Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

NEWSLETTER IN THIS ISSUE Building Cultures of Peace in the Classroom with Performing Arts

WINTER/SPRING 2019

Building Cultures of Peace in the Classroom with Performing Arts

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Call for Social Justice Newsletter Articles 4 Working in Solidarity in Defense of Public Education 5 Culture, Art, and Science: Becoming an ASPnet School

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InTensions: The Three S’s

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Bread and Roses

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Which NGO Should I Support?

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The Social Justice Lens

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An Effective Poverty Reduction Plan: It’s as simple as ABC

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1 in 5 Poor Children in BC Call Out for Bold Government Action 17 Cancelled: Welfare Food Challenge 2018

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Poverty at the School Level: What can teachers do?

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Responding to Sexual Harassment in Schools

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BC’s LNG Canada Project

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Reclaiming Common Ground

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A Racialized Teacher in Rural BC

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The Aboriginal Lens

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Committee for Action on Social Justice 27 New Teachers’ Conference

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By Amy Wedel, Peace and Global Education Action Group member and Comox music teacher

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his article takes a look at the role the performing arts can play in generating cultures of peace in schools. In the context of social justice discussions, we —Paul McCartney often focus on critically examining the absence of peace in our world, efforts to mitigate this absence, and strategies to overcome the outcomes of war. In short, we study conflict, conflict resolution, and the restoration of peace. The underlying premise of this approach is that if we understand the causes of conflict and its impacts on people, and learn strategies to overcome it, we will achieve peace.

I love to hear a choir. I love the humanity... to see the faces of real people devoting themselves to a piece of music. I like the teamwork. It makes me feel optimistic about the human race when I see them co-operating like that.

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As a result, we engage students in social studies curricula that focus on critical-thinking competencies and inquiry-based acquisition of knowledge, and we teach conflict resolution strategies and skills for building cultures of peace at school. However, how often do we find that—when they encounter real-life situations—students revert to discriminatory attitudes and patterns of conflict behaviours which are difficult to mitigate, even through mediation and conflict resolution strategies? We can see this at every level, from altercations on the playground at recess to pervasive discrimination and abuse of minority groups.

We see these phenomena playing out in society at large despite British Columbia Teachers’ Federation • 100–550 West 6th Avenue • Vancouver, BC V5Z 4P2 iStock

generations of efforts to educate citizens for peace. Many of us are aghast at wholesale unleashing of discrimination, bigotry, and conflict rhetoric following the election of President Trump, and now we see the same happening in Canada with Premier Ford. For more than 70 years, most Canadians have been educated on the horrors of World War II, the Holocaust, racism, and the evils of war, yet when faced with social challenges, it appears that many people default to their implicit bias and revert to patterns of tribalistic, discriminatory, and violent behaviour. Conscious knowledge and skill seem to go out the window when threat and danger are perceived.

Recent brain research sheds light on why implicit bias and visceral gut reactions so easily trump informed thought and behaviour. Dr. David Oakley and Dr. Peter Halligan’s research into neuropsychological disorders and neuroscience has led them to conclude that we have less control over our lives than we believe. We do not choose our thoughts and feelings, but rather become aware of them. Their conclusions consist of two key points. Firstly, our personal awareness, sense of agency, emotions, and personal narrative—which includes our memories, beliefs, and decisions—are made by unconscious brain processes prior to reaching the conscious mind. Secondly, conscious brain processes, which have the capacity for language and rational thought, function primarily to communicate and do not provide executive function in the formation of personal narrative, personal awareness, and decision making.

This model suggests that the assumption that consciousness can influence brain processes is simply wrong. Unconscious brain systems generate our personal awareness and personal narrative directly from experience and perception before our conscious reasoning is engaged. The conscious functions of our brain are for communicating what is already done to others and for receiving communications from others as a social function. Our conscious self—our ego— may argue this point vehemently, but what we reason and tell ourselves is

largely confirmation of what is already present in our unconscious, like preaching to the choir. As well, what we say to others has little influence on what they feel and think unless it resonates with what is already there.

As we all can attest to from experience, trying to reason with someone who holds discriminatory attitudes is often a lost cause unless we are able to move beyond the conscious, rational mind and engage the unconscious brain systems where attitudes, personal narrative, and decisions are really formed. Given that these systems work from direct experience and perception, we ought to ask, “How do we get there in an education system so heavily invested in language-based information and criticalthinking skills? How do we build cultures of peace in the hearts and minds of our students if information, discourse, and conflict resolution skills are not going to be enough to get us there?”

To begin to address this question, a personal story may help. Many of us have participated in the unique and powerful learning experience of The Blanket Exercise.

When I took part in this activity, many participants were moved significantly and expressed deep feelings and thoughts of personal growth during the concluding sharing session. An Elder from the local First Nation who was in attendance made a short speech near the end, and one thing that she said about the power of The Blanket Exercise stuck in my mind: “We do more than enough with the head in school. We need to get to the heart.” Upon reflection, I asked myself what it was about The Blanket Exercise that got to everyone’s hearts. I had heard most of the historical information before, so that wasn’t it. The parts of the activity that evoked emotional responses were the actions of sitting and standing on the blankets, folding the blankets, and being forced off of the blankets. It was the live experience and perception of the drama that got to our hearts, facilitating the growth of empathy, compassion, and social bonding: the building blocks of peace.

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BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

Another experience that always engages me at a visceral, emotional level, to the point of unexplainable tears, is participating in the Big House Experience of the K’omoks First Nation. The songs (without words), dancing, and drama, complete with masks and ceremonial dress, make the event a powerful social-cultural experience through which people build community and reach out to the larger society, building bridges of peace and understanding.

Here again, the lessons that reach the heart are not mediated by the words spoken, but by participation in music, dance, and drama.

Most of us can probably cite examples of performing arts experiences that reach the heart in this way, where it is not the words, discussion, or reasoning that facilitate the learning, but rather the active participation in social-artistic activity. Due to the imperative for precise co-operation in such activities, the learning is invariably social-emotional: people learning how to act and feel together, support and enjoy each other, and follow the rules of engagement collectively. My favourite example of this at the school level is playing singing games with children in music classes. While playing these games, children are singing, moving, dancing, taking turns leading and following, choosing partners, being chosen and not being chosen, including everyone, creating variations, contributing, being careful, greeting each other, interacting appropriately, being patient, following rules, and enjoying each other all together within a given structure. In most of the games, the words are incidental; the learning is in the musical-social activity. Other favourite examples of social-learning performing arts activities that work in much the same way are improvisational drama games, instrumental ensembles, dance classes, and the ordinary, underrated sing-a-long. In every case, the essential social learning does not consist of the verbal information and critical-thinking skills of the head, but gets to the heart through the visceral experience and procedural perception of human activity.

A compelling explanation of how this works is given by neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin in his two bestseller books This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession and The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature. Levitin posits a theory that the human capacity for music and dance developed prior to language on the evolutionary timeline, and that BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

music and dance are based largely on the ability of human beings to synchronize and co-ordinate their actions precisely.

He goes further in proposing the idea that human social bonds, social development, and complex social structures are all based on this human capacity for organizing and sharing movement and sound. Vital examples of performing arts functioning in this capacity are found in traditional societies around the world. In his book How Musical Is Man?, Social Anthropologist John Blacking has written a particularly vivid account of how the Venda people in Africa view and practise music and dance on a nation-wide scale as “the way in which we learn to live together.” It is the vehicle for peace. For the Venda, music and dance are not thought of as humanly organized sound but, rather, soundly organized humanity.

Such a view, that the purpose of performing arts is to build community for people to learn to live together is pervasive except in Western societies. Unfortunately, with the rise of capitalism, the performing arts have become commodities to be bought and sold for profit. With corporate control over the performing arts, they have been so aggressively marketed as entertainment that their social purpose has largely disappeared from public consciousness. However, if we look closely, we see pockets of resistance to corporatized entertainment everywhere: in community performing arts organizations and in schools, taught by dedicated teachers who understand the power of the performing arts to reach the heart. All too often, though, we become blinded by the entertainment industry’s values of perfect recordings and 3

concert performance and forget that the power and purpose of the performing arts lie in the actual participation in them as social activities; that is where the pathway to the heart lies, how we learn to live together, and the way to build cultures of peace.

