“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” - George Santayana,The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905

The above quotation came to mind as I recently finished reading A National Crime by John S. Milloy.  I have attended sessions where persons who attended the local Residential School related their personal experiences.  But not until I had read this book did I get such a fuller picture of official government response.

No one in my opinion can or should be be particularly proud of our governement response to First Nation’s People.  One duty that we owe to those who continue to suffer as a result of such history is to be educated to what that history was. Lack of awareness and respect to our common humanity is as more to blame for the our nation’s treatment of its First Nation’s People than outright evil intention to harm or neglect. BY any standards, both then as now, certain neglect and abuse was simply criminal and should be regarded as such.

Before we can move on to the future we must review and become aware of our past.  I would recommend this book as one source for becoming aware of it

During the summer of 2009 there was one strike involvingan Association for Community Living, The main issue in contention appears to be the Unuion’s desire to force the employer into an under funded pension plan generally referred to as MSPP or Multi Sector Pension Plan. External to that organization, the biggest issue surrounding labour relations between Association’s and their bargaining units continues to be the picketing of Consumers homes.

People First of Lanark County, held a rally here in their town to protest the union’s picketing of people’s homes. The rights of individuals to live in quiet possession of their homnes in their opinion should trump the rights of Unions to assemble for the purposes of distributing information and to encourage others not to cross their lines.  They are asking the Province to change labour legislation to make this point clear. 

The History of Provincial legislatures coming forward to protect the fundamental rights of persons with disabilies is less than 50 years old and continues to grow.  When individuals lived in Provincial INstitutions there appeared to be little reason to protect the rights of consumers because there was little of personal santity worth protecting. As individuals have moved out into the community and devloped personal living spaces of their own they are not as prepared as they once were to accept second or third class status behind everyone else.  They demand respect, dignity and residential peace4 and tranquility. They beleive that Association’s and Union empolyees will have to take their battles elsewhere.  

Unions on the other hand maintain the santity of their rights to bargain and to use time honoured approaches to increasing their power.  Fundamental rights are at stake. Lets hope the Province gets it right - otherwise ultimately the issue will have to be resolved by the courts.   

An Art Partner picture entitled “Inclusion” (22”x 60” acrylic on canvas) will shortly be making its way to Ottawa. The picture, presented to Ken Dryden at a Poverty Forum held in Kenora on September 4 was painted by a group of artists including Lori Gray, Mary Sandy, Jody Derouard, Robert Gordon, Shelly Bujold-Brignall, Janet Belair, Candy Filipuzzi, Tom Adams and Ruth Wilgress.

The art task for this group of particpants was to think about inclusion, a place where everyone is felt welcome.  Blue skies and a bright sun shine down on a variety of figures in the painting. The painting has images as fairies, the devil, figures in wheelchairs, a cat, people holding hands, and even a figure that look like they are failing from the sky.

The title plaque contains the quote of Margaret Mead:

 “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world.  Indeed it is the only thing that ever has .”

At the Poverty forum as well as the night that followed, a point that some consumers served by KACL wanted to make is that poverty is a multi-dimensional problem.

Physical poverty means that individuals don’t get bare essentials: inadequacies of goods and services such that the individual experiences (or is exposed to) disease, hunger, malnutrition, and homelessness.  Social poverty means the absence of intimate relationships, of friends and loved ones or social isolation. Intellectual or mental poverty means an inadequacy of education and/or absence of interaction with others so that the individual does not partake in a life of the mind. This can be brought about through lack of schooling leading to illiteracy, or more commonly a culture of intellectual isolation. Spiritual poverty means the absence of any transcendent meaning in the experiences or activities of the individual. Transcendent meaning is that which permits us to see things that are bigger than ourselves -community, society or even the concept of God as that concept is understood by any individual. Emotional or aesthetic poverty means the absence of beauty within the person’s life, whether it is the beauty of the traditional arts, the natural environment, the urban world, or the absence of ceremony.

Art Partners is a visual arts program organized by the Kenora Association for Community Living. The program is open to all adults who want to explore their creative selves through painting and drawing while getting to know other members of their  community. Focus is placed on the process of creating rather than the end visual result. In other words, you don’t have to paint like Picasso to participate. All you need is an open mind and a desire to have some fun!

A study done on students at the University of Utah, as referred to in Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point,  found that if you ask someone why he is friendly with someone, he’ll  say it is because he and his friend share similar attitudes. When you examine more carefully you find out what they actually share is similar activities.

