Human Rights – Page 22

2012/02/23

A day of heartbreak

Each year on Valentine’s Day, people smile, hug and greet each other with a joyful “Happy Valentine’s Day!” — for others, it’s a day of heartbreak. For them, February 14 is a day to commemorate their lost loved ones and take part in memorial marches across Canada.

This year marks the 21st Women’s Memorial March through the Vancouver Downtown Eastside, an area where many First Nations women have fallen victim to violence. Nationwide, there are over 600 women on the Native Women’s Association of Canada’s missing or murdered list.

“In January 1991, a woman was murdered on Powell Street. Her name is not spoken today, respecting the wishes of her family. Her death was the catalyst to move women to take action leading to this special Valentine’s Day March,” wrote organizers of the march at the Carnegie Community Centre.

Unlike last year’s rainy day, our members were fortunate to have some great weather. I was pleased to be joined by sisters from the UNE BC Region, along with sisters and brothers from the PSAC Vancouver Regional Office, the PSAC Women’s Committee, the PSAC Human Rights Committee and other grassroots organizations.

When we first arrived, we were greeted by a First Nations sister who gave each of us a beautifully decorated card. Each card had a unique proverb honouring the murdered women. Mine read, in part, “death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.”

Before the march started, we gathered inside the Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, where families of the missing and murdered women shared their stories. The speakers showed tremendous strength as they did so. Someone said, “our loved ones are in a better place; they don’t have to suffer anymore. They may be looking at us, from wherever they are, and wanting to tell us that they are alright.”

Outside the center, there were drums, chanting, singing, praying and greetings. A First Nations brother generously gave fresh bannock to activists of all ages; he was content to see smiles it brought to their faces. Close by, an elder conducted a smudging ceremony to attract good spirits and positive influences.

Among the crowd, I saw a woman crying. I placed my hand on her shoulder to comfort her and was rewarded with a giant hug. The emotions were contagious. We cried, hugged, shared stories and supported each other. We were all there for the same reason.

As the march started, thousands filled the streets, carrying banners, pictures, ribbons, posters and handmade quilts in commemoration of those who were taken from us. While most marchers were aboriginal, many others, of all ethnicities, young and old, marched in solidarity.

The crowd stopped at sites where women were last seen or were found murdered. Each stop was acknowledged by a cedar smudging ceremony. The crowd attracted others who joined the march as it moved along. And just like they do each year, eagles joined the march from above.

The march ended with a candlelight vigil to commemorate the missing and murdered women of the Downtown Eastside.

Being part of this was a great and unforgettable experience. It’s a reminder to keep fighting for women’s rights and for justice for our stolen sisters.

Jennifer Ho
Regional Vice-president of the B.C. and Yukon region
Union of National Employees

2012/02/01

February: Black History Month

This year, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History chose Black Women in American Culture and History as their theme. In their description of the theme, they wrote, “in slavery and freedom, [Black women’s] struggles have been at the heart of the human experience, and their triumphs over racism and sexism are a testimonial to our common human spirit.”

Black history, especially Black women’s history, has historically been overlooked.

“Black women’s history has been in the shadows for too long,” said Audrey T. McCluskey, Professor of African-American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University-Bloomington. “While the work by noted historians such as Darlene Clark Hine and Deborah Gray White, is helping to move it into the mainstream, so much more needs to be done to bring this history of struggle, courage, disappointment, and overcoming—continually overcoming—to a broader audience. Black women’s history needs to be engaged beyond Black History Month, and become a part of the curriculums of schools everywhere. Students lives will be fortified and enriched by its telling.”

The story of Mary Ann Shadd Cary, a pioneering Canadian black woman, is one that has been sadly overlooked. Like many free Blacks and fugitive slaves, she came to Canada shortly after the U.S. passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The Act meant that fugitive slaves were no longer free in the North. The vague language meant that even free Blacks were threatened. Many saw Canada as a place where they could escape the clutches of slave-catchers and the laws that empowered them.

Continue reading “February: Black History Month”

2011/12/03

International Day of Persons with Disabilities

My name is Dave Burchell and I am the Union of National Employees Representative for Persons with Disabilities.

I wish to remind you that today, December 3, is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

The United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons was held between 1983 and 1992. It urged governments and organizations to make the necessary changes to improve the lives of disabled persons all over the world.

