Tag Archives: Government

Students Tell Congress and the President: #DontDoubleMyRates!

At a time when the big banks and the government can borrow money at historically low rates, near 0%, what sense does it make to charge students 6.8% just to obtain an education? Why should educational loans be treated so differently than any other type of loan in America?

Is it not enough that there are no bankruptcy protections or statutes of limitations on the collection of student loan debt? If Congress and the President do absolutely nothing, the costs to students will increase by approximately $1000 per student, per loan.

That’s on top of the already skyrocketing costs of tuition. Enough is enough! Tell Congress and the President: #DontDoubleMyRates!

If you agree that interest rates on federal Stafford Loans should remain low, then please sign this new petition to that effect.

Thank you for your continued help and support!
Sincerely, Rob, Kyle, Natalia, Aaron & The Student Debt Crisis Team

Support the Student Loan Fairness Act (H.R. 1330)

StudentDebtCrisis.org
Support the Student Loan Fairness Act (H.R. 1330)

It’s only been 2 1⁄2 weeks since we launched our latest petition in favor of H.R. 1330, The Student Loan Fairness Act and, already, we have over 185,000 signatures!

Our goal for this week is to reach 200,000 signatures or beyond, but to do that, we’re going to need your help!

First, if you haven’t already done so, please share the link to the petition via email with everyone you know:

Support the Student Loan Fairness Act (H.R. 1330)

Next, share the petition on Facebook and Twitter by using these simple links:

Click Here to Post the Petition on Facebook

Click Here to Post the Petition on Twitter

Thank you for all you’ve done so far to make this petition a success.  Now, let’s keep the momentum building by reaching that next milestone!

Sincerely,

Rob, Natalia, Kyle, Aaron & The Student Debt Crisis Team

8 Big Reasons to Boot the BC Liberals #bcpoli

BC Federation of Labour
8 Big Reasons to Boot the BC Liberals

  1. Here are 8 big reasons to vote for change in 2013
  2. Hydro rates keep going up because of expensive private power projects
  3. Raw log exports totalled over 6 million cubic meters last year
  4. BC Liberals spent $15 mil in ads about a skills shortage but cut funding for training by $37 mil #reasons4change
  5. Students deserve better than larger classes and less one on one time with teachers #reasons4change
  6. Hallways and Tim Hortons shouldn’t double as a post-op facility
  7. For thousands of children that go hungry, BC is anything but the best place on earth #reasons4change
  8. BC seniors are not getting the respect they have earned

Copyright © 2013 B.C. Federation of Labour, All rights reserved.

Canadian Federation of Students BC budget analysis

Canadian Federation of Students BC 
Membership Advisory
Budget 2013

On February 19, the BC government introduced the 2013-2014 provincial budget, the first for Finance Minister Mike de Jong.

Similar to the previous year’s budget, the 2013 budget contains cuts for most ministries, either through budget reductions or miniscule increases that, after inflation, constitute a decrease in overall funding that will lead to service reductions and lay-offs.

Polling conducted for the Federation in November 2012 showed that 83% of British Columbians support a freeze or reduction in tuition fees. Despite the popularity of affordable public education, there is nothing in the 2013 budget to provide student debt relief for students or their families. In fact, the budget will likely make things worse for post-secondary education in British Columbia by failing to maintain adequate funding and driving students into more debt….

The government made much ado about the fact that the budget was “balanced” in the accounting sense of the phrase7. But from a social policy perspective, the budget raises many questions about precisely how the budget was balanced. In 2012, the government raised more money from tuition fees than from BC Hydro profits, natural gas royalties, and forest royalties combined. The government has saved more than $640 million since 2004 by cancelling the BC student grant program. These are just two of the ways that the goverment has “balanced” the budget.

Read Full Report

Conestoga students kick off final weeks of term with #IdleNoMore powwow

Linda Givetash, The  Record — To give students a boost in the final weeks of the academic term, Conestoga College hosted a powwow Saturday.

The annual event, held at the recreation centre at the Doon campus, brought a sense of home to the campus for aboriginal students and taught non-aboriginal community members about the culture.

