Pink Shirt Day is a youth activist movement that was started by two high schoolers in Nova Scotia to promote anti-bullying in schools. In 2007, a young boy wore a pink polo t-shirt on his first day to high school, and was harassed, teased and threatened by older students who called him a homosexual and other insulting remarks. The then 12th grade students, David Shepherd and Travis Price, got word of this incident and went out to their local discount store and bought 50 pink shirts, including tank tops, to wear to school the next day. And the support and activism did not stop there. David and Travis went online and got help from all their buddies and online friends to raise awareness of this issue and to get everyone they knew to wear pink clothing to school the next day.
AND IT WORKED… throughout high schools in Nova Scotia the next day, the “Sea of Pink” overwhelmed Canadian high schools and made local news headlines. This courageous movement was so popular by these two teenagers that they were given merit and awards from the PM of Nova Scotia and have been interviewed on several Canadian and American talk-shows. American talk-show host, Ellen DeGeneres, showed great interest in this subject and soon after, American high schools were having their very own “Pink Day.”
This stand against bullying has had a great affect in schools, workplace and home. It demonstrated that victims were no longer going to take the abuse they had endured, and that bullies would be told off and not tolerated. Combating against bullyism with a larger crowd is much easier then by yourself. Since the start of the “Sea of Pink” there have been far less cases of bullying in schools, and we have David & Travis to thank!
So, on Wednesday, February 25th - WEAR PINK!!!
For more information on the subject, please check out the main webpage for Pink Shirt Day.
Have you ever wanted something so bad that you’d say to yourself “I’ll do anything and everything to get it!” You demonstrate your competitiveness and your passion by striving to obtain or retain things that you care about so deeply. For some it may be material objects, for others perhaps it is a sentimental moment, a place in time or even love. But what about one’s culture, hertiage, upbrining, even language?
Native Americans, the longest-residing members of our country have fought to keep their heritage and culture for centuries. Their traditions, their tribes and their languages are sacred to their community, their history and our nation. It is unforunate however that their is not enough public education about the history and culture of Native Americans in Canada. The amazing story-telling abilities and historical backgrounds of these indigenous tribes is truely remarkable.
Saying so, it is important for Canadians to realize the struggles and courageous battles that many of these tribes go through to perserve their language and their culture, espcially as our digital era moves forward and change is inevitable. They value it so greatly, that it may make the rest of western civilization feel greedy for
our “less-responsible” needs and wants. Native Americans ask nothing more than to keep and strongly uphold their traditions, values and morals. They are passionate and respectful of everyone & everything. They value what has been given to them and never hold revenge on those that have taken from them. Native American tribes in Canada are one of the most inspiring groups of people that live in this country, and we are graced with their presence and history. It should be considered an honor and duty of every Canadian to uphold, support and strengthen the history, culture and language of the tribes that live among us in distant, and not-so-distant, areas of Canada.
For more information, please check out the CITIZENShift dossier on Languague Lost for a host of fascinating media on the topic of language, culture & heritage of Canadian-Indian tribes.
A few weeks ago I wrote about a small production I was part of in which we were depicting how life would be if the infamous Bill C-61 had passed in 2008.
Last week, my team and I ventured off to Kingston and Ottawa to have interviews with Prof Laura Murray (Queen’s University) & Prof Michael Geist (University of Ottawa). The trip wasn’t too bad, it was a long and productive day and we’d like to quickly show you a brief sample of the material we shot that day. Click on the screen grab to get to the video.
We’ve just got our production plan off the ground, but still have a long way to go. Once we have some more filler footage and B-roll shots we will start with post-production work.
We have several other interviews coming up. Next week we are having a very fun studio interview with Montreal-born singer Lindsay Robins, who’s made in big on MTV and is soon to be touring central parts of Canada for concerts. And later next week we’ll be sitting down with long-time professor Kirwan Cox, who is a popular & famous man at the NFB.
Stay tuned for further updates, we hope to make this as enjoyable to watch as possible, as well as informative, educational and inspiring!
By the way, check out the CITIZENShift dossier on Autonomous Media for a host of interesting and cool media on the topic of copyright/left/creative commons.
