Wishing all a good night

When all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a laptop and mouse. Forgive me, Clement Moore, but you wrote your iconic Christmas tale before the invention of the light bulb, much less a mouse with a decidedly different provenance. Unlike your age of the truly dark night except for an occasional flicker of candlelight, our nights are filled with light and movement.

World at night, NASA, 2012

Other than its beauty and the smallness of the world, this NASA image conveys a lot.  The lit-up spots represent areas of urban development.  They are also areas of lower rates of melatonin production, higher rates of shift work, higher levels of cancer, and likely higher levels of sleep disorders.

I receive calls from parents asking for advice. Sometimes the question is how do I get a child to school who doesn't want to be there.  There are three questions I ask the parent in response:

• Is your child afraid of going to school?  Is she waking up with stomach aches or is he unable to sleep at night?  Does your child have friends at the school? Has she told you that her former friends are now treating her badly?  Is he in pain or does he have bruises on his body?  Depending on how a parent answers these questions, it may indicate that a child is being bullied.
• Is your child struggling with her schoolwork?  Does he have trouble reading? Is she unable to concentrate in class?  Is he having difficulty sitting still in class?  Does she tell you that her classmates tease her and call her stupid? Has her teacher expressed concern about her ability to do classwork? Affirmative answers to these questions may indicate that a child has difficulties learning.
• Finally, is your child unable to get up in the morning?  Does she have difficulties falling asleep at night? Is your son so overly active that you wonder if he has ADHD?  Does he snore loudly or does he seem to stop breathing in his sleep?  Does she walk around like a zombie early in the morning and is she unable to concentrate during the day?  Positive answers here may indicate that a child is sleep-deprived.

There are legions of people who are sleep-deprived these days and according to Dr. Elliott Lee, a psychiatrist and world-renowned expert on sleep, this is taking a huge toll on us, on our ability to function, and on the quality of our lives.  Dr. Lee spoke at a public symposium at the Royal Ottawa Hospital last week and his talk was eye-opening!

Even the loss of only one hour sleep per night over time:

• Impairs function and reaction times equivalent to driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.05;
• Impairs the body's ability repair itself and fight off disease;
• Affects creative abilities;
• Affects the ability to concentrate;
• Affects physical energy;
• Contributes to substance abuse;
• Affects reasoning and memory;
• Can even affect survival.

A study published by Till Roenneberg et al also seems to indicate that lack of sleep contributes to obesity. And if all this wasn't enough, the lack of sleep is deeply affecting our children causing them to become fidgety.  It didn't come as a surprise when Dr. Lee stated that the symptoms of sleep-deprivation and ADHD are often confused in children.  

What advice do I give parents about getting children to sleep?  Take that computer, in fact Dr. Lee says all electronics, out of your child's bedroom.  You are the parent; not your child's friend.  Not only can a computer or tablet distract your child from sleep, the complete privacy of a bedroom can cause your child to become more vulnerable to online child predators. While your child may curse you now, she will thank you when she's older.

The other thing you can do is establish a sleep routine for your child.  Start at 7:30 or 8 p.m. every night, children need more sleep than adults, with a hot bath and a story in bed to prepare them for sleep.  The hot bath will set up their bodies for sleep while the quiet story in bed helps slow down their minds.

from A Christmas Anthology

One of the greater gifts you can give your children is a good and healthy sleep routine.  It sets them up for learning the next day.  It gives them physical energy and stamina.   And I know firsthand how it affects creativity.  These posts write themselves after I have a good night's sleep.  You'll have plenty of time to become your child's friend after he becomes a responsible adult.  Right now, he needs a parent who helps him learn about limits and the benefits of good routines.

Have a wonderful holiday everyone.  Or in the words of Clement Moore, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"


The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.

Apartheid and First Nations' Schooling

Children asking for a school

I remember hearing about South African Ambassador Glenn Babb, who was posted to Canada in 1985. When Babb compared the plight of First Nations people living on reserves to Blacks under apartheid, it was controversial and apparently former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was not amused. Since then, even Archbishop Desmond Tutu has looked at the similarities between the lives of Canada's First Nations people and Blacks in South Africa ('Apartheid envoy reviled in Canada', Globe and Mail, August 3, 2003).  According to some writers, notably Prof. John S. Saul of York University, this was no coincidence as much of the system of apartheid, particularly the Bantustan, was modeled on our First Nations reserves.  Now two decades after the fall of apartheid in South Africa, here we are in Canada with remnants of a dreaded apartheid-lite system still in place.

This is strong language but given the current circumstances and the history of residential schools, it is appropriate.  There are children in Canada who are treated in a discriminatory manner because of their race. These are the children who live on reserves under federal jurisdiction, where education is funded at a lower rate than for schooling under provincial jurisdictions. In fact, we don't actually know how much money reserves receive for education since, as I understand it, much is skimmed off the top for native research in universities and for administration. The federal government has not been forthcoming with the actual amount reserves receive on a per student basis.

In fact, at least 100 schools on reserves are considered unsafe, according National Panel on First Nation Elementary and Secondary Education.  Almost two years after its report was tabled,  it appears from an internet search that only a school in Attawapiskat has been built and after some delay, this school is scheduled to be completed by June 2014.

Let's take a moment to examine the proposed First Nations Education Act, originally scheduled to be tabled in January.  Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt is now less clear as to when this legislation will come forward but if it does, it will be without consultation or buy-in from First Nations peoples.  After the disastrous history of residential schools in Canada, one would think that the federal government would want First Nations to be at the table to give some credibility to the proposal.  Instead the bill was written without prior consultation and Valcourt says he's now consulting -- on a piece of legislation that has already been written.  How could this after-the-fact consultation be seen by aboriginal leaders, particularly those with memories of residential schools, as anything other than a sign of bad faith?  

The proposed act allows the Minister to impose third-party advisors to administer reserve schools that do not meet certain standards.  The standards to be met are not spelled out in the proposed bill and it is likely that the cost for these advisors will come out of already meager reserve school funds.

Finally, there was no indication of increased reserve school funding in the Budget (see an earlier post) nor is there in this proposed legislation.  Without funding tied to actual need, including the socio-economic needs of children on reserves, there can be no improvement in student achievement.  On-reserve teachers are often paid far less and as a consequence, they tend to be new teachers without experience.  As well, there is no money for the other educational support staff that children, particularly needier children, typically require to succeed in school.  These include special education teachers, psychologists and social workers.  

