Building diverse connections in rural spaces and what if 'journalism' and the 'news' are social constructs?
Asking hard questions
Clearing a New Path podcast and newsletter are aimed at building a more united, feminist, anti-oppressive rural (so-called) Canada.
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In this newsletter:
Building diverse connections in rural spaces
NEW podcast episode - Kari Neil - Social Justice Co-operative Newfoundland and Labrador
Journalism is a social construct
“My motion supporting ceasefire should not have been controversial”
Rural news roundup
Building diverse connections in rural spaces
As I write this, a Black female friend told me of the racism she experienced in her rural community, just this weekend. The verbal, racially motivated violence, the bullying and the bigotry came from representatives of a municipally-funded facility.
This happens now, every day in real time.
White women with her asked her how they could help and my friend said, “Stand in front of me and protect me.” And so they did.
The most important question white folks can ask is, “How can I support you?” or “How can I stand with you; protect you?”.
As white women, living in a predominantly white community, it takes an effort from us to build relationships of trust.
During the pandemic, the county I live in had an unprecedented amount of female mayors and they all worked well together. They formed the Women’s Caucus of Middlesex County and they hosted Zoom calls, specifically for women to feel supported during one of the biggest challenges of our times. They were very well attended and many of us who had the opportunity to attend, appreciated the efforts.
At one of those meetings, I brought up diversity and wanting to connect with other folks who wanted to do something about the lack of diverse voices/representation in the county. One of the mayors connected me with a few individuals who also had raised this concern and we began to have weekly Zoom meetings.
Often it became a place for us to feel supported in our frustration but we also met with county support services, to look at what additional supports they needed. We made a list of gaps, of what was missing.
Because we were a grassroots group, made up of women of colour and white women like me, there was an additional level of exhaustion for the women of colour, especially because pushing for services and addressing inequities was not their work to do. Sadly, they had to gently explain this to me because I was pushing hard. I still had inner work to do and biases to address as well as, thinking about how pushing, in some cases actually centres me and what I think should be done and not what support looks like to the diverse groups themselves.
And I was judging. I was ‘othering’, exactly the thing I wanted to eliminate and/or shift! I was shunning folks, I thought, that weren’t at the same point in their awareness journey.
I’ve taken a step back and looked at how to build relationships of trust, friendships first while at the same time leaning into my own colonial healing so I can stand with diverse and marginalized folks from a healed, grounded place. A place that doesn’t centre ME and my comfort, but also allows me to have peace and make decisions about where to put my energy, at whatever place I am, in that moment.
My peace is actually my resistance. Collective peace is our resistance.
If that sounds healthy, there was a whole messy, embarrassing, shame-filled road to get to that.
And the healing continues, today, in this moment.
I keep saying it but it’s my truth, I mess up on the regular, but the key, at least for me, is to acknowledge it, be vulnerable about it, but also change the narrative in my own mind, that I’m a terrible person because I got ________ wrong. And being open to being called in, so I can learn.
It’s a journey, it’s all an up and down journey and no one gets gold stars for appearing like you’re perfect, and really, perfect at what cost?
I’m human, and embracing humanness through messy growth is actually why we’re all here.
I’m grateful to be alive, and awake during this time of upheaval and change.
NEW Podcast episode - Kerri Neil - Co-chair of the Social Justice Co-operative of Newfoundland and Labrador
Summary
Kerri Neil, co-chair of Social Justice Cooperative Newfoundland and Labrador, discusses the formation and work of the cooperative. The organization operates as a member-run, non-profit cooperative focused on social and environmental justice. They advocate for feminism, decolonization, and care for individuals, the land, and all living beings. The cooperative primarily consists of individual members, with a few organizations also involved. They prioritize financial independence and rely on monthly donations from members and community supporters. The cooperative engages in a wide range of activism, including disability justice, women's equality, Indigenous activism, and more. They emphasize the importance of mutual aid and building relationships within the community.
Journalism is a construct - Part 1
What would you say if I told you everything you know or were taught about ‘journalism’ and the ‘news’ is wrong?
I’m going to say this and if you’re still reading, maybe I can open your mind: ‘Journalism’ and the ‘news’ are social constructs because both words and concepts were created by white settler colonizers (almost entirely white men) in order to frame, communicate and protect a very specific narrative.
Still here?
I’m working with an Indigenous mentor and Indigenous Healing Centre on birthing something new and it will ruffle more than a few feathers.
