Situation in Haiti still desperate on one-year anniversary

It’s been a year since a powerful earthquake devastated Haiti, killing thousands.

And although the Canadian government committed $550 million to Haiti, and Canadians raised an additional $220 million, it appears not much has changed.

In Port-au-Prince, living conditions haven’t improved since the earthquake hit. Some are even saying the situation has gotten worse.

Luckner Daldomble, whose wife and children were among the 230,000 people killed during the earthquake, is only one of many stuck in a tent city. He told CBC news he does not worry he lost his three houses, and isn’t concerned about living in a tent. Instead, he worries about his family that was lost during the quake.

Although his sadness is overwhelming, and he only cares about his loss, there are still thousands of families without a home. There are still children without walls to keep them safe.

In fact, a year after the quake, over one million people continue to live in tent cities. And sadly, it seems as if conditions will remain this way for some time.

Although Canada and the United States pulled together for Haiti immediately after the earthquake with telethons, food drives, and military assistance, it was only a band-aid solution.

Finding permanent solutions is more important now than ever, and until these answers are brought to fruition, the danger and the sadness will only increase.

Cholera has killed 3, 600 Haitians in the past nine months, signaling that change can’t happen tomorrow, next week, or in a couple months. It needs to happen today.

Michaelle Jean, now a UN special envoy to Haiti, criticized the slow rate of aid yesterday, angry that the international community seems to have abandoned its commitments.

It seems as if this is always the case. A natural disaster devastates thousands- sometimes millions- of people, leaving years of destruction in its wake. International aid steps in to offer help, and the country is flooded with assistance, with money, with so-called solutions.

But once the “newness” of the disaster wears off, and media isn’t reporting on it constantly, people forget about it. They move on to the latest disaster, the latest devastation. They don’t necessarily lose interest, they just forgot.

As Canadians, we live in a little bubble that protects us from really knowing what is happening in other parts of the world. We’re not there to witness the daily devastation, the daily heartbreak, and the daily difficulties that face those hit by disaster.

In our cozy homes, in our warm beds, we don’t think about the people sleeping on dirt floors, surrounded by hundreds of others who in the same position. Spreading not only disease, but also sadness.

Although aid is surely appreciated by the Haitian community, we needed to do more…not just cover up a wound that had great potential to open up again and again without a solid solution.

 

Privacy vs. health: Sperm donation in Canada

Olivia Pratten knows her biological father has a stocky build, blue eyes and type “A” blood. But she wants to know more.

And a British Columbia courtroom has the potential to make that happen.

Currently, the law in place states all sperm donors can remain anonymous. For those who are the products of third party reproduction, this leaves many unanswered questions. What is their medical history? Do they have any half-siblings?

It becomes an issue of privacy for donors versus health for the 16,000 people who are conceived by sperm donors in Canada. Which is more important?

It goes without saying that people have the right to know their medical history. What if there are potentially dangerous diseases lurking in their future? What if they can be stopped with treatment? If the children of sperm donors are not aware of potential dangers, how can they prepare for them?

Those who make the conscious decision to be a donor should not have the right to remain anonymous. Nobody forced them to be a donor. Nobody told them they had to hand over the gift of life in a little plastic cup.

Sure, there are some children who will grow into adults and decide to contact their biological father for financial reasons. Yet, donors should know this is possible before they make the decision to donate.

They gave the gift of life, but they could just as easily take it away by not releasing valuable information to children born with the help of donated sperm. Therefore, before donating, they should consider what is more important: the gift of life, or the right to privacy…and then make the call.

Ultimately, the decision of the B.C. courtroom should be a simple one to make. If donors-who make the personal, conscious choice to donate their sperm-want to remain anonymous, they shouldn’t be allowed to be donors.

 

Silencing goodwill and Christmas cheer

The bells of Christmas are ringing…but apparently they could ring a little too loud.

According to an article in the Toronto Star, the operator of two Toronto shopping centres is facing criticism for banning Salvation Army fundraisers from ringing their Christmas bells.

Cadillac Fairview spokesman Brian O’Hoski says there is no overhead music and no ambient noise allowed. The bells of goodwill apparently could potentially “irritate” shoppers and mall tenants.