We have student drives in many of our Ottawa schools to send books to reserves as there aren't any books. There is no money for libraries.  No money for sports facilities. And as I mentioned earlier, no money to provide even safe facilities.

These are fourth-world conditions in Ontario, for heaven's sake.  Northern Ontario reserves where the standard of living is so low that tuberculosis (TB) is still rampant. Health Canada states that:

For example, while the 2006 Census reports that Aboriginal peoples account for just under 4% of the Canadian population, 21% of all TB cases occurred in this population in 2008.

Most people including most First Nations leadership believe that education is the remedy to breaking the chain of poverty, illness and despair for aboriginal people.  Nelson Mandela also believed that education is the key for his people.  Are we fair-minded Canadians, who were willing to champion fairness for Black people halfway across the world, going to simply watch as our government continues to discriminate against First Nations people here at home?

I can no longer stand by and allow my government to enact a piece of legislation that I know is just plain wrong. I hope you will also look within your conscience and find a way to tell the government your opinion on this proposed bill.  See Shannen's Dream, a student supported initiative, for more information.  Or you can join with others seeking justice and fair funding for First Nations' education at a rally tomorrow, December 10 -- 11 am at Victoria Island or noon on Parliament Hill.  Enough is enough!



The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.

Nelson Mandela and the rewriting of history

Nelson Mandela

While commentators rightfully remember Nelson Mandela's big heart, it seems they have almost forgotten his brilliant political mind. Mandela developed a highly successful economic boycott and it was Mandela from jail who led the largest global political force in history, the Anti-Apartheid Movement. Let's step back a moment and examine the history that led to the unlikely successes of three great men who are almost always mentioned in the same breath: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

Today we almost take for granted the recording of violence.  An unarmed young man repeatedly shot by police on a Toronto streetcar, a defenseless black man beaten in Los Angeles, and a young man standing up to a tank in Tiananmen Square are but a few examples we've seen.  The fact that we see these images at all is the miracle of modern communications and it has led to a decrease in the number and severity of incidents of violence.

Don't take my word on it.  The well-respected international journalist, Gwynne Dyer, does research on the incidence of war and violence. Here is what he has to say on the subject in an article, The Peaceful World.

Almost 90 million people died in the world wars and other big wars (including the Russian, Chinese and Spanish civil wars) of the first half of the 20th century, out of a world population that was one-third of what it is now. In the second half of the century the death toll dropped steeply to 25 million or so, most of who died in colonial independence wars and civil wars.  And so far, in the 21st century, the total is less than one million people killed in war. 

The other point Dyer makes is that we are riveted by violence.  It is the convergence of these two factors, global personal communications coupled with our fascination for violence that has ironically led to its decrease. This sounds ironic, doesn't it?  Gandhi, King and Mandela understood this and it allowed them to see that at times, the camera could become a substitute for the gun.  Yes, they all espoused non-violence at times, some times more than others, to promote change but it was the advent of mass communications that allowed non-violent tactics to work.

In April 1919, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in Amritsar, India.  Unlike previously unreported British atrocities, the details of this massacre were revealed when Mahatma Gandhi held a public inquiry into the massacre and the results of his inquiry were reported internationally.  As a result, many British politicians echoed the words of Winston Churchill when he characterized the massacre as "monstrous".  Brigadier-General Reginald E.H. Dyer who had been the commander at Amritsar went from celebrated hero to a villain almost overnight.  The political fallout from this massacre continues to this day and just last February, Reuters reported David Cameron as being the first serving British prime minister to voice regret for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

As telegraph dispatches became television reporting, Martin Luther King, Jr. saw the opportunity of this new medium.  Dr. King's I have a Dream speech was heard by hundreds of thousands in person on August 28, 1963 during the historic March on Washington.  But in fact, the advent of television allowed Dr. King to speak directly to millions and his speech has been watched by over 8 million viewers on YouTube.

The Anti-Apartheid Movement was one of Nelson Mandela's and the African National Congress' greatest achievements.  The Movement used the power of mass media to mobilize opponents of Apartheid throughout the world.  By 1980, almost all Canadian youth had heard about the unjust incarceration of Nelson Mandela, the Sharpeville massacre, and the Soweto Uprising.  By then, many Anti-Apartheid South African refugees lived in Canada and thousands of Canadian youth were part of the Movement.

Throughout the '80s, the youth of the world mobilized against Apartheid.  We held weekly rallies. We withdrew our money from Canadian banks with ties to South Africa. We boycotted South African goods. Canadian churches, pension fund representatives and stockholders generally went to stakeholders meetings demanding divestment from South Africa.

It sure is interesting to watch the rewriting of history.  By the time Brian Mulroney pushed the Commonwealth for sanctions against South Africa in 1985, he did so with a South Africa that was already in economic trouble as a result of the effort of thousands of Canadians and millions throughout the world who had supported the boycott for years. Yes, Brian Mulroney acted ahead of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan but he only did so on the groundswell of an Anti-Apartheid Movement here in Canada. Take it from one who was there ... and from Gerry Caplan.  Here's a piece you may enjoy by Musa Okwonga, Mandela will never, ever be your minstrel.

What is the legacy of the three great leaders of the twentieth century?  A compassionate heart is important but Nelson Mandela himself always said that education was vital.  It was the coupling of those great hearts and minds that gave these men the courage to move forward even during their darkest days.  It was this strength that allowed Nelson Mandela to survive 27 years of incarceration unbroken. And it was their brilliance in understanding the possibilities of a new technology that allowed their non-violent tactics to succeed.

We teach reading and writing in our schools and the kids themselves have learnt about cell phone video but ultimately these are the means to an end.  Nature is beautiful but concepts of justice, fairness, freedom and equality were created by humanity.  They are what fire our passion and give us hope.  To paraphrase Mandela, these are the ideals we live for but are also prepared to die for.

Gandhi Memorial, New Delhi

Some time ago, I visited the Gandhi Memorial in New Delhi, India. Here's a picture of the Memorial but what's missing from this photo are the thousands of ordinary Indians who sixty years after Gandhi's death continue to visit the Memorial on a daily basis.  We mourn the loss of Nelson Mandela but should also join South Africans to celebrate a truly extraordinary life. Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela showed us what we could be. The ideals they shared do not die.  Let us honour them by remembering that there is still much work to be done and let's do that work!