“The powwow is a really good time for (students) to bring their families together and a lot of students do better after this powwow,” said Myeengun Henry, manager of aboriginal services for the college. “We have students from way up north and they miss their families … so when their families come and visit them, they get rejuvenated.”

Members of aboriginal communities from across the province and even the U.S. came to the event. It included traditional ceremonies, food, dance, crafts and more.

The powwow comes right at the end of reading week for students, marking the final half of the term. Henry said it brings students back to campus and gets them in the mindset for school after the week off.

Keeping an eye on her four-year-old son running around the recreation centre, community and criminal justice student Tina Allardyce, 28, said she has volunteered with the powwow for the last three years to help promote her culture on campus.

“It’s great that it’s a part of Conestoga College … and that we can bring our community and the Native members of the community in Kitchener-Waterloo here,” she said. “The more people that come out to learn and experience the aboriginal traditional culture is amazing.”

The education the powwow provided for non-aboriginal visitors reflects the current state of the Idle No More movement that launched in November. Henry explained that although the movement is no longer in the spotlight, activism and public awareness is ongoing.

“Idle No More has moved to a different thing now,” Henry said. “Instead of being on the streets and doing rallies, we’re starting to take them to institutions and schools to allow people to ask questions on what is about.

Read More: The Record

#IdleNoMore Lecture Series at U Saskatchewan

Idle No More Discussion Series
What’s it all about?
University of Saskatchewan
Weekly, February 25 – April 3

INM Poster4

#IdleNoMore @ Douglas College

New Westminster News Leader, Grant Granger, February 19, 2013 — The Idle No More First Nations movement arrived at Douglas College’s New Westminster campus on Tuesday.

At a rally organized by the Douglas Students’ Union, speakers called for the federal government to abandon its omnibus Bill C-45 that many First Nations leaders believe will pave the way for pipelines and other infringements on native land, native rights and the environment throughout the country.

“This act is pretty much going to erase all of our strides as aboriginal people,” Mique’l Dangeli, a UBC doctoral student doing a PhD in First Nations studies, told the gathering. “They pretty much clear the way for Enbridge to exploit our lands without consultation with the First Nations especially on our reservations.”

Dangeli grew up in Metlakalta, Alaska on Annette Island just south of Ketchikan while her husband Mike was raised a short distance away on land that straddled the U.S.-Canadian border. They now live in Burnaby.

“These huge (omnibus) bills bury the issues,” said Mique’l.

The Idle No More Movement was started in Saskatoon in November by Jessica Gordon, Sylvia McAdam, Sheelah McLean and Nina Wilson to call attention to the damage the legislation could do to First Nations rights and lands, as well as to the environment. It has spread across the country and also received international attention with solidarity protests supporting the cause in the United States, Stockholm, London, Berlin, Auckland and Cairo.

“It took meticulous reading by those four women to realize the implications,” Dangeli told the audience of about 200 in the Douglas College atrium.

Dangeli’s husband Mike, an artist, carver, dance group leader and business manager, said the legislation should concern everybody because Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government wants to be able to make moves however the Conservative majority sees fit.

“They’re getting rid of protected lakes and streams to make way for pipelines,” said Mike, whose powerful voice and loud drum boomed throughout the cavernous atrium as he spoke, and performed a traditional song and dance. “It’s not about yes or no [to the projects], it’s about asking. How would you feel if they wanted to put it right through your backyard or your front yard for that matter?”

And it could be even in the backyard he lives in now, considering Kinder Morgan is proposing an expansion of its Alberta-to-Burrard Inlet pipeline which could mean coming right through Robert Burnaby Park, he said.

Douglas College student Sheena Wong, one of the event’s organizers, was dressed in a traditional red-and-black cloak as she rallied the crowd.

“They’re selling our land to foreign countries,” said Wong. “I will not stand by and watch him (Harper) sell our land out from underneath us.”

Organizer Madison Paradis-Woodman said the intent of the event was to educate everyone of how the changes in social and environmental policy will affect all walks of life. He estimated there were 350 people throughout the day who absorbed the positive energy of the speakers, the drummers and the singers.

