tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39936398777371953562024-03-12T19:05:29.775-07:00Charles Menzies. Faculty Member at UBCCharles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-834188362612782262024-01-06T17:14:00.000-08:002024-01-07T07:56:39.920-08:00Settler, Settler Colonialism, and the Indigenous<p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As bombs descend on Gaza and the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) slowly infiltrates the urban spaces of Gaza protesters around the world have taken to the streets. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Pro-Israeli demonstrators demand the return of hostages taken during the brutal attacks of October 7th, 2023. Reeling from the emotional impact of the barbarity of the attacks they have allowed no compromise in their support of Israel. The violent attacks of October 7th are placed in a long history of anti-Jewish discrimination in Europe and North America. Israel is presented as a birthright and a needed bulwark</span> <span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">against anti-Jewish violence. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Pro-Gaza supporters have focussed on the developing humanitarian crisis caused by the IDF and the history of Palestinian expulsions from the formation of the State of Israel in 1948 to the present. They highlight the long history of occupation and the ongoing economic marginalization of Palestinians. Central to this focus has been the deployment of the conceptual apparatus called 'settler colonialism.' </span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is a long history of academic research into the economic marginalization and containment of Palestinians under the control of the State of Israel. A former classmate of mine, <a href="https://www.jjay.cuny.edu/faculty/avram-bornstein" target="_blank">Avi Bornstein</a>, conducted his doctoral research in the occupied West Bank in the 1990s.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #382f34; font-family: "Fedra Serif Arabic Book", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"></span></p><blockquote><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #382f34; font-family: "Fedra Serif Arabic Book", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">"With a strong focus on labor and production processes, often missing from anthropological accounts, </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #382f34; font-family: "Fedra Serif Arabic Book", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">Crossing the Green Line</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #382f34; font-family: "Fedra Serif Arabic Book", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"><i> looks at how shifting border practices have produced an apartheid system through which Israelis control and subordinate Palestinians. Bornstein details the patterns of openings, closures, tightenings, bypasses, and changes in procedure and staff, particularly those that accompanied the political transformations of the 1990s. He traces these patterns along the Green Line but also within the West Bank, along the border with Jordan, and in access to countries of the Gulf" </i><a href="https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/41135" target="_blank">(Rhoda Kanaaneh, 2001)</a></span></blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #382f34; font-family: "Fedra Serif Arabic Book", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bornstein uses a political economic framing that highlights how the control of labour power is facilitated by the creation and maintenance of borders that define who has rights and what those rights might be. His detailed historical chapter very carefully outlines the processes leading the creation of the occupied West Bank. The idea that Palestinians of either Jewish or Muslim or Christian faiths were 'Indigenous' [in the sense of the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/indigenous-peoples/un-declaration-rights-indigenous-peoples" target="_blank">UNDRIP</a>] was not part of Bornstein's analysis or something found within the mainstream discourse at the time. However, this was to change.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In 2016 <a href="https://stevesalaita.com/" target="_blank">Stephen Salaita</a> published a book explicitly linking Indigenous North America with Palestine. While he wasn't the first, he was at the center of an intellectual debate that was normalizing the idea that Palestinians were more than just a marginalized nationality:</span></span></span></p><p><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><i>"Palestine scholars and activists increasingly use the language of Indigeneity and geocultural relationships to describe the political, economic, and legal positions of Palestinians. For instance, in referencing Natives and Palestinians, Sa’ed Adel Atshan speaks of “our shared history as Indigenous peoples who have faced ethnic cleansing by European colonists.” The adoption of such language is a rhetorical act meant to situate—rightly, based on considerable evidence—Palestinian dispossession in a special framework of colonial history rather than as an exceptional set of events brought forth by ahistorical circumstances. The language identifies a perceived sociohistorical familiarity with other dispossessed communities, in this case North American indigenes. The declaration that Palestinians are not merely native or original but indigenous to the land colonized by Israel, not a completely new phenomenon but one growing in frequency" (Salatia 2016:4).</i></span></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Salatia does much to popularize and make relevant the idea that Palestinians are the 'Indians' of the mid-east. His analysis centers ideas of settler colonialism. This parallels a rising deployment of the idea of settler colonialism in Indigenous Studies (as it shifted into mainstream and became more heavily influenced by 'critical' theory). Yet, the term carries with it a fundamentally flawed analysis. A range of diverse experiences with particular histories are lumped together to imply a conceptual similarity that blurs important differences.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I have always been wary of the analytic value of settler colonialism. It groups together a wide range of experiences divided by geography, time frame and particularity. That isn't inherently problematic - many social models do just that, generalize via abstraction from the specific to the universal. In doing so, however, the historical particularities of specific locales are lost. That, I contend, undermines effective social resolution of intractable problems. </span></span></span><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At the same time I find the discursive and rhetorical use of the concepts of 'settler' and 'settler colonialism' potentially useful, even if I find them analytically weak. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The rhetorical utility of 'settler colonialism' lies in it's ability to draw a sharp line between right and wrong, good and bad. It lumps all those (new immigrant or old; white, asian, or black) who are not Indigenous into one category. It simplifies and it allows clarity in discourse. But its solution is muddled. How does one 'decolonize' a settler state? Send the settlers home? Adopt the settlers into the Indigenous world? Throw out the colonial state apparatus and replace it with 'the' Indigenous one? </span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Settler colonialism places the emphasis on displacement and repeopling. It ignores the historical moment in which an act of colonialism may have occurred. It posits the primary contradiction of struggle as between settler and displaced. It ignores the class formation within both the colonial state and the the society of the displaced. It is a recipe for perpetual conflict in which there is no practical resolution. It is, almost, a natural outgrowth of a state that deliberately constrains, marginalizes, and displaces one people in favour of another.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Even with the rhetorical utility of settler colonialism I am left staring at it's inability to bring us to any productive resolution. The idea of settler colonialism draws upon an experience in which the displaced feel the enmity of their displacers; but we need to act against this experience as it clouds our judgement.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When I think, for example, of the idea of settler colonialism in British Columbia I can recognize the trauma of colonial displacement and know it has had real effects. But was it because of settlement? Or was it something else? Yes newcomers came to laxyuup Gitxaała (where I am from), but they weren't initially</span> <span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">overwhelming. They were disruptive, yes, but not due to their numbers. They disrupted with new technology, disease, and new economics. They were driven by an economic system based in capturing labour power and extracting value. The tactic may have been colonialism, but the underlying driving strategic force was capitalism, not settlement. Analytically this last point is important as it points toward a way to reconcile First Nations and British Columbians that is not reliant upon demonizing each other.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The history of Gaza and the wider region within which we now find Israel is complicated (but complication does not mean incomprehensible). As beguiling as presenting Palestinians as Indigenous and Israel as primarily colonial, a more robust analysis is needed. Stepping aside from the language of settler colonialism might be what is needed analytically.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Dialling the analytic clock back to works by people like Avi Bornstein is one place to begin. Bornstein's overview of the history of the region documents the complexities and the implications of local capitalism acting in a wider global framework. He doesn't shy away from criticism of Israel. At the same time his political economic analysis acknowledges the variety and heterogeneity within both Israeli and West Bank society - something that conceptually settler colonialism does not. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Analyses like Bornstein's leave a door open for reconciliation based on class alliance, not enmity. They lead us to ask what drives the particularities of history. Why this spot and not another. Who accommodated, who resisted, who provoked, who ignored? How did this happen? Conceptually settler colonialism preempts these questions from the start as </span><i style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">a priori </i><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">assumptions of the settler colonial model. Reconciling historically opposed parties will require truth and concessions, not retribution and continued violence.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-87925547029653876142023-12-17T07:06:00.000-08:002023-12-17T07:06:30.698-08:00Personal Transformation in the Settler Experience - a tall tale.<p>I've been to meetings were settler folks talk about how transformative their First Nation community visit is for them. They share these experiences as a kind of validation of their goodwill, as indicators of their capacity to hear and to care. </p><p>I wonder what about our communities is so transformative for them.</p><p>Is it the welcome they receive upon arrival when they are feed and greeted warmly?</p><p>They almost sound surprised when they assure us they, and those with them, found their experience personally transformative, a kind of personal epiphany.</p><p>I wonder what about them transformed.</p><p>They seem the same to me. Perhaps they are bit relieved that they get to do what they had wanted to do all along. </p><p>I sit there and wonder at it all. </p><p>Is it that it is transformative to realize that Indigenous people are just people? Is it transformative to have one's guilt absolved by meeting generous hosts? I really don't know. </p><p>I ask them what was transformative.</p><p>Their answer seem incoherent, half phrases and pauses. By asking I seem to call into question their experience, their gift they just shared with us. It is as though by asking I am taking back their transformation.</p><p>Another meeting, another sharing of personal transformation. </p><p>This time I just listen. </p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-79839096335402539612023-11-14T07:58:00.000-08:002023-11-14T07:58:34.544-08:00Commemorating the Anthropological Contemplations of Professor Gerald Sider with Gerald Sider<p> The following are my speaking notes for a roundtable presentation at the CASCA/AAA meetings in Toronto. I'm not able to be there so I share my comments here instead.</p><p>The session is called<span style="font-family: inherit;"> "<span style="background-color: white;">Transitions With and Against the Yesterdays and Tomorrows: Commemorating the Anthropological Contemplations of Professor Gerald Sider with Gerald Sider." Organized by L. Jane McMillian, </span></span><span style="background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chair and Professor of the Department of Anthropology at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Her PhD is from the University of British Columbia (2003) where I was a member of her supervisory committee.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQKx_LnlIunIRAcssim4HwMM1TqKI49kqkzyPwgytR1_o0_IaCKocyvVa2JQtmjCcX8wpVKJcDXhCMcHvEo3lpQgrfe2LqSV0MudqhYBJBlT_hQOFMgJ6P5hP-Coh87Y-5vKAdJTpeBMoXjyus6hwc89sCqil8OdvnDqwclNRypfi5t68BOxh1C76WvSo/s1096/Screenshot%202023-11-14%20at%206.03.19%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1096" data-original-width="1086" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQKx_LnlIunIRAcssim4HwMM1TqKI49kqkzyPwgytR1_o0_IaCKocyvVa2JQtmjCcX8wpVKJcDXhCMcHvEo3lpQgrfe2LqSV0MudqhYBJBlT_hQOFMgJ6P5hP-Coh87Y-5vKAdJTpeBMoXjyus6hwc89sCqil8OdvnDqwclNRypfi5t68BOxh1C76WvSo/s320/Screenshot%202023-11-14%20at%206.03.19%20AM.png" width="317" /></a></div>I was a student of Gerry's at the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (1990-1998). <p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks;">The panel is comprised of former students, students of students, and scholarly friends of Gerry and his work.<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gerry has a close relationship with Canadian anthropology, not just his <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3360697-culture-and-class-in-anthropology-and-history" target="_blank">longstanding work in NFLD</a> or his affiliation to <a href="https://www.mun.ca/anthropology/people/faculty/gerald-sider/" target="_blank">Memorial University</a>. Gerry did a Master's degree at the University of Toronto. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks;">Gerry told me about how he came to do a degree at UofT (MA 1960). Apparently he hadn't set out to do it. He had found himself in Toronto. Standing in a lineup outside Robarts Library Gerry said he fell into a discussion with a rather dishevelled looking old man. They talked all manner of things. As they made their way through the lineup the old man said to Gerry, you'd like anthropology, come see me in my office about applying to graduate school - the old man was </span><a href="https://discoverarchives.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/mcilwraith-thomas-forsyth" style="white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks;" target="_blank">Thomas McIlwraith</a><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks;">, noted Canadian anthropologist. Thus began Gerry's graduate instruction which took him via Chicago to the New School for his dissertation about Lumbee people in the Carolinas and their struggle for rights and dignity.</span></span></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks;"><i><b>Roundtable speaking notes</b></i></span></span></h4><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I doubt I have had the same influence on my doctoral students that Gerry has had on me. But maybe I shouldn't second guess this point. I don’t necessarily follow Gerry’s advice, but I hear his voice speaking when I think about teaching, mentoring, writing, research, office politics, and plain old life. Some of Gerry’s advice I have ignored, some I do use, but I have listened carefully to all of it over the years.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I once complained to Gerry about departmental politics and wondered out loud about changing jobs. It doesn’t get any better elsewhere I was told. “Go into your classroom, close the door, teach, and ignore the politics,” Gerry said. I wasn’t convinced that really would solve things. Though I took to heart his suggestion that the politics in my department weren’t really that bad and they’re a lot worse elsewhere. Despite Gerry’s advice I did go on to apply for several jobs over the years (some of which I was offered), but always decided to stay with what I knew. I’m a long-term sticker, I like to think of this as a strong loyal streak even if others might suggest it’s courage I lack (with a nod to Lennie Gallant’s 1991 single “<i>Is it Love I Feel (Or Courage I Lack).”</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I first met Gerry through his Newfoundland book<span style="font-family: inherit;"> (</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #393939;"><i>Culture and Class in Anthropology and History: A Newfoundland Illustration</i>, 1987)</span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">.</span></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: inherit; font-kerning: none;"> It was uniquely appealing to me. What can I say. This was the 1980s. I was an undergraduate at SFU. I saw myself as a revolutionary socialist. I worked as a commercial fisherman. Gerry’s book unabashedly positioned itself as Marxist theory. </span><span class="s2" style="font-family: inherit; font-kerning: none; text-decoration-line: underline;">And</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: inherit; font-kerning: none;">, it was about fishermen. I was hooked.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I didn’t actually meet Gerry until I was living in Toronto doing an MA in social anthropology at York University in the late 1980s. <a href="https://cascacultureblog.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/in-memoriam-dr-marilyn-silverman-1945-2019/" target="_blank">Marilyn Silverman</a> shared info with her class about a talk Gerry was giving downtown. I don’t recall anything about the talk. I do recall it was in the HQ of the Communist Party. At least I think it was what with all the busts of Marx and Lenin and bold red posters festooned around the room. When an invite went out to join the speaker at a nearby pub I trailed along. It was interesting listening as a student to the conversation, the back-and-forth Marxist anthropology debate. What I remember most though, was the attentiveness Gerry gave to each of us at the table. Then, once and a while, he would jot something down in his notebook. “I’d like to learn more from this person” I recall thinking.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I know that my comments are supposed to be about theory, research and writing; about how Gerry’s work, by which I assume was meant written work, has influenced my own. But I think his influence on me comes more from his willingness to share advice (whether asked for or not). <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am intrigued by his writings. I still scan the digital libraries for things I may have missed – like his 2014 “<i>Making and Breaking the Aboriginal Remote</i>.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even though I can’t think of a particular source, I’m pretty certain my thinking about ‘isolation’ and ‘remoteness’ that I talk about in Red Flags and Lace Coiffes (2011, originally my 1998 dissertation) arose in some manner from discussions with Gerry. I also appreciate that growing up at the end of the road (Prince Rupert, literally at the end of Highway 16 in northwest BC) also seemed to propel me to study a place called Land’s End (Finisterre). But through listening to Gerry, reading his writing, and talking with him over the years I’ve also been able to mold ideas that might not have emerged quite the way they may otherwise have.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve always felt rather deficient in terms of my Marxist theory when standing alongside the other students and colleagues of Gerry’s. My own work tends toward the ethnographic, not ethnological, but please don’t make the same mistake an acquisitions editor at UBC Press did by reading simplicity in prose as a marker of an atheoretical work. But I am less drawn by the nuance of theory and more toward the telling of stories. At the same time I am interested in organizing actions, not debating details, and thus have always been a participant in political action.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">During my time at CUNY I was part of the crew that took over the campus in the 1991 student occupations. Since I’m still an academic I’ve also published accounts. One is in a Marxist journal called New Proposals (a nod to Kathleen Gough’s Monthly Review paper that cost her her SFU job in the early 1970s) and the other with Kate McCaffrey and Christine Kovach in Transforming Anthropology.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While Gerry didn’t turn me into a socialist activist – I came that way- his conversations and stories of his own history as an activist allowed students to consider it a potential and reasonable pathway through anthropology.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Going beyond interpretation to actively trying to change things is what brought me to anthropology and ultimately attracted me to Gerry’s work and to Gerry himself.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Before I relinquish the floor I want to reflect on two stories I remember from Gerry that has helped me be a better teacher. “Scared shitless” and “Done Friday.” As with all remembered stories I have very likely taken great liberty here and the original author may not recognize himself within them.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As an educator I am often presented with letters of accommodation from students outlining how their learning plans need to be modified. I also get many long-detailed emails from Heads, Associate Deans, and various Directors of Instruction advising me on how to make the learning experience kind, comfortable, and student-centred. Having various family members with sundry learning disabilities I totally appreciate the need to accommodate learning differences in the classroom. What I take issue with is the idea that learning happens best when learners are happy, contented, and comfortable. This is where Gerry’s story – “You have to be scared shitless, or you’re not learning comes in.”