According to O’Hoski, the policy has been around for a couple of years, and he had no idea people were so upset about it.

Support local businesses this holiday season

Everything seems to be shifting to the online world these days…but should shopping?

Before the net was launched commercially in 1993, few people knew what it was capable of. Since then, commerce has changed in drastic ways, and it’s now possible to buy just about anything, at any time, over the Internet.

A prime example of this is Cyber Monday which took place in the U.S. this past Monday.

U.S. online retail sales on Cyber Monday hit an all-time high and surpassed $1-billion (U.S) for the first time for any single day of web shopping.

Although great news for online stores, the increase in online shopping means local store owners suffer. Indeed, the potential impacts on traditional retail are still in the air.

Whatever happened to shopping local?

Having just barely escaped the recession, Canadians should be putting forth every effort to maintain the presence of locally-owned businesses.

Without the support of consumers, how is the local economy expected to thrive?

Those who put all of their money into online enterprises may save a few dollars here and there. And yes, at times it can be convenient to order this, or order that, with the simple click of a computer mouse. But doing this also takes the precious dollars out of the pockets of local businesses that need it.

Many small towns are floundering as it is, busy competing with big-city prices and big-box quantity. But neither can compare to the quality of service people get from small businesses.

Small businesses are what bring commerce, travelers, and more businesses to little towns-that-could. But without the support of Christmas shoppers, or consumers at any time of the year, how are these towns expected to flourish?

On the other hand, perhaps things aren’t as bad as they seem. According to the Toronto Star, fifty-eight per cent of Canadians surveyed by an online payment network don’t know what Cyber Monday is.

Does this just mean us Canadians are behind the times?

While this statistic seems promising, 15 per cent of Canadians surveyed said they planned to shop online on Cyber Monday, the poll found.

That 15 percent can make a huge difference to the little guys who depend on the holiday shopping season to increase their yearly sales. Without customers supporting this need, how many independent retailers are forced to close their doors forever?

According to Statistics Canada, the examination of Internet shopping in Canada began in 2001 when 13.4 million online orders were made by over 2.2 million households.

By 2007, the Internet was used to make almost 70 million orders by about 8.4 million Canadian individuals aged 16 years and older.

Will this number just keep growing?

For independent businesses, let’s hope not. If they lose out, we all lose out. Our small towns will suffer, and the big-box monster will become even more of a menace.

Nobody beat Nobody?

Police brutality is rearing its ugly face once again.

Adam Nobody left his house in June to see what the G20 protests were about. Instead, he ended up face down with his arms behind his back.

A police officer then smashed his face repeatedly.

Luckily, it was all caught on tape.

Nobody told the Globe and Mail he was led behind a police vehicle, away from public view, and was asked his name by another officer.

He replied “Adam”.

The officer then asked, “Adam what?”

When he replied “Adam Nobody”, the officer lifted his boot and kicked him in the face.
According to The Globe, the officer told Nobody to stop being a “smartass”.

When the officer pulled Nobody’s wallet from his back pocket and found his name really was Nobody, he was shocked.

But not before it was too late.

Nobody ended up with a shattered cheekbone, and a broken nose. According to the Globe, blood “poured” from his head, and his eye was swollen shut.

Misconduct in policing has seen more than its share of headlines lately.

There have been violent arrests at riots, and several accounts of people being mistreated by police at the G20 in Toronto. There was also the unforgettable incident at the University of Western Ontario when a student was badly beaten by police in 2009. These are only a few examples.

The beatings caught on tape only give us a taste of what happens in the world of policing and arrests. What about the ones that aren’t caught on tape? How many more people have fallen victim to the brutal hands of an officer, and have had nothing to prove it?

And it’s not only police guilty of violence.

Last week, an Alberta Mountie pleaded guilty to assaulting a prisoner in an incident that his commanding officer called “appalling.”

Const. Desmond Sandboe was captured on videotape beating a prisoner in a hallway outside the cells at the Lac La Biche detachment on Sept. 13, 2009.

