HISTORY OF
MUNA IN WINNIPEG
Rotary International stimulated and participated in the events leading to the establishment of the United Nations Organization. It was present at the signing of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco in 1945. The Rotary Club of Winnipeg, formed in 1910, was the first club outside the United States, thus making Rotary international. It was fitting, therefore, that the Club should organize a Rotary Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) as an initial venture in promoting international understanding among youth. The video below gives a succinct version of that history.
The Model United Nations Assembly is purported to be a learning simulation of the United Nations General Assembly in its structure and proceedings. Therefore, debates in MUNA, the committee structure, rules of procedure, and the general decorum of delegates, were designed to approximate the UN General Assembly, conditioned, of course, by local limitations.
With the assistance of the then Winnipeg Branch of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs and Winnipeg Branch of the United Nations Association, the Rotary Club of Winnipeg held the first MUNA on April 26 and 27, 1957. The success of the first Assembly prompted the Club to hold one every year since, with only three lapses; in 1966 due to the Red River Flood conditions, in 1986 due to a Measles epidemic, and in 1997 upstaged by the Flood of the Century.
MUNA celebrated its
50th anniversary in conjunction with the May 2007 Assembly. A gala dinner
and dance marked the occasion. The Rotary Club of Winnipeg congratulates
all MUNA participants over the last fifty years and we look forward to
the next half century!