Live webcast with UN on the rights of Canadian children

Turn Up the Volume

Why are more Canadian children victims of violence than are adults?

Why is the suicide rate among Aboriginal youth so high?

Why is Canada still one of the few industrialized nations without a national Children’s Commissioner?

 

These issues may seem disparate, but they are related because they are all children’s rights issues. The Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out minimum conditions for good childhood. They include protecting children from all forms of violence and harm, ensuring they have the developmental supports they need and establishing child-sensitive governance processes such as independent child Advocates and Commissioners. How well the Government of Canada meets its commitments to protect and provide for these rights directly affects the lives of children and youth across the country.

 

For the first time ever, a discussion between the Canadian Government and the United Nations on the rights of Canada’s children will be webcast live for “Turn Up the Volume”. Representatives from the government will answer questions on Canada’s progress in advancing the basic rights of children outlined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the challenges that affect our children and youth, and the action needed to address them.

 

Gather friends, family or colleagues for a viewing party at your home, workplace, youth group or community space. Don’t just listen — tune in to www.unicef.ca/turnupthevolume and the live expert blog at www.rightsofchildren.ca to join a broader national conversation on the issues and the kind of Canada you want for children and youth.

 

Who? All Canadians, particularly children and youth

 

When? September 26 & 27, 2012

 

Visit unicef.ca/turnupthevolume for viewing times, your Party Kit, how to join the conversation, and more about children’s rights and Canada’s dialogue with the UN.

THE WAR ON THE WORKERS- NAMING IT AND FIGHTING BACK

September 29, 2012 in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada

www.peaceforumteachin.org

A Teach-in presented by The World Peace Forum Society.
Co-sponsored by the SFU Labour Studies Program
Sept.29, Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre, Vancouver

We live in a society that is, unfortunately, fond of war imagery. Those in power have created and financed the war on drugs‚ and the war on terror. While neither has been successful in their expressed aims, they have both contributed significantly to an erosion of our democratic and human rights, and have both enhanced surveillance of civil society by the state. Cynics might argue that this was their real intent.

Another war- this one undeclared and unnamed as such- is the ‘war on the workers’. Usually called austerity‚ or restraint‚, this war is waged by the rich and their wanna be’s against the working class and the poor, including women, students, aboriginal people and the elderly.

Although not meriting recognition as a ‘war’ by the class that wages it, it is very real in the casualties it causes- in the form of both dead and wounded – just like a ‘real’ war. And just like a real war‚, the generals and other officers who design and orchestrate it are a long way from the front lines, and well protected from any danger to their lives and property.

Program, speakers and bios on our web site

  www.peaceforumteachin.org

Camp NeeKauNis, Summer 2012

This summer at Camp NeeKauNis has been quite a busy one. So much so, that I did not manage to take many photos of my various visits up to the programs. You can see more about what has been happening at: www.neekaunis.org

Suggested Action on the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline.

Dear Canadian Friends – 

            Late summer greetings to you all.

            Many of you are deeply concerned about the potential effects of the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline.  At Canadian Yearly Meeting August 11 – 18, 2012 a proposed letter that had been developed by Vancouver Island Friends was further seasoned by a Special Interest Group.  The related minute approved is pasted in below.

            You will note that you are asked to consider using this minute in writing to members of governments of British Columbia, Alberta and Canada to express your concern. 

            I have prepared a letter to The Secretary to the Joint Review Panel Enbridge Northern Gateway Project from Canadian Yearly Meeting which was faxed to them before their deadline, August 31, for submitting letters of concern.  You have a longer lead time to write to members of the various governments.  If you would like to read more details of the Review the following link should be useful.
 

Thank you for whatever work you can take regarding this further threat to the Environment and the rights of First Nations in Canada.

 

In Friendship,

Carol Dixon,  Presiding Clerk – Canadian Yearly Meeting

 

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62. Report from the Special Interest Group on the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal: 

The Special Interest Group asked Canadian Yearly Meeting to approve the following minute:

Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) opposes the development of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. This opposition is based on: 

•           far-reaching decisions being made for British Columbians and Albertans by the Canadian government that have ramifications for climate change and for the health and well-being of present and future generations;

•           solidarity with Indigenous Peoples regarding their sovereignty over their territories, as expressed in the Coastal First Nations Declaration and the Save the Fraser Declaration. Development should not take place on Indigenous territories without the free, prior and informed consent of the affected peoples. This principle is consistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous peoples’ rights and related government obligations under Canada’s constitution, and with Supreme Court jurisprudence that calls for consent on “very serious issues”;

•           high probability of devastating damage to major B.C. and Alberta rivers from pipeline disasters and the hazards to navigation for oil supertankers using the coastal port at Kitimat, B.C.;

•           unavoidable damage and destruction of B.C.’s unique habitats and ecosystems, including destruction of wildlife and loss of biodiversity at a time when all life forms, including human, are under extreme environmental threat;

•           inevitable decline of cultures, communities, and livelihoods which are sustained by the lands, rivers, and ocean waters of British Columbia.

We approve this minute and we approve forwarding it as soon as possible to:

•           the governments of BC, Alberta, and Canada;

•           the Enbridge Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel, an independent body, mandated by Canada’s Minister of the Environment and the National Energy Board;

Scam Targeting Quakers

May 162012

Susan Addison, Australia Yearly Meeting.

Friends in Australia were this week targeted by a sophisticated scam operation. It is believed that the callers used names and phone numbers readily available from the Australia Yearly Meeting and Britain Yearly Meeting websites to approach Friends for money and to cite the names of other Friends who could vouch for their bona fides. At least one Australian Friend responded to the caller’s urgent appeal for funds and sent money.

Australia Yearly Meeting Secretary Susan Addison was phoned at the start of office hours on 8 May by a caller purporting to be stranded at an airport in the Philippines. The caller used the name of a person listed on the Britain Yearly Meeting website and claimed to have been given her name by ‘Quackers’ in Britain. The names and phone numbers of several Britain Yearly Meeting employees were provided as people who could vouch for his story.

When told that she would wait to talk first with Britain Yearly Meeting (a 10-hour time difference) the caller left a voice mail message on the AYM office phone in a woman’s voice and sent an email via the AYM website purportedly from one of his referees.

The caller moved on to other names found the Australia Yearly Meeting over the next two days, now citing the Australia Yearly Meeting Secretary Susan Addison as the person who had given him their name as someone who could help.

Prominent ‘Scam alert’ warnings have been placed on the Quakers Australia website and Regional Meeting clerks have been asked to disseminate the warning. Key elements of the story are: family with Quaker connections urgently needs money to attend family funeral; money to be transferred via Western Union to an address in the Philippines. The caller has threatened to contact ‘Quackers’ in other countries.

If in doubt when a request for funds is made, Friends are advised to ask questions beyond the scope of the well rehearsed story to ascertain where the caller is a genuine Friend, or delay responding until they can check with the sources named.