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LITERACY MATTERS – 35 Families come together for a story and a meal all in the name of literacy

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BY: ALYSSA MAHADEO

As fall blends into winter, people naturally come together to appreciate each other during this season of giving.

Although here in Canada we celebrate an early Thanksgiving, there is always so much for us to be thankful for, and many of us feel naturally inclined to do something meaningful for someone, which most times comes in the form of doing our part to give back to the community.

On Sunday, October 21st, dozens of Scarborough families gathered at Centennial College’s School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts to engage in a new type of event bringing the community together in a fun, healthy and educational way.

This event, dubbed Eating and Reading, was an initiative partnered by Centennial College and The Reading Partnership, a community organization that works to address low literacy rates among children in East Scarborough.

44% of sixth graders living in the Kingston-Galloway-Orton Park (KGO) community are not reading to provincial standards. The KGO community is one of Toronto’s most vibrant areas due to its population and diversity and it is full of people who care for each other. So much about this community is wonderful, and for organizations like The Reading Partnership seeing young people struggling is unacceptable. Literacy is a basic human right and the foundation for lifelong learning which too many of the youth do not experience or enjoy.

“Institutions might not always see themselves as responsible for tackling issues such as low literacy rates in communities,” said Camesha Cox, executive director of The Reading Partnership. “Or they may want to help but might not know exactly what they can do. We’re thinking outside the box, finding ways to make anybody who wants to be involved a partner.”

Camesha is an Ontario-certified teacher with a Master’s Degree from the University of Toronto and has been a resident of the KGO community for over 20 years. Through the establishment of The Reading Partnership, she has made it her mission to make their vision a reality to ensure that every child in every community will have the skills and confidence needed to make positive choices for their lives and their futures.

The Reading Partnership is a project of Tides Canada’s shared platform, which supports on-the-ground efforts to create uncommon solutions for the common good. Tides Canada is a national Canadian charity dedicated to a healthy environment, social equity, and economic prosperity. The Reading Partnership is committed to the principles of dignity, independence, integration, and equal opportunity.

The families arrived an hour past noon and were seated and served lunch. The meal was served “family-style” with platters of sandwiches, vegetables and dips brought out and placed at tables where families could help themselves.

The entire meal which included soup and dessert was free for the families and prepared in surrounding kitchens by Centennial Culinary Art students. The families were also granted one additional gift that day – a reading from children’s author Dr. Rumeet Billan, along with a free copy of her newly released book, Who Do I Want To Become?

Dr. Rumeet Billan is an award-winning, internationally recognized entrepreneur, learning architect, speaker, author, and humanitarian. Her mission is to raise potential by designing experiences that build resilience.

After reading from her book, Dr. Billan led a discussion about the most common question that children and young people are often asked: what do you want to be? Dr. Billan’s book encourages children, and adults, to instead ask themselves who do you want to be? A question, the author says, that can be answered by character traits and attributes.

“It’s about creating positive habits around eating and reading so that children can have positive reinforcements,” Dean Joe Baker of Centennial College said about the event.

Ava Morgan a mother who brought her family to the lunch and literacy event shared, “I thought it was amazing, the book was inspirational, the message was good, and then to combine it with food – we weren’t expecting such an elaborate, delicious presentation.”

The Reading Partnership’s community-based project continues to work, teaching parents how to help their children read. When children fail, we all do. If children do not master the basics of reading and writing while they are young, they lose out on important opportunities and it’s harder for them to reach their potential. This creates a cycle that can be hard to break. That is where The Reading Partnership comes in.

They also work with local partners to promote and improve literacy in the communities that need it the most.

“We give families the tools they need to help children learn to read. Our programs, such as the RPP, work best when caregivers are just as excited to learn as their child,” Cox explains. “When we all work together, the programs are rewarding and help make real, lasting change.”

The event catered specifically to families, and included a chartered bus from Toronto Community Housing, in an effort to keep the opportunity accessible. In total, there were about 35 families in attendance with more than 100 guests who came out to learn more about the importance of literacy in the community, and how parents can help to set their children up for long-term success.