As teachers, once we realize that the true purpose of the performing arts is social learning and not stage performance, the pressure is off and the enjoyment is on. The quality of concert performance is no longer the goal. Instead, the focus becomes the quantity and quality of participation and co-operation. Furthermore, the content of our learning shifts from verbal information and discourse to social interaction. We are no longer consumed with the words of the song but on how well we sing, dance, and play the game together.

Then we can access the unconscious brain systems—the heart—where attitudes, decisions, and personal narratives are generated. Once the heart is engaged in the experience and perception of peaceful action, the verbal, rational processes of our conscious minds will be able to resonate with and speak meaningfully to the heart and make growth possible. When a

child experiences playing the singing game with inclusion and joy, a discussion on freedom from discrimination will make sense.

activities that involve inclusion, diversity, egalitarian participation, opportunities for leadership and contribution, and celebration of effort, these are the values students’ hearts will learn. Alternatively, if our activities stress autocratic direction, hierarchical organization, ranking according to ability, demands for perfection, and judgement, then that is what our students’ hearts will adopt. Just because the performing arts are powerful does not mean that any activity will suffice. Consider how effective mass singing can be in uniting people toward a common purpose either positive or negative.

The outcome depends on the nature of the activity in which we engage.

Each year at my school, we have a Remembrance Day ceremony, and every year the activity that students and teachers alike value the most as a powerful experience of community is the song the entire assembly sings together.

This raises a final issue: the ethical responsibility of the choice of performing arts activities we make.

Here, again, the verbal content of the materials we use (the songs, stories, and scenarios) are not the issue. It is the nature of the activities that counts. If we choose

From the singing games played in Kindergarten, to amazing community dance-drama-music celebrations, to drumming circles, to simply singing together, the performing arts are powerful vehicles for building cultures of peace in the classroom.

Call for Social Justice Newsletter Articles

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o you have a story to share about a social justice activity or project that you have carried out in your classroom, local, or community? Is there a social justice issue that you would like to highlight for BCTF members?

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We are currently accepting articles for the Summer/Fall 2019 edition of the Social Justice Newsletter. For more information, see the submission guidelines document on the Social

Justice Newsletter page under Publications on the BCTF website.

The deadline for the Summer/Fall 2019 edition is May 15, 2019.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

\ Working in Solidarity in Defense of Public Education

By Lorna Wou, BCTF International Solidarity Committee member and Coquitlam teacher

The BCTF International Solidarity Program funds a number of projects in Latin America and southern Africa. Four BCTF members sit on the International Solidarity Committee which makes recommendations to the BCTF Executive Committee for use of these funds. In addition to supporting the work of our partners overseas, the fund provides opportunities for BCTF members to become involved in solidarity projects. This year, BCTF members were invited to apply to participate in the Tri-national Conference in Mexico, the Pedagogia 2019 Conference in Havana, and the Canadian Teachers’ Federation’s Project Overseas. In the article below, International Solidarity Committee member Lorna Wou describes her experience as part of the Tri-national delegation.

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uring the second weekend in November of 2018, union and non-union members of educationrelated occupations from Ontario, Chicago, Arizona, California, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Costa Rica, and El Salvador, along with a 14-member delegation from the BCTF, came together in Orizaba, Mexico to continue solidarity discussions and plans of action around hauntingly similar neoliberal attacks on public education across the continent. This 13th biennial Tri-national Conference was timely, as Mexico, the United States, and Canada were in the midst of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that had triggered the formation of the Coalition in the first place. The Tri-national Coalition for the Defense of Public Education was founded in 1993 in order to protect the universal rights to education, decent working conditions, democratic communities, and social justice across societies.

Presenters from the different countries enlightened us on their current situations. They identified common challenges, including new methods of privatization, ideological and organizational forms of neoliberal education policies, standardized tests for students, and assessment of teacher performance. At the same time, presenters shared successful experiences of organization and struggle at local, regional, national, tri-national, and hemispheric levels, including campaigns to fight budget cuts, increase education funding, improve working conditions, and construct educational alternatives.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

Time and again, information from seemingly diverse regions pointed to the commonalities of problems. Yet we were also inspired by the resilience and determination of dedicated representatives of targeted communities who have organized to respond successfully. The disappearance of the 43 teacher-candidate activists in Oaxaca in 2014 confirms the importance of our struggle against ongoing threats to basic rights outlined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the right to education, public assembly, freedom of expression, equality under the law, and protection from illegal detention.

Prior to the official start of the conference sessions, some delegates traveled to the village of Necoxtla, in the highlands near Orizaba, to witness some of the work of the Totlahtol Yoltok (“Our Living Word”) Project towards the decolonization of Nahuatlspeaking villages. The BCTF works with this partner group of Indigenous educators through our International Solidarity program. We observed and discussed several similar challenges Indigenous people in Canada and Mexico face, including an ongoing lack of funding, training, and resources and materials in Indigenous languages. These issues are in addition to the dominance of colonial viewpoints around historical events and a pressure to conform to the colonial culture, all of which emphasize how systematic the opposition to Indigenous people seems to be.

For the BCTF delegates, the campaigns regarding resistance to charter schools in the United 5

States echo our own experiences.

Unfortunately, we learned that in New Orleans, Puerto Rico, and areas hit by recent hurricanes, charter schools are now being put in place as a method to replace public schools destroyed in natural disasters.

Our Mexican and American colleagues have shared their stories with us and created an action plan to accomplish by the next conference, which is tentatively set for 2020 in Arizona. Now it is our turn to take heed and organize. The warning signs are 6

all there. Communication and solidarity are the keys to minimizing the devastating impacts of neoliberal education policies on our rights. As BCTF members, we have an obligation to join the defense of public education for all!

For more information Tri-national Coalition: www.trinationalcoalition.org Totlahtol Yoltok Project: See the video on the Codev Canada website: www.codev.org BCTF International Solidarity Program: Click on International Solidarity under the Social Justice tab on the BCTF website.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

Culture, Art, and Science: Becoming an ASPnet School

By Cecile McVittie, ASPnet lead teacher, Sa-Hali Secondary School, Kamloops

(To the tune of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song) “U-N-E, S-C-O, A-S-P-dash net.”

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keep searching for fun and easy ways to explain what UNESCO and ASPnet mean. Of course, UNESCO stands for the United Nations (UN) Education, Science, and Cultural Organization.

These are the great folks who are responsible for—among other things—world heritage sites, the UN’s scientific work, and helping education systems around the world with resources and policy building.

I was at the Canadian Student Leadership Conference in Montreal when I first heard about the UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet for short). I attended a workshop led by teachers and students from Olds, Alberta and heard about their fair-trade projects, connections with local First Nations, and the work they were doing with youth from Sierra Leone. Their presentation made their school sound amazing, and this was confirmed by my husband who had attended a conference hosted by students in Olds. Knowing my colleagues and the students at my own school, I believed we could strive for a higher level of social justice and action in partnership with this organization.

There are two levels of schools within the network: candidates and members. As I looked over

the application for becoming a candidate school, I knew we would be able to meet the requirements without too much difficulty. Like all schools, we were beginning to implement the revised BC curriculum which aligns with the goals of educational change promoted by UNESCO. Our staff and students were already involved in a variety of activities, both international and local in scope, which made it easy to describe how we could implement UNESCO ASPnet’s vision for developing global citizenship.

We were already doing most of the things we needed to do to become a candidate school. It was just a matter of describing them, adding in the awareness of what UNESCO stands for, and celebrating some of the UN international days, weeks, and years.

