Social Justice Newletter, Summer/Fall 2016

NEWSLETTER IN THIS ISSUE

SUMMER/FALL 2016

Stolen Lives: Calling Back Our Spirits

Stolen Lives: Calling Back Our Spirits

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Indigenous environmental justice rights—take action!

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Looking beyond appearances and finding hope

by Carol Arnold, Status of Women Action Group, Committee for Action on Social Justice

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Searching for a just peace in the Middle East

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Japanese Internment and the Hastings Park Project

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Spider webs unite for the BCTF

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Tri-National Conference for Public Education Defense

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Non-sexist and inclusive pedagogy: A weekend of solidarity 16 Ed May Grant Report: Helping youth “pay it forward”

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Ed May Grant Report: Ross Road Readers’ Club Part 2: Reading and weeding

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Ed May Grant Report: Revealing integrity through the storytelling of youth

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Ed May Grant Report: Students engaged in climate justice

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Ed May Grant Report: Welcome to Canada

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Ed May Grant Report: The HEART of Reconciliation

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Intersectionality and environmental justice

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The fable of Finny (or epigenetics and climate change)

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Couch Fest: An environmental justice film festival

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When we get it right... it feels pretty good

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Torn Rainbow, 2011–15

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Pride flag flies proudly

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Pride speak

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Accepting “they” as a singular pronoun: Writing gender-neutral report cards

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CASJ 35 Domestic violence in the workplace 36

nanny has her passport confiscated by her employer. A young woman is held against her will and told her dog will have its legs broken if she refuses to sell herself for sex and turn the profits over to her “owner.”

Aboriginal youth are given drugs, food, and a place to stay with the belief that they’ve found a new “friend” or “boyfriend.” Then the demands come for paying “the bill” by exploiting themselves for sex or peddling drugs in an effort to “pay back the debt.”

What all victims of trafficking have in common is vulnerability. They are young, isolated, homeless, living in poverty, or have “illegal” status, which makes them subject to blackmail and easily coerced and trapped into a life of bondage.

This is some of what teachers, social workers, university students, and Aboriginal counsellors learned from the experts in the field of human trafficking. On April 23, 2016, Stolen Lives: Calling Back Our Spirits took place, a workshop devoted to examining the growing problem of human trafficking and organized by the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) in collaboration with Melissa Hyland, Registered Social Worker and Indigenous human-trafficking advocate and expert. The workshop was the third of its kind sponsored by the Ministry of Justice’s Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons (OCTIP), through the use of Civil Forfeiture Office (CFO) grant funds. Previous workshops were held in Prince George and Surrey for Aboriginal educators and support workers around the province.

This year’s training event was held at Vancouver Island University (VIU) in Nanaimo in the beautiful Shqàpthut: A Gathering Place, a centre where services for Aboriginal students are provided on the VIU campus. It drew participants from several communities across the island, including teachers, social workers, education support staff, community counsellors, and transition housing staff.

The common concern was the luring and entrapment of young Aboriginal women and youth for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Human trafficking also often involves forced labour of youth and the exploitation of vulnerable immigrants. The statistics around the growing numbers held captive in, as described by the RCMP, this “modern slavery” are British Columbia Teachers’ Federation • 100–550 West 6th Avenue • Vancouver, BC V5Z 4P2

shocking—and growing in Canada.

Concrete numbers and data are difficult to calculate because of the underground nature of this criminal activity.

A principle message of conference presenters was that Canada is far from immune—trafficking isn’t solely a scourge of developing countries. The conference was organized to spread awareness for those who work primarily with youth. Training included knowing how to read the signs of potential luring and grooming, and how to access and know what reporting mechanisms are in place. It was also emphasized that legislation be designed to support survivors of trafficking so that they are better able to access services and not fear for their lives as they try to escape their captors. A hotline (below) is set up for reporting suspected victims, and there is a provision in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act with sanctuary-like conditions to allay internationally trafficked persons’ concerns about being deported.

For support and referral to BC resources call tollfree 1-888-712-7974. This number is answered by VictimLinkBC staff trained in human trafficking indicators, and resources and supports for its victims.

If you suspect a person has been trafficked and is in immediate danger, call 911 or your local police.

The first presenter was Victor Porter from OCTIP. He began by defining what human trafficking is.

Canada is a signatory to the United 2

Victor Porter, from the Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons, was the workshop’s first presenter.

Nations’ Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, one of three documents know as the Palermo protocols, and defines trafficking in persons as follows:

• forced labour or services, • slavery or practices similar to slavery, • servitude, • or the removal of organs.

The act of recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons ... by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person ... for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum:

The OCTIP explains how to distinguish between international and domestic trafficking on its website:

• the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation,

In Canada, Aboriginal women and youth are uniquely vulnerable to trafficking for sexual exploitation due to factors including: • • • • •

The effects of colonization Residential school abuse Poverty Gender inequity Discrimination

This clearly identifies Aboriginal women and youth as the singleBCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

largest identifiable group vulnerable to domestic trafficking, which is potentially linked to the growing issue of Canada’s missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls.

The OCTIP’s website offers a free online course, Human Trafficking: Canada is Not Immune. This sixhour course examines in-depth the nature of domestic trafficking in BC in its Indigenous content.

It can be completed in modules or in one six-hour session. Once completed, a training certificate is available to participants. Of particular importance to teachers is the aim to “raise awareness and provide training and education about human trafficking in BC.” It is important to make this issue understood as the scope of this problem is far greater than many are aware. The course can be accessed at the following link: www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/octiptraining/

Why do teachers need this information?

Because this fast-growing criminal activity targets the vulnerable, schools need to begin raising awareness in elementary school about the ways youth can be lured and groomed into being sexually exploited. School counsellors need to become aware of which children and youth may be easily recruited and how they can support youth to develop resiliency and awareness in keeping themselves safe.

There are many techniques that are employed by traffickers— seemingly innocent forms of interest paid mostly to girls around the ages of 12–14. RCMP officers and social workers are also seeing an increase in young males being trafficked. Victims are

drawn from all classes of society, but today most come from poor and Aboriginal populations (the Aboriginal population in Canada is 4%, but 51% of known trafficked women and youth are Aboriginal).

As part of their “luring and grooming” techniques, recruiters offer youth items of value, such as purses, phones, tablets, or things that youth would not normally be able to afford. At a certain point the youth are asked to “pay back” the gifts or “go on dates” with the “Romeo” recruiters. Finally, they are blackmailed and entrapped by a variety of threats tailor-made for each targeted youth. The recruiters are cunning manipulators who know just how to ensnare the young and we need to make sure our students understand the danger signs in the kinds of attention traffickers pay to youth to trap them into a life of sexslavery and alienation from those who love and care for them.

Organizations that work with victims, families, and communities The conference brought together several presenters from organizations that work with victims of trafficking and they provided a broad perspective on service provisions needed to support victims of trafficking.

Melissa Hyland, workshop coorganizer and facilitator, social worker, educator, and Indigenous human-trafficking expert gave an overview of domestic trafficking and gang involvement. She showed how deeply organized crime is engaged in recruiting Aboriginal youth. Based in Victoria as a former OCTIP Aboriginal analyst, her social work brings her in contact with gang dynamics.

Because of government cuts

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

in funding to the Aboriginal position at OCTIP, Melissa has created an Indigenous-specific human-trafficking agency that responds to the needs of trafficked youth, creates awareness and provides training (such as the OCTIP training), and supports survivors of human trafficking to a life of recovery, restoration, and resiliency. The framework and lens Melissa works from employed as an Indigenous social worker, is based on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s work and how vulnerabilities are created in Aboriginal communities through the continuing impacts of the residential school era and colonization.

Kevin Lescisin spoke on behalf of the Children of the Streets Society (CSS), funded by the Department of Justice Canada and the Province of BC, and has been very active in its educational campaign since its launch in 2010. Their mission statement reads: Our mission is to take a proactive approach through public awareness, education and early intervention strategies to prevent the sexual exploitation of children and youth, while offering support to families. Our vision is a world where children and youth are safe and free from all forms of sexual exploitation.

Despite being busy meeting the demand for their workshops to schools, communities, and parent groups—with requests for almost every day of the year—Kevin made it clear that CSS will always find a way to provide a workshop to any group of teachers or parents who feel the need to inform themselves about how children are drawn into sexual exploitation and potential (pg 6)

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BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

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human trafficking. Through a similar CFO grant that made the BCTF workshop possible, CSS has created a parent toolkit that is available to every participant who takes an SOS Workshop.

Jassy Bhindra, the RCMP Human Trafficking Co-ordinator for BC, explained the challenges the RCMP have in identifying and prosecuting traffickers. She assured the participants that the RCMP is very engaged in convicting the criminals behind the captive exploitation of workers and sex-slavery practices.

She emphasized the importance of reporting suspected instances of trafficking. She also pointed out that instances of trafficking have been uncovered most often when investigating prostitution rings. These include escort services (services available 24/7, a sure

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indication of trafficking), massage parlours, and dating websites and apps like Plenty of Fish and Tinder. It’s important to note that prostitution’s illegality is how authorities discover trafficking rings. If prostitution is legalized, the identification of trafficked persons will be even more difficult.

As teachers, we need to pay attention to the ways our students can become victims of human trafficking. To become more fully informed please visit the websites of organizations (listed below) that participated in this conference and contact them for more resources, workshops, or to report concerns you have about individuals who may be traffickers hanging around your schools, local malls, or communities. No one agency can work exclusively on this

issue, but together we can create a safety network that protects our youth and promotes resiliency and awareness.

Children of the Street Society: www.childrenofthestreet.com Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons (OCTIP): 604-660-5199 or toll-free 24-hours at 1-888-712-7974 octip@gov.bc.ca RCMP Human Trafficking Co-ordinator: Jassy.Bindra@rcmpgrc.gc.ca or Melissa Hyland, RSW Resiliency Rising Consultants 250-507-8471 healing7rest@gmail.com The BCTF website has teaching resources that can be found at bctf.ca/SocialJustice. aspx?id=19760&libID=19768

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

Indigenous environmental justice rights―take action!

by Julie Johnston, Environmental Justice Action Group, Committee for Action on Social Justice

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n May 10, 2016, Canada fully adopted the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. That embarrassment is finally over. The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, said, “Today’s announcement that Canada is now a full supporter of the Declaration, without qualification, is an important step in the vital work of reconciliation. Adopting and implementing the Declaration means that we will be breathing life into Section 35 of Canada’s [1982] Constitution, which provides a full box of rights for Indigenous peoples.” (bit.ly/1U0NiOi) Then, on May 12, 2016, First Nations leaders from northern BC spoke at the UN in opposition to plans to build a liquefied natural gas plant in their ancestral territory, concerned that the 36-billion-dollar fossil fuel project poses a threat to wild salmon habitat at the mouth of the Skeena River. Algmxaa, Murray Smith, a House Leader of the Gitwilgyoots Tribe (one of the Nine Allied Tribes of Lax Kw’alaams), said, “We will not sell our salmon future for any price. We are not against development, but we are against this dangerous, irresponsible, foreign-owned, and illegal intrusion into our sacred homelands. We stand against this project for all the peoples of this world. We don’t want money, we want justice. We invite you to join our battle, to add your voices to our struggle to protect the only home we have ever had. We ask you to tell our Prime Minister to honour his commitments to our people, and that he can start right now by supporting us in our sacred duty to protect our home. The Sacred Tidewaters of our Salmon Nation must be protected for all Canadians.” (mwne.ws/1VAeynY) If you want to stand with our Indigenous land and ocean defenders, urge Prime Minister Trudeau to keep his commitments to the First Nations by allocating resources to allow their meaningful engagement and participation in the national energy strategy and accompanying federal climate action plan consultations: The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau Office of the Prime Minister 80 Wellington Street Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2 Fax: 613-941-6900

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

You can also read about It Takes Roots to Weather the Storm, a group of over 100 leaders and organizers from US and Canadian grassroots and Indigenous communities. They call themselves “Mother Earth’s red line,” and they represent frontline communities—the peoples living directly alongside fossil fuel pollution and extraction and overwhelmingly Indigenous, African, Latino, Asian, and Pacific-Islander peoples in working class, poor, and peasant communities in North America and around the world—in the fight for climate justice.

