11779 replies to this topic

[GetLisaSomeHelps]

Why not just say pro-union?

[Mike K.]

To trick is to insert five syllable words whenever possible.

[Ismo07]

To trick is to insert five syllable words whenever possible.

 

Well it's a 5 syllable word that means a little more than pro-union.  Transfer of ownership to unions is much deeper..

[Mike K.]

UVic just released the following presser on behalf of CISUR.

The timing couldn’t be more unfortunate, given what’s happening on CFAX. This is how serious research can end up lost on the radar to totally unnecessary drama and social media missteps.

Sociologist wins national prize for reducing inequity and stigma

From advocating for the recognition of Indigenous and non-Indigenous midwives, to working with street-involved youth, to empowering sex workers to become their own health advocates, sociologist Cecilia Benoit has made vital contributions to the advancement of class, race and gender equality in Canada.

A scientist with the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR) and professor emerita of sociology at the University of Victoria has been awarded the 2020 Killam Prize in Social Sciences from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Benoit, who is of Qalipu First Nation of Newfoundland heritage, uses her research to shine a light on the social inequities and other factors that contribute to stigma and discrimination. Her research projects have championed the inclusion of the voices and contributions of often-overlooked community members. Benoit’s midwifery research in the 1990s, for example, provided evidence that led to the legalization and public funding of midwifery in various Canadian jurisdictions, and honoured women’s work in early settler and Indigenous communities.

“It is amazing that in my lifetime, midwifery has moved from a stigmatized and banned activity to a valuable healthcare service in its own right and publicly funded in most regions,” Benoit says. “A lot remains to be done to improve the working conditions of midwives in Canada, but some fundamental rights have been recognized.”

She co-led a longitudinal study of street-involved youth in Victoria with the Victoria Youth Clinic (now known as Foundry Victoria). The recommendations of the young people interviewed for the study were given prominence when the clinic opened in 2018. Benoit also helped establish and evaluate Victoria’s Her Way Home program, which provides health care and social supports for pregnant and parenting women with a history of substance use.

Much of Benoit’s later career work has been devoted to shedding light on the lives of sex workers. Her Understanding Sex Work projects involved interviews with 700 people working in or associated with the sex industry across Canada, including intimate partners of sex workers, clients, managers, and sex workers themselves. She has looked at how recent changes to the Canadian Criminal Code impacted sex workers’ health and safety, and worked with community agencies to create a peer-to-peer health advocacy program in Victoria that is being piloted in other national and international jurisdictions.

Benoit says that sex workers face social and economic injustices daily and their challenges are being compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic as they struggle with job loss due to the banning of in-person services and decreased access to community outreach. “In light of their exclusion from Canada’s safety net of programs such as Employment Insurance, as well as CERB and our government’s other recent emergency financial responses, sex workers have mobilized in their own communities to create relief funds to help pay for basic necessities,” she says. “Their fundraising efforts are helping but are inadequate and many needs are going unmet. Sex workers should be included in public responses to COVID-19 with the immediate establishment of a special government crisis fund to help keep them afloat during these difficult times.”

For her Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation Fellowship project Beyond the ‘Missing Women Inquiry’: Empowering Sex Workers as Social Justice Advocates, Benoit is working with eight community organizations to develop training programs to help local sex workers support each other and advocate for their rights.

“Cecilia Benoit’s pioneering research aimed at decreasing gender and racial inequities and empowering women and Indigenous peoples in Canada is today at the forefront of the public consciousness. Our academic institutions and political bodies recognize her findings as needing urgent attention,” says Susan McDaniel, director of the Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy at the University of Lethbridge and adjunct professor of sociology at UVic.

Benoit is the third UVic Killam Prize winner including James Tully (2011) and John Borrows (2017). Killam Prize winners receive a $100,000 prize.

[rmpeers]

I listen to Adam whenever I can, which is most of the time now! I looked at the profile of the person who claimed to be the researcher. I think her name is Gaelle. I clicked on the link and it says she has 0 followers and follows 0 people.

Another claim made was that the fire dept. only visits tent cities to remove people's sources of heat and cooking. Not that they might actually be concerned for fire safety. Adam thought that was ridiculous. I do too. So next time a tent catches fire, I guess the fire dept. shouldn't respond?

Also I think a couple of days previous, Potts "liked" a post made by someone else who said "Don't call the police on your neighbours" about ten times in a row referring to reporting your neighbour's misdeeds during the pandemic. I just don't get this police hate. Sure there are bad people in every line of work, but it's getting ridiculous.

Apart from Elsner, whose mistreatment of women drew praise from the mayor, I'm not quite sure where council's collective bad cop fantasies come from. Has there been a police brutality problem in Victoria and I missed it?

