Where have our citizens gone and why is Federal government is not so inclined to investigate?

Some would think 30 years is a long time for state and law enforcement to find answers for disappearance and murder of its citizens regardless of their ethnicities. RCMP in a report last year made several important points, two of them were:  Police-recorded incidents of Aboriginal female homicides and unresolved missing Aboriginal females in its review total 1,181 – 164 missing and 1,017 homicide victims and that the majority of all female homicides are solved (close to 90%) and there is little difference in solve rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal victims.

But the recent call by the provinces to initiate an enquiry into the missing and murdered Aboriginal women have given strength to The Native Women’s Association of Canada which has been calling for a detailed inquiry into what happened and did investigative agencies treat the cases differently thereby diminishing the chances of rescuing the women if they were still alive and capturing their perpetrators before they victimised more women.

Regardless of what politicians and organizations say or do, we have 800 km of a highway stretch where Canadian citizens, its women went missing and that too was not long back (1969 -2011). Some experts are suggesting an independent panel instead of full public inquiry, but federal government is yet to heed to any of the advice. Every family that has lost a woman in last 30 years on that dreadful stretch needs to know what happened to them and if our country, society cannot give them a closure then we really need to look within our own justice system and if re-haul it completely if needed to give justice to every Canadian. The voices to give Criminal justice system revamp have been growing stronger with each passing day. There are many mentally challenged Canadians that have fallen through the gaps that exist in the system and are struggling to survive in the prison, when actually they belong in institutions where they can be taken care of.

Recently the Federal government announced $3.5 billion to improve the health of mothers and children for the period of 2015-2020, this is country’s top international development priority. It’s good we are able to help people globally, offering them with money and expertise to make life more liveable, but what about our own citizens? What about our men and women that are still waiting for justice?

As a country we may pride ourselves with many achievements but we still have long way to go to make our citizens belonging to all age and ethnicities safe and secure. We are a multicultural country and multiculturalism is our pride, let’s relentlessly work toward making the Canadian society nearly perfect.

Data Reference: http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pubs/mmaw-faapd-eng.pdf

 

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Internal and external conflicts are taking toll on our mental health

Aug 22, 2014

Institute for Economics and Peace’s(IEP’s) latest study states that just 11
countries in the world are not involved in conflict of one kind or
another. From 2007 onwards, the world has been less peaceful. The
internal and external conflicts have been damaging individuals and communities all over. But besides various other scenarios, mental health plays a crucial role in taking away the important people from us, forever.
We are a developed nation and are supposed to be a happy country but
incidents like Moncton early in the year and soldiers’ suicides show that
we are not completely a happy society, at least not mentally. There are
numerous plans and organizations that are working to improve the mental
health but still it’s a long way to go before we can ensure that each
Canadian has timely access to counsellors, doctors, institutes that will
help an individual to prosper and contribute to nation building.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that’s
triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it.
Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well
as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. It can happen to anyone, from
soldiers to stay home mums to young kids. But the Post Trumatic Stress
Disorder ( PTSD) has doubled among our soldiers since 2002 as per
a news report published in Globe and Mail recently. The effects of Afghan
war are catching up with us at home now. Many of our soldiers and their
families are fighting PTSD. Families should be able to recognise the onset
of the disorder and organizations working to help soldiers tackle this
dreadful mental disease have to be quick to offer solutions. Therefore
the need of the hour is awareness about PTSD. Chris Dupee who has served as an Infantry Soldier with the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian
Regiment, Ontario and was deployed in Afghanistan has started an initiative
to bring awareness and create an atmosphere where soldiers can talk
about their mental health and seek support. www.militaryminds.ca is one
such organization working to spread awareness about the disorder and
breaking the silence on this issue. But lots of work needs to done at government’s level. New conflict zones keep on opening up in the world, currently it is Iraq. Nobody knows what is going to happen next which means we as nation need to be more aware of the mental challenges our soldiers face while fighting for us and the values we as nation are proud of. Besides signing Trade agreements and working out Treaties, our governments both at Federal and Provincial level should push for plans and facilities for our soldiers, and common people. Public policy on mental health needs to be redefined,
revamped and redeployed. We need a definitive strategy on this crucial matter
of public interest. Poor mental health is major threat to our prosperity
and success as nation. Since the Federal elections are due next year we
look forward to seeing mental health of soldiers as an important campaign
issue.
……Aradhna

 

Lighter side of life

 

Clapping enthusiasts keep even boring events alive!

 By RandomthoughtsofZee

The excitement of going to an event and meeting old friends or networking with friends dies down as soon as the first speaker starts speaking. The attendees who are very eager and excited to come to the event, sit as silent mice waiting for the cheese…err the food to roll out  and get one more opportunity to meet up and chat with the friends in the room.

There is always couple of eager clappers in the gathering, who listen very intently not because they are interested in what speaker is saying but because they are listening for that perfect moment of pause to clap. The enthusiastic clappers wait eagerly for the moment when speakers take a breath and they can clap to re-energize their surroundings. In fact these clappers are the ones who keep the speaker motivated to finish up whatever they wanted to say and not to abandon the stage in the face of sleepy audience.

These ‘clap leaders’ are mostly found at business luncheons, business workshop, at special motivational workshops or at lengthy award ceremonies. ‘Clap leaders’ are in fact generous people who don’t care if they are the winners for that evening or being recognised for their contribution toward the greater good of humanity. They are humble people who like to have some time away from their routine, like good food and like meeting some likeminded and some not-so likeminded people…they just love to see everyone around them happy.

But somebody needs to recognize them. Like door prizes, early bird prizes, there should be eager clapper prizes too…after all these attendees spend maximum calories that they gain eating the food at event in clapping, laughing and nudging the neighbours to be attentive. Also in the thank you note of Emcee there should be a special mention of the people who cheered on the speakers and made the event look like a success and exciting…more than it actually was.