Let Them Stay!

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Have you sent your letter in support of the War Resisters Campaign? Time is running out for Kimberly Rivera and her family, due to be deported on Thursday, March 26. 2009.

The Hon. Jason Kenney
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
House of Parliament
Ottawa, Ontario
minister@cic.gc.ca, Kennej@parl.gc.ca, kennej7@parl.gc.ca

Dear Mr. Kenney,

On June 3, 2008, the Parliament of Canada passed a motion calling on the government to stop all removal proceedings against U.S. Iraq war resisters, and to implement a program to allow them to apply to stay in Canada as permanent residents. As recently as February 12th of this year, the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration reaffirmed this motion.

This motion is supported by a majority of Canadians, including myself. Despite this nation-wide support, Stephen Harper and yourself, as Citizenship and Immigration Minister, have refused to implement this motion. Instead, the minority Conservative Government of Canada continues to deport war resisters, including the recent order that Kimberly Rivera and her family leave Canada by March 26, 2009, or face deportation.

Kimberly Rivera was the first woman U.S. soldier to seek refuge in Canada. She was deployed to Iraq and, while home on a leave, decided she could no longer participate in what she considered to be an illegal war. As a result, she came to Canada with her husband and two young children in January 2007, and their family was further blessed with a daughter born here in November 2008.

Although the Riveras had requested that their deportation date be postponed until June so the children can complete their school year, the Immigration Department has decided to ignore this plea. They have also refused to see the impact that sending Ms. Rivera back to the United States, where she will face certain imprisonment, will have on her husband and children. As a mother myself, I know it took incredible courage for Ms. Rivera to choose this path as the best option for her family. I would hope, as Canadians, we honour that courage by following the will of Parliament and allowing her to stay.

Sincerely,

Tracey Braun

cc: The Right Hon. Stephen Harper, pm@pm.gc.ca
The Hon. Jim Prentice (MP, Calgary Centre-North), Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca
Maurizio Bevilacqua (Liberal party immigration critic), BevilM@parl.gc.ca
Olivia Chow (NDP immigration critic), chowo@parl.gc.ca
Thierry St-Cyr (Bloc Québécois immigration critic), StCyrT@parl.gc.ca

Follow up to the last post...

Did you know that one of Canada's leading scientists, Don MacIver was dropped from the climate change delegation? Jim Prentice (my "second-favourite" MP, y'all know who my "first-favourite" is, right?) says that it was a cost-cutting measure.

All this tries to make sense... but the article also says that MacIver's costs were to be covered by the World Meteorological Organization"as part of his role as the chair of the organizing committee" and not by Canada. Now, MacIvor likely would have been drawing a salary during the conference, so I guess that money is better spent doing... something else that scientists do. Because we'd hate to have the scientists COMMUNICATING with one another as they try to get us out of this mess we've made.

Oh, yeah, it is the full moon...

How else could you explain the troll-full reactions to this article on Canada's role at the UN Climate Change talks in Poland? Reactions like:

Canada stands proud, sovereign, free, and under God.

Harper has led Canada into a position of proud global leadership. In light of this new strength, we no longer need to be concerned with "disappointed" environmental socialists and those countries that adhere to a flawed global warming fear tactic!

Canada can unite free and proud on its own terms! God bless Canada.

Not that I'm Christian or anything, but wasn't there something about Adam and stewardship in that Bible of yours?

Or this:

Do the foreigners pay tax here? No? Then what they think or say doesn't mean JACK! The next time the decadent Europeans decide to have a war, we should stay home. Say, don't they still owe us for winning WWII for them? What short memories these guys have. Must be all the wine and creamy sauces...

Mmmhmm. There must be a variation of Godwin's Law here somewhere....

Oh, and Minister Prentice? When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told you that Canada has played an important role "historically" in international affairs, I think you should take some time to reflect on what "historically" actually means and why it's not necessarily a good thing.

OK, so it's been a while...

... but at least I still remembered my password!

Yes, life got busy for a while. Anyone who knows me knows what's been happening. The rest of you can make something up - use your imaginations!

My jonesing for website development is currently being satisfied at www.bowcliffseniors.org, where I've been the Executive Director since last October. I've also become addicted to Facebook along with half of my former high school. (Mostly they find me through my sister, who was way more social than I was during that period in our lives.)

