Alberta students compete in Model United Nations Club event

Students from three Alberta universities debate issues facing society as part of a model UN conference.

Mount Royal University (MRU) is playing host this weekend to a Model United Nations Club event where students from a trio of Alberta universities put themselves in the shoes of cultures and countries from around the world.

The yearly event features 60 people from MacEwan University, the University of Alberta and MRU who are staging debates, making speeches and writing position papers on the fly, according to MRU’s Model UN Club President Ryan Montgomery.

This weekend’s topics are women’s rights in the global south and the eradication of malaria.

In debates, students take turns representing the perspective of countries from all over the world, including places like Saudi Arabia, where the concept of women’s rights is quite a bit different than it is in Canada.

“It’s very international in scope,” Montgomery said. “Everyone represents a different country.”

The 2025 topics were chosen from the economic and social council of the UN rather than the security council, where topics such as Gaza and Ukraine could provoke heated debate.

“We specifically tried to work around that,” he said.

“It’s less fractious than the real U.N.,” Montgomery said. “There aren’t the stakes – at the real U.N., the most common vote is to abstain,” whereas at a Model U.N. event, “you’re here for a weekend, so you might as well say something.”

The three schools are competing against each other prior to heading for New York in April to participate in an international version of the same thing.

When it’s suggested that maybe a few students could go down to Washington to showcase how to express different points of view and still get along, Montgomery says, “maybe I’ll walk over to Trump Tower and show them how it’s done.”

The event continues Saturday until 4 p.m. and then again Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Mount Royal University, 4825 Mt. Royal Gate SW at the East Arts Building, in room EA1031.

The public is welcome to attend.