“I have never felt so proud to be an indigenous person. If anything this movement is proof of the power we can receive when we stand not behind people but in front of people and stand for environmental and social justice,” he said. “Just seeing people from all walks of life come out and participate and take something out of it, that made me feel good inside.”

Read More: New Westminster News Leader

CUFA BC on Liberals Budget: Cuts Will Hurt Students, Grant Program a Gimmick say Profs

CUFA BC, Robert Clift, February 19, 2013 — The 2013/14 provincial budget shortchanges students and their families according to the organization representing professors and other academic staff at BC’s public research universities.

“The provincial government perpetuates the myth that its cuts to the operating grants for universities, colleges and institutes will have no effect on students,” said Robert Clift, Executive Director of the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC (CUFA BC).

“Students have already lost support services and learning opportunities due to inadequate funding and these new cuts will shortchange students even further.”

“By 2015, per student operating grants to universities, colleges and institutes will have dropped 20% in real terms since the Liberals formed government,” Clift added.

The creation of the BC Training and Education Savings Grant will do little to help students and their families, say the professors.

“The BC Training and Education Savings Grant is a cynical gimmick”, Clift said. “The value of the government’s contribution will not even cover the increase in tuition fees by the time a child reaches age 18.”

“Using the government’s numbers, the value of the government’s contribution will fall $466 short of the tuition fee increase. Using more realistic calculations, the gap is $819,” Clift added. “This is on top of tuition fees that have already increased 99% under the Liberals.”

The government’s Skills and Training Plan also falls far short of what is needed, according to the professors.

“The investments announced by the government are one time and will not add a single new student space”, Clift said. “Moreover, the plan ignores the fact that 2/3 of job openings over the next decade will require a college or university credential other than trades certification.”

“The government’s training plan turns back the clock 40 years, treating British Columbians as hewers of wood and compressors of gas,” Clift added. “It practically ignores the growing impact of the value-added and knowledge economies.”

The Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC represents 4,600 professors, librarians, instructors, lecturers and other academic staff at BC’s five public research universities – UBC (Vancouver and Kelowna), SFU (Burnaby, Surrey, Vancouver), UVic (Victoria), UNBC (Prince George, Quesnel, Terrace, Fort St. John) and Royal Roads (Victoria and international)

Federation of Students on BC Liberals budget: Too little, too late

Canadian Federation of Students BC, February 19, 2013 — BC’s new financial aid scheme is a major disappointment for students, who say that the program cut by the BC Liberals in 2004 was more generous and more effective at increasing access to post-secondary education. Unlike the previous grant program, the new savings scheme is more likely to benefit wealthier households.

“It’s the classic reverse Robin Hood: Steal from the poor to give to the rich,” said Katie Marocchi, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students–British Columbia. “It took the BC Liberal government more than eight years to come up with a replacement for the student grant program they cancelled. What was tabled today is a truly inferior program in every way.”

The new scheme—a $1,200 contribution to Registered Education Savings Plan holders—is worth less than one-quarter of one year of university tuition fees.

The “BC Training and Education Savings Program” is a one-time contribution to 6 year-old British Columbians. Successful applicants must have an RESP account and apply during a 12-month window immediately preceding their seventh birthday.

Post-secondary institutions will suffer a $45-million cut in core funding by 2015. When accounting for inflation, per student funding for BC’s post-secondary institutions is lower than 2001 levels. Eroding per student funding has driven up tuition fees and led to the largest class sizes in Canada.

“Students are paying more and getting less every year. Tuition fees are going up while class sizes increase, equipment becomes outdated, and building maintenance is ignored.” said Marocchi.

The Canadian Federation of Students-BC is composed of students from 16 post-secondary institutions across every region of BC. Post-secondary students in Canada have been represented by the Canadian Federation of Students and its predecessor organizations since 1927.

#IdleNoMore @ U Maine: Building multi-ethnic and multi-generational networks of women

“We have reached a nexus point where Indigenous land rights, environmental justice and human survival all collide.” “It is here, at this point of collision, that we have the opportunity to facilitate real change as the various collectives — like we’re seeing around this room — of effective parties are thrown together in a literal fight for human survival.” Sherri Mitchell, Director, Land Peace Foundation

The Maine Campus, Dominique Scarlett, February 18, 2013 — On Wednesday, Feb. 13, the Women’s Studies program hosted “Idle No More: Building Multi-Ethnic and Multi-Generational Networks of Women,” the third in a series of their Women in Curriculum, or WIC spring lunch lectures, in the Bangor Room of the Memorial Union.