We were accepted as a candidate school in 2015. In the years that have followed, we have seen an increased focus on human rights and the plight of refugees. We are actively involved with local and national organizations focused on the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

We have implemented an annual Carbon Challenge to increase staff and students’ efforts to travel to and from school by carpooling, bus, and foot. We have partnered with schools across Canada through The Centre for Global Education to write youth white papers, which are presented to the Canadian Senate and other policy-making bodies. We are also building our connections overseas by partnering with a UNESCO school in Amsterdam to investigate sustainable water practices and building cultural peace.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

The BCTF recently took on the role of provincial co-ordinator for the UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network. For more information about the many resources and professional development opportunities available through ASPnet and to apply to become a candidate school, follow the link on the Peace and Global Education Action Group page under the Social Justice tab on the BCTF website.

One of the ways we’ve been able to easily connect with other schools is through virtual projects hosted

by The Centre for Global Education (TCGE) in Edmonton. Its headquarters are in Queen Elizabeth High School, an ASPnet member school. We are regularly informed about projects they are organizing and can then sign up as a class or a club. TCGE links the schools together through a virtual classroom, and we meet through webcasts to discuss our learning and research. We have been able to listen to experts in various fields and meet with representatives from international non-governmental organizations. We even participated in a Remembrance Day ceremony featuring a live broadcast from the Vimy Ridge Memorial in France.

As the lead teacher for our school, my role has been to promote and educate about UNESCO and ASPnet, encourage colleagues to take on projects of various kinds, organize events, and report our progress annually. I get to work with like-minded teachers and students who are passionate about making the world a better place. Like many schools, we don’t have 100% participation, but we continue to build awareness of the important themes of UNESCO’s work using science, culture, and education to build a peaceful, sustainable world for the youth of the world, with the youth of the world.

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InTensions: The Three S’s

By Shannon Moore, Peace and Global Education Action Group member and Vancouver Secondary teacher

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hroughout the holiday season, many people choose to open their wallets or donate food, toys, and clothing. For people living in poverty, these charitable gestures are likely appreciated. While I would never want to deter people from their inclination to help others, it is important to understand that charity, food banks, and donations—although well meaning—do not address the underlying systemic issues that contribute to poverty in Canada. In fact, many critics of the charity model suggest that these interventions prolong poverty in Canada. For an informative and succinct explanation, watch the TEDx Talk by Teva Sienicki.

Suggesting that charitable acts may mask or exacerbate poverty is not a popular viewpoint, particularly when it provides temporary relief to those in need. Further, it is not a conversation many of us want to have. People whose intentions are well-meant may feel blamed or attacked, and those who benefit from the generosity of others may be left further behind without such donations. Yet these difficult conversations are essential if we want to make real, long-lasting, systemic change. Discussions about the consequences of charity may even reveal that one’s actions do not align with their intentions.

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Framing the conversation within the Three S’s—social responsibility, social service, and social justice—may make the conversation both palatable and fruitful. Within my Social Justice 12 classroom, I ask students to recognize the difference between social responsibility, social service, and social justice, so that they can ensure their actionbased projects align with their objectives. On a larger scale, my hope is that distinguishing between these three approaches will encourage criticality and reflection about how our society tends to social issues.

S-S-Social Thinking As part of Social Justice 12, students participate in an action-based project in which they identify and research a social issue of their choosing. Students begin by researching the underlying factors that contribute to the social issue and then the interventions that have already been employed. Using their findings, the students state an objective and construct an action plan that aligns with it. This alignment of objective and action requires that the students investigate the Three S’s. To achieve this goal, they participate in a jigsaw activity, become experts on one of the approaches, and then share their expertise with their peers.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

After this simple jigsaw activity, students create responses for a variety of social issues using these approaches.

For example, students construct a response from each approach for the issue of low voter turnout. For this activity, it is best if students are in groups of three with an expert representative from each approach. A crucial element of this activity is reflection. Students are asked to consider three questions: 1. What flaws or gaps exist within each approach?

2. Can negative consequences result from using any of these approaches?

3. Is it possible to utilize only one of these approaches, or are all of them necessary?

This act of reflection is key, as it encourages students to develop this practice in questioning—both in how they respond to their project issue and to social issues in general.

At the beginning of the following lesson, the class participates in a simple warm-up, matching activity to ensure they recognize the variance in approaches. This activity also grants space for students to consider the

reliance on a single approach and the consequences of the use of any one of the Three S’s.

Through this investigation, my hope is that students might see which approach aligns with their individual goals. As this is a social justice course, I want to ensure that the approach each student chooses either helps raise awareness of the systemic issues or attempts to address systemic factors. Although some students’ action plans remain within social service, as this is a space where they are comfortable, I still want to encourage them to consider the issues that may arise from social service, as well as the systemic gaps that remain from such projects.

More importantly, by placing their actions in conversation with the Three S’s, they can determine whether their action truly aligns with their intent. Further, they can explore the ways in which the use of a single “S” may not address the systemic issues that contribute to their topic.

For more information Lesson plans: The Three S’s: Three approaches to tackling social issues: Part 1 and 2 are available on TeachBC and under Publications on the Social Justice web pages.

Video: We Can End Poverty, But This is Why We Haven’t, TEDx Talk by Teva Sienicki.

Bread and Roses: The First Annual BCTF Women’s Institute Introduction by Mary Lawrence, Status of Women Action Group member and Prince George teacher

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n March 2018, the BCTF hosted the first annual Women’s Institute, Bread and Roses: Women creating community, inspiring action. The institute brought together teachers from all over the province to speak about their experiences as women, teachers, union members, community activists, family members, and the infinite other roles they juggle in their lives. Participants strengthened their relationships and advocacy skills and worked at identifying barriers that prevented union involvement.

The institute—its goals and its spirit—were summed up in the words of one panelist speaking about her experience as a feminist activist: “Men will not help us.

Men will not open the doors to let us in. We must do it, and we must do it together.” And together we are. If the institute’s success can be measured, it will be measured by the number of women who have told me that Bread and Roses marked the beginning of their union and community activism. It showed them they were not alone in their fears, doubts, and challenges, nor were they alone in their strength, passion, and resiliency. Despite setbacks we continue to face, our future is bright.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

A highlight of the institute was a panel discussion involving BCTF activists at various stages in their careers.

Sheena Seymour, Winona Waldron, and Jane Turner shared their views on the questions, “What does feminism mean to me?” and “Why is feminism still relevant?” Their thoughts are summarized on the following page.

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Sheena Seymour,

Status of Women Action Group member and Nisga’a teacher

What does feminism mean to me?

Feminism means advocacy. It means using my voice to address social justice issues in my personal and professional life. A key focus of feminism involves addressing the issues and challenges women face in the work force. To be a feminist means to play a role in breaking down the injustices and barriers for all women, especially women of colour. I am woman—hear me roar!

Why is it still necessary and relevant today?

Women have done a lot of work, but we are not there yet. We still face inequity and inequality in society.

White male privilege permeates our workforce. Addressing the oppression of women is not enough though. Racism is thriving in our society. Women of colour are treated as third-class citizens. Take, for example, the trans and TwoSpirit communities. Some campers experience struggle around their identity and/or orientation, while others are less conflicted around their identity and are simply looking for a celebratory space that welcomes them for who they are.

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Winona Waldron,

Jane Turner,

Retired Burnaby teacher and former BCTF Assistant Director, Professional and Social Issues

Women in Negotiations facilitator and Victoria teacher

What does feminism mean to me?

Feminism means the empowerment and enfranchisement of women and those who identify as women.

In today’s context, it means examining intersectionality and seeing who has privilege and who does not or has less.

Why is it still relevant today?

Feminism is still relevant because although we make up approximately 50% of the population, we still only hold 25% of the seats in Parliament.

Women earn less than their male counterparts and are still primarily responsible for many of the dayto-day household tasks. We live in a patriarchal system where most women still bare the surname of either their father or their husband.