That’s because in climate disruption and extreme weather events, these are the people who are hit first and worst.

From their report: “The Paris Climate Agreement of December 2015 is a dangerous distraction that threatens all of us. Marked by the heavy influence of the fossil fuel industry, the deal reached at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) never mentions the need to curb extractive energy, and sets goals far below those needed to avert a global catastrophe. The agreement signed by 196 countries does acknowledge the global urgency of the climate crisis, and reflects the strength of the climate movement. But the accord ignores the roots of the crisis, and the very people who have the experience and determination to solve it.

“We are Mother Earth’s red line. We don’t have the luxury of settling for industry or politicians’ hype or half-measures. We know it takes roots to weather the storm and that’s why we are building a people’s climate movement rooted in our communities. We are the frontlines of the solution: keeping fossil fuels in the ground and transforming the economy with innovative, community-led solutions.”

Recommended reading It Takes Roots Delegation: ittakesroots.org Read their full report “We Are Mother Earth’s Red Line: Frontline Communities Lead the Climate Justice Fight Beyond the Paris Agreement”: bit.ly/1QlExIe “Will Canada Recognise Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Developing Countries Too?” by Aruna Dutt for the Inter Press Service (IPS): bit.ly/23ZJgab

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Looking beyond appearances and finding hope

By Gerry Chidiac, secondary teacher in Prince George. Originally printed in the Prince George Citizen: bit.ly/1X3eJcy

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he Pollyanna principle is the human tendency to remember pleasant times more accurately than unpleasant times. In discussing the current state of affairs between Israel and Palestine with a very close friend, I was accused of Pollyannaism when I noted that I saw signs of hope in the conflict. This caused me to reflect as to whether or not my friend’s statement was true.

I have been politically active since the 1980s and I have studied the evolution of human rights throughout history.

In doing so, I have seen patterns that repeat. Gandhi put it quite beautifully: “When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it—always.”

The situation in Palestine today has much in common with the situation in South Africa before the fall of apartheid.

We have a population armed to the teeth, justified by its government, oppressing a group of people that they see as a threat. Palestinians have fewer rights than Israelis and the territory that they have left is threatened under continued Israeli expansion. Israel is also given unquestioning support by many foreign governments. On the surface there appears to be little reason for hope.

The global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is supported by vocal groups within Israel, calling for a “boycott from within.” In other words, they are encouraging people to boycott and impose sanctions on their own country because of its violation of human rights. Journalists like Gideon Levy bravely speak out in the Israeli and global media and have developed a significant following. There are also groups like The Jewish Voice for Peace and Jews for Justice for Palestine springing up all over the world.

Those who work for human rights are eventually successful, despite how hopeless their situations appear.

Leaders like Gandhi, King, and Mandela seem to have been aware of this and they moved forward with unquestioning confidence. Regarding the Palestinian issue, Gideon Levy stated, “When you believe in what you do, you have no other choice.”

Knowing that a time of peace and justice is coming for the Palestinian people is not Pollyannaism: it is simply the inevitable truth.

If we look beyond appearances, however, we see the situation in a very different light. The conflict between Israel and Palestine has been going on since the 1940s.

As late as the 1980s, to say that one supported the Palestinian cause was akin to saying that one supported terrorism. The Jewish-American scholar Noam Chomsky, for example, drew tremendous scorn for his stand on the Palestinian issue, as did British actor Vanessa Redgrave.

Until recently, to say that one was pro-Palestinian was to risk being labeled as anti-Semitic, which is quite ironic considering that Palestinians are also Semites.

Today the situation is quite different.

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iStock photo

Those who speak up for Palestinians on the world stage are seen for what they are, people who want to see justice. What is most encouraging, however, is the courage of Jewish scholars, journalists, and activists.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

Searching for a just peace in the Middle East: A unit on the Israel-Palestine conflict

by Jane Turner, retired secondary teacher in Burnaby

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number of years ago, a wise colleague said to me, “It’s okay to teach about controversial issues, as long as you don’t become the controversy.” So when I was faced with the task of pulling together a unit on the conflict in the Middle East I had that admonition in my head.

How do you write a unit on perhaps the most controversial area and topic in the world? I think most teachers actually don’t teach about the Israel-Palestine conflict because they don’t want to be chewed up and spit out by one side or another.

At the Spring 2010 Representative Assembly (RA), a motion was passed that directed a learning resource be created as there weren’t great resources out there that weren’t clearly for one side or another.

There was a felt need to address the conflict in a way that was respectful, thoughtful, and critical. And it was important not to ignore something because it was difficult. The Peace and Global Education Action Group of the Committee for Action on Social Justice (CASJ) began to amass documents, ideas, and approaches to writing the unit. As the temporary staff person responsible for pulling it all together, I tried to honour the work that was done by those who initiated the project.

Teaching about the conflict in the Middle East is and will be difficult.

The only other issue out there that may stir as much vitriol, passion, and righteousness is abortion. It is very difficult to find uncontested or middle ground. However, that

doesn’t mean one shouldn’t enter into the debate and the topic.

It just needs to be done fairly, respectfully, and evenly, if at all possible.

That is what this unit attempts to do. For the scores of people who took this unit on, for the endless time and discussions that occurred on how to best approach the topic, and for the myriad critics who will find fault with it let me just say, in the end, this unit ended up being the best that I could do. That may not be saying much, so if you don’t like what is here, write your own lesson aid. I don’t mean this pugnaciously; I really mean it. I think lots of people should (and do) write teaching aids about the Middle East.

Each one comes with its inherent set of biases, points of view, and agendas. Here are mine.

I wrote and edited these lessons and activities with a view to introducing students to a wide range of voices, resources, perspectives, and questions. Nothing was sacred.

Everything should, and hopefully will, be chewed over. I have tried to create lessons that encouraged critical thinking and students to come to their own conclusions.

There is probably too much mediated information and not enough first-person voices. Be careful of that if you use this unit.

There is way too much information here, so pick and choose. Having said that, there is also so much that has been left out. I tried to keep in mind that this wasn’t a first-year university course on the Middle East, that is was a unit on the Israel-

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

iStock photos

Palestine conflict. So I made choices; ones that might not have been yours.

The unit is called The Israel-Palestine conflict: Searching for a just peace in the Middle East, because that’s what I hope we are aiming for: that there will be a just peace. Not just any peace—a just one. I hope that the teachers who use this unit, or take some of the ideas and resources from it will encourage their students to think deeply about the idea of finding a just peace, because an unjust peace won’t last. And without finding a peaceful solution to this conflict the people who live in Israel and Palestine will at worst, continue to die, or at best, live impoverished lives. And our world will continue to be the very dangerous place it currently is.

The unit can be found on TeachBC here: teachbcdb.bctf.ca/permalink/ resource722 I hope you find it useful.

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Japanese Internment and the Hastings Park Project: A historical lens to frame social justice issues of today

by Sara McGarry, Antiracism Action Group, Committee for Action on Social Justice

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n April 26, 2015, a coalition of JapaneseCanadian community groups and individuals unveiled four plaques commemorating Hastings Park as a site of Japanese-Canadian Internment during World War Two. The purpose of this signage is to educate and raise awareness about this historical period and the role that Hastings Park (the popular East Vancouver park that is host to the Pacific National Exhibition every summer) played in this history. The plaques also acknowledge the damage that this institutionalized racism inflicted on the Japanese-Canadian community.

Each plaque features a building that was repurposed for internment during the war, and that still stands today.

In a self-guided tour, visitors to the park can stop at each plaque and read a description of what life was like there for the detainees.

When the park was at its fullest, the livestock building housed about 3,000 women and children. The open troughs served as washroom facilities, and rows of bunks for sleeping resulted in no privacy, and noisy and unhygienic living conditions. Families were separated, and men and boys were held at the forum, which was also filled to capacity with bunk beds.

Close quarters, poor quality food, and lack of proper medical care meant disease was rampant. While the park internment was first planned as a temporary holding site, many Japanese-Canadians spent several months there before being sent to other camps in the BC interior.

A sidebar on every plaque points out that the treatment of Japanese-Canadians at this time was “fuelled by racism,” and outlines the historical context in this way: “21,079 people of Japanese ancestry were uprooted from a 100-mile security zone along the west coast after Canada declared war on Japan in December 1941.

They were branded ‘Enemy Aliens’ despite 75 percent being Canadian-born or naturalized citizens. Over 8,000 were confined in Hastings Park before expulsion to internment sites in the BC interior or to work camps across the country.”

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The history of Hastings Park is further detailed in a website JapaneseCanadianHistory.net that was researched, written, and designed by the Japanese Canadian Hastings Park Committee. The site is filled with photos, remarkable personal accounts of Hastings Park detainees, timelines, maps, descriptions of the camp, artwork, and stories that came out of these experiences.

It is an amazing historical account that captures the suffering, survival, resilience, and activism of the Japanese-Canadians who were affected by internment. It is also a rich resource for teachers who teach Canadian history and social justice.

In a joint initiative, Antiracism Action Group members of the Committee for Action on Social Justice (CASJ) and the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizenship Association (GVJCCA) created lesson plans for teachers to use the above website and, if they are able, to visit the actual site, in their teaching of JapaneseCanadian Internment. While history is often taught as isolated incidents that happened long ago, the purpose of these lessons is to move beyond the idea that historical atrocities occurred in the past and were largely a result of misguided historical assumptions that could/would never happen again.

Instead, teachers and students are challenged to look at historical injustices in light of what is happening in current society. For example, the issue of Islamophobia and racism today exists in a similar context (of fear, biased media reporting, and government policies) as those that allowed for the historical mistreatment of many marginalized groups. In other words, in order for the study of history to be transformative in moving us toward a more just and equitable society, learning about the past must be accompanied by a critical look at today, and a hopeful plan for the future.

Lesson plans, aligned with the new curriculum for Grade 5, Grade 10, and Grade 11 and 12, can be found on TeachBC (teachbc.bctf.ca/).

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

Spider webs unite for the BC Teachers’ Federation

by Marian Dodds, retired secondary school teacher, Vancouver

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will always treasure the response when people got their books: You did not forget us! Thank you for sharing your photos and stories about our country! It is amazing how much you have included!

