#IdleNoMore #CDNPoli #NWT Arrange meeting requested by Chief Spence, Lawyers Rights Watch Canada tells @PMHarper

"...The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
E-mail: stephen.harper@parl.gc.ca; pm@pm.gc.ca

Dear Prime Minister,

Re: Meeting requested by Chief Theresa Spence of Attiwapiskat

We write to urge that you immediately arrange a meeting as requested by
Chief Theresa Spence. Chief Spence wants a meeting on a Nation to Nation
basis with the Prime Minister, the Crown, and the Provincial and
Territorial leaders along with all the First Nations leaders to discuss
First Nations' inherent and treaty rights.
[...]
Please remember that Canada is constitutionally defined as a "free and
democratic society" founded on principles that recognize the supremacy of
the rule of law. This means that law must be formulated with the informed
consent of the Canadian people. The equality rights in our constitution
are meant to ensure that law is used as a tool to achieve justice for all.
This is part of our traditional Anglo-Canadian constitutional heritage.
These principles have been affirmed by international human rights treaties
that Canada has ratified. The Canadian constitution also explicitly
requires respect for "aboriginal and treaty rights". Moreover, just as
Parliament was established to ensure that law-making is founded on
informed public discussion, so too the Supreme Court of Canada supports
the right of Indigenous peoples to meaningful consultation on issues that
concern them. In addition, we draw your attention to Article 19 of the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which
Canada has endorsed, and which provides that...
"States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous
peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in
order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting
and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may
affect them."
In summary, in this country it is unquestionably illegal to use the power
of the State to destroy or repress rights or grant unwarranted privileges.
Conversely, it is unquestionably legal to use all peaceful means to
resolve both internal problems and external disputes...."
http://www.lrwc.org/canada-arrange-meeting-requested-by-chief-spence-lawyers-rights-watch-canada-tells-pm/

The coming drone attack on America

"... People often ask me, in terms of my argument about "ten steps" that mark the descent to a police state or closed society, at what stage we are. I am sorry to say that with the importation of what will be tens of thousands of drones, by both US military and by commercial interests, into US airspace, with a specific mandate to engage in surveillance and with the capacity for weaponization – which is due to begin in earnest at the start of the new year – it means that the police state is now officially here. In February of this year, Congress passed the FAA Reauthorization Act, with its provision to deploy fleets of drones domestically. Jennifer Lynch, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, notes that this followed a major lobbying effort, "a huge push by […] the defense sector" to promote the use of drones in American skies: 30,000 of them are expected to be in use by 2020, some as small as hummingbirds – meaning that you won't necessarily see them, tracking your meeting with your fellow-activists, with your accountant or your congressman, or filming your cruising the bars or your assignation with your lover, as its video-gathering whirs. ... In other words, the Pentagon can now send a domestic drone to hover outside your apartment window, collecting footage of you and your family, if the secretary of Defense approves it. Or it may track you and your friends and pick up audio of your conversations, on your way, say, to protest or vote or talk to your representative, if you are not "specifically identified", a determination that is so vague as to be meaningless...."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/21/coming-drone-attack-america

--
GEORGE LESSARD

Information, Communications and Media Specialist
Spécialiste en l'information, communications et  media
451 Norseman Dr.
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
X1A 2J1, Canada
Yellowknife Cell # (867) 445-9193
E-mail: mediamentorATgmailDOTcom
Website mediamentor.ca
Twitter Feed on Northern  & First Nations Issues
Twitter Feed on Journalism & Media Issues
Twitter Feed on Community Radio Worldwide
Member:
Canadian Artists Representation / le Front des artistes canadiens
Canadian Artists Representation Copyright Collective

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40 Scholarships for Journalists to Change the World - Applications Due November 18, 2012

