Welcome back! There was no Friday MashUp last week because it was Good Friday so we are back this week with a double dose of all the news that is fit to be printed and commented on. There was a lot happening this week so let’s get started!
1. St Albert resident sort of apologizes for low-income housing remarks: this made all the headlines all week as a resident of St Albert wrote a letter to the St Albert Gazettethat effectively stated that he and his family had no interest in sharing suburbia with people living in low-income housing (and by that conjecture, people who have low-income). Mr Perry’s remarks caused a massive uproar in St Albert and Edmonton for flat-out stating that low-income families cause social disruption in the form of higher costs of living, unsafe schools thanks to the presence of drugs and gang-violence and all the other troubles that come associated with poverty.
There is no point in going over in the nature of his remarks since residents of both communities have done a remarkable job in ripping his concerns apart but it should be noted that Mr Perry is not alone in his opinions. Political correctness and fear of outrage (case in point!) often keeps people quiet about controversial opinions. While I strongly disagree with everything he has said, I also think it’s important that people discuss the issues and talk about their reasons and fears if only to dispel the stereotypes about low-incoming house and people who live in them. Mr Perry’s remarks struck me more as a man expressing fears based out of stereotypes and hearsay rather than any real personal experience.
It’s also a mistake to believe that Mr Perry is alone in his remarks and while I don’t think he should stick to his convictions in this case, at the very least it opened the door to conversation. And that is usually the first step towards change.
2. Aboriginal Women Do better by Degrees: a spot of good news for once–in Canada, Aboriginal women tend to be among the most desperate and troubled–just look at the Amnesty International report Stolen Sisters that has been at the forefront of this movement for years now. However, this recent article and report shows that Aboriginal women who earn degrees also out-earns non-Aboriginal females and Aboriginal males.
The article is well worth the read but also paints a stark picture–the income gap between Aboriginal peoples and non-Aboriginal Canadians are enormous and continues to be disparate. The report estimates that at the current rate of growth, it would take 63 years or another three generations before Aboriginal peoples reach parity with Canadians (assuming the Canadian income remains stagnant, which is highly unlikely). Read the report here
Speaking of Aboriginal women’s achievements…
3. Edmonton Filmmaker wins U.S. prize at Gala: Georgina Lightning, who was born in Edmonton, became the first Canadian Aboriginal woman to win the award for emerging artist at the White House Project’s annual EPIC 2010 Awards. She won it for her feature film Older than America, which explores residential schools abuse. The award was presented by the White House Project, a non-profit, non-partisan US-based organization whose goal is to advance women in leadership roles in all sectors “up to and including the U.S. presidency”.
Congratulations to Georgina! We featured her film at the Global Youth Assembly last summer and invited Georgina and her son Cody out to present and speak. The JHC wishes Georgina all the best and continued success.
That wraps it up for this edition of the Friday MashUp. Just a reminder to anyone–there is a Human Rights Cafe series this Sunday at Three Bananas, featuring Change for Children who will be speaking on “Water as a Human Rights”. Be sure to join us at 1:00 p.m. for this talk and discussion to follow.
Further reminder that the JHC has jobs available for summer students; information for this can be found here. The deadline is April 15th so be sure to get your applications in ASAP.
Thanks and have a great weekend. 
