CanCon Temp Home

[Meursault]

How are you doing Phil?

[samplestiltskin]

I MISS SHANE!!!

And Tunes!! Happy berfday lady.

[tuneschick]

Thanks samps. Hope you're well.

[maarts]

Crikey!
How are you, Tunes? Good to see you!

[tuneschick]

Hey maarts, I'm good, thanks. Just keeping ridiculously busy at this new job (which really isn't so new anymore, I guess, considering it's been 10 months.) Other than that, mostly hanging out with S and the doggie, being old and married. Not necessarily super-exciting, but still pretty good.

And you?

[maarts]

Cool! What's the new job?

I'm OK, started a new job at the same firm last month which keeps me busy enough.

[tuneschick]

Sept 1, 2008 15:18:21 GMT -5 maarts said:

Cool! What's the new job?

I'm OK, started a new job at the same firm last month which keeps me busy enough.

New job for you too, huh? Similar to the old one? Are you enjoying it? You don't necessarily sound so enthused...

My new job is fairly similar to the old one - have a load of different clients throughout the corporation and I develop communications strategies to support their business objectives... help them develop ad campaigns, awareness/education initiatives, promotional pieces etc. Lots of work, incredibly busy, but pretty fun too.

[samplestiltskin]

That sounds fun! Staying busy is always good. Good to see you Tunes.

[tuneschick]

Hey maarts, I usually ignore the 'hello...' board, since it's usually just a rash of silliness and insults, but just came across what you said about your dad. Really sorry to hear it.

[phil]

49 Songs from North of the 49th Parallel

Canadians choose 49 songs from North of the 49th parallel that defines Canada to the new President.

Beginning Monday, January 5, CBC Radio 2 invites Canadians to help select the top “49 songs from north of the 49th parallel” that would best define our country to the incoming U.S. President Barack Obama.

His playlist could definitely benefit from some Canadian content, especially given the depth of our musical offerings – spanning a wide variety of genres and representing our culture from coast to coast.

“One of the best way to know Canada is through the depth and breadth of our artistic expression,” says Denise Donlon, Executive Director, CBC Radio. “We're excited about the new President and we want him to be excited about us, so we're asking our audience to help compile the list of our most definitive Canadian songs!”

Canadians have a week to submit their song choices and nominations for the short list close at 8pm ET on Friday January 9th, 2009.

On Monday, January 12, CBC Radio 2 will tally all the entries and reveal the shortlist of 100 songs. The public can then vote for their favourite shortlisted song online at cbc.ca/obamasplaylist. Voting closes Friday, January 16 at 11 p.m. ET.

A total of 49 songs will be determined.

So, what Canadian music do you think is the most definitive 49 songs from North of the 49th parallel?

www.cbc.ca/radio2/obamasplaylist/

[phil]

Parent seeks ban on Atwood novel

Canwest News Service

Published: Saturday, January 17, 2009

Margaret Atwood's dystopic novel The Handmaid's Tale was No. 37 last year on the American Library Association's list of most frequently challenged books of the 1990s, but until now there has apparently been no recorded attempt to ban it in Canada.

That makes the father of a student at Toronto's Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute possibly the first to demand that the novel, which depicts a future in which women are the victims of a fundamentalist society which values them only as breeders, be removed from the Grade 12 curriculum.

Kelly Baker, communications co-ordinator for the Toronto District School Board, said the parent originally brought his complaint to the school's principal.

Baker was unable to specify how the school attempted to respond to the parent's concern, though a report in the Toronto Star said that the student was issued Aldous Huxley's Brave New World to read instead and will leave the classroom when Atwood's novel is being discussed.

Unsatisfied with the school's resolution, the student's father then made a formal complaint to the school board, which has passed it along to a review committee for study and recommendation about whether the "learning resource" should be removed from the classroom.

The committee had its first meeting to discuss the book on Thursday night, and Baker said there will likely be another meeting at the committee level before a recommendation is made to the director of education, who will make the final decision.

The committee's proceedings are private, Baker said, so she could not comment on what was discussed.

Baker said she was not aware of other attempts to ban The Handmaid's Tale, but noted that complaints that are resolved at the school level wouldn't necessarily be recorded.

© The Windsor Star 2009

LoLoLoL ... Loved the school's reaction who gave the kid
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World to read instead ... ;D ;D

[maarts]

If you can't beat them....repatriate them?

Canada Issues a Wake-Up Call: You May Be a Citizen

Thanks to a new law, Canada will bestow citizenship Friday on what its government believes could be hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting foreigners, most of them Americans.

The April 17 amendment to Canada's Citizenship Act automatically restores Canadian nationality to many people forced to renounce it when they became citizens of another country. It also grants citizenship to their children.

In the video 'Waking Up Canadian,' a man goes to sleep in a drab room and wakes up to find out that he's become a citizen of Canada. Surrounded by flags, maple-leaf-shaped cookies and a canister of maple syrup, he's welcomed by a hockey player, two plush moose and a uniformed Mountie.
Related Links
Canada's New Spin on Triple LoopsWork-Visa Numbers Get Squishy -- and Get PlayedU.S. Offers Refuge to CubansThe Canadian government doesn't know the precise number or location of individuals affected by the legislation. But it believes most are U.S. citizens, a spokeswoman for Canada's immigration office said. U.S. Department of Homeland Security records show 240,000 Canadians were naturalized in the U.S. from 1948 to 1977; the new law fixes problems that occurred during those years.

To reach that amorphous group of beneficiaries, the Canadian government has turned to YouTube. It's running an ad there titled "Waking up Canadian," in which a man awakens on April 17 to a room festooned with red-and-white Canadian flags. He's met by a welcoming committee consisting of two stuffed plush moose, a hockey player, and a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Eligible individuals automatically become Canadian citizens. But they don't get proof of that citizenship unless they apply for it, meaning other countries -- including those that allow people to be citizens of only one nation -- won't be alerted, according to the immigration office spokeswoman. Those people also may renounce their citizenship rights, she said.

.
The citizenship bonanza is the byproduct of a decades long struggle by a motley group of people who claim they were unfairly denied or lost their Canadian nationality. Canadian families who crossed the border in 1947 to 1977 to have their babies in a U.S. hospital found those children weren't recognized as Canadians unless the families registered them with the government. Some foreign brides of Canadian World War II servicemen lost their citizenship if they stayed out of the country for a decade or more.

Then there are the Canadian Mennonites who moved to Mexico in the 1920s to the 1960s. When their children and grandchildren returned to Canada, many found their nationality unclear.

Some such cases languished in litigation for years. Others surfaced in 2007, when new U.S. rules requiring passports for travel between Canada and the U.S. uncovered significant numbers of people who thought they were Canadian, but weren't. The old rules were "quite intricate," said Bill Janzen, an immigration lobbyist in Ottawa for the Mennonite Central Committee of Canada.

The new law offers citizenship to many individuals now in limbo. It also stops the previous practice of granting citizenship in perpetuity to children of Canadians born abroad, limiting eligibility to children of parents born in Canada.

[Meursault]

Hello,

How is everyone?

Who is Miss Marple?

Phil, I do I get ride of starling in my yard, bird feeders. I know some feeders can keep them away but also keep out bluesbirds and other such desirables.

Cheers

[maarts]

Phil has taken a hiatus several months ago. Bit of what everyone else has even doing here lately. Pity.

[Meursault]

oh Canada...?