(Vancouver, BC) "The First Nation's Residential School experience in Canada meets the international standards of crimes against humanity and the UN Genocide Convention. Parallels can, therefore, be drawn to themes emerging from lessons from the Asia Pacific War" said Madeleine MacIvor, Associate Director, UBC First Nations House of Learning, one of the sponsors of the Canadian Conference on Preventing Crimes against Humanity: Lessons from the Asia-Pacific War (1931-1945) that will be held on March 21-22, at the Longhouse, UBC.

The conference is examining the lessons of the war in the Asia-Pacific the first day and then seeks to apply those lessons to the present on the second.

Distinguished author Dr. Roland David Chisjohn will address the issue of "Healing and redress for victims of residential schools in Canada" at a plenary session on Saturday. Dr. Chrisjohn will discuss the struggle of the First Nations people for overcoming the impact and trauma of their Residential School Experience. Chrisjohn is a member of the Oneida Nation of the Confederacy of Haudenausaunee (Iroquois), Director of the Native Studies program at St.Thomas University in Fredericton and author of "The Circle Game: Shadows and Substance in the Indian Residential School Experience in Canada "(1997).

As well, two workshops on Saturday will focus on related issues:

Crimes against Humanity - The Residential School Experience: In this workshop a short, award winning film "A Century of Genocide in the Americas: the Residential School Experience" will be screened. Following the film, Gerry Oleman, Stl'atl'imx nation and Shane Pointe, Musqueam nation will speak of their work with the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.

Cultural Genocide and Self Determination - The Aboriginal Experience: The main speaker of this workshop is Dr. Richard Vedan, of the Neskonlith Band, Secwepemc Nation, who is also an Associate Professor in UBC's School of Social Work and Director of First Nations House of Learning. Dr. Vedan will present an historical overview of the colonization of Aboriginal people - a process of cultural genocide. It will be followed by interactive discussion for exploring possible directions towards self-determination of the Aboriginal people.

The two-day conference commemorates the 40th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and will include plenary and workshop sessions on Japan's military sexual slavery ("comfort women"), biological warfare, terror of A-bombs, POWs & Canadian Hong Kong veterans, violence against women in war and in peace, peace and justice in the Middle East, racial profiling, a peace workshop and a special workshop for teachers.

Registration for the conference can be done on-line via the conference web-site: www.aplconference.ca. In order to make the conference widely accessible, organizers have set a low registration fee and out-of-town students can apply for travel subsidies.

This conference is jointly sponsored by Canada Association for Learning and Preserving the History of WWII in Asia (ALPHA); Canada Asia Pacific Resource Network (CAPRN); Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens' Association (JCCA) Human Rights Committee; UBC First Nations House of Learning; UBC Women's Studies and Gender Relations; UBC International House.