Within the BCTF, the possibility of designated seats for women is more hotly contested than those for Indigenous or racialized members.

Although our membership is 75% women and climbing, women only hold approximately 50% of the leadership positions. This speaks to the systemic barriers still faced by women and to why feminism is still relevant in today’s context.

What does feminism mean to me?

Feminism is about fighting for the equality and liberation of all women.

However, second-wave feminists— of whom I am one—didn’t do a very good job of fighting for all women.

Racialized women, differently abled women, poor women, and lesbian, queer, and trans women felt ignored or left out of the secondwave feminist movement. That is why we need to approach our work through an intersectional lens, but not lose sight of the main objective of women’s equality and liberation.

Feminism is about creating a society that no longer presents girls and women with limited role models and narrow gender-role expectations.

Feminism offers an escape from economic ghettoization, marital dependence, sexual harassment, and rape culture.

My years as a feminist have taught me many things, but here are my top five understandings: 1. Feminism is both simple and complex. Simply put, feminism is the ideology that advocates for equality for all women.

Feminism’s complexity comes from many sources, some of

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

which are that women are not a homogenous or monolithic group. Women’s liberation needs to start with an examination of who we are, what our lived experiences are, and what impact the patriarchy has had on shaping us. We need to process all that information through an analytical lens or frame that allows us to move forward. This process is messy and demanding but doable.

2. Being born female in no way confers privilege. Assuming that I will never need to leave a sinking ship, being a woman has never been an advantage in a society that was and still is dominated by a patriarchal system of oppression. All the things that women do as a condition of being female have been treated as a liability under patriarchy.

3. My analysis has shown me that women, despite their differences, need to work together and find their own way forward. No one else—no man, no institution, no political party—is going to give us equality or bestow liberation upon us. There will be enough people, institutions, and political movements that will try to divide us to keep us from moving forward. Women need to work together collectively.

4. Every time we take a few steps forward, the forces of darkness will try to push us back. Susan Faludi’s book Backlash described this phenomenon. This is done using full-frontal assaults, such as throwing acid on women’s faces, by condescension like a pat on the arm and a “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you,” comment, and through manipulation and deceit. Every time we hear someone say, “Oh you’ve made it now. There’s nothing more to achieve,” we know we’re being lied to. Keep in mind that the fiercer the backlash, the more effective we are being.

5. The patriarchy, the misogynists, and the antifeminists will continue to portray women as objects to be infantilized, idolized, sexualized, brutalized, and victimized. Feminist analysis exposes the harm such objectification does to women.

It also exposes the harmful impact this objectification and subjugation of women has on men.

We still need childcare so that women can fully enter the workforce; we need to not think that childrearing is primarily a woman’s responsibility. We still need to find answers to the following questions: Will the feminization of the teaching profession lead to professional devaluation as it has in all areas of work where women predominate?

Can we do it all? Can we be women union activists, parents, partners, and professionals? Can and do women lead differently? What does it mean to be an intersectional feminist in the 21st century?

There are still so many things that are blatantly sexist in our society. I am reminded often of Rosemary Brown, feminist, activist, politician, and wise woman, who said, “Every time I hear a woman say, “I’m not a feminist,” I know I am looking at a fool.”

Women teachers are no fools.

Is feminism still relevant today?

The #MeToo and Time’s Up movements have put to rest the myth that feminism is no longer needed.

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Which NGO Should I Support?

By Serena Mohammed, Status of Women Action Group member

Using the Social Justice Lens to Assess Plan International’s Champions of Change Clubs and CoDevelopment Canada

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his year, some of the intermediate students at my school asked me to be a sponsor teacher for their Champions of Change Club. One of the students heard about the club from a Plan International Canada volunteer. I am always interested in supporting student clubs, especially if the goal of the club is to advance gender equality and positive social change.

I have never worked with Plan International before, so I was not sure if participating in the Champions of Change Club would empower both my students and children in developing countries to contribute to systemic social change. I was wondering if I should advocate instead for my school to support a BCTF partner organization called CoDevelopment Canada (CoDev), which also works to advance gender equality and human rights. I decided to research and compare both organizations. I used the BCTF Social Justice Lens to help me think critically about how

participating in the organizations will contribute to the students’ social justice education and to what degree the organizations contribute to meaningful social change.

The Social Justice Lens is a tool developed by the BCTF Committee for Action on Social Justice (CASJ). It can be used as a framework to help teachers to develop socially just policies and programs and to evaluate activities or resources. The Social Justice Lens has four interconnected filters: access, agency, solidarity action, and advocacy.

Participatory democracy, civil society, transformative practice, and systemic change are also key components of the Lens and are necessary to achieve the ultimate goal of equity. My analysis of Plan International Champions of Change Club and CoDev considers these components of the Lens but focuses mainly on how well each organization’s policies and practices correspond to the four filters of access, agency, solidarity action, and advocacy.

ACCESS

Organizations that are accessible facilitate inclusion and participation for all. These organizations also promote and value community, co-operation, respect for democracy, human rights, and civil society.

Plan International Champions of Change

CoDevelopment Canada

Facilitators to access

• Works to advance human rights for girls all over the world.

• Any school can run a Champions of Change Club.

• Provides students with instructions on how to create a safe and inclusive space for all participants.

• Works towards empowering women and developing civil society with a significant focus on advancing human rights and labour rights.

• Provides a variety of ways to participate, including paying a membership fee, making a one-time or monthly donation, raising awareness of the challenges faced by partners overseas, and participating in urgent actions.

Barriers to access

• Clubs can select a child to sponsor based on their pictures and some basic information, which may result in inequitable support for all children in a given community.

• Some students may be unable to participate in the mandatory fundraising for financial reasons.

• While membership is not the only way to support CoDev, some students or schools may not be able to afford the membership fees of $10 per student or $250 for the school.

• Some elementary students may not be able to attend local events if they require an adult family member to accompany them.

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BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

AGENCY

Organizations that contribute to the development of agency empower participants to develop the ability and the confidence to create positive change, including improving their own realities. By participating in the organization, members develop critical thinking, leadership skills, and the ability to voice their own concerns. Organizations that support agency promote social justice education.

Plan International Champions of Change

CoDevelopment Canada

Facilitators to agency

• Works with local groups to provide girls with education and training in employment, leadership, and activism skills so that they can create positive change in their communities.

• The handbook and webinars support Canadian students in developing agency .

• Provides training to women, community groups, and unions with the goal of empowering them to advance and defend human and labour rights in their communities.

• Works with women teachers in Latin America to improve public education so that youth will develop agency skills.

• Canadian students can develop agency through participating in urgent action campaigns.

Barriers to agency

• Several reviewers on Facebook have complained that volunteers asking for donations and sponsorship have been overly aggressive.

• Clubs are required to participate in fundraising, which limits the time available to focus on social justice education.

• Resources that support the development of Canadian students’ agency skills cost about $10 to $15 each.

ADVOCACY

Students and adults with strong advocacy skills know what it takes to create long-lasting, positive changes for themselves and others. People with strong advocacy skills are able contribute to systemic change on social issues.

They are aware of the underlying factors contributing to a social issue and know the steps necessary to effect change.

Plan International Champions of Change

CoDevelopment Canada

Facilitators to advocacy

• Supports youth-led advocacy programs in developed and developing countries.

• Provides free teaching resources to support the development of advocacy skills.

• Two of the five webinar options available to clubs focus on advocacy.

• Older youth can develop advocacy skills by participating in public speaking training and the youth advisory council.

• Canadian and Latin American partners work together to develop public education for students and training programs for women that facilitate the development of advocacy skills.

• Participants are trained in advocacy skills, including analysis, leadership, and problemsolving skills that will help them to strengthen their unions.

Barriers to advocacy

• The website provides no information about • Teaching resources supporting advocacy skills the specific processes and programs that on a variety of topics cost $5 to $20. help the children learn advocacy skills.