I'm starting my next-to-last class at MRC tonight, which should take up even more of my time, which has become even more constrained since the single-mom thing started in March.

Oh, and I'm in the news today:

Anders' absence angers seniors

This 'Bart' never punished

And to think moving from the violence against women sector to the seniors sector would be less political!

First Mourn...

Thanks "Guys"

Calgary's aldermen debated and defeated a motion today today to change the title from alderman to councillor. I wonder what Nellie McClung would think?

Quick News Post

Malalai Joya Visits Canada

Read the Hansard excerpt to get the full irony of the moment.

Quick News Post

The Canadian Press: U.S. peace activist detained at Ottawa airport en route to meet MPs

Yes, because lists make us so much safer.

What do you do when you don't have a candidate to vote for?

Calgary Municipal Elections are being held this coming Monday (October 15). I've got my alderperson (yes, I know "we" in Calgary use "alderman" but this will add to my argument in a minute) and school board candidates picked out, and I thought I had a handle on who was getting my mayoral vote. The three front runner are incumbent Dave Bronconnier, Alnoor Kassam and Jeremy Zhao. All three have good and bad things going for them, as is usual with any candidate.

Bronconnier (nemesis of my sweetie) really dropped the ball this week at the Mayoralty Debate when he tried to distance himself from a Tourism Calgary campaign aimed at gay and lesbians. Kassam, meanwhile, received a lot of media coverage when he tried to hike rents 400% this February. So, being me, I looked to the third choice, Jeremy Zhao. And, being me, I went to read his blog, where I found his post on the other candidates. And, being me, this caught my eye:

"Elizabeth Fielding: Elizabeth is a very sincere woman, and a lot of what she has to say comes from her experiences and her passion to take care of others. It is definitely encouraging to see a female run, because you add another perspective into this race. I believe with your circumstance as a mother, you represent the best of parents and the best of how you could still devote time to the campaign while taking care of your family."

Wow. Just, um, wow. I'd say more, but I've got some cookies to bake.

Quick News Post - Women in Burma

Heart at Women's Space/The Margins re-posted information about the repression of women in Burma - a report released by the Karen Human Rights Group.

Quick News Post

Amnesty International has links to a variety of sources on ongoing events in Burma/Myanmar and a link for people to take action. Go! Do Something! Be the Change!

Ongoing Protests

Burmese military fires on protesters, arrests monks
I find it interesting that the CBC has now started to use "Burma" as opposed to "Myanmar" in its reports. I heard someone mention that Canada had never acknowledged the name change on their World At 6 radio show last night and wondered if they would make the change.

'Death to Canada,' outraged Afghans chant

Although Canadian authorities claim our forces were not in the area, and the protesters were more concerned with American forces, this is the headline we get. Get up on the sensational-y side of the bed this morning?

People Power in Myanmar

Update on the protests in Myanmar: Rein in monks or military will 'take action. The estimates from Monday's protests range from 30,000 to 100,000. The monks, meanwhile, have vowed to continue the marches until they've "wiped the military dictatorship from the land".

The Power of the People Won't Stop

Buddhist monks in Myanmar are holding peaceful protest marches against the government, who are reluctant to act against them. Today as they walked, police let them through a roadblock and they were able to stop and pray in from of Aung San Suu Kyi's house. People in Myanmar are joining in the protests alongside the monks, especially as the government is unsure how to react to them.

Funding Feminism

The National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) announced yesterday that it was "...being forced to close its office, lay off its staff, and cease major consultations and advocacy on women's legal issues as an outcome of the Harper government's devastating changes to the mandate of Status of Women Canada." NAWL is encouraging people to write letters and are fundraising to re-open in 2008.

The cuts to Status of Women Canada have prevented women's organizations from accessing funds for advocacy or research. Effectively, we're to continue helping "deserving, victimized women" (i.e. serve the patriarchy) and not change the system to make it equal for all (i.e smash the patriarchy).

