CitizenShift
Updates from the basement, courtesy of the CITIZENShift team.
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Written by
tim
January 18, 2010
Protest against the Olympics in Vancouver. Criticisms of the Olympic Games continue, but most Canadians still feel they are beneficial. Where do you stand? Credit: thedarkerside.to CC2.0
In our last newsletter we included a call for content for ‘Olympic Footprint’, a new dossier planned for end of January/beginning of February. We’re excited by all the great ideas that have come in so far, but we have room for more, so we’re extending the deadline to Friday, January 22nd.
We’re looking for your photos, videos, audio pieces and articles about the impact of the Olympics, both over the next month, but also over the medium and long term. We’re also able to offer small stipends to original, unpublished material.
Read on for more details about the dossier and how to submit pitches. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at
info@citizenshift.org
CALL FOR CONTENT
>> Olympic Footprint
The 2010 Vancouver Olympics will be one of the largest international events in Canadian history. It will be subject to some of the most intense media coverage imaginable: television stations plan on broadcasting the games 22 hours per day, and thousands of journalists from around the world will cover the event.
The Olympics have also become highly controversial and contested. Residents of Vancouver, Whistler and surrounding areas, Indigenous communities of Coast Salish Territories, and people from coast to coast have been criticizing the event’s impact on land rights, the environment, housing, social services and civil liberties. All this seems in contradiction to the Olympics’ mission of friendly
competition and promoting peace and good relations between countries.
Olympic Footprint is CITIZENShift’s call for media on how you see the Olympics: Does the goodwill it’s meant to foster outweigh local
criticism? What kind of ‘footprints’ (environmental, economic, social, etc) are the Vancouver games leaving on that city and what
kinds of ‘footprints’ have past Olympics left on other hosting cities?
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Category : Seeking Submissions
Tags: 2010, dossier, Olympics, Vancouver
Written by
tim
December 6, 2009
Jessica Yee is a writer, educator and activist around youth & women’s rights. She is the founder of the Native Youth Sexual Health Network.
This is also part of a series of guests posts leading up to, and marking, the 20th anniversary of the Dec. 6th École Polytechnique shootings. Read previous posts here.
—-
It’s December 6th 2009, and many people have been asking me what I’m thinking today. What do I think about this day where 20 years ago, a man walked into a Montreal engineering college and shot 14 women, specifically because they were women. Interestingly enough, I had to fight to have a female Aboriginal Elder open and be present at the event I’m speaking at today because the organizers “didn’t want to detract from the meaning of the day” by me asking her to say some words. It’s the 20th anniversary of the École Polytechnique shooting, and people keep asking me, so what do I think about that?
I’m thinking a lot of things in fact. Yes, I’m from the next generation of women who were too young to remember when the murders actually took place, but I suppose I belong to the current generation of women who identify themselves with feminist politics and have heard from the foremothers of this movement in Canada about the significance of remembering the day, and to never forget it. They say, “Women Won’t Forget” on December 6th. But as a young, sex working, multiracial, bisexual, two-spirited, Aboriginal woman, I think that sometimes, especially at these December 6th type events, women DO forget a few things:
Sometimes women forget that as Aboriginal women, we are five times more likely to die of violence than any other race of women in Canada, and that women have been going missing and being murdered in our communities by the thousands, for hundreds of years.
Women forget that while we show up to vigils and talk up a nice speech about some “poor prostitute” who died on the streets, we simultaneously judge, shun, and degrade current sex workers and speak against decriminalization - something that might actually help protect us.
Sometimes, women forget that same-sex violence should be taken as seriously as man to woman violence and that we really don’t talk about violence in the queer community as often as we could.
Women forget that Elder violence is very real and is happening, but also that a lot of it is committed against young women, who deserve the opportunity to speak for ourselves as youth, not be spoken for by yet another generation of first or second wave feminists that don’t want to give up their power yet.
And if you are reading this and thinking to yourself “well, I don’t forget that on December 6th” please, don’t expend your energy to get mad at me. Direct that passion towards reminding another woman now that you’ve read this, or someone else for that matter who is forgetting, or who just doesn’t know.
For the record, I refuse to have another argument with someone about what this day is “only” supposed to commemorate.
What about you?
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Category : Dec 6
Written by
tim
December 4, 2009
April Reign is a blogger and helps run the BreadnRoses hub of blogs and discussion boards.
This is the third in a series of guests posts leading up to the 20th anniversary of the Dec. 6th École Polytechnique shootings. Read previous posts here.
………
December 6th. Just a date. Maybe an early Christmas party or a school play. Perhaps a time to start putting out decorations or maybe - a time to purchase candles and roses. A purchase not made in anticipation of a celebration but one made in memorial of 14 women who were gunned down simply because they were women and they were there.