• Each club is only allowed to select two of the five webinars, which may limit students’ access to webinars on advocacy.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

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SOLIDARITY ACTION

Organizations show solidarity by collaborating with the affected group and other civil society groups to achieve positive social change. Some of the skills that contribute to solidarity action are coalition building, problem solving, empathy, and co-operation. Solidarity means recognizing strength in unity and overcoming differences to achieve common goals. It means “doing with” instead of “doing for.”

Plan International Champions of Change

CoDevelopment Canada

Facilitators to solidarity action

• Currently works with 15 Canadian and international coalitions and government agencies in developed countries, as well as government agencies and local community groups in 52 developing countries, to advance children’s rights, human rights, and civil society.

• Partners include 12 Latin American and 18 Canadian groups consisting mainly of teachers, community groups, and unions.

• Facilitates partnerships between organizations in Latin America and Canada with the goal of strengthening solidarity, unity, and awareness by empowering groups with common interests to work together to create systemic change.

• Latin American partners are directly involved in planning the programs that will receive funding.

Barriers to solidarity action

• There is no evidence on the website that girls or communities who are funded are involved in developing the program.

• Teachers might wish to research the work of Plan International’s approximately 200 corporate partners to determine whether their practices are ethical.

• Students who support CoDev may not be able to participate in local solidarity activities and are not involved in planning the acts of solidarity.

My Decision After using the Social Justice Lens to help me think critically about whether I should support the Champions of Change Club or to advocate for my school to support CoDev, I decided that I will advocate for my school and community to support both organizations. I appreciate how Plan International has designated staff, resources, and programs aimed at engaging and empowering youth to create positive social change, and I value

CoDev’s commitment to developing solidarity action, creating sustainable social change, and empowering female leaders.

I have agreed to be a sponsor teacher for my school’s Champions of Change Club. I will also strive to raise awareness among my colleagues and students of the challenges that Latin Americans are working to overcome, the work that the CoDev is doing to effect change, and how Canadians can support these programs and initiatives.

Champions of Change Clubs are part of Plan International’s youth network in support of gender equality. Clubs are based in schools, colleges, and universities. Club members work to raise awareness, advocate for gender equity, and raise funds for Plan International’s Because I am a Girl movement. Visit www.plancanada.ca.

CoDev works toward social change and global education in the Americas by facilitating partnerships between Canadian civil society groups and their counterparts in Latin America. CoDev’s model of working together and learning from each other is based on the understanding that the struggles Canadians face parallel those faced by Latin Americans. It focuses on empowering women, workers’ rights, and strengthening civil society. Visit www.codev.org.

Download the BCTF Social Justice Lens on the Publications page of the Social Justice web pages, or order hard copies by sending your name, address, and number of copies requested to socialjustice@bctf.ca.

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BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

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A Teaching Resource Guide For more information about the Social Justice program at the BCTF, go to www.bctf.ca/SocialJustice.aspx

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

15

An Effective Poverty Reduction Plan: It’s as simple as ABC

By Trish Garner, Community Organizer, BC Poverty Reduction Coalition

An Accountable, Bold, and Comprehensive Poverty Reduction Plan for BC A is for Accountable. Embed strong accountability measures.

B is for Bold. Take bold, immediate action.

C is for Comprehensive. Develop a

comprehensive poverty reduction plan with short-, medium-, and longterm actions in seven policy areas.

Over half a million British Columbians live in poverty: from youth aging out of care and sleeping on the streets to seniors struggling to buy food; from low-wage workers having to commute hours every day to people on income assistance trying to survive day by day; from newcomers to Indigenous people who we welcome and acknowledge with words but not with enough financial support; from the homeless to those living one pay cheque away from joining them; and from people with disabilities facing a lifetime of poverty to families trying to give their children the lives they never had.

More information and steps to take action can be found at www.ABCplan. ca and www.bcpovertyreduction.ca.

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British Columbia’s first poverty reduction strategy was put in place through legislation in October 2018. Funding for this strategy was announced as part of the provincial budget on February 19, 2019, after this article was written. Please refer to the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition’s website for an update and critique of the budget and how it will meet the needs of the ABC plan.

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An Accountable, Bold, and Comprehensive poverty reduction plan for BC is the solution to save lives and promote equality.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

1 in 5 Poor Children in BC Call Out for Bold Government Action

By Adrienne Montani, Provincial Co-ordinator, First Call BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition

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eleased in November 2018, First Call’s annual BC Child Poverty Report Card found that not much has changed for poor children and their families. In 2016, 172,550 children and youth in BC (20.3%) were living in poor households, with many living in deep poverty.

Indigenous children, new immigrant children, and children in visible or racialized minority groups all have much higher poverty rates than the BC average—evidence of systemic discrimination and poor public policies.

Half of BC’s children in lone-parent families were poor, which is over four times the rate for those in two-parent families. The median annual income for a low-income single parent with one child was just under $18,000—over $11,000 below the poverty line. For a family of four, the poverty gap was almost $13,000.

Contrary to popular belief, the majority of poor children have parents in paid work.

Persistently high levels of child poverty reflect the continued growth of income

inequality, stagnating wages, and soaring costs for essential living expenses.

One of the most important things the provincial government can do is redesign the BC Early Childhood Tax Benefit. BC is the only province that cuts off the benefit for parents with children over the age of six. By increasing the maximum annual benefit, indexing it, and increasing the age eligibility, many families could be lifted out of poverty.

Every year we call on the government to provide K–12 public education funding that is sufficient to mitigate inequalities and ensure appropriate inclusion of students with diverse learning needs.

While First Call is cautiously optimistic about the recently enacted BC Poverty Reduction Strategy Act, which includes a goal to reduce BC’s child poverty rate by 50% within five years, we are impatient. We believe we can achieve this target sooner with bold action by government.

Teachers can read the 2018 BC Child Poverty Report Card and support its recommendations by visiting www.still1in5.ca.

Cancelled: Welfare Food Challenge 2018

By Kell Gerlings, Organizer, Raise the Rates Coalition

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or a week in November, we should have been facilitating the 7th year of challenging the public to understand how hard it is to eat on welfare for seven days. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the Welfare Food Challenge.

Why? Simply put, it was nearly impossible to live on welfare in 2018.

Even though the government raised the welfare rates by $100 for 2018, that increase was met by landlords with an approximate $130 increase in rents for single-room

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

occupancy (SRO) hotels in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

This actually put those on income assistance $30 behind in their resources available under the 2017 rates. A mere $23 per month was left over to purchase food.

We could not ask people to attempt the “challenge” of feeding themselves on $5.75 for the week.

So, after six years of running the Welfare Food Challenge, we decided to write a cookbook for 2018 instead. Sadly, the cookbook is empty. There aren’t any recipes that can sustain a person at $5.75 per week.

Our government has a choice. They can choose to continue to entrench poverty through maintaining social assistance rates at these low levels, or they can choose to end poverty. BC needs to bring back vacancy control, tie rents to the unit, and significantly raise welfare rates. For more information, go to www.raisetheratesbc.ca.

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Poverty at the School Level: What can teachers do?

By Leon D’Souza, Antipoverty Action Group member and Surrey teacher

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hen you look at your class, what do you see? Are students meeting the learning outcomes? Are you and your colleagues able to break down the barriers that get in the way of meeting those outcomes? What are the unseen forces at work that may be hindering a student’s ability to flourish?

Unfortunately, for one in five children in BC, the basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing are not being met at a level that will allow them to live, learn, and grow into healthy adults.

were not very aware of poverty issues at their school, and less than 30% felt prepared to teach in a classroom where poverty issues were present.

With growing awareness, educators will come to understand the heavy toll that poverty exacts on our students and respond to the needs of students experiencing poverty through actions for advocacy and support. Child poverty contributes to barriers in attendance and access to resources, food, and adequate nutrition, all of which impact the learning and well-being of the child.

