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A Brilliant (Indigenous) Author to Read: Alicia Elliott
“The book I’m talking about is Alicia Elliott’s A Mind Spread Out on The Ground, which combines the author’s personal experience with broader issues of politics, colonialism, and history. Elliott’s essays cover a wide range of topics: racism, poverty, sexual assault, abuse, mental health, headlice, photography, etc. And I love the way she handles these…
Land Acknowledgements: What’s the Point?
“When they’re done right, I think land acknowledgements are a bit like historical plaques. They force us to confront history – rather than brushing over it or tearing it down. For many, they are an opportunity to learn. Land acknowledgements are not only historical, either, but also emphasize the land’s relevance to Indigenous communities today.…
Zero Tax, Free University and Free Homes: Do Indigenous People Really Get These Perks?
“Indigenous peoples do not have an inherently easier time than non-Indigenous people in Canada. If they have Indian status and live on reserve (two conditions which many do not fill), they might be eligible for certain benefits. There are plenty of legal and historical reasons for this, but, no, it’s not perfectly fair. I don’t…
Why are education sectors in developing countries like Nepal lagging?
“The financial conditions of the families are limiting thousands of brilliant children from getting advanced education. Many children face language barriers; the curriculum taught to them isn’t in their mother tongue. This can be a problem particularly in the multi-lingual developing countries like Nepal where children from hundreds of ethnic and linguistic backgrounds have to…
Reconciliation at Your Work
“Educating children is important, but we mustn’t stop there. Reconciliation has a very important role to play in higher education – especially, I’d argue, in the professional sphere. Three professional disciplines involve a particular responsibility towards Indigenous lives: politics, medicine, and law.” By Sofia Watt Sjöström
Reconciling the School System
“How do we reconcile Education with Reconciliation? First, we must challenge our own Eurocentric, colonial, racist, etc. biases, at every step along the way. Today’s education system is not, in fact, value neutral. Historically, it was designed to allow for the domination of a particular discourse, whether explicitly, or subtly through what is emphasized and…
Getting Beyond Residential Schools: Reclaiming Education
“This has been happening for decades. Already in 1970, brave Indigenous parents occupied the Blue Quills residential school in Alberta, and successfully made it their own. And in the years that followed, several more residential schools were taken over across Saskatchewan. Sadly, we don’t always hear these stories. But it’s important to remember that Indigenous…
What is Reconciliation? And What Can I Do?
“I learnt about Reconciliation on a personal level when I participated in a Circle for Reconciliation. Almost exclusively volunteer-led, this organization brings six Indigenous and six non-Indigenous individuals together, during an hour each week, for ten weeks. Its goal, more than anything, is to create mutually respectful relationships – the small-scale manifestation of Reconciliation. To…
“Why Don’t They Just Get Over It?” – The Long-term Impact of Residential Schools
“The legacy of the residential schools extends well beyond survivors’ lives. For instance, Indigenous communities have disproportionately high rates of infant mortality, diabetes, suicide, and substance-induced deaths. Indigenous people are 58% more likely than non-Indigenous ones to be the victims of crimes. 1079 Indigenous women were killed from 1980 to 2012, and still, they continue…
Evil, in the name of ‘Education’: An Overview of the Residential Schools
“In total, about 150’000 children were subjected to an ‘education’ in the residential schools. The net effect was a loss of culture, language and identity that was often multigenerational. Many survivors could not, or did not want to teach their mother tongues to their own children. Some became almost permanently estranged from their families and…
Dr. Peter Henderson Bryce: The Doctor Who Sounded the Alarm about Residential Schools
“In 1907, Dr. Bryce showed that residential schoolchildren were dying at a rate of 24% or more, across Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. He had no doubts about the cause: widespread tuberculosis. Even before the children entered residential schools, many of them were exposed to this disease, shortening their life expectancy. Shockingly, death rates in Indigenous…
An Introduction to Braille
“Braille is a system that enables individuals to read and write through touch. Each letter of the English alphabet is represented by a unique dot configuration represented by the presence or absence of six dots, each approximately 1 mm in diameter, within a matrix of two columns and three rows, with 1.5 mm between the…
The Salt March – Beginning of Civil Disobedience
“The Salt tax was wickedly designed. The government destroyed the salt it could not sell profitably. Mounds of salt were destroyed on the Konkan coast and Dandi. Salt officers were deployed to destroy salt extracted by local people for their personal use.” By Zeegyasa Kashyap
Salt Satyagraha
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”Margaret Mead, Anthropologist Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s Salt March is remembered as one of the most remarkable episodes of resistance in the twentieth century, a campaign that struck a powerful blow against British Imperialism.…
Unequal Pay for Equal Work. Why?
“Natural differences do not permit gender discrimination. Physical strength, devotion, dedication, skills and academic excellence vary from human to human. Only merit and experience should be the basis for the wage differences.” By Zeegyasa Kashyap
Why hesitate when there is an aid?
Written by: Zeegyasa Kashyap Every medicine has some side effects. But it does not mean it is ineffective in curing the disease. Vaccination journey starts from birth. A child is inoculated to build his/her immunity. Swelling, pain, fever etc. are all temporary effects. The same is true about COVID-19 vaccines. Initially, one gets irritated. But…
Demise of Human Rights
Written by: Zeegyasa Kashyap Killing, bombing and eviction People are living in privation Of security, freedom and dignity In our close vicinity. Eleven was not a short duration. A life full of terror and affliction! With signals honking, children wailing, Elders mourning and constant depriving. What they wanted was their rights A peaceful life without…
Plight of Palestine
“Every human has the right to life, liberty and security; right to freedom of movement, conscience and expression; right to rest, right to education and right to work. Are they applied in reality? Israeli blockades, checkpoints and restricting entry to Palestinians in Al Aqsa mosque violate right to freedom of movement, constant attacks for occupation…
Palestine: A Conflict that Spans a Century
“The UN suggested splitting Palestine into 2 parts – a section governed by the Arabic community and a section governed by the Jewish community. The state governed by the Jewish community claimed its independence, renaming itself as Israel. In the war that occurred in 1948 between the Arabic and Jewish populations, Israel ended up claiming…
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Lives For Literacy 