The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.

Ireland and the First Nations Education Act

Dingle Peninsula

A number of years ago, I went on a cycling tour of the Dingle peninsula in western Ireland.  Dingle is located just north of the famous Ring of Kerry.  It is similar to Kerry but it doesn't have the traffic so it's ideal for bicycling.

It was breathtakingly beautiful. There were high meadows of flowers and a singing landscape of brooks at Conor Pass, the highest point in Ireland. Roads that clung to the side of seaside cliffs reminded me of the Cabot Trail of Nova Scotia. And everywhere were roadside hedges meters thick from centuries of growth and covered in the shocking pink vines of wild fuchsia.  My trip ended at Killarney National Park, one of the few forests remaining in Ireland.  I could almost see the Leprechauns in the wonderful tapestry of green that is Killarney.

A clochaun in Dingle

Woven into this landscape is the presence of a long history that includes the use of stone to build many meandering kilometers of dry stone fence. Here is a picture of a stone clochaun.  It is dug somewhat into the earth and it was surprisingly spacious inside.  I appreciated it's dryness and I'm sure the Celts living there did too as it rains every day along the coast.  Dry stone masonry doesn't use any mortar to cement the stone together. Rather it all stays together because each stone is chosen to fit like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle.  This clochaun has stood for about 900 years!

Fitzgerald's Pub, Castlegregory

History dogged me throughout the trip.  I went to Ireland hoping to find some descendants of distant relatives as my father's family came from Ireland. FitzGerald isn't a very common name here but over there, it's the equivalent of Smith.  There was a FitzGerald grocery store, a FitzGerald tavern and hardware, and FitzGeralds filled the cemeteries so my search was a lost cause.

But what I lost in terms of family history, I gained in terms of historical perspective.  As I sped down a very steep hill into the town of Dingle, I passed a sign advertising the Dingle Music Festival.  Yes, it is indeed possible to speed down a long escarpment on a fully loaded bicycle and possible too to get a flat tire.  Still as luck would have it, I was in time to hear the last evening of the festival and miracle-of-miracles, able to get a ticket. The Dingle Music Festival is far better known now and if you do go, don't take a chance on last-minute tickets.

Mary Black is well-known today but back then, she was popular only with the good people of Ireland. Mary sang both upbeat songs and dirges, laments expressing grief.  I remember one that spoke about young people who boarded boats never to return. Towns of young people, never returning. Generations effectively gone and lost to the typhus of the boats before the advent of a modern postal system allowed for continuing contact. For Mary and her compatriots, all this happened yesterday.  The Irish are still mourning young people lost centuries ago.

Afterward I spoke to Mary and explained that as an Irish descendant in Canada, I didn't have this sense of history.  My father told me that boarding that boat was the smartest thing his great-grandfather had done.  Mary told me about towns that held funerals for the young people embarking on those ships and how the dirges came from those many and constant funerals.

It became clear in the course of our short conversation that Mary and I had very different views of history. Her view was very long and detailed spanning many generations.  Mine was short and mostly unknown as both my father's parents died while he was a child.  I gave a little prayer of thanks to my unknown ancestors who had taken such risks to come to Canada.

As I listened to Trustee Peter Garrow speak about the Aboriginal significance of seven generations at the Ontario Public School Boards Association board of directors meeting this weekend, I thought of Mary. The board of directors is made up of thoughtful, caring trustees from around the province and it is a privilege to work with them.  Besides, I have an audience who seems to enjoy my terrible jokes.

Peter is of the Mohawk Nation Bear Clan, lives in Cornwall, and he teaches Aboriginal history.  As Peter explains it, when he was born, his great-grandfather was still alive. Peter hopes to live to see his great-grandchild.  This is the significance of seven generations, the generations a person can hope to know in a lifetime.  Like Mary, First Nations people think in the longer term.

As I heard Peter explain the new First Nations Education Act, I was appalled.  After advocating for Aboriginal education funding in an earlier post, the phrase that sprang to mind was be careful what you wish for.  I mean how is it that the government of Canadians, Canadians who pride ourselves on a sense of fairness, can impose such a system on Aboriginal peoples without consultation?  How can it be that the government provides less funding for children's education on reserves?  How is it that our government can require a set of educational standards that has little to do with First Nations, Inuit and Metis reality? And even after issuing the historic apology for residential schools, is this yet another attempt to assimilate Aboriginal peoples?

During my cycling trip to Ireland, I realized that I have less in common with the old than the new world. I am proud of our Canadian culture with it's many Aboriginal traditions that include town hall meetings and participatory democracy.  I recognize I live on Algonquin lands and am thankful to live in this beautiful country.  At 11 am on December 10, I will be joining with many others at Victoria Island to protest the government's First Nations Education Act.  Please join me.


The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.

P.S. Every story needs some comic relief.  The background to this is that Tour de France teams were training in Ireland.  So without further ado, here is a pseudo-limerick (the meter isn't right) written in Limerick:

There was an old woman on bike
Less often would cycle than hike
Herself out of Limerick,
Passed by every young Tim or Dick
And even a Harry on trike. 

Men, women, and the expression of love

I have so many ideas today that I could probably write three posts at once.  But if I tried, you would know that I'm crazy rather than merely suspecting it. Speaking of crazy, here's a quote from the great and irreverent George Carlin to help set the mood:

"Here's all you have to know about men and women: women are crazy; men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid."

Venus and Mars habitation aside, men and women express emotions differently.  I won't try to give some half-baked rationale for this except to say that like Carlin, I've generally observed it to be true. While it's a great source of consternation between the sexes, perhaps it's really about love and how it's expressed.

I love cartoons.  Some get to the nub of complex ideas with a few simple panels.  I've probably learned much of what I know from such fine cartoonists as GB Trudeau, Bill Watterson and Lynn Johnston.

Lynn Johnston in For Better or For Worse illustrates how women often think men express emotions.  But ladies, just because you don't hear male expression of emotion, doesn't mean it doesn't exist!

Expressing emotion is fundamentally about trust and we express trust and love in different ways.  For women, it's generally about opening up and making an effort to put feelings into words.  It's about trusting the other person, usually a woman, to listen sympathetically without rushing to judgement.  Your best girl friend is the one who is there to listen and provide encouragement, mostly uncritical encouragement.