The effects of hunger on learning have been welldocumented. While there are many food programs in BC schools, consistency and quality is often lacking. In fact, Canada is the only G8 country without a national school food program. We have seen huge gains with the BC Fruit and Vegetable Nutritional Program, which has grown from its initial launch of 10 schools to 1,456 public and First Nations BC schools in the 2017–18 school year. Creating a community garden on school grounds is a great way to link teachable moments in nutrition, stewardship of the land, and the aesthetic benefits of a garden.

The question many teachers ask themselves is, “What can I do as an educator to meet the needs of all of my students, including those living in poverty?”

A good underlying principle is to be mindful of our most vulnerable students, and this can start with teacher awareness. In 2015, the BCTF conducted a survey and published a report on poverty and education. The survey found that one in five teachers felt that staff members

So, what can teachers do? Actions that can be taken at the school level include bringing areas of concern to your staff committee, building a school action plan, and enacting policy changes. To advocate for a provincially funded school food program or to let the BC government know that your school does not have adequate funding to meet the needs of your students, contact the Ministry of Education, the BC Ministry of Health, or your local MLA.

The BCTF has resources for members to help students overcome these barriers. CASJ’s Antipoverty Action Group has created eight antipoverty infographics that outline some of the barriers to attendance that children living in poverty face, as well as ways to support those students and encourage attendance. Other infographics help teachers understand additional barriers, such as access to resources, accessibility of education, and the importance of adequate funding.

Are you interested in raising awareness at your school? The BCTF has two workshops to build understanding among staff members: Poverty as a Classroom Issue and Help End Child Poverty in BC’s Classrooms, Schools, and Local Communities. Both of these workshops can be booked for free!

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BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

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For more information: 2008 First Call Child Poverty Report Card: www.still1in5.ca BCTF Poverty and Education Survey: A teacher’s perspective: bctf.ca/povertyresearch.aspx BCTF Antipoverty workshops: See the workshops listing under Programs and Workshops on the BCTF Social Justice web pages BC Fruit and Vegetable Nutrition Program: Under Programs on the BC Agriculture in the Classroom website: www.bcaitc.ca.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

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Responding to Sexual Harassment in Schools: A New Resource to Support Equity and Inclusion

By Barb Ryeburn, BCTF Assistant Director, Social Justice As part of the BCTF’s ongoing commitment to equity and inclusion, delegates to the 2018 Annual General Meeting passed the following recommendation: Recommendation 25­— Culture of consent

developed the brochure Responding to Sexual Harassment in Schools. This resource provides teachers who may be targets and witnesses of sexual harassment with strategies to recognize, respond to, and report harassment.

The #MeToo movement has brought to the forefront the alarming prevalence of sexual harassment in society. This has highlighted the need for teachers to tackle this issue and to develop knowledge and strategies to support colleagues who may be targets of sexual harassment.

RECOGNIZING HARASSMENT

That the Federation advance a culture of consent by: 1. establishing and supporting the expectation that all Federation meetings, socials, and events be free from inappropriate comments, gestures, and physical contact, and encouraging locals to do the same.

2. supporting members with strategies and resources to reflect on their own interactions with others and ensure they do not initiate or participate in inappropriate behaviour.

3. supporting members with strategies and avenues to address inappropriate comments, gestures, and physical contact in the workplace and the broader community, and ways in which they can act as effective allies for colleagues, students, and others who are experiencing or have experienced abuse and harassment of this nature.

4. providing members with strategies and resources to educate their students about the necessity of consent, ways to address inappropriate comments, gestures, and physical contact, and ways in which they can identify and halt harassment and serve as effective allies for others.

To support this recommendation, the Status of Women Action Group has 20

Article E2 of teachers’ collective agreements provides the following definition of sexual harassment: E.2.2.b. Sexual harassment includes: i. any comment, look, suggestion, physical contact, or real or implied action of a sexual nature which creates an uncomfortable working environment for the recipient, made by a person who knows or ought reasonably to know such behaviour is unwelcome; OR ii. any circulation or display of visual material of a sexual nature that has the effect of creating an uncomfortable working environment; OR iii. an implied promise of reward for complying with a request of a sexual nature; OR iv. a sexual advance made by a person in authority over the recipient that includes or implies a threat or an expressed or implied denial of an opportunity which would otherwise be granted or available and may include a reprisal or a threat of reprisal made after a sexual advance is rejected.

RESPONDING TO

SEXUAL

REPORTING HARASSMENT

HARASSMENT

IN SCHOOLS

HAVE YOU BEEN A TARGET? HAVE YOU BEEN A WITNESS?

RECOGNIZE | REACT | REPORT

RESOURCES

To learn more about BCTF equity and inclusion policies, develop a better understanding of issues related to equity and inclusion, and access resources and workshops that support teachers in bringing equity and inclusion into classrooms, schools, and locals, visit the BCTF Equity and Inclusion web pages under the Social Justice tab on the BCTF website.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

BC’s LNG Canada Project

By Patrick Schreck, Victoria teacher

More greenhouse gases, more fracking, and more unwanted pipelines on Aboriginal territory

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he latest United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report states that the goals of the 2016 Paris Climate Accord are unlikely to be met and are, in fact, inadequate to avoid temperatures that could trigger runaway climate change. However, the IPCC stresses that it is feasible to keep the global temperature increase below 1.5 degrees. Resetting the temperature increase limit from 2 degrees to 1.5 degrees would significantly reduce the risk and severity of an alarming list of climate change consequences. These include water scarcity, drought, crop failure, food shortages, more extreme weather events, unprecedented forest fires, reestablishment of once-eradicated diseases, biodiversity loss, species extinction, loss of tropical coral reefs, collapse of fish stocks, melting of polar ice sheets, and rising sea levels leading to the displacement of millions of people. There is much at stake for human civilization.

The IPCC report concludes that climate catastrophe is still avoidable but only by aggressively reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane emissions immediately.

This involves a massive shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy, along with significant changes in economic, industrial, and land-use systems.

Clearly, this means retiring fossil fuel extraction projects, not undertaking massive new projects.

The CO2 emissions from fracking, extracting, transporting, liquifying, and shipping the natural gas for the LNG Canada project will make it impossible to meet the targets BC set in correspondence with the Paris Climate Accord.

In fact, LNG Canada will become our province’s single largest CO2 polluter. At full capacity, emissions would be in the range of 9–12 megatons of CO2 each year—double BC’s current emissions from the oil and gas sector. As the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives reports, “The rest of BC’s economy would have to fully decarbonize to accommodate emissions from LNG Canada while staying within new legislated targets.”

Heaped on top of LNG Canada’s own CO2-emitting activities is the CO2 that will be unleashed from the fracked-and-liquified-in-BC gas that is burned in overseas factories and power stations. Final levels of CO2 emitted through burning BC’s LNG outside of the province are rarely mentioned in media reports on government decisions to extract fossil fuels, and they certainly don’t figure into the BC carbon budget. LNG Canada is going to emit massive amounts of CO2 in order to sell a fossil fuel that will emit even more CO2.

Oil and gas corporations aggressively push the message that natural gas is “cleaner” than coal and oil. As vast reserves of natural gas trapped in shale formations become available to new extraction methods like fracking and horizontal drilling, the oil and gas industry is rushing

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Given these warnings, it is astounding that within days of the IPCC report, the BC and federal governments celebrated the LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) Canada agreement. The project is a climate and environmental disaster. On the upstream end, the project will unleash a 40-year frenzy of hydraulic fracturing—or “fracking”—of natural gas in the Montney Formation in northeast BC. More fracking will mean further dam construction and fresh water diversion, injection of fracking chemicals into the earth and water table, and increased release of methane gas as hundreds of new gas wells are fracked each year to feed the LNG Canada export facility.