</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I recall the story we were sitting in a class of Gerry’s (it was often said the course title may change, but the class remains the same). Some question had come up, perhaps a complaint about something, perhaps an observation about how much work we were facing between all our courses, I don’t recall. What I do remember is Gerry jumping right in without hesitating and telling us that we don’t learn unless we’re scared shitless. I use this story in my teaching to underline that fact that learning, especially when it’s about emotionally wrought subjects like race, gender, colonization, and oppression can never really be a warm fuzzy kind of experience. Learning takes work. Learning involves taking risk. Learning forces us to come to terms with what we can't do as much as what we can do. I thank Gerry for giving me a story to tell that helps my students grapple with the disruption of learning difficult subjects in a way that often leaves them ironically comforted. <i> </i></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></i></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The other story, ‘done Friday,’ is helpful with the many deadline pushers I meet in my teaching vocation. Again, I don’t quite remember the circumstances, but with this story I have a better sense of sitting in a classroom in the old grad center campus. Gerry was explaining how he had worked in the US Dept of Economics (as I recall) writing reports. He had a boss who would say “it doesn’t have to be good, it has to be done Friday.” That’s such a powerful story. I didn’t realize it at the time, but after close to thirty years teaching, I can say that is one of the best pieces of advice I ever was given. So much academic sweet and tears lands in the wastebin of regret due to streaks of perfectionism. One sadly common explanation for the need of an extension is “I need time to do the kind of job I know I can do.” Yet so much of life is about getting it done Friday, not producing the definitive work.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are more such stories. They are not really for me to tell. My own story has been deeply influenced by knowing Gerry and his work. Ideas like acting against experience is a powerful antidote to naïve ideas that place ‘experience’ ahead of analysis. Appreciating the ways in which we act within and against the tyranny of disrupted lives helps make sense of a senseless world. Even more profound is to think on how we navigate between yesterday and tomorrow when today is in total chaos. Gerry has written about dark and nasty subjects. Despite that I see him as an optimist who believes tomorrow is possible even when it seems hard to believe it in the moment.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I come now to a point in my own career where I can reflect backward. I can look forward and try to imagine what my own third age will look like. In all of this I cherish my memories of Gerry, visiting him in his home, walking along a street, having coffee together. Even though I recall Gerry once saying, in response to a family and kinship discussion, that families are no refuge from the storm of life, Gerry is very much part of my family, an uncle</span><span class="s3" style="color: #0000e9; font-kerning: none; text-decoration-line: underline;"><sup>[1]</sup></span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> who has guided, shaped, shared, and provoked how I think about the things I write and teach about.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">--------------------------</span></span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 6px; min-height: 14px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="color: #0000e9; font-kerning: none; text-decoration-line: underline;"><sup>[1]</sup></span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> In Gitxaala’s world one’s uncle is the person who takes responsibly for teaching and guiding their nieces and nephews. One might say this is a more important role even than father.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks;"><br /></span></span></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-4060631877552550122023-11-08T11:03:00.002-08:002023-11-08T11:03:30.314-08:00A Pedagogy of Care in Troubled Times<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Many of us have likely seen a copy of the UBC's new President’s <a href="https://president.ubc.ca/homepage-feature/2023/11/06/message-from-the-president-on-respect-and-compassion/" target="_blank">statement on ‘respect and compassion’</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I take this as an opportunity to reflect on how we as educators carry on discussions and lectures in our classrooms. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Anthropology can be an emotionally fraught subject, especially for new university learners. I am quite public about learning being a disruptive -potentially transformative- process. See, for example <a href="https://charlesmenzies.blogspot.com/2023/11/learning-builds-from-vulnerability-and.html">my comment on discomfort in learning</a>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But this doesn’t mean we compel learners into being unsettled.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> They need to meet us on that journey, at least partway.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Educator <a href="https://ed.stanford.edu/news/nel-noddings-feminist-philosopher-and-stanford-education-scholar-dies-93">Nell Noddings</a> said over the course of her career, that educators have a duty of compassion and should subscribe to a pedagogy of care. This means that we need to reflect on our relationship with students from our position of authority and control, and act within a duty of care.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">We need to reflect very carefully on the subject matter we present, especially if it deviates from the core content of our course. What purpose does it serve to discuss an issue that might inflame emotion and lead to upset? Is there a pedagogical reason to do this? If there is a solid reason, then what mechanisms do we have to manage the discussion? Are there ways to achieve the same learning outcome by use of different subject matter?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">When I teach First Nations issues I tread very lightly on issues of trauma and the cultural genocide my ancestors and family were subjected to. Not because it is unimportant. Not totally because I find it triggering. But ultimately because I question the utility of moving into subject matter that most likely requires a professional therapist present to facilitate healthy dialogue. Every instructor is different, but in classes in which I am the instructor of record and am working with TAs I structure things to minimize discussions of trauma. I find there are ways to meet my learning objectives without derailing a class by a detour through trauma.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">In our role as educators, we need to ask ourselves whether we have provided the learner with an opportunity to consent and remove themselves if they feel unsafe in the discussion? I don’t mean with formalized trigger or content warnings. I mean with a constant self-critical inner gaze gauging what we are saying while we attempt to ‘read the room.’ We also need to pay attention to what students say and when it is necessary to interrupt, correct, or even refute a student speaker. It’s a tall order indeed. To do this well rarely comes naturally, it takes practice and our own willingness to engage in learning opportunities to improve our teaching arts.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Of course, we can all make mistakes, by accident or intention. Here we need to appreciate that, as with human rights issues, it’s not the intent of an educator but rather the effect of the educator’s action on the person feeling unsafe and the educator’s response. The classic example is a male colleague telling a sexist joke “I was just joking around,” he says. But the female colleagues in his workplace feel harassed by his comments and find nothing funny in his joke. As educators we have a higher burden, than do our students, to consider the effects of our teaching and in class commentaries.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">These are emotionally fraught times. It is likely that many of our students will be affected by global news. We ourselves will be affected. In this space as educators, always but particularly now, we have an obligation to teach with care and compassion as best we can. We can never truly know what is happening in the lives of those in our classrooms and how a causal comment from us might trigger emotional upset in others.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p></div>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-85411445793277000922023-11-03T21:16:00.002-07:002023-11-03T21:17:08.971-07:00Learning builds from vulnerability and discomfort<p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #eaf1e8; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-top: 0px;"></p><blockquote><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #eaf1e8; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-top: 0px;"><i>"If you aren't scared shitless, you aren't learning," the prof said to us.</i></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #eaf1e8; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><i>We all laughed. The prof doubled down, "Learning should shake you, disturb you, confront you and make you sit up and pay attention."</i></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #eaf1e8; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><i>Today that prof would likely provoke a class walk out. Someone would file a complaint. Everyone in today's class would prefer to continue engaging comfortably and unchallenged in their bubbles of learning. But at the time we did sit up, we thought about it, and considered what it meant if the normal experience of learning was to be anxious, worried, or as the prof said "scared shitless." </i></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #eaf1e8; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><i><span style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">Learning takes work. Learning involves taking risk. Learning forces us to come to terms with what we can't do as much as what we can do. Learning requires us to realize when we need to walk away, even if there are consequences. That's the thing though, we seem to be in a society that wants to </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGp9bnDm0n0" rel="" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; text-decoration-line: none;">live consequence free</a><span style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;">. That's not totally true, but in the education world it does seem to be a thing in which students and their advocates (teachers, parents, students themselves) accept there are consequences for many things in life except not doing well on an exam or an assignment (<a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/charlesmenzies/p/if-you-arent-scared-shitless-you?r=1juh2p&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web" target="_blank">Menzies 2022</a>)</span></i></p></blockquote><p>Learning requires us to be willing to risk hearing things we don't like. It requires us to allow ourselves to be unsettled by critical commentary. It also means that as learners we will make mistakes, use turns of phrases that on second thought would have been better left unsaid. </p><p>Teaching mainly settler students about Indigenous issues for close to three decades has made me a kind of expert on the range of ways settlers get disturbed in discussions. It's a tricky issue as I have no interest in deliberately upsetting people. That said, the reality of colonial settler society is that settlers have an unwarranted privilege and such a sense of entitlement that many of them get really cranky about being asked to check their privilege. </p><p>Of course being unsettled by learning is not restricted to settler learners. Transformative learning should challenge all of us, should unsettle us, should lead us to become critically self aware. That's hard work for any one.</p><p>Learning about cross cultural and intra-cultural differences should be uncomfortable. We come of age with many unquestioned values bequeathed to us. Learning is a kind of consciousness raising in which we have to step outside of ourselves a bit to examine our preconceptions. Anthropology does this by challenging received wisdom in areas of gender, sexuality, race, social class, colonialism, authority, and the list goes on. </p><p>I often show a film that explores non-hegemonic presentations of masculinity in my intro anthropology course. <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/video/vi3219849753/?ref_=ttvi_vi_imdb_1" target="_blank">Somewhere in Between</a></i> is an earnest film that presents five men who talk about their exploration of their own masculinity in the context of clothing and Burning Man. Some students find the film amusing. Some take offence. Others are puzzled. In the reflections I have had students write over the years some young men confess to finding the displays of gay and gender non-conforming clothing off putting.</p><p>This should be a chance for a learner to examine why they feel put-off or offended or amused or maybe nothing at all. To merely memorize details without thinking about it is a lost opportunity. But this is where learning becomes hard as this is the point the learner is asked to critically examine their own gender ideologies, their biases around sexuality, or their fear of not living up to a cultural norm they have never questioned. Anthropology done well reveals our vulnerabilities and discomforts us. Through this process we not only become more knowledgeable, we might also learn something about our own selves. All of which will make us better citizens of our worlds.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #eaf1e8; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><span style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"></span></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-66536643282371847352023-09-27T09:09:00.005-07:002023-09-27T09:22:01.279-07:00My time as a care worker and how it made me an anthropologist.<p><i>This story is inspired by a project organized by the Society for the Anthropology of Work: "<a href="https://saw.americananthro.org/intro-jobswehad" target="_blank">Jobs we had</a>."</i></p><span></span><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>Work was simply something most of us knew was waiting for us where I'm from. I grew up in Prince Rupert, BC, a working-class resource town on the northern coast. The main industries were commercial fishing and forestry. It was a port and rail terminus. We were all proud of the fact it was the deepest ice-free port in North America and closer by several hundred miles to Asia then any other west coast port.</p>
My father always spoke about waking up one morning to see his own father standing there beside his bed. <div></div><blockquote><div>“<i>It’s late, get up</i>.” </div><div>My father recalls being reluctant to do so. </div><div>His own dad then says “<i>either go to school or go to work, which is it</i>?” </div><div>My father said "<i>work</i>." </div><div>“<i>OK his Dad said, they are waiting for you down at the plant, get going</i>.” </div><div>So, at 12 my father began his own career of work that lasted well into his 70s.</div></blockquote><div><div><p>
In the early 1970s when I was 12 my father didn’t provide this option to me, but he did take me with him every summer on his commercial fishing boat (Menzies 2019). First, I just hung out, but as I grew older, I soon was pulling my own weight as one of the five-man crew. At 16 I got paid the same as any man on the boat – which was a lot for a kid. This was a world where school was an interference with work. The schedule, the teachers, the lessons all disrupted the ability to work on the boat. I often found myself leaving school early in the summer or taking mid-winter breaks from school to mesh with the fishing seasons.
</p><p>
My father had married a schoolteacher and -given his own work which kept him away for long periods of time- our mother was the largest influence on our thinking as young children. She valued learning. She never had the advantage of a full post-secondary education, teachers in those days merely required a year or two of training post high school to qualify. So, my desire to just make money fishing was moderated by her expectations I would go to university.
</p><p>
Taking other jobs in my twenties was more a quirk of character than a matter of necessity. My father expected me to work on his boat, or at least a boat. However, during the 1980s I worked a series of part time and odd jobs that may not have shaped me, but their memories stayed long after their meager economic effects had dissipated. I suspect my father considered these jobs in a manner similar to how he thought about my meandering educational pursuits which took me through three undergraduate universities and then two post-graduate locations. He would always tell me there was a spot on the boat when I was ready to settle down and get serious.
</p><p>
My longest job as a student was a three-year stint as a part time community lay worker at a church run social housing facility for the ‘hard-to-house’ in the downtown eastside of Vancouver. At the time governments throughout North America were deinstitutionalizing mental health facilities. As they shut down large institutions there were few places for people to go. Places like Victory House (with its Orwellian name) filled the breach. I made $6.10 an hour, a full dollar more than I had been paid at a fly-by-night dogfish processing plant I also worked at. The working conditions were not great (not bad either), but I enjoyed working there.
</p><p>
Victory House was run by an agency of the Anglican Church (today called The Bloom Group). I had found the job on a job board at the old Canada Manpower office on Main, just north of 41st Avenue in Vancouver. In those days the federal government ran brick and mortar job finding services.
</p><p>
Victory House wasn’t my first community housing project I worked for – I did a number of part time 24 hour shifts in other smaller residential care facilities, but I found the full days hard to integrate into my university studies at Simon Fraser University (1983-88). The shift work and fact I could seemingly work as many shifts as I wanted kept me coming back to Victory House.
</p><p>
Before I say more, I should enumerate some of the other jobs I had during this period. I worked in a dog fish processing plant for $5/hr (minimum federal rate at the time to be listed on the Manpower job boards). There were about 50 people working in the plant, mostly Vietnamese immigrants, but a few local Canadians like myself. We unloaded fishboats, gutted, skinned, and packed for shipping, the dogfish. Dogfish are small sharks. They stink like ammonia after sitting a few days being processed. Most of my clothes from that work had to be tossed away afterwards. I liked the job but got fired for trying to organize a union. Actually, less dramatic, the boss told me he would skip calling me in for a week or two until I came to my senses. My Dad rescued me by taking me out deepwater longlining for halibut where I made more in ten days than I had the previous ten weeks.
</p><p>
I worked at the SFU bookstore as a part time door guard a couple of times – besides the surveillance aspect of the job (which I didn’t care for), it was just boring even if well paid at a union rate.
</p><p>
I was hired by a university union to write a history based on their records – I failed miserably at that, a job I would be better suited to do today.
</p><p>
I even was a teaching assistant in my senior year at SFU. Most notable for that experience was having a member of Direct Action (who was out of jail on day parole) in my tutorial group. Another memorable moment came when the prof, knowing of my Indigenous identity, asked me if he should pass another First Nations student even though their written submissions were substandard.
</p><p>
Then there were the jobs I applied for but didn’t get. Like the production line job in a paper bag factory. I seemed to do okay at the interview, but when they brought back the next day to try I out I had tossed on a tweed coat. To this day I am positive that suit coat cost me the job (and perhaps kept me heading toward an academic position). Hired, fired, or passed over, there seemed to be a lot of jobs floating around in the 1980s despite it being a period of double-digit unemployment through the mid years of the decade.
</p><p>
It was the Victory House job through the mid-1980s that most stays in my memory. It brought me into a part of the city that I had known through the stories told by my parents and from personal experience as a young man working on a fishboat that was based out of the Vancouver waterfront several weeks each year in the 1970s and early 1980s. But that experience didn’t really show me much about the place that was the downtown eastside in the 1980s.
</p><p>
My father’s downtown eastside dated to the 1950s and 1960s when it was a vibrant working class and commercial district of Vancouver. Our family photo album includes pictures of him in a zoot suit taken by a street photographer of the day. But even then, it was a place where people washed up. Dad also talks about going there to find an older sister and trying to bring her home. By the 1970s and 1980s the more upbeat part of the downtown had shifted and the area around Main and Hastings was becoming the zone of poverty and hardship that it is known for today, filled with social service agencies like the one I worked for during my SFU undergrad years.
</p><p>
During my lunch and coffee breaks I would walk around the area – Victory House was then located on Powell Street near Oppenheimer Park. Across the street was a sushi place and a Japanese corner store (vestiges of the pre-world war II Japanese neighbourhood). There was also a half dozen strip clubs, fruit and vegetable stores, and a short walk away an outlet of the local Woodward’s Department Store.
</p><p>
Amongst our staff was a former Catholic priest, a couple members of a lay Christian brotherhood, a phd student in English literature, and a handful of undergrad students like me. There was also a manager, one or two social workers, and a sprinkling of other specialized staff whose presence rarely registered except when they had a meeting scheduled for residents. The entire place operated with a philosophy of constant improvement for our residents who were seen as visiting Victory House temporarily on their pathway toward recuperation.
</p><p>
Early on in my employment one of the senior staff sat me down and explained the philosophy: “Our residents have been through a lot of tough places and they end up here because no one else will provide them housing. Maybe they start in triage to stabilize. Then they come here. Their first room assignment is one of the dorms and they have obligations to meet about attending meetings and meals together. As they gain in stability, they move to one of our semi-independent units. From there we seek housing in the community for them where they will live independently.”
</p><p>
Reality was quite different. Most of the residents living in the building were long term permanent residents. I also worked there long enough to see the constant returning of people who had been sent forward to live independently, ended up in crisis, lost their housing, and then came back to Victory House. This grounding in the contradictions between expressed philosophies and material reality played, I am sure, a big role in my unwillingness as a professional anthropologist to simply accept what people tell me as an accurate expression of reality no matter how strongly they might believe it or passionately they express it.