In 1992, as this decade drew to a close, the UN General Assembly proclaimed December 3 as the International Day of Disabled Persons.

In 2007, the assembly changed the name from the “International Day of Disabled Persons” to the “International Day of Persons with Disabilities”. The new name was used the following year.

This year’s theme is “Together for a better world for all: Including persons with disabilities in development”. My personal favourite was in 2004 when the theme was “nothing about us, without us” made a bold statement which rings constantly in my ears.
Canadian census data reveals that the number of persons who reported having a disability reached 4.4 million in 2006, or 14.3 per cent of the Canadian population at the time.

Persons with disabilities face many disadvantages and are still subject to stigma and discrimination. They are largely excluded from civil and political processes and remain overwhelmingly voiceless in matters that affect them.

I hope that you will join me and all other Union of National Employees and PSAC members, persons with disabilities and their allies in remembering the daily struggles we go through to achieve what able-bodied and sound-minded individuals take for granted. It is indeed a challenge for us, but with your help and the assistance of individuals who care, we can all be identified as ‘people, rather than persons with disabilities.

2011/11/17

Trans Day of Remembrance

As we approach November 20, the Trans Day of Remembrance, I wish to challenge my union brothers and sisters.

If you truly wish to remember and honour my dead brothers and sisters, then support our battle for human rights equality in this country. They have died due to violence, bigotry, hatred and societal neglect.

Most of you will understand violence, bigotry and hatred. But do you understand societal neglect? It’s a form of abandonment that says “I have my rights, so what’s the big deal?” Have you ever been told you weren’t allowed to use a washroom appropriate to your gender or been asked to leave one because someone told you that you don’t belong there? Have you ever been denied accommodations or been fired for being yourself?

This is a daily fact of life for many in my community. There are segments of society that would make it illegal for me to use a gender-appropriate washroom in public. There are those that would say it’s okay for me to be denied housing or a job because of how I was born.

There are also those that would take more direct action because, somehow, I offend their delicate sensibilities as to what they deem “right” or “normal” or even “acceptable”. Those are the people that beat, maim and kill my brothers and sisters – and would potentially do the same to me.

I do not like having to live my life in a heightened state of awareness, always performing an ongoing threat assessment of those around me. I do not like having to constantly make mental notes of exits and escape routes. But for me, and those like me, that is the world we live in.

Our world is like this because we are denied rights enjoyed by others – fundamental rights that never even cross your mind. In the eyes of many, we are somehow less than human and not deserving of the rights enjoyed by the majority.

I am here to tell you we are as human as the rest of you. I am here to tell you that I am as equal as everyone else around me. Just because I do not fit into some people’s preconceived notions of the binary nature of gender does not mean I deserve to die, be beaten, maimed, spit on, or maltreated.

The labour movement has always fought for equity and equality for all its members. It has been at the forefront of almost every major step forward in advancing the rights of workers. In many cases, these advances have been mirrored legislatively, not long after. Furthermore, these advances have helped to shape human rights legislation in multiple jurisdictions.

To me, this is a fundamental union principle. It’s no different than the fight to bring women into the workplace or the fight for pay equity.

This is about equity and equality for all of us. It is the right thing to do.

So, here is my challenge for you:

Make this a core demand in the next round of bargaining with the employer, and don’t let it be dealt away.
Contact your brothers and sisters in the union, at the local and national levels, and tell them to stand up and do what is right.
Phone, write or email your MPs and tell them that this is an important issue. Ask them to support the reintroduction of the bill explicitly enshrining these rights in the Canadian Human Rights Act.

The question is not “why should we do this?” – the question is “why shouldn’t we?”

We all know this is the right thing to do. Now we just have to do it.

Kate Hart
Human Rights Rep.
Local 30095
Union of National Employees

2011/10/042014/09/02

A guest of honour

On the eve of the annual vigil for missing and murdered native women, Susan Martin promised to bring a guest of honour to the event. Yesterday, she stood on the steps of Parliament Hill, holding her daughter’s urn.

Martin is a member of Families of Sisters in Spirit, a grassroots organization led by families of missing and murdered Aboriginal women.