Sherri Mitchell, the director of the Land Peace Foundation, and Maria Girouard, assistant coordinator for student development at the University of Maine’s Wabanaki Center, presented the lecture, which focused on the “Idle No More” movement, recent controversial Canadian legislation and the need for supportive allies within the movement.

“Idle No More” is a grassroots movement that protests legislative abuses to the rights of aboriginal and indigenous people in Canada, which consist of First Nations, Metis and Inuit people.

“We have reached a nexus point where Indigenous land rights, environmental justice and human survival all collide,” Mitchell said during the presentation. “It is here, at this point of collision, that we have the opportunity to facilitate real change as the various collectives — like we’re seeing around this room — of effective parties are thrown together in a literal fight for human survival.”

The movement was formed in late 2012 by a group of female activists who organized a series of “teach-ins,” a form of non-violent protest where participants engage in free discussion about a controversial topic, to protest the induction of Canada’s C-45 bill.

The activists believe the controversial bill weakens environmental protection laws — particularly those that protect navigable waterways, many of which surrounded land that belongs to the First Nations.

“We have one planet. The type of destruction that we are facing respects no boundaries, it knows no division,” Mitchell said. “Therefore, if we hope to survive, we must eliminate all divisions between us. We must be allies and work collectively to stop these archaic practices of domination in the greed-driven industry that is threatening our planet and destroying all life.”

Mitchell argued that several policy measures, led by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, violate the rights of the indigenous and aboriginal people of Canada.

“[Harper’s] goal is to completely get rid of all people that identify as indigenous or aboriginal in Canada so that nobody has that status, because there are certain protections that are afforded under the law as a result of that status,” Mitchell said.

She spoke of the implementation of a three-tier policy strategy that, through several proposed and passed policy measures, negotiates with First Nations to sign new agreements that terminate their status as First Nations, eliminate funding and remove all funding for legal consultation.

She spoke of the steps that everyone could take to become involved in the environmental, indigenous and aboriginal rights movements.

“Educate yourself about the issues, attend informational sessions, do the research, talk to people, seek advice from the group for which you’re being an ally [and] listen to their critique of what you’re doing,” Mitchell said.

Read More: The Maine Campus

#IdleNoMore UNBC students in action

Rolling Stone, Brooke Jarvis, February 4, 2013— As members of Canada’s House of Commons returned to work last week in Ottawa, they found several hundred protesters waiting for them under a heavy snowfall on Parliament Hill. Many were dressed in traditional clothing of Canada’s First Nations….

Similar protests took place in Halifax, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal, Vancouver and other cities across Canada and in the United States. They were part of a “world day of action” organized under the banner of Idle No More – a native rights movement that has been heating up since October, when the Canadian government proposed a bill, known as C-45, that included provisions to undermine environmental protection and indigenous sovereignty.

C-45, which passed in December, changes the way that First Nations approve the surrendering or leasing of territory, making it easier to open indigenous treaty lands to development. The law also reduces the number of development projects that require environmental assessment and dramatically changes the nation’s Navigable Waters Protection Act – which, since 1882, has made it illegal to “block, alter or destroy any water deep enough to float a canoe without federal approval.” Now, only specifically enumerated bodies of water have that protection….

Shalane Pauls is a 24-year-old biochemistry student at the University of Northern British Columbia and a member of the Tsimshian and Tahltan nations. In the last few months, she has organized three Idle No More rallies. She is in the process of planning a teach-in to discuss what she calls myths about the movement, primarily claims that First Nations receive unfair government support. But the biggest myth, she said, is that water pollution only matters to native people. “It’s not just a First Nations issue,” says Pauls. “It’s a human rights issue. It’s a Canadian issue. It’s not just aboriginal children we’re looking out for; it’s the children of the nation.”