</p><p>
My time there also exposed me to the police officers working that beat. They would come into the office looking for residents from time to time. One officer, after taking the statement of a resident who had been beaten and robbed, turned to me and said: “today’s victim, tomorrow’s suspect.” While it may have reflected that the officer’s reality, his causal disregard left an impression on me in a way that motivated me to care for people without discounting their right to care even if they may have some personal culpability. If anything our world needs more care, not less.
</p><p>
The most striking memory though is when the parents of a young man came to visit their son. My job was to meet them and then go find their son in the building and bring him to the office for the visit. I was at the time about the same age as their son. They were dressed as though in Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes. They sat uncomfortable, eyes hastily wiped clear of tears, trying to come to terms with the situation. Their son came to visit with them but was mostly uncommunicative. Their attempt to maintain a sense of normalcy in a rundown old hotel converted to mental health housing and operated by poorly trained young staff underscored for me a structural fault in our society. How could we allow people to be housed in the worst housing possible, paint cheery slogans on the walls, and fundamentally abandon them to chance. Any ideas I had about going into social work evaporated in that moment and through my experience working at Victory House.
</p><p>
I found myself instead pursuing a career in anthropology.
</p><p>
My approach to anthropology is rooted in having worked at Victory House. After working there I became involved in a student led community-based study of the downtown eastside (Menzies and Butler 2021). That project, which was like a job but (for me) unpaid was made feasible for having worked in the downtown eastside. It also contributed to my views on engaged university-community team research (a model that I continue to use to this day).
</p><p>
While there are many things that has made me the kind of anthropologist I am, my work at Victory House played a key role in shaping my ideas of empathy, care, structural inequality, and the need for life long social justice advocacy.
</p>
<h3>References Cited.</h3>
<ul>2021. Menzies, Charles R. and Caroline Butler. “Centering Community Knowledge in Resource Management Research.” BC Studies no. 209 (Spring 2021): 103-124.</ul><ul>2019. Charles R. Menzies. “Sea Legs: Learning to Labor on the Water.” Anthropology of Work Review. DOI: 10.1111/awr.12172.</ul></div></div>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-16306838063222987452023-04-13T20:38:00.004-07:002023-04-13T20:38:40.122-07:00More on communications and media professionals.<p> A while back campus and community planning tweeted out a praise tweet on their campus vision 2050 plan. In it they mentioned a community connectors program. When I followed the link provided I could find nothing but a glossy pamphlet talking about their engagement but nor substantive explanation of the program. So a tweeted a reply. </p><p>Silence.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/campusubc/status/1642908349841670149" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1462" data-original-width="836" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzWXDsxkjBlJLAP9V0_2-LbpG2rkpeUF24R6uuIFUSYfeHaL3xGYsXN3fKJlet8IBhf_is9T2amNWNq3e9djEajbdRrnty2-KaOXYmWKFGOXd0_4zmDz5pJdk3NP8zkgvsbUHarYd2NmvbLFufNQQB0gocHPXtrVCWKW2VJN61GVor_9b0-oFCZj5t/w366-h640/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-13%20at%208.20.23%20PM.png" width="366" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>So I tried a less public approach and sent a direct message.</p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"On community connectors - I would like to learn more, the link you provided in your tweet does not directly or obviously connect to anything that says community connector program. I have so many questions and would really like to learn more - not about your 'consultations' but about this 'unique' program you profiled in your tweet."</span></p><p>They responded"</p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks for the question and appreciate your interest in the Community Connectors pilot initiative. We recently released the Engagement Summary Report for the draft 30-Year Vision, which is what our social posts were linking to. On page 12 of that report, you can learn more about the Community Connectors pilot initiative. A list of all the groups we connected with through our engagement (including through the Community Connectors pilot initiative) is available in Appendix 1 of the report. Links to both the report and the appendices can be found here: </span><a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1cvl2hr r-1loqt21 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-1ddef8g r-tjvw6i r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" href="https://t.co/1ugQ31qZh4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" role="link" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d9bf0; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank"><span aria-hidden="true" class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-hiw28u r-qvk6io r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 0px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit;">https://</span>campusvision2050.ubc.ca/engagement-sum<span aria-hidden="true" class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-hiw28u r-qvk6io r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 0px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit;">mary-30-year-vision</span><span aria-hidden="true" class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-lrvibr r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; display: inline; font: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: none; white-space: inherit;">…</span></a><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
In response to your other question about how we determine historic underrepresentation, we are guided by definitions from UBC’s Equity & Inclusion Office: </span><a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1cvl2hr r-1loqt21 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-1ddef8g r-tjvw6i r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" href="https://t.co/HLbNt9F9Bl" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" role="link" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d9bf0; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank"><span aria-hidden="true" class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-hiw28u r-qvk6io r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 0px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit;">https://</span>equity.ubc.ca/resources/equi<span aria-hidden="true" class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-hiw28u r-qvk6io r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 0px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit;">ty-inclusion-glossary-of-terms/</span><span aria-hidden="true" class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-lrvibr r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; display: inline; font: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: none; white-space: inherit;">…</span></a></blockquote><a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1cvl2hr r-1loqt21 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-1ddef8g r-tjvw6i r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" href="https://t.co/HLbNt9F9Bl" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" role="link" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d9bf0; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank"><span aria-hidden="true" class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-lrvibr r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; display: inline; font: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: none; white-space: inherit;"></span></a><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I asked for further clarification.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Thanks for this, the one paragraph summary and the reference to an appendix doesn't really say much. The social media post implied more details than provided - but that's okay, I understand that. However, I would be intersted if there were any differences in what people said, between these 'historically underrepresented' and historically over represented, where there there was any difference within groups as well, etc. Also what was involved in the 'training' and where the trainees historically overrepresented or under? Etc."</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">They advised they'd bump it up a level and passed it to someone higher up to comment.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then I got this email from a communications person:</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;">Hi Charles,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;">Thanks for the follow-up questions about the Campus Vision 2050 Community Connectors pilot program. We’re happy to share information about this new approach to engagement.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;">With the Board Secretariat’s protocols for Board member engagement in mind, it would be helpful to understand if you are seeking this information to support your role as a Board member, for your blog or as a curious community member? Once we have this info, we can direct our response appropriately.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;">Many thanks…</p></blockquote><p>No where did I say I was speaking as a governor - my twitter account is really clear about it being personal and not reviewed by UBC. </p><p>I replied:</p><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri; text-size-adjust: auto;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">"Thank you for answering,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">For this inquiry, please provide only information that supports your public statements and/or public documents.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">My initial comment on twitter (which I trust you have reviewed) noted that the public tweet highlighted the community connectors program, but the link connected only to the glossy engagement report with little to no info on the cc pilot.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">There was no information, aside from the phrase ‘community connectors’ (that I could easily locate), about what was involved. Nor was there any empirical data that substantiated who might be historically underrepresented and how such folks were being identified.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I share the specific dm’s from twitter below for reference.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I may be interested in writing a story for my online newspaper, A Campus Resident, but at this point in time am simply curious about something that was promo’d without any clear background.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">...</span></p></div><div style="text-size-adjust: auto;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">With warm regards,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Charles<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">PS, You will know very clearly if I am asking as a member of the board of governors as I will say so </span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">explicitly</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> and I would do so via the board secretariat, not over twitter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p></div><p>They thanked me for the clarification and said they would prepare a response. Next message I got came from the Board Secretariat explaining the protocols for communication with the administration.</p><p><i>Such is life.</i></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-61302213474378602982023-04-13T19:55:00.003-07:002023-04-14T13:09:57.924-07:00Board protocols coming down<p>When one is a public academic there are many pitfalls one might encounter. This is compounded by being an elected member of the board of governors. Here is one example. </p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">As a governor I have continued the sorts of public interventions and inquiries that I have done for years. On my twitter stream I raise questions about university decisions. Sometimes, rather than engage in a public questioning, I send an email or a direct message through what ever social media platform the university was using.</p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">I also have continued a writing project, <a href="https://charlesmenzies.substack.com/" target="_blank"><i>A Campus Resident</i></a>, where I make it really clear I am writing a stories for publication. </p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">Yet it would seem that despite these efforts on my part some people still are 'confused' by the complexity of who I am and in what role I am in when speaking with them. </p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">One of my observations drawn from years of living on campus and working in a university is that non-academic management staff really find it hard to functionally appreciate an intellectual frame of reference where reflections, consideration, questioning, and even challenging is simply part of the process. Not all of them I want to quickly add - but enough of them so that it can make it tiresome and uncomfortable becuase they are the ones who are adept in the procedural plays.</p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">I will thank them just the same. As they help me take better notes, make more clear and explicit what I am doing. In their sensitivities they also reveal fault lines and issues I hadn't realized existed before I sent in my simple question asking for a bit more info about this or that.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj8arUysoK9_do_LJzZVVxlw4m1N2JUZSF_4CTXWqSZ8OXmVwqjMSDYZgy6KACuGkxg0xPXtp0WGp13bUT04V2kc-46oayONajily7PwPfHt24DITx9oUzWtG0ofYBnwPYl0sTxxFbQvzDkrBxV9DyJhPVgstTybV69-JpMJ_LbCunsgG_l4zjcXOG/s1580/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-13%20at%205.42.07%20PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1138" data-original-width="1580" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj8arUysoK9_do_LJzZVVxlw4m1N2JUZSF_4CTXWqSZ8OXmVwqjMSDYZgy6KACuGkxg0xPXtp0WGp13bUT04V2kc-46oayONajily7PwPfHt24DITx9oUzWtG0ofYBnwPYl0sTxxFbQvzDkrBxV9DyJhPVgstTybV69-JpMJ_LbCunsgG_l4zjcXOG/w400-h288/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-13%20at%205.42.07%20PM.png" width="400" /></a></div><p><em><br /></em></p><p><em><br /></em></p><p><em><br /></em></p><p><em><br /></em></p><p><em><br /></em></p><p><em><br /></em></p><p><em><br /></em></p><p><em><br /></em></p><p><em><br /></em></p><p><em><span> </span><span> </span></em></p><p><em><span><br /></span></em></p><p><em><span><br /></span></em></p><p><em><span> </span><span> </span>Dear Karen,</em></p><blockquote data-pm-slice="2 2 []"><p><em>Thank you for letting me know that if I have any information requests related to board business to route through you. I have not yet had the opportunity to request any information for board business but am quite happy to hear of your eagerness to support any board related questions I may have.</em></p><p><em>…</em></p><p><em>If any in your circle experiences confusion, please let them know that if I am asking for information in my capacity as a governor I will explicitly say so.</em></p><p><em>I would also note that I have for close to three decades been a member of my community and have many different and pre-existing relationships that exist outside of being a governor (which is, being a governor that is, quite honestly a very small part of what I do in my life). Clearly being a governor adds nuance, but it is not nor should it be the defining aspect of how I conduct my academic research – of which A Campus Resident is part of. It is a research and intellectual product that is not related to being a governor.</em></p><p><em>Again, I look forward to sending you information requests that might aid my work as a governor, but until such time as I have any such requests, I will continue in the same manner that I have for going on three decades.</em></p><p><em>With warm regards,</em></p><p><em>Charles</em></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifyj6Vunn92NwLls3tAK8psJrNH_XxA1cBq0pR1IjJm3Z-RgwRFAUaCUBKMxh6mMrP8PdNnKJmJcabx2wDdmvOx6NcIMQzl5-2KEqfYWM_fyyjXHBtN3maIKrIFHiuCrjfBIRrjXNUDHomWV5-4qvhpzX_WaKrkTih8DuDdtrYkrCTJghPCzaYTROY/s1596/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-13%20at%207.53.35%20PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="948" data-original-width="1596" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifyj6Vunn92NwLls3tAK8psJrNH_XxA1cBq0pR1IjJm3Z-RgwRFAUaCUBKMxh6mMrP8PdNnKJmJcabx2wDdmvOx6NcIMQzl5-2KEqfYWM_fyyjXHBtN3maIKrIFHiuCrjfBIRrjXNUDHomWV5-4qvhpzX_WaKrkTih8DuDdtrYkrCTJghPCzaYTROY/w400-h238/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-13%20at%207.53.35%20PM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-36822013044037555252023-02-18T08:09:00.004-08:002023-02-18T08:09:45.193-08:00Interview with CBC's Daybreak North on Indian Status Cards<p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><b>On air interview, Thursday, February 16, 2023.</b></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-109-daybreak-north/clip/15966863-sticky-questions-indian-status-cards" target="_blank">Link to CBC audio clip.</a></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-lCdtTNE6EBslFOAozvapizpItscFLu9fhHbRzF3hglFepH0g2bvvTaxRktsdmybssEfMduY04_quszSZBZeYS3_RhPCzgLPbUZUQKAWjJtLpg4w4erSTtt8U8eC2mm6IgCzLrH2yBfSOTKtvIVX_e7-Cakryip4r9w08PfBHvGukDLiLPEK8EVkn/s1348/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-18%20at%208.06.28%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="654" data-original-width="1348" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-lCdtTNE6EBslFOAozvapizpItscFLu9fhHbRzF3hglFepH0g2bvvTaxRktsdmybssEfMduY04_quszSZBZeYS3_RhPCzgLPbUZUQKAWjJtLpg4w4erSTtt8U8eC2mm6IgCzLrH2yBfSOTKtvIVX_e7-Cakryip4r9w08PfBHvGukDLiLPEK8EVkn/w400-h194/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-18%20at%208.06.28%20AM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><b><br /></b><p></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:00:25.010] - Carolina</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The all native basketball tournament is underway right now in Prince Rupert. But as we found out on yesterday's show, one young woman is being kept off of the court. 19 year old Stacy Edinger is not allowed to play for the old Massett women's team due to her status card number being connected to another village. This in spite of familial ties to Old Massett. Here's her coach, Len Arns, speaking yesterday on the program.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:00:51.940] - Len</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">It seems very unfair, especially for us to be under the status cards when our alaskan brothers don't have status cards. The Nisga don't have status cards, they have membership cards. That doesn't make them any less. It's a card issued by the Canadian government that shows us that this is our Indian number. We're not a name where number that's.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:01:18.900] - Carolina</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Old Massett basketball coach Len Arns. Now, on the surface, status cards are a form of government issued ID, but their effect on people's lives can be much more significant. I'm joined with more by Charles Menzies, who's a professor at the University of British Columbia and a member of the Gitxaala First Nation. Good morning to you.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:01:38.110] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Good morning. And if you don't mind saying a shout out to all the people up there playing basketball, I wish I could be there in the stand watching it, or maybe one day I'll join the Masters team and play on the court again.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:01:49.140] - Carolina</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Now, that would be wonderful to see. Charles, I'm sorry that you weren't here to be watching the games, but as you heard, some controversy this year over the idea of status cards, what does a status card represent to you?</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:02:03.110] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">That's a tough one because it's a recognition of where we're from and all that, but it's also an act of the government as part of a colonial legacy that brands indigenous people as being separate from the rest of society. Yet it also comes with a whole bunch of other recognitions of the government that actually owes us because of the historical legacy. So it's really conflicting and problematic. And of course, sometimes people, when you use the card in a place that you need to, sometimes they respond positively, sometimes they don't respond at all. Sometimes they're just pains in the backside about it.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:02:43.300] - Carolina</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">What's been your experience with using a status card?</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:02:46.870] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Well, I think one time I tried to use it to vote in a provincial election. I remember actually going into the Dunbar Community Center and using the card for it, and then the fuss and things. They called somebody over to look at it. Then another person came over and back and forth. After a while, you see there that the line is getting longer and longer and longer, and everyone's kind of staring at you, staring at the card, looking at it, talking to each other. Finally, I just gave up and gave them my driver's license.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:03:14.230] - Carolina</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">And what was that like?</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:03:16.190] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">It was really unsettling. I didn't actually appreciate just how I'd feel about it. I was really taking aback. But I'll tell you, I haven't used it again for voting in the provincial elections.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:03:28.310] - Carolina</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">And why is that?</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:03:30.690] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Because the trouble and the sort of whole nonsense to go through with that process, it's really it's kind of like you think, well, this is a low cost thing to do, but it's the emotional turmoil for doing it. I'll be quite honest, I was quite surprised. But it did remind me of a story my dad told about going to me about trying to get his glasses down here in the lower mainland. And he went into a store and he picked out his glasses and his frames and stuff like that. And then the optometrist said, okay, so how are you going to pay for this? And dad took out his status card, and the guy looked at him and goes, oh, no. And he reached below the countertop, pulled out a box, about half a dozen black frame plastic glasses. You choose one of these. My dad says, there's just no way I'm doing that. And so it's that kind of response to the way these things, how people respond? And I think the Union of BC Indian Chiefs did a study a while ago after the grandfather and his granddaughter were arrested and handcuffed at a bank in downtown Vancouver.