40 Scholarships for Journalists to Change the World
Applications for the April 2013 School of Authentic Journalism Are Due November 18, 2012
By Al Giordano
Founder, School of Authentic Journalism
September 26, 2012
The next School of Authentic Journalism, April 17 to 27, 2013, in Mexico, will mark ten years since we held the first one in 2003. More than 300 journalists, independent media makers, community organizers and social movement leaders have passed through these doors since we began.
This will be the sixth session of the school but it also might (or might not) be the last one for some time to come, for reasons I'll explain before this invitation is done. My point is that if you have ever thought about attending but never got around to actually applying: don't lose this opportunity. It might (or might not) be the last for a while.
At the 2013 school we will hear from a leader of South Africa's anti-apartheid boycott and general strike, a union organizer who strategized Bolivia's "water war" that stopped the privatization of that resource, an organizer who helped – this year – stop the deportation of 800,000 undocumented immigrants from the United States, a strategist who launched the global movement to end nuclear power, a writer and journalist who became a movement leader when her town was threatened by a nuclear waste dump, a young organizer whose creativity and humor helped topple his country of Serbia's dictator, and two legendary theorists and organizers who worked alongside Martin Luther King to end racial segregation.
This ten-day intensive program is for the following kinds of people: Journalists and communicators who report on and alongside social movements, community organizing and civil resistance campaigns, and also for those participants in those movements who write, blog, photograph, create and manage websites, make video, radio, graphic design or political cartoons about them. In previous schools we have accepted some applicants with little experience but whose raw talent and urgent desire to make change in their communities and in the world impressed us, and a good number of them have gone on to do great works. Some are even professors of the School of Authentic Journalism today.
More information at
http://narconews.com/Issue67/article4626.html

Call for Submissions / Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference / Call for Video Project Proposals

Call for Submissions / Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference / Call for Video Project Proposal / Montreal, QC / Deadline Date: Monday, July 30, 2012

ARCA, a conference of nine regional and cultural associations of artist-run centres, is calling out to artists of all disciplines to conceptualize, script and produce a communications video (max 3min.) destined to represent the artist-run network as an active and long standing member of the wider arts milieu.
Rather than insist on borders, time-zones, cultures and languages, the artist (individual or team) will depict, suggest, represent, characterize, parody how individual centres, or loosely connected groups of centres share the common idioms and forms of art.
This communications video is destined to be viewed by an audience mostly familiar with the network but not necessarily. The project will probably work best if approached with the craft, thrift and levity of artistic simplicity, possibly using and remixing documentation material provided by individual centres.
The artist (individual or collective) will work in dialogue with ARCA's regional representatives, artists Michel Boutin (Indigenous Peoples Artist Collective, Prince Albert, SK), Joe Katylnik (RAW: Gallery of Architecture and Design, Winnipeg), Michael McCormack (Eye Level, Halifax), and the administrative support offered by ARCA's coordination.
Please understand that ARCA aims to launch this video during the opening reception of Institutions by Artists, October 11 2012 in Vancouver.
All submissions must be received by July 30th, 5pm eastern time.

Please include:
-A description of the project and intended approach;
-A work plan and calendar;
-A resume (max 3 pages);

Links to video excerpts (5 min. max) with brief descriptions of the material and any other relevant support material.

General information:
ARCA offers a $3,000 fee for a broadcast quality, finished video as well as a web-ready version;
The call is open to art professionals of all ages and levels of experience;
The proposals will be reviewed by a committee of peers.

Email your proposal to info@arccc-cccaa.org, indicating PROPOSAL FOR ARCA VIDEO in the subject line

Results will be sent via email to all applicants shortly after deadline.
Information: 514-730-6129 info@arccc-cccaa.org

Prix international du dessin de presse (3)

Prix international du dessin de presse (3)

Look at my cousin's blog for more about cqrtooning..
http://badoleblog.blogspot.ca/2012/05/prix-international-du-dessin-de-presse_25.html

"...Plantu en parle dans L'Express.

..."

Jan Wong: Workplace Depression, video tapes, a secret psychiatrist and a new book called "Out of the Blue"

The Globe and Mail fires a journalist suffering from depression after Manulife Insurance secretly videotapes her and has a secret psychiatrist declare her not ill.

