George Lessard

Canada Without Poverty challenges Harper audits at United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva

MediaMentor — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 19:52:38 +0000

Mikisew Cree First Nation applauds UNESCO decision on Wood Buffalo National Park

MediaMentor — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 05:10:18 +0000

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Rally Against Fracking in the NWT

MediaMentor — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:07:58 +0000

Fracking Action North (FAN) is a coalition of NWT organizations, including Alternatives North, Ecology North, the NWT Chapter Council of Canadians, Canadian Physicians for the Environment, and individuals/citizens who are concerned that hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the NWT is proceeding without a full and transparent consideration of all of the health, social, environmental and economic costs and benefits.
FAN invites all NWT residents to learn more about fracking, and the potential costs and benefits of this technology. Please browse our information and resources for links to many scientific journals and peer-reviewed articles on the impacts of fracking on human health, water quality and quantity, air quality and social and community well-being.

Local government responsibility and the right to adequate housing

MediaMentor — Sat, 25 Apr 2015 00:35:29 +0000

"SR right to food and on adequate housing - 16th Meeting, 28th Regular Session Human Rights Council

“… Special Rapporteur Leilani Farha on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living & on adequate housing about responsibility of local government for right to adequate housing…” http://t.co/N0D5t8zpfP

Former Justice Thomas Berger opens 'Thunder in our Voices' exhibition

MediaMentor — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 09:48:40 +0000

From a press release for the opening...

YELLOWKNIFE (Feb 27, 2015): Former Justice Thomas Berger visited the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre to officially open the Thunder in our Voices exhibit currently on display until April 30, 2015.

Between 1975 and 1977, Justice Thomas Berger visited thirty communities in the NWT and the Yukon to hold hearings into the proposed Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. The Berger Inquiry broke with tradition by considering perspectives offered by community members in their own languages. This year marks the fortieth anniversary of this process, whereby the people of the MacKenzie Valley impacted the project by telling their stories in their own words.

Stand up against Bill C-51 in Yellowknife, NWT

MediaMentor — Sat, 14 Mar 2015 21:28:54 +0000

STAND UP Against C 51 in Yellowknife, NWT

What Nunavut's MP doesn’t know about poverty in her riding but the auditor general found out

MediaMentor — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 06:14:53 +0000

Feeding My Family Facebook Group

August 16, 2013 - 6:42 am

Photo: Feeding my Family holds Iqaluit food protest Aug. 15
DAVID MURPHY 16 Aug 2013 ...Leesee Papatsie (right) cheers on honking cars opposite the Northmart in Iqaluit Aug. 15. Last year, the group "Feeding My Family," created by Papatsie, first raised the issue of food insecurity in the North and held protests in Nunavut and Ottawa. This year, about a dozen people turned out for the Aug. 15 Iqaluit demonstration. "The protest is to show that we the people in Nunavut are asking for a change, because it is time for change," Isreal Mablick said on the group's Facebook page. Look for what people had to say about the protest later on Nunatsiaqonline.ca

NWT Legislative Assembly's flags at half staff

MediaMentor — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 15:10:11 +0000

Posted on Facebook this morning by Robert Hawkins, NWT MLA for Yellowknife Centre

"... NWT Legislative Assembly's flags are at half mast and in the background you can see the RCMP standing watch.

Canadian and Northern resolve [will] continue to be stronger then ever and our duty nationally and international shall never be silent...."

Un/Covering the North: News, Media, and Aboriginal People

MediaMentor — Sun, 19 Oct 2014 07:11:52 +0000

“….Un/Covering the North: News, Media, and Aboriginal People
Bibliographic Details
ISBN: 0774807075
Publisher: University of British Columbia Press
Un/Covering the North
News, Media, and Aboriginal People
Valerie Alia
[UBC PRESS • BOOKS IN NATIVE STUDIES}

AFN commission on Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women; RCMP policing in the NWT

MediaMentor — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 18:49:03 +0000

Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus on the AFN thinking of setting up a commission of inquiry about the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women and RCMP policing. NWT RCMP Sgt. Barry Ledoux also speaks on what the NWT RCMP is doing about the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women and also policing issues in the NWT's smaller communities at the Native Women's Association of the NWT AGM

W.C. Fields speaks Inuktitut? – The Diner Sketch

MediaMentor — Sun, 25 May 2014 19:47:21 +0000

Terry Rudden Sunday, May 25 at 10:39am · YouTube ·

“…Northern friends – anyone notice a very peculiar word about halfway through this sketch?…”

$1.52 billion Northern Property REIT refuses to rent to Yellowknifers on income assistance

MediaMentor — Sun, 11 May 2014 08:06:09 +0000

UDATE 20140623 from Northern Public Affairs

List of Yukon employers allowed to use Temporary Foreign Workers

MediaMentor — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 19:24:17 +0000

"...The following document shows all [Yukon] employers who have successfully participated in Human Resources and Skills Development Canada’s Labour Market Opinion process, meaning they are legally authorized to hire Temporary Foreign Workers in Canada. The documents reflects [...] applications made to Ottawa over a two-year period ending June 2012.
Appearing on this list does not necessarily mean that the employer took the additional step of bringing in a foreign worker through the department of Citizenship and Immigration. Instead, it offers a window into how widespread the practice of using temporary foreign workers has become..." [1]

Like an iceberg: a blog on being a journalist in Canada's Arctic

MediaMentor — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 08:27:23 +0000

“The iceberg needs to be broken. Even if it’s big, it will break. The only way it can get fixed is if you talk. We have to break the iceberg into pieces. Then things will come out. After the iceberg has crumbled, there’s a cleansing of the body. Everything will come out in anger and rage.” — Meeka Arnakaq of Pangnirtung, 1995

An iceberg melts in August off the shore of Baffin Island. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Jane George starts her blog by saying "...Join me as I remember my travels in the Canadian Arctic during the 1990s, a period when few journalists travelled as widely in the region.

NWT employers authorized to use temporary foreign workers

MediaMentor — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 07:24:59 +0000

RT @Northern_Clips: Which #NWT #employers are authorized to use #temporary #foreign #workers? http://ow.ly/vURae #TFW #CDNpoli #NWTpoli

"...The following document shows all [NWT] employers who have successfully participated in Human Resources and Skills Development Canada’s Labour Market Opinion process, meaning they are legally authorized to hire Temporary Foreign Workers in Canada. The documents reflects [...] applications made to Ottawa over a two-year period ending June 2012.