December 6th, 1989 at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal
Geneviève Bergeron
Hélène Colgan
Nathalie Croteau
Barbara Daigneault
Anne-Marie Edward
Maud Haviernick
Barbara Maria Klucznik
Maryse Leclair
Annie St.-Arneault
Michèle Richard
Maryse Laganière
Anne-Marie Lemay
Sonia Pelletier
Annie Turcotte
became victims of hatred. Victims of misogyny. Lights shining on the ugly truth that women had not yet been fully accepted as equals.
Twenty years on can we really say that much has changed?
In 1982 MP Margaret Mitchell rose to educate the house on domestic violence, she told them how one in 10 Canadian women were victims of domestic assault the response by the male MPs was laughing and shouting.
In 2009 during the height of the H1N1 Flu scare MP Carolyn Bennett rose to ask a question on behalf of a troubled constituent. The woman in question was pregnant and had received conflicting advice as to the safety of the H1N1 vaccine, she was looking to her government for help. The response? Laughter, derision, hooting and hollering. 27 years later women’s concerns are still seen as a joke.
When Margaret Mitchell was elected in 1979 [30 years ago] women accounted for approximately 10% of elected MPs. Today that number has risen to approximately 21% that is an abysmal amount of representation and a sad commentary on the last 30 years.
This year as you remember and mourn the loss of 14 of our sisters remember also the words of Joe Hill; Don’t Mourn, Organize!
Help Equal Voice to get more women elected, fight for strong gun control, support women’s reproductive choice, donate to a local shelter, help a woman or a young girl learn tech skills or use those skills to help others.
In the words of Emma Goldman:
“No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution… revolution is but thought carried into action.”
.
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Category : Dec 6
Written by
tim
December 2, 2009
This it the first in a series of guests posts leading up to the 20th anniversary of the Dec. 6th École Polytechnique shootings. Thanks to Pale Cold for this contribution. Read more of her work at A Creative Revolution.
—
This post was actually inspired by a publicly published plea towards women who may have been victimized by serial killer/rapist Anthony Sowell. It is heartbreaking to read, as it begs women to come forward. The plea tells women it is not their fault. But in this day and age, why do we need to say that even? Violence is wrong. Rape, is wrong. No matter who, where or whatever. When will we get to the part where the blame falls where it actually lies? With those who perpetrate it?
When will we get to a place where women are not hiding in the dark because of our Justice system that allows victims to be Judged? Because of family and friends who literally look away and hold their own wrongheaded “ideas” about the “cause” of the rape/beating/assault.
There is a long list of such apologies, and it includes mine. There are many, many people right now trying to figure out how we could have helped our sisters in Cleveland. As mistakes go, this is a horrific one, and it is ours, not yours.
It is not your fault that you were lured into a false sense of security and attacked. It is not your fault that you trusted Anthony Sowellor any other man like him.
*******************************************************
How many women are there out there who have been raped, sexually assaulted or sexually molested as children?
How many do you personally know?
Then ask yourself, how many have never said anything?
Only 8% of sexual assaults are reported to police. While the rates of sexual assaults have not dropped, reports to police have decreased by 36% between 1993 and 2002. Sexual assaults are much less likely to be reported to police than other crimes including physical assaults and robberies. While sexual attacks are more likely than unwanted sexual touching to be reported to police, the vast majority of both types of assaults go unreported (in 1999, 69% and 81%, respectively).
Probably women you know in your everyday life have gone through sexual assault but because of their own reasons, they won’t say a word. The experience(s) may have impacted their lives in various different ways.
No matter what, there is an impact.
Trust is one thing that is hard to reclaim. Feeling safe in her own home, feeling safe enough to go to the store…..
Why don’t women report assaults?
Part of it is fear. Some feel ashamed. Some just want to get on and move over what happened, it is easier than dealing with law enforcement and a judicicary that despite the claims of certain conservatives has never moved out of the dark ages when it comes to women and the real reasons for rape.
Read this. Know that this was not an “activist” judge. Nor was this one. Nor this one.
These are just a couple fine examples of misogyny on the bench.
In Vancouver many women went missing a few years ago. A few have been identified as victims of Willie Pickton. This case stands out because no matter what, the authorities and society wrote these women off by their refusal to even look for them.
Blame? Sure. Many place the blame squarely on the women because of the way they lived. Addictions, sex workers etc.
Similar thing is unfolding right now in the US. Many of the victims were “known” to the police.
Why would many women say anything? Move on, forget it.
I don’t talk about my own experiences much.
When I was a kid I had this Uncle. I won’t explain too much more about the “incidents” as I really do not want to go back there.