Living and working in Ethiopia from 2010–13 my blog, Spider Webs Unite, helped me to simultaneously share my ongoing experience, reflect on my learning, and keep in touch with friends and family. Once settled back home I set about transforming my blog into a book so I could have a permanent record to read from start to finish, as a way to gain a holistic perspective on my three-year journey. I also wanted to share it with my Ethiopian friends and colleagues and was fortunate to be invited back this winter to assist with a new Cuso International health program and this gave me the opportunity to share my book.

In my forward I wrote, “Spider Webs Unite tells the story of the most enlightening and satisfying education I’ve ever had.” My next step was challenging myself to synthesize key learning from my volunteer experience to explain what this meant.

Now when I watch or read the news, I view it through the lens of someone who has lived in a country considered one of the poorest on earth, where much of what I take for granted as a Canadian at home is unavailable to most of the population. I’d say I am far less naïve about solutions and more aware of the complexities existing in a country undergoing rapid development. I feel a strong affinity for the people I met in Ethiopia who were hospitable, kind, and generous to me, and who demonstrated the true meaning of resilience on a daily basis.

Marian Dodds holding her book.

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When western-individualism and collectivist-culture clash it is easy to make mistaken assumptions about the needs and wants of counterparts and the people we intend to assist, empower, or educate.

Very different concepts of time and organization can conflict with expectations set out in logical-sequential action plans rich in goals and objectives and made “accountable” through jargon-infused monitoring and evaluation reports. Patience is a prerequisite to survival, as is humility and a good sense of humour. Having participated in summer volunteer teaching with Project Overseas earlier in my career, I now recognize how minimal my individual impact likely was. And while longerterm volunteering has greater potential, ultimately, I think most volunteers would agree they benefit far more from the experience than their so-called beneficiaries. Yet I cannot discount the difference an individual may make and what a small interaction may put in motion. I remember a wise man in my Woldia class telling me about how the basic English he learned from a foreign engineer, working on a road project in his tiny village forty years ago, set him on his path to becoming an educational leader. As teachers, we recognize the reality that our positive impact may percolate up in wonderful ways we may never know.

Volunteering broadens one’s worldview and can fuel new actions on global issues back home. I continue to ponder how NGOs and professional associations could create more reciprocal and egalitarian 12

relationships in international development programs. Over my volunteering time, I found it essential to maintain perspective, pause my impatience, and be pragmatic about what I could accomplish. I have seen how, with a good support group, a volunteer with appropriate professional and technical skills who is reflective, self-aware, flexible, empathic, adaptable, and, most importantly, culturally sensitive and respectful of the people she or he is working with, can make a difference.

Development is complex and often criticized as ineffective. It is sobering to note that more funds arrive in developing countries in remittances from relatives abroad than most countries’ aid budgets. Developing countries are awash in well-paid experts (both foreign and homegrown) convinced they have found the one right way. An endless supply of reports and research on failed programs and projects sometimes tells us otherwise.

The trend toward corporate philanthropy and the rise of small unprofessional charities concerns me. As wealthy philanthropists grow in influence I worry the business interests that may be embedded in their flagship programs in health and education may outweigh the benefits. Concurrently, I observed a proliferation of small designer or vanity NGOs and fundraising initiatives that raised problematic issues around saviour complexes, colonial attitudes, guilt, imposed solutions, unintended negative consequences, power, politics, need to control, corruption, and disappointment. I firmly believe we must confront the “best of intentions” by well-meaning people who are unaware of the potential harm they may inflict. Often it seems to be all about us or our donors, with the host-country people as BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

supporting actors on the stage we have set. Recent social media critiques by so-called beneficiaries confront us with sobering food for thought. If we profess support for good governance and democracy and a healthy civil society, but subvert national, regional, or municipal governments by offering projects not aligned with the development goals of a country, is that acceptable? The challenge is that countries often encourage and welcome such initiatives since they are desperate for donor funds or goods.

Fragmentation then becomes a serious problem, as does a competitive atmosphere. Imagine how it would feel if roles were reversed and volunteers were coming from foreign countries to our aid.

Despite all the challenges, I remain optimistic that the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, supported by themes of universality and reciprocity, offer new opportunities for all countries to address global problems more effectively. Witnessing first-hand how the Millennium Development Goals triggered regional, national, and international support for education, health, and genderequality initiatives, and effected incremental improvements for Ethiopian girls and women, I was able to share some success stories in my blog posts. I remain passionately convinced that spider webs can unite to create a collective, sustainable web for this planet if we take time to listen, educate ourselves, and work thoughtfully across cultures.

While this is only the tip of yet another iceberg I am exploring as I continue to think deeply, critically, and compassionately about international development and volunteerism, my sincere hope is that BCTF social justice activists will continue to engage in dialogue about how we can unite to continue to do good for the planet and its people, whether at home or abroad.

Read Marian’s blog at www.spiderwebsunite.wordpress.com.

A limited number of her book, Spider Webs Unite, are available for purchase. Enquire at marianbeth@gmail.com.

Tri-National Conference for Public Education Defense

by Nicole Jarvis, Vice-President, Early Career Teachers’ Association, and teacher teaching on call in Surrey

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recently attended the Tri-National Conference in Defence of Public Education in May, and the weekend was definitely an “aha” moment for me in regard to social justice. Since I began teaching and engaging with our union, the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF), the link between social justice activism and what I interpreted to be our union’s mandate hadn’t been personally clear. I’ve spent four years teaching now, teaching on call in different schools in two districts in the greater Vancouver region, and—although lunchtime conversation rarely gives a comprehensive picture of how members feel—I have generally come to the conclusion that many of us BCTF members don’t fully understand the “why” behind much of what’s perceived as the BCTF’s social justice work. It’s taken me four years of questioning, reading, and conversing for me to even begin to wrap my head around it. The TriNational Conference allowed me to finally begin to “get it.” This was the 12th Tri-National Conference and was held at UBC’s Student Union Centre. The room was full of new and experienced BCTF activists, as well as teachers from Mexico, Los Angeles, Nova Scotia, Québec, Ontario, Chicago, and more. This event offered an intimate setting for voices to be heard and questions to be answered, all with immediate relevancy and a roll-up-our-sleevesand-get-going attitude from all.

The commonalities among us were astonishing: frustration with irresponsible use of data from standardized testing, occupation of brick-and-mortar public schools by quasi-private charter schools... some of the teachers I spoke with 14

are paid raises in accordance with student test performance.

It’s deeply disturbing. Can you imagine the state releasing a standardized test, and telling you your pay will be based on how your 130 students perform on it, regardless of each child’s individual learning path or subjective skills and weaknesses? Jobs get cut, and the staff left behind have to take up the additional workload.

That includes clerks, education assistants, administrative jobs, janitorial staff, and more. We’re all being told to do more with less, and I found it extremely powerful to look at Chicago and Mexico in order to reflect on what’s going on here at home, not only in terms of being able to identify common problems, but also in being able to share methods and strategies for lobbying government with clear campaigns, for training new teachers when they begin their career so they fully understand their collective agreement rights, and for informing parents about what’s going on and about what role they can play in pushing back against austerity and public education funding cuts. I had dinner with the very same Chicago teachers featured in a documentary I saw years ago, Schoolidarity, and I was able to speak with the president of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, Heather Smith, about plans for the BC Early Career Teachers’ Association; she pointed me toward some other good models for new-teacher union engagement. I was able to give her some social media ideas in return.

Frankly, teachers don’t get to come together like this often enough. All professionals need opportunities to bond, to share, to network, to

work together, and this was a prime example of how good it feels to all be together working for a common purpose.

During breakout sessions and presentations, the translators did a fantastic job. We all wore radio sets so we could hear the translators overtop of the presenters speaking, and I was able to laugh at my horrible attempts at speaking Spanish (being a French teacher means I get my languages all mixed up). Mexican teachers, too, are concerned with the loss of place-based learning, with local teachers not being able to live off of a teacher’s salary, and with the significant loss of Indigenous culture due to the lack of community schools and native teachers.

As a white, Jewish woman living in urban Canada, sometimes I struggle with understanding my privilege.

But when I look at the horror stories coming from Mexico, like retired Oaxacan teachers being told there is no money to give them their pension payments, I’m reminded just how vulnerable middle-class workers can be in the face of neo-liberal austerity governments that are reckless with social services and public accountability, when the masses are demobilized and apathetic. I live paycheck to paycheck, but I have a car, a (relatively) stable career, food, a pension, and a roof over my head.

This experience reminded me not to have unrealistic expectations of myself; to be truly thankful to have been born in a place where I can have a voice against political austerity without feeling scared for my safety, for the safety of my home, for the safety of my family. I live in

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

a place where I can go on national television and invite parents to come talk with us on picket lines to find out the truth of what we need and want in our contract negotiations.

I can do that and still wake up safe and sound in my bed the next day.

If families choose to stay with our public schools, it’s often because, economically, they have no other choice. Therefore, the continual

basis for our student population will be those who cannot afford private school, who are socioeconomically marginalized, who don’t “fit in” with the upper echelon of capitalist society. Our schools are their schools. Our schools are the ones that welcome all students: tall or short; rich or poor; athletic or intellectual; creative or shy; black or white; Muslim or Christian; English or English language learning; girl, boy, or trans*. Our schools are beautiful, complex, messy, proud. When our union fights for LGBTQ policies

and for gender-neutral bathrooms, our union is fighting for our schools to stay relevant, to evolve with the changing needs of our student body.

This is an age of enlightenment. We have access to information at the touch of a button, and, while it takes time to change systems, we have the

incredible gift of being able to push our pedagogy further than it has ever gone before. I am passionate about sharing best practices via Twitter and via professional specialist association newsletters and in face-to-face sharing sessions.

Teachers can learn from each other and engage in powerful facilitation for student learning, and yet here we are facing tactics for privatization, as if society somehow benefits from separating people instead of by bringing us all together.

It hurts me to think of raising children in a society where black students have to go to one school while white students attend another. We think we’ve gotten past segregation, but in fact what the civil rights movement fought back against in the 20th century is not so different from what we face now in 21st century BC, Chicago, Mexico: what we face now is an increase in socio-economic segregation. What we face is neoliberal rhetoric that cuts down to our

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

very core. We need to be better at delivering the arguments against austerity. Drawing parallels between Oaxaca, Chicago, Burnaby, Comox is an effective method for opening the public’s eyes to what’s going on.

During our strikes, we have asked society to lift their eyes to meet ours, to acknowledge political tyranny and to take action to reinforce what is right and what is best for the longterm health of public education.

Private school teachers have quietly donated to strike relief funds, knowing that we’re swallowing a bitter pill for the big picture. If we are not engaging in social justice work on an ongoing basis, it would mean we’re effectively keeping our heads down and ignoring problems around us that could be alleviated by our collective voice and attention.

Our union leaders have a keen sense of what we’re up against, and every single time we engage in a social justice project we are bringing back hugely valuable contacts, allies, methods, and more.

It’s important for us to know how to respond when people ask questions—or make assumptions— about the stability of public education funding in our respective societies. The more people who ask about budget cuts, the more we need them to understand how education is funded, and where the education has fallen short, so they can better understand the importance of full and equitable funding. Sometimes it takes stepping back to look at other models of austerity governments and their impacts on their societies in order to turn a newly critical lens on our own situation here in BC. As educators, we often use analogy as a technique for helping our students come to new understandings. We can look to Finland as a positive example for education, and we can look to the United States as a 15

negative example. Juxtaposing our own political climate in BC against others elsewhere helps us firmly contextualize and identify strategies and techniques society and our union can use to overcome the pressures on our current education system. Seeing the struggles that Chicago’s and Mexico’s teachers face really pares it down to simple terms.