Police brutality has no place in Canada, and arguably, the majority of Canadian officers are decent, honest people. The few rotten ones are what give all officers a bad reputation.

Does the power just get to their heads? Are these simply real-life examples of The Stanford Prison experiment?

This famous experiment explored what happens when you put good people in an evil place, and questioned whether humanity won over evil.

It seems as if this rings true for some Canadian officers.

Give them a little bit of power, and they seem to go the whole way. How many more people will be injured or killed because of those placed in positions of authority?

After his beating, Nobody spent 31 hours in jail, and three days in a hospital. According to the Globe, he went through several hours of surgery to repair his broken nose, and he couldn’t lie down to sleep.

Currently, police are refusing to come forward to acknowledge who beat Nobody.

Nobody beat Nobody? Well, somebody did. So who was it?

Eating disorders on the rise, according to experts

Eating disorders are on the rise, according to a recent article in the Toronto Star.

Is this any surprise considering the amount of over-processed, airbrushed images thrown in the faces of young women and men every day?

Among children younger than 12 with eating disorders, hospitalizations jumped 119 percent between 1999 and 2006.

Younger than 12? This means babies are being admitted to hospitals because they think they are too fat. These are kids. They should be worried about math tests, puppy love and school dances, not what size they wear.

According to the article, it is estimated 0.5 percent of adolescent girls in the U.S. have anorexia. That means young girls are starving themselves to be skinny; starving to meet the criteria that defines “attractive” in the make-believe world of the rich and famous.

When celebrities such as Kiera Knightly and Kate Moss flaunt their teeny-tiny bodies in their skin-tight couture dresses, they are sending the wrong message to young women and men everywhere.

Despite what these “role models” make us believe, wearing a size zero is not healthy. Starvation is not sexy.

The article also pointed out one to two percent of young people meet the criteria for bulimia nervosa. These young women are literally throwing up their reality; purging the “extra” calories.

This means the images presented by the mass media have a negative impact on both body and mind. In fact, eating disorders can affect any organ system, resulting in life-long physical problems.

Someone dealing with these serious issues can experience a jump in heart rate, and their body temperature and metabolism might decrease.

Others may experience hair loss, and dry skin. Their ankles, fingers and face can also become swollen.

Sounds sexy, eh?

All of this is a direct result poor self-image influenced by the mass media, which sends out clear messages that “thin is beautiful”.

The skinny bodies tucked neatly into the newest jeans, the flat stomachs showing off bikinis, and the barely-clad bodies advertising perfume are shoved into the faces of everyone, everyday. It’s no wonder these images are ingrained into the minds of children.

We see them on the sides of busses, glaring at us from billboards, and screaming at us from the covers of magazines.

These images do nothing more than sell a product, and teach society’s most impressionable that only thin people are attractive. That only skinny people are successful and happy.

A 2001 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that of 1, 739 Ontario school-aged girls, 23 percent said they were dieting.

School-aged girls dieting. How do those words taste in your mouth?

Put down that drink this Christmas

Everyone always says one more drink won’t hurt.

But what if it does?

With the Christmas season just around the corner, the festive RIDE enforcement campaign will soon be out in full force to protect drivers from the dangers of alcohol.

Driving impaired is a crime under the Criminal Code of Canada, and yet many people continue to think it is okay.

Some blame peer pressure, some say they felt fine to drive, and others don’t thinking drunk driving is a big deal.

It is the ultimate selfish act to take someone’s life in your own hands with alcohol.

How many drunk drivers would still get behind the wheel if they could feel the pain of losing a loved one, if they knew what is was like to be paralyzed?

Although statistics prove the deadly impacts of drinking and driving, the RIDE campaign shows people just aren’t listening.

According to the Ministry of Transportation, more than 2,000 lives have been lost during the last decade, and more than 50,000 people have been injured as a result of drunk drivers.

During the five-week initiative in 2009, OPP officers stopped 1,199,280 vehicles at roadside checkpoints, up from 884,729 in 2008. In 2009, 299 people were charged with Criminal Code alcohol-related offences, along with 5,195 other driving-related charges and 746 warn-range suspensions.