But at that time, I told.
Oh sure, I learned later…..Many of the younger women in the family knew, they had all experienced something, but decided to stay away, and just avoid this creepy Uncle.
No one mentioned it to the authorities of course, it just became a well kept family “secret” and we all moved on.
I was the family social pariah by the age of 12. I took the “blame” because for some reason it was far worse that I had said anything than the fact that he had done this to a child.
We all remember the lessons we are taught at an early age.
Later, when it was discovered that he had been sexually molesting his own granddaughter there was much feigned surprise.
I still agonize over that. If only I had done more.
But I will not accept the blame anymore.
The woman who gets told that her clothes were inappropriate and that she invited the man to rape her.
The woman who invited her date in for coffee, only to be slammed against the wall and raped.
The sex worker who is attacked and beaten on the street or in a room somewhere, is told it is all her fault because she put herself out there like a peice of meat. It is her comeuppance.
The child who is told to keep that “little” secret, because she must have done something, and it would be far too embarrassing for the family.
In some countries women are forced to wear a garment that covers from head to toe. Part of the reason is so that they cannot “tempt” men to commit rape. In many of these countries women are stoned to death or charged with adultery when they are raped.
Here in our western world, we veil women with a mental burqua of shame.
When they do tell, many find so many reasons to pelt them with the stones of blame that hurt for many years to come.
Be quiet we are often told, it is all your fault. Many of those telling us that are in positions of power, and should be protecting women and girls and fighting for our right to be safe.
I am not taking the blame anymore.
It is someone elses turn.
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Category : Dec 6
Tags: december 6th, polytechnique, violence against woment
Written by
tim
November 30, 2009
Next Sunday, December 6th 2009, will mark 20 years since the Polytechnique massacre, where 14 women at the École Polytechnique de Montréal were killed by a male shooter. Violence against women was a devastating issue before that day in 1989, and it persists; that day, though, has remained etched in the minds of many of we must all fight against through education, awareness and prevention. We’ve held the issue close here at CS: you can find out more in our dossier Feminicide & Violence: Remembering women
Many work tirelessly against all forms of violence against women all year round; this week though, around the world, people will pause a little longer to remember women who have fallen victim to violence. Shortly after the massacre, many vowed to fight even harder against violence towards women. But it is still clearly an issue today. According to Stats Canada:
- 146 women were victims of homicide in Canada in 2008. On average, 178 females were killed every year between 1994 and 2008.
- 45 women were victims of spousal homicide in 2008. Of these, 22 women were killed by their legally married husband, 10 by a common-law partner and 13 by a separated or divorced husband or common-law partner.
Sources and more information here: http://www42.statcan.ca/smr08/smr08_136-eng.htm
Over the coming days, we will be lucky to have several guest bloggers share their thoughts about Dec. 6th and where Canada is today in the struggle to stop violence against women. That will include:
Laura Glowacki will also be speaking with the Fédération des Femmes du Québec about how they are marking Dec. 6th and the 12 days agains violence towards women, and we’ll be posting other information as well. We’ll also be posting about what various groups are doing across Canada, and how you can plug in.
As a last note, we often hear the name of the shooter, but not as often the name of the women. Let’s make sure we do. We remember:
- Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), civil engineering student
- Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
- Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
- Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
- Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student
- Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student
- Maryse Laganière (born 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique’s finance department
- Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student
- Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
- Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student
- Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student
- Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
- Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering student
- Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student
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Category : Dec 6
Tags: december 6, femicide, polytechnique, violence towards women
Written by
tim
November 27, 2009
From Afghanistan to climate change, Canada’s role in the world is on everyone’s lips these days. Canada’s World contibues to create spaces for us all to debate, define & propose paths for Canada’s place in the world. This weekend you can join in at Foreign Policy Camp, a series of concurrent conferences across Canada, taking place in Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto. The event is billed as a hybrid conference, with some parts of it consisting of structured activities, such as a series of case studies, as well at open sessions proposed and lead by participants.
You can find out more at http://rethinkforeignpolicy.ca/ and in Canada’s World’s dossier on CITIZENShift.
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Category : events
Tags: Canada's World, foreign policy, unconference
Written by
tim
November 25, 2009
Some of the more dedicated listeners of our podcast may remember Mark Leiren-Young, who contributed several episodes of his Green Chain podcast to our series. Mark’s kept going, and going strong, blogging, writing the 2009 Stephen Leacock Award for Humour award winning Never Shoot a Stampede Queen, forming the ‘world
’s first eco-comedy duo’ Local Anxiety, and producing The Green Chain documentary, which got it all started.
He’s combined all his efforts into a new book, aptly called The Green Chain: Nothing is ever clear-cut, bringing together interviews with John Vaillant, and Severin Cullis Suzuki, among others.
