Category Archives: Viva!

An alarming 36% of women in Canadian prisons are Indigenous

For the first time in the history of Canada as a nation state, more than a quarter of inmates in prisons are Indigenous people. In 2011, the total ‘Aboriginal population‘ (inclusive of Inuit, Metis, & First Nations people) represented only 4.3% of the total Canadian population. This means that less than 5% of the Canadian population makes up of over 25% of their prison population. For Indigenous women, the numbers are even higher, accounting for more than 36% of women in prison. The most recent statistics suggest that Indigenous women only account for 4% of the total Canadian female population. The number of Aboriginal women who were locked behind bars in federal institutions grew a staggering 97 % between 2002 and 2012, one study concluded, at a much faster rate than Aboriginal male offenders.

Howard Sapers, Canada’s correctional investigator, remarked on the growth, stating that 30 years ago, only 10% of federal inmates were aboriginal people.  The total Indigenous population was only 2.8% in the 1996 Census, meaning the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Canada’s prisons is longstanding.

These numbers are staggering. “Previous attempts to reduce the gap in outcomes between aboriginal and non-aboriginal offenders have largely failed,” wrote Michelle Mann, the independent researcher who prepared the report.

Despite decades of advocacy by First Nations communities, organizations and bands, there remains a lack of local and global attention .

These numbers are connected to the history of colonialism, a legacy of sex abuse in the residential school system, missing & murdered Indigenous women, as well as the ‘60s scoop‘, all of which disproportionately affect women and girls. (The term 60s scoop refers to the staggering numbers of ‘adoptions’ in 1960s enabled by the abduction of children from their homes and communities without the knowledge or consent of families and bands. The Federal government and social workers acted under the ‘colonialistic assumption that native people were culturally inferior and unable to adequately provide for the needs of the children.’)

First Nations communities have called these acts genocide, while governments continue to resist the term. Shamiran Mako, a Canadian scholar, sees a pattern of opposition from countries with a history of colonization, and especially from countries that “had some systematic laws that either resulted in genocide or cultural genocide of the indigenous population.”

Despite being identified yearly as a both a priority and human rights concern, Sapers said efforts to decrease these numbers are not working, and identified major gaps and issues including: lack of coherent implementation of the recommendations made by the Truth And Reconciliation Commission, and legislative provisions that were chronically under-funded, under-utilized and unevenly applied by the correctional service.

There remains an urgent need for accountability and reform at a federal level to Indigenous People and First Nations in Canada, and increased services and support to prevent criminalization.

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narcissism نرجسية

Narcissistic traits . It is not a discovery of course to say, that narcissists are not people who like themselves. Too focused on them. On their egos . Their own benefits and it is only them that they see. We confuse them with selfish characteristics which is of course inclusive. But I tend to also realize that there is a trait whereas, the narcissist actually focus on what the others think about him and how they see him. This makes him appear in a more likable level.

Knowing too many narcissists made me an expert

 

Emotional Portrait Photos of American Child Laborers in the 1900s-10s

These are 27 emotional portrait photos of American child laborers taken by photographer Lewis Wickes Hine in the 1900s and 1910s.

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5-year old picking cotton, Comanche County, Oklahoma, 1916

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5-year-old after day’s work, was tired and refused to be photographed, Biloxi, Mississippi, 1911

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11-year-old girl picking cotton, Oklahoma, 1916

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14-year-old boy has been working in cotton mills for 6 years, Cuero, Texas, 1913

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15-year-old messenger boy working for Mackay Telegraph Company, Waco, Texas, 1913

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AMERICA/CHILE – Indigenous people, poor people, young people and migrants: “the new faces of the excluded”

Santiago – The “Justice and Peace” Commission of the Social Pastoral Caritas in Chile, a body of the Episcopal Conference, presented the document “Equity and development in Chile: the new faces of the excluded”, which aims to promote dialogue on integral development with maggior equity. The Chilean Catholic Church explains in the document that “excessive economic and social differences among family members or people are scandalous and are opposed to social justice, equity, the dignity of the human person and social and international peace”.
The 33-page document is divided into three parts: it reports the details of the situation of inequality in Chile, then cites “the elements that contribute to ethical values” and finally, “calls to focus on proposals to help address the challenge of a more just and equitable society”. The text, as demonstrated by the note sent to Fides, is an invitation to reflect and, above all, to talk once again about the issue of equity which seriously undermines the foundations of the social system.
Link correlati :The full text of the document (in Spanish):

Israel outraged by Palestinians donating to rebuild demolished homes

PNN/ Bethlehem/
Israeli media on Thursday morning reported an Israeli outrage by the Palestinians donating money to rebuild the demolished homes of those who have been killed by IOF.

According to Walla Israeli website, the Israeli army said that these donations are ruining the Israeli “deterrence policies” against Palestinian resistance.

Walla added that Israel accuses the Palestinian Authority of supporting these donations, in midst of PA calling on IOF not to continue collective punishments and demolitions, as they “increase tensions.”

Palestinians in West Bank have started a donation campaign to rebuild the home of 19-year-old Muhannad Al-Halabi near Ramallah, after it was destro

Muhannad's mother stands upon the rubble of her home in Al-Bireh, RamallahMuhannad’s mother stands upon the rubble of her home in Al-Bireh, Ramallah

yed by IOF last Saturday.

Al-Halabi was shot dead by IOF on 3 October 2015, after allegedly stabbing, killing two settlers and injuring another.

Spokesman of the campaign Abdul Karim Abu Arqoub said that the donations reached $38,000 on the first day. Middle East Monitor said.

 

Last month, Palestinians also bought and furnished a new home for the family of Ibrahim Al-Akkari in Shu’afat refugee camp, East Jerusalem.

Israel is still going strong with demolition policy, destroying homes under different pretexts, which include security reasons, a lack of building licences, being built near the settlements or across the settlement roads, being built on state lands or being built on green areas, Days of Palestine said.

According to a PLO affiliated study, IOF have destroyed some 478 Palestinian facilities, including homes, clinics and historical sites during 2015.

 

 

NYC Hip-Hop Legends Run DMC Are Getting A Lifetime Achievement Grammy

NYC Hip-Hop Legends Run DMC Are Getting A Lifetime Achievement Grammy The Recording Academy has finally decided to rock and rhyme on time and award Queens hip-hop legends Run DMC a Lifetime Achievement Grammy award. The trio will become the first rap act ever to receive the Grammys highest honor; since its inception in 1962, the Lifetime Achievement Award has gone to legends like The Beatles, The Ramones, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, and the late David Bowie. [ more › ]

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Gender-Neutral Single Stall Restrooms May Soon Be Status Quo In NYC

Gender-Neutral Single Stall Restrooms May Soon Be Status Quo In NYC New York City is well on its way toward adopting legislation that would require all single-stall restrooms to be gender neutral, a move that’s being hailed as a positive step forward in the fight for equal rights and safety for transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals. This afternoon the city council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings heard testimony on Intro-0871, a bill that would amend city plumbing, housing, and administrative codes to require existing single-occupancy bathrooms be usable by people of any gender. [ more › ]

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