Funding feminism is such a complex web. Many people say that the government should not be funding those who work against it, yet the government has abandoned all pretense of working for women. By taking up the banner, we are at risk of allowing the government to continue to ignore us, but we can do nothing less than fight for change. By asking for money to do that work, we get caught up in a system that is designed to keep us from making change. And some organizations do remove themselves from the system, trying to exist through funding directly from women, which leads to instability and burnout and all the problems that any one of us who has ever wondering where the rent is going to come from can relate to - because the women who need change most are the women who have the least.

Now we have lost another voice for change, another ally in the struggle. And I would shout "No More!" but I know that this is not the reality. The dark night is long and hard and painful, and it's not going to end tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that. But it is going to end. It has to end. Wil sha.

Thank you Minitrue*

A request by Iran's president to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site next week has been turned down by police and blasted by a U.S. diplomat as an attempt to turn Ground Zero into a "photo op." ... White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said a visit to Ground Zero "is a matter for the City of New York, but it seems more than odd that the president of a country that is a state sponsor of terror would visit Ground Zero."

Iranian president banned from laying wreath at Ground Zero

*Ministry of Truth, Nineteen Eighty-Four

Wishing and Hoping and Hoping and Wishing

“We fear, sadly, that this may be the first real return to the Left by a government we thought had been moving to the Right,” he said, adding elsewhere that Alberta has, in fact, “gone socialist on us again.” U.S. market pundit flees 'socialist' Alberta

Again?

(Yes, yes, I know... catch up here and here.)

Police association defies decal directive

I already had an issue when the Calgary Police Services decided to have cops and cars helping to stop motorists and sell the ribbons. So what do we do when the police decide that they are a law unto themselves?

Will You Pass This Test?

Sometimes other people need to rant too. This was submitted by Linda Lannigan on September 4, 2007 - 06:46 - to Connecting and Sharing the Social Movement and I'm passing it on as requested.

You know what I can't stand? There are too many people complaining to each other about the problems in our society. How it's too hard to make ends meet these days ... How many of those people actually do something about it? They sit at the computer and send Jokes and Quizzes and yet they can't seem to Sign-an Online Campaign that is actually going to change the world!

As Canadians we sit back and take it! Why? Are you afraid someone will take all of your stuff away? They can't penalize you for your opinion! Be Good little people and say nothing! Is that what we are taught as Canadians! Let them Walk All Over Us! We Have a Say! We Have Choices! The Government is put into power through US! Sending a letter to the government won't result in anything accept CHANGE!!! Are you the one that is turning a Blind Eye! There are people DYING! There are HOMELESS PEOPLE! Do you think they chose that life!!!

We are not asking for your Money! Just your Voice to be added with the Millions of others across the world who are screaming through their computers! How easy is that! CHANGE IS BEING MADE!, but it's not enough! We need Everyone! If you believe it won't make a difference, It Won't Because YOU Won't HELP! Don't Be The Reason For People DYING!!

How can you complain if you don't do something about it! How can you sleep at night if you know you can make a difference and choose not to! http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/

READ THE MAKE POVERTY HISTORY PLATFORM! IT'S WORKING! WE NEED YOUR VOICE! Sign the ONLINE Campaign and Let's Make Poverty History.

If you think I'm annoying, How do you think the government feels about Millions of people just like me WHO WON'T GIVE UP!

Deja Vu Redux

Yes, yes, I know I blogged about this already... But I came across something yesterday and wanted to post the link to this item, ACTION ALERT - Say NO to "Support our Troops" decals, because it says all the things I would say if I could stop the rage-y feelings that rise whenever a certain alderperson starts talking....

Oh, and Calgarians, don't forget to VOTE on October 15!

Quick News Post

How incredibly frustrating...

Canada to vote against UN declaration on native rights

If we're following the United States in their ongoing opposition to the United Nations, and we're going to become the 51st state, could someone tell me now so I can stop worrying about my passport application? Thanks.

Wearing Buttons May Indeed Be Enough

Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., president of the Hip Hop Caucus, was attacked by six capitol police today, when he was stopped from entering the Cannon Caucus Room on Capitol Hill (for the Petraeus Hearing) because he was wearing a button that said "I LOVE THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ". He’s in a cast (with a broken leg) and he’s being arraigned for assaulting an officer and disorderly conduct.

read more digg story

"Time to Become Pre-Emptive Peacemakers"

If we want peace and security, we must address the causes of war.

