Philippine leadership

One thing our current Philippine administration is sadly lacking in the hands of this Marcos-Duterte tandem is accountability and transparency. 

So much spending and borrowing under their helm - confidential funds, intelligence funds, wealth funds. Bleeding the country and its citizens dry - squeezing blood from stone. 

Leni Robredo & accountable leadership

They jet set around and party all the time - these shameless pretenders. They have never had any standing or heritage to be proud of - until they came to power in dirty politics. 

nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up

On Sunday, Feb 23 at 9pm, the film nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up aired on CBC TV. The TV version has been edited to fit into a 45 minute time slot and doesn’t include details that appear in the longer feature film version.

Illustration by Elizabeth LaPensée

We are pleased to offer this short segment of footage from the longer version, which provides deeper historical context to the film. In this stunning piece animated by Justin Stephenson & Solis Animation Inc, illustrated by Beth Lapensee and narrated by filmmaker Tasha Hubbard, we hear about a history of Indigenous peoples in the prairies and their relationship with the government, focusing on the events of the late nineteenth century.

In 1876, Treaty 6 negotiations ended with promises of health care, education, hunting rights and freedom in exchange for sharing the land to the depth of a plough. Instead, the Canadian government passed the Indian Act which pushed Indigenous people onto reserves. Violence and hunger were used to force assimilation and colonialism when leaders like Big Bear and Poundmaker tried to fight back.

Sensitively directed by Tasha Hubbard, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up follows the family of the late Colten Boushie, a young Cree man fatally shot in a Saskatchewan farmyard, as they demand justice from Canada’s legal system.

Watch it online at https://www.wewillstandupfilm.com/watch. 

risk & disaster

October 13 is International Day for Disaster Reduction. This was started in 1989 by the United Nations General Assembly. A day to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction.

The 2018 theme continues as part of the "Sendai Seven" campaign, centered on seven targets of the framework. This year focuses on reducing disaster economic losses in relation to global GDP by 2030.