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:04:38.520] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">They did a study, and about 99% of the people they interviewed experienced some form of discrimination and prejudice for trying to use the card, which is a legal right to be able to use the card.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:04:51.340] - Carolina</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I recall that report. It came out last fall from the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. But there's another part to this story, too, because in our history, and not very distant history, there were periods where status was withheld or stripped from certain people. So what are the consequences of not having a status number?</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:05:13.380] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">It gets really complicated back and forth. But one of the difficulties, too, is the whole realm of identity fraud that builds up and around these categories as well. When people I mean, the University of British Columbia just went through a situation with a fairly prominent individual who it turned out had not been honest about who they were and where they came from or any of that. So on one level, when things, when material resources count on these things, you really need to have some kind of documentation and proof about what's going on. At the other hand, there's people whose families have been disconnected and who are, have every right, to be part of the community, but may have lost some connection. And then, of course, not having this little piece of government issued paper, it's a problem. And there is no easy solution except to say communities need to have the authority and power to make these decisions. This is the academic of me coming back saying, but there needs to be protection for minority communities within our communities who might then be disenfranchised because of underlying discrimination internally as well. So there's no good solution for a problem created by a colonial system.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:06:28.080] - Carolina</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">And so how realistic would you say it is for the system to stay the way it is, moving forward, as you say, communities are changing?</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:06:37.200] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Yeah, well, I think one of the things it was mentioned in the clip from the Haida coach about the different types of enrollment cards in Alaska or the Nisga citizenship cards. I think we need to move to an idea of membership or citizenship, not idea of this kind of old colonial label 'status.' That at least could be a first step to move in that kind of direction. I mean, and we've only really had the cards in their current variation kind of format since the mid 1950s, even though there was an Indian registry since sometime in the 1850s or 60s.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:07:12.780] - Carolina</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">How much appetite do you think there is to make a change to the status?</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:07:20.620] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I think everyone I talk to says there's something should be done, and then when you say, well, then what should we do? People just kind of go, well, they're not sure. And it's almost as though it's better to have something that's bad than something that we don't know what it looks like, but doesn't mean we shouldn't try. I mean, I do think it's time for a change.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:07:39.140] - Carolina</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me about it today, Charles, and I look forward to seeing you when you're next in Prince rupert.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:07:46.260] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The same. And again, I say a big hello to all family and friends who are up there enjoying the games. And go warriors.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:07:55.000] - Carolina</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">All right. Thanks, professor.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:07:56.800] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Right, bye bye.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:07:57.860] - Carolina</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Charles Menzies, a professor at the University of British Columbia, also a member of the Gitxaala First Nation. What has your experience been like using a status card? Have you had a negative experience? Maybe you've had a positive experience? You can share your story. Email us at daybreak north at CBC CA. You can also call us on our listener line that number 1-866-340-1932.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-32462450109648040352023-01-19T16:09:00.017-08:002023-01-19T17:17:04.435-08:00Interview with CBC Radio, Jan 17, 2023.<p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Interview with CBC Radio, Jan. 17, 2023.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">I did an interview with CBC January 17th that contributed to a web story on that day and short news items the following morning. I also did a segment with <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-46/clip/15961116 " target="_blank">CBC's On the Coast</a>.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">After reporters run their stories I like to be able to share the wider interview context, more details on what I said. Reporters have a limited space and time to convey stories that can be complicated and nuanced. They need to do this for wider audiences that may have only a rudimentary understanding of the particular issue.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">The Jan 17th story ran with comments I made about the importance of face to face meetings between UBC's President, Provost, and Indigenous members of the university community. I also underlined that they should essentially host a dinner to make things right. Other Indigenous people I know who heard the news items understood exactly what I meant. Other folks, not necessarily. One good friend, who knew what I was saying, teased and said 'they will just think you want a free lunch!' </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;">I've highlighted below in the transcript the specific spaces where I talk about how to make things right. The reporter did a good job bringing these issues into their story. It's hard, though, for a wider community that is unfamiliar with Indigenous practices to understand these things beyond simplistic stereotypes. For those who want a longer film version on the importance of public witnessing and one version of it, click on the image below to watch a video from 20 years ago about a university project making sure Indigenous data is kept in community and returned properly.</p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://vimeo.com/394424406" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1382" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXFTilezqYCve3jqdgjKrZf0iP49BYPQoMZH35VttpoQd7Nha0pnggvlCxUtZwKk8yvPB9UXvKaN4GaSI-66XggctptliLjNeJLqsGQs6qLKjWUlq2ZH3fXESjvLNJaIRyEXqqNDhsDwRDgHiPR54zqLCmm58aUMuV56gPlPcJIzyzqkMTpey07MoR/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-01-19%20at%204.08.18%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><h2 style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Interview Transcript.</b></span></h2><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The reporter’s comments summarized to highlight questions asked. My comments lightly edited for clarity. The <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mary-ellen-turpel-lafond-ubc-1.6717467">published story is linked here</a>.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:01:49.050] - Reporter</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">[What was your reaction to [the] letter [from UBC Leadership] when you read it?]</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:01:53.590] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I've been o<a href="https://charlesmenzies.blogspot.com/2023/01/time-for-another-ubc-apology.html">n public record of being disappointed in the silence</a> of the university leadership. … I think it was high time for them to act. However, from where I'm from, and for many people who are indigenous in British Columbia, simply sending a letter in the email box and posting online is insufficient. The letter does indicate that they plan to create opportunities of engagement. But <i style="background-color: #fff2cc;">I think what they need to do is host a dinner or smorgasbord and bring people out and have them publicly express the sentiment in their letter and then have that witnessed by people standing up and explaining to them why their behaviour could have been better situated.</i></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:03:09.210] - Reporter</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">[Question of personal/community response].<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:03:17.550] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Well, I think it really starts with the statement came out in the middle of October, which said that METL was hired with no recognition or consideration of her indigenous, proclaimed Indigenous, identity. And that just felt like gaslighting to everyone. And I think that the shock of that, the implication of that. And it has reverberations. And then when the university did nothing for so long, for whatever reason, that also has reverberations because it sounds, and as the letter itself mentions, it gave the impression to everyone that they were actually being supportive of the situation rather than being considerate of Indigenous faculty, staff, and students.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:04:32.950] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Well, I think the silence is a problem. The fact that they've decided to finally step into the daylight and to start taking ownership of their decisions publicly is a positive sign. And I think that's really the kind of the primary message. I see. I can also appreciate that probably there's all kinds of lawyers in their circles telling them to say nothing. ... While I can appreciate their legalistic approach to things. I cannot appreciate the way it left all of us feeling left out to dry, as it were.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:05:46.670] - Reporter</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> [What needs to be done to start to make things right?]</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:06:01.970] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i style="background-color: #fce5cd;">Every community has its own particular way of doing things. And so I can't speak for my cousins down in Musqueam, in the wider Salish world, but if you go back up the north coast and somebody makes a mistake or does something wrong that requires addressing, they host a dinner, they publicly acknowledge in front of witnesses the error that they've committed, and then they make recompense to the people who gathered to witness. And there's a traditional gift giving that occurs in that context. I'm not saying these guys [President & Provost] need to do that because they're part of a colonial institution, but I think before they start doing opportunities for engagement, I think they actually need to, at the very minimum, host of luncheon or dinner where they invite the indigenous community on campus and the partners into a space where they take ownership of their actions physically, in material terms, in terms of being there and being present.</i></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:07:09.230] - Reporter</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">[Question on hiring practices.]</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:07:19.710] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">... The hiring of the prominent law professor was done at a targeted level, at a president's office level. There are many of us at the department level where most faculty are hired to do things completely different. We, in fact, already have an awful lot of processes in place. [At the department level] there are processes and policies at play, and when you have that kind of structured hiring where we normally do, it's a very different situation [than a targeted hire], it seems to me, from what I see, both my at own institution and across the country. The problems come when upper-level management get too eager to hire somebody who has some degree of prominence of some sort, and then things go by the [wayside].</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:08:21.390] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">My biggest concern is not so much the policies that got us to this place, the practices, but basically what they did once it became clear [misrepresentation seemed to be involved] and how that basically they didn't do things right at that point in time, ... I think the real issue here is what the university leadership did once it became known that things weren't quite right, weren't quite what they were presented as.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:09:19.750] - Reporter</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">[regarding returning honourary degree]</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:09:44.640] - Charles</b></span></p><p></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">... I think that's appropriate [returning honourary degree], and I believe there's, like, eight to ten more to go.</span></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-69975743297117634352023-01-17T10:00:00.001-08:002023-01-17T10:00:00.152-08:00Statement from UBC President and Provost (finally, three months after METL story broke)<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">A Message to UBC Vancouver Indigenous Faculty and Staff Members on behalf of the President and Vancouver Provost</span></b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;">To quote the UBC Indigenous Strategic Plan, “Truth before Reconciliation” – all of our actions need to be based on a fundamental commitment to truth, to openness and transparency, and to humility. We know that this has been a difficult three months since the publication of the stories concerning Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond. We are deeply concerned that the issues raised and the university’s response have harmed the Indigenous community at UBC and our Indigenous partners outside the University. UBC’s initial response stated that Indigenous identity had not been an explicit requirement for the appointment of the Academic Director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre. While factually correct, it would have also been understood that it was an implicit expectation. The press reported UBC’s initial statement as constituting support for Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, and the silence from UBC about that interpretation has been viewed as confirmation. We deeply regret the impact of this and promise to do more now, and in the future.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Let us state clearly that we recognize our<span style="background-color: white;"> engagement with the Indigenous community has not been adequate or sufficient to date, and we will strive hard to improve.</span> We believe that we should have met more promptly with the UBC Indigenous community. As we note below, we are taking steps to do that now.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;">Over the past few months our President and Vancouver Provost have had discussions with Indigenous scholars and community members. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Our leadership has also discussed the issues that have arisen from this incident with a few university leaders from across Canada. We seek to learn from the experience of others, but we are aware that our approach to the issues of Indigenous identity at UBC will need to be grounded in the protocols and understandings of BC Indigenous peoples and reflect the community values of Indigenous colleagues across our two campuses, while also drawing on important work on these matters by Indigenous scholars across the country. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;">While we have sought advice, we want to state emphatically that we take full responsibility for the actions and inactions of UBC in this matter. UBC has committed itself to advancing Indigenous scholarship and intellectual community at every level of the University: through the Indigenous Strategic Plan and its implementation, through our relationships with the Musqueam and the Syilx Okanagan Nation, through our commitment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. All of this has been led by Indigenous colleagues, and it has required a process of building trust. We recognize that recent months have been challenging on this front and we will do all in our power to grow that trust. We want to make it exceedingly clear that UBC’s leadership is more committed than ever to fulfilling the Action Plan of our Indigenous Strategic Plan; to implementing the principles of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; and to Indigenizing wherever possible our programs, curricula, leadership and structures. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;">The possibility that anyone might misrepresent themselves</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="background-color: white;">for personal and professional benefit, or that misleading credentials or publications might be submitted for employment, is one that we take extremely seriously, as these kinds of actions undermine the fundamental mission of a university, divert resources from deserving individuals and strengthen inequities. UBC is committed to scholarly integrity: we investigate allegations of misrepresentation and we engage in processes and procedures to address them. Going forward, as we assess our current approaches to hiring and to the role of Indigenous citizenship/status and truthfulness in hiring, we believe it is important to take the time to consider the complex issues and not to make presumptions or predeterminations about where these discussions will take us or what outcome we will arrive at. In the words of Senator Murray Sinclair quoted in our Indigenous Strategic Plan, “</span>The road we travel is equal in importance to the destination we seek. There are no shortcuts. When it comes to truth and reconciliation, we are forced to go the distance.” <span style="background-color: white;">We will make sure that discussions on these issues are led by the Indigenous community in a fashion of their own choosing.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;">In the very near future, we will be in touch about setting engagement opportunities for both of us to hear from Indigenous faculty and staff, something we see as central to our accountability. We do not expect this letter to solve any of the problems that we face – we see it as a step along a path towards meaningful action in the future. We will follow up with engagement with Indigenous students, as we are painfully aware of the toll that this has taken on students as well. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;">Although this message is directed to colleagues at UBC Vancouver, the President along with the Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost of the UBCO campus will engage with Indigenous faculty and staff at the Okanagan campus.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;">The UBC Vancouver campus is proud to be located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people, and this relationship inspires us to make our campus one where Indigenous faculty, staff and students feel respected, valued, safe, and heard. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">We respectfully acknowledge the Syilx Okanagan Nation and their peoples, in whose traditional, ancestral, unceded territory UBC Okanagan is situated.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;">Respectfully,</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;">Deborah Buszard</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;">President and Vice-Chancellor</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;">Gage Averill</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;">Provost and Vice-President Academic, Vancouver Campus</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-26455425666555041262023-01-08T11:47:00.009-08:002023-01-08T16:37:01.054-08:00Time for another UBC apology.<p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Its’ time UBC’s senior administration apologize for claiming Indigenous ‘identity’ had no role in Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond’s appointment. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even if they might ‘technically’ be correct that it wasn’t a specific criteria for hiring, Turpel-Lafond very clearly appeared to have been directly targeted to lead the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre BECAUSE <a href="https://irshdc.ubc.ca/2018/04/28/mary-ellen-turpel-lafond-joins-indian-residential-school-history-and-dialogue-centre-and-allard-school-of-law/" target="_blank"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 233); color: #0000e9; font-kerning: none;">they were Indigenous and so very prominent</span>.</a></span></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></i></span></p><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond (Aki-kwe), a renowned Indigenous Canadian judge, lawyer and advocate for children and Indigenous restorative justice, has joined UBC as the inaugural director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC) and as a professor with the Peter A. Allard School of Law.</span></i></blockquote><p></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS63ptqmpSyQ5O6SuKSR79XBucCQSbDzjqfzASgfT8mh_9ZUe5nqLigRc3tLHuorFC2rmM7xL3vKFMEc5adHIG670lIAt2fU9JN73iJRAHhHJZg0C0DKZpBL_6IPhKynyu7DjRGqZdmKNQnKt5KLJpfjBA4jgHbXK-1h4VBNxo__lzqtyJ78yC2ezn/s2574/Screen%20Shot%202023-01-08%20at%206.05.14%20AM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1144" data-original-width="2574" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS63ptqmpSyQ5O6SuKSR79XBucCQSbDzjqfzASgfT8mh_9ZUe5nqLigRc3tLHuorFC2rmM7xL3vKFMEc5adHIG670lIAt2fU9JN73iJRAHhHJZg0C0DKZpBL_6IPhKynyu7DjRGqZdmKNQnKt5KLJpfjBA4jgHbXK-1h4VBNxo__lzqtyJ78yC2ezn/w400-h178/Screen%20Shot%202023-01-08%20at%206.05.14%20AM.png" width="400" /></a></i></div><i><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i><p></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 12px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 12px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 12px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 12px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This was a project that was closely aligned with the president’s office and </span><a href="https://president.ubc.ca/homepage-feature/2018/04/09/statement-of-apology/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 233); color: #0000e9; font-kerning: none;">President Ono’s subsequent apology</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> about UBC’s involvement in Residential Schools. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Media Relations statement that has remained the</span><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-ubc-backs-mary-ellen-turpel-lafond-after-report-raises-questions-about/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 233); color: #0000e9; font-kerning: none;"> only official public statement from UBC </span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">has to be apologized for. </span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s3" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;"><i></i></span></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s3" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;"><i>“</i><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-ubc-backs-mary-ellen-turpel-lafond-after-report-raises-questions-about/" target="_blank"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 233); color: #0000e9; font-kerning: none;"><i>Indigenous identity was not a criterion</i></span></a><i>” for the positions Prof. Turpel-Lafond held at the university, said Matthew Ramsey, UBC’s director of university affairs.</i></span><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-kerning: none;"><i> </i></span></span></blockquote><p></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;">It’s instructive to reflect on </span><a href="https://kimtallbear.com/" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 233); color: #0000e9; font-kerning: none;">Dr Kim TallBear’s </span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;">response to this issue. TallBear was interviewed on CBC Vancouver's afternoon show, On the Coast, on Friday January 6, 2023.</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;">CBC host Gloria Macarenko said that when the story first broke CBC asked UBC about Turpel-Lafond's Indigenous identity. UBC said identity had nothing to do with this hire. TallBear responded by explaining how and why universities want to hire Indigenous peoples and that while non-Indigenous people can do some of this work, Indigenous peoples bring a specific expertise. So of course universities pay attention to this, so of course a university would consider a person's Indigenous identity as relevant. She then closed by saying <i><b>"I don’t believe [UBC ignored the Identity claim], does anybody believe that?"</b></i> (</span><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-46-on-the-coast/clip/15958468-mary-ellen-turpel-lafond-longer-employed-ubc" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 233); color: #0000e9; font-kerning: none;">CBC interview, Jan. 6, 2023</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;">. min 3:39-4:43).</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;">That's the thing, none of us really believe the putative identity of the individual had nothing to do with their hiring. </span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;">As much as I am taken aback by t</span><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/mary-ellen-turpel-lafond-indigenous-cree-claims" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 233); color: #0000e9; font-kerning: none;">he story about this individual</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;">, my disappointment rests with the senior administrators who did the hiring and recruitment. My disappointment extends to the ones who okayed a statement that is hard to believe, especially when read against the statements announcing the appointment (which so clearly foreground Indigenous identity).</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;">There is another issue here, the conceptual focus on individual identity. This mistaken focus misunderstands Indigenous sovereignty and citizenship and confuses it with settler society's fetishization of the individual. To focus on identity makes being indigenous ‘just another’ ethnicity, when it is not that at all. We need clear university processes to validate membership and citizenship in Indigenous Nations, especially in cases where jobs, awards, or student placement are linked to being a member of an Indigenous Nation.</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: inherit; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: inherit; font-kerning: none;">Being Indigenous is to be<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3993639877737195356/6329658352596808263#"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 233); color: #0000e9; font-kerning: none;"> </span></a><span class="s5" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-kerning: none;"><b><a href="https://charlesmenzies.blogspot.com/2022/12/whats-your-nation.html" target="_blank">connected, committed, and claimed</a></b></span></span><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: inherit; font-kerning: none;"><a href="https://charlesmenzies.blogspot.com/2022/12/whats-your-nation.html" target="_blank">.</a> That is, a person is related in some manner through their own family and their own history to an existing First Nation. This person is involved in their community (or some part of it) and maintains active linkages. Their community of account itself acknowledges them as a member and claims the person as their own. People outside that intersection of 'c's might have Indigenous 'heritage' but, by this model are not Indigenous qua Indigenous. A non-Indigenous person may even be 'adopted' into a community, but they remain non-Indigenous. Neither is this <a href="https://storiesfhome.blogspot.com/2021/03/nothing-you-can-do-about-it-youre-indian.html" target="_blank">about self-identification</a>.</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: inherit;">Would anyone take me seriously if I started wearing kilts and said I was Scottish (even if my last name is Scottish). Would they accept if I claimed to be Quebcois since my great grandfather on my mother's father's side came from Trois Rivieres. I might colour my past with stories of those origins but would it make me Scottish or Quebecois? I don't think so.</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;">Through all of this UBC's leadership needs to to set aside their PR script writers and strategic communicators – none of whom seem to have a good understanding of Indigenous issues or realities- and speak with UBC's Indigenous community publicly and honestly without the protection of a scripted statement. They need to take on the institutional responsibility for what their predecessors did and atone for it. It's time they paid attention to their very own </span><a href="https://isp.ubc.ca/" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 233); color: #0000e9; font-kerning: none;">Indigenous Strategic Plan</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;">. We need an Indigenous-led process to ensure we never walk this particular path again.</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 19, 19); color: #131313; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-46407715559929823352022-12-15T20:57:00.002-08:002022-12-16T05:48:17.421-08:00"What's your Nation?" <p>"What's your Nation?" That's one of the first questions I got asked in the First Nations Longhouse shortly after I was hired at UBC in 1996. I'd been invited to a board meeting with other Indigenous staff and faculty at the Longhouse (a monthly occurrence in those days). The meeting was in the afternoon. It was my turn to pick up my twin sons from kindergarten (it was half day in those days). I mentioned to the person calling me with the invite I would have my five year old sons with me, which they simply ignored and said they looked forward to seeing me at the meeting.</p><p>Later that week I arrived at the meeting, sons in tow, and proceeded to have the perfect distracted parent experience as my sons settled in as any five year olds might when they'd rather be somewhere else. It was in the midst of that meeting that the question came up. Back home folks locate each other by who we're related to, in the university context where people come from all over the place and the chance of knowing each other's relatives is a bit less likely, identifying by our Nation is more common. Just the same I find a lot of folks I'm related to in Indigenous circles on campus, on staff, in my classes, and occasionally even among faculty. "What's your nation?" is a shorthand way of figuring out who one is and how one might be connected.</p><p>Being willing and able to locate oneself in a Nation and a family is a critical part of being Indigenous. Previously <a href="https://charlesmenzies.blogspot.com/2021/02/parsing-out-identity-claims.html">I have described this form of identity</a> following <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444;">Cherokee academic </span><a href="http://www.corntassel.net/WhoisIndigenous.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #3778cd; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Jeff Corntassel </a><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444;">take on Indigenous Identity. He defines it through a 'peoplehood' approach: <b>connected, committed, and claimed</b>. That is a person is related in some manner through family and history to an existing First Nation. This person is involved in their community and maintains active linkages. The community itself acknowledges them as a member and claims the person as their own. People outside that intersection of 'c's might have Indigenous 'heritage' but, by this model are not Indigenous qua Indigenous. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">There are a lot of folks who might be connected but not claimed. They might be claimed but not connected. They might even be very committed to the cause (but not actually connected). This is often the place in which a university administrator shakes their head and says, "but it's so </span><span style="color: #444444;">complicated" and then stays silent and inactive. </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white;">I am well aware of the complexity of these matters professionally and personally. Professionally I am an anthropologist and much of what anthropologists study is how people form themselves into meaning making groups built around identity and practice. Personally I am an enrolled member of the Tlingit and Haida Tribes of Alaska (a US federally recognized Tribe) and a Status Indian member of Gitxaała Nation in Canada. <a href="https://storiesfhome.blogspot.com/2021/02/my-mother-was-white-women.html">My mother was from a settler family</a>. <a href="https://storiesfhome.blogspot.com/2021/03/nothing-you-can-do-about-it-youre-indian.html">My father is First Nations</a>. I grew up in town, not reserve. All of these things shape my personal sense of identity and play a role in the <a href="https://storiesfhome.blogspot.com/2021/02/detail-of-painting-by-greg-deal-during.html">social reality of being Indigenous</a>. Complex, but not really complicated.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white;">Complications and complexity are insufficient rationales for administrators to remain silent when people occupy these spaces by pretending to be something that they are not. The question needs to be asked, "What's your Nation?"</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white;">This becomes particularly important when scarce resources -student fellowships and awards, research grants, positions of employment- are allocated in accordance with one's putative identity. It should not be taken as an affront to be asked "What's your Nation? especially if it is part of how one is positioning themselves to gain access to things marked off for Indigenous people.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white;">UBC has an obligation to own their own actions, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-ubc-backs-mary-ellen-turpel-lafond-after-report-raises-questions-about/">not to go silent or pretend an Indigenous identity was not part of their consideration</a>. Yet time rolls on and UBC remains silent at the upper levels compounding the ill effects caused by their continued inaction. </span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444;"><br /></span></span></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-86659263942680261542022-12-10T08:00:00.004-08:002022-12-11T08:07:40.911-08:00#UBCBoG 2022 Election Results<p>The 2022 Board of Governors election for faculty governors came to a close Thursday, Dec. 8th at 4pm. Results were announced to the candidates late Friday afternoon.</p><p>Declared elected were Anna Kindler (260 votes) and Charles Menzies (225 votes). </p><p>560 of the eligible 2816 voters cast ballots. Most voters selected two candidates each. Based on the number of total votes cast (1051) and the potential total vote (560 x 2 = 1120) we can infer that 69 people plumped (voted for only one candidate).</p><p>The vote spread between the last elected and third ranked candidate was 17 votes. Total vote spread between first elected and fifth ranked candiate was 93 votes.</p><p>None of the candidates received a plurality of votes. Candidate shares of support (% of eligible voters who voted for them) range from a high of 46% to a low of 30%. Both elected candidates each received more than 40%. During the last election (2016) both elected candidates were elected with 50% or more. </p><p>Overall close to 20% of those eligible voted, which is significantly more than for the last actual election in 2016 in which 15% voted. <a href="https://charlesmenzies.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-adshade-affair.html">The 2020 election was by acclamation</a> so no one voted for the two declared elected candidates in that election.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOJrBhUutyFBLnZjnzYeFiTcPMUcRB_hXG7yE8EZkrOmTH44Py427EyBi9bEWbipXyaNYJFDOrjm7plIbfCGp3TDbGwZKfisPnbN322Q-G3lqySbuBI4j6_DPSw5BQ84WkkGnFlzw6qnZOuL63RNPKNFIVqcbtrJIAuMOEprz_qnyFnX0GssXtMj5u/s1784/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-10%20at%207.22.15%20AM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="1784" height="78" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOJrBhUutyFBLnZjnzYeFiTcPMUcRB_hXG7yE8EZkrOmTH44Py427EyBi9bEWbipXyaNYJFDOrjm7plIbfCGp3TDbGwZKfisPnbN322Q-G3lqySbuBI4j6_DPSw5BQ84WkkGnFlzw6qnZOuL63RNPKNFIVqcbtrJIAuMOEprz_qnyFnX0GssXtMj5u/w400-h78/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-10%20at%207.22.15%20AM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">2016 Election results.</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-8733640041369706842022-12-06T13:38:00.003-08:002022-12-06T13:38:34.907-08:00Ubyssey election profile transcript. <p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Last Friday I was interviewed by The Ubyssey for <a href="https://www.ubyssey.ca/news/here-are-the-candidates-running-in-the-board-of-governors-faculty-election/">a profile piece on faculty candidates f</a>or the current board of governors' election. This is a slightly cleaned up version of my answers. I have removed comments from the reporter and inserted simple questions in their place.</span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Q. Why are you running for the board?</b></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:00:33.190] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I was on the board three years ago, I served one term. About six years ago I ran for the board because the University Board of Governors had taken to meeting behind closed doors, avoiding publicizing what they were talking about. And [they] were literally caught scampering around campus avoiding the press. And that point in time faculty voted a motion of non-confidence in the Board of Governors. And I thought at the time we needed people on the board who were willing to speak with a different voice, weren't afraid of speaking out publicly. And so I ran. And was elected that time. And at the end of that term things looked like they'd improved a bit. They had a board, a chair of the board, who was willing to push the administration to keep things in the open. It wasn't perfect, but it looked like things [had] been done and it would be nice to have some people in there who were kind of less publicly expressive. But it seems that the board has become more entrenched [in secrecy]. The Pandemic gave them the opportunity to retrench behind closed doors. They've been massively defensive. The meeting to come up on December 5, for example, has literally 90 minutes of public debate.</span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Everything else has gone to be either closed meeting or consent agenda where the full board won't talk about it. The board will probably say the material has been discussed in the committee meetings. The committees are now structured so they're [a] subset of the full board. And not all board members are either welcome to attend those meetings, nor are they encouraged to, given the fact [of] the way it's set up. So that means a small subset of the board is making decisions that have major importance and then it just gets tossed to the consent agenda and then they meet behind closed doors. That needs to be addressed. Mark Maclean who isn't running this time, has been very public towards the end of his term about this. And I think that it's unfortunate that a large public institution's board of governors would use such kind of managerial secrecy to govern itself</span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Q. What are your specific goals?</b></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:03:05.880] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">While the two basic principles that motivate me are what you might call </span><span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration-line: underline;">ecologically grounded growth</span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> and paying attention to </span><span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration-line: underline;">the primary mission of the university</span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">. This institution is currently in a visioning exercise. They're trying to scale up massively the campus facilities, the residential components, and it's all being framed as an ecologically growth based program. I'm not convinced, but I think when we look at this, we need to ask, do we have to be constantly growing? How do we maintain the core academic mission of the university? And to do so in a way that's ecologically grounded, that recognizes the climate emergency that we're in, that attends to the academic mission, not the corporate profits of the development sector that is very large, even under, a nominally centrist government (the provincial government). We actually have a board of governors that still favour a development orientation on campus, which isn't really in the best interest, I would argue, of students, staff or faculty or the people of the province British Columbia. I've lived on this campus for 26 years. I've worked on this campus for 26 years. My kids grew up here. They went to school in the nearby schools.</span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">We first rented from UBC Housing, then we rented from Village Gate Homes, and then we were able to buy a condominium in a co-development for faculty and staff at university. … During this time I've sat on our Faculty Association executive a number of times. I've been an elected resident director on the University of Neighborhood Association. And of course, I’m currently sitting on the Senate in Vancouver as a joint faculty senator. And through living here, working here, playing here, raising a family here, being involved in these things, you meet a whole range of people from across campus. So I think I find myself with a kind of interesting point of view of seeing a wide perspective of people. I think had I just lived off campus, I would have a very different viewpoint of the situation. But by living here and working here and being so involved, we recognize the things that we really do. And I think that brings me right back to the idea about how we structure this question about growth.</span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I think as a society we really have to ask quite seriously about whether how we do [development]. I'm not opposed to, [not saying] do nothing. That's the wrong approach. But it has to be an informed model [or growth] that is actually consistent with asking with literally with each building we put up, each job we create, with each sort of program we structure: ‘What's the actual long term cumulative effects of doing this?’ So far, we [consider] every piece of [development] segment by segment,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Q. What is the relevance of your past experience?</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:06:27.060] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I think one of the things that tends to happen is the people who go to the board tend to be department heads, deans, associate dean, things like that. And they're really tied into the management track at university. For better, for worse, I have not been part of the management system on this campus. I've been involved in the front line of faculty teaching my four courses a year, like regular faculty in arts do, doing the different service activities, doing my research, doing publications, doing grants, training students, doing all that work. And when you do that, after a quarter century, you start to realize there's things that don't work. … So you recognize these problems, and when you see it from the grassroots level, you see it differently than when you're sitting up in the management level of things.</span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">That's a different vantage point. We need that viewpoint [management’s]. I don't disagree with that. Point is we need to make sure that the kind of grassroots, that actual faculty member who's been in the trenches all through the years doing the work, that's the voice we [also] need sitting on the board at the governors’ table. Because otherwise people are kind of too isolated from what's actually been happening. And there's a kind of bubble built around the dean's office, the president's office, the senior management offices, where they kind of inform each other of what they're doing, and that closes in [on them]. And when you're down here, and like I am living here talking to people, I meet a lot of different people from different things, different walks of life, literally as I'm walking and running across campus. And we need that voice because the board of governors doesn’t really know anything [about UBC]. The people who are appointed, they don't know anything really about UBC, they don't live here, they don't work here. They maybe went to school here years ago, or they have a child that might be going to school here, or a husband or relative or something like that.</span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Someone's [on the board needs] to have an actual connection. [From the grassroots we] see a different level. They [appointed governors] actually need to hear that voice. And that's where the faculty, the staff and the student representatives really come in and play a major role, because we are so closely tied to [the on the ground experience], that our voices need to be heard and we need to be confident and willing to articulate a clear, independent voice as faculty, students, or staff represent on the board. I think that's more important than anything.</span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Q. What would you like to accomplish?</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:09:45.870] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I think it's really quite simple. More meetings in public. Open meetings. I find it hard to actually believe there's so much business going on that somehow needs to be kept closed. I think that something else is happening. That there's just a reluctance to be viewed and people feel uncomfortable [being seen]. And I get it. When I make decisions about teaching my classes and a student comes and asks me a question, a query something, Yeah, I don't necessarily want them to see all my back ruminations on how to do that, but I actually think [sharing that helps] explains to the student. [If I share] all the process I've gone through, [how I] establish this particular type of assignment or this decision on how to do things? It helps them understand, and they can, like, say, oh, I agree with you. You're right. [Or], actually, professor, did you notice when you said that you actually avoided, miss a whole category of things that you should have thought about? If I don't share that information with the student, I have no way to learn from that experience. If the board doesn't share what they're talking about behind closed doors, if there's no way of releasing it, we have no basis to evaluate or understand what they're doing.