Sometimes Deja Vu isn't a Good Thing

(If you're not from Calgary, feel free to ignore the following rant.)

I am so sick of the Decal Debate. Is it ever going to end? A clue: no.*

Why aren't we dealing with the real issues facing Calgary - homelessness and violence come to mind. (The 92-year-old woman lives a block from us.)

Perhaps a certain alderperson should watch some more television?

*Obligatory geek reference here.

No Fares?

The first of a five-part series, 17 Reasons (or More) to Stop Charging People to Ride the Bus looks quite interesting. (Actually, I've been referred to The Tyee more and more in recent days. I'm thinking I need to spend some time browsing!)

I don't know what it would take to make such a move in car-happy Calgary. Even though the parking fees keep increasing, and the construction makes driving a nightmare, people continue to drive in large numbers. I think the author's assessment, that a plan would need to be in place to address other factors before dropping fares, is a fair one. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Another Victim of the Alberta Advantage

The Lubicon Cree are a First Nations band, located in Northern Alberta, that have been fighting over land claims for decades. Their main concern is how the oil and gas development has negatively impacted their way of life, culture and health.

As part of the National Day of Action, they and their supporters rallied at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton, Alberta. Video Clips from the June 29 Demonstration at the Alberta Legislature are now available on their website.

Sheep, in More Ways Than One

It turns out that you can “throw sheep” at as many people as you want, but sending a message to twenty or so of your friends about an organized effort by fundamentalists to promote controls on the majority of people in this country is not acceptable. Read More

I've been trying to stay away from commenting on The Great Canadian Wishlist experiment until it was over, but I've given up. It has been a frustrating mess, and it's not getting any better. There have been accounts disabled for weird reasons and others left alone after being reported; there have been fights back and forth with no end in sight; and, quite frankly, I have no interest in living in a Canada if the right-wing-nuts get their way.

I'm not pulling my support from the wishes (because I believe that the creators of said wishes made them honestly), but I am going back to using Facebook as it should be used.....

Update: Oumou Toure allowed to remain in Canada

Oumou Toure will be allowed to remain in Canada. She had been facing deportation and separation from her daughter, who would have been subjected to FGM if she had travelled with her mother to Guinea.

Conference Crashing for Gaia

The Gas and Oil Exposition in Calgary was gate-crashed by the Yes Men, the combination theatre group and political activists. They pulled off an impressive con, pretending to be representatives from the NPC and Exxon. Andy Bichlbaum gave a talk, posing as Shepard Wolff of the NPC, where he admitted that the Earth is heading towards “huge global calamities”. On the bright side, he suggested, “the oil industry could "keep fuel flowing" by transforming the billions of people who die into oil.”

CFCN is reporting that attendees had paid $50 each to hear the speech, and CBC has listed its article under "Diversions" but not on its Calgary news site. There's a clip about the incident (including a little bit of the speech) at TheEnergyNews.com (June 15 edition, you have to get about three minutes into the video).

EDIT: Wired News is reporting that attendees paid $45 each for the keynote lunch event, and that the Yes Men were issued a $287 fine for trespassing. There is also more information and links at the Vivoleum website.

Canada's No-Fly List

It's not that anybody fears a frustrated terrorist will launch an attack on the airport ticket line, Duguay told the inquiry in Ottawa. It's simply that "an unruly situation" could develop if people are told they can't fly because their names are on the list. Read More

Rabble.ca has a link to a great article on this by Faisal Kutty at CounterPunch. My favorite line? "Indeed, common sense should make us wonder who someone can be too guilty to fly and yet be too innocent to be charged." I think common sense is a misnomer these days....

A Price to Pay for Alternative Fuels

His reward from a state that heavily promotes alternative fuels: a $1,000 fine last month for not paying motor fuel taxes. He's been told to expect another $1,000 fine from the federal government. And to legally use veggie oil, state officials told him, he would have to first post a $2,500 bond. Read More

In Alberta, we pay 19¢ gas tax (10¢ federal, 9¢ provincial) per litre; the federal tax goes to no specific purpose while the provincial supposedly goes to road construction. (And there is enough of it going on in Calgary!) I wonder how long before the provincial government starts to look at taxing alternative fuel vehicles?

