Tag: freedom

Myth Busting

There are an alarming number of myths about SOGI education in our schools that are being passed around in our neighbourhoods and around the nation. Misinformation, disinformation, distortions and lies are rampant. Here are some links to resources to find out more about what is happening in BC Schools and to learn more about why SOGI inclusive education is so important.

SOGI Inclusive Education Myth Busting

Surrey Schools SOGI-Inclusive Education

SOGI-PSST (Protecting Surrey Schools Together)

Government of British Columbia: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

SOGI 123

Information for Parents from Canada’s Paediatricians

We live, study and work in a diverse gender society. Today’s children and youth are growing up in a new gender world. It is important to acknowledge and create an environment that respects and celebrates our differences in gender identities and sexual orientation and expression. Creating an inclusive culture prevents children and youth from experiencing distress, discrimination, bullying and ultimately negative health outcomes. Creating a respectful environment helps transgender and gender creative children lead happy, healthy and confident lives.

Fraser Health

Juneteenth

Also known by such names as Freedom Day and Jubilee Day, Juneteenth is a celebration of the end of slavery after the end of the American Civil War.

source: amny.com

Juneteenth has grown to be a day that is observed in the US and around the world, as it symbolizes not only the fight against the evil that is slavery, but also the fight against racism in all its forms. Slavery finally came to end in the US in 1865, but racism lies at the heart of so many of the evils that still haunt the United States, Canada, and indeed, humanity. Current issues such as Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Theory, are all just part of the ongoing and centuries old struggle against racism.

Find out more about Juneteenth:

source: mosaictemplars.com

World Press Freedom Day

May 3rd is World Press Freedom Day, as established by UNESCO / United Nations. The freedom of the press is essential to the establishment and health of democracy.  In our world of social media, misinformation, disinformation, fake news and conspiracy theories, more than ever we need a free, independent, professional and ethical press.

source: UNESCO

Find out more:

source: UNESCO

Madeleine Albright

Madeleine Albright died on March 23, 2022.

Madeleine Albright was born in 1937 in Prague ( in what is now Czechia). Her family fled from both the Nazis and the Communists. The family first left the country after the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, returned after the end of the Second World War, only to flee again, this time from the Communists in 1948. Albright was a brilliant student who would go on to earn her PhD from Columbia University. She then served in both academic and government positions, providing expertise as a foreign policy advisor. In 1993 she became U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. In 1997 she became Secretary of State, the first female to be appointed to that prestigious position in the U.S. Cabinet.

Madeleine Albright leaves many legacies from her life of academics and public service, including the book Fascism: A Warning.

International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is essential for all people. Until women are truly equal and free, the world is not as it should be for any human being.

Find out more:

International Women’s Day

UN Women

Amnesty International

United Nations

Join us all month long, in person, and online, as we learn more about the ongoing struggle for freedom and equality for women in Canada, and around the world.

I Have a Dream

Monday was MLK Day in the United States, a wonderful opportunity for people around the world to remember Dr. King and what he stood and fought for. The “I Have a Dream Speech,” delivered at the “March on Washington” in 1963, is one of the most important speeches ever made, and just one of the many incredible achievements of Dr. King. Here is a video of that speech.

A few highlights of the speech by Martin Luther King Jr:

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brother- hood.”

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream.”

“I have a dream that… one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”

“In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”

“When we allow freedom to ring — when we let it ring from every city and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last, Free at last, Great God almighty, We are free at last.”

If you don’t read, they don’t need to ban books.

People need to read books for book banning to even be a thing. This idea has been expressed in many different ways.

So Read. Keep reading. Read some more. Read what you want to read. Read what you decide to read.

Read for information. Read to learn. Read for fun. Read to escape. Read for entertainment. Read to experience the world from the point of view of different people. Read to cry. Read to be scared. Read to laugh.

Read to understand. Read to learn new things. Read to learn more about things you already know.

Read to learn the point of view of people that you might disagree with, even when you are certain that you will disagree with them. Read to consider new information, new evidence, new perspectives. Read critically, even skeptically, but read with an openness to change your mind when faced with rational and logical reasons to do so.

Read for whatever reason you decide. Stand up for your freedom to decide for yourself what you want to read.

That doesn’t mean you should read anything and everything. People that care about you might know why reading some things, at certain times, might not be so good for you. You might decide not read some books because of your age, maturity, or history. Some books might not be right for you because of your current mental or emotional health. Perhaps some material has nothing to offer you of any value. But that is for you to decide in cooperation with the people that you trust. That is not for other people, other groups, organizations or governments to decide for you.

People try to ban books because they don’t want you to read those books. If you don’t read books to begin with, you are doing their work for them.

Juneteenth

Also known by such names as Freedom Day and Jubilee Day, Juneteenth is a celebration of the end of slavery in the former Confederacy after the end of the American Civil War.

This year marks the first celebration of Juneteenth as an official Federal Holiday in the United States.

source: amny.com

Juneteenth has grown to be a day that is observed in the US and around the world, as it symbolizes not only the fight against the evil that is slavery, but also the fight against racism in all its forms. Slavery finally came to end in the US in 1865, but racism lies at the heart of so many of the evils that still haunt the United States, Canada, and indeed, humanity. Current issues such as Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Theory, and on June 19th, the establishment of Juneteenth as an official holiday, are all just part of the ongoing and centuries old struggle against racism.

Find out more about Juneteenth:

source: mosaictemplars.com