We are the people. We are the ones who know that government should be responsible, ethical, accessible, and we have a right to feel angry when government doesn’t follow through with what’s necessary to have a healthy, peaceful, educated, thriving, equitable society. The more people who understand the value system behind neo-liberalism, the better.

The Tri-national Conference deepened my resolve to help BC’s teachers. Seeing work-life

deep and say no to austerity cuts; that when it comes to bargaining for preparation time, for composition language, for workload issues, there is no compromising. There are concise, articulate arguments out there that help people come to a new understanding, and as a teacher I seek that language in order to best engage with my colleagues and with the public. Thriving teachers sustain thriving schools, and that is an international truth nobody can deny.

Recommended reading From the Chicago Union Teacher April 2016 edition, Jackson Potter’s “The Long Struggle for Sustainable Community Schools,” p. 51: bit.ly/28VYxr5

balance at the root of the Quebec teachers’ campaign and the deterioration of recruitment in Mexico from decreasing salaries was eye-opening. I’m more determined than ever to dig in

Non-sexist and inclusive pedagogy: A weekend of solidarity

by Steven Lloyd, President, Sea to Sky Teachers’ Association. Originally printed in Howe It Sounds: bit.ly/1XXcab8 If you take something from me, that’s not right.

Even if it doesn’t matter much. Nobody just takes stuff.

It’s worse if you take something important. I’ll want it back. Even if getting it back is impossible, I won’t let you take more. I’ll try hard to make you stop.

That’s what I should do—isn’t it? If you take from my whole community, we all might try to stop it. Really try.

Still, you might keep taking. If you do, we’ll have problems…

Daysi Marquez was in BC with her friend and colleague Esperanza Tasies to teach BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) members and others how to deconstruct sexism in its various forms, using methods they developed in Honduras and Costa Rica, respectively, for classroom teachers. Both Daysi and Esperanza are classroom teachers, though Esperanza has gone on to a doctorate and other teaching challenges. They taught the May 6–7, 2016, workshop in Surrey with the support of the BCTF and our partner CoDev Canada.

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Daysi and Esperanza teach about changing reality. Since reality—what we understand to be true—is socially constructed (i.e., what we all decide it is), we can decide to change what reality is in our lives and culture. (Think of Mad Men and smoking over breakfast and the deeply imbued sexism, racism, etc., of the 1950s and 1960s, for example.) The workshop infused 30 participants with deeper understanding and provided highly useful tools—cognitive tools—to effect social change, a mind at a time.

Of course, sexism isn’t just wrong. It’s illegal. It contravenes the BC Human Rights Code, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and on the list goes. But it’s also just wrong. So are many other kinds, tools, and “realities” of oppression. Most are illegal too; but most importantly, none are immutable. None are “just how it is”—at least, not unless we add, “right now.”

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

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Oppression is theft in a real way—of dignity, of freedom, of respect, of rights—and far too often, of life.

Oppression takes something, or often many things at once, that is important.

Daysi’s close friend and colleague, Berta Caceres, was assassinated in March. Berta co-founded Daysi’s organization Council of Indigenous Peoples of Honduras (COPINH) and was awarded “the Nobel Prize of ecological defenders,” the Goldman Environmental Prize, just over a year ago. Berta was murdered by several gunmen around 4:30 a.m. on March 3, 2016, as she slept. It was reported by CNN and other media on May 8 that, after an international outcry, five men have been charged with her killing.

One of the five men is reported to be “the manager for social and environmental matters” for DESA, the company seeking to transform Honduras’s largest river into a series of dams and flooded valleys with international financing and support. Berta’s Aboriginal people are the Lenca, who, as she eloquently described in accepting the Goldman Prize, are “the people of the river.” The river and they exist as one. The dams would eliminate most of their sources and practices of sustenance, devastating the very existence of the Lenca culture—the largest Indigenous culture in Honduras.

The project would erase the Lenca as a people.

It’s “progress.” Or is it? Who benefits? Who, and what, does not? To the Lenca it is theft at gunpoint. The dams would take from them something important. The Lenca have been adamant that they want the taking to stop—and they are devoted to stopping it.

In Canada, we’re familiar with efforts to make peoples “disappear.” Today we’re all attempting to fully comprehend the truth of what was done to Aboriginal peoples here. We’re beginning to get it, trying to make

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

amends as we go, and seeking reconciliation. Yet the old, old story of taking—of lands, and culture, and dignity— in Honduras and in so many other places (even here it seems, in the Peace, the Skeena, the Athabaska, etc.) continues on. It’s “progress.”

One wonders if there might not be a very different kind of “progress” out there somewhere.

DESA’s “social and environmental matters” weren’t “managed” well. In the two months following Berta’s assassination, funding for the dams has dried up and left the country. Berta Caceres will never again leave it; nor will over 100 other environmental and social activists assassinated in Honduras since 2010. Many were teachers like Daysi, like you and me. There are suspects in less than 5% of those targeted killings.

The town Berta was murdered in can be reached in a day or so, or in a few days by car. It’s just down the road: Hwy 99, to the I-10, to Mex 200, and you’re pretty much there. Daysi thanked the group of BCTF members for engaging in the workshops, co-developed

by COPINH, which had profoundly affected everyone present, and invited us all to visit her country. Daysi says it has the best beaches, people, and food in Central America (with deep disagreement from Esperanza). Several are likely to take Daysi up on it.

We all pray she’ll be alive and well to greet them.

I’d asked Daysi days before if it helps to have international observers on the ground with COPINH, if that makes life there any safer. She looked at me, allowed a brief moment to witness the indescribable pain behind the words to come, and said very quietly, “A little. But it doesn’t stop.”

Then she smiled a bit, and stood up to teach some more people about how to stop it.

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Ed May Grant Report: Helping youth “pay it forward”

by Debbie Holmes, Career and Work Experience Co-ordinator, Surrey n our school district (36 Surrey) we have alternatives to mainstream education for those students who find traditional education challenging. It is from this group that we have brought together some students to take the lead role in figuring out ways to “pay it forward.” No matter how tumultuous the backgrounds of our students, they always seem to rise above and beyond our expectations. Their paths are not always the way we would like them to be, but they always seem to get to where they need to go. Our goal is to teach them that there are ways to give back, even when your life does not seem to be going well.

The positive feelings that a person, especially from our younger generation, can have from helping others, many times will spill over into their personal lives.

A small number of our students have come together to discuss ways they can volunteer or give back to their own community and inspire their classmates to follow suit. We spent the first three months of the project discussing what philanthropy is and how they can bring about change one small initiative at a time. This is the phase we labeled the empowerment phase—and the students’ enthusiasm to help was amazing. When

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you first meet them they may not seem like a group that could make much of a difference, but after you talk to them, they are some of the most caring and inspiring individuals you could meet.

They came up with four different initiatives: • making a video about volunteering to encourage others to participate • designing a logo promoting volunteering that they could put on t-shirts for themselves and others who wanted to participate to keep the word spreading • planting trees in our neighbourhood to continue to promote more green spaces in our community • working with the homeless in some way—volunteering at a shelter, collecting clothing and blankets, or feeding people who are living on the street.

We have not dissuaded them from any of these initiatives, but in the interest of the school year wrapping up, we have not been able to act upon any one idea in particular. We are in talks with a shelter (the Surrey Urban Mission, which serves breakfast and lunch to the homeless as well as offers overnight shelter for a small number of guests) to possibly do some work there. In May the students were scheduled to be given a tour, and an opportunity to serve a lunch to see what it entails and make their final decisions on whether this is the initiative they would like to start at the beginning of the new school year.

What I like about this group most is how enthusiastic they are about helping others. They are all going through their own not-so-easy journeys, yet they continually want to make our community a better place. This is definitely what I would call paying it forward!

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BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

Ed May Grant Report: Ross Road Readers’ Club Part 2: Reading and weeding

by Susanne Simon, elementary school teacher in North Vancouver

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ince September 2015, my Grade 3 class has been visiting a seniors’ center where the children read picture books to the elderly.

As we continued our reading program, we thought about other things that we could enjoy doing together.

The seniors’ center has access to a nice patio with an elevated flower bed and a patch of grass. Both were in need of attention. So we decided to do a “reading, weeding, and planting” activity.

Helen, the seniors’ center activity director, kindly proposed to get earth, planting pots, and seedlings for us all to plant together.

The children agreed to bring their trowels along.

They were also going to ask their parents for any extra herbal plants we could donate to the seniors. We thought sage, peppermint, and lemon balm would provide a valuable sensory experience for those who do not get out that often.

Our idea proved to be a great success. Many seniors joined in and helped the children place the fragile seeds in the earth. We also did some weeding and finished off our afternoon with Helen’s homemade treats of chocolate muffins and gummy worms. The children are looking forward to their next visit to observe the growth of the seedlings and to chat with their older buddies.

Part 1 was published in the Winter/Spring 2016 issue of the Social Justice Newsletter.

Chief John Macko and North Island Secondary teacher Frank Purdon

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

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Ed May Grant Report: Revealing integrity through the storytelling of youth

by Kathleen McArthur, secondary school teacher in Port McNeill

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his year, students of North Island Secondary School in Port McNeill took on the challenge of creating a film festival. Students in the film and media classes developed films under the umbrella of revealing integrity through the storytelling of youth.

Students learned the basic skills of script writing, filming, and editing, and with the help of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) Ed May Grant they put those stories onto film. The grant allowed students to have access to a good mix of film equipment, enabling them to develop their films beyond only using their phones.

jobs according to their strengths and interests: students ended up choosing writing, directing, filming, acting, lighting, sound, makeup, costumes, and continuity.

The value in allowing the students to have creative control over the entire project was immense.

Students openly discussed the issues involved in this topic as they looked at perceptions, misconceptions, and the acceptance of differences.

The class as a whole also worked on a single film project producing a five-minute short. The final class film evolved through a series of meetings to discuss writing, locations, plausibility of the story line. The film looks at a homosexual relationship in a school environment that plays out in a party scene and ends in acceptance by other youths.

This class broke down the film

The filming culminated in a film festival in June with students displaying their work to the entire community as we all came together to celebrate the work, ideas, storytelling, and honesty of the youth that created these stories.

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Lessons began with dissecting the words “integrity” and “youth” and how that could come forward into the content of the film. Students learned to write scripts, create storyboards, write shooting schedules, use a green screen,

film using a variety of shots and techniques, and edit. Students then progressed to creating short one- to two-minute films to develop their storytelling and film skills. Students discussed the issues of youth today, cell phones, bullying, technology, peer pressure, sexuality, relationships, and mental health issues. Each student picked a theme to develop into a short five-minute film.

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BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

Ed May Grant Report: Students engaged in climate justice

by Vagner Castilho, secondary school teacher in Vancouver

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he Windermere Secondary Leadership Program (WSLP) is composed of an active group of dedicated students who prioritize social responsibility, community engagement, and environmental stewardship to make a positive impact in their school and local community.