CITIZENShift currently has a dossier in development called Southern Sudan: A Tenuous Peace. Here, David Widgington, on a self-motivated journey, is piecing together media that he hopes will shed light on the strenuous circumstances that exist as a result of human displacement, post civil war, in this country.
Take a glance at this Walrus article where letters from loved ones are reproduced, as are tracing requests for family gone missing:
Our Nation was extatic about the result on Nov 4th, 2008. Our Nation was up in arms and celebrating right up until his inauguration. Our Nation loves US President Barack Obama. Too bad for all those millions of Obama-lovers expecting to get some attention from their new-favorite US President, because his visit to Canada on Feb 19th will be short, brief and business-only.
How do we feel about this? Should we feel hurt or rejected about this decision? Obama stated that this meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff was necessary to build strong relations between the two countries, but that he needed to spend as much time as possible in America to help his nation with its economic recession. No one can blame Obama for this decision, but there is not doubt going to be thousands, possibly millions of upset Canadians that want to hear one of Obama’s famous speeches in their country. Sadly, there will be no celebrations, no speeches, no parties.
After a horrid January for Canada, in terms of job-loss, perhaps we needed a little party to get our hopes back up? Almost 130,000 people lost their jobs (mostly full-time positions) in January, which set several unimpressive records. I’m sure a large majority of these men and women, who currently are on the outside looking in, would have had no trouble taking “a day off” of their unemployed lives and getting some inspiration and motivation from one of the most hyped-up US President’s in recent generations.
Unfortunately, Obama’s loving Canadian fans will not get the luxury of seeing much of him or hearing him speak. Our “savior” to America, will be behind closed doors for six hours. Business-only and then back home to help solve his country’s HUGE problem.
It is a historical tradition that newly inaugurated US President’s make their first international visit to Canada. An honor to our country and a tribute to the relationship between USA & Canada. But perhaps this trip has a bit more meaning to it. After reports about trade wars looming between the two nations started to rise after remarks from a US Senate meeting to influence “Buy American,” this trip to Canada will surely help any tension that may exist after these comments were made. The last thing these two nations need is to get into trouble with border-trades when both countries aren’t doing so hot in the global economy.
Don’t worry everyone, Barack Obama loves us just as much as we love him, but he’s got his hands tied with “his job” right now, you know the one he has to do in order to ensure the survival of his country and possibly ours. Once that’s done, I’m sure he’ll come back to Canada to drop a ceremonial face-off at a hockey game and make our country go crazy with joy! But don’t hold your breath, USA & Canada are not even close to out of the woods in this recession. Heck, it may not be until the Toronto Maple Leafs make the playoffs that Obama can come back to Canada to party.
The National Film Board’s new media project, “Work For All / La tête de l’emploi” is looking for inventive, original proposals for short films (5?15 min) with the theme of racism in the workplace.
The goal of “Work For All / La tête de l’emploi” is to inform the public, employers and employees of the obstacles that visible minorities and Aboriginal people face in their careers, as well as strategies to create success and eliminate barriers.
Made in collaboration with Human Resources Social Development Canada, “Work For All / La tête de l’emploi” aims to be a powerful tool for education and positive social change. We are looking for strong, contemporary stories that demonstrate the reality of our workplaces today, from experienced creative teams that will deliver compelling, unique and artful short films. Read the rest of this entry »
Montrealer in her mid-twenties.
Freelance journalist and photographer,
with an interest in human rights and sustainable living.
Has a cheerful disposition.
Tynesha is CITIZENShift's summer intern from Concordia University's Communication department (Mtl., QC). Brimming with interests, she states "I enjoy school, I sing in a choir and I am also involved in community radio and volunteer work with youth. In the future, I look forward to developing a company that merges my three great passions in sound, community engagement, and music."
David Widgington was the event coordinator for the Citizen Media Rendez-vous 2010 (http://citizen-media.ca). He is a mobile journalist (MoJo) who is well-versed in community radio, video and print and web-based media practices. He has a particular interest these days with diaspora communities returning to Southern Sudan since the end of the war. He is script-writing a documentary project on the subject. (http://southsudaninfo.net).
