Fundraiser Friday: women fighting for social justice

When was the last time I did a Charity Friday? Which in retrospect I don't know why I didn't name Fundraiser Friday.  Okay. From now on, it's Fundraiser Friday.  Unless it's French Fridays.  Maybe once in a while, French Fundraiser Friday. Mais ca va etre plus difficile.

As you may know, I am really passionate about poverty issues, especially food security.  For the past five days, my friend Brittany has been living on $1.75 per day on drinks and food. Why? That's the challenge that people living below the poverty line face every day.  Brittany is not only raising money for anti-poverty initiatives through Live Below The Line, she's helping us become more aware of poverty issues. It's a really interesting project. I would be curious to try a Nunavut version (unfortunately, I'm not sure you could even buy a single grocery item for $1.75 at the grocery store here). You can donate to her cause here.

In another equally important issue, my friend Janet will be spinning for two hours at the third annual Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre's Spin-a-thon on May 3, in support of the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre. The Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre does a lot of important work in supporting survivors in Ottawa, by providing a crisis line, public education programs, and counselling. You can donate to support her here.

Finally, my band has decided that all proceeds from digital purchases of our song "Victoria Island" will go towards local community initiatives here in Cambridge Bay, including our local food bank, Diamonds in the Ruff (a local dog rescue and welfare group), and other projects to benefit low-income families in need of assistance. You can listen and download the song Victoria Island on Bandcamp here: http://scarybearsoundtrack.bandcamp.com/track/victoria-island.

We talk a little more about the situation of dogs in Cambridge Bay in today's Searchlight vlog. Also, rabies.



Remember to keep voting for us for CBC Music's Searchlight!

charity fridays...finally!

I haven't done my "Charity Fridays" in a while!  Not because I haven't been feeling charitable.  But here we are again!

My friend Jasmine is doing the CN Cycle for CHEO, the children's hospital in Ottawa. She's biking 70 km!  Help support her tired legs and vote here: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?registrationID=2217005

Also, Apartment613 is doing a really cool indiegogo campaign for their fellowship program. I'll let them explain it to you (they are all great writers, after all):

"The Apt613 Fellowship program will allow us to fund projects that go beyond a blog posts and radio segments. We will be looking for ideas that tell new stories about Ottawa, or that use innovative and exciting formats. The possibilities are endless.

• A web mini-series that goes behind the scenes of Ottawa’s restaurants.
• An in-depth series of articles on the local aboriginal arts community.
• A John Stewart-type satire on municipal politics.
• A web comic detailing dating life in the capital.
• A photo essay on local fashion designers.

Anyone from the Ottawa community will be able to apply for a fellowship; successful candidates will get monetary support as well as advice and other assistance from Apt613. We're launching a fundraising campaign on indigogo to help raise $10,000 to support this initiative. $7,000 of our goal for this campaign will go directly to fund the fellowship projects, while the remaining $3,000 will help us offset administration and website costs. Any money past our goal will go towards administrative costs of Apt613 (hosting, fees for things like fluidsuvey as well as the salary of our amazing part-time coordinator and interns) and other initiatives like Support Local Month."

Make a contribution here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/apt613-fellowship-program.

And of course, don't forget to vote for my song The Longest Night for CBC Music's Searchlight contest for Canada's Best New Artist!

northern poetry & charity Friday

It's Friday!  What social causes deserve your attention this week?

• My colleague Shaneka is running a 5k race on October 20 to raise funds for Food for the Poor Canada at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. This organization provides aid to Jamaica and Haiti. Donate here: http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=1987124&langPref=en-CA  

• My friend Ali volunteers for the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre. Every once in a while she posts photos of really cute seals that she gets to work with. Cute seals are a great cause! Donate here: https://bbnc.vanaqua.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=1522.

•  My sister-in-law Julie wants to make a music video protesting the tar sands pipeline, and has started up an Indiegogo campaign to raise the funds for it. Support her artistic endeavours here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tarfree613-song-video

my morning glories are in bloom!

