Friday, September 25. 2020

 Today's classes are: 

9:15 - 11:50 A Block Criminology

12:30 - 3:05  D Block Social and Environmental Sciences

A Block Criminology - Today we'll watch the Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit episode "Closure" This episode deals with the short and long-term effects of a sexual assault on a victim. From TV.com

"Benson does her best to help a rape victim who is able to describe her attack in perfect detail, yet unable to properly identify her attacker when push comes to shove. When the detectives revisit the case a few months later, they find the woman even less willing to talk about what happened, as she claims she has moved on."

I want you to think hard during this episode and pay careful attention to what happens with Harper's character. What are the short and long term impacts on victims of Crime? I want you to think hard during this episode and pay careful attention to what happens with Harper's character as it will form a base for your blog entry on Monday. Try to take notes and have a discussion on what the short and long term impacts the sexual assault had on the character Harper in the episode. For the second part of the morning we are back in the learning commons / library to finish our first blog entry...don't forget you need to find an article about a recent crime here in Canada, make a link to the news article on your blogsite and then write how your crime theory explains why the crime happened. An excellent crime news website is the CANOE CNews Crime site...or the Toronto Star Crime site...or Global News Crime site...or the Huffington Post Canada Crime site...or the Vancouver Sun Crime Blog 

D Block Social and Environmental Sciences - All Young, all afternoon. To start, you'll have time in the learning commons / library to work on your "Water For All" Social Justice advocacy campaign posters in class. To end the day, 

Graphic by Barbara Aulicino from https://www.americanscientist.org/article/why-we-need-water-ethics

From "Principles of Water Ethics" by: Bruce Jennings, Kathryn Gwiazdon, and Paul Heltne

Many questions confront the world today. How can we ensure that an adequate supply of clean water is available, both for today and for coming generations? How equitable will access to it be? How should it be managed, and by whom? What will the implications of climate change be on the quality and quantity of fresh water? Is clean water destined to become for the twenty-first century what petroleum was for the twentieth, a source of geopolitical power and conflict? Will social change concerning water use come through technological innovation or through cultural and value change, or some combination of both?

All of these questions surround the issue of water ethics which are connected to the Environmental Value Systems, worldviews and paradigms we started the week with. This is not just a "look it's only in developing countries" thing...it's a Canada thing too. It is hard to imagine that in 2019, First Nations in Canada could lack access to clean drinking water in their own territories — but many do. In fact, 400 of 618 First Nations were under at least one water advisory between 2004 and 2014.

As of February 4, 2019, there were 62 long-term drinking advisories throughout Canada. The Neskantaga First Nation in Northern Ontario, for example, has had a water boil advisory in place for the last 23 years. Access to water is a human right under international law, and  Canada’s Constitution Act of 1982 provides for “essential public services of reasonable quality.” This means that the authorities have an obligation—as well as a moral imperative—to uphold this right. It also empowers people to demand that their governments take concrete and deliberate steps to ensure access to safe and affordable water for the population.

Canada still needs to do more to secure the right to water for all of its people and to live up to its commitments to First Nations communities.