 KACL is one organization that believes that friendships and relationships are two of the most important components of achieving their vision of “A Meaningful and Satisfying Life for All”.  In order to develop friendships and relationships it is important for individuals to share similar activities – together.   

Jolanda Jetten et al.  in a magazine article entitled “The Social Cure”, Scientific American Mind, once again report on a conclusion reached by some staff of KACL years ago: “Belonging to social groups and networks appear to be an important predictor of health”

Commenting on one 2003 study by Psychologist Sheldon Cohen,

“indicated that the least sociable people in their sample were twice as likely to get colds as those who were the most sociable-even though the more sociable people were probably exposed to more germs…There is now compelling evidence that the health risk of social isolation is comparable to the risks of smoking, high blood pressure and obesity, even after controlling for other variables knowmn to affect health”.  

This article quotes everal studies that back up conclusions found in Oliver Sach’s book The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a hat and Robert Putnam’s book Bowling Alone which indicate that quality of life, physical and mental health and perceived well being are enhanced by participation in group life.

In 2001 John J. Ratey in A User’s Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain) presented the evidence available to show that exercise stimulates and strengthens neuro-chemical brain functions. In his latest book Spark, The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, Ratey, further advances the story, presenting new research to prove that exercise serves not only to prevent deterioration but also to positively affect brain growth and development.  The book is now in audio book format so you can listen as you run. Learn that aerobic exercise has been shown to be as effective as antidepressants, that a fitness program put one U.S. school district of 19,000 kids first in the world in science and that one study showed that women who exercise, divided their chances of developing dementia by half.  Incredibly he suggests that, exercise sparks new brain-cell growth. I am waiting for staff to increase exercise components in KACL Programming

There are many dimensions to poverty and one of the largest is the absence of education.  The Residential School Truth and Reconcilation Commission (TRC), website http://www.trc-cvr.ca/historicalintroen.html.  was created as a result of the court-approved negotiated Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) reached in September 2007.  

Established on June 1, 2008 It had been hoped that the work of the commission would be completed in five years. The aim of the commission was to educate canadians abouit a significant part of Canadian history unknown to most Canadians by sharing the experience of the Residential School. The TRC will provide former students and anyone affected by the Indian Residential Schools (IRS) experience with an opportunity to come forward and share their personal experiences in a safe, respectful, and culturally appropriate manner. This education and experience hopefully will assist in being a building of better relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples.

To prepare for a poverty form for September 4th with Ken Dryden I asked a number of individuals served by KACL, staff and Board members, what they thought I should tell him when he arrived in Kenora. One abrupt reply was to tell him nothing because “Politicians just don’t get it.”  Then on second thought, the individual suggested that we give him an Art Partner picture just because he was prepared to come to Kenora to listen.  Elaborating the individual acknowledged that there were many dimensions to poverty-physical, social, educational, emotional and  the last I would label spiritual - having a meaningful and satisfying life. I opened up a webpage at http://www.kacl.ca/poverty.html to keep track of the various comments made and this one was put at the begining of the web page.

The issue that received the most numerous complaint from staff was the issue of transportation. It costs $5.00 both ways for any trip that takes place before 5 PM. After 5 PM it costs $10. both ways. However after 5PM you are required to guarantee a party of 4 for a minimum of $80.00.  I am pleased to report on September the 4th, the local Kenora-Rainey River Liberal Riding was prepared to pay the entire shot to assist two individuals confine to a wheelchair to make the evening with Ken Dryden.

The goal of KACL is to ensure that all people with special needs have the opportunity to live a meaningful and satisfying lifestyle and interact as an equal in their community by providing continuing opportunities for personal growth through education, training, support, advocacy and an informed public.  Some have taken the concept of a meaningful and satisfying lifestyle  to be synonymous with happiness.  I have opened up a website to track my views on happiness at http://retson.ca/happiness.html. As any topic I research I attempt to keep a bibliography of useful resources. The books written on the topic of happiness every year number in the Thousands but two that have come out in the last few years that warrant reading are Happiness for No Reason by Marci Shimoff and The Happiness Hypothes by Jonathan Haidt.

Two things that both authors agree on is that  happiness is one of the most highly inheritable aspect of personality maybe between 50 and 80% - happiness is more dependent upon genes than life’s experiences.