In other news, I won third place in a Northern poetry contest! I entered Up Here Magazine's Robert Service poetry contest. Up Here is a great Northern lifestyle magazine that makes living in Canada's far north seem pretty exciting. The poetry contest required contestants to write a poem about living in the North in the style of Robert Service, the famous Canadian poet who wrote great poems such as The Shooting of Dan McGrew and The Cremation of Sam McGee.

Anyway, for this contest, I wrote a poem called The Redemption of the Sewage Truck Driver. It's all about how our sewage truck drivers just don't get enough appreciation for the important work they do. For those of you who aren't familiar with how the sewage system works in most Nunavut communities, we don't really have a functioning underground sewage system. Instead, our sewage is sucked out of our houses by truck, and then carted away, while water is delivered by a different truck. It's a pretty smelly process, but an important function.

All this to say that my poem won third place in the contest! You can check it out here: http://uphere.ca/node/971, or in the latest issue of Up Here Magazine. 

Big thanks to my husband, Aaron the editor, and the sewage truck drivers for the inspiration. 

a beautiful moon hanging low over the tundra horizon at sunset. i missed sunsets! i missed the moon!

Charity Friday: it's summer!

Looking for a good cause to donate to these days? On October 6, Leanne will participate in the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's Run For The Cure.  Twenty years ago, when Leanne was a baby, and my brother-in-law Kevin was just five years old, their mother passed away after a brave fight with breast cancer. Leanne has been participating in the Run for the Cure for several years now in memory of her mother.  It's a wonderful way to pay tribute to her memory, and a noble cause. You can make a donation here.

As a reminder, I am also collecting donations for the Polar Bear Dip. On August 2, I will be jumping into the Arctic Ocean - without a wetsuit - as part of a fundraiser to collect money for a new community facility in town. It will be cold, very cold. You can read more about the event and make a donation here.

And now, here are some random kayaking photos, in case you haven't been getting enough of those this week.

me, in the Britney Spears (my little red kayak) 

kayaking in rain or shine

 

the sea can we use for storage as well as a change room, which is a vast improvement over last year, where people had to change in and out of their wetsuits on the side of the road - a bit awkward, you have to admit.

 

photo by Miguel Chenier 

Charity Friday: hypothermia edition

So, for this round of Charity Friday, I'm going to ask y'all to support me as I participate in the 2nd Annual Cambridge Bay Polar Bear Dip.

You say: "What's the Polar Bear Dip?" 
(If you are my friend Will, you say "Good grief: people make dip out of polar bears???")

I say: On Friday, August 2nd, I'm going to jump into the ocean.

You say: "What's the big deal? What ocean?"

I say: The Arctic Ocean.

You say: "Oh."
Then you say: "What?! Why??"
(If you are my mom reading this, you also add "Ya! Michesuh?" ("Have you lost your mind?"))

I say: As a fundraiser to build a new multi-use facility for the community.  Our town is really excited about this new building; everyone's talking about what they'd love to see in it - a new youth centre, a coffee shop, a movie theatre, sports facilities.  Personally, I'm hoping the town goes for my suggestion of installing Korean karaoke noraebang. Anyway, the community is in the phase of raising funds for it, and this Polar Bear Dip is one of the fundraising events

You say: "But...you're going to wear a wetsuit right?"

I say: No wetsuits or drysuits allowed.  I'll be doing it in nothing but a bikini.  I might also wear this hat:

but not the Korean long underwear 

So you should really sponsor me and my quest to look hypothermia in the face and slap it.

You ask: "Why should I donate?"

I say: Because the community could really use this new facility.  Our community could use a lot more facilities, actually.  Also, if you donate at least $10 (and give me your email address), I will personally send you a thank you email along with a photo of me doing the dip. If you donate at least $25 and provide me your mailing address, I'll mail you a personalized thank you card + photo via snail mail (gotta keep Canada Post in business!).

Then you start asking really dumb questions, like: "Well, if you're really going to be hardcore, shouldn't you do it in the winter, when it'll be really cold?"

I say: It'll also be really hard, as in impossible. The Arctic Ocean is frozen in the winter, like, ten feet deep.

