New Zealand, Bravo!

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..13th country worldwide to legalize same-sex marriages

As a mother of a gay child and a friend to numerous gay couples, I am always saddened by individual people, organizations, political groups and religious orders that are threatened by the happiness of the LGBT community. So many of these homophobic groups feel that the institution of marriage will be threatened if same-sex marriage is legalized.

Same-sex marriage was legally recognized in Ontario in 2003 and the first same-sex marriage in the world took place in Toronto in January of 2001. Today New Zealand was the 13th country in the world and the first Asian-Pacific country to legally recognize same-sex marriage.

MP, Maurice Williamson presented an impassioned speech supporting the passage of the bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in New Zealand. In his words, “All we are doing with this bill is allowing two people who love each other to have that love recognized by way of marriage,” he said. “We are not declaring nuclear war on a foreign state; we are not bringing a virus in that could wipe out our agriculture sector forever.” Bravo! Well said, Mr. Williamson.

The bill was passed with a vote count of 77 in favour and 44 against. After the victory the spectators in the public gallery broke out in spontaneous song supporting the bill’s sponsor, MP Louisa Wall. The song was Pokarekare Ana, a love song in the country’s indigenous Maori language. Have a listen. It brought tears of joy to my eyes.

I am NOT interested in hearing from people who cannot rejoice in this victory. I will NOT use this post as a platform for groups who want to use passages from the Bible, Quran, or other religious or sacred documents to vilify any group of people that they choose to discriminate against. Peace be with you.

A Lot of Walking Today

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….. 3 hours on the picket line, 50 minutes on the elliptical machine and 2k to dinner and back

I tossed and turned in bed last night and had weird dreams about being accosted on the picket line by an angry parent.

None of it happened of course, in fact, the day was surprisingly civil and we were met with a lot of positive support. For those of you who are unaware of what I’m talking about, let me explain. In Ontario today, 30 000 teachers walked off the job for a one day legal strike to protest Bill 115. In a nutshell, this bill has taken away our right to negotiate a new contract with our employer, the school board, and gives the government the power to determine our wages, benefits and working conditions without consultation or discussion. The minister would disagree with this statement but she has predetermined the conditions of these so called negotiations.

This strike is NOT about money. We have said that we are willing to take a pay freeze. It is about losing our democratic rights and the erosion of The Human Rights Code and our Labour Relations laws. If you want to take the time to read the following letter, it explains it much better than I can.

A Letter by a Member of Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario

The media has said over and over again that teachers do not have the support of the public. After today I’m not so sure. Only one car in three hours gave us the thumbs down while dozens more honked in support. We had so many neighbours and parents come by with coffee, tea, water, soup and treats that our little cart was overflowing with the generosity and kindness of the ‘public’.

More food arrived after this picture was taken.

Even on the radio today, the media was extra tough on the Minister of Education by being more persistent in demanding that she answer their questions instead of side stepping the issues with pre-scripted statements that didn’t deal with the issue at hand. They are starting to put some of the blame for this mess into her court and are demanding that she take some responsibility for it.

I went to the gym today after walking for three hours, to work off the one Timbit, three homemade cookies and the 1/2 cup of hot chocolate I ingested. It doesn’t sound like much but when you haven’t eaten these things in a long time it seems like a huge indulgence. The scale shows that my weight is holding steady at a 32 to 34 pound loss.

We decided to go out for dinner tonight because neither of us felt like cooking. We walked to our favourite Indian restaurant and ordered and shared two vegetarian dishes, a plate of rice and an appetizer of chicken kabobs, nicely grilled and seasoned with lime juice. We had water as our beverage. We took the leftovers home and will probably add some of the sauce from the saag paneer to our eggs in the morning and one of us can probably have a light lunch from what’s left over. We walked home briskly after dinner to add about 2 more kilometres to my walking total for the day.

I have another appointment at the gym tomorrow for my last free personal training session and I also have an appointment for one more acupuncture treatment to see if it can alleviate my occasional bouts of dizziness. I’ll share my experience in a future a post.

Cheers!

The Media Never Gets it Right

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….. and the public only hears what they want to hear

It’s never been about the money or more PD time or discontinuing extracurricular activities. It is about taking away years of negotiated benefits at a moments notice, no discussion, no vote….just a quick passage of Bill 115. The ability to negotiate a fair and equitable contract between teachers and their boards has been removed.

In the first meeting the unions were met by solvency lawyers, with no Ministry people in sight. The government was unwilling to discuss rules and parameters for negotiations. As a result, ETFO, the elementary teachers’ union walked away from the table. The attitude was take it or leave it. ETFO always said it would return to the table if there were clear rules and parameters.

Talks between unions and the government are short and problems remain unresolved and yet the minister of education leads the media to believe that teachers are not willing to talk. In recent weeks, a meeting occurred with Ministry people, including the deputy minister but Broten shut that down.

The media has been brutal with the teachers. According to them we are to blame for the province’s entire financial mess. Radio talk show hosts clearly have a ‘hate-on’ for teachers. The scenarios and misinformation that they broadcast to the public is shameful and unprofessional. They whip up a frenzy of hate calls from their like-minded listeners and anyone who supports the teachers is quickly dismissed and their calls are cut short.

At our school we have continued with most of our normal, daily activities, including extracurricular activities. The students and community, up until this past Monday, probably haven’t witnessed any strike action by the teachers and yet according to the media all teachers have stopped offering extracurricular activities, extra help and refuse to write report cards. Not true!

As of Monday we have gone on work to rule and every board across the province is participating in rotating one day strikes for the next two weeks. Of course the media is trying to create a crisis by making it all about the ‘poor’ students. Why then is it all right for parents to take their children out of school regularly for extended holidays, competitions and tournaments? I don’t hear the media chastising the parents for doing irreparable damage to their child’s education when they miss days and sometimes weeks of school.

Don’t get me wrong; I know that for some parents finding daycare for their children will be difficult. Tomorrow the parents in my board will be given 72 hours notice so that they can make alternate arrangements for their children. We as teachers, however, have to take a stand, not just for us but for everyone. If the government is allowed to violate the charter of rights and freedoms act and the right to negotiate fairly under the labour relations act who will they target next?

I know that the media will be highly critical when we walk, especially since we are the largest school board in Canada. I need to stop listening to the radio for a few days. I find myself yelling at the box in the corner when ‘they’ get it wrong. They don’t want to hear the truth. It doesn’t make for ‘good radio’.