canadianfeminism

[canadianfeminism]

Illegal border crossing into Canada on Roxham Rd

[canadianfeminism]

I don't want to be That person but op of that menstrual cup post is a well known TERF. You don't have to delete the post or anything because it's good info bit just letting you know for the future.

Oh wow. Thanks for telling me! I didn’t even notice. I’m going to keep the post up because I think the information could benefit a lot of people.

However, I would like to make it completely clear that this blog supports trans people and does NOT align itself with TERFs. I am cis and if I ever reblog something harmful or offensive please let me know (that goes for everyone).

I am also open to tagging/warning requests. I try my best to add content warnings but I’m sure I miss stuff.

Thanks again for letting me know!

[canadianfeminism]

FREE MENSTRUAL CUPS!

Rebel Kate hands out free menstrual cups to anyone who orders from them, all you have to do is pay for the shipping! I got mine today and I’m super happy with it, 10/10 will recommend!

Here’s a link! https://rebelkate.com/collections/menstrual-cups/products/your-free-menstrual-cup

Quote from their website: “We are big believers in making the switch to the #CupLife but we also understand that many women are hesitant to make the jump because most cups start at around $30-40. There are cheaper cups available, but these are often called “China cheapies” and don’t have FDA approval, despite what they may claim. Enter Rebel Kate!“

[canadianfeminism]

Tomorrow is International Women’s Day, a day when women worldwide are celebrated for their achievements and where we honour how much further we have to go until women get what’s theirs. Basically, it’s pretty much the only day of the year that belongs to women. For this year’s occasion, the Women’s March organizers are urging women to go on strike everywhere so the world can experience what a day without women would mean and also show just how much women contribute to a world that treats them like shit.

But you know who we should really be focusing on this International Women’s Day? Men. They do so much to help us out. Without “men” the word “women” wouldn’t even exist, you know. Does that sound right? Oh well, our weirdo of a Canadian first lady Sophie Grégoire Trudeau seems to think so!

In an Instagram post of her and husband Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holding hands—gazing at each other lovingly and dressed as though they just robbed a Mountain Equipment Co-op—Grégoire Trudeau suggests we should spend tomorrow (again, I must press—this is the only day women have all year) giving it up for the boys!

The caption written in both of Canada’s official languages for maximum misguidance begins with a promising, “Let’s ignite some change!” But it gets it all wrong almost instantly after by saying, “as we mark International Women’s Day, let’s celebrate the boys and men in our lives who encourage us to be who we truly are.” Apparently we should also be celebrating men who do the bare minimum of treating “girls and women with respect.”

To celebrate International (Wo)Men’s Day, she suggests holding hands with your male ally  (we’ve all got one!!) and share it on social media using a hashtag she literally made up called #TomorrowInHand, because without men—there would be no feminism!

Continue Reading

UGH

[canadianfeminism]

for all my canadian gardening peeps

there’s this rlly great thing honey nut cheerios is doing where they’ll send you a mix of 19 different types of wildflower seeds for free as part of their bring back the bees campaign, absolutely free. 

if you have any space to garden, whether it’s an actual garden or just some pots on a balcony, please do consider this source for some beautiful summer flowers that will also make bees very happy.

[canadianfeminism]

