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Dr. JAMES ORBINSKI
Dr. James Orbinski is the co-founder of Dignitas International.
"We have a duty and responsibility as human beings to try and make our world more tolerable and to relieve the suffering of others."
As Research Scientist at Toronto’s St. Michael’s
Hospital and Assistant Professor of both Political
Science and Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, James has the distinction of accepting the Nobel Prize in 1999 for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF/Doctors Without Borders) as its International President, 1998-2001.
In 1997 he received the Meritorious Service
Cross, Canada’s highest civilian citation, for his
service in Rwanda during the 1994 Civil War
and genocide. Dr. Orbinski served with MSF
in Somalia, Zaire, Afghanistan and Peru.
Read more about co-founder and Executive Director James Fraser.
How you can help
Work with us to implement the intervention programs vital to the treatment, care and support of communities in need.
Take action to educate and engage citizens for a greater international response to HIV/AIDS and related illnesses.
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News & Events
An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the 21st Century & Triage: Dr. James Orbinski’s Humanitarian Dilemma
Dr. James Orbinski has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada "[f]or his contributions as a physician who has worked to improve healthcare access and delivery in developing countries, and as an advocate for those who have been silenced by war, genocide and mass starvation". For a complete list of appointments, please click here. James was also appointed to the Order of Ontario.
Triage: Dr. James Orbinski's Humanitarian Dilemma is a documentary by White Pine Pictures and the National Film Board of Canada that chronicles James as he writes his memoir An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the 21st Century. Triage is the winner of The Gold Medal Audience Award at the Vancouver Amnesty Film Festival 2008 and the winner of The Deborah Fletcher Award of Excellence in Filmmaking on International Development for 2008. Triage was also nominated for the Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary Program at the 24th annual Gemini Awards.
Dr. James Orbinski was awarded the 2008 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for An Imperfect Offering. Established in honour of the late MP, the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize is administered by The Writers' Trust of Canada. The award is presented for a non-fiction book that captures a subject of political interest to the Canadian reader and enhances our understanding of the issue. The citation reads: "James Orbinski takes us to a different world - where human beings attacked, mutilated, raped, tortured, dismembered, and murdered their fellow citizens. Dr. Orbinski was there, saw it, lived it. He returns from the heart of darkness as witness to horror absolute. With an artist's evocative sensibility, he takes us with him on his voyage through hell. Though he exposes the depths of human depravity, always, in counterpoint, he shines the vision of the idealist, the compassion of the humanitarian. He puts a human face on a poignant public policy dilemma: whether swords can be turned into ploughshares rather than ploughshares into swords." James was previously nominated for a 2008 Governor General's Literary Award (English-Language Finalist, Non-Fiction). An Imperfect Offering is now available to purchase in paperback.
Dignitas was pleased to co-present Triage at the 2008 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto. Triage was named one of the 2008 Hot Docs top 10, as determined by audience ballot!
Above: Director Patrick Reed, James Orbinski and Producer Peter Raymont at the film's Canadian premiere at Hot Docs (photo: Shawn Saulnier).
You can watch a clip from Triage below (courtesy of the National Film Board through YouTube) or watch the trailer. Plus, watch this clip of James with the filmmakers at Sundance in January 2008: |
Info & Links:
Read an article about James and Triage in the Globe & Mail.
Watch James interviewed on MyFox L.A. (October 2008). Plus, watch a second interview featuring a discussion about Dignitas.
Watch James interviewed on CBC's The Hour (May 2008).
Read an interview with James in the Globe & Mail (April 28, 2008).
Read a profile of James from the April 2008 issue of Toronto Life, and an article about James and his work in the University of Toronto Magazine, Spring 2008.
Watch Triage director Patrick Reed discuss the film on CBC News: Today (QuickTime) (January 17, 2008). You can also watch the clip in Real Media.
Read an interview with James in USA Today (January 25, 2008).
For more information about AN IMPERFECT OFFERING: HUMANITARIAN ACTION IN THE 21ST CENTURY, please visit the links below:
For more information about TRIAGE: DR. JAMES ORBINSKI'S HUMANITARIAN DILEMMA, please visit the links below:
Photo: Steve Simon
Contact Dignitas:
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about our work, we can be reached at:
info@dignitasinternational.org
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