Drinking and driving continues to be one of Ontario’s most significant road safety issues, accounting for almost 25 percent of all fatalities on Ontario’s roads. That means a quarter of deaths on roads are because someone didn’t know when to say “enough”.

How does this continue to happen?

There are other ways to get home. If the drink must be drunk, take a bus, call a cab, or phone a friend. There are no excuses. It seems like such a simple concept.

Do they feel immune to the rules of the road? Do they feel impervious to the possibility of taking somebody’s life? Do they think the extra drink won’t affect their ability to make good decisions on the road?

Those who drive with a few under their belt have no right to get their licence back-ever. Having that plastic card is a privilege, not a right.

Yet so many continue to feel as if their actions won’t have consequences. Do they think, “It could never happen to me?” Do they think if they’re careful enough, if they drive slowly, it can’t happen?

These “immune” drivers should talk to someone else who once felt the same way. They should have a chat with someone sitting behind the bars of a jail cell, left to think about what they did for the rest of their lives. They should talk to a parent who has lost a child, to someone who has lost their partner, to a child who has lost their mom or dad…and see if that drink is really worth it.

As of May 1, 2009, Ontario changed the rules so drivers who registered a blood alcohol level of 0.05 to 0.08 can lose their license for up to 30 days. For those caught more than once, the consequences are tougher.

How can there be repeat offenders?

By giving licences back to those with prior convictions, Ontario seems to accept drinking and driving.

The ignition interlocks installed in vehicles after a drunk driving conviction do nothing more than stall a driver from drunk driving. They have done it before. When the machine is uninstalled, how many have really learned their lesson?

They’ve ignored the warnings and rules in the past, and shown plain disregard for human life. Getting caught isn’t enough to stop them from doing it again.

Spanking and the modern family

Does violence breed violence?

A recent study published by Lesley Ciarula Taylor in the Toronto Star found spanking increases the chances of a  young child becoming a bully later in life.

Spanking turned out to be the “strongest risk factor,” says the lead author of the study,  Dr. Catherine Taylor.

A city starved for a win

The pressure is on.

Toronto is a city starved for playoff victory. The prized Leaf’s proved a dependable disappointment, while the Jay’s haven’t won a post-season game in 17 years.

The Argo’s haven’t won a playoff in nearly four years.

Tonight, the Raptor’s take on the Knicks, in a game that could be positively “epic”, according to Toronto Star columnist Dave Feschuk.

Fans expectations have been lowered, so they sholdnt expect all that much.

What happened to a team that was 29-23 at the all-star break to 10-19?

Let’s just blame Chris Bosh’s ankle injury and call it a night.

Does Toronto have anything left to prove?

“The bar has been lowered around these parts. A post-season team’s a rarity in this town,” says Feschuk.

All we can do is hold our breath and not pass out waiting for a championship win.

Just don’t hold your breath for too long. It could be a long time coming.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/nba/raptors/article/794828–feschuk-in-playoff-starved-town-woeful-raptors-could-be-kings

Literary masterpiece ignored by today’s youth in favor of pop-culture series

First published in 1947, The Diary of Anne Frank has sold more than 30 million copies.

Today, it remains a staple on most school library shelves.

However, it is not garnering the amount of attention it deserves.

What should be a well-worn and well-loved book sits crisp and untouched, collecting dust… while pop culture books like Twilight never even see a shelf.

Can this cult-literature be compared to The Diary of Anne Frank?

Amidst a generation of kids who know nothing about Anne Frank or even the holocaust, Masterpiece Classic is airing a made-for-TV movie on PBS.

Sad that such a literary gem is no longer being read by today’s youth. Sadder still, that many of these kids are unaware of who Adolph Hitler was.

“We had to make this story for a new generation of viewers,” says executive producer Rebecca Eaton.

What happened to kids eager to learn about their past? Eager to explore the world of a girl who changed the way people see the world?

Do we blame the teachers? The parents?

Since when should a made-for-TV movie be given the job of teaching this very important history lesson?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/television/andrew-ryan/anne-frank-updated-for-a-generation-that-needs-to-know/article1528141/