To transport the fuel, TransCanada Corporation will construct the 670-kilometer Coastal GasLink pipeline across northern BC, which will pump 2.1 billion cubic feet of fracked gas per day to the LNG Canada export facility in Kitimat. Once there, the energy-intensive liquefaction process will burn up to one-third of the gas supply itself for electricity. LNG carrier ocean ships will sail up and down the Douglas Channel loaded with LNG to deliver overseas, where it will be burned in factories and electricity generation plants

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in to bring natural gas to market and reap huge profits for shareholders. The notion of natural gas being a “bridge” or “transition” fuel is largely an oil-industry ruse that builds support for the LNG industry while undermining the urgent move to the fossil-free economy we need.

The following recommendation was carried at the Winter 2019 Representative Assembly:

Right now, natural gas is as cheap or cheaper than renewable energy, including solar, wind, geothermal, and tidal sources. New technologies, low levels of regulation, and government subsidies have increased potential profits in the LNG energy sector. As a result, the global oil industry is expanding into LNG, and the price of natural gas is forecast to decrease. Reuters reports that LNG Canada is “just the tip of the megaproject iceberg” of many new huge LNG projects that major oil companies are currently pursuing.

That the BCTF support and stand in solidarity with the hereditary chiefs and Wet’suwet’en people in respecting sovereignty over their land.

Solidarity with the hereditary chiefs and Wet’suwet’en people

The old oil companies now investing in so-called “transition” fuels are interested neither in implementing the IPCC recommendations nor in stopping climate change, but in maximizing returns on their capital investments for as long as possible. For these companies, the longer so-called “bridge” fuels crowd out renewables and major conservation efforts— including public transportation expansion—the higher the return on their investments.

The BC Government has just made this LNG-exporting, pipeline-building, and fracking frenzy possible through an array of economic incentives, including tax reprieves and subsidies, discounted electricity rates, and even a break on BC’s own carbon tax. The strategy of relying on politicians to steer us away from climate catastrophe has failed, as have market-based strategies. Instead, it has been the market-based pursuit of profit that lies behind the climate crisis we now face. The strategy that we need must build on our collective, grass-roots action—which includes the voices, concerns, and participation of the communities and workers who will be affected by a transition from fossil fuel extraction—in order to ensure we make a socially just transition.

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It is possible to eliminate fossil-fuel use in a few decades with wide-scale conservation efforts and the intensive adoption of renewables. To get there right now in BC, we need to organize together and push aggressively to halt the expansion of the LNG industry. That means stopping the development of the LNG Canada export facility and supporting the Wet’suwet’en clans in resisting the Coastal GasLink pipeline from being built on their territory.

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BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

Reclaiming Common Ground: Cross Border Social Justice Conference

By Julia MacRae, Surrey Teachers’ Association and Lizanne Foster, Surrey teacher

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t the first Cross Border Social Justice Conference on April 7, 2018, the Surrey Teachers’ Association International Solidarity Committee was thrilled to have Seth Klein and Naomi Klein as the keynote speakers to kick off our work of reclaiming common ground with teachers from Washington and Oregon. This conference was funded through a $25,000 Regional Social Justice Conference Fund grant from the BCTF. Participants at the conference chose workshops on a wide range of topics, including intersections between mental health and gender identity, the First Nations Blanket Exercise, a global peace initiative, democratic education, immigrant and refugee learners, Islamophobia, and many more.

At the end of an exhausting but exhilarating day, we were energized by the sharing of intellectual energy and felt a surge of renewed commitment as we strengthened our ties to each other’s communities and to the ongoing struggle to support progressive change.

Inspired by the success of Reclaiming Common Ground, we decided to host the second Cross Border Social Justice Conference on March 2, 2019. The conference will have taken place before this article is published, but we hope this article will motivate BC teachers to attend a future Cross Border Conference and inspire locals to consider hosting a similar event. This year’s conference will focus on teaching for joy and justice in our schools. This time, we are inviting teachers, activists, and artists from British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon to imagine our classrooms as spaces where joy is the tempo that sustains the work for justice.

We are excited to host this year’s keynote speaker Mercedes Martinez, the president of the Puerto Rico Teachers’ Federation. Martinez will share her experiences of the dramatic events that occurred post-Hurricane Maria when the government moved quickly to privatize schools—a classic example of what Naomi Klein coined “the shock doctrine.”

We have had more than a few experiences of shock this past year, as waves of hate have been regularly

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crashing against marginalized people in our communities. We have also noticed, however, that there has been a surge in the popularity of late-night comedians who are responding to an apparent need for laughter to lighten the darkness. We are similarly inspired by the massive increase in support for organizations that work for justice.

Teachers also have a role to play in this renaissance of social justice work by using the arts to show that a more compassionate and just society is possible.

Our work on the issues of Aboriginal and Indigenous rights, climate change, LGBTQ2S+ rights, poverty, and peace has never been more urgent. However, as teachers, we are also cognizant of the costs to our students’ mental health if their awareness of these issues doesn’t include an education about the kind of revolutionary love that Valerie Kaur describes as “love for others, our opponents, and ourselves.” There can be no love without joy.

And so, we need to teach for joy and for justice because, as Cornel West reminds us, “justice is what love looks like in public.”

After an afternoon of workshops exploring the necessary work for justice in our world, conference attendees will be invited to dance for joy during the Playnote with the band Queer as Funk.

Keep an eye out for future Cross Border Conferences. Information will be posted on the Surrey Teachers’ Association website and the Social Justice Conferences page on the BCTF website.

Regional Social Justice Conference Grants

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

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Every second year, the BCTF awards up to three Regional Social Justice Conference grants of up to $25,000 each. Potential applicants should start planning as soon as possible, as the application process involves co-ordination between more than one local within a zone. Find more information, a grant application form, and examples of previously funded conferences on the Social Justice Grants and Funds page on the BCTF website.

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A Racialized Teacher in Rural BC

By Linda Frank, Antiracism Action Group member I am a Chinese-Canadian teacher who grew up in Vancouver, but I have worked in the interior of BC for most of my career. I speak Cantonese and always felt that I would be an asset teaching in the Lower Mainland, as I would be able to connect to the Chinese community. Little did I know that I was to spend my career in rural communities as a member of a visible minority, an ambassador of acceptance of others, and a purveyor of antiracism ideals.

had called the CBC to do a report on discrimination the previous year. She wanted to make sure that the new teacher was aware that racism would not be tolerated. My husband asked her if she had met me and told her that my skin was as brown as hers.

This incident showed me how other visible minorities felt in this area and how they were treated. It made me aware of the need to bring inclusion into the classroom and to talk about differences.

My first teaching job required me to move to a small town with a population of 1,000 in the East Kootenay called Canal Flats. It was a cultural shock for me to be the only person of colour in a predominantly white community that only had one gas station, one grocery store, and two schools. My assignment was a Grade 2 class with 44 students in a two-room school. I was a novelty; I faced discrimination from parents and the community and always felt I had to prove myself. I was often asked about my origin, to which I replied, “Vancouver.” The next inevitable question would be, “Where are your parents from?”

I was very visible in the community as a teacher, a Beaver Leader, and a treasurer for the curling club. My husband and I did many hours of volunteer service, and my contributions may have helped with my acceptance in the community. I continued to live in the same town, but taught Kindergarten for the next two years in Westbridge. It was in this school that I began celebrating multicultural days. We celebrated every holiday with food, and all 30 students participated in a luncheon with singing, dancing, or drama.

It made our student body more cohesive, and many indirect lessons were taught on etiquette, sharing, and acceptance.

Soon after I arrived, I met my husband-to-be. He worked for the Forest Service, so there was no returning to Vancouver.

After five years, my husband was transferred to Beaverdell, a small town of 400 people in the West Kootenay. Thank goodness I was offered a temporary teaching job in the school across the street. In the second week of teaching at my new school, my husband received a call from an Aboriginal parent whose son was in my Grade 2/3 classroom. She claimed that there was racism in the school against her family and that she 24

My husband was then transferred to Grand Forks where, after a temporary job as a Grade 2/3 teacher, I stayed home for the next five years to raise my young family. Even though I had left the school system, my role as a teacher continued when I started a play school through which I created programs, encouraged parent participation, and provided materials.

