Did You Really?!

Did you really, M. Bredeson?!

Today I received a letter from M. Bredeson, the Executive Correspondence Officer for Stephen Harper in response to my letter to Harper regarding the detention of Omar Khadr at Guantanamo Bay for Amnesty International's Write-A-Thon. In the letter it read:

"Dear Isaac:

On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your recent correspondence regarding the detention of Omar Khadr at Guanatanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

Thank you for writing to share your views with the Prime Minister. You may be assured that your comments have been carefully received by this office.

Yours sincerely,

M. Bredeson

Executive Correspondance Officer"

But did you really, M. Bredeson? Or is this just what you tell everyone? Personally, I'd like to see some proof that my comments have been "carefully reviewed by this office."

Young Artists for Haiti - Wavin' Flag

Here's a great version of K'Naan's song Waving Flag performed by many young Canadian artists in support of Haiti.



It's great to see artists such as Sam Roberts, Serena Ryder, Hawksley Workman and so many other great Canadian musicians come together to perform this wonderful song for Haiti. My one disappointment was at the end... where Justin Bieber got to sing the last line!

For You, Mr. Stelmach...

Well apparently premier Ed Stelmach hasn't seen any pictures of the approximately 1, 600 ducks that died after landing in a Syncrude tailings pond in northern Alberta. Somehow this seems impossible as these pictures have been on the front page of pretty much every newspaper in Alberta, and video footage of the ducks dying has been shown on pretty much every news station in Alberta.

Well here you go, Mr. Stelmach. Here are the pictures that you have somehow missed while going about your daily life. Here is evidence showing how the oil sands are destroying our environment, in more ways than just climate change.

The picture was taken of a duck actually in the tailing pond, shortly before it died.

To learn more about this topic, please visit the article in the Edmonton Journal about how "Stelmach hasn't seen duck images". Sheesh... really Stelmach?

A Morning at Boyle Street

Last Friday I spent my morning at Boyle Street Community Services in downtown Edmonton. I volunteered there in the Youth Department for my community service hours that I have to do for school. It was a very interesting and eye-opening experience and I will definitely volunteer there again.

Boyle Street is an inner city service that works to connect people living in poverty with the things that they need. Social workers there work with people who are often ignored, face discrimination and have been marginalized by the larger society. I volunteered with the Youth Department because a friend of mine, Matt McCoy, works there.

I started volunteering there at 9:00 AM, right at the beginning of the day. I was first sent to work on organizing pamphlets that help people with what they need like staying healthy, legal resources, and other important things while living on the street. Many of the pamphlets were running low, so I went to StreetWorks to collect more copies of pamphlets. StreetWorks is an organization in Boyle Street that does a needle exchange, but that also publishes pamphlets and other information sources in a way that is understandable to the people who need the information the most.

Later, I went on rounds with some social workers at Boyle Street to check to make sure that all of the people who came there were doing okay. We walked around in the central area and outside the building to make sure that nobody was doing drugs on the property as well. It was very interesting to talk to the people who came there, and who worked there. I talked to one person who was a sort of "counselor" for the people, and he seemed to specialize in aboriginal people who went through the residential schools. He said that he likes to think of the people who come to Boyle Street as part of the community and then help people find ways out of doing drugs or alcohol.

It wasn't a very busy day at Boyle Street I was told by Matt, especially not in the Youth Department. So, for the final minutes of my visit there, I found myself playing the piano and guitar with the community. It was quite interesting to see some hidden talents in people that one might not have expected.

In all, it was a very interesting and eye-opening experience. I was perhaps a bit hesitant at first to volunteer at Boyle Street, and I didn't really know how things would work, but in the end everything worked out fine. I will definitely not hesitate to volunteer there again in the next few months.

To learn more about Boyle Street Community Services, visit their website.