Some people say: “Pam you are too angry” or “The AFN isn’t complaining, why should you?” Others say: “Pam, you have to admit that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made better promises on First Nation issues than former Prime Minister Harper” and still others say “But Minister Bennett is so nice?” They are all right. I am angry; National Chief Bellegarde looks exceptionally happy these days; Trudeau did make better promises than Harper; and having met Bennett on several occasion, I can say she seems to be a super nice person. Yet, I sometimes work in The Pas, Manitoba where Helen Betty Osbourne was kidnapped and raped, yet nothing has been done to stop the numbers of disappeared and murdered Indigenous women and girls. I am  often woken up in the middle of the night with phone calls or texts about someone’s child having committed suicide or community members who have died in a fire or frozen to death outside. The most recent hand-written letter I received was from an Indigenous man residing in prison who was hurting deeply because his mother had been raped by an RCMP officer and nothing was ever done about it. Prior to that, I received a desperate request for help from an Indigenous mother who was frantic because Child and Family Services was taking her children away because she was poor.  I receive calls from people who are trying their hardest to get to university, but there is no funding for them, so they give up. And an email I received this week was from a Rape Crisis shelter who asked me to keep advocating on behalf of Indigenous women and girls despite how hostile the environment. So, I admit that I am angry and I look angry and I sound angry. The pre-mature deaths and suffering of my First Nations brothers and sisters is nothing short of a national crisis. The lack of housing, proper schools, adequate health care, education, and child and family supports; along with the lack of basics like food and clean water,  have been called labelled as a “crisis” “grave” “discriminatory” and “inequitable” not just by First Nations and advocates, but also by former Prime Ministers, Supreme Court of Canada justices, the Auditor General for Canada, the Office of the Correctional Investigator, the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the United Nations. So why has little been done to address the crisis? Despite all the promises from Trudeau, where is the action? Instead of action, we see daily doses of misinformation at best and lies at worst. Whatever you choose to call it, it’s not the truth and herein lies the problem with Canada’s new obsession with reconciliation. We can’t ever get to reconciliation, no matter how it’s defined, until we find a way to get to the truth and share it and take responsibility for it. Canada is killing our people with its deeply ingrained racism towards to First Nations. If a, affluent neighborhood in Montreal had contaminated water which was making everyone sick, federal and provincial resources would instantly be brought to bear to remedy the situation. If a cozy suburb of Toronto developed the world’s highest suicide rate, massive amounts of financial and human resources would be dedicated to remedying the crisis. If 50% of the Members of Parliament’s children were stolen from them and put into foster care due to lack of funding for child and family services, watch how fast they’d reallocate funds from Canada’s 150th to get their kids back. So, why then does the government not act to do this when it involves First Nations? Why does the response always follow the same racist pattern: (1) DENY the problem: This is when the government either says that there is no crisis or that it is not as bad as the media or First Nations are saying it is. Then comes the inevitable Access to Information request which shows that the government was either lying or misinforming and they have to admit there may be a problem. (2) DEFER the problem: This is when the government says they will study the issue, even if it has been studied exhaustively and well-documented in the research. This is when they will buy the media silence of National Aboriginal Organizations like the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) by offering them some sort of project-based funding to meet about the issue, set up tables, or do policy papers on the subject. (3) DEFLECT the problem: At this stage, the problem can’t be denied any longer, so the government will blame previous governments, blame First Nations themselves or make excuses as to why the problem can’t be dealt with right now, like budgetary limitations or that changes can’t be made overnight. The most common response at this stage is: “We can’t just throw money at the problem” because (a) First Nations leaders are corrupt (Harper) or (b) First Nations have no capacity to address the issue (Trudeau). The end result is that all of the problems get worse and our people die. The government response is usually a Tweet or speaking point for the media which says: “Our hearts go out to the community” or “We are sorry for your loss” and then everyone goes back to their offices to plan Canada’s 150th birthday. Every day that this government fails to take urgent action says that there is no relationship less important to Trudeau than the one with Indigenous peoples. The underlying message is that there is no life worth less in Canada, than the life of an Indigenous person. Until we accept that this is current government policy and force change, then it doesn’t matter which party is elected - new or old, racism will continue to kill our people. Quick Facts: 4% of Canadian population 10x more likely to die in a fire 5-10x more likely to commit suicide Some jails are 80-100% Indigenous 50% of all kids in care are Indigenous More likely to go murdered or missing 120+ First Nations without clean water #racismkills

[canadianfeminism]

Dozens of children who are Canadian citizens have been held in immigration detention centres in conditions that can cause physical and psychological harm, according to a new report.

The study, called “Invisible Citizens: Canadian Children in Immigration Detention,” was produced by the International Human Rights Program at the University of Toronto’s faculty of law and released today during a news conference on Parliament Hill.

It found the best interests of the children were not adequately accounted for at the time of the arrest and detention of the mothers, and that the fundamental rights of the children were violated.

The report calls on the government to find better alternatives, including community housing, and warns that Canada’s international reputation is at stake. […]

[canadianfeminism]

A Winnipeg centre that welcomes and houses newcomers is putting out a public call for help after getting another surge of asylum-seekers over the weekend.

Welcome Place, a temporary home for newcomers in Winnipeg, is full and has no more rooms for refugee claimants who may still be coming to the city Sunday.

21 asylum seekers crossed into Manitoba Saturday: reeve

22 refugees entered Manitoba near Emerson border over the weekend

Many Somalis in Minnesota ‘willing to take the risk’ to sneak into Canada

“That’s a big concern,” said Rita Chahal, the executive director of the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council.

At least 21 asylum-seekers were caught by RCMP walking into Manitoba during the wee hours Saturday morning.

The surge is the latest in a trend of refugee claimants fleeing on foot to Manitoba from the United States. Chahal said she’s worried what will happen if more asylum seekers show up at Welcome Place.

“The numbers, if they keep growing, I don’t have the financial resources to hire more staff,” she said Sunday.

Chahal said the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council could use more donations or help from other agencies to find places for refugees to stay temporarily.

Continue Reading.

[canadianfeminism]

Toronto police say they are reviewing a video apparently showing an officer stunning someone with a Taser — and two cops telling the person filming they would seize his cellphone.

Waseem Khan was walking near Ryerson University Tuesday when he saw the incident unfold, according to the Toronto Star. The video he shot, which was shared by CityNews, shows a group of officers holding a suspect down on a sidewalk.

“He’s down and they Tased him!” Khan says.

Moments later, one of the officers asks Khan to move back if he’s going to be a witness.

“I’m not obstructing your arrest,” Khan replies and continues filming.

