Stephen Hammond- inspirational and motivational speaker biography
   
 
Today is:  Fri, 03 - Sep, 2010: 
This day in 2002...
Mukhtar Mai uses compensation money after vicious attack to establish schools  Read More...

On June 22, 2002, a 13-year-old boy named Abdul Shakoor was abducted from his home in Pakistan due to allegations from members of the Mastoi tribe that he had had sex with one of their girls. As punishment, three of the men sodomized Shakoor. When his family came to his rescue, they agreed to settle the matter by having Shakoor marry the girl and by his sister Mukhtar Mai apologizing to the family of the girls. But that night, Abdul Khaliq and three other men raped Shakoor's sister Mai as a form of justice. A week later, her local Muslim imam, Abdul Razzaq, condemned the rape and urged the family to file charges, which they did on June 30. Not only did her story get headlines in Pakistan, but BBC and Time magazine covered it as well. Pakistan's chief justice called the rape heinous and in early July, the Pakistan government awarded Mai 500,000 rupees. On September 2, the four rapists and two council members of the tribe were convicted and sentenced to death by an anti-terrorist court. Satisfied with the judgment, on September 3, 2002, Mai decided to use her compensation money to establish schools for girls. In a matter of years, the Mukhtar Mai Women's Welfare Organization has created not only several schools, but also an ambulance service and a women's aid group. Mai has since spoken throughout the world and published extensively. She has received awards from her own government and from other organizations. In 2005, Glamour magazine named Mai "Woman of the Year." Although the Pakistan government was initially supportive of Mai's efforts, it has since harrassed her and her family due to discomfort over the international attention. Meanwhile, violence against women and "honour justice" continues in many parts of the country, and the legal appeals of her rapists continue.

Stephen Hammond- inspirational and motivational speaker biography

Stephen Hammond- inspirational and motivational speaker biography Click Icon to Download Full Bio
Motivational Speaker

Biography of Stephen Hammond - Keynote Speaker Human Rights, Diversity Awareness Motivational, Author, Educator

Stephen Hammond is an author, speaker, trainer and consultant in workplace human rights. He teaches managers, supervisors and staff how to prevent human rights disasters at work and how to deal with human rights problems when they arise. Stephen works with clients in the public and private sectors across Canada, to promote welcoming workplaces.

Since 1992, Stephen has trained thousands of employees, including staff, managers, and union stewards about Harassment, human rights, diversity, equity, and employee relations issues. He is passionate about politics, current affairs and human rights and loves to golf and ski.

Stephen learned about the importance of equality from his mother, a former Member of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly and Cabinet Minister. His mother’s quest for women’s equality allowed him to see the importance of equal access for everyone. Stephen has been involved in politics since age 9 and became the youngest Executive Director of a political party of Manitoba in his mid-twenties. In the same decade, Stephen learned how simple freedoms of expression and political belief are taken for granted when he was arrested at a Solidarity rally in communist Poland for taking pictures of the police. Since that experience, he may disagree with what someone is saying, but unless it incites others to act in a hateful and hurtful manner, he feels compelled to protect a person's right to say it.

As a non-practising Lawyer and member of the Law Society of British Columbia, Stephen keeps up with all the relevant laws and cases in his field. He prides himself on applying these relatively new legal principles in understandable terms. He is a popular interviewee with television media.

Stephen has years of experience working as a Manager of Employee Relations with the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and the Hudson’s Bay Company in Winnipeg and Toronto. He has been responsible for all aspects of employee relations and labour relations, with unionized and non-unionized workforces. Stephen has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. He was called to the Bar in British Columbia in 1988.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Stephen has called British Columbia home since 1990. His volunteer time has included Big Brothers, the Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Clean Air Coalition, Amnesty International, the West End Residents Association and the Tenants Rights Action Coalition. In his spare time, Stephen is on the steep and deep slopes of winter, while in the summer (in his words) he makes futile attempts to get a decent handicap on British Columbia's beautiful golf courses.


If you are going to introduce Stephen Hammond, you may want to use one of these paragraphs. Or you may mix and match. However, Stephen suggests keeping your introduction short…unless you want your attendees to fall asleep…before he speaks.

Stephen Hammond is an author, speaker, trainer and consultant in the field of workplace human rights. Since 1992 Stephen has rescued organizations from human rights disasters and enhanced businesses by encouraging them to change with the times. While Stephen is a lawyer by trade and still a member of the Law Society of B.C., he no longer practices law. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and in 2008 Stephen was one of 5 Canadians to receive the designation of CSP (Certified Speaking Professional), the International Speaking Federation’s “most prestigious earned designation for platform excellence”. Stephen's goal is to support welcoming workplaces.

At a relatively young age, Stephen Hammond’s life experiences shaped his views and passions regarding human rights. Between obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, Stephen was the executive director of one of Manitoba's political parties and was thrown into jail in communist Poland, accused of being a spy for the West. Stephen was called to the Bar in British Columbia in 1988 and proceeded to work in the field of labour and employee relations both in the private and public sectors. Stephen's goal is to support welcoming workplaces.

Stephen Hammond an inspirational speaker provides employees human rights training and anti-harassment education.