You ask: "How cold will the Arctic Ocean be in August then?"

I say: I'm not sure exactly, and maybe this is why I'm stupid enough to agree to do it. But the ocean just stopped being frozen last month, and right now in July the sea temperature is 0.5°C, which you'll note is barely above freezing, literally.  Maybe it'll be warmer by August. Maybe it'll be colder.
Fun fact: Because of the salt water content, the Arctic Ocean's freezing point is actually -1.5°C.

You ask: "Why a Polar Bear Dip and not a Polar Bear Swim?"

I say: A lot of folks don't actually know how to swim. More importantly though, we don't want to stay that long in the water, because when I Googled "how long can a person survive in cold water" I got this chart:

expected time before unconsciousness

You ask: "How about your partner? Will he be doing it as well?"

I say: Rob is being wiser. He will stay dry and warm and be holding my towel on the beach, while probably laughing at me.

So, friends, sponsor me!

charity fridays: Alberta edition

For this week's Charity Friday, I'm suggesting we make donations to support those affected by the flooding disasters in Alberta.  I saw some of it while I was in Edmonton earlier this week. It rained ceaselessly all day, flooding some of the streets until the sun finally broke out.

Cambridge Bay bake sale for flood relief

People have been really good and even creative about providing their support. It amazed me to see how people in Cambridge Bay, who often face poverty (not to mention extreme weather), organized a bake sale to raise funds for the Alberta flood victims. If these modest folks can spare a little change, so can we, right? Especially if even very poor Cambodian orphans are donating to the cause. Orphans!

So here are some ways to help:

• Donate to the Red Cross, or even volunteer for the Red Cross. They are especially looking for volunteer truck drivers or fork lift operators (403-461-6206) 
• Donate to the Calgary YWCA
• Donate to the Calgary Humane Society. You may have heard the story about the Calgary zoo hippos that made an attempt to escape into the river while flood volunteers transported other animals, but other animals have been displaced too and need support.
• Some of the communities that were the most affected and devastated by the floods were the Aboriginal ones, including the Siksika and Stony Nations. You can offer a donation here to support the rebuilding of their communites.
• Donate a graduation dress to girls who are about to graduate but had their dresses ruined.
• You can also donate a number of other things according to this Canadian Home Builders Association list including dumpsters, garbage cans, flashlights, food, generators and shovels 
• If you're in Edmonton, participate in the local bottle drive, "Cans for Calgary"

  Feel free to post other links to other charities that could use some support for the flood victims.

So what has been happening in Cambridge Bay since I've been away and not blogging? We missed out on a lot of things happening in Cambridge Bay:

• Most notably, kids caused an oil spill in Cambridge Bay. Apparently some children got curious about the tanks that hold used oil, and opened up a valve, apparently causing 15000 litres of oil to spill out into the Arctic Ocean.  Luckily, much of the ocean is still frozen so separating oil from the ocean was not as complicated as it usually is, but clean up is still going on around here. 


• Somebody spotted a grizzly bear wandering around on the street behind me.  My friends went out on an imaginary bear hunt, but with no luck. I heard someone from town tell a story about how people kept spotting a grizzly bear in town but whenever hunters went to go find it, they could never find it.  Finally, they discovered that the bear had been sleeping under one of the houses.  Excuse me while I go check the space beneath my house... 


• As a side note, grizzly bears weren't all that common up here on the island for a long time, but lately they've been making the trek all the way up here and hanging out. And breeding with polar bears.  This is a terrifying thought. Two of the scariest bears making scary bear babies....