[exc911ence]

I listen to Adam whenever I can, which is most of the time now! I looked at the profile of the person who claimed to be the researcher. I think her name is Gaelle. I clicked on the link and it says she has 0 followers and follows 0 people.

 

Another claim made was that the fire dept. only visits tent cities to remove people's sources of heat and cooking. Not that they might actually be concerned for fire safety. Adam thought that was ridiculous. I do too. So next time a tent catches fire, I guess the fire dept. shouldn't respond?

 

Also I think a couple of days previous, Potts "liked" a post made by someone else who said "Don't call the police on your neighbours" about ten times in a row referring to reporting your neighbour's misdeeds during the pandemic. I just don't get this police hate. Sure there are bad people in every line of work, but it's getting ridiculous.

 

Perhaps it's less hate on the police and more respect your neighbours? Unless there's a major crime happening next door to you, a good neighbour minds his/her own business. Someone's not wearing a mask while lying on their lawn? That's their choice as an adult and not yours to judge.

 

The "Karen" memes are out of control on the web these days but it goes to show that people are very quick to point fingers and make judgements on things, and self-importance is at an all time high.

 

Something that seems to have been forgotten in this overly-connected world: Opinions are like a-holes... everyone has one but they're best kept out of sight.

Edited by exc911ence, 26 May 2020 - 10:00 AM.

[rmpeers]

I think the fundamental problem is that the candidates who get elected are deliberately vague.

Imagine a campaign platform that promised the candidate would:

Build more tent cities.
Encourage crime, shame victims and reduce the police force.
Reduce public access to parks.
Raise already-burdensome property taxes to fund frivolous pet projects.
Systematically work to cover up sexual misconduct.
Strive to punish those who use motor vehicles.
Build a thriving street-drug industry.
Ignore fire regulations and create public safety risks.
...and so on.

Of course they wouldn't get elected. But, although not exactly geniuses, they are smart enough to keep their agenda hidden. Instead, it's... affordability... livability... housing... young families... unicorns... and so on. Only, that stuff never really materializes and things instead just get worse.

[spanky123]

Of course they wouldn't get elected. But, although not exactly geniuses, they are smart enough to keep their agenda hidden. Instead, it's... affordability... livability... housing... young families... unicorns... and so on. Only, that stuff never really materializes and things instead just get worse.

 

The underlying message is that everything that has gone wrong in your life is someone else's fault. Trump used it very successfully by blaming the "swamp" and "elites" in Washington to rally support.

 

Today's socialist is doing the same thing but blaming the "wealthy". Wealthy of course meaning anyone that owns a house or has a job that pays them more than that of an adjunct prof at UVIC. 

Edited by spanky123, 26 May 2020 - 10:02 AM.

[rmpeers]

The underlying message is that everything that has gone wrong in your life is someone else's fault. Trump used it very successfully by blaming the "swamp" and "elites" in Washington to rally support.

Today's socialist is doing the same thing but blaming the "wealthy". Wealthy of course meaning anyone that owns a house or has a job that pays them more than that of an adjunct prof at UVIC.

And there's the rub. Many homeowners are scraping to get by just like everyone else, a task not made any easier by having to fund the assorted whims of the CoV mayor and council.

But I guess it works if you can drive a wedge between bad homeowners and noble renters, bad motorists and noble cyclists, bad police and virtuous survival-based criminals, and so on.

[Nparker]

Divide and conquer helps to obscure the real enemy.

[Mike K.]

Perhaps it's less hate on the police and more respect your neighbours? Unless there's a major crime happening next door to you, a good neighbour minds his/her own business. Someone's not wearing a mask while lying on their lawn? That's their choice as an adult and not yours to judge.

The "Karen" memes are out of control on the web these days but it goes to show that people are very quick to point fingers and make judgements on things, and self-importance is at an all time high.

Something that seems to have been forgotten in this overly-connected world: Opinions are like a-holes... everyone has one but they're best kept out of sight.

Would neighbours in the context of the broader discussion be in reference to people in the tent cities and marginalized street populations? As in, do not call police on someone stealing for survival, or experiencing a mental health issue at a tenting area?

[rmpeers]

Would neighbours in the context of the broader discussion be in reference to people in the tent cities and marginalized street populations? As in, do not call police on someone stealing for survival, or experiencing a mental health issue at a tenting area?

Should have been pretty straightforward for Counc Potts to explain, presumably, rather than running for cover. Otherwise, one assumes the worst.

[Nparker]

When it comes to anything proposed/endorsed by TV council members I always assume the worst. I've yet to be proven wrong.

[Mike K.]