This volunteer job brought new responsibilities and challenges.

Distrust of my abilities, criticism of my leadership, and questioning of my financial management became issues.

I once had to ask a mother not to discipline other children. Her response was that she could do what she wanted because she was better than me; I guess she was telling me that she was privileged. I tried to question her assertions, but the racist bully didn’t know what to say.

There have also been incidents of discrimination directed towards my children. After racial slurs and rocks were thrown, I decided to phone the principal at the school. He talked to the students and their parents. Years later, a young man came to me in the local store and asked if I remembered him. He was the rock-throwing bully, and he was telling me that he was doing well and had a job. I believed he was saying sorry and that he was a better person.

Another incident happened on the school bus when my son had spit balls thrown at him. An older student, who was a friend of our family, came to my son’s rescue. I phoned the secondary school principal and had to call the behaviour for what it was—racism— to have him correct the injustice. It was sad because these children were from the neighbourhood, and my son had played with them when he was younger. The principal had a great resolution, though. After talking to both parents and students, the parents had to pick up the students from school for a week while they were banned from the bus.

These examples show how the school can be part of the solution.

Looking back, however, I question whether my voice as a parent would have been heard if I was not part of the education system. What I have come to understand as a racialized teacher in rural BC is that hidden discrimination is very hard to deal with. Only through education on equity and inclusion can we make change. Only through education can we break down racial barriers and celebrate our differences.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

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SE OF BELON N E S GIN G

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The Aboriginal Lens —Education for Reconciliation The Aboriginal Lens is a guide for those who work in education and are committed to taking up the “Calls to Action on Education” as stipulated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This framework is designed to help educators challenge the current, established systems of belief that support Eurocentric practices that have silenced other ways of knowing and being. The lens focuses our efforts and can be used to examine and assess policies and practices. The framework also works to address the needs of the collective and the community, as well as providing common reference for teachers.

Relationship-building requires: • Understanding protocols for acknowledgment of traditional territories.

• Supporting Aboriginal students so that they can be successful.

• Understanding privilege to create equity.

• Bringing together Aboriginal students, Elders and community members.

• Creating space where Aboriginal students, Elders and community members can come together in school.

Relevance requires: • Creating living links in the process of infusion that includes Elders and artists in the classroom as well as examining current issues in the struggles of Aboriginal people in BC. • Incorporating the Aboriginal world views and making them an essential component of the curriculum.

• Recognizing the legacy and continuing impacts of colonization.

Responsibility requires: • Understanding that each of us has a role to play in supporting the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

• Working to break down barriers intended to keep people separated or marginalized.

• Seeking Ministry support for opposing systemic racism and other forms of discrimination.

• Employing the lens of Aboriginal Ways of Knowing and Being in all classrooms, schools and school districts.

Reciprocity requires: • Working to achieve nation-to-nation relations guided by the spirit and intent of the Royal Proclamation of 1763.

• Eliminating power differentials in decision-making; genuine cooperation can only take place where there is a meeting of equals.

• Teaching and learning must be as an interactive sharing of knowledge; students should not be viewed as passive recipients of knowledge.

• Support for teacher-led, teacher-created resources, workshops and in-services by the Ministry of Education.

• Sharing successes of reconciliation with community.

Reconciliation requires: • Recognizing Canada’s attempted genocide of Aboriginal people by sharing the truth about Canada’s history (policies of assimilation and attempted genocide).

• Sharing information and best practices on teaching curriculum related to Aboriginal history including residential school and ongoing intergenerational impacts.

• Building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy and mutual respect.

• Developing an action plan, strategies and other concrete measures to achieve the goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

• Establishing ways for Aboriginal students to see themselves reflected in school curriculum and communities.

Resilience requires: • Acknowledging that despite 150 years of forced assimilation policies, First Nations, Inuit and Métis continue to assert, defend and develop their identities and cultures.

• Understanding resilience as building capacity for children and youth to overcome risks from the legacy of colonization.

• Working with allies to implement the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in our schools, districts and curricula.

• Celebrating the diversity, strength, leadership and beauty of Canada’s Indigenous peoples.

The Aboriginal Lens is one of the latest resources developed by the Aboriginal Education Advisory Committee. A workshop to help teachers apply the lens to their teaching will be available soon.

Find more Aboriginal Education resources and workshops by following the link to the Aboriginal Education web page under “For Teachers” on the BCTF website. To order copies of the Aboriginal Lens for your school or classroom, contact Miranda Light at mlight@bctf.ca.

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Carl Stromquist Art

Respect requires: • Listening to and learning from the voices that have been silenced.

• Learning from the stories and experiences of Aboriginal knowledge-keepers.

• Creating a safe space where everyone belongs in the circle.

• Valuing multiple knowledge systems, diverse cultures and perspectives.

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

COMMITTEE FO R

E (CASJ) TIC US

N ON SOCI TIO AL C A J

2018–19 Committee for Action on Social Justice (CASJ) • advises the BCTF on social justice issues • facilitates 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, LGBTQ2S+, Peace and Global Education, Environmental Justice • co-ordinates the work of the six action groups.

Antiracism Action Group

Antipoverty Action Group

Nimfa Casson Ryan Cho Linda Frank Andre McDowell

Cheryl Carlson Leon D’Souza Richard Pesik Kati Spencer

Workshops

Workshops • Help End Child Poverty in BC’s Classrooms, Schools, and Local Communities • Poverty as a Classroom Issue

• Bafa Bafa Rafa Rafa • Creating Inclusive Spaces: Applying an equity and inclusion lens • Incorporating Antiracist Strategies into BC’s Revised Curriculum • Responding to Racism in the Workplace and the Classroom

Status of Women Action Group Mary Lawrence Serena Mohammed Trish Mugford Sheena Seymour Workshops • Assertive Communication • Developing Allyship Skills to Break the Cycle of Cyberbullying • Promoting Healthy Youth Relationships: Educating against gender-based violence • In the Shoes of the Bully, the Bystander, and the Victim

Environmental Justice Action Group Sue Ghattas Mary Hotomanie Shelley Serebrin Lauren Wright Workshops • Teaching Green: Integrating Environmental Justice Issues across the Curriculum (five modules available: Climate Justice Heroes, Food Security, Sustainable Resource Use, Sustainable Transportation, Water Rights)

Peace and Global Education Action Group Shannon Moore Katherine O’Connor Regie Plana-Alcuaz Amy Wedel Workshops • Creating Cultures of Peace • Global Education: Bringing global perspectives into your classroom • Strategies for Discussing Controversial Issues

LGBTQ2S+ Action Group Kamaron Birkett Heather Kelley Sean Moores Trevana Spilchen Workshops • Creating a Gender-Inclusive School Culture • Promoting Healthy Youth Relationships: Educating against gender-based violence • Reach Out, Speak Out on Homophobia and Transphobia • Sexual Health Education: It’s fun!

Important SJ dates to celebrate March 8 March 21

April 4

International Women’s Day International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Refugee Rights Day

April 10 April 22 June 21

International Day of Pink Earth Day National Indigenous Peoples Day

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

Editors: Barb Ryeburn, Todd Patrick Copy editing: Lynda Tierney Design: Jennifer Sowerby

BCTF Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

This newsletter is available online at bctf.ca/SocialJustice.aspx?id=6352 Winter/Spring 2019 PSI19-0014 27

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GAINING GROUND NEW TEACHERS TOGETHER, LEADING THE WAY

BCTF New Teachers’ Conferences

New Teachers, New TTOCs, and Teacher Candidates

April 5 • Vernon

May 10 • Nanaimo

Vernon Lodge and Conference Centre 3914–32nd Street

Vancouver Island Conference Centre 101 Gordon Street

April 4th 2019

May 9th 2019

Welcoming Reception

Welcoming Reception

Registrations open now To register, please visit bctf.ca/NewTeachers