• Folks have been complaining about kids swimming in the puddle in front of the elementary school. As I mentioned before, during spring time when all that ice is melting, there are huge puddles that form in the road.  Well, I guess it's all just too tempting for some of the local kids, because they have been putting on their swimming trunks and actually swimming in the puddles.  This is kind of a gross thought, not just because we're talking mud puddles (that are possibly also containing oil spill run off), but also because other kids have been spotted peeing in the same puddle. Oh, kids these days.  Sometimes they are raising hundreds of dollars with their lemonade stand of peace situated across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church; sometimes they're causing oil spills into the ocean.

charity friday, and dogs

My friend Alison asked me to promote her friend's fundraiser for this week's Charity Friday.  Here's what she has to say:
 "My friend Erin, who I went to law school with, is doing the Ride to Conquer Cancer June 15 and 16. It's a 2 day 200+km ride. Erin is riding on the team Allie's Allies. One of Erin's close childhood friends (Allie) passed away at 24 from a rare form of childhood cancer (neuroblastoma). Erin is riding with Allie's sister, Lucy and Lucy's fiance Paul. They also did the ride last year. It's a great cause and what's even more impressive is Erin will be doing this 6 months preggers. Here's the link to their fundraising page: http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR/Events/Vancouver2013?team_id=58970&pg=team&fr_id=1441 ."

You heard her, people! Donate to this good cause! The fight against cancer is particularly relevant to my family this week, as we just lost an auntie to cancer.

Also, in honour of the memory of Dr. Morgentaler, who passed away this week, consider donating to the Norma Scarborough Emergency Fund, which assists women with travel and accommodation expenses if they have to travel long distances to obtain access abortion services.  Women in Northern communities like Cambridge Bay, for example, have to travel out of the territory to get access to these services. Donate here.

Finally, because it's Friday, and sometimes I like to post random photos from the Arctic on Fridays, here are some photos of dogs that followed our truck around in Iqaluit. It was snowing hard, and we had just pulled up to the old Hudson Bay Company site in the Apex, when our truck was suddenly surrounded by sled dogs, a whole pack of them.  They were fighting each other viciously on the Apex beach, with many of the dogs wearing each other's blood on their furry faces. We were told not to leave the truck. It was quite the sight.  The most curious part of it all was this golden retriever that was hanging out among them, as though he thought he was a Canadian Eskimo dog himself.  Talk about a poser with an identity crisis.

 

Eventually, a by-law officer came along, because people had been calling in about the dogs running loose in the streets.  Unfortunately, the by-law officer looked scared himself. I don't blame him.  There's something off-putting about a snarl from a dog whose face is covered in another dog's blood.  Also, sometimes the Inuit hunters use dogs to hunt polar bears.  I'm a lot smaller than a polar bear, and so was the by-law officer.  Jack told us that the dogs fight in order to establish rank.  Whenever there a new dog appeared, the huskies would have to fight again to re-order their ranks. I wondered if the presence of the golden retriever was the cause of all the fighting.  I wondered how the golden retriever wasn't cold.

 There was some theories about whose dogs they were.  Rumour had it that Mike had been running the dogs on the ice with his skidoo to train them, but then they had run off.  Efforts were made to call Mike. Mike's wife didn't know where he was.

We thought it might be best to drive away, but then to my astonishment, the dogs started chasing us, following the truck, and then running ahead.  It was kind of like out of a Disney movie, except for the bloody face thing.

 

charity fridays: organizations worth supporting

Apologies for not posting much this week. Between my crazy work schedule and my laptop dying unexpectedly (eep...) I haven't been able to post much. Now I'm slowly painstakingly typing this out on my husband's Galaxy tab.

Anyway, enough about my tech woes. For this week's Charity Friday, here are some organizations advocating for great causes that I think are worth supporting.

• Jer's Vision: I met Jeremy at a birthday dinner once, but I'd heard of him long before. As a teenager, while the rest of us were angsty about homework, parents, and our prom date, Jeremy was fighting with his high school about the right to start up a LGBT-postive club at school, resulting in a human rights complaint, and one of the largest human rights settlements in Canadian history. What did he do with the money? He started up Jer's Vision, a non-profit organiztaion to eliminate bullying, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of discrimination in schools and the community. It's an inspiring story - but then,  Jeremy himself is quite inspiring. Donation page here.
• (Ottawa) Hollaback!: This is a very creative initiative to raise awareness about street harassment. People post their stories about being harassed - intimidated, cat-called, called a racial slur, groped - in the safety of a supportive community, thanks to the availability of mobile technology. It's a really interesting project, with local bases in each city.  Donation page here.
• Leave Out Violence: My friend Leila let me know about this project. She's on the board of directors for this organization, as if she wasn't busy enough being a lawyer. This organization is based in Toronto and is devoted to fighting youth violence. Check it out! Just keep im mind that the website is http://leaveoutviolence.org/ and NOT love.org like I originally tried...that is a completely different website.

