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Issue: Equality
Background/General Information:
Although we in Canada are living in an increasingly
accepting and equitable society, there is much still to be
done - at home and abroad. The work cannot cease until all
persons around the world - regardless of their skin colour,
religion, gender identity, or birth place – are treated
equally and fairly.
Since
2001, Youth ROAR (Reach Out Against Racism), is a for youth,
by youth organization that works with youth between the ages
of 14-24 to promote the unlearning of racism. Their overall
goal is to learn about and test out diversity training
resources and related initiatives in a way that is
empowering, sustainable, and occurring within an environment
where all participants feel welcome, safe and respected.
They recognize that the process, not just the product is
important too. They use a lot of good discussions to raise
awareness and critical thinking within the group. Members
have the opportunity to develop their anti-racism awareness
through various workshop and activities and also develop
leadership skills in order to be a strong voice within their
peer environments.
(from
http://www.cd.gov.ab.ca/helping_albertans/helpmakeadifference/biographies/index.asp?Biography=ROAR)
Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression:
Here are some websites of organizations in several
different cities which are working to combat racism and
other forms of hate and discrimination.
Youth Reach Out Against Racism(ROAR)
www.youthroar.ca
GBLTQ Rights:
Gay-Straight Alliances
Gay-straight alliances are clubs in schools which work
toward equality – for GBLTQ persons and for other minorities
as well. Find out if your school has one! If not, maybe you
could start one – find a sympathetic teacher sponsor and get
going! If your school has one, look into getting GSA’s
started in other schools – perhaps your friend at a
different school could get one going?
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Welcoming Congregations Is
your congregation a Welcoming Congregation? If you’re
not sure, check out
http://cuc.ca/programs/welcoming_congregations.htm
for the list of which UU churches in Canada have gone
through the program. If your church isn’t one yet,
talk with your minister and board members about going
through the program to become one. It is important
that persons of the GBLTQ community feel accepted in
our churches, and a Welcoming Congregation
certification is one way of guaranteeing that. |
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Egale Egale Canada is a
national organization that advances equality and
justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
trans-identified people and their families across
Canada.(from
www.egale.ca ) |
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The Pride Rainbow Project
The Pride Rainbow
Project (PRP) was started by 5 youth form Calgary, who
wanted to show support for equal marriage in Canada.
Now that the Equal Marriage Bill has passed, the
project has now decided to take a broader focus of
promoting all GBLTQ rights. Four regional Chapters are
being set up across Canada, and a parallel project has
been started in the US. To find out more, start a
chapter or contact your regional one, or to find out
how else you can help:
www.priderainbowproject.com
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Issue:
Children's Rights and Opportunities
Background/General Information:
Children all over the world are not as lucky as most of us
have been. Many children do not get even basic education, or
medicine. Many Children do not live long enough to become
Youth, let alone reach adulthood. Every child deserves to
have their fundamental rights met.
Quick Ways to Help:
The Literacy Site
-
www.theliteracysite.com
The Child Health Site -
www.thechildhealthsite.com
How Can You Help?
Free the Children (www.freethechildren.com)
is an organization started by 21 year old Craig Kielburger,
when he was only 12! It is very foccussed on youth
empowerment, and getting children and youth to realistically
help children and youth around the world. There are a
variety of projects groups or individuals could do, and also
tips on public speaking, so that you can get other people
involved and spread the word! Their "brink by brick"
campaign (see brochure
http://www.freethechildren.com/youthinaction/youth_updates/campaigns/BBB_2004_1.htm)
focuses on providing good quality education to children in
China, Sierra Leone, and Kenya. it gives realistic
suggestions on how to raise money to build a school, pay a
teacher's salary, pay for textbooks, or pay for school and
medical supplies. As an individual you could build up a
group of friends to do this project, or a youth group could
run this project.
Another
project that can easily be done through Free the Children is
the Adopt a Village campaign(http://www.aidmatrix.org/canadacares
). You can choose to donate towards medical or education
supplies, materials to provide clean water and effective
sanitation systems, or materials and training (such as a
goat or sewing machine) that will allow a woman to provide
for her family. You can even donate to more than one
category or all of them if you raise enough money!
Child Haven International (www.childhaven.ca)
is an organization of orphanages in India, Nepal, Tibet and
Bangladesh run by Canadian Unitarians Fred and Bonnie
Cappuccino. these homes not only house and feed, but also
provide high quality education to the children, jobs for
local women, and focus on preserving the children's own
culture and language as well as learning English. You can
help in a variety of ways, from traveling to one of the
homes to volunteer with the children, to raising money to
support the homes, or specifically to sponsor a particular
post-high school student.
Issue:
Worker Treatment
Background/General Information:
Workers
all around the world work in unhealthy conditions, earn
wages that do not allow them to have a reasonable standard
of living, and are treated unfairly by their managers. Every
deserves the right to be treated with dignity and respect at
work, and to earn a decent wage.
How Can You
Help?:
Support and Promote Fair Trade
– ask at coffee shops and stores whether they have fair
trade coffee, chocolate, sugar, etc yet. If they say no,
engage them in conversation about how their business will be
viewed as forward-thinking and ethical if they have fair
trade, and let them know that fair trade is quickly becoming
the expected standard. Try not to be confrontational, just
be helpful and give them a suggestion, it is more likely to
be effective. Writing letters to the owners for stores, even
if you talked to a receptive sales clerk, will make your
suggestion even more effective. Writing letters to large
chocolate, coffee, and sugar companies requesting that they
switch to fair trade methods and treat their suppliers with
respect, (especially if you can get multiple people to send
letters to the same company around the same time) can
encourage the large companies to reform their ways. Also
contacting your MP and asking about why the Canadian
government allows so many products to be sold in Canada that
came from farmers/workers who are mistreated and exploited,
would be a great idea. Perhaps we could get Canada to only
allow fair trade products – what an accomplishment that
would be!
For
more info on Fair Trade:
http://www.transfair.ca/
http://www.maketradefair.com
http://www.fairtradefederation.org/
Other
Organizations and Projects:
The
Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation(CWCF)
is a umbrella organization
of the Worker Co-opertives in Canada. Worker Co-ops are
companies where the workers are also the owners, and the
companies are run democratically and non-hierarchically. The
values of the Cooperative movement line up very well with
the UU principles, and the Executive Director of the CWCF is
Unitarian! Worker Co-ops often focus on sustainable
development(such as organic products), and fair trade. To
find out more and to find coops near you so you can support
them, visit:
www.canadianworker.coop
More
Resources:
Films: The
Take (www.thetake.org):
a movie about factory workers in Argentina taking back their
abandoned factories and making them productive again as
worker co-ops.
Related E-Lists You Can Join:
Cuc-empty-bowls,
cuc-refugee-issues
Do you have a resource or a suggestion
you don’t see here? Do you know of a cause or an
organization which should be included in this website? If
so, please email me and tell me about it!
annapierrette@gmail.com |