Jan Wong: Workplace Depression
A much-honoured reporter with The Globe and Mail for more than 20 years, Jan Wong incurred the anger of management, suffered a breakdown and the agony of clinical depression and eventually was fired.
In the midst of her depression, she couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, could barely converse with friends. She eventually pulled out of it, and has written about her experience in a new book called Out of the Blue.
Jan Wong talks with Michael about a little-acknowledged condition: workplace depression.
http://www.cbc.ca/thesundayedition/features/2012/05/06/jan-wong-workplace-depression/

--------------------
Was Canada's "Globe and Mail" "MIA" with Jan Wong?
"...Jan Wong is an award winning newspaper reporter and author, who was, at one time, the Beijing bureau chief for the Globe and Mail and one of the most prominent feature writers Canada has ever produced. ... Jan went through a complete nervous breakdown. The Human Resources department at the newspaper cut off her benefits and sick leave after six weeks. (Her union contract stipulates that workers are eligible for six months sick leave). Jan was ordered back to work but felt it was too soon as she was unable to write and had a medical certificate so stating. When she failed to show up in the newsroom as required, she was fired in 2006...The Globe has been a great employer when it comes to handling reporters in war zones and other stressful situations. Jan Wong clearly underwent a clinical depression caused by job-related post-traumatic stress disorder. If she has been in Iraq or Syria or Sierra Leone, the Globe would have had no hesitation about giving her or any war correspondent the necessary support and care. .... It's not too late for the Globe to acknowledge the nature of workplace depression wherever it occurs. A good starting point would be to ask Ed Greenspon to review Jan's book. ..."
http://www.nowthedetails.blogspot.ca/2012/05/was-globe-and-mail-mia-with-jan-wong.html
--------------------
"....This is the kind of country we live in. The Globe and Mail fires a journalist suffering from depression after Manulife Insurance secretly videotapes her and has a secret psychiatrist declare her not ill.
Thankfully in finally settling with Manulife (after the lawsuit needless to say) she arranged to have excerpts from the surveillance videos posted to You tube - though only for six months..."
--------------------



http://youtu.be/zxNQq366gfU
Published on May 5, 2012 by writerwong http://www.youtube.com/user/writerwong
These are excerpts from secret videos commissioned by Manulife Financial that resulted in the Globe and Mail firing me in the middle of a major clinical depression. For more than 20 years, I worked as a staff reporter at the Globe. When I suddenly fell ill with clinical depression, the Globe didn't believe me. Manulife, the insurer, hired Garda, an international security company, to surreptitiously follow and videotape me. Manulife showed the tapes to its consulting psychiatrist, who ruled I wasn't depressed. Read more in my new memoir, Out of the Blue.
http://www.janwong.ca

NorthWords Writer's Festival May 31 - June 3, 2012

CBC Northbeat is a Proud Sponsor of NorthWords Writer's Festival May 31 - June 3, 2012

 

 

NorthWords NWT holds an annual festival every year the first weekend in June, which allows established and emerging northern authors to share the stage with renowed Canadian authors.  The festival supports writers through workshops, mentoring and literary contests.

 

This year, NorthWords Festival is featuring 2010 Giller Prize Linden Macintryre, host of CBC's The Fifth Estate.  Linden recently released his latest book "Why Men Lie".  In addition, other special authors include:

 

• James Bartleman, author of As Long as the Rivers Flow, a novel on the intergenerational impact of the residential school experience on the current epidemic of youth suicide in Northern Ontairo.
• Michael Yahgulanaas who uses graphic narratives to communicate a world view particular to the Haida.  He is known for the Haida Manga.
• Dawn Dumont, a comedian of Cree and Metis descent whose first book Nobody Cries Bingo was published in 2011.
• Margaret Macpherson, an award-winning poet and author of both fiction and non-fiction, originally who grew up in Yellowknife.
• Richard Van Camp, a proud Tlicho Dene from Fort Smith, NWT who has earned international acclaim as a writer of short stories, children's books and novels.
• Jamie Bastedo, a Yellowknife writer of both fiction and non-fiction who specializes bringing science to the people.
• Annelies Poole, a Yellowknife writer whose funny take on life in the country has entertained readers for many years.
• Cathy Jewison, a Yellowknife author whose short stories see the humor in northern life.