Idle No More has been subject to many of the same criticisms as other social movements: that its purpose isn’t sufficiently clear, that tactics will turn off potential allies, that infighting and tribal mismanagement mar the message. There’s no way to tell how long its momentum will last. Still, Pauls sees the movement as a turning point in the political involvement of Canada’s First Nations. “For so long, we haven’t been heard. And so, for so long we just sat, idly. But the title in itself really wakes people up. To be like, ‘Hey, I don’t want to be idle anymore – this is what I want to see, this is how I feel.’ There’s always going to be something worth fighting for.”

Read More: Idle No More: Native-Led Protest Movement Takes On Canadian Government | Politics News | Rolling Stone.

Power of #IdleNoMore movement lies in direct action, says UBC prof

Georgia Straight, Yolanda Cole, February 6, 2013 — THE IDLE NO More movement is undergoing a moment of “pause and critical reflection”, in the view of one participant.

Speaking at an Idle No More “teach-in” event at the University of British Columbia on February 1, Coulthard addressed the potential impact of direct actions staged by the movement.

The political science and First Nations Studies faculty member argued that grassroots forms of protests such as blockades have historically led to changes on indigenous issues.

“Historically, I would venture to suggest that all negotiations, over the scope and content of aboriginal people’s rights in the last 40 years, have piggybacked off of the assertive direct actions, including the escalated use of blockades, spearheaded by indigenous women and other grassroots elements of our community,” Coulthard told a crowd of more than 300 students and members of the public at the First Nations House of Learning at UBC.

Coulthard, a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, disputed what he said is an assumption that official negotiations among leadership are the “most productive means to forge real change in the lives of indigenous communities”.

“I think that there’s a latent understanding that the negotiations aren’t about making the transformative changes that indigenous peoples need in order to live healthy, cultured lives, and if you look at the history of negotiations, they’ve always come in order to placate the transformative energy that has emerged in more grassroots forms of protest actions,” he said in an interview.

In fact, he argued, inquiries such as the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and the B.C. missing women inquiry wouldn’t have occurred if sustained direct actions led by indigenous communities hadn’t brought attention to the issues.

Coulthard noted it wouldn’t surprise him if Idle No More demonstrations escalate to “more assertive” forms of peaceful protest. Idle No More actions in Ontario have included railway and highway blockades.

“I think that it’s pretty clear that the federal government is maintaining its stance on the problematic pieces of legislation that have upset indigenous peoples so much,” he stated. “And if history has taught us anything, these cycles of anger and pent-up frustration will tend to be played out in activism.”

The demonstrations were initially sparked out of opposition to federal omnibus legislation that included changes to the Indian Act and the Navigable Waters Protection Act.

Coulthard noted that the movement has gained unprecedented sustained attention from the general population.

“I think it’s because Canadians, nonindigenous peoples, are seeing their own interests perhaps better represented by indigenous peoples, especially concerning environmental sustainability and the land,” he said in an interview. “These legislative changes are also violations of nonindigenous peoples’ aspirations with respect to the integrity of the land, having it shared more equitably.”

In Coulthard’s view, movements like Idle No More “have within their sights, now more than ever” a restructuring of the relationship between indigenous peoples and Canada. But he added that changes to that relationship are a “distant, long-term goal”.

“The impacts [of the movement] will be long-term, and they will eventually compel Canada to come to the negotiating table on equitable terms, honor its treaty obligations, and correct the colonial relationship between indigenous peoples and the state,” he said.

“The inequalities and the privileges that have built up are centuries old now, so it’s not going to happen overnight.”

Red More: Georgia Straight

#IdleNoMore Teach-In and Demonstration at #UBC

Well over 300 gathered this afternoon for an Idle No More Teach-In at the University of British Columbia. This followed a late morning and afternoon INM demonstration yesterday with 100+ in attendance at any given moment. Today’s Teach-In at the First Nations House of Learning was broadcast by CITR (101.9 FM), the student run (since 1974) radio at UBC. If you were unable to attend, I encourage all to listen to the podcast for today and view videos from yesterday’s demonstration, as these were truly memorable and significant events at UBC. On a campus that has become renowned for apathy, Idle No More is a welcome and extremely promising change of both outlook and power dynamics. If you’re on the Board of Governors at UBC, you are likely proud and anxious at this point: Proud in that students are waking up and organizing demonstrations and teach-ins such as Idle No More and anxious in that none of this bodes well for business as usual and continuos expansion into unceded Musqueam territory and lands endowed in trust about 100 years ago (Musqueam home from time immemorial to “Crown Land” in late 1800s into “Endowment Lands” in 1910). Thank you to all who organized and participated these past two days in Idle No More at UBC!