Over the last ten years, WSLP has spearheaded a number of large-scale and far-reaching environmental justice initiatives and events at Windermere Secondary School.

just. Grade 11 students at Windermere initiated the Climate Justice Project six years ago, and sought to create a network of social and environmental action with students from across Vancouver. Our goals include exploring ideas and planning events that seek to mentor, educate, and unite youth in a common cause.

As these youth networks have grown, so too have the variety and success of events.

WSLP’s most notable accomplishment is the education and empowerment of students across Vancouver through the Climate Justice Project that includes three major community events: the annual Climate Change Conference (C3), that brings over 300 students from across Vancouver together for a day of presentations, workshops and hands-on action; the annual Earth Day Parade and Celebration, a community event that has attracted up to 1,000 people and closed down Commercial Drive, a major street in Vancouver; and the Grassroots Program where Grade 11 leadership students in sustainability class present environmental justice lessons and mentor Grade 6 and 7 students from local elementary schools.

This year the Climate Justice Project sought to continue to build on the tremendous work done by students in previous years, through several major events.

The year started off with a climate conference hosted at Windermere Secondary School in November 2015.

This was our seventh annual climate conference and it included keynotes Harsha Walia, who spoke about climate refugees and migrant justice, and Eugene Kung, who talked about his work with First Nations communities resisting resource-extraction projects.

Some of the morning workshops offered included Intro to Climate Justice, Tar Sands and Climate Justice, Fractured Futures: LNG Pipedreams, Media and Climate Narratives, and much more. The afternoon workshops were more action-oriented and included Media for Social Change, Creative Activism, Roots of Sustainability, and others. The event was attended by over 300 students representing over 26 schools. Strong connections and networks were formed during the day that resulted in further collaboration later during the year. The Earth Day Parade and Celebration, which

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We were fortunate to receive the Ed May Social Justice Grant to assist us with our Climate Justice Project this year. One of the major goals for the project was to give students a real-life opportunity to explore, improve, and use their individual and combined agency to make their schools and communities more environmentally

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

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took place on April 24, 2016, was also a major success. The event was highlighted by speakers Grand Chief Stewart Phillip and Carleen Thomas.

Both spoke admirably about the work young people are doing in the climate justice movement. In past years this event has sought to bring attention to learning about climate justice and raise awareness about how those who are least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions are most affected by their rising levels. A couple of brief articles in the Vancouver Sun and by the CBC described the earth day parade as “one of the most popular in the Vancouver area” and “the most politically charged earth day event.” They highlight the impact these students have made over the last seven years (links included at the end of this article).

In addition, the event sought to demonstrate to our city’s decisionmakers and the general public that youth in Vancouver care about social and environmental justice issues, and that they are working together to promote equality, raise awareness, and promote just solutions to these major issues. The event was very well attended once again, particularly by youth this year; over 1,000 people attended throughout the day. Over 20 organizations involved in climate justice work had tables at the event, including several youth group tables to highlight some of the work they are doing in their schools to create a more just and sustainable world. The students organizing the event did a tremendous job promoting and engaging with the community on these issues.

This included visits and assembly presentations to five elementary schools, eight secondary schools, visits to businesses on Commercial Drive, and attending various climaterelated events in Richmond and 22

Vancouver to promote our event and network with other groups.

Youth for Climate Justice students were also invited to attend the Voices of Elders Reconciliation event held on April 22, 2016, at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver.

The overall atmosphere of the day was very positive and it was an excellent opportunity to build youth and adult alliances on these critical issues.

Finally, one of the projects my students have been involved in all year focused on a much younger audience and took place within our neighborhood. Early in the year my students built 20- to 30-minute classroom lessons aimed at Grade 6 and 7 audiences on various topics related to climate justice such as food security, electronic waste, agriculture and climate change, globalization, etc. These lessons are first presented to their peers for feedback and subsequently taken to the local feeder schools. This year we presented over 20 lessons to approximately 10 classrooms in our community, thereby exposing students to important topics at a younger age. Many of these students will be attending Windermere, so we hope that it will be a building block in raising awareness among the local student population on these important issues. The climate justice work done by students at Windermere continues to be engaging and empowering for the students and impactful in our community.

Once again, we are thankful for the support of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and Ed May grant that allows us to continue to do this important work.

In the media Vancouver Sun: bit.ly/25PKI5j CBC: bit.ly/21dfLkP

Ed May Grant Report:

by Annie Ohana, Antipoverty Action Group, Commit

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hat do you do when students start asking questions like, “Is the government listening?” or, “Why am I being called a terrorist?” or, “Who is helping these people?”

How do you beat back images of drowned children, detainment camps, countries proudly shutting their doors to those escaping persecution?

At LA Matheson Secondary, our Global Issues Club decided that we needed to take the reigns into our own hands.

For those folks facing negativity, pain, and fear, we as a school and local community were going to do something to fight back and make sure that for incoming refugees, one of the first things they would get to experience and feel, is a sense of welcome.

Imagine for a second your very own classroom. How do you welcome new students? Are you positive? Do you provide them with the resources they need? Do you partner them with a more experienced student perhaps?

Can you be patient if they didn’t understand all the rules from the get-go? Now imagine if the opposite

Welcome to Canada

ttee for Action on Social Justice either sponsored boxes through cash donations or took boxes home to fill themselves. It was an amazing experience for our small Global Issues Club to take the lead and run a major initiative such as this.

We chose to focus on the following items for our care packages, making sure that all items were non-gendered and refrained from including items that focused on one particular culture: a copy of the Charter of Rights of Freedoms, to explain the rights and responsibilities of being a Canadian; school supplies; household items; winter accessories; a book to learn English as a family from; toiletries; a list full of local phone numbers and services; a personalized letter of welcome; and a piece of Canadiana.

happened. What if you talked down to the student, put down the way they dressed, the way they spoke, even their reasons for being in your classroom? What kind of classroom would you prefer? What if you were that student?

When posed with these questions, the students and staff of LA Matheson understood exactly what needed to be done.

Over the course of a twomonth period, we put together 300 Welcome to Canada Care Packages. Students, teachers, whole classrooms, and community members from across the province

Boxes were spread out across the Lower Mainland and we tried to be as responsive as possible. When we heard that Surrey would be getting quite a few new refugee students, we gave 100 boxes to our Welcome Centre. When the mace attack occurred in Vancouver at a welcome dinner, we delivered boxes to the families that suffered from those attacks. We gave to the Muslim Food Bank Association, and for those naysayers that tried to say “start at home, not the refugees,� our group provided quite a few care packages to individuals struggling with poverty, life-altering incidents, and more. The excess materials we gathered went to transition houses, and became part of our Downtown Eastside Front Line Worker Experiential Field Study with my Social Justice 12 students.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

The response has been amazing; we now have students in our schools who received some of those boxes, and they have found the transition to be just that little bit easier. The Welcome Centre staff mentioned all the hugs and thank yous they received as families received their boxes.

Every organization we provided care packages to has told us of the positive impact they have had. We held a dinner for those that sponsored boxes and some incoming families as well. We visited the Welcome Center to learn more from front-line teachers and to hear from new families themselves.

These care packages in the end are so much more than just a kind gesture: they are the implementation of an action plan to raise the positivity of our communities, the connections between members no matter what faith, creed, or religion. Even in the face of a small minority that seem to yell the loudest, our care packages, through collective action, rose up tall and proud to negate those negative thoughts and in a non-violent, communitypositive way, declare that in Canada, one and all are Canada.

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Ed May Grant Report: The HEART of Reconciliation

by Trina Moulin, secondary school teacher in Burnaby

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his year, our Aboriginal Education Collaboration Group at Byrne Creek Community School in Burnaby decided to embark on a shared journey along the path to reconciliation. HEART at Byrne Creek is an acronym for honesty, empathy, achievement, respect, and teamwork. And, these aspects have been integral in our project.

As a collaborative group, we have been actively looking together at the integration of Aboriginal education in our classes and school for the last three years. During the first year, knowing that Aboriginal content would be woven throughout the new curriculum, we worked to compile and create a list of many of our resources that could be shared on this topic. This is a list that we continue to add to and share today. During the second year, some of our members completed the UBC online course Reconciliation through Indigenous Education.

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Subsequently, a couple of teachers also completed the steps involved in the Project of Heart’s wooden tile decorating process and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society’s Heart Garden project. This year, we wanted to create a visible gesture of reconciliation as a community—a reminder of our ongoing call to action.

With the support of the Ed May grant we received from the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and funds from our school’s community council (parent advisory council), we are now in the final stages of creating a textile mural that will be hung in a prominent place at the entrance of our school. Guiding us along the way have been two key facilitators: Lyn Daniels (District Vice-Principal of Aboriginal Education in Burnaby) and Shelley Janvier (our secondary Aboriginal education resource teacher). And, at the heart of our project is Elder Lillian Daniels (Lyn’s mom), who all teachers at our school were invited to meet for the first time in January. Lillian is a retired educator BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

and residential school survivor. Our collaboration group prepared resources to assist participating teachers and their classes through the six steps of Project of Heart, many of which can be found in our school’s Learning Commons (blogs.sd41.bc.ca/byrne-library/heart-ofreconciliation-project), which was organized by our teacher-librarian, Wendy Amy. For step four of the project, we were able to arrange three days of visits in February by Elder Lillian Daniels, who courageously shared her story of growing up and the residential school experience. Her story was heard by more than 200 students, their teachers, as well as some parents who were also able to attend. Since that time, moved by her stories and what they learned about Lillian’s experiences, students have decorated hundreds of wooden tiles. Each student created two tiles for the project: one with a word and one with an image symbolizing reconciliation.

The most challenging part of the project has been collaboratively designing the mural and the narrative it communicates in a visual way. The symbols we chose to include are a tree with roots, water, a heart, canoes, paddles, and a circle of connection (e.g., sun and moon).

Teachers came up with three possible designs we then passed along to students. The students, from a variety of classes, then collaboratively created their own design during three stages. When students were asked to explain the story told by the design, they wrote (paraphrased, connecting their point-form notes): The moon is behind the tree because there is always light, even in the dark. We depend on water for transportation (discovery, travel, moving forward) and for growth and life. The water is giving life to the tree.

The tiles around the tree represent the experiences and growth of the Aboriginal people (and our school community). With teamwork (represented by the canoe) one can travel to the highest of places (which is why the canoes are above the tree, in the sky). There is a heart in the tree to show love. The moon shows brightness and freedom, and canoes represent freedom. The water is a pathway for the canoes to freedom.

Elder Lillian Daniels and a student.

represent our shared narrative. In June, assisted by Shelley, we will invite our community’s Aboriginal families to participate in creating meaningful elements, which will also be included in the final wall hanging.

We look forward to welcoming Elder Lillian Daniels to Byrne Creek Community School again in the fall for the unveiling of this visible gesture of reconciliation, and as a reminder of our continued commitment and call to action. We greatly appreciate the support of the BCTF and our community council, without whom this project would not have been possible. For those involved, The HEART of Reconciliation has been an experience that will not easily be forgotten. We thank Elder Lillian Daniels for honouring us with her stories, sharing her wisdom and her heart, and for opening ours.

