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A New Threat to Life: Examining the Environmental Reach of Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Get PDFDespite having one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms lacks any explicit environmental protection rights. This contrasts with the constitutions of countries such as the Netherlands, France, and Finland. With the recent increase in global environmental advocacy, the search for environmental protections through the Canadian courts has never been higher. In this paper, I examine whether the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) would expand the scope of section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to encompass the right to a healthy environment. To answer this, I conducted a legal analysis of SCC case judgements involving a section 7 Charter claim within the last ten years. The two main variables that I am testing in this analysis are the scope of section 7 and the presence of judicial activism. Detailed measurements of these variables can be found in my methodology section. My findings indicate that SCC justices would not broadly encompass the right to a healthy environment within section 7. This is due to a consistently low presence of judicial activism and generally narrow interpretations of section 7 in recent SCC rulings. However, the findings do indicate that section 7 could possibly extend to the environmental policy area in a limited manner. More dialogue with Canadian courts regarding constitutionally protected environmental rights is needed to address this gap.  
Healing the wounded spirit: A journey into Canada’s justice system
Get PDFIntroductionDespite efforts to decrease the overrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples in the Canadian justice system, the issue persists (Zinger, 2018). Although the reasons for this are muti-faceted, it has been identified that there is a lack of research on the resources available for Indigenous offenders as they reintegrate back into the community, the obstacles they face and the support that they need (Griffiths et al., 2007; Howell, 2016).
PurposeTo identify workable and meaningful programs that can guide participants in their journey of healing.
MethodsThis qualitative study will use semi-structured interviews to facilitate the sharing of stories with up to 15 Indigenous participants released from a federal prison, and who currently reside in New Brunswick. An Indigenous Wholistic Theoretical Orientation using the four quadrants of the Medicine Wheel Model will be used. Stories shared will be transcribed to conduct a thematic analysis. Data will be coded, organized into pre-identified themes, and analyzed for common themes across the four quadrants of the wholistic model. Consistent with Story Work Pedagogy this research will recognize the diversity in Indigenous teachings (Archibald, 2008). Wolastoqi and Mi’kmaw Elders from the local area will be invited to oversee the research process and gather at three different points in the research project - beginning, middle and end.
SignificanceThere is an identified need for Indigenous healing approaches to be considered in counsellor education and practice (Rowett, 2019). Counsellors have an ethical and social responsibility to increase their competencies when working with Indigenous clients who have different life experiences (CCPA, 2015; TRC of Canada, 2015). This research has the potential to contribute to culturally sensitive counselling practices with Indigenous ex-offenders, and the acquisition of knowledge that may be used by communities to shape the development of future policy. This is a summary of work in progress for the submission of a research ethics proposal.
beholden: poem as long as the river
No full textComprising two lines of poetic text flowing along a 114-foot-long map of the Columbia River, this powerful image-poem by acclaimed poets Fred Wah and Rita Wong presents language yearning to understand the consequences of our hydroelectric manipulation of one of North America’s largest river systems. beholden: a poem as long as the river stems from the interdisciplinary artistic research project “River Relations: A Beholder’s Share of the Columbia River,” undertaken as a response to the damming and development of the Columbia River in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, as well as to the upcoming renegotiation of the Columbia River Treaty. Authors Fred Wah and Rita Wong spent time exploring various stretches of the river, all the way to its mouth near Astoria, Oregon. They then spent several months creating long poems along the Columbia, each searching for a language that evoked the complexities of our colonial appropriation of it. beholden was then assembled as a page-turning book that reproduces the two long poems as they respond to the meanderings of the river flowing two thousand kilometres through Canada, the United States, and the territories and reserves of Indigenous Peoples. Visual artist Nick Conbere then transferred this winding footprint into a monumental, 114-foot horizontal banner. beholden: a poem as long as the river “reads” the geographic, historical, political, and social dimensions of the Columbia River, literally and figuratively, proposing two contrasting kinds of attention. As both a stand-alone poem and an accompanying piece to the visual installation exhibited at various galleries, beholden represents a vital contribution to a larger dialogue around the river through visual art, writing, and public engagement.
https://talonbooks.com/books/beholden
 
Learning is Living: Acoustic Ecology as Pedagogical Ground A Report on Experience
Get PDFPresented at the Symposium: “Acoustic Ecology and Ecological Aesthetics,” June 6, 1999 as part of the larger festival Stadtstimmen (City Voices), conceptual- ized by Sabine Breitsameter and organized by the city of Wiesbaden, Ger- many, March to October 1999
Insights Taken from Three Visited Soundscapes in Japan
Get PDFSince the project of 100 Soundscapes of Japan, which was carried out by the Japanese Environmental Protection Agency (epa), was completed in 1997, I have been conducting my own follow-up field research, visiting the specific localities which were recommended by the local people for their soundscapes. This paper reports some of my findings on three specific soundscapes. Based on the result of this field work, this paper discusses the significance and problems of the project
Soundwalking The Wind
No full textWe hear about wind voices in old myths, in novels, in poetry, in fairytales and in horror stories, and we can listen to them in today’s films and radio plays. Whenever wind touches an object it creates a sound—a sound which is unique for this specific acoustic event. Emily Carr perceived these subtleties very well, as we can read in her writings..
Echoes of a Disappearing Planet: Discovering Pluralism in Soundscapes Using Natural Pitch Resonance and the Sonic Properties of the Alphorn
Get PDFThe title for this paper came after much thought and because the instrument I play is the alphorn, an ancient instrument dating back to 1400 BC in Denmark and Germany. It relies heavily on the subtleties of natural acoustics and echoes, which result from natural resonances. It is unique in its ability to create natural resonances in soundscapes and to carry its sound literally over miles of mountain ranges, across lakes and through forests..
Creatures of Culture? Making the Case for Cultural Systems in Whales and Dolphins.
Get PDFOn a typical summer day, the waters of Johnstone Strait, in British Columbia, are abuzz with the clicks, whistles, and pulsed calls of killer whales. These animals—the summer residents of the inland waterways off northern Vancouver Island—are perhaps the most intensively studied whale population in the world. Through research based on the ability of observers to visually identify every individual in the population, scientists have put together an extensive and detailed outline of the whales’ social relationships over the last three decades. And since the early 1980s, researchers have had hydrophones in the water, recording myriad hours of whale conversation
Acoustic Ecology and the New Electroacoustic Space of Digital Networks
Get PDFThis symposium’s title has changed since I saw it on the web—before my departure from Europe. The title Acoustic Ecology was then squeezed between two ques- tion marks: ?...acoustic ecology...?. This showed at a glance, that Acoustic Ecology (AE) as a term was somehow put into question, at least a topic of discussion in itself. I don’t know why these question marks have been erased. But I think it is interest- ing for many reasons to see that AE is being questioned. It is not only questioned by people from outside of the movement, but also by those who have been dealing with the topic for quite a long time. The latter is particularly interesting: in one of the last issues of Soundscape (Vol. 3 Number 1) some people responded to the question of how they and their work relate to the term Acoustic Ecology, that they would prefer the term Soundscape, as it is less loaded with values. Can artistic and ecological values co-exist—or more specifically: can they inspire each other with- out trivializing each other and,—at the same time,—create something which is alluring and captures the mind and senses. There are enough people, who would doubt this spontaneously. Some of these doubts, not all of them, are due to the fact that— for reasons which remain to be discussed—AE carries the burden of a certain image