I'm still participating in the 30×30 challenge to spend 30 minutes outside every day for 30 days! Which isn't always easy, considering sometimes we have snowstorms. In May.

Day 3: On your next walk, stop to smell the flowers

what flowers

Day 4: Outdoor picnic in -30°C weather at the ruins of the old stone church

charity fridays: run baby run

It's Charity Friday again! Which, if I had an alliterative mind at all, I would have originally named Fundraiser Friday.  Either way, consider offering your monetary support to my colleagues, who all apparently love to run:

•  My friend Erin is running her very first marathon this month for the Ottawa Race Weekend. I always laugh at the phrase "first marathon" because once I hit my first, I'll be happy and quit. Anyway, not only is she running her first marathon, she's also raising money to fund scholarships for the Afghan School Project.  $25 will fund one month of English and computing courses for students in Kandahar. Only $25 will make such a big difference in a Afghan students life! That's how much I spend on muskox earrings! Donate here.


• Over on the other side of the river, my friend Geneviève is also running for charity. She'll be running for cancer research on Team Sylvia Reiter as part of Montreal's Defi Canderel. This event involves participants running through the streets of Montreal. I would personally find it difficult to run through the streets of Montreal without stopping at every other shop to eat the delicious dishes Montreal has to offer...so power to the runners of the Defi Canderel for exercising their will power not to do so.


• Over on the other side of the ocean, my friend Leigh is running the 5K race for the Race For Life London in the UK, where she currently lives. I am suggesting that she run her 5K race "Gloria-style", which means, with snow pants and spikes on the bottom of her shoes. Regardless, give her your support. Proceeds go to funding cancer research.

Meanwhile, some of you know that I've signed up for the 30X30 Challenge, by CBC and the David Suzuki Foundation. The goal is to spend 30 minutes outside, every day, for 30 days. You'd think it won't be too hard for me, since I tend to go for jogs outside and I walk to work.  But we'll see when a spring blizzard hits.   Anyway, I'll be posting some photos from my challenge on a weekly basis.

Day 1: The first challenge was to drink your daily coffee under a tree instead of at your desk. However, we have no trees above the treeline, so I decided to drink my tea on a frozen beach instead. Reading comics. In my snow pants.

Day 2: Beautiful sun dogs in the sky

charity fridays: cycling for a cause

If you're like me and you'd rather your money go towards charitable causes than to the tax man, there are all sorts of great fundraisers and charities to donate to.  I've decided that I'm going to devote Fridays to listing my favourite social causes and events of the week:

• CN Cycle for CHEO: My good friend Jasmine Woodley is going to do a 70 kilometre obstacle course on her bicycle, because she is *crazy*. And by crazy, I mean full of all sorts of courage that I lack. Read more about CN Cycle for CHEO here, and open up your wallets to support kids with cancer.

• Team aca-Pedal harmoKNEEs for the ORCC Spin-a-Thon: My friend Janet Lo is also going to do crazy things to her legs by spinning for EIGHT HOURS in order to raise funds for the Ottawa Rape Crisis Center. Those of you who know me know that supporting survivors of sexual assault is an important cause to me. Help my friend Janet out...and maybe we should send her a massage therapist for her legs afterwards too.

• Calgary Housing and Employment Services: My friend Josh Lam is very passionate about justice issues, because, well, he's just generally a really nice guy. After doing some great work for the International Commission of Jurists in Kenya, he's now helping to start up a new project in Calgary where he's based, Calgary Housing and Employment Services. This organization provides individuals facing homelessness with supported housing and employment strategies along with specialized legal services, and they very much could use your funding to get started.