CISUR has responded to Stirling’s point questioning the ethics of the centre’s researchers:

@Adam_Stirling Hi Adam,
These tweets were made from a clearly marked personal account and nowhere in the exchange did the employee claim to represent CISUR. 1/2

This person’s role with our organization, which is clearly visible on our website, is with our knowledge exchange unit and they do not work on any of our research projects.
This is all we will be saying about this matter. 2/2

Stirling says the matter is settled as far as he’s concerned. So we’ve learned it was not a researcher, but someone who works in knowledge exchange. I’m not familiar with what that role would entail. A researcher for researchers?

I do find the response curt and cold. The department should have employment guidelines and a code of ethics for staff to follow, whether they are senior or junior staff. I don’t believe a “personal” twitter account absolves you of mature conduct, nor does someone need to be speaking on behalf of CISUR in order to taint the organization’s image.

Today CISUR had a major press release issued, and instead of having that he a huge highlight they had to step in to clean up a totally avoidable situation by a staffer. Not good.

[spanky123]

I do find the response curt and cold. 

 

Of course it is, look who is on the board. Look at the stuff my favorite, Bernie Pauly, tweets and retweets. She clearly identifiers herself as being associated with UVIC with no statement that her comments are her own. I think that a reasonable person reading them would believe that they are an official position taken by the University. 

 

 https://twitter.com/BerniePauly

[On the Level]

CISUR has responded to Stirling’s point questioning the ethics of the centre’s researchers:

Stirling says the matter is settled as far as he’s concerned. So we’ve learned it was not a researcher, but someone who works in knowledge exchange. I’m not familiar with what that role would entail. A researcher for researchers?

 

This article is older (2005);

 

 

Dan Reist of the Centre for Additions Research of BC noted that it was a conscious decision of their knowledge exchange unit to not base itself on campus – it is in Vancouver. Therefore, dominant relationships are with the non-campus community.

This works well with researchers in the community, policy makers, etc. Bonnie Leadbeater added that there was tremendous creativity (and funds with a $450,000-600,000 budget through collaboration with the provincial government) that went into the knowledge exchange unit. 

 

http://www.polisproj...Proceedings.pdf

 

If the knowledge exchange unit is providing information to researchers, then there is risk that the work is not balanced and is instead driven by opinion or one particular interest.  It puts into question how fact based are the studies from CISUR? 

[Taj]

CISUR has responded to Stirling’s point questioning the ethics of the centre’s researchers:

Stirling says the matter is settled as far as he’s concerned. So we’ve learned it was not a researcher, but someone who works in knowledge exchange. I’m not familiar with what that role would entail. A researcher for researchers?

I do find the response curt and cold. The department should have employment guidelines and a code of ethics for staff to follow, whether they are senior or junior staff. I don’t believe a “personal” twitter account absolves you of mature conduct, nor does someone need to be speaking on behalf of CISUR in order to taint the organization’s image.

Today CISUR had a major press release issued, and instead of having that he a huge highlight they had to step in to clean up a totally avoidable situation by a staffer. Not good.

100% agree with you.  My employer has a code of conduct that expressly mentions personal social media, which came as a shock to some during a recent review of policies.  Even if we have something that says "views are my own," we are still instructed to behave ourselves and - in short - not cause any embarrassment to the employer. The same goes for parading around and making scenes in public.  Basically, we have to exercise good judgment when we stick our necks out.

 

My guess is that a knowledge exchange worker is the poor schmuck who gets to do the very beginning of the research process and pass the 'good stuff' up to the actual researchers?  Like people who do literature reviews etc?  I am thinking of those individuals who work as researchers while they are undergrads or Masters students.  They do a lot of the grunt work (transcription, compilation, etc) for the professors who do the "actual" research.   Just a wild guess.

 

Edit : looks like On the Level beat me to the description of knowledge exchange worker.  Sorry, OTL, I had the page sitting open and hadn't refreshed for a while. 

Edited by Taj, 26 May 2020 - 12:22 PM.

[Nparker]

At first glance it appears as though some of these recent posts are off-topic. However, since it seems as though the CoV council doesn't make a single policy decision without consulting UVic's School of Social Work/Department of Sociology (and assorted other disciplines), these posts make complete sense in this thread.

[mbjj]

I also heard Adam Stirling mention he was speaking with the Together Victoria candidate for the by-election (not sure who phoned who) and he asked her if she thought the fire dept. was not concerned with tent city safety, but only went in to tent cities as some sort of weapon to move people on. She refused to even discuss the topic! So anyone representing Together Victoria can't have their own opinion it seems.

[GetLisaSomeHelps]

I also heard Adam Stirling mention he was speaking with the Together Victoria candidate for the by-election (not sure who phoned who) and he asked her if she thought the fire dept. was not concerned with tent city safety, but only went in to tent cities as some sort of weapon to move people on. She refused to even discuss the topic! So anyone representing Together Victoria can't have their own opinion it seems is unable to form an original thought.