</span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">So the solution is simple more meetings in public. I actually think that more people who appointed the board have a public duty to be public and expressive of the decision-making process in what they're thinking of. They shouldn't be allowed to sit in quiet in the background not being observed by the general public. Under the Liberals. I will say this lately, as I said at the time, a lot of the Liberal appointees, they thought it's a plum to get a UBC appointment. And it was more prestige than. Of course, in their version, they tell you it was public service. There was a kind of prestige mark. I had an associate of an in law of mine who was a hardcore Liberal who really said that there was a kind of ranking of who you got [what appointment]. I don't think the NDP is approaching that yet. You have to be in power a little bit longer before that starts to kick into play. It's generally happened the last time they were in power. By the time the end of the 90s came around, the people they were pointing to boards, it was patronage appointments type stuff, but they're appointed they have a public duty.</span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">So we need to know where they stand on the issues that they're voting on, because they're making, they decide about tuition, how many people I'm almost willing to bet on this, how many of the board members are going to necessarily say anything very much about tuition? Probably the students, a number of the faculty and the staff reps are probably the ones who say the most about it. And you'll get the people who say why we do need to have tuition fee increases from that core? And then there'll probably be a good chunk. Hopefully I'll be wrong if they read this before the meeting, but there'll be a good chunk that will just say nothing and it will go through. But I think people should have an obligation if they have given such an important thing. This is a multi billion dollar enterprise. We need to know where they stand and all these issues. We need to know what they think about development. We need to know what they think and not just a vote. That's not actually how they think. Get to the positions that they've arrived at that should be public. That's a kind of radical perspective.</span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">A lot of people don't think that's appropriate and they especially don't think it's appropriate in the corporate board. But this isn't a corporate board. This is a public university board. And so it makes it all totally different.</span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Q. Anything else to say?</b></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:13:25.620] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I'd say that any two out of the five people whose names have been put would make amazing and excellent Board of Governors members, and I think that we're blessed to have so many people. The last election we had didn't have an election. When you look at the people I see, there are four colleagues who have all put their names forward, all of them I know. I admire, respect and value each of them and would be pleased to see any of them be a member of the Board of Governors.</span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-63675260854967830582022-12-03T06:44:00.000-08:002022-12-03T06:44:59.600-08:00#UBCBoG Faculty Elections - last chance to vote<p>Voting in the UBC Board of Governors' faculty elections ends at 4pm on December 8th.</p><p>If you haven't yet voted and want to here's how: </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><b><span>To Vote </span></b><span><o:p></o:p></span></p><ol start="1" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span>Go to: <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a contenteditable="false" href="https://ssc.adm.ubc.ca/webvote/servlets/ElectionsFC" style="color: #0563c1;" title="https://ssc.adm.ubc.ca/webvote/servlets/ElectionsFC"><span style="color: purple;">https://ssc.adm.ubc.ca/webvote/servlets/ElectionsFC</span></a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span>Click “CWL login” on the right hand side to login with your CWL credentials</span><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span>Click “Vote” next to the “UBC Vancouver Faculty Representative - Board of Governors (2022-2023 Triennial Elections)”</span><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span>Vote for your preferred candidates (up to 2) by clicking on the box next to the candidate’s name</span><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span>Click on “Submit Vote” then click “ok” to confirm your submission before logging out</span><o:p></o:p></li></ol><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><b><span>Polls will be open via<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>WebVote<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>from the morning of Thursday 24 November 2022 until 4 pm on Thursday 8 December 2022.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><b><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><b><span><br /></span></b></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-40212753267918307862022-11-30T06:36:00.007-08:002022-12-03T05:29:16.490-08:00Student Governors call out lack of #UBCBoG Transparency<p>UBC-V student governors took to twitter November 30th to call out #UBCBoG's lack of transparency. December 5th's full meeting of the board has a mere one hour of public discussion. </p><p>Over the past three years the current board has winnowed down public meetings from a day and a half to one hour. They have shifted much of the decision making into committees of the board, which are restricted to small subsets of the full board and few of those decisions make it on the floor of the whole board for discussion. </p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdZ98pkFsH0b9c6Z-8fTIURMTFGzr0X5z4guztTgeyaly_4TdpKSpdBg5wJaXS2fVp3Th6-gR44GEbi1ZIIAgojFWM8rgJ5SC2okFZjyxPP3SEzgrFs7qukZImRR1_NnPVE9G1WRZYsm98kad5zocNtGFefL2DmVCig9drkfPhVe9G2fuDVGx9qOO_/s1182/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-30%20at%206.05.41%20AM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="1182" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdZ98pkFsH0b9c6Z-8fTIURMTFGzr0X5z4guztTgeyaly_4TdpKSpdBg5wJaXS2fVp3Th6-gR44GEbi1ZIIAgojFWM8rgJ5SC2okFZjyxPP3SEzgrFs7qukZImRR1_NnPVE9G1WRZYsm98kad5zocNtGFefL2DmVCig9drkfPhVe9G2fuDVGx9qOO_/w400-h259/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-30%20at%206.05.41%20AM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/sunygeorgia/status/1597870817488273410" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Link to full thread.</span></i></a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL2A_-2HlRE-WNAa8raDoRd22Lmz3wQV3ZW8TRpfXnKRbUfSv5eMPKFCcAUYr1Tnd9JZGj8_kztPbpWzhDTqortEawu4rMCChrA8WZ0fowntN4JovYCasZYvrwIIDFaSDE_wmgWsUKrIUhA4NV0VjeKwoW9AH8i7PQPd8eVIA0qx4hxYvBJjU_TCkF/s1212/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-30%20at%206.11.17%20AM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="706" data-original-width="1212" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL2A_-2HlRE-WNAa8raDoRd22Lmz3wQV3ZW8TRpfXnKRbUfSv5eMPKFCcAUYr1Tnd9JZGj8_kztPbpWzhDTqortEawu4rMCChrA8WZ0fowntN4JovYCasZYvrwIIDFaSDE_wmgWsUKrIUhA4NV0VjeKwoW9AH8i7PQPd8eVIA0qx4hxYvBJjU_TCkF/w400-h233/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-30%20at%206.11.17%20AM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/jmaxholmes/status/1597720888035913728" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Link to full thread.</span></i></a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Not since <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/how-ubc-lost-a-president-a-year-after-they-hiredhim/article26116195/" target="_blank">the Board forced a university president to resign</a> has it hid behind closed door in camera meetings so extensively. That moment resulted in a faculty vote of non-confidence in the Board of Governors. The closed door actions of the board motivated me to run for election to the board in 2016. Over the 2017-2020 term the board had it's own little <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring" target="_blank">Prague Spring</a></i> and more issues ended up in open meetings, more discussion was held, and the administration faced closer scrutiny for its decisions. But it didn't last.</p><p>Under the technocratic guises of efficiency the current board leadership has essentially removed the possibility of public scrutiny from the boards' own actions and, consequently, from the actions of the university administration. But it goes beyond that. They have also used an expansive definition of conflict of interest <a href="https://blogs.ubc.ca/poincareduality/" target="_blank">to exclude faculty and student governors from key committees and important decisions</a>. </p><p>UBC is a public institution. As such it has obligations to the people of British Columbia that differ from typical Non-government organizations or private corporations. An environmental or civil society NGO is only beholden to its board and funders. A private corporation to its shareholders. But a public university has an obligation far more profound, it needs to be responsible to the entire province. It is not sufficient that unelected government appointees are informed. That is not sufficient to carry out the duty to the people of BC. </p><p>UBC's Board of Governors needs to take UBC's own publicity materials to heart, be bold, be innovative, be open.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdoFrhXizREVCrDuPGTGQKPwV4oVu2YMWqj6AldH6A1BvfNR48-Qn8euK9HYRzwlF7CD6CPTtRhhYA9gv21lUU1kbmaPFBkiOAt58_BrjFMylg8x0Sa86J_LawF2AfqpNiTEJhVZ9X5RNm2QTEbXIE-zrZY4GusMbjCbhglKCC890wG7M2U6bTAvyI/s1014/FimtZyrakAAf5dD.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="1014" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdoFrhXizREVCrDuPGTGQKPwV4oVu2YMWqj6AldH6A1BvfNR48-Qn8euK9HYRzwlF7CD6CPTtRhhYA9gv21lUU1kbmaPFBkiOAt58_BrjFMylg8x0Sa86J_LawF2AfqpNiTEJhVZ9X5RNm2QTEbXIE-zrZY4GusMbjCbhglKCC890wG7M2U6bTAvyI/w400-h211/FimtZyrakAAf5dD.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://t.co/33mjf6l0dt" target="_blank">Read UBC's guide on writing boldly at this link.</a></td></tr></tbody></table><a href="https://t.co/33mjf6l0dt" target="_blank"><br /></a><p><a href="https://t.co/33mjf6l0dt" target="_blank"><br /></a></p><p><a href="https://t.co/33mjf6l0dt" target="_blank"><br /></a></p><p><a href="https://t.co/33mjf6l0dt" target="_blank"><br /></a></p><p><a href="https://t.co/33mjf6l0dt" target="_blank"><br /></a></p><p><a href="https://t.co/33mjf6l0dt" target="_blank"><br /></a></p><p><a href="https://t.co/33mjf6l0dt" target="_blank"><br /></a></p><p><a href="https://t.co/33mjf6l0dt" target="_blank"><br /></a></p><p><a href="https://t.co/33mjf6l0dt" target="_blank"><br /></a></p><p><br /></p><p>Our Board of Governors needs to reestablish open, transparent, and democratic practice that serve the best interests of the university. That is not achieved by locking themselves behind closed doors. Governors are there becuase it is presumed they have something important to say. That they bring a particular expertise, knowledge. or life experience to the table. To sit quietly behind closed doors seems unbefitting of a research university that is supposed to lead boldly.</p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-3210926583770153152022-11-28T07:42:00.002-08:002022-11-28T11:56:57.419-08:00Campaign: week one<p>I extend my thanks to those colleagues who have already voted, and to those who let me know they were supporting me. I always feel honoured to be trusted by colleagues who offer me support. I also appreciate those colleagues who may disagree with me, may not wish to support me, and find the way to share positively our differences. What makes a university work is our ability to ensure and maintain support for a diversity of perspectives in the engagement of research and teaching.</p><p>Voting remains open until December 8th at 4pm. </p><p>Here are the instructions to vote:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><b><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">To Vote </span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><ol start="1" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Go to: <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a contenteditable="false" href="https://ssc.adm.ubc.ca/webvote/servlets/ElectionsFC" style="color: #0563c1;" title="https://ssc.adm.ubc.ca/webvote/servlets/ElectionsFC"><span style="color: purple; font-size: 10.5pt;">https://ssc.adm.ubc.ca/webvote/servlets/ElectionsFC</span></a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Click “CWL login” on the right hand side to login with your CWL credentials</span><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Click “Vote” next to the “UBC Vancouver Faculty Representative - Board of Governors (2022-2023 Triennial Elections)”</span><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Vote for your preferred candidates (up to 2) by clicking on the box next to the candidate’s name</span><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Click on “Submit Vote” then click “ok” to confirm your submission before logging out</span><o:p></o:p></li></ol><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><b><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Polls will be open via<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>WebVote<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>from the morning of Thursday 24 November 2022 until 4 pm on Thursday 8 December 2022.</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;">I have enjoyed the chance to talk with colleagues over this past week about issues that are important to us and to our university. Two related issues have come up: housing and campus growth. The current Campus Vision 2050 also shines a spot light on these questions.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;">I am a proponent of restricting campus development in ways that focus solely on the university's academic mission. That means orienting housing developments in the residential areas in ways that allow those faculty (and staff & students) who want to live on campus to be able to do so. The university has restricted its faculty housing to rental or leasehold, but there are many other housing options that could be included in the mix (co-housing, coops, shared equity, etc). I have been a campus resident since being hired at UBC. My family and I know only too well the difficulties of Vancouver housing. Our family of four spent our first several years in an 800 sq ft apartment on Osoyoos Crescent, another half dozen years renting from UBC's Village Gate Homes. We now live in one of the few co-development housing projects built by UBC in Hawthorn Place. The Board is a place where we can actively make a difference in housing supply on campus, but we need clear strong support from governors to do this. Having faculty representatives who understand this is important in making the case at the Board. As we move forward with Campus Vision 2050 we need to ensure university-connected housing is the priority.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;">We also live in the midst of a climate emergency. In this context we need to be very careful about how we proceed with campus growth. Growth and expansion simply for the sake of growth is no longer socially responsible. However, we have to ensure we maintain what we have, keep up with changes in faculty laboratory and physical plant needs, and ensure our classrooms can support modern teaching. Many of our buildings no longer provide what the building people call 'thermal comfort.' Many of these buildings also lack in proper and effective ventilation systems capable of keeping people safe with airborne viruses. We need to rebuild a lot of campus infrastructure. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;">Living and working on this campus, raising our family here, has kept me connected with many facets of our university world. Living here I meet colleagues I might never have meet if I lived off campus. I find value in working with colleagues, neighbour's, and friends to keep our community of scholars a great place to be, and strive to make it even better. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;">I trust that you will find reason to count me among your choice for faculty governor when you vote in this election.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times;"> </span></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-28103631694347836872022-10-31T07:38:00.024-07:002022-11-07T12:11:29.026-08:00Seeking Election to UBC's Board of Governors<p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">My paperwork has now been accepted and I am officially a candidate.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I seek your support for election to UBC's Board of Governors. I last served as an elected faculty governor from 2017-2020. During that term I served as chair of the Learning and Research committee. I was the inaugural vice-chair of the Indigenous Engagement committee. In 2020, rather than run again, I sought a position on UBC-V’s senate and am currently a joint faculties senator.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">I have been a faculty member at UBC since 1996. I’ve served four terms as Member-at-Large on the Faculty Association of UBC (FAUBC), 2001-2007, 2012-2014. As a resident of the university area, I’ve served two terms as elected Director of the University Neighbourhoods Association (UNA), 2012-2016.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">My<a href="https://menzies.arts.ubc.ca/" target="_blank"> research focuses on First Nations</a>’ natural resource management, decolonization, and social justice and fairness in human relations. </span></p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">When I ran for election in 2016 I said “It’s time for a change in how the BoG responds to faculty members.” During that term things did improve a bit. We’re now learning the situation has turned backwards. Much of the board’s work occurs behind closed doors. Elected governors have been excluded from key decisions.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">We need voices willing to speak out to keep the BoG transparent.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I am dedicated to working to ensure open and transparent democratic practices in the governance of our university. I would be pleased to speak with any who have questions about my candidacy. I can be found on twitter @charlesmenzies. I also author a faculty issues blog called charlesmenzies.blogspot.com and a local newsletter <i><a href="https://charlesmenzies.substack.com/" target="_blank">“A Campus Resident.”</a></i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">-----</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">My thanks to the colleagues who agreed to sign my nomination form. You come from across our campus, some I have known for a long time, some I have only recently got to know. I value the trust you placed in me by signing my nomination form.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">During my last term as an elected governor I made a point of publicly commenting on issues in front of the board. You can find an archive of my comments on this blog site. </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-2897222564453837722022-10-29T16:08:00.005-07:002022-12-28T11:02:32.580-08:00 Katzie First Nation sues BC Hydro over impact to Alouette River salmon | Vancouver Sun interview<p> I was <a href="https://vancouversun.com/news/katzie-first-nation-sues-b-c-hydro-over-impact-to-alouette-river-salmon" target="_blank">interviewed for a story</a> about a recent court filing by Katzie First Nation. I include, below, the section of the story that quoted me and the full text of my interview. Most of the journalist's comments are edited out to highlight specific questions asked and my response offered.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFscHhdCMPOGQCUI-DUATPQmoZFzljUZxfaOk8iNNkj0vdL7J9dL2z-GCoqWqnR-zLCDg7RzFXLtKAkMsB61ofqOJkF4pYmWr5jutESY-Ky_mywl6jUALtCU1n09eg8o4t9FN1sr37Sr5QSexwC8ULFyFbZCfYRn0d9CrAuMYf0Bub3tazckuOaGV/s948/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-29%20at%208.18.42%20AM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="948" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFscHhdCMPOGQCUI-DUATPQmoZFzljUZxfaOk8iNNkj0vdL7J9dL2z-GCoqWqnR-zLCDg7RzFXLtKAkMsB61ofqOJkF4pYmWr5jutESY-Ky_mywl6jUALtCU1n09eg8o4t9FN1sr37Sr5QSexwC8ULFyFbZCfYRn0d9CrAuMYf0Bub3tazckuOaGV/w400-h271/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-29%20at%208.18.42%20AM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I am quoted near the end of the story as follows: </span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #191919; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; max-width: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i></i></span></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #191919; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; max-width: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><i>Charles Menzies, an anthropology professor at the University of B.C., predicted that if a dollar value was assigned to the lost salmon, the number would be “astronomically big.”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #191919; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; max-width: 100%;"></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #191919; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; max-width: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><i>But mitigation does not simply equate to the number of fish lost when a dam is built.</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #191919; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; max-width: 100%;"></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #191919; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; max-width: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><i>“Community practices were disrupted,” he said, as well as an entire “way of life.”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #191919; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; max-width: 100%;"></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #191919; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; max-width: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><i>Menzies said the Katzie likely felt they had no other choice in turning to the court.</i></span></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Here's the interview transcript behind the quote. </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:00:22.800] - Glenda Luymes</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Okay, awesome. I'm just writing a story today about the court filing, from the Katzie First Nation. … I just wondered what your thoughts are on this situation, if there's a broader context that this comes in, and if mitigated, what kind of mitigation would ever make up for the losses on that river to the traditional territory?