Land Acknowledgements Part Two: Can We Celebrate Canada Day Respectfully?
On June 21st Canada celebrates National Indigenous Peoples Day as a way to honour the heritage, customs and contributions of Indigenous people’s native to these lands. However, fast forward 10 days and you will find a day dedicated to commemorating Canadian confederation and patriotism. Canada Day (July 1st) is a statutory holiday that is rooted in and often ignores the colonialization of the very peoples and cultures that were celebrated only 10 days prior.
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Land Acknowledgements Part One: Your Responsibility to Treaty
Since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released their Final Report in 2015, institutions such as the University of Guelph have started to incorporate land acknowledgements into their practices, such as at the beginning of meetings or presentations. Individuals might include an acknowledgment in their email signature or at the beginning of a class they are teaching. Acknowledging the traditional territory we are on is important and can be a good step in learning about the history of the region. However, land acknowledgements run the risk of being insincere if no action is taken or if people aren’t speaking from an informed place, especially if they don’t acknowledge or do anything about their ongoing contributions towards land theft and erasure.
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Parenting in a Pandemic: Fathering and Co-Caregiving Children with Disabilities During COVID-19
Nothing really prepares you entirely for being a father, let alone a father of a child with a disability.
UN Side-Event June 17th: Nothing Without Us: Disability Inclusion and the Pandemic Recovery
Thursday, June 17th, 2021 11:30 AM to 12:45 PM
News that Nourishes Spring 2021 Edition
We published our spring 2021 newsletter! Check it out by clicking here!
A Call to Put Well-Being First in COVID Recovery
As the world around us continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, we find ourselves in a middle place between the optimism that comes with vaccine rollout in our community and deep sorrow for the ongoing trauma many are facing in India and elsewhere. If you are looking for ways to help, here is a list of suggestions from Maclean’s.
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The Great Balancing Act!
My PhD journey began in September 2016. My start was probably a bit different from the average student’s. I pulled up to MacDonald Institute reminiscing about my graduate school days that I had finished a few years before. I thought about the classes I took and the friends I made during my MSc program in Family Relations and Human Development. This time I was not arriving to Student Orientation with one of my best friends (who happened to be in the same program as me during my master’s), but I was arriving with my parents and my four-month-old son. That’s right—I am fairly sure I was the only one on campus that day beginning this new school year with my mom, dad, and son in tow.
Findings from an Environmental Scan on Sex and Gender Based Analysis + (SGBA+) in Health Impact Assessment
A new report is now available describing an environmental scan of domestic and international good practices to integrate SGBA+ in health impact assessments to support implementation of new requirements in the Canada’s Impact Assessment Act.
Our Knowledge, Our Voices Postcard Series
Violence against women1 is a pervasive and persistent problem, but too often it is an invisible problem. In family and community conversations, silence hangs over this topic, even though it touches the lives of most women and people who care about women.2 The reasons for this are complex, but stigma and backlash are among the reasons women do not speak out.3 Both the likelihood of experiencing violence and the risks of speaking out are intensified for women experiencing multiple forms of structural marginalization, especially disabled women, LGBTQ+ people, women, young women, and Indigenous women.4 The fact that violence against women most often occurs in private settings – “behind closed doors” – also contributes to its invisibility. With the loss of social supports and stay-at-home orders, the increase in violence directed towards women and girls during the COVID-19 pandemic has been called a “shadow pandemic” by researchers and advocates.5