A program will be released within the next couple of weeks.

 

Visit NorthWords website at http://northwordsnwt.ca

HOW TO BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST Protester and documentarian has all the details

http://www.capilanocourier.com/2012/03/how-to-be-citizen-journalist-protester.html
[excerpt]

TORONTO (CUP) – Derek Soberal stands along a police barrier with a crowd in Nathan Phillips Square as a part of a January protest against Toronto budget cuts. Holding a small camera, he films the scene as tension grows between the protesters and police.

The situation erupts as a protester attempts to break through the line. In the ensuing chaos, a police officer knocks Soberal's camera down and punches him in the face before stomping on the camera. However, when Soberal crosses the police barrier in an attempt to retrieve his camera, he is arrested and charged with unlawful assembly, mischief, and two counts of obstructing a police officer.

A photo in the Toronto Sun shows Soberal in handcuffs, bruised and bloody. He quotes Martin Luther King, Jr. in rationalizing why he went over the police barrier to retrieve his camera, containing potential evidence of the alleged assault: "I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law."

BABY STEPS

Soberal has gone from being unable to recite his phone number without stuttering to being a prominent voice of the Toronto protest scene, featured on the CBC's Lang and O'Leary Exchange and credited in a G20 edition of The Fifth Estate. He also created an activist-based YouTube channel, TheSecretStore, with over 5,000 subscribers and 3.5 million upload views, as well as the 35,000-member Occupy Canada Facebook page.

But January's budget protest was not Soberal's first run-in with Toronto police. His life as an activist and citizen journalist started with the 2010 G20 protests and Ryerson's now-defunct CKLN radio station's Word of Mouth Wednesday program.

"Basically, I got involved because of the G20 summit," says Soberal. "That was my first protest … and I exercised my rights at that time. I got invited onto the show by [host] Daniel Libby to talk about the experience."

He would become a regular on Libby's show, eventually earning the title of CKLN programmer.

"Derek is attracted to media attention," says Libby. "He's not afraid to talk to reporters when they're around."

His ability to speak on the radio and communicate with the media is a hard-earned skill – from the time he was a toddler until his teens, Soberal underwent speech therapy. Today, he speaks with near-perfect clarity, pausing occasionally if his stutter starts to creep back in.

He says this ability to speak publicly is inspired by Libby: "[Libby] was confident on the radio, and my voice was cracking the first time," Soberal says. "I learned from him."
[...]

The 2012 Great Northern Canada Writing Contest Deadline - April 30, 2012

Annelies Pool [anneliespool@me.com] on behalf of Great Northern Canada Writing Contest has requested distribution of the following call for submissions:

The 2012 Great Northern Canada Writing Contest
Deadline - April 30, 2012

To enter, submit a piece of prose, either fiction or non-fiction, of up to 1,000 words about life in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut or Nunavik. Previously published items are not eligible.

Entries should be typed and double-spaced with the title, but not your name, on each numbered page. Please submit a separate cover sheet with your name, address, phone number, email address, word count and whether your piece is fiction or non-fiction.

Entries must be mailed to:

Great Northern Canada Writing Contest
Box 1256,
Yellowknife NT
X1A 2N9

We do not accept emailed or faxed entries.

Deadline is April 30, 2012. That means they must be postmarked by that date.

First Prize is $500 and publication in above&beyond, Canada's Arctic Journal.
http://www.arcticjournal.ca/

Special Emerging Writer Prize of $250 and publication in above&beyond, Canada's Arctic Journal, for writers who have never been published for payment. To qualify, identify yourself  "emerging writer" on the cover sheet you submit with your entry.

Winners will be announced at the 5th Annual NorthWords Writers Festival in Yellowknife, NWT on May 31 – June 3, 2012.

The following are not eligible: Staff and contractors of above&beyond magazine and their families, writers who have been published in above&beyond in the last five years, organizers and paid staff of the NorthWords Writers Festival and their families.

Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge - I support #wikipediablackout! Show your support here

I support #wikipediablackout! Show your support here http://tinyurl.com/7vq4o8g

Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge

For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more