#IdleNoMore Demonstration at UBC

Lee Brown Speaks wisdom to power at Idle No More Demonstration at UBC

Thank you to Idle No More student planners of the extremely important demonstration at the University of British Columbia yesterday (31 January). This was the first of many to come at a University that has grown irresponsible in its expansion throughout the unceded Musqueam territory on which it is settled. This was a refreshingly catalytic exploration of the varied and complex issues represented within the Idle No More movement for a campus waking up from a decade of messages from the University that an inactive and idle student body is the best student body.

The Idle No More Teach-In at UBC this afternoon at the First Nations Longhouse will work from yesterday’s demonstration to generate next steps for this decreasingly idyllic, but no longer idle, campus.

Most videos from the Idle No More Demonstration at UBC (31 January 2013) are accessible:

#IdleNoMore Teach-in at UBC on Friday (February 1)

Idle No More Teach-in
First Nations House of Learning
University of British Columbia

First Nations Longhouse
Friday, Feb. 1, 2013
1pm-3pm 

Distinguished Aboriginal faculty will provide a background to the movement, outline the aspects of Bills 38 and 45 that are seen as problematic and discuss ways that classroom dialogue around this issue can be incorporated in an informed and productive way.

Everyone is welcome including students, staff, faculty, TAs and community members.

EDUCAUTION – A New Documentary on Student Debt

Dear Friends & Supporters:

I’m writing today to let you know about a great new documentary film on Student Debt called “EDUCAUTION.”

***Watch the trailer here***

EDUCAUTION is a journey documentary film created by graduate students who are concerned about the future of the American Higher Education System. By focusing on the economic issues surrounding the higher education system, the film examines the increasing concerns of many Americans regarding the continuing decrease in the quality, value, and financial return of higher education in the market place. Through interviewing fellow Americans with real stories from diverse backgrounds, the filmmakers’ goal has been to examine the current system, offer hope, and propose solutions towards preserving the American Higher Education System – a system that has been the main force behind much of the Modern World’s achievements and advances.

From the filmmakers:

EDUCAUTION, currently an Independent USC Graduate Thesis Documentary Film, will be followed by EDUCAUTION 101, a full feature documentary film, which aims at taking a more comprehensive look at the education system as a whole in America– starting from the moment of birth to college and beyond.

The journey to make this film started in Southern California, home to one of the best university systems in the world.  After starting the film in Los Angeles, the filmmakers’ journey in exploring this issue has taken us to Northern California, Texas and Washington D.C.  Additionally, we have interviewed activists and experts from numerous regions of our country including New York, Michigan, and Alaska.  After talking to hundreds of students, teachers, parents, administrators, activists, experts, economists, politicians, and interviewing more than 40 individuals, we would like to say hello by sharing our first teaser.

Please be sure to check out the trailer and then share it on Facebook & Twitter today!

Thank you, as always, for your continued support!

Sincerely,

Robert Applebaum

Co-Founder & Executive Director
StudentDebtCrisis.org

#IdleNoMore World Day of Action

Today (January 28) is the first #IdleNoMore World Day of Action, with events and protests planned around the globe and in at least 30 Canadian cities.

This day of action will peacefully protest attacks on Democracy, Indigenous Sovereignty, Human Rights and Environmental Protections when Canadian MPs return to the House of Commons on January 28th. As a grassroots movement, clearly no political organization speaks for Idle No More. This movement is of the people …

INM urges the government of Canada to repeal all legislation; which violates Treaties, Indigenous Sovereignty and subsequently Environmental Protections of land and water.