For men, it's different.  A male friend sent me this:

"Men socialize by insulting each other, but they don't really mean it.  Women socialize by complimenting each other, and they don't really mean it either."

I couldn't find the author of this quote.  While we all know it isn't entirely true, still it has a ring of truth to it. Men show affection by razzing each other.  Remember this is coming from a woman so don't take my word for it but I think it's a comfortable way for men to show affection.  It's like saying "I love you." but without the mushy words.

Many years ago, my father and I went Christmas shopping and we stopped for a drink afterward.  Over the beer that marked a change in our relationship to that of friends, he said to me, "You know, parents try to do what's right for their kids but they don't always get it right."

Young and female though I was, I understood that while my father wasn't being emotive, he was in a very real sense apologizing.  I tried to spare his dignity and replied, "Well most kids eventually understand that parents act out of love."  And that was that.  No long ruminating.  No further explanations required.

So for the adult kids out there, take the time this holiday season to tell your dad you love him .  Just don't expect mushy words in return.


The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.

Disability and the two wise men

“Those we most often exclude from the normal life of society, people with disabilities, have profound lessons to teach us.”  Jean Vanier, Becoming Human

There can be an overlap between disability and mental health when the years of dealing with mental, physical or learning challenges take a toll on a child. Nothing prepares you for your child's first crisis. Like glass shattering around you, you find out everything you've taken for granted is as fragile as fine crystal. 

Your daughter somehow finds a bottle of sleeping pills and is now unresponsive. You find the strength to drive her to the hospital where she regains consciousness but you are told that she won't be assessed.  After a number of attempts with similar hospital outcomes, you finally realize that for your child's safety, you will have to call the police. And you think there can be nothing so heart-breaking as watching the police take away your child.

Nothing, that is, until you talk to Amanda Telford.  Some of you may remember Amanda from the headlines last spring when for her son's safety, she left 20-year-old Philippe in the care of a social service agency. Philippe has developmental delays and autism.  He has Tourette syndrome and because of this, he flicks his wrists in a manner that others find off-putting.  He is a runner and has run into traffic.  Philippe also has adult-onset diabetes that require daily insulin injections and because of his complex needs, the Telfords had trouble finding respite care for Philippe.  For years, they took turns sleeping and working in shifts, never leaving Philippe unattended.

The Telfords played the game by all the rules to find care for Philippe.  They contacted appropriate social service agencies to simply request a little respite care.  They were then promised meetings with agencies that didn't materialize.  They contacted their provincial and federal representatives and were told to wait their turn ... on a waiting list with 568 other families at that time.  A few years ago, there were two hundred adults waiting for residential services in Eastern Ontario.  Now there are now 931. Two years ago, 13 adults were placed in residential care.  Last year, there were 3 placements!  When Amanda's health started to fail, she couldn't wait any longer.

We are often told the aging population will create a crisis for medical and social service agencies and a financial crisis for the next generation.  But there is some truth to an editorial in the December 2012 edition of Zoomer Canada where Moses Znaimer says that the Boomer generation is the one holding it together financially for the Millennials both in terms of continuing to house them well into their twenties while holding vast amounts of equity in their homes that many Millennials will eventually inherit.  Many Boomers who do survive to be 90 or 100 will have that home equity to see them through and even if junior doesn't inherit the house, mom or dad Boomer are less likely to be a drain on the public purse than prognosticators of the "grey tsunami" would have us believe.

On the other hand, there are great numbers of children with autism and other special needs who are coming of age.  What will become of this tidal wave of children with exceptional needs as they mature?  To my mind, this is the real crisis.

As parents of exceptional children age, we worry about who will be there to care and support our children when we no longer can.  We go to great lengths to set up wills with Henson Trusts, the only vehicle available to ensure that our children's needs will be met. We scrape together whatever we can deposit in Registered Disability Savings Plans, the RRSP equivalent for people with special needs.  And these will just provide basics for our children.

Governments closed institutions in Canada for humane reasons or so we were told.  But it is definitely not humane if the only alternative to institutional care is to live in an elderly parent's home or on the street. Canadian governments haven't funded nearly enough group home spaces to begin to meet the growing need. And as thousands wait in line for a residential space, Amanda is asked the heart-wrenching question once again, "Will you take your son home now?"  And somehow every month or so, she has to find the strength to advocate for her son while continuing to say no.  What will happen to Philippe when Amanda is no longer there to watch out for him?  What will happen to the thousands of Philippes?

It's interesting to note how different religious leaders often reach similar conclusions. Jean Vanier is a deeply religious Catholic and Mahatma Ghandi was a devout Hindu.  I'll finish with a last quote from Ghandi:

"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members."

Don't look at the elderly as the threat to civil society when the real danger comes from shards of glass beneath our feet.


The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.

The making of a politician

Running for public office can be daunting.  Putting yourself and your views out for public scrutiny is scary.  I suppose this has always been the case but it is particularly so since the advent of the internet.  Good people who run in an election need a thick skin and your encouragement.  As I wrote in an earlier post, most people should be encouraged.   They run for office for good and caring reasons.  But what happens to these good people after they become politicians?

About 8 years ago before I became a school trustee, I attended an education conference in Toronto.  It might have been the annual People for Education conference, which I highly recommend, or an event sponsored by The Learning Partnership.   The important feature was that it brought together different people interested in education under one roof.

I remember two moments from that conference.  The first was that a trustee from another school board encouraged me to run for office.  Her gesture was very kind and meant a lot to me, although there have been a few days since when I was more likely to curse than thank her.  This trustee and I became good friends and although politics can be hard, I have no regrets about running.

The other part I remember is hearing an older trustee speak on a panel.  This gentleman was well on in age and he said something that I found rather peculiar.  He said that in his school board, the board meetings are scheduled on the same evenings as the school council meetings.  Why?  Because school trustees didn't want to hear or didn't want to know parents' complaints.  He felt that if he heard some parents first-hand, it would influence his decision-making ability in the boardroom.

At the time, this struck me as rather strange.  Why wouldn't a politician want to keep in touch with his constituents?  Why wouldn't a person responsible for governing an institution want to hear complaints?  Why would a thoughtful man want to keep himself ignorant?  Now I understand a little better.

The use of various mechanisms within political practice, such as plausible deniability, creates a win-win situation for politicians and bureaucrats.  It's not just staff in a school board, city hall or legislature who want to keep politicians in the dark; many politicians want this too.  It works for both sides and the "good politician" who is willing to play the game, soon learns not to make waves and not to ask certain questions.