“Today will be the last time I ever get to touch my child’s remains,” she told the group gathered yesterday for the sixth annual vigil to demand justice for their stolen loved ones.

Nine years ago, Martin’s 24-year-old daughter, Terrie Ann Dauphinais, was murdered in her home in Calgary. Her case remains unsolved.

Through Families of Sisters in Spirit, and the annual vigils they hold, Martin began to talk publicly about her daughter. This year, Martin invited supporters to a sacred ceremony on Victoria Island, where Algonquin elder Annie Smith-St-Georges of Kitigan Zibi First Nations would prepare the urn for burial by sealing it in a cedar box.

“I represent the victims, the mothers that don’t have their voice yet,” said Martin. “It’s not an easy task, so I do that for all of us because we are a family.”

Families of Sisters in Spirit has identified more than 500 aboriginal women who are missing or have been murdered. A 2009 report by Statistics Canada found that aboriginal women are almost three times more likely than non-Aboriginal women to report being a victim of a violent crime. Like others touched by these tragedies, Martin feels the federal government should be doing more.

“I get very angry when I see a new family member because they should not be going through what we’re going through – and we seem to be falling on deaf ears.”

Martin and other members of the group met with members of Parliament on Monday to speak about her experience.

“When [MPs] meet the families, they don’t forget them,” said Jennifer Lord of the Native Women’s Association of Canada. “And then that’s a connection that the families can hold on to.”

However, no one from the governing Conservatives showed up at the meeting, said Kristen Gilchrist, a volunteer for Families of Sisters in Spirit.

Irkar Beljaars, a volunteer who helped organize a similar vigil in Montreal, called on the government to create a national task force for missing and murdered native women. “We need our government to look at itself in the mirror and decide what’s right and what’s wrong,” Beljaars said. “What’s wrong is fighter jets and prisons. What’s right is taking care of women in this country.”

As for Martin, her resolve remains strong. “I’m letting go,” she said while holding her daughter’s urn for the final time. “But I’m going to stay positive. I’m still going to fight for justice. I’m still going to take this journey to stop other mothers and family members from feeling what we feel.”

What you can do:
Write to Stephen Harper and your Member of Parliament. Tell them that aboriginal women are loved and valued. Demand a national task force on missing and murdered aboriginal women.

Follow Families of Sisters in Spirit on their Facebook page. You can keep up-to-date on missing women in Canada and help bring them home safely.

Many photos of the vigil can be seen on the Union of National Employees’ Flickr site

2011/09/19

A national tragedy: our stolen sisters

September 19, 2011 – A march that started in Vancouver on June 21 reached Parliament Hill where activists demanded that the Harper government address a national tragedy. Walk for Justice has marched throughout the country to call attention to the approximately 4200 missing and murdered women. Walk for Justice activists were hosted by Families of Sisters in Spirit, a group that aims to inform the public about the impact of violence against native women.

Theresa Ducharme, formerly of Sisters in Spirit, noted that the number of missing and murdered women has only increased since she became involved with the group five years ago. In fact, since the march started in June, 36 more native women have gone missing.

“Rona Ambrose, a few weeks ago, said that she’s with us in spirit…. Well that’s nice! As our numbers grow of missing and murdered native women across this country, that’s all that’s going to be left if nothing is done,” said Irkar Beljaars of the Montreal Families of Sisters in Spirit. Beljarrs says their commitment to this issue is unwavering and called on Harper and his government to create a national task force on missing and murdered native women.

Several family members of missing and murdered women took part in the march. Gilbert Gauthier, of Winnipeg, was walking on behalf of Claudette Osborne-Tyo who has been missing since July 2008. Gauthier said the situation is especially hard on Claudette’s mother who wakes up every morning not knowing what has happened to her daughter. “[The police] say that just because she was a streetwalker or a prostitute that she decided to leave and go on her own – but that’s not true. She would always keep in touch with us every day,” he added.

Alaya McIvor of Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation (200 km northwest of Winnipeg, MB) took part in the rally to seek justice for the murder of her cousin, Roberta McIvor. “She was murdered 47 days ago on July 30th. She was decapitated on the reserve,” McIvor said. A 15-year-old and a 17-year-old were arrested, but McIvor and his family believes there are more individuals involved in the murder. Despite the demonstrably violent nature of the crime, the individuals arrested were only charged with manslaughter.