“Get that guy out of my face, please,“ the officer says moments later as he points at Khan.

Later, two officers come up to him and threaten to seize his phone if he chooses to be a witness.

Police in Canada do not have the authority to do this. As long as someone is not obstructing police from doing their job, witnesses have the right to photograph an officer doing their job in public. […]

[canadianfeminism]

postmedia’s vulture-capitalist owners continue their strategy of strangling the profit out of canadian media

Some 20 jobs have been cut at TV stations and newspapers in northern Ontario in recent weeks.

According to the unions representing workers, at least 10 people at Postmedia newspapers in the northeast have been laid off or taken buyouts and another 10 have taken buyouts at CTV Northern Ontario.

Postmedia and Bell Media, the parent company of CTV, would only confirm that some employees in the region have taken buyouts.

Martin O'Hanlon, the national president of the CWA Canada union, said six jobs are being cut at the North Bay Nugget, three at the Sudbury Star and at least one at the Sault Star.

He said there likely could also be positions shed at some of the Postmedia papers in the northeast that don’t have union representation and he said his members are also bracing for more possible layoffs.

“Getting information out of Postmedia is like pulling teeth. We still expect there could be more layoffs at other papers, but we just don’t know. And to be honest with you, I don’t think they know 100 per cent,” he said.

O'Hanlon said while the job loss numbers are small compared to other industries, the cutting of journalists can have a big impact on a community.

“How the hell can you have four people covering a city? It doesn’t make any sense. There’s no way you’re the guardian of democracy that you’re supposed to be,” said O'Hanlon, who would like to see newspapers sold to non-profit community ownership groups. […]

[canadianfeminism]

What I know is this — had the shooter actually been a Muslim who walked into a quaint little Baptist church full of white folk singing Amazing Grace, not only would Trump be genuinely outraged right now, the entire conservative machine would be mobilizing against what they call radical Islam. It appears that radical whiteness simply does not bother them. But you know, and I know, that had this shooter been a Muslim, who killed white Christians, tens of millions of people all over the world would’ve changed their profile picture to the Canadian flag. We’d be hearing harrowing tales of the survivors and seeing emotional reflections on those who lost their lives. The coverage would be non-stop. That’s damn sure not our reality right now though. A Muslim life taken by a white bigot clearly does not matter as it would if the roles were reversed. And that’s just gross. It gets to the root of what I really think happened here — now that conservatives, including Donald Trump, learned that the shooter was a white conservative, they aren’t outraged, because they really don’t mind what he did.

Shaun King: The world should be grieving over Canadian mosque shooting (via allthecanadianpolitics)

[canadianfeminism]

Equipped with a pressure hose and squeegee, Corey Fleischer traverses the province of Quebec erasing swastikas and anti-Muslim slurs. As the owner of a graffiti removal business based in Montreal, the 36-year-old commonly sees incendiary slogans like, “Stop Islam” and “Only the white matters.” When police don’t respond, Fleischer gets calls to wash away the offending words. “This is something that I’ve been screaming about at the top of my lungs for years,” he says, noting one incident in December of more than 20 swastikas on a building in Laval. “If that’s not [hateful activity] that the police should be focusing on, then I don’t know what is.”

What Fleischer read as danger signs have for years been dismissed by Quebec’s political leaders and public officials as the work of a lunatic fringe—an ugly nuisance with scant links to Quebec’s efforts to protect its values and identity. But as the scenes of anguish poured in from Ste-Foy, Que.—fatherless children in tears; the blood-spattered floor of a well-attended mosque—more than a few were seized by doubts. The man suspected of shooting up the Centre Culturel Islamique had voiced support, after all, for politicians who’ve toyed with far-right rhetoric in the name of preserving values, before he embarked on a rampage that killed six and wounded 19. And while the connection between dog-whistle politics and the workings of a murderous mind may never be proven, some in positions of influence seemed eager to try. “Freedom of speech has consequences, good ones and bad ones,” said Philippe Couillard, Quebec’s Liberal premier. “Words can hurt. Words can be knives slashing at people’s consciousness.”

[...]

[canadianfeminism]

HALIFAX — A human rights board has determined a Nova Scotia man's prescribed medical marijuana must be covered by his employee insurance plan, a ruling that advocates say will likely have impact nationwide.

Gordon "Wayne'' Skinner, of Head of Chezzetcook, suffers from chronic pain following an on-the-job motor vehicle accident, and argued that he faced discrimination when he was denied coverage.

In a decision Thursday, inquiry board chair Benjamin Perryman concluded that since medical marijuana requires a prescription by law, it doesn't fall within the exclusions of Skinner's insurance plan.

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[canadianfeminism]

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The girl is reportedly now in a different school where she's had no issues. But Jones said she has been traumatized by being handcuffed.

"Whenever she hears a siren she clings to her mother," he said, adding when she sees a cop car on the road, "She tells her mom to slow down the car because she's afraid her mom will get arrested."

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