrity, Perspectives on Peace has grown to involve various events and speakers on understanding different cultures and issues in the world. Previous Perspectives on Peace events have recently included speakers like Marc Kielburger, a co-founder of Free The Children, and Samantha Nutt, the director of War Child Canada.

As Saull explained regarding the focus on a model UN, “it fits well with the idea of coming to know other people’s perspectives. This campaign is all about trying to complicate people’s world views and trying to come to understand the world as something that everyone sees in a different way.”

Kancherla expressed her excitement for the students at McMaster’s first model UN, having been a veteran of seven previous model UNs herself throughout high school and university.

“Those experiences through those opportunities really allowed me to get a better perspective of world issues and how that is so important in an ever-globalizing world,” she said.

Despite her experience, she said that the enthusiasm and diversity of the students surprised her, even after all these years.

“A lot of these events, it’s mainly political science students, individuals who are really passionate about these issues based on their undergraduate program. However, we had such a diverse planning team of people in Health Sciences, Arts & Sciences, Life Sciences, Communications ... it brought together a diversity of individuals.”

Photo Credit: Monish Ahluwahlia

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