I was given advice by a veteran politician shortly after I became a trustee.  It was, "Play ball with staff.  Defer to staff."  Sadly for me, I suppose, I never got the hang of this and I continue to ask questions.  Perhaps it's arrogance and I delude myself to think that I am a better politician in trying to understand a very complex system.

Even though I'm not one, I have a lot of sympathy for the "good politician."  The system really is so incredibly complicated with a great many traps.  I think most new politicians must feel overwhelmed and many strike an informal deal with their staff - I will not make waves and will support staff initiatives if you support and protect me.  Of course none of this is actually said.  It simply becomes the dynamics of the interaction between the two groups -- an understanding.

At some point, the politician makes a choice.  Although the bureaucracy works to keep politicians in the dark, it's the politician him or herself who makes the decision to stay in the dark.  Through this arrangement, staff  maintains control by limiting contact to the politician.  In return, the politician may get some protection with a bail-out in a difficult situation or perhaps staff assistance with a project that works to the politician's benefit.

Of course all this is used to comedic effect in older TV shows like Yes Minister and we even saw it illustrated on the show the West Wing, where the politician in question was a principled and brilliant president.  The point is that most politicians either learn to play the game or their political party and staff will find ways to ensure they do.

I now have free rein to speak and as a school trustee, I don't need to worry about the influence of a political party.  Still I can assure you that even without the influence of a party, there are mechanisms used to try and silence outspoken politicians though we are learning just this week that they don't always work.

It is an extraordinary politician who can pick his way through this ethical mine field unscathed and we honour those rare politicians, such as Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi, who do survive.  The winners in this game are not simply those who cling to office. That's easy enough to do.  The real winners are the leaders who inspire us and leave public office with their integrity largely intact.


The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.

Rob Ford and the unexamined life

I love conversations with my son.  It's a routine we fell into many years ago as we watched tree bats at sunset swoop overhead or walked in an early morning rain.  Over time, it became outings to Chapters with conversations over coffee.  Now we just seem to fall into the routine anytime we can.  It's a great gift!

My fondest memories of my late father involve walking and talking too -- over a long bridge in the winter cold for the joy of a hot chocolate on the other side or on a beach at dawn in search of sand dollars. Those were the times my father would impart parental pearls of wisdom or ask, "If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?". But what I remember most are the stories my father told me about his life.

My dad saw the world as larger than himself.  Orphaned as a child, he cherished the notion of family as part of that bigger, more important world he believed in.  Through his beliefs and principles, my father knew who he was.  He had integrity and he wanted his children to grow into principled adults too.

What is a good parent?  Although putting a roof over children's heads is important, being a good parent is not about buying things. Nor is it about living in the best neighbourhoods or enrolling children in the best schools.  And it's not just about throwing a football around, though that's good to do too.  It's about spending real time rather than simply quality time with your child.  It's about talking with your child.  And about something we can all do -- listening to our children.

The funny thing is that the listening part is probably the most important aspect.  By listening to your child, you validate her as human being.  You communicate that he has something worthwhile to say.  And if you have the patience to listen, really listen, you may find that your child does indeed have something valuable to say, occasionally something even brilliant.  Out of the mouths of babes come honest observations unfettered by convention.

Well, I promised a tie-in with our cause célèbre of the week, Rob Ford.  What I see in Rob Ford is a man sadly without integrity, someone without a larger world of principles or beliefs. As is revealed in the latest video, a man who lives in the very small lonely world for himself and himself alone, without larger purpose. Little wonder he turns to alcohol and crack in his loneliness.

Though an extreme example, Rob Ford is a product of our time.  When few people have time to make sense of the world or even have time for a conversation, when people are inundated with senseless information devoid of meaning, when they are alienated and feel powerless to control their destinies, and when change is happening at an increasingly faster rate, almost everyone is left floundering.  'Whatever', the universal cry of youth, then becomes the norm.

If I were to have had this conversation 2,400 years ago with the philosopher Socrates, he might have responded, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Slow down and find out who you are. Take time to know yourself.

This seems an especially good maxim for politicians to follow. As Andrew Coyne said on The National, "There's been longstanding problems of a lack of an accountability mechanism. We've relied a lot on decent chaps running things. And when decent chaps aren't decent chaps or aren't running things, we've run into difficulties."  To which I might respond, well south-of-the-border, they've seen the result of the other extreme with too many checks and balances. They now have a political system that is shut down with gridlock.  Right now, neither the Canadian nor the American system seems to be working very well.

All I can do in life, all anyone can do, is moderate my own behaviour.  To do this well, I have to be introspective and act with integrity, accepting my mistakes and learning from them.  Reflection takes time though but with it, the old-fashioned words of principle and integrity can take on new meaning.  All we really need to do is slow down and listen to that inner voice; just slow down.  It doesn't really matter where you begin but a walk with your child this weekend would be a good place to start.


P.S.  Last weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting a regular reader of this blog who was kind enough to come over and introduce himself.  Thank you.  If you ever find yourself in the same room with me, please don't be shy. Come over and say hello.


The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.

Let's make amends for residential schools

Five years ago, I went on a cruise in the North. I have seen much of this wonderful country but like most Canadians, I had never been up North. I know this sounds extravagant but in my defense, a cruise is the only way to see much of it.  The voyage was from Reykjavik Iceland, which is wonderful, around the tip of Greenland, on to Nunavut including a stop in Iqaluit, and then down the coast of Labrador to St. John's, Newfoundland.  

Qaqortoq, Greenland

The North is so beautiful and it's all it's cracked up to be. There are thundering glaciers, shimmering Northern Lights, landscapes covered in flowers, and beautiful friendly children.  Here's a picture of some students in Qaqortoq, Greenland. Look at the town behind them.  The homes are freshly painted and you might not spot them but there's a school and a hospital too.  It was a different story in Labrador.  In the towns where we stopped, I saw buildings that were generally in poor repair and children who were high.

The stark contrast between these communities left me with real questions. The people of the Greenland and Labrador communities are of similar backgrounds and culture. So why is it that a relatively small country like Denmark can appear to get it right while a wealthy country like Canada gets it so wrong?  I have given this some thought over time and it seems that the answer boils down to a difference in the histories.  From what I've read of Greenland's history, it never had residential schools.

