Press Release - For Immediate Release

Ottawa, ON (December 13, 2011) - UN will conduct inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada

(Ottawa) The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has decided to conduct an inquiry into the murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls across Canada. The Committee, composed of 23 independent experts from around the world, is the UN's main authority on women's human rights. The Committee's decision was announced Tuesday by Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, President of the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), and Sharon McIvor of the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA).

For Immediate Release

Montreal, Nov. 1, 2011 - On Oct. 31, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) granted full membership to Palestine, despite the certainty that the U.S. would cut its funding -- 22 per cent of the agency's budget. The UNESCO membership bid, which required approval by two-thirds of the agency's general conference, passed by a vote of 107 to 14, with 52 abstentions. The U.S., Canada, Israel, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany were among those who voted against, while China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa and India voted in favour. Huge cheers erupted in the UNESCO meeting hall when the Palestinian membership passed.

When you ask youth about their place in society and they respond by telling you that the media is what negatively impacts them and stops them from feeling a sense of belonging in the broader community, you (should) pay attention. Maybe even do something about it.

That's the basis of a new project, the Multimedia Multicultural Initiative (M&M), now operating in seven cities across Canada. It is run by the United Nations Association in Canada (UNAC). While not the actual UN, the organization is part of a federation of United Nations Associations around the world that promotes and educates around the broader mandate of the UN, issues like good government, equality, diversity, and human rights.

CBC's The Sunday Edition host, Michael Enright, gave an opening essay on the Feb. 13 program that lamented the failure of the United Nations to provide meaningful support to the people of Egypt in their courageous battle to end the tyranny under which they have lived for 30 years.

In the essay titled, "The United Nations of Nowhere," he said Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon offered nothing more than platitudes, token phrases to the people of Egypt.

Enright then went on to note, "When we say the words ‘United Nations,' we automatically think of four things -- the Security Council, the Secretary General, the General Assembly and peacekeeping.

Eight years ago, on Dec. 10th, 2002, Mohamed Harkat was arrested and thrown in jail for alleged and unproven terrorism offenses, and faces deportation to his native Algeria. His wife Sophie describes the impact of the prosecution against him and of the recent judicial setback in his case, when Justice Simon Noel upheld the security certificate issued against him.

Out with the old, in with the old!

What was expected to be the end of a long nightmare and a great end to 2010 turned out to be a disaster. We can't really put 2010 behind us because our battle continues.