Walking for her younger sister was Sharon Johnson of Thunder Bay. Sandra K. Johnson was raped and murdered in 1992; her case remains unsolved. “We just had our seventh annual memorial walk in Thunder Bay,” Sharon said. She has received much support from local media and Lakehead University students; however there still are no leads on her sister’s case.

Families of Sisters in Spirit will be holding vigils across Canada on October 4th. For more information on how you can get involved, please visit the vigil’s Facebook event page. Families of Sisters in Spirit also issue alerts of missing women on their Facebook page.

To view pictures from the walk, please visit our Flickr site.

2011/08/28

Meet Camilla Vallejo

It’s being called the Chilean Winter: a protest movement not unlike recent events in the Middle East commonly referred to as the Arab Spring. Protesters have united to call on the government for better and more affordable education. The uprising recently led to a two-day nationwide shutdown, in which many public service employees joined the students in protest.

At the centre of the movement is Camila Vallejo, a 23-year-old student and activist. Her leadership has led the government to agree to substantially lower interest rates on student loans and invest over a trillion pesos ($2 billion dollars) into education.

The demonstrations she has organized have drawn hundreds of thousands of supporters. While a few demonstrations have turned violent, Vallejo is clear on their intent: “We don’t want violence, our fight is not versus the police or to destroy commercial shops … our fight is to recover the right to education.”

Vallejo is now receiving police protection, having recently received death threats. One of these came from a government official who was subsequently fired. Despite these threats, her fight has the support of 80 percent of her fellow citizens, according to a recent survey.

For more information on Camila and the uprising in Chile, please consult this article in the British paper The Guardian or this article in the French newspaper Le Monde.

Finally, a sincere word of thanks to our Union’s newest Chilean friend, Marcelo Moisan, who graciously allowed us to use the above picture for this article. Take a moment to visit Marcelo’s Flickr site, leave a comment or a thank you on his picture or add him as a Flickr contact: he has many great photos!

2011/08/07

International Day of the World’s Indigenous People

August 9, 2011 marks the eleventh commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. This year’s theme is: Indigenous designs: celebrating stories and cultures, crafting our own future.

In conjunction with this day, and the important principle of self-determination, we wanted to promote the movement for tribal peoples and encourage you to join it. Survival International works with hundreds of tribal communities and organizations across the globe. They are “funded almost entirely by concerned members of the public and some foundations” and refuse national government funding “because governments are the main violators of tribal peoples’ rights”.

In keeping with their work of achieving recognition and respect of tribal people, they work to protect the lands of uncontacted tribes. Oil industries and illegal logging pose a serious threat to these tribes; namely, contact with outsiders could expose them to infectious diseases and wipe them out. It’s for this reason that uncontacted tribes should be left alone and their lands should be protected.

You can help by going to Survival International’s website. There, you can write a letter to President Garcia of Peru, President Rousseff of Brazil and Prime Minister Singh of India, urging them to protect uncontacted tribes. You can also donate to Survival International on their website.

In honour of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, Survival International has also compiled a list of nine tribal facts.

2011/06/30

Happy Canada Day!

Wishing everyone a joyous Canada Day!

While Diefenbaker’s most memorable quote is probably “Everyone is against me — except for the people!”, his remarks when presenting the Canadian Bill of Rights are especially poignant during this most patriotic day:

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.”

2011/06/23

Canadian Multiculturalism Day

Canadian Multiculturalism Day was established by Royal Proclamation in 2002. It recognizes that our country has been shaped by contributions of Canadians of various multicultural groups and communities. The Proclamation reads in part:

Whereas multiculturalism is a fundamental characteristic of the Canadian heritage;

Whereas Canadians of all backgrounds have made and continue to make valuable contributions to Canadian society;

Whereas it is considered appropriate that there be, in each year, a day to mark and celebrate those contributions and to recognize Canadian diversity; […]

Now know you that We, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council for Canada, do by this Our Proclamation declare June 27 of each year as “Canadian Multiculturalism Day”, a celebration of the contributions of Canada’s diverse people to Canadian society.

Take a moment today to celebrate the rich fabric of Canadian society; diversity in our country, as in our union, makes us stronger!