Handcuffs used on Native American school children

Let's look at the question of residential schools for a moment because there can often be some confusion.  While residential schools were boarding schools, they were also designed to assimilate Aboriginal children. Residential schools were first opened in 1831 and the last one was closed in 1996. Unlike boarding schools, children as young as four years of age were forcibly sent to live continuously at residential schools often for many years at a time.

A school is supposed to be a refuge for children but students in residential schools were forbidden from speaking their language and practicing their traditions. Hundreds of miles away from home and without a means of travel, many students did not see their families for years.  And we all know about the abuse including sexual abuse that happened in these schools.  I have had the honour of speaking to survivors of residential schools. When I hear the stories, I cannot help but cry for their pain.  How can it be in a country like Canada that these schools were allowed to become something akin to prisons for so many little children?   

Yesterday, I listened to the Speech from the Throne.  There were 133 references to "our government" in the speech.  I counted them.  

In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized to the survivors of residential schools. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I believe that when you genuinely apologize, you also try to make amends. Towards this end, I had hoped to hear in the Throne Speech something about a new government initiative for educating children on reserves.  Instead I heard this:

Our Government recognizes the tremendous potential of Canada’s First Nations, Métis and Inuit populations to strengthen the growing Canadian economy. It will continue working with First Nations to develop stronger, more effective, and more accountable on-reserve education systems. 

Does this sound like a new initiative to you?  And doesn't it strike you as rather odd that "our government" would honour Malala Yousafzai, who is rightly deserving of honour for her heroic efforts in support of education, while ignoring the educational needs of students here at home?

There is an ongoing legacy from these schools that will haunt First Nations and Inuit people for generations. At the impressionable age of 4, Aboriginal children were robbed of their language and culture, robbed of good parenting role models and love, and ultimately robbed of their childhoods.  And with the poverty that surrounds many reserve communities today, how can these children who are now adults hope to raise healthy children?

Governor General Johnston, I am one of your many proud Canadians.  But when I think about the history of the residential schools, I am filled with a deep sense of shame.  It is time for this government to make good on its apology.


For more information about residential schools, go to The Legacy of Hope Foundation or to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.

The wisdom of Malala

What can be said to today's youth by way of advice about the future?  There's little -- it's unknowable and everything changes so rapidly.  There are no reliable trends and few traditions to depend on.  But then this week I came upon Daniel Pink's The Adventures of Johnny Bunko.  It's in a cartoon format and I highly recommend it to all guidance teachers.  While Pink doesn't claim to know the future, he does lay out some guidelines for youth that make sense:

1. There is no plan.
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
3. It's not about you.
4. Persistence trumps talent.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
6. Leave an imprint.

As I listened to a very moving interview this week with Malala Yousafzai, I couldn't help but think that Malala is familiar with Pink's work. Of course she couldn't be but how is it then that a 16-year-old girl can be so wise?

Truth be told, I wasn't just very moved by this interview.  I was moved to tears. Even Jon Stewart held his breath as Malala responded to the question of what she would do if she met her Taliban attacker.  I can't do justice to her words but Malala said that she thought about hitting her attacker with her shoe but then realized this would make her no different from him.  Clearly showing that she had reflected on this subject deeply, Malala ends with an answer to the effect that she would tell him to shoot but to listen to her first.

How can Malala know about Gandhian principles?  How is it that someone so young can be so wise?  Then I am brought back to earth by a 16-year-old giggle.

"There is no plan." according to Pink.  Right.  So how does one live one's life?  Do we have to live during the Elizabethan era or be part of the civil rights movement to make a difference?  And what if there isn't an era or a movement to hang your hat on.  What do you do to make a meaningful life?

You do what Malala did.  If the police and politicians aren't acting to right wrongs, you speak up for what's right and you carry on with your life.  Malala and her girlfriends continued to go to school each day.  These girls continued to do what they believed was right even when 400 schools were bombed by the Taliban in the Swat Valley. And from what I heard in the interview, some of the girls like Malala knew their lives were in danger but they didn't dwell on it.  They just got up each morning and went to school.  How powerful is that?

Of course it truly is and Malala knows it.  To the question, "Where did your love of education come from?" Malala responds, "We are human beings and this is the part of our human nature.  We don't learn the importance of anything until it is snatched from our hands.  And in Pakistan, when we were stopped from going to school, at that time I realized that education is very important.  And education is the power for women and that's why the terrorists are afraid of education.  They do not want women to get education because then women will become more powerful."

To echo Jon Stewart's response, exactly!  What is it about education, particularly for girls, that makes it so powerful?  There's a lovely video that helps explain this well -- The Girl Effect, The Clock is Ticking.

It's about more than keeping girls safe in school.  For almost all children, school is their only path to literacy and with literacy, children can learn empathy.  They can read books about teens, in my day it was Catcher in the Rye, learn that their lives are not so different, and feel not quite so alone.  Through reading, they can know other lives and see other possibilities.  They can understand that the lives they live at that moment are not predetermined by fate nor by the authorities.  They can dream other futures.

Through art, students learn about their own creativity and the possibilities for transforming this into talent. With mathematical skills, they can turn these talents into successful businesses that can feed themselves and their families.  And with knowledge of science and health, they can begin to understand that they have some mastery over nature and over their own bodies and then use this to keep themselves and their children healthy.

All children can gain from these gifts but for girls in particular, an education can give them that all-powerful self-confidence to say no.  In a society that places lesser value on women, and let's face it that's most societies, this self-assurance can make all the difference.  The Taliban, and in some ways they are no worse than many western governments, are simply smart enough to know that they lose power in a society where women can say no.

How is it that a 16-year-old is so wise?  Malala has done a lot of living in her sixteen years.  Although it's unlikely that she has read Daniel Pink's books, Malala has learnt his lessons through first-hand experience and reflection.

When your life is threatened for it, most sane adults would say it's a real mistake to continue going to school. But Malala understands Pink's fifth lesson, the one about having the courage to make excellent mistakes, particularly well.  The day she was shot, a year ago yesterday, Malala did what she would always do.  Malala went to school.


P.S.  Since I wrote this post, Malala Yousafzai received the Nobel Peace Prize! She was also invited to the White House to meet with President Obama.  According to various sources, this is what she said to the President:

I thanked President Obama for the United States' work in supporting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan and for Syrian refugees.  I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fuelling terrorism.  Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people.  If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact.