</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:02:48.040] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Yeah, one of the things to note is that from the early part of the 20th century, from the early 1900s, through to well, in the 70s … there's a lot of industrial actions on the land that took place with impunity, like Hydro, DFO (dept of fisheries and oceans), forestry, Ministry of Forests, and with different private companies. Basically, [they] just did a lot of things without any recourse to First Nations … So, for example, up in the Skeena of river system at Hagwilget, DFO decided there was a rock in the way in the 1940s or 50s I think it was, and they blew it up and it destroyed a fishing site. That one actually became a comprehensive court, not a comprehensive, a specific claims litigation which DFO and the government of Canada eventually back out and paid them multiple units of millions of dollars. And why I mentioned Hagwilget case is that really relates, what the Hagwilget were arguing, I presume, really roughly applies to the case you have here. Something very similar is that the community of practice was disrupted.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:04:12.360] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">So the ability of the Hagwilget people to continue to fish salmon in their traditional manner in their usual and accustomed places was disrupted and that had a whole cycle of different disruptions. And the various court documents around that, and expert opinion reports, really documented the extent to which the Hagwilget way of life in terms of fishing was disrupted because of this action. Now in the 50s DFO had promised to make compensation to the Hagwilget community. “We're going to give you some cans of salmon that are made commercially. We're going to get you nets, we're going to let you have fish down river in the commercial fishery.” They promised stuff, but it was deemed that it really didn't equate [to the lost fishing site] and it wasn't really a parallel or a fair or adequate compensation. That's why the government decided to settle it because I suspect had they let it continue through the court cases, they were at risk to lose significantly more than they actually paid out, which somewhere between 20 and $25 million to the Hagwilget. Here we have a situation where state owned enterprise BC hydro disrupted through power things in the 1920s and then when they renegotiated 95, they would sort of mitigate these impacts.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:06:02.010] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">… I shouldn't presume what Hydro may have offered in the 1920s or their antecedent, clearly they made promises in the mid 1990s and this is I think a period when they're trying to [do an] awful lot more hydro development with run river of contracts and stuff like that.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:06:37.740] - Glenda Luymes</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Okay.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:06:39.260] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">But the difficulty is this caused [disruption in a way of life], it continues in an ongoing disruption to a way of life, [undermining Katzie’s ] capacity to harvest and probably result[ed] in changing a fishing pattern in addition. So not being able to fish in the Alouette would force them probably downstream into the main trunk of the Fraser River.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:07:04.090] - Glenda Luymes</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Yeah the significance of a change like that, it's not just one place replacing another or some canned fish replacing a whole way of life. Can you talk a little bit more about that.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:07:26.060] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">A fellow called Joe Jorgenson talking about the Exxon Valdez oil spill and how it affected his indigenous communities in Cooks Inlet. And he described it, and he framed it as kind of the idea, the notion of a community of practice. And so it just wasn't like you lose an object of some value, but around when the particular practice that is engaged [in was disrupted]. … It's not just harvesting fish, catching the fish, processing the fish, but teaching and learning, inter-generational transfer of knowledge occurs to that place. And it's not just in the abstract but happening in a particular location. All of this really augments and it sort of exponentially increases the implications, … , the negative implications of this kind of disruption. And of course, if the hope was brought back by the hydro thing in the mid 90 days, [with Hydro saying] “we're going to fix this,” and then they didn't actually follow through on it. They basically make it even significantly worse than the earlier afront. But often times people will say, well, how much does it cost to pay this out? They want a dollar value it, and you can kind of do those sorts of exercises, but it's really kind of hard to do because what you're really saying, you try to put dollar value on cultural beliefs, practices and long transmission of experience, there really is no dollar value for that; but you can do it.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:09:08.070] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">There's people who trained to do that. But the numbers become so astronomically big that it's kind of hard to envision what that actually means.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:09:18.410] - Glenda Luymes</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">It's interesting. Yeah. I don't want to speak for the Katzie First Nation or try to try to figure out what they're hoping for, but yeah, I wanted to ask that question, like, what would be enough?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:09:51.820] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">So if we just look at the general and aggravated damages, say, as an anthropologist, if I was asked to actually write a report and assessment. When you start hearing they've been displaced from being able to practice salmon fishing in this area, you can actually cost out the value of the salmon harvesting that was disrupted to them by looking at the records, … how many families were engaged in harvesting in this system. And you can kind of run these calculations, and that's when the numbers start getting really big because then you bring in an accountant to amortize that over time. So it's not just a rough abstract number without running through the things. I did a similar report for another community, and I calculated over a 40 year period of time something in the neighborhood of about $100 million of lost fishing opportunity, as well as the additional sort of side benefits of trade and exchange, etc. that happened. That's why I say these are large numbers, because people don't understand how much fish people were catching when they were operating fairly unmolested by colonial forces. And in the early 20s, even though the industrial fishery on the Fraser River are happening because they would have been harvesting household based production at a quite high level.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:11:17.590] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">It's not just sockeye. I mean, you've got dogs, pinks, spring coho, a whole range of salmon species included. And of course, there's salmon. That's the target. There's a whole range of other species that also get affected. You change the water flow in, you're going to disrupt the hydrology of the whole system. That affects things. Like, oolichan and sturgeon, there's a kind of cumulative effect.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:11:52.310] - Glenda Luymes</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Would you hazard a guess on how hydro would address this or what their next move is, or why this has gone to court, and why it's taken 25 years.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:12:08.210] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">These things take a long time. And people, in my case [when I reflect on] back home in the community, despite all evidence to the contrary, people are often very optimistic that people who come and make deals with them are being honest, even though our history shows, right from the first time settlers arrived on these shores in their merchant ships and made promises, they never really held up their end of the deal. Yet, despite that, people tend to be really positive and willing to accept that people are going to be, actually live up to their words because they operate in the world. I don't know the specifics here, but that would be my sort of background on abstract statement about what's going on, why they take so long. And then it's like the final action because the developer, the government, whatever agency it is, has been dragging its feet and you feel like you have no other choice but to seek a court resolution course. Court cases take a long time and they're really expensive.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:13:15.630] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">You bring an expert witness or two up to the table and you're talking thousands and thousands of dollars plus the legal team's cost. So this is really prohibitive for communities. So for community to push this point to feel the need to do this, they really run all their sense of optimism and patience been run out.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:13:43.310] - Glenda Luymes</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">That's interesting.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:13:58.390] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">[quoting from court claim] "Provided evidence in Katzie Elders regarding the extensive impact of DC hydro's operation of things." And I just noticed that they basically got rid of, that type of development destroyed the sockeye run, which would have been a really important one. So you've totally removed one entire run of salmon out of this river. It looked like they really worked hard to try to put them together. Of course this is Katzie's claim and hydro, and the province will probably file their own. Obviously.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:14:54.260] - Glenda Luymes</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Yeah.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:14:59.210] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Once they done this, how do they put sockeye back in the system? They're not cheap.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:15:05.740] - Glenda Luymes</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">There's one suggestion a little later on that if things can't be mitigated, then perhaps there might be a way to have a portion of the profits that the dam generates.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:15:35.210] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I will say that I'm always skeptical, when very often when companies come to Community and promise a share of the profit. And I'm just enough of a cynic when I see how books are accounted for. We have to be very clear about whether that's actually profit because companies sometimes way they write the book, they don't actually have profit.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:15:58.840] - Glenda Luymes</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Okay.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:16:33.960] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Yes, they say profits derived from Alouette River system. That's a possibility. Not being a lawyer, I always have to be wary about the meaning in the legal terms. But my sense of just observing when I've been in Community, I've seen deals that have been made for a certain share of the profits. Then the company never make any profits. But they generate lots of revenue. The people who work for the company are getting money and there are dividends being paid out to shareholders and stuff but the company just doesn't seem to make profit. So maybe I'm being too cynical here.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:17:15.670] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">How they calculate that, clearly some payments, some reasonable payment to cover this. But I would suspect in order for that to work they would file some kind of expert opinion reports saying what's the total value of salmon and other fish and cultural values between it as lost since 1920 and particularly also since 1995. There will be some kind of document that would calculate what that would look like.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:17:47.620] - Glenda Luymes</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I see.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:17:48.660] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">And of course hydro would find an expert to try to suggest that the diminished value now were no were near what the First Nation has claimed and you get this kind of back and forth, … I can also imagine there's going to be biological fisheries experts giving opinion about what could have been done to keep the stock in the river, what could be done to get the sockeye back and whether that's even possible. I mean that's outside my area</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:18:31.760] - Glenda Luymes</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">But it seems like you said it seems a very big that it will be expensive.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:18:43.460] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The Hagwilgyt case, for example, they lost access to a fishing site for about 50 years and the government paid out, the federal government paid about $25 million for that. And that was even though the rock that was going on the river river has been something that had fallen in modern, recent memory. So it wasn't even something that they'd done for millennia before. … DFO blew it up, didn't compensate them adequately, wouldn't, and when it went to the court case, it was 25 million. So looking at the parallels between the [river] systems here and this stuff, I suspect that's in the rough equivalent zone in terms of a parallel case which basically prevented community from being able to fish in their normal accustomed location.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:19:52.630] - Glenda Luymes</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Yeah, great. I think that's the questions that I had. I really appreciate this. It really helps to explain the things that aren't said in the court documents or just take out the context that this falls into. So, yes, I appreciate it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-18107881546930552812022-09-29T07:49:00.001-07:002022-09-29T08:00:21.048-07:00Nuchatlaht First Nation fights to reclaim territory in landmark court case <p> Global BC reporter, Kylie Stanton, interviewed me for her story on the Nachatlaht rights and title case. Here is her story. </p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://globalnews.ca/video/embed/9163696/" width="560"></iframe> <div><br /></div><div>The full transcript of my comments, for context, are printed below. Lightly edited for clarity. Section quoted in newscast is <u><b>bolded and underlined.</b></u></div><div><br /></div><div><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:02:02.590] - Kylie</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">… Charles this case is being called a landmark case. It could be precedent setting in terms of the way that the BC government deals with these declarations and the land back movement. … What is it that you think is driving this issue that's brought it to court? …</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:02:46.870] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Well, there's a couple of things that are kind of interesting about this case. For one, they're looking at a relatively speaking small piece of land. So there's a very specific focus. But this is outside something that's called specific claims, which is a different category of legal claims. And so often times some of the smaller land claims cases, I'd say with the Squamish Land Court case that fit under specific claims. There was a case with Hagwiget up in the north that was against specific claims. So there's a different category of things that have occurred so that's kind of unusual that they've gone the litigation route with this particular avenue. Also just the nature of some of the issues about the way the court determines how, under Canadian law, aboriginal rights and title are passed along. So one of the big differences that people, the Canadian government considers, according to the constitution and legal history, sort of structure, is that there has to be a kind of continuous chain from a pre contact existing polity or entity and then that kind of carries its way forward. Of course, <u>t<b>he reality is today many different First Nations are combinations of different groups of people.</b></u></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:03:55.090] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b><u>Sometimes they're not actually in the places originally from</u>,</b> or if you were trying to sort this all out in a different direction. <u><b>So I think there's elements of that here</b></u>, where you've got a very small community that has members from other locations also making claims to a specific place that maybe other groups also have claims to, but they're making a particular way that is actually stands up and makes that unique. For those of us who are really into this kind of stuff, the nuance and very detailed complexity is quite interesting from an intellectual perspective. For the regular observer, they're going to look at this and think, what the hell, what gives here? It's like a small chunk of land, a small group of people. How come people can't get along with it? But of course, as logging proceeds and removes the timber from the land, the land gets fundamentally changed, ceases to be what it was to begin with. So part of what's at stake here is that First Nation is trying to prevent the logging from continuing. So at least there's something left at the end of the day. And the left, it's not necessarily the value in the timber, it's the value of the timber, of the fact of it being there, and the different types of life and practices and histories to carry on.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:05:00.980] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">So that's kind of a combination answer. What might make this, particularly, I have noticed, because you can't help but observing people, colleagues talk about different things that are paying attention to, there are some peculiarities as well about the case and different things. The way the Crown has been arguing that essentially there's kind of limitations and saying that it isn’t the right people and all this kind of stuff. But at a political level, if we're talking about reconciliation and trying to resolve things, there's a real question about why is the government continuing? Why is the Crown continuously and without hesitation basically fighting back on everything all the time? And everywhere you look there's a similar kind of issues. Only rarely do they actually make it in to court. But it's practically the entire playing field across the province of BC.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:05:53.800] - Kylie</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">… you're saying this happens all the time, this pushback [from government] is happening all the time. [But], isn't this supposed to just be a part of reconciliation, our way of moving forward by repatriating these lands? ...</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:06:30.450] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">And it doesn't seem to matter whether it's a Socred government, a Liberal government, an NDP government, whomever it seems to be, they act and behave like the Crown [because they are the crown]. And the Crown is pretty belligerent in an interesting way about what's going on. But when I say it's happening all over the course of BC; essentially what's going on is people will be saying, let's say a government official will come to a First Nation. There's a project going on. And they'll basically say:</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“Let's just sign an agreement. A memorandum of understanding. And we realize it's a big issue. But we'll just do a memorandum of understanding right now. And are you willing to accept some cash. Some job. Something else? And we'll put off the big issue.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">So they keep putting off the big issue. But ultimately, and I think the big issue will actually come home and will be a big explosion that people [non-Indigenous people] won't really understand. They'll be shocked when it actually works in the favour of First Nations. So you take a look at the Chilcotin case. Which actually declared Land Title exists (which is a pre-UNDRIP decision). And you also see some of the court decisions they're challenging something called this idea of universal possession.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:07:41.010] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">This kind of radical sense of possession the Crown has claimed. Court cases started to chip away at that. Which basically moves us to an idea of shared governance with the Crown and First Nations. That idea, when people start to realize that that is likely what's happening, moving forward will be a bit shocking for people because they don't understand it. And if the government was really moving and working in that kind of direction to begin with, we would have a much smoother, more comfortable going in that direction. And we have lots of examples of First Nations being very happy to co-partner with non-First Nations, both governments and private industry and NGOs all over the place. So it's not like there'll be a big disaster. But I think we're actually moving toward the idea of this kind of shared governance. You see examples in New Zealand, this idea emerging and very likely what's properly happening to be happening here, especially if the government forces everything into the court, because these court cases keep constantly ratcheting things forward in this direction.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:08:44.530] - Kylie</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">[asked to explain shared governance]</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:09:05.420] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">No, because that's why I say the crown is quite belligerent in it's refusal to accept the possibility of there being other models. They will enter into co-management agreements, which doesn't question the underlying rights or title. It doesn't redress this. But some of the things that happen in New Zealand actually point in this direction where between the Maori and the New Zealand State, this recognition that there's actually a kind of shared governance between the crown and Maori, and that really transforms the situation. So it doesn't give one more power over the other, but it really is conceptually a different way of thinking. It's like having two crowns ruling one land, I guess you could put it that way, which may be a way of thinking of it.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:09:49.150] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I suspect by looking at some of the way the court decisions are moving and some of the different decisions, it's conceivable. And clearly it strikes me as a reasonable and appropriate kind of measured policy to put into place. If I always like to ask my students, if they had a magic wand, what would they change? Well, if I had a magic wand, that's what I immediately pop in the head of all the different political leaders in the province to make them think about shared governance without hesitation. That would be my sort of wave of the wand.