It’s actually surprising that more folks haven’t challenged the definitions of ‘truth’ and ‘facts’ that journalism so righteously defends and protects. A ‘journalist’ is highly respected because of their chosen profession, there’s a nobility to it, an unspoken dedication to get to the bottom of a story, to dig for the truth underneath the propaganda.
But whose truth?
My guess is that people rarely challenge ‘journalism’ and the ‘news’ because both words have become our moral compass, something that underpins our democracy.
But whose democracy? Whose rights?
Here’s a few books I’ve been reading over the past 6 months or so.
Notice what’s similar about these books, other than being about journalism and its history?
If you guessed all written by white men, you’d be right!
And what all of these books spell out, is that white men created and still control ‘journalism’ and the ‘news’.
That’s just a taste.
Next week, Part 2.
“My motion supporting ceasefire should not have been controversial”
Niagara Regional Councillor Haley Bateman put forward a motion to council:
She and many of the council members received a large number of emails and phone calls about the motion and a number of folks showed up to speak to the motion.
Her motion was voted down, other councillors saying it was too divisive.
And Councillor Bateman wrote a commentary in Pelham Today News with the headline “COMMENTARY: My motion supporting ceasefire should not have been controversial”:
“As a woman, a mother, and a grandchild of survivors of WWII, I am innately aware of the devastating effects this type of violence has on women and children. The sexual violence and gender-based atrocities on October 7 and since is alarming. The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, have called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and immediate release of hostages, many of whom are women and girls.
As one of nine women on Regional Council, how can I ignore the rights of women and children in Israel and Palestine? Seventy percent of the fatalities to date are women and children; almost 1 million have been displaced, and there are approximately 50,000 women who are pregnant. Many of the people these statistics represent are friends and family members of Palestinian and Israeli-Canadians living in Niagara. They came to the Region to share their stories.”
Rural news roundup - January 30, 2024
International
The Rural Ski Slope Caught Up in an International Scam
National
CULTURE CONNECT: Fostering inclusivity in rural Canada; going beyond tokenism
Empowering Rural Communities: Fifth Annual Community Fund By Do More Agriculture And FCC
British Columbia
New wildfire recruitment strategy looks to build a safer 2024 fire season
‘Devastating’: Mayor of Fraser Lake on impending closure of West Fraser Timber sawmill
First Nations question the economic toll of shipping through the Salish Sea
Alberta
Vehicle convoy rolls through Southern Alberta
Alberta teachers, school groups say they weren’t consulted on parental rights policy
'Mutiny on wing night': Province may step in over single-use bylaws
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan has 5 active fur farms. Critics say they should be banned
Manitoba
DNA match leads to arrest nearly 17 years after killing of young Manitoba woman
Ontario
Funding for rural economic development announced at ROMA conference, expansion of housing funds
COLUMN: Farms help keep rural Ontario’s social fabric alive
Quebec
Canada's Tornado Alley may be moving from Prairies to Ontario-Quebec, warn researchers
New Brunswick
Mayor of dysfunctional municipality quits over infighting
N.B. homeowner sees more than 50 per cent increase in property value in three years
Nova Scotia
Rural Cape Breton communities not immune to housing crisis
PEI
New federal cap on foreign student permits raising concerns on P.E.I.
Police announce arrest in 1988 murder of P.E.I. man that shook province ‘to its core’
Newfoundland and Labrador
Minimum Wage Set to Increase April 1
Territories (Northwest, Nunvut, Yukon)
Six dead in Rio Tinto plane crash in Canada's Northwest Territories
‘Almost no availability’ of cabs in Hay River, SAO says
‘For northerners by northerners:’ A look back at devolution in Yukon
Recommendations
Podcasts
The Conversation Piece by The Walrus Talks - “The Walrus Talks is a national event series that sparks conversations on the issues that matter most to Canadians.”
These are short, 15-ish min podcasts. I listened to this episode today: Shree Paradkar: You Cannot Silence Journalists with Abuse
I was disgusted, sad, angry, scared and I know I will be referring to her talk over and over again in my future work.
Books
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents - “In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched, and beautifully written narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.”
I haven’t read this book yet but when I stopped by our local library today to ask about starting a book club, she recommended this book because she says it comes up in so many other book discussions.
*If you’d like a topic covered, or you’d like to facilitate a conversation utilizing the Clearing a New Path podcast platform, please connect with me by hitting reply or by emailing shauna@radarmedia.co
Your feedback is always welcome.