Antiwar activists target Quebec soldiers with letters

About 3,000 letters sent by a coalition of Quebec-based antiwar groups are expected to start arriving on Monday at the base, home to the Royal 22nd Regiment, better known as the Van Doos. Read More

This is not the greatest article, but the only one I could find. (And even it was buried on the local Montreal page.) I only knew to look for it because I caught the tail end of an interview with one of the members on CTV this morning.

The text of the letter is available online, as is more information about the group involved. I am impressed that they quote the following from RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan):

The corrupt and mafia government of Mr. Karzai and its international guardians, are playing shamelessly with the intolerable suffering of Afghan women and misuse it as their propaganda tool for deceiving the people of the world. They have placed some women into official posts in the government who are favored by the warlords and then proclaim it as symbol of "women's liberation" in the country.” [RAWA Statement on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2007, http://www.rawa.org/]

In related news, there is a call for sit-ins in support of Malalai Joya by Coordinamento Italiano Sostegno Donne Afghane (an Italian group) on June 21 (one month since she was removed from Parliament). I'll post more news as I get it.

On Choices

Zakia Zaki, Afghan journalist, Radio Peace, was gunnded down June 6, 2007, in front of her 8-year-old son. This video, created by the NGO Aina, includes Zaki interviewing Malalia Joya, who was suspended from the Afghan Parliament on May 21, 2007, after openly criticizing other members. (More information about Joya can be found at www.malaliajoya.com.)

As for the the provincial governor's comment that the motive for the shooting were not immediately known... well, RAWA reprts that she was "threatened recently by some factional commanders in her area to shut down the station or face death".

Standing at the door of my 8-year-old son's room, a world away from her 8-year-old son, I would say that it was never really a choice. Namaste.

QNP (Quick News Post)

This week, the minister responsible for Status of Women Canada, Bev Oda, released the new funding mandate for the Women’s Program. Despite opposition from women’s groups, the new mandate severely restricts women’s organizations and completely ignores the recommendations of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. Read More

QNP (Quick News Post)

Breaking news from the CBC:

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, ex-wife of former South African lader Nelson Mandela, has been denied entry to Canada. Read More

Canadian Child at Risk of Genital Mutilation

The United Church of Canada is calling on Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley to intervene the case of Oumou Toure, who is facing deportation this week. Toure's daughter, who was born ten days after Toure's inital claim was rejected, is at risk of FGM if they are deported to Guinea. There has been no response to the letters from the minister's office as of yet. Toure may have to leave her children behind in Canada as wards of the state to keep them safe unless a Stay of Removal is granted.

Afternoons and Coffee Spoons

Georgie Binks at the CBC thinks that Harper might be the best thing that could have happened to the Canadian women's movement.

Personally, I get frustrated by the idea that we need "something" to jump start feminism in Canada for a number of reasons, including:

1. Last time I checked, a lot of us were still feminists, but we've been overwhelmed with the daily struggles (including poverty, underemployment, violence and just keeping our heads above water) to be able to deal with any of the systemic issues - and now we're going to be even more overwhelmed (over-overwhelmed?) trying to hold back the sea with a spoon.
2. The big surge of leftism that was supposed to happen when Bush got elected still hasn't materialized. Still waiting, folks. And I was reading a listserv post this morning that was talking about the Democrats becoming more right-wing to gain support.
3. We're not going to get the institutional/financial support from government (or anywhere else, to be honest) as long as a right-wing-neo-con agenda is all the rage, and without that support we have to struggle even harder to make changes happen. And we need that support to create good feminist advocacy institutions. We've lost ours in Alberta; ask me sometime how we manage to get things done. AD HOC should not be a way of life, people!
4. Sometimes good governments do good things, even for feminists, like appoint good judges and support changes that help women. Even when we're not advocating for them. Honest. I've read about it.

Maybe I'm wrong and more women will appear to help move the struggle along. Here's hoping.

Rounding Third...

13 Reasons Why Pagans Should Vote

Voting is an ancient Pagan tradition. Apathy, on the other hand, is a modern invention – it suits those in power very well indeed, but it disempowers you!

Coalition for Women's Equality

"From child care to anti-violence initiatives, women directly
bear the brunt of most policy decisions...."

Or you can come hang out at rabble.ca and count down the minutes with the rest of left-wing Canada. :-)