Elder Lillian Daniels was able to visit us during this creative process in March, as well as for two days in May as we finalized our design. It was important for her that the students were telling their stories and expressing themselves and their learning. We are now ready to paint the canvas and cut the shapes needed from melton fabric (wool felt). These shapes will be glued to the canvas, and then the students’ wooden tiles will be adhered to the surface to accentuate the symbols and shapes that BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

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Intersectionality and environmental justice

by Julie Johnston, Environmental Justice Action Group, Committee for Action on Social Justice

TR

FO

A

IAL

RC

SP

HI

HO

ST

BIA

OR

IC A

Geographic Location Citizenship Status

ETHNOCENT

Refugee Status

RIS M

L F O R CE S IM MI

CL

AS

TIO GRA

N

N S YS T E M

M

XIS

S

AT I O

Housing Situation

Skin Colour

Experience of Racialization

SE

IS M

ES

Disability

Income

Life Experience

UC

Work History

N

Occupation

UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCES OF POWER, PRIVILEGE AND IDENTITY

M

Religion

HIV Status

ED

indigeneity

IS

Family Status

Education

Spirituality

SOC

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You can see the Intersectionality Circle, as well as a toolkit for using it, here: bit.ly/2871FXq

Class Background

Age

Social Status Sexuality

AG E

That’s because no matter where I drew a line to intersect societal structures, discriminatory attitudes, aspects

I also noted that an anthropogenic model of oppression that doesn’t include the Earth and other-than-human living things forgets the intersectionality of cruel livestock raising practices, for example, and violence against the feminine and OLITICS GLOBA against children— N P LIZ AT TIO IO IZA N M DISCRIM N something for us O RACIS I L N C AT O M S I I O E N L B to keep in mind as A we work toward a kinder, more compassionate world.

E CO N O M Y

I learned about intersectionality at an anti-oppression workshop led by Natasha Tony, an assistant steward with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 891. As a member of the BCTF’s Committee for Action on Social Justice (Environmental Justice Action Group), it was fascinating for me to participate in this workshop through the lens of a climate change activist and educator.

If you’re working in anti-oppression or teaching social justice, please know that without rapid and transformative mitigation, climate chaos is going to aggravate every single intersection of power (or lack of it), privilege (or lack of it), and identity (in all its diversity). No matter what degree of inclusion or exclusion, oppression or privilege we experience because of the different aspects of our identity, climate change has become our common denominator.

WAR M LIS ISM ITA SEX AP RO TE HE

Almost to the centre now, the third ring represents different aspects of identity, which can apply to individuals, families, neighbourhoods, or communities: indigeneity, gender, caste or class, housing situation, experience of racialization, religion, skin colour, age, citizenship status, occupation, and many more. Finally, the inner circle represents a person’s unique circumstances of power, privilege, and identity.

For those of us with the lion’s share of the world’s resources at our disposal…our day is coming, too, if we don’t get moving on a global transition to zero-carbon renewable energy by leaving fossil fuels in the ground. (It’s the laws of physics. Burning emits carbon dioxide. CO2 is a greenhouse gas that heats the atmosphere and acidifies the oceans, wreaking havoc with the climate and ocean life.) The Burning Age has to end.

EM

According to the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women, intersectionality is “a concept often used to describe the ways in which oppressive institutions are interconnected and cannot be examined separately from one another.” So classism, for example, doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The institute’s wheel diagram includes an outer circle that “represents larger forces and structures that work together to reinforce exclusion,” such as the economy, the education system, politics, globalization, colonization, and other social forces.

(Perhaps media should be added to that list.) The next ring lists different types of discrimination that affect identity, including racism, transphobia, sexism, ethnocentrism, and other “isms” and attitudes.

of identity, and my own personal circumstances and experiences (in my case, as an older, financially advantaged, heterosexual, healthy, Caucasian, Canadian-born woman), climate change will make things worse. The more disadvantaged and vulnerable among us, those already struggling with inequality and lack of privilege, will be affected (or already are being affected) first and worst—or simply won’t have the resilience to withstand the impacts: droughts, floods, and extreme weather events such as forest fires and heat waves that are already threatening lives and livelihoods, food security and water sources, homes and entire homelands.

LEGA L SY ST EM HOM OPH C OB IA

I

was introduced to the term “intersectionality” recently.

It was new to me, but the concept seemed like one I’d known forever—and forgotten. Indeed, one of the great truths of childhood is that everything is connected, everything intersects, and everything is part of the web of life. It’s only as we grow up that we seem to separate, fracture, reduce, or compartmentalize things.

My simplest understanding is that it’s the difference between an integrated unit of learning about, say, apples in a Kindergarten class versus a fourth year biology class in biosystematics and phylogenetics. Both might teach about the so-called forbidden fruit, but only the youngest students will get to go apple picking, read and write stories about apples, do some apple seed art, and make apple pies in class. That’s a lot of intersecting!

SY

ST

Intersectionality Circle, adapted from the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

The fable of Finny (or epigenetics and climate change)

by Susan Ghattas, Environmental Justice Action Group, Committee for Action on Social Justice

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n my family’s basement there lurks a monster, an evolutionary oddity. For various reasons, an ancient, white-scaled ghost of a goldfish swims heroic lengths of backstroke, surviving a climate crisis in his own little globe that he had no part in defining.

He survives, perhaps thrives, despite the neglect. Finny, the fabled goldfish, has survived 20 years of critically erratic levels of Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), a title related to fluctuations in water levels and temperature, which could parallel the torture invoked in our own biospheric goldfish bowl, since the Industrial Revolution.

Finny, a potential hero of the type sought by epigeneticists as evidence for their theory that DNA adaptations might just keep up with climate change perils fast enough to prevent extinction, is, sadly, a red herring. Truth is, Finny doesn’t have to fight for food, given his open window and consistent thermostat, unlike most of the world’s poor on our own globe today. Finny thrives in a relatively benign environment (despite my forgetfulness).

Similarly, when scientific evidence of epigenetic adaptation is used to dispel harsh realities of unbridled climate chaos, the study of isolated-organism adaptation is inappropriate grounds to avoid taking action to reduce carbon emissions. In floats a handy cop-out!

change due mainly to fossil fuel exploitation, we find ourselves realigned upside down on the pyramid. That privileged peak spot could only be sustained by the generous diversity of organisms that fed us. (Yes, it’s the diversity that gave our species its resilience.

And it’s the diversity that we’re losing because of climate disruption as well as globalized “monotonization” of the commons.)

Finny could be called an epigenetic survivor. iStock photo Harsh survival rates in places now wracked by droughts or floods show that humans don’t survive or even recover in the same way.

Increasingly, there are stories, now closer to home, of human fatalities, and plant and animal extinctions.

Rivers dry up. Tides flood over dykes. People starve to death.

People drown or are buried. Along with a lot of other living things.

This is the real story.

Our former narrative placed us, narcissistically, at the peak of the ecological pyramid. As our planet turns now toward runaway climate

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

Only with a turn back to renewed values of respect for the rest of nature—at flash flood speed—will the shift to a sustainable future happen.

But it seems the shift will come from story…like those circulating from school teachers in the wake of forest wildfires. Our work is to get the kids—and Finny—on the bus to a safe and viable future.

For inspiration seek out the First Peoples Science Perspectives, currently a draft document at First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC), from your local Aboriginal education department.

And engage in the storytelling process with your students!

Recommended reading Aboriginal Worldviews and Perspectives in the Classroom (especially p. 16–36): bit.ly/1QotFfa First Nations Education Steering Committee: www.fnesc.ca/learningfirstpeoples First Peoples Principles of Learning: bit.ly/1tiayxa

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Couch Fest: An environmental justice film festival

by Heather Kelley, Environmental Justice Action Group, Committee for Action on Social Justice

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kay, I know we don’t know each other very well, but I have something to share with you. It is a deep truth, something often not talked about. It might come as a revelation to some of you…even environmental justice activists need to chill out and watch Netflix. I know that I do. There are some days when I need to curl up with a steaming mug of tea and my fuzzy blanket, and watch a film— especially on rainy weekends.

I love watching movies and I think film is a fabulous medium. The cinematography of some films can be so stunningly beautiful it makes your heart ache. Some films make you feel like you are seeing something for the first time, or give you an “aha” moment of epiphany.

They can, through storytelling, connect us to our own powerful emotions. There is power in image and sometimes film does a better job explaining things than a heated argument with your older, conservative uncle.

Now, I have some issues with much of the stuff on Netflix—there is a ton of garbage. Even if you look at what is in the “science and nature” subgenre there are some horrible films spouting varying versions of propaganda. I will not bore you with the details, but suffice it to say you have to be discerning and use a critical lens when selecting something to watch. With some digging, there are a few films worth your time.

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Currently streaming by a couch near you (on Netflix) are the following films I recommend.

what is happening in Antarctica and the global implications of anthropogenic climate change, and the relationship between melting Antarctic ice and rising sea levels.

The images of this magical place and its rugged beauty are unforgettable.

I enjoyed nerding-out while they talked about the science and reality of doing experiments and data collection in such an inhospitable place.

Chasing Ice This film tells the story of how ice in the northern hemisphere is disappearing at alarming rates.

Award-winning photographer James Balog travels across the arctic installing time-lapse photo equipment to capture changing glaciers over a number of years.

Through the story of ice he demonstrates the realities of our changing climate. It is beautifully shot, the images are glorious, and the emotional impact of watching glacier after glacier recede is profound. I have shown this film to a number of my classes and use it as an excellent primer for those people in my life who are doubtful about the reality of anthropogenic climate change.

Antarctic Edge: 70 Degrees South This film follows a crew of scientists to Antarctica where they are studying the rapidly declining Antarctic ice shelf and the implications for the wildlife there. While there are some really odd and problematic moments, such as the comment that “they have done everything except order a sacrificial virgin to fix their broken equipment,” it does a good job of showing the connection between

Queen of the Hive and Vanishing of the Bees These films tell the story of the collapse of honeybee populations and Colony Collapse Disorder. I liked them both (but I am wild about honeybees and love learning about them). Both are a bit quirky and have some memorable characters in them (like a fellow brushing his mustache on his honey bees).

Both make connections between our food security and the health of honeybees. Queen of the Hive particularly encourages us to think about the larger issues of industrial agriculture and the way we grow our food. Personally, I found the section on urban agriculture and beekeeping fascinating. While Vanishing of the Bees isn’t the best documentary out there, it is an interesting watch narrated by Ellen Page. Both of these films are sweet as honey and talk about an important environmental issue.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

When we get it right...it feels pretty good

by Kathy Hartman, secondary school teacher in Vancouver

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o you ever have one of those moments when you discover that we, as social justice teachers, are actually doing it right?

Early on a Saturday morning, May 14, 2016, amidst the chaos of helping 100 excited people get safely into kayaks to surround the Kinder Morgan oil terminal in Burnaby as part of the global Break Free movement, I heard an exchange behind me that made my heart swell.

Do you remember that teacher in your early teaching years that taught you how to stand up for your rights and those of others? The person who opened your eyes to teaching, not just as a profession, but as a calling that could really help make the world a better place?

Yvon Raoul and Alain Raoul

My mentor was a trouble-maker named Yvon Raoul, who taught environmental studies at Kitsilano Secondary back in the early 1990s.

He was a bane to the principal of the day, but a joy to watch and an inspiration to his students and us young teachers. He retired some years ago and as part

of his retirement “bucket list” he learned to play the Breton bagpipes.

