Archives February 2018

Really interesting new plan – writing off national debt for island nations, in exchange for them working with conservancy groups to create large, protected marine conservation areas. Seems like a perfect win-win solution to me – and one that could be easily replicated in countless ways in other places in addition to marine protection – eg desert reclamation projects, rainforest protection etc. Would love to see this expanded more widely. Hope it goes well!
http://gu.com/p/863xx

As a Canadian, and a pacifist, I admit to not understanding the desire to own guns that is so pervasive with our neighbours to the south. I do not believe that individuals have the right to carry military weapons (or any guns etc at all) around on a daily basis – I don’t even think that the military for any country needs, or should have, weapons like that. If they were all destroyed, I believe that it would make the world a much more peaceful place.
So, when I came across this article, I thought that it deserved to be shared. I have no idea who the person is or what his background is – all I know is what is in the video.
https://newsstand.google.com/articles/CAIiEDEOa8M8w-iwEaEKxAX0d7oqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowqeP_CjDdg_oCMMTh6QU
I would love it if this spreads, and he helps to start building some momentum for others to do the same thing.  Interesting peacebuilding initiatives really come from anywhere when someone decides to make a concrete change towards peace. 🙂

We have reached another milestone – 200 signatures. That means we doubled in about 10 days or so. Let’s try to beat that, and double again in one week. Let’s aim to have at least 400 signatures by next weekend. If every signatory adds even one person, we’ll reach our goal, and hopefully exceed it!
Here’s a little graphic that I came across from the Fraser Institute. It’s a few years old, but covers school enrollment in Ontario from 2000-2013. It shows a clear trend towards decreases enrollment in public schools and an almost 10% increase in enrollment in independent schools.
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/file/student-enrolment-in-canada-ontario-infographicjpg
Happy Weekend! 🙂

Progress is moving along well here! We are now at nearly 200 signatures, and increasing steadily. Just had an article passed on to me from the Waterloo Record. As Catholic enrollment decreases, and non-Catholics are being added to fill empty seats, it seems increasingly hard to justify full funding for the Catholic system at the expense of other schools. It appears, to me, that these Catholic schools are operating essentially the same as any other independent school in Ontario, or the rest of Canada. Since other provinces provide equal funding to all independent schools, then it’s time for Ontario to equalize as well. Let’s make this the year that we make the change! Please share widely and help build support for this issue. Thanks! 🙂
https://www.therecord.com/news-story/8107861-catholic-board-has-many-many-non-catholics-so-why-duplicate-funding-john-hendry-says/