INM is grateful to many leaders who have supported this vision and the movement of the grassroots people. “The Treaties are the last line of defense to protect water and lands from destruction,” stated Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper Turtle Clan, Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs.

Here in Vancouver, the rally and Gathering of Nations will begin at 12:00 at the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada Department office, near the intersection of Melville and Thurlow (1138 Melville st).

At the University of Mannitoba, Buffy Sainte-Marie will speak at the University of Manitoba Tuesday from noon to 2 p.m. about the momentum of the movement as part of the university student union’s annual Week of Celebration. Students and youth from First Nations in Manitoba are walking this weekend along Highway 59 to rally at the Manitoba Legislative Building on Monday at 5 p.m. Sainte-Marie is expected to join the rally and round dance at the Manitoba Legislative Building today. Read more: Winnipeg Free Press

“Premier’s plan is flawed:” BCTF responds to plan to undermine bargaining

Premier Christy Clark’s proposed plan for a 10-year deal with public school teachers  ignores court rulings, contradicts government’s own legislation, and risks scuttling a positive bargaining framework on the eve of its expected ratification by  the BC Teachers’ Federation and the BC Public School Employers’ Association.

“The premier’s plan is flawed in a number of significant ways,” said BCTF President Susan Lambert.

“The key problem is that it ignores the ruling of the BC Supreme Court that teachers have the right to bargain working conditions, such as class size and class composition. The Liberals’ own Bill 22 also allows for these issues to be negotiated in this round but her new plan requires teachers to give up this hard-won right. Over the past decade, when Liberal policy regulated learning conditions, class sizes grew and support for students with special needs suffered,” Lambert said.

As a consequence, BC has the worst student-educator ratio in the country, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. In order to bring BC’s teacher staffing levels just up to the national average, the province would have to hire an astounding 6,800 more teachers.

Another major problem is the indexing of teachers’ salaries to average increases of other government employees. “This is fundamentally unfair because it effectively prohibits teachers from negotiating for their own salaries,” Lambert said. “Under such a scheme government has all the cards. The average of net zero is zero.” BC teachers’ salaries are lagging far behind those of other teachers in Canada, and the gap will only widen under this plan, she added.

Lambert questioned the government’s timing on today’s announcement, given that it comes one day before the beginning of the BCTF’s Representative Assembly and the BCPSEA’s annual general meeting. Representatives of both organizations are slated to vote on a new Framework Agreement which offers a positive process for the upcoming round of bargaining.

“In recent months we’ve quietly had productive conversations with the employer about how to achieve a smoother more effective round, and it’s most unfortunate that government chose to intervene at this time,” Lambert said. “The BCTF will continue to recommend ratification of the Framework Agreement and we hope this abrupt announcement from government will not prevent BCPSEA from doing the same.”

On the surface the premier’s rhetoric sounds conciliatory after more than a decade of conflict between the BCTF and the BC Liberals but, in reality, her plan is yet another effort to severely limit teachers’ constitutional right to bargain.

Read More: BCTF News Release

Mi’kmaq students stage #IdleNoMore rally at CBU

Chris Hayes, Cape Breton Post, January 25, 2013 — Dancing a round dance of friendship and speaking out against legislation by the federal Conservative government, Mi’kmaq students at Cape Breton University held a rally on Wednesday in support of the national grassroots Idle No More movement.

The students, who are in a Mi’kmaq governance class, wanted to raise awareness about legislation by the federal Conservative government they describe as a threat to their treaty rights and, in a wider sense, to all Canadians.

Class member Janine Christmas said the legislation is being pushed ahead without consultation with First Nations.

“These are things that not only affect our treaty rights and communities but also all Canadians,” she said.

Students wearing Idle No More T-shirts passed out information sheets to a crowd of CBU students and faculty at the rally about federal omnibus legislation called Bill C45, which was described as the bill causing greatest concern to First Nations across Canada.

A definition of aboriginal fishery in Bill C45 doesn’t recognize a moderate livelihood fishery and the bill drops protections that were in the Navigable Waters Protection Act for a list of federally protected lakes and rivers, reducing it in Nova Scotia, for instance, to just the Bras d’Or Lake, Great Bras d’Or and the LeHave River, the handout said.