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:10:23.710] - Kylie</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">[asked if I thought this was precedent setting]</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:10:33.730] - Charles</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I think very likely that this goes forward. If they don't win, it won't necessarily be precedent setting because a lot of times things shift around. So there's been First Nations that have lost court cases, and so it ends up, like with the Lax Kw'alaams and the fishing rights for Salmon case. They lost that one. But that doesn't preclude another First Nations from gaining the same right. It might actually inhibit their ability. But a positive win, actually, because the way the court system and the judicial decisions work in a precedent setting will actually make a difference. So I think that's how I would frame it. Of course, a more learned legal scholar might have a totally different take on this than what I.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>[00:11:13.850] - Kylie</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Thank you so much for your time.</span></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-80199278395286642192022-06-18T16:12:00.006-07:002022-06-19T06:54:01.040-07:00Data Transparency and the Faculty Union<p>A group of faculty members organized a drive to get a data transparency motion on the agenda for the <a href="https://www.facultyassociation.ubc.ca/member_notice/annual-general-meeting-agenda/" target="_blank">UBC Faculty Association's AGM</a>, held June 16/22. They managed to collect about 150 signatures in support of their resolution. The history behind their motion and the driving subtextual motivations are not clear, but the </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh56x5jP7cogMzmwdblHb8EvOdmV6cFMqrvALIbBH5aQiAYo22xmh4WlkAscaOKYZ4HAAcuaK5GYgACUw8ppQarUMCty14B2jb6xZVhQlHVroX_JZw8YZXHWJTZ_KS8qFXXkcJ9gjMssW2hhB46X5GV0p346ulUIBBQqoBniXWpqNzzRKFLULE-WdE2/s1324/Screen%20Shot%202022-06-18%20at%206.02.36%20AM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1138" data-original-width="1324" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh56x5jP7cogMzmwdblHb8EvOdmV6cFMqrvALIbBH5aQiAYo22xmh4WlkAscaOKYZ4HAAcuaK5GYgACUw8ppQarUMCty14B2jb6xZVhQlHVroX_JZw8YZXHWJTZ_KS8qFXXkcJ9gjMssW2hhB46X5GV0p346ulUIBBQqoBniXWpqNzzRKFLULE-WdE2/w400-h344/Screen%20Shot%202022-06-18%20at%206.02.36%20AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>argument made is one based in terms of the current moment of intersectional values and intersectional theory.<p></p><p>The idea seems to be that the UBC FA is not taking into account diversity amongst complainants, that the assumption is there are "particular groups of faculty more likely to experience injustice in the workplace," and that concerns related to equity need to be highlighted. This, it would seem, the proponents argue can only be effectively dealt with through a compilation of a detailed report made available to the entire membership of the faculty union on an annual basis. They don't really say what the fundamental purpose of this might be. Nor do they say how their analysis might be different or better. I appreciate that as academics many of us deal with all kinds of data and we often run the risk of becomings experts in all manner of things related to and well beyond our own professional fields. One supposes, sitting somewhere sub-textually in all of this, there is an idea among a subset of the proponents they are better suited than the professionals our union has hired to do this work. </p><p>The current faculty association executive disagreed with the specifics of the resolution and recommended defeating it, or at least referring it to a joint committee </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPLLG3ibZtGluIciTN8LhanNvOBijHQ811l12nhdxZcZ7uaGUQ2Sd4q1JsPhnn2MxTIxHKzpurjycJwuALwPRN2J25x-csHBRLC05s9qTirmiEyWeB9tL8owCspwZEq_OCnMP-gJ8Vrrcwq2y5aWeTEsFtVAhHtIIH1z3KQdWPHF9g2ayw3YF5QpVL/s1604/Screen%20Shot%202022-06-18%20at%206.24.50%20AM.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1604" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPLLG3ibZtGluIciTN8LhanNvOBijHQ811l12nhdxZcZ7uaGUQ2Sd4q1JsPhnn2MxTIxHKzpurjycJwuALwPRN2J25x-csHBRLC05s9qTirmiEyWeB9tL8owCspwZEq_OCnMP-gJ8Vrrcwq2y5aWeTEsFtVAhHtIIH1z3KQdWPHF9g2ayw3YF5QpVL/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-06-18%20at%206.24.50%20AM.png" width="320" /></a></div>(comprised of members of the executive and signatories to the resolution) that would report back to the fall AGM. As the meeting stretched well past its scheduled end time I had to leave before the matter was resolved. I was subsequently informed the motion was deferred to committee. <p></p><p>A limited circulation summary document, described by proponents as legal advice from a labour lawyer (who is not named, nor is it disclosed what kind of labour lawyer they are and whether they work mostly for business or unions or individuals), was used to counter the executive's statement. The excerpted comments in the summary, as pertains to the data transparency resolution, mostly referred to the ability to protect individual member's privacy and offered some fairly pro forma commentary. </p><p>I have served several terms on the Faculty Association Executive, though it has been about a decade since I last served. During my three terms on the executive I was there immediately after UBC's voluntary recognition of the Association as a union and during the acquisition of Okanagon College's academic programs and facilities. As an executive member I was party to discussions of reports from the member services committee which involved all manner of issues (tabulated summaries of which have been included in annual reports to the membership for years, if not decades). I gained a deep appreciation of the work the member services professional staff do and the amazing volunteer work of chairs of the standing committees, like the member services committee. My experience on the executive left me knowing we have strong staff and committed volunteers dedicated to considering the wellbeing of our collective membership.</p><p>A union has many responsibilities, but one of the most important is the duty of fair representation. In practical terms this means that as a member of the union I can bring a complaint about my work to the union and it is within their discretion how to proceed. The union has to fully and fairly consider my complaint (if it merits going to grievance). I might not agree with their decision, but once the union decides how they are proceeding I have no recourse unless they acted arbitrarily or discriminatorily. </p><p>At the same time the union cannot simply refuse to consider my request for representation. This is an important point. Especially in the context of a university workplace were political ideologies and cultural beliefs can play an oversized role in workplace relations. So even a worker with an unpopular perspective has to be fairly represented in conflicts with management, even if a majority of other union members disagree (There are implications in the resolution that seems to imply that the focus of union support should tend toward equity groups - a union must represent all members fairly and without bias no matter who we are or what we believe). </p><p>One of the best pieces of advice in my career at UBC came early during the first or second year of my employment. I was chatting with a senior colleague in their office. They were asking me how things were working out. I was quite naively optimistic about things. "Well," my colleague said, "if ever anything was to come up you should talk to the staff in the faculty association for their advice." At the time it seemed a non sequitur. How did we get from casual chat about settling in to UBC to seeking advice from the faculty association? The conversation continued on its path as I reflected on the advice I had been given.</p><p>In retrospect I'm glad my colleague shared that advice. I had a prior working life that involved membership for many years in an industrial trade union. As a student I was also involved in the TA union at SFU and the academic staff union at York University. So I was familiar with the idea of going to the union for help in tricky spots. Yet, I had this impression that UBC's faculty association of the day (before it became a union under the Labour Code) acted closer to management than to frontline or junior staff. But I kept my colleague's advice in mind.</p><p>As it turns out there are many reasons to contact the faculty association and ask for help. I don't wish to innumerate all the reasons I've emailed or called or visited. For one reason it makes me feel uncomfortable. Despite my experience in industrial trade unions I've found the university workplace less supportive of going to the union for help. It's almost as though going to the union is an admission of personal failure, an admission of not having what it takes to be excellent. I want to be clear, the union staffers have always been supportive and encouraging. My discomfort comes from the comments in the hallways shared with me and overheard over the years, the tone in meetings about excellence combined with the devastating critical comments colleagues provide in reviews and evaluations, and simply a strange antipathy toward unions I have observed here over the years. My experience with unions in other workplaces was far more affirming (not from the bosses) - these unions weren't perfect, but fellow workers didn't act like going to the union for help was my fault. Just the same when the need arose I went to the faculty association for advice and support and it has been a positive circumstance each time. </p><p>Most of the kinds of concerns and question I have had have not ended up in a formal grievance process. It is possible that some could have, but with advice and support I had positive outcomes instead. The idea though, that the nature of any of my requests for support tired to my demographic attributes, might be collated into a detailed report available for all to read and review does not sit well with me. I think that if others thought about it, it shouldn't really sit well with them either. While UBC itself is a big corporate entity with thousands of staff, as academics we work in relatively small units with low turn over. It doesn't take very much effort to piece together who might be referenced from considering the nature of a concern with how that concern is related to equity, and then how it was resolved (especially if one is party to the concern in some way via management - and many faculty are also implicated in our academic management structures). Even with PIPA (not FOIPA) like controls at play, the act of making these data reports public runs a risk of worsening an individual's situation, not improving it.</p><p>A union represents a segment of a workforce in its struggle (negotiations) with their employer to better lives of all members. It is naïve to think an employer, no matter how liberal, is unconditionally interested in the wellbeing of their workforce outside of their particular vested interests. We need to be cognizant that a union is not the same as an employer, the university, a human resources office, or an equity and diversity office. A union has different obligations and responsibilities. </p><p>That doesn't mean this kind of data shouldn't be collected, analyzed, and used in the functioning of the union as it fulfills its duty to represent. We need such data to shape bargaining, to inform professional member services staff in their work, and union leadership in the setting of policies. This kind of data is indeed critical for the operation of a union. I don't, however, need to have a big data report to pour over to satisfy my own analytic needs. Neither should my employer have it in hand so they can determine which groups of us are going to our union and which are not (they will already have their own data where they track 'incidents'). Making union data freely available to the boss helps the employer shape the terrain of interaction in ways that may well undermine the wellbeing of all of us.</p><p>It may be possible to mitigate individual risk with such data as the resolution's proponents suggest. I, however, prefer an approach that doesn't create the risk in the first place. Let's not share our data with the bosses, let's keep the data in house.</p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-91256589656079056052022-05-14T06:29:00.007-07:002022-05-14T06:36:53.394-07:00Roundup, UBC Fields, and our Ecological Effects<p class="p1" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKQa7g0H8DrGJMqn4NG8pT_THipL40wwoowcnHFSh2ZOC0sUIzdDCPx8PtQldjRqTVwwt27t94bXe_lFZuOhoWmt6OwWaAadBUIfH1GuykCihXB_c0GwyM7OMrl59B5WojFdLlClcUxRQLQZJ1BSNwKzlTCsRwL9FWNo7XVxL2PeMHnuJnoaZAFAEg/s4032/IMG_0383.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKQa7g0H8DrGJMqn4NG8pT_THipL40wwoowcnHFSh2ZOC0sUIzdDCPx8PtQldjRqTVwwt27t94bXe_lFZuOhoWmt6OwWaAadBUIfH1GuykCihXB_c0GwyM7OMrl59B5WojFdLlClcUxRQLQZJ1BSNwKzlTCsRwL9FWNo7XVxL2PeMHnuJnoaZAFAEg/s320/IMG_0383.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><div><b>I was walking by the field sponsored by Tourmaline Oil recently and one of the regular staff was spraying the margin under the fence with roundup. They said they couldn’t use an alternative (like acetic acid) since they didn’t have the time to do this every week.</b></div><div><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.7px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.7px;">I wonder why it is deemed necessary to have a browned out strip a foot wide under and along the fence margin in the first place, while also noting the evident problems with this ‘safe’ pesticide (</span><a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/widely-used-weed-killer-harming-biodiversity-320906" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.7px;" target="_blank">see link to McGill research on roundup</a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.7px;">).</span></div><div><p class="p1" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I would note that despite the athletics' fields being totally fabricated space (many now covered with plastic and other synthetics) <a href="https://www.conservationevidence.com/individual-study/1622" target="_blank">having some margins that are biological</a> does make small contributions to biodiversity and does remediate some of the ill effects caused by the fields. Having grassy margins can encourage increased biodiversity and improved ecological health.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">For example, grass plants, dandelion, and thistles attract small birds (like sparrows and goldfinches) when they go to seed (which can’t happen if sprayed or cut). Allowing margins to grow in ways that some (perhaps donors?) find unsightly is in fact beneficial to our overall wellbeing.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfngl7JtnfKJ_bFjCieel0SKjYGgQgKdnhsLoLjxtfbTzWnBMfdka93n71Is6fNYmkX4rNOOuRTZN83-nVF1iM_TBXhJJDfY_pUgm0D4m6KdWkXizr678YtojVO4w8HucN4zr-RLkuV7kbZXAzq8BX8Jap2qeXlv7z6aoW7G_bI1SYVZszLtLij7GX/s4032/IMG_4335.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfngl7JtnfKJ_bFjCieel0SKjYGgQgKdnhsLoLjxtfbTzWnBMfdka93n71Is6fNYmkX4rNOOuRTZN83-nVF1iM_TBXhJJDfY_pUgm0D4m6KdWkXizr678YtojVO4w8HucN4zr-RLkuV7kbZXAzq8BX8Jap2qeXlv7z6aoW7G_bI1SYVZszLtLij7GX/s320/IMG_4335.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I am sure there is a ready answer that will explain to me that roundup is actually ok to use and that UBC has net positive ecological impacts. I appreciate all that. Yet. ... </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">It still calls out for a quiet moment of reflection and consideration to reconsider whether a scorched earth look along the baseball field fences is worth the addition of more toxic chemicals into our local environment, however small these effects might be.</span></p></div>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-23588947491154501792022-04-07T14:51:00.002-07:002022-04-07T15:01:18.521-07:00Grade Distribution<p>What is the appropriate distribution of grades in a university class? Is there a standard that is readily accepted? These kinds of questions often motivate grade discussions amongst university instructors. </p><div>Some general points of consensus: larger classes more often fit normal distributions (i.e. grade curves) than do smaller classes. Larger lower-level classes tend to have a lower average than smaller upper-level classes. There should be some kind of consistency across equivalent classes so that students don’t think grades are totally subjective and potentially unfairly distributed. </div><div><br /></div><div>Up until a few years ago the Faculty of Arts had a grading guideline that recommended a typical grade distribution in which no more than 75% grades could be in the A and B range; that A grades should be between 5 and 25% of the total grades distributed, and; that no more than 20% of the grades should be a fail. This guideline was maintained (as a policy recommendation) in the anthropology department up until the present. Some faculty feel constrained by the above guidelines while other consider it too lenient. </div><div><br /></div><div>It is helpful to ask what grades are supposed to measure. If they are a measure of relative rank that leads us in one direction. If they are a measure of quality/quantity of learning that might take us in a different direction. It would seem that instructors generally consider them some measure of learning (but that’s where consensus starts to break down). Students often seem to consider that grades are correlated to the amount of time they invest in completing an assignment or preparing for an exam. What we do know is how grades are used: to allocate access to scarce resources like awards and admission to graduate and professional programs. </div><div><br /></div><div>There is a big literature on grading. There is a lot of talk about finding the best way to grade authentically. To give formative feedback to learners. There’s even a critical literature focused on “ungrading.” Both standard beliefs and radical critiques often ignore the reality that capitalist society is graded all the time. Of course we can be compassionate, we can care about our students (and trust they extend that same care to us), but that doesn’t belie the reality of our ranked, hierarchical, scarce resource driven society. Grades are just one more part of that bigger system. </div><div><br /></div><div>So. Why not resist the power and refuse to grade? Or, if not total refusal, change the means of grading more in line with so-called ungrading (which still results in a final grade). Why not indeed. Radical ungrading would be best, but for most of us the reality is that ungrading ends up being more work (arguably better feedback for students) and the same normative grading as before. So ungrading becomes another plank in the ubiquitous student-centric learning model in which grades are seen as rewards for showing up and trying. </div><div><br /></div><div>There is another augment used against grading – the social economic discrimination thesis. Here the augment is that grading norms white social norms (more accurate would be the claim they replicate specific class values, not racial values). Here students achieve differentially (and their grades are thought to reflect this) according to their demographic marginalization from whitestream middle class society. They are kneecapped before they start the course. Here an argument is made to use grades to counter inequities of history. Ignore obvious errors in composition, for example, and focus on ‘content’ mastery instead. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then there is the weakest (in my opinion) argument against grading: “the other guys are skewing their grade distributions higher than we are and thus our students lose out. This isn’t so much a critique of grading as an accommodation to grade inflation. </div><div><br /></div><div>I personally hate grading, and this is something that I think many colleagues would agree with. It can be tiresome, anxiety producing, and leave one feeling a deep sense of futility. As a consequence, I have shifted the types of assignments I give my students (more weight on completion graded assignments – if you complete at standard defined, you get full points- this does tend to skew class averages positively). I have also tried to lay out the grading criteria clearly so that there is no ambiguity in what I am grading. I try to use strength-based assessments (I identity where an essay, for example could be improved as opposed to explaining everything that is wrong with it). All this is still grading and at the end of the day I am responsible for submitting a number on a grade sheet. </div><div><br /></div><div>At the same time that I hate grading I also value the opportunity to facilitate learning, revision, and transformation through discussion and collaborative reading and reviewing of student work. Some quick witted observer will probably realize that’s really marking without numbers. Ideally, in my field of work, the formative part is guiding learners toward improvements, marking (assigning a value to that process) is simply one small piece. But, it’s the piece we end up focussing on. </div><div><br /></div><div>At the end of the day grade distributions have no natural level. They are indeed arbitrary. But because we use them for allocating access to scarce resources we have an obligation and a responsibility to be consistent with how we distribute them. Ideally, we should be consistent across a university, not just a department. My personal preference is toward criteria referenced (or standards-based) grading were there is some clear standard that we expect learners to obtain. It would be based on a combination of knowledge growth within the individual and in comparison to how that individual learned relative to a pre-set criteria. We aren’t in that world though and thus must be content with some variation of normative ranking.
</div>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3993639877737195356.post-16331660245590610052022-04-01T06:19:00.005-07:002022-04-01T06:21:54.463-07:00Update On "Taking Action on Russia's Invasion of Ukraine at the UBC-V Senate"<p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14.6667px; text-size-adjust: auto;">On Tuesday, March 29, 2022, the joint committees met again <a href="https://charlesmenzies.blogspot.com/2022/03/taking-action-on-russias-invasion-of.html" target="_blank">to consider their action on the motion I had originally proposed for the March 16, 2022 meeting.</a> </span></p><p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14.6667px; text-size-adjust: auto;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpCNQBFycYz5vyVhLqp333YcUSprJJGw_V2Y3HSmakbZnhfZH3vrcp7M--ZJJNdBqvUEWcbLR7LNFzdxIc_uP0zWMGZH3hoEzau6ZfeO63T87pU__VID1f8gnrbF3jVBPm4hRQg6nTgS_1do7xo6JRRW4yju4hqDCXyrq9aOUpqfQ69wABfY13SNvT/s1596/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-01%20at%206.17.06%20AM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="1596" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpCNQBFycYz5vyVhLqp333YcUSprJJGw_V2Y3HSmakbZnhfZH3vrcp7M--ZJJNdBqvUEWcbLR7LNFzdxIc_uP0zWMGZH3hoEzau6ZfeO63T87pU__VID1f8gnrbF3jVBPm4hRQg6nTgS_1do7xo6JRRW4yju4hqDCXyrq9aOUpqfQ69wABfY13SNvT/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-01%20at%206.17.06%20AM.png" width="320" /></a></div>The committees decided to split the motion into two separate motions: one dealing with Russia specifically and the other calling for expanded support of the Scholars at Risk initiatives in view of the many ongoing conflicts around the world. The committees are still micro editing the motions so no definitive version is available. Their intent is to submit a revised package of motions to agenda for Senate’s April 20 meeting.<p></p>Charles Menzieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05374753336690275908noreply@blogger.com0