There are more than 18 million street children in India. In order to assist them, a group of students at McGill University helped set up the Ashraya Initiative for Children (AIC) project, which offers life choices for these young adults endowed with a sharp social consciousness. The AIC centre, which opened in 2005 in the town of Pune, is much more than just a shelter; it is a family environment that meets the physical, emotional and social needs of all the children it takes in. Up to date, the team has “adopted” 11 children between the ages of 6 and 14. The eight project “managers,” who come from various universities across Canada, the United States, Austria and Japan, take turns living at the centre while its permanent employees ensure continuity and respect for the Indian culture. In addition to attending school and taking part in everyday family life, the students pursue their fields of interest and develop their individual talents, and can thus achieve a sense of fulfillment and a desire to serve their community.
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Before a television audience of over 250 million, the Razanakolona brothers achieved a double objective: an Olympic dream and funding for a development program in Madagascar. Indeed, as the young Canadian-Malagasy skier Mathieu Razanakolona completed the Giant Slalom course at the Turin Winter Olympics, his brother Philippe was waiting for him at the bottom of the slopes to celebrate another major victory: the use of the best media coverage in the world to promote the development of their country. One of the goals of the aid program supported by the two brothers is to favour access to drinking water and medical care in a country where 51 % of inhabitants live below the poverty level. On 1 April 2006, they had already raised over $88,000 thanks to the sale of promotional products as well as donations from numerous Québec companies. Today, it is estimated that they have reached out to nearly 3 billion people and have every intention of attaining there final objective of $300,000 by 2007. A remarkable achievement for these two students yet, first and foremost, for the people of Madagascar!
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To help obtain the release of individuals who have been wrongfully convicted for serious crimes was the dream of hope cherished by a group of students at McGill University’s Faculty of Law when they established the Innocence McGill project. The non-profit legal organization is dedicated to researching and investigating claims of wrongful conviction in Québec. The students, driven by a profound will to fight injustice, search for new evidence in order to prove the innocence of convicted inmates. The task is colossal as each and every document relating to the trial, as well as the police investigation, must be reviewed. Once they have built their case, an application for review is submitted to the Minister of Justice of Canada in accordance with Section 696.1 of the Criminal Code. This year, in order to ensure that the organization continues to expand and the fifteen or so cases currently under review are well monitored, Innocence McGill has recruited 11 new members, bringing the total number of participating students to 27. Under the supervision of prominent criminal lawyers, the project, which is unique in Québec, represents an ultimate hope for those who endure the unacceptable.
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