What an amazing young woman!  

The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.

The starfish and the power of caring

Lissadell Beach, Co Sligo, Ireland

One day, an old man was walking along a beach. There'd been a storm with very high tides and many starfish were stranded above the high water mark. In the distance, he saw a young girl and noticed she was carefully placing starfish back into the sea. Curious he walked over and said, "There are thousands of beached starfish and you can't possibly put them all back. Why are you doing this?  What does it matter?" The girl looked down at the beauty of the starfish shimmering in the palm of her hand. She then looked up at the old man and replied with some confidence, "It matters to this one."

This short story helps illustrate two points.  The first is about the idealism of youth. Thank heavens there are young people in every generation who don't know that something can't be done and so they do it. The world would quickly sink into a quagmire of unresolvable problems without them!  And the second?  Well, that's the point of this story.

People often ask me why I am a trustee and as I sat before a video camera on Saturday, I was reminded how often I'm asked this question.  In a sense, I understand why it's asked. It can seem to be a rather strange occupation as the compensation is small, the level of stress is high, and there's little power or prestige attached to the job particularly in recent years.  I receive angry phone calls about unknown problems and sometimes hundreds of emails lobbying me on a particular issue.  It can be lonely too as there are few others in the profession and those who are can be political foes. That's the nature of politics generally and at times, it can feel like the Wild West.  In response to the question often implied, yes, some days I should have my head examined!  Then there are the other days.  The reason I am a trustee is that it's the best job on earth.  

Let's step back a moment and look at our schools.  All government, health, economic or educational institutions are organizations we create to meet human needs. By their very nature, institutions call on people to subsume their individualism for the collective good and must of necessity treat individuals in their care in a set fashion.  This is not done with callousness or a lack of caring.  Serving hundreds or thousands of people often has to be done in a standardized fashion if it is to be done at all.

But children are individuals, complex individuals, and they are not amenable to routine treatment.  Their needs change from child to child and they even change from day to day. We can't bake them with a recipe nor make them on an assembly line.  Children are not vessels to be filled or clay to be molded. Their ultimate attributes and personalities are not apparent but come from years of learning and experience.  Like a butterfly from a chrysalis, they emerge and are emergent in the sense of being unpredictable.

Trustees can feel responsible for students and schools in their jurisdiction but we are often told to focus only on governance, that is on the making of institutional rules or policy. This message is delivered by lawyers at orientation meetings shortly after municipal elections and it is often hammered home in many local and provincial governance sessions that follow. While this might sound appealing to a few lawyers and policy wonks, the thought of attending meetings debating school board policy is for the average person something akin to envisioning the seventh level of hell.  If that's all there was to the job, few would want it.  The reality is that trustees do far more because we can wield influence.

Let me explain what I mean.  If a politician is able to help bring about the passage of a law, let's say one that prohibits smoking in a public place, that is political power.  If a politician works with others and aids in the development of a program that encourages people to stop smoking, that is influence.  In both cases, the outcome is similar in that the harmful effects of smoking are reduced.

Consider societal changes you've likely seen in your lifetime.  A generation ago, no one thought about drinking and driving.  Now thanks to the effort and influence of organizations like MADD, most people consider the effects of alcohol before getting behind the wheel. There's not only been a legal shift in the norm but a cultural shift too and it's often the cultural one that most influences human behaviour.

Today, school trustees wield more influence than power.  We come from all walks of life and few of us are teachers or educators.  This is a good thing as it allows us to see the school system differently and it gives us an ability to bring other considerations into the mix.  Many trustees have volunteered in community or political organizations, schools and school board committees, for years before running for political office. We often come to the job with a firm understanding of the personalities and structures that shape our school boards. Trustees have contacts in the community who can bridge gaps and we sometimes bring them together to create now opportunities for children. Sometimes we act as advocates for children and families and discover in the process that a solution can often be found not from stating the case but by knowing whom to call.

As a trustee, I have been fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to occasionally make a difference for numerous students. I am proud to have supported the Empower Reading and the Pathways to Education programs in Ottawa.  Both these initiatives have proven to be invaluable for many. 

I'll finish up with one last story.  On a sunny winter day almost two years ago, I lay in a hospital bed receiving chemotherapy.  Two sweet high school volunteers came by and asked what I needed.  Not knowing what to say, I sent one off for a cup of soup and the other off for crackers.

A third volunteer then stopped by my bed and pulled up a chair.  She was about my age and it turned out that she was in remission from cancer  She asked my name and when I told her, she said, "I know you." This isn't an uncommon a response as we trustees often have our names posted on signs in public places for weeks before an election. But this time was different.

Gail told me that she and her husband had adopted a child later in life and that as a young girl, her daughter had struggled in school.  Nothing seemed to work and in desperation, Gail had called me.  She said that somehow I had worked magic and from that moment on, her daughter did better in school.

There are rewards in life that aren't tangible and so it is with the role of trustee.  After Gail left my bedside, I tried to remember the phone call.  I imagined that on that occasion, I did what I usually do and simply called the principal to say I had received a call from a parent with concerns for her child.  Without interference, I had shone a spotlight on this child. The magic had come from the principal and the girl's teacher who with their attention and subsequent concern had made a difference.  Still as the school trustee, I too had been given a brief chance to hold this child in the palm of my hand ... and she shimmered.


The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.

Crazy suburban development and the growth in new schools

Yesterday, my son and I had a wonderful experience.  We visited his former grade 6 teacher, M. Brisebois. I wrote about M. Brisebois in an earlier post.  High school teachers tend to run into their former students.  I know they're thrilled when a young person approaches them and says, "Hello Ms. Jones.  Do you remember me?  I'm Aaron and I was in your class four years ago."

My teacher friends love this!  They regale me with the details of what their former students are doing now and what nice young adults they've become. They remember their students clearly and with great fondness, even the ones who acted out in class! Don't ever be afraid to say hello to your former teacher.

It's often different for elementary teachers as young students are not as easily recognizable later on.  And it's more likely too that a child's family or the teacher has moved on in the intervening years. For an elementary teacher, it's a rare experience to speak to a former student and likely a real treat.

So it was with M. Brisebois yesterday.  He met us at the school office grinning from ear to ear.   He hadn't changed over the years but clearly my son has.  M. Brisebois mentioned that he wasn't sure he'd recognize Gabriel on the street, which is understandable given that not many elementary students sport facial hair.

