Kalmen Kaplansky Scholarship

This scholarship was established in 1998 by the Douglas Coldwell Layton Foundation in honour of the lifetime achievement of Dr. Kalmen Kaplansky, labour and human rights advocate, in the field of economic and social rights. Awarded annually to a graduate student researching economic and social rights in a School or Department in the Faculty of Public Affairs and Management at Carleton University, the scholarship is valued at $1,000. A detailed letter of application for the award should be made by February 1 to the Dean of Public Affairs and Management, who will select the recipient on the advice of a three-person faculty advisory committee.

Eligibility: Faculty of Public Affairs and Management

Criteria: Research must involve economic and social rights. Applications submitted to the Dean of PAM.

Selection: Dean, Faculty of Public Affairs and Management

Contact: Academic Unit

Remembering Kalmen Kaplansky, human rights advocate

Kalmen Kaplansky, who died on International Human Rights Day (Dec 10, 1997), was a tireless and effective fighter for the protection of human rights since the early 1940s.

Awarded the Order of Canada for his work, he is credited with laying the groundwork for the Ontario Fair Employment Practices Act in 1951 - used as a model for virtually all provincial and federal codes that followed - the Ontario Fair Accommodations Act in 1954 and, ultimately, the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Until his passing, he served as President of the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation, which promotes education and research into social democracy.

"Kaplansky's life and work is a reminder to us all that social advance is born in agitation; that agitators are often the fathers and mothers of the things Canadians most cherish - our rights and freedoms. Kalman Kaplansky made an incredible difference during his lifetime,'' said CLC President Bob White.

Howard Hampton got to know Kaplansky during his days at the University of Ottawa and then at the Canadian Labour Congress. "He was an absolute defender of the labour movement and human rights, especially international human rights," recalls Hampton.