He, his pipes, and his Celtic sense of humour are a regular treat at many an anti-Kinder Morgan rally.

As I was preparing a nervous kayaker for their send-off, I could hear squealing and happy shrieking behind me. I turned to see what the excitement was about and there was Yvon being regaled by a couple of thrilled twenty-somethings. One was a new teacher and the other going into nursing. Among the sounds of delight I could hear, “But he was our favourite teacher! He taught us Social Justice 12! We loved Mr. Raoul. And you’re his father?!” Yvon’s son, Alain Raoul, is now a Social Justice 12 teacher in Vancouver who continues in his father’s footsteps inspiring a whole new generation of young people to make a better world. Motivated young people willing to risk arrest, on land and sea, to demand that Canada promotes responsible energy use. We teachers are doing something right.

I later asked that young teacher why she was willing to help organize a mass civil disobedience event and risk arrest that day. Her answer?

Because it’s the right thing to do. Canada cannot shirk its responsibilities to fight global warming by selling its oil and gas offshore. We can’t export 890,000 barrels of oil a day and increase tanker traffic along BC’s coast from

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

Five tankers per month to thirtyfour. Our government can’t pretend we are not to blame for those embedded emissions being burned elsewhere. This is irresponsible climate pollution and I am going to make this government do the right thing!

Social Justice 12 is doing its job, and its teachers are making it work.

From the first public demonstration in 2008 in Abbotsford, when the school board refused to include Social Justice 12 in the September curriculum because it was too “gay friendly,” to today, when its graduates are organizing events that run into the thousands. The program is having an impact that we can all be proud of. To all those teacher-activists who work so hard to make this course a reality, a heartfelt thank you from all of us who work for justice.

Good news folks. I think we are doing it right.

Are you a Social Justice 12 teacher? Join our email list to network with your colleagues and get valuable teaching information. Sign up here: bctf.ca/cgi-bin/mailinglistssub.pl Do you need social justice teaching resources?

Check out our website here: bctf.ca/SocialJustice.aspx

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Torn Rainbow, 2011–15

by Bruce Curtis, Chief Administrator, Community Justice Centre, and Social Justice Contact, Comox District Teachers’ Association

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hat happens when a secondary school drama teacher has the opportunity to take on an issue of social justice and receives the resources needed to create a play, produce it, and tour that play to secondary schools and other public audiences?

CHANGE HAPPENS! And that is the story of Torn Rainbow or Sticks and Stones and Names May Break Me, a play about the impact of homophobia and how a group of students found a way to change their school’s culture.

It is gritty, direct, and explicit. It is compassionate, changes attitudes, and offers a message of acceptance of others as they are. It is hopeful, positive, and appeals to audiences from Grade 9 students to adults. It is the very essence of what good social justice theatre is about and what it can achieve. Torn Rainbow was written and directed by Lori Mazey of Georges P. Vanier Secondary’s Theatre Department in School District 71—Comox Valley.

The Torn Rainbow project began with a district Professional Development Day (Pro-D Day) conversation about how to dramatically increase the impact of the January, 2011, adoption of district 71’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Policy. As a partner in the development of the policy, the Community Justice Centre went on to secure a series of grants over the next three years (including grants through the BCTF Committee for Action on Social Justice) that covered the 30

production costs, travel expenses, and release time needed to bring the project to audiences across Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland of BC.

were moved by his commitment to the task.

The Community Justice Centre (CJC) commissioned the play from Mazey as part of its program to combat racism, homophobia, and hate crime. It is based on over 50 interviews with Comox Valley secondary school students on their experience of homophobia and bullying in school. The interview transcripts, other recorded interviews, and dialogue on the internet became the majority of the play’s script. In addition, the play’s script was inspired in part by the suicide of Jamie Hubley, the reallife son of Ottawa city councillor Allan Hubley and wife Wendy.

Jamie died in October, 2011, during the writing of the play.

Shortly after being written, the play was given a staged reading for the School District 71 Pro-D Day so that teachers and others could plan for performances to advance the objectives of the school district’s new SOGI Policy.

During the Q & A following a performance at one school, a young man, near the back of the theatre, quietly rose to ask, “What can I do to make things better?”

The cast members were direct in suggesting that he start a GayStraight Alliance (GSA) at his school.

The following year, the first GSA was begun at that school with a very large initial meeting. It has continued following his graduation, being carried on by those who

In another demonstration of the play’s impact, two gay students holding hands while walking down the main street of Courtenay told me that they hadn’t done it before, but they had seen the play the night before and had begun to think that it would be safe to be seen doing what all their heterosexual friends did all the time without any fear.

And the play affected the cast as well. Straight-identifying students played LGBTQ roles, gay-identifying students played the roles of bullies, one cast member came out to his fellow cast members, and others who were already “out” openly responded during the Q & A sessions following each performances. The growth in understanding and acceptance within the cast matched that of the audiences it touched over the three years of touring. The production environment was safe, affirming, and totally LBGTQ positive, of course!

One member of the cast and crew was particularly profoundly affected. Son of an evangelical Christian family, he came out to his parents the night before the final performance. His mother attended that night and cried through much of the performance. In the lobby at the end of the evening, his mother told him that she had no idea what it was like for him, and that she loved him. His parents and several sibings joined him for a large American evangelical conference on being gay and being Christian,

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

emphasizing that the two were not incompatible. The family’s growing support for their son and brother has been a godsend.

In 2012 and 2013, the play was performed before 17 Vancouver Island schools, as well as at open public presentations and at youth leadership conferences attended by over 7,000 people from Port Hardy to Victoria. In 2014, bringing back several of the cast who had graduated, and adding some new cast members from the Vanier Theatre Department, the play was presented as part of the professional Blue Circle Series by the Sid Williams Theatre. It was double-billed with the play FrAcTured, by Robinson Wilson, directed

by Scott Swan, and performed by Seacoast Theatre Company from Vancouver.

At the 2014 North Island Drama Festival, the production won several awards including Best Ensemble and Best Backstage Co-ordination. And Robbie Granados was given Best Emerging Artist, while Lori Mazey was awarded the Matthew Shepard Change the World award.

At the same time, the play was licensed for performance in New Brunswick, by Woodstock High School. It went on to the New Brunswick Provincial Drama Festival and was awarded Adjudicator Special Mention for Social Activism, Adjudicator Special Mention for Challenging Material, and won Outstanding Choice of Material. The play’s cast also took home two Best Supporting Actor Awards, and the Best Actor Award, whose recipient also took away an entry scholarship for university worth $6,000.

Immediately following the North Island Festival, the cast and crew packed up for their final tour—five schools in the Lower Mainland. Again, the play was extremely well received, the audience’s faces and their questions showed real impact and attitudinal change.

The final event of the Torn Rainbow project was two district Pro-D Day performances in the Sid Williams BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2016

Theatre. The cast was recalled for the two final performances for School District 71. Jamie Hubley’s parents and cousin flew out to Comox from Ottawa to be in attendance. Funded by the district as part of its SOGI Policy implementation commitments, Torn Rainbow was seen by every teacher, Canadian Union of Public Employees support staff member, school administrator, and board office staff member in the district at the end of the summer of 2014.

With the audiences from this tour, the two previous tours in 2012 and 2013, seven community and conference performances, the North Island Zone Drama Festival, the Blue Circle Performance at the Sid Williams, the New Brunswick Provincial Drama Festival presentation, and the entire staff of School District 71 Pro-D Day performances, the combined audience for the play has reached 10,000!

As Bruce E. Whitacre wrote: Similar programs and experiences are happening at theatres all around the country. They provide students with opportunities to explore their own stories and history as well as that of people who may not look and act like they do. It is much more difficult to dismiss groups of people once you have spent time reading, studying, or watching their stories on stage. Yet, how do we measure the impact of these kinds of connections, other than to see how they improve the lives of an entire generation of students, and create a more cohesive, vibrant culture over time?

The play’s cast has now completed its work and gone on to other things, but the play will live on through licensed productions in cities and towns across the country.

It is being promoted through the Community Justice Centre and a teaching guide has also been prepared. The play may be performed, Lori Mazey royalty-free, under licence from the Community Justice Centre (apply to bruce.curtis@shawbiz.ca). A video of the author-directed production is available at www.cjc-comoxvalley.com/cirp/tornrainbow.html.

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Pride flag flies proudly

by James Chamberlain, vice-principal in Vancouver

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tudents at Lord Roberts Elementary in Vancouver led two flag raising ceremonies as part of Pride in Roberts Week in late May. This was the kickoff of a week that had teachers talking with students about pride in their gender, culture, sexuality, and abilities. These topics were recommended to and endorsed by staff from a team of primary and intermediate teachers at the school who are the Social Responsibility (SR) Team within the school.

The SR Team made a list of possible activities with the vice-principal. They chose simple activities with multiple entry points that teachers could do during the week.

They encouraged classroom teachers to make it their own as they saw fit. This supported teachers’ professional autonomy and created strong buy-in from the staff at a meeting one month prior to the week.

The vice-principal worked with the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) to attain their support early in the year for this initiative. It was partly a school spirit week, as well as an opportunity to deepen students’ understanding of diversity. The school Code of Conduct was discussed by staff in September and modified to be more student friendly. While the Code of Conduct Policy is quite comprehensive for parents and includes all of the prohibited grounds for discrimination in the BC Human Rights Code, staff wanted something that students could grasp. They came up with an acronym of ARMOUR that stands for attitude is everything, respect for others, model fair play, ownership for your actions, understanding diversity, and being responsible for our school. Each term, teachers focused on two different aspects of the Code of Conduct school wide. Therefore, our pride celebrations were part of our focus on understanding diversity.

At the start of the week, Kindergarten to Grade 3 students listened to a Grade 6 student read about why the flag was important to his family, the meaning of the colours in the flag, the flag’s history, and why we should accept all families including those with two moms or two dads. Then they listened to a song by the Vancouver Men’s Chorus called “Everything Possible.” It is about children growing up to be who they are and love whomever they will without boundaries placed upon them. When the flag was raised everyone let out a cheer when it reached the top of the pole.

The intermediate ceremony included all of these elements plus the reading of a poem and some writing by two

additional Grade 6 students. The poem was a call to action for students not to be oppressed by their sexuality or race. The second student spoke of how racism is wrong and shouldn’t be accepted. Both students spoke eloquently from their passions and lived experiences. These students are part of the Kids Helping Kids Club, which focuses on social justice issues and is led by the vice-principal and a PAC parent. Earlier in the year, students from this club wrote, performed in, and produced antibullying videos on homophobia, sexism, body image, and social and relational bullying that were shown at school assemblies. These were always tied to the foci on respect for others and accepting diversity within our school.

Teachers were given the choice of whether they wanted to have their classes participate in the flag raising ceremonies, and front-end loaded with the general content of each ceremony. Therefore, there were no surprises for staff. The vice-principal also visited Grade 6 and 7 classes during the week to talk about transgender issues with students during the Pride in Roberts Week. During the week, a primary teacher created a Pride in Our Robert’s Family Flag with her class, which included the rainbow. This flag was circulated to all divisions for students to sign. It was then raised on the last day of the week as a bookend to the original Pride Flag Raising. Rather than having a stand-alone LGBTQ week, this was an effective way to talk directly with students about LGBTQ pride and also focus on other things we are proud about as a community. Other elementary schools are encouraged to do this in the future and advertise it in a transparent manner to the parent community. The PAC were supportive because they understood that this celebration was in line with our district’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) policy, which has been in place since 2004.