We were given a little tour of the school.  Clearly M. Brisebois hadn't changed in other ways too as the entrance of his classroom was decked out like the portal of a spaceship. Gabe is now a little too tall for the grade-4 spaceship but as you can see, the spaceship comes fully equipped with a time machine and a space-reading helmet (decorated plastic colander) for each child.  One child could even be seen jumping through a space warp <wink>.  Nothing's too good for our kids!

But I digress.  On my way to the school in one of Ottawa's growing suburbs, I passed a French elementary school and then pulled into the parking lot of the school next door, thinking it was our school.  Turns out, it was a Catholic elementary school and our school was the third in line.  Imagine this if you can. Three large elementary schools all lined up in a row, each one likely capable of holding 500 students.  Our school now accommodates over 600 students and there are 12 portable classrooms already, the maximum allowable for the site.  I don't know where we'll put the extra students next year as the kindergarten class will likely double in size with the introduction of full-day kindergarten.

I suspect the two other schools are more than filled too.  But why are there three schools rather than one or two?  Why three schools in-a-row on a main street rather than scattered within walking distance inside the subdivision?  And why the extraordinary growth in outer-ring subdivisions when there are single-family homes in older suburbs with schools and classroom space available nearby?

I read an article this past weekend stating that Canada has become a suburban nation. The majority of us live in suburbs.  But here's the thing, families aren't settling in the perfectly good older suburbs that come fully equipped with uncrowded schools, libraries, and community centres with pools and skating rinks.  Oh no, instead young families are buying brand-new homes in the far-out suburbs, which creates added expense in terms of new school and facility construction, new infrastructure construction, additional commute time, additional car use, more pollution, and a reduction in arable farmland.

Meanwhile in my middle city area, there are some lovely neighbourhoods and family homes without families. This creates a doughnut effect as condos are built downtown to house empty-nesters and new homes are built on the outskirts.  People aren't crazy so why is this happening?

From what I can see, the cost of new home construction is indirectly subsidized by government and tax revenue. Overall this artificially keeps the price of new homes down while it keeps the demand up.  When new home buyers pay school development charges, they pay to purchase the land only.  All other costs, the school construction and outfitting, are paid for by the school board and the provincial government.

Now these families could choose to buy a house in an older suburb, where schools and other amenities are already in place.  But they choose instead to purchase a house farther out because developers don't have to pass along the real costs of providing schools and infrastructure for the new subdivision and are thereby able to keep the cost of the new houses artificially low.  While there's money to be made in renovating and rebuilding older homes, I suspect the profit margins are better in the subdivisions where developers can go in and build many houses at a time.

Although this all sounds rather complicated, it could be fixed.  If Education Development Charges that are levied for new house construction truly reflected the actual costs of building schools rather than simply the land price, these new homes would become more costly to build.  The purchase price of new subdivision houses would increase accordingly and older suburban homes in established neighbourhoods would become more competitively priced.  Suburban sprawl would be thereby constrained, new school demand slowed, and the number of school portables would be reduced.  I suspect this is true for municipal development charges but what do I know?  I'm just a school trustee. What I do know is that it will never happen as long as developers continue to hold disproportionate political sway in our communities and in our province.


The views expressed in this blog are personal opinions only.

Letter to a SMU student

Dear Erin,

I hope you are enjoying your first year at SMU.  I saw the report on The National about Saint Mary's University's notorious frosh week chant, "... U is for underage, N is for non-consent."  I understand that SMU is not very different from other Canadian universities but as your aunt, I am concerned for your safety. I hope you will take a minute to read this letter.

The news item contained some interviews with young women at SMU.  One was with a student, a victim of rape, who said she cried for three hours after hearing the chant. Another was with a female student who said, "I'm not a feminist kind of person so it (the chant) didn't affect me personally."   The contrast in their views couldn't be more stark.

Did feminism ever mean how it seems to be portrayed today, that is did the women's movement ever say that women are the same as men or that somehow women's rights are more important?  Not in my memory.  As a supporter of the women's movement for over 30 years, the call was always for equality, the equality of rights.

Many of us believed and still believe that women can engage in similar employment to men, especially in the modern workplace.  Recent statistics bear this out as women are entering the sciences, engineering and business in record numbers.  Today there are more young women like yourself in medical schools and in institutes of higher learning overall.  

But the word feminism has been twisted to imply something it was never intended to mean, the denial of differences between men and women.  When I was young we spoke of equal rights, not identical attributes.  This false blurring of meaning has been used to discredit feminism and today it is rare for any young person to describe him or herself as a feminist.  In the day, there were many young men who called themselves feminists.

I don't think I've told you what it was like for me as a student over 40 years ago.  It was expected that your uncle would go onto university and there were financial arrangements made to assist him.  I was told that I should go to a secretarial school as I would soon marry and higher learning would be wasted on me.

The differences did not end at the threshold and even though I was an excellent math student, I was not allowed to study drafting as it was considered to be for boys only.  At university, there were no washrooms for women in some of the engineering and science buildings. Nothing says you're not welcome here like a lack of needed facilities.

When a professor of an organic chemistry lab course gave me a low mark in my third year at university, it turned out to be the final straw.  I spoke to him about it and he said that if I rewrote the rough work in two lab books, he would increase my mark from a C to an A because in his words, "How will you get a job as a secretary with ink blotches in your work?"  I was the youngest student in that class, the only woman, and there were no ombudsmen in Canadian universities at that time. 

Erin, I can't help but compare your great-grandmother's and grandmother's lives to mine and feel I've been fortunate. I have had so many more opportunities.  The women of your great-grandmother's time fought for the right to vote. They thought the vote would bring women political power.  Still there are too few of us in elected office today.

In Granny's time, they fought for the right to be educated and today you are.  And in my time, we fought for the right to work and reproductive rights because frankly, they go hand in hand.  Did you know all types of birth control were illegal in the Quebec of my childhood?  With any luck, you will find that with good qualifications, experience and hard work, most doors will be open to you. 

Still you are privileged to live in Canada rather than India, where rape can be a death sentence.  But how is it that Canada is becoming more like India in this way?  All other rights count for nothing if women are raped and bullied to the point of ending their own lives.  

Each generation makes the world anew. You have now been handed this torch, my wonderful niece.  Make your contribution count.

Your loving aunt,

Pam

The views expressed in this blog are personal opinions only.