It’s already out in bookstores, but those of you in Vancouver can hit up the book’s launch tonight at Café Montmatre, 4362 Main Street. Fun starts at 7:30pm featuring Local Anxiety, Nancy Bleck, photographer and co-founder with Chief Bill Williams of Utsam-Witness, and Jay Dodge, Vancouver director and co-founder of experimental theatre/performance art group Boca del Lupo, known for site-specific works in the treetops of Stanley Park.
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Category : Where Are They Now?, events
Tags: environmentalism, Green Chain, John Vaillant, Mark Leiren-Young, Severin Cullis-Suzuki
Written by
tim
November 11, 2009
Tonight marks the launch of the twelfth edition of the Rencontres Internationales du documentaire de Montréal, Montreal’s premiere documentary film fest. We’ve always been big fans of RIDM at CITIZENShift, and this year we’ll even be co-presenting an event (The Right to Live My City on NOv 16th - more details here).
But even more exciting are the number of people that we’ve had the chance to work with, both here at CS and on our sister site Parole Citoyenne, who have work being featured in this year’s festival. We wanted to say a big congratulations and highlight their work, so in no particular order (click on the film titles for screening details):
Myths For Profit: Canada’s Role in Industries of War and Peace
Directed by Amy Miller, Edited by Boban Chaldovich and produced by Wide Open Exposure
Myths for Profit is an exhaustive and compelling look at how Canada has built up the image of being a global good guy, and strips it away piece by piece. It’s a must see in understanding Canada’s role in the world.
We were lucky to have Amy contribute to our podcast series over the summer with her piece National (In)Security, and we also have a longer version of a hilarious - and scathing - short animation piece done by Eric Hanson for the film as well.
H2Oil
Directed by Shannon Walsh, produced by Loaded Pictures
If you care about the environment and the role Canadian oil development is playing in the climate change, this is a must see film. Focussing on the massive tar sands developments in northern Alberta, Walsh & Loaded Pictures bring us to Fort Chipewyan. Downstream from tar sands developments, the community has faced growing health concerns in tandem with the growth of the largest industrial project on Earth. From there it explores the national and global impact of what is becoming known as the world’s dirtiest oil. You can see Shannon’s piece Fire and Hope on CitizenShift; and we’ve collaborated with Loaded Pictures closely over the years, hosting production dossiers for their films Wal-Town and Roadsworth. You can also wathc the trailer & find out more about the tar sands in our dossier on the topic.
This screening is also a co-presentation with Cinema Politica, who we’ve partnered with over the years and year-round does the most for independent, Canadian political documentary and filmmaking than just about anyone else around.
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Category : Where Are They Now?, events
Written by
tim
October 27, 2009
A little over a year ago we partnered with the folks at the Vancouver and Edmonton NFB studios to start a dossier called Harm Reduction, featuring videos by and for youth living in high risk situations and marginalised communities, such as intravenous drug users, homeless or in transitional housing and transitioning genders.
The films continued to be produced, and were recently launched as Playing It Safe: Staying Safe in a High Risk World. Over the next few months, new webisodes produced by the youth participants will be going up on the site every few weeks. You can see them all at http://playing-it-safe.nfb.ca
It’s a powerful series of films and embodies really clearly what we mean by citizen media: putting cameras into the hands of people so they can tell their own stories in their own way, all the while offering support and resources for them.
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Category : Where Are They Now?
Written by
tim
October 5, 2009
After three years of successfully publishing in French, Magazine Authentik is launching an English sister publication, simply called Authentik. Written and produced by young women for youg women, the magazine attempts to “offer positive messages as an alternative to mainstream girls’ magazines that propose articles, advertisements and images emphasizing romance, consumerism and unattainable beauty ideals,” according to Authentik Editor in Chief Tanya Déry-Obin.
Their first issue seems like an ambitious one, featuring a cover story on documentary filmmaker and CEGEP student Julie Paquette about filming a documentary on child rights in India. The magazine also takes on difficult topics, like how to escape abusive relationships, and the magazine and advertising industry about re-touching photographs.
The first English issue hits high schools, Community Learning Centres, youth centres, community organizations and participating Uniprix stores across Quebec this week, distributing 5,000 copies for free. A launch event will be held in Laval on Wednesday to mark the release:
Where: Maison des Arts de Laval, 1395 Boul de la Concorde, Laval, Metro Montmorency (5 minute walk)
When: Wed. Oct. 7, 2009, from 5pm to 7pm
RSVP: authentik.magazine@gmail.com
You can also read more in an article from The Gazette
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Category : events
Tags: Authentik, girls, magazines, role models
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