Finally, by tying it to your Code of Conduct and the values that you are collectively teaching your students in order to become good citizens, this is easily doable. All in all, it was a great education for students and parents alike.

One week after the Lord Roberts pride flag was flown proudly, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised the pride flag on Parliament Hill for the first time in our country’s history. bit.ly/1Xhxfi3 James Chamberlain is a former staff member at the BCTF who was responsible for the LGBTQ, antiracism, and antipoverty portfolios.

Looking for antihomophobia teaching resources? Check out our website at bctf.ca/SocialJustice.aspx?id=6106.

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BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

Pride speak

by James Sanyshyn, Executive Committee, BC Teachers’ Federation

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his May, I accepted a nearly impossible task: share my story (pride speak) as an out, gay man with our Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) while highlighting the birth and development of the gay rights movement, including our community struggles in Burnaby.

Over a truncated lunch. No biggie.

I didn’t anticipate success. But what happened for me was emotional and reaffirming. Students and staff were completely engaged and informed. Success!

I was born in 1969, a benchmark year for LGBTQ rights. Pierre Elliott Trudeau, when introducing legislation to decriminalize homosexuality famously said, “The state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation.” The Stonewall Riots showed that the LGBTQ community had had enough of the intimidation, harassment, and extortion they faced even in America’s most progressive city.

Not that Stonewall made a difference in rural southern Alberta of the 1970s. As a child, I was told to “walk like a man,” “speak more masculine,” sent for full psychiatric and physical exams, and taught that “perverts” burned for all eternity. I share this not to blame my family or faith, as they all wanted me to be saved from myself, from an inevitable and ugly future of bullying, harassment, and violence.

Surviving secondary school was a daily challenge. Having a “girlfriend” was good cover for a while. It even got me through my Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) interview to join the reserves in 1989. “Do you have a girlfriend?”, “No.”, “Have you ever had a girlfriend?” I could live with a feeble yes. In 1992, as a result

of court losses, the CAF reversed its policy of discrimination and lesbians and gays could now serve their country without lying.

Coming out to best friends was harrowing, but total acceptance was the response. My mother was trying to “out” me by raising Ellen DeGeneres’s coming out on TV in 1997 and by speaking about the gay couple on her block, and by asking me about my pierced ear. But sadly, her attempts to help me love and accept myself with family were cut short by her sudden passing. Her loss rocked our family and kept me in the closet for two more years.

The letters I wrote to family, small town folk with religious backgrounds, were accepted with unconditional love by all. My fears were allayed and I learned about acceptance from those closest to me. My dad’s voicemail: “Hi, it’s your Dad. I got your letter. I can’t say that I’m surprised. I want you to know that this doesn’t change anything for me. You’re my son and I still love you.

Okay, talk to you later. Bye.” Short, sweet, tears of relief.

As a gay teacher, I was drawn to the Gay and Lesbian Educators of BC (GALE BC), who in 1999 were assisting in the fight against the Surrey School Board ban of same-sex family books. James Chamberlain became a mentor and friend and risked so much for a just cause: to allow students, staff, and parents to be exactly who they are, without compromise and without retribution. He and others taught me to be loud and proud! It was through that fight and subsequent fundraising events that I met my former husband. We were engaged just as same-sex marriage came

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

to BC in 2003 and were among the first 10 couples married here upon the change of law. We fought over who got to cross out the title “bride” from the marriage licence as the new forms had yet to be printed!

My principal at the time was noticeably uncomfortable reading this piece of “good news” during our staff meeting as scripted by me: “Another piece of good news…silence, coughs.

We have a summer wedding to announce. James and Lyle were married in July—congratulations.”

Whispers: “Did he say Lyle?”, “Sounds like a guy.” The Language Department threw me a party and gave me champagne!

Despite the awkward announcement, nothing came my way but love and acceptance.

I felt so incredibly blessed.

2004—started the GSA at Burnaby South. I was nervous and concerned that students might be the target of bullying. I had excellent support of my then principal, now superintendent.

The RCMP liaison officer was made aware of the meeting time and location. Pizza ordered—70 students showed up! We managed to hold onto 30–40 after that for several years and our GSA is still going strong with other sponsors today.

Not being satisfied, I and other long-time activists, such as Debra Sutherland, decided to present to the Burnaby board in 2009 regarding a discrete LGBTQ policy for our district. Our initial request was rebuffed by trustees with the usual “we deal with all bullying the same way.”

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Undeterred, lobbying and organizing began. I had the full support of the Burnaby Teachers’ Association and BC Teachers’ Federation.

Student voices were too compelling to ignore. I was so proud of them as they spoke before the board, which could only change its mind.

The work of policy writing continued, out of the media, without controversy. That is, until the draft was released to district parent advisory council. Almost overnight, hundreds protested with signs, counter delegations presented, death threats were sent, a single-issue political party was born… yet, our trustees, staff, students, and supportive parents and allies did not back down. Our policy passed and became the thirteenth in BC. Our voices are at the table now. Our district walks the walk with regulations and a dedicated parttime diversity-consultant teacher, in the Pride Parade, with conferences, and an annual GSA International Day against Homophobia breakfast.

My life is not unique; rather, it has paralled a movement of suppressed, repressed, and targeted individuals rising up for themselves and future generations of their own. I am so proud to tell my story, as it is interwoven with the stories of countless others, under one everexpanding rainbow.

34

Accepting “they” as a singular pronoun: Writing gender-neutral report cards

by Heather McDonald, Lizzie Midyette, and Nichelle Penney, LGBTQ Action Group, Committee for Action on Social Justice

T

he ever-expanding knowledge of gender fluidity has resulted in more and more students feeling comfortable understanding their gender identity. With this evolution, teachers are looking to explore different ways they can give constructive feedback without using gendered pronouns on report cards.

This practice allows students and teachers to work together and not feel anxious about what or how they are saying something.

Teachers find this difficult because it may challenge binary assumptions about gender and our understanding of language conventions. Many buddy-check systems on report cards leave teachers questioning sentence structure and grammar, when the intention of eliminating references to gender is not meant to cause confusion.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (www.oxforddictionaries. com/words/he-or-she-versus-they), limiting pronouns to gendered pronouns (e.g., she, her, he, him, etc.) is “seen as outdated and sexist.”

While traditionally “they” is used in plural constructions, acceptance of using it to refer to an individual is growing fast. (For instance, the American Dialect Society voted “they” used as a singular genderneutral pronoun as 2015’s Word of the Year.) By embracing this change, teachers can support students in expressing their unique gender identities.

MyEducation BC has a pregenerated report card comment bank, which can reduce the amount of stress

teachers have around writing report card comments. However, gendered pronouns are still used by the program. Teachers can easily edit these out and replace them with “they” (or their, them, etc.) The way to access the comment bank is as follows: 1. Open up the student comment window in Gradebook.

2. Click on the yellow arrow to the right of the comment box.

3. Select the first option, “General,” on the drop-down menu.

4. The second drop-down menu allows you to browse comments by subject area; alternatively, there is the ability to search by comment number listing. For example, comment number 063 reads, “(student’s first name) is conscientious about doing (gender) best work.”

In this case, the teacher will have to recognize that the student’s legal name, rather than preferred name, will populate, and gender as recorded in MyEducation BC will populate in the comment, which may need to be edited in both cases to reflect a student’s given name.

Teachers can access a document detailing the MyEducation BC comment bank here: bit.ly/2amqUPv Realistically, many teachers avoid the use of gendered language and practice in the classroom as they strive to make their classrooms more inclusive. Accepting the use of “they” as a singular gender-neutral pronoun is an important, yet easy, action to take.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

COMMITTEE FO R

E (CASJ) TIC US

N ON SOCI TIO AL C A J

Antiracism Action Group Maryam Adrangi Ryan Cho Nassim Elbardouh Sara McGarry Workshops • Antidiscrimination Response Training • Bafa Bafa Rafa Rafa • Incorporating Antiracist Education into BC’s New Curriculum.

Status of Women Action Group Carol Arnold Laura Lafortune Kristin Quigley Sonja van der Putten Workshops • Assertive Communication • Stamping Out Cyberbullying • Youth Relationships in a Sexualized World.

Antipoverty Action Group Leon D’Souza Bhearni McAleer Annie Ohana Sue Spalding

2016–17 Committee for Action on Social Justice (CASJ) • advises the BCTF on social justice issues • reviews and promotes social justice workshops • liaises with community groups and NGOs • develops policy on emerging issues • reviews and develops materials for classroom teachers • develops and supports networks of social justice contacts in the following action group areas: Antiracism, Antipoverty, Status of Women, LGBTQ, Peace and Global Education, Environmental Justice • co-ordinates the work of the six action groups.

Environmental Justice Action Group Sue Ghattas Julie Johnston Heather Kelley Connie Moody Workshops • Teaching Green: Integrating Environmental Justice Issues across the Curriculum (five modules available: Climate Justice, Food Security, Sustainable Resource Use, Sustainable Transportation, Water Rights).

LGBTQ Action Group Heather McDonald Lizzie Midyette Sean Moores Nichelle Penney Workshops • Creating a Gender-inclusive School Culture • Teaching Inclusive, Comprehensive Sexual Health Education in K–12 Classrooms • Reach Out Speak Out against Homophobia and Transphobia.

Peace and Global Education Action Group Katherine O’Connor Shanee Prasad Melissa Shaw Deidre Torrence Workshops • Bringing Global Education into Your Classroom • Creating Cultures of Peace • Strategies for Discussing Controversial Issues.

Workshops • Poverty as a Classroom Issue • A Follow Up to Poverty as a Classroom Issue.

Important SJ dates to celebrate Sept 21 UN International Day of Peace Oct 17 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty Nov 20 Transgender Day of Remembrance Dec 16 National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women

Please note: The BCTF is not responsible for the content or links found on any external website. Opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the author.

BC Teachers’ Federation 100–550 West 6th Avenue Vancouver, BC V5Z 4P2

Editor: Susan Ruzic Copy editing: Sarah Young Design: Jennifer Sowerby

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2016

This newsletter is available online at bctf.ca/SocialJustice.aspx?id=6352 Summer/Fall 2016, PSI16-0040 35

Domestic Violence in the Workplace Over HALF of individuals experiencing domestic violence report that abuse continued at or near the workplace.

Abusive acts at or near the workplace: 50 40 30 20

harassment near the workplace

TUE

1

2

3

WED THUR 4

5

FRI

SAT

6

7

6

came to workplace

20 .5% stalking/

MON

On average, days a every woman in Canada is KILLED by her spouse.

40 .6% 18 .2% abusive phone abuser physically calls/texts

SUN

Source: Statistics Canada, 2009

.6% 15 abusive emails

% 14 .

5 abuser contacted

coworkers/employer

2 .2% other

10 0

/3 of Canadians report experiencing 1 domestic violence, most of them women or transgender individuals.

Source: Canadian Labour Congress, 2015

Did you know...?

The Yukon Teachers’ Association has negotiated special leave that can be used when workers need time off due to domestic violence.

If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, visit www.sheltersafe.ca.