The omnibus bill, which is about to be proclaimed by the Governor General, also changes how the federal government does environmental assessments in a way that could limit the role of First Nations people and alters the Indian Act when it comes to how bands may lease reserve lands to third parties. The new way of leasing land will be by “simple majority” voting.

The handout at the rally said there was no consultation on the changes to the Indian Act and chiefs feel the way they came about calls into question the honour of the Crown.

Christmas suggested a lower threshold could ease the way for the development of pipelines and power lines that are a threat to the environment and health.

First Nations have concerns about other federal legislation, she said.

The rally began with a smudging ceremony and honour song by the Stoney Bear Singers.

Read More: The First Perspective

 

From Kindergarten Cop to The Garrison School and Society

In the midst of a debate and impending action on gun control in the US, sparked by the senseless killing of 20 children and 6 adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on 14 December, “hundreds of law enforcement personnel descended on Lone Star College-North Harris today.” Yet another campus shooting left four injured while two suspects were rushed from the campus in handcuffs.

In the meantime, as Emily Richmond reported in The Atlantic today, some states are forging ahead with plans to arm teachers. “Utah teachers are far from the only ones expressing increased interest in concealed weapons. There has also been a jump in inquiries at gun training clinics in Florida, according to the Palm Beach Post, even though the state bans nearly all weapons at public schools…. In Arizona, Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, said she wouldn’t support allowing principals to carry weapons, as proposed by the state’s superintendent of public instruction. A bill to arm teachers in the Evergreen State faces an uphill battle as Democrats have the supermajority, Colorado Public Radio reports. But in Tennessee, where the Republicans control both houses of the state legislature, talk of arming teachers is more likely to gain momentum.”

This idea of gun-toting teachers has been gaining momentum, with the US National Rifle Association’s in your face ad released last week (Obama’s kids get armed guards, yours don’t), a month after gun expert and university professor John Lott said to Newsmax that gun-free zones in schools are “a magnet” for killers. Lott’s solution: arm teachers— “Simply telling them to behave passively turns out to be pretty bad advice . . . By far the safest course of action for people to take, when they are confronting a criminal, is to have a gun. This is particularly true for the people in our society who are the most vulnerable.”

What seems like an idea of fiction or Hollywood has some politicians pumped. For example, Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul commented on 17 January that “if my kids were at that school [Sandy Hook Elementary], I would have preferred that the teacher had concealed-carry and had a gun in her desk… Is it perfect? No. Would they always get the killer? No. Would an accident sometimes happen in a melee? Maybe… but nobody (at the Connecticut school) had any defense, and he just kept shooting until he was tired and he decided to shoot himself.”

Republican and ex-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, like other actors and directors, maintains a boundary between movies and life: “one has to keep (the two) separate,” he said. What he does in movies such as the Raw Deal is “entertainment and the other thing [Sandy Hook massacre] is a tragedy beyond belief. It’s really serious and it’s the real deal.” He is at least up for taking a look at “how we deal with mental illness, how we deal with gun laws, how we deal with parenting.”

Of course, if the Kindergarten Cop was filmed today, John Kimble, the undercover cop come teacher, would be packing heat. Unlike the 1990 version, he wouldn’t have to be rescued by a pet ferret and another teacher with a baseball bat. In fact, the old movie makes ya kinda wonder why he wasn’t packin a 45.

When John Dewey wrote his influential The School and Society in 1900, he anticipated arming teachers with new ideas. Silly. He should have known what the NRA was up to in his day. By the late 1910s, forty years into its existence, the NRA had “succeeded in making it possible for any group of ten persons to get free rifles from the Government and free ammunition. That has added, of course, a bit to our sense of security,” it was claiming. For Dewey, the school and society were interconnected, as he saw it: the “New Education” reflected “larger changes in society.” “Can we connect this ‘New Education’ with the general march of events?,” he asked (p. 4). Indeed, todays edition of the classic text will have to be retitled The Garrison School and Society. And that first chapter will have to be rewritten to reflect the times– nowadays, we “Arm Teachers with New Guns, Not New Ideas.”