It’s something Dean Baker hopes to see again. “We try to stay really connected to our local community,” Baker said. ”The Reading Partnership has big plans and goals. We hope to be a part of that.”

The Reading Partnership continues their work grounded in research that helps them to better understand the community’s needs. Together with their partners, their efforts are driven by the Literacy Now! Research Project to make sure the work they dedicate themselves to is as meaningful and as effective as possible.

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Forgetting isn’t just something to be annoyed about, it’s a smart way to survive

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Photo credit - Press Foto

BY KHADIJA KARIM

Have you ever forgotten someone’s name, or where you left your phone and thought, “Why can’t I remember anything?” Forgetting might feel frustrating, but it turns out that forgetting things can actually be good for you. Experts believe forgetting might be an important part of human survival and could even have benefits.

You probably think that remembering everything would be better, right? If you remembered every tiny detail, like what you had for breakfast three weeks ago, or the colour of every car you saw today, you would be overwhelmed. Our brains are constantly receiving information, and if we didn’t forget some of it, we wouldn’t be able to focus on what really matters at that time.

Forgetting helps you clear out information you don’t need, and it helps your brain remember the most useful memories. Think about how hard it would be to focus on important things if your mind was filled with random thoughts. Forgetting helps you stay focused and keeps your mind from getting lost.

So, why would evolution make us forget things? Early humans had to deal with dangerous environments that changed quickly. They needed to remember things that helped them survive, like where to find food, or how to avoid predators. They didn’t need to remember every small detail, like what happened last week. Forgetting information, they didn’t need allowed them to make quick decisions based on what was most important at that moment in time.

For example, if you remember a recent storm, you might make sure to stay inside or find shelter. If you remembered every storm you’d ever seen, it would be harder to make decisions about the present. Forgetting irrelevant details helps you stay on your feet and helps you react faster to new situations. This ability to forget likely helped early humans survive and make better decisions in their everyday lives.

Next time you forget something, don’t be too hard on yourself! Forgetting is a natural part of how our brains work and can actually help you stay focused on the important things. It might seem annoying at times, but it’s helping you make better decisions. Forgetting isn’t just something to be annoyed about, it’s a smart way to survive in a world that’s always changing!

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Blink equity dives deep into the gap between people of colour and decision-making roles in Canadian law firms

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Photo Credit: AI Image

BY ADRIAN REECE

Representation in the workforce has been a topic of conversation for years, particularly in positions of influence, where people can shift laws and create fair policies for all races. Representation in the legal system is an even more talked about subject, with many Black men being subjected to racism in courts and not being given fair sentencing by judges.

The fear of Black men entering the system is something that plagues mothers and fathers as they watch their children grow up.

Blink Equity, a company led by Pako Tshiamala, has created an audit called the Blink Score. This audit targets law firms and seeks to identify specific practices reflecting racial diversity among them in Toronto. A score is given based on a few key performance indicators. These KPIs include hiring practices, retention of diverse talent, and racial representation at every level.

The Blink Score project aims to analyze law firms in Ontario with more than 50 lawyers. The Blink Score is a measurement tool that holds law firms accountable for their representation. Firms will be ranked, and the information will be made public for anyone to access.

This process is ambitious and seeks to give Canadian citizens a glimpse into how many people are represented across the legal field. While more and more people have access to higher education, there is still a gap between obtaining that higher education and working in a setting where change can be made. The corporate world, at its highest points, is almost always one race across the board, and very rarely do people of colour get into their ranks. They are made out to be an example of how anyone from a particular race can achieve success. However, this is the exception, not the rule. Nepotism plays a role in societal success; connections are a factor, and loyalty to race, even if people are acquainted.

People of colour comprise 16% of the total lawyers across the province. Positions at all levels range from 6% to 27%. These numbers display the racial disparity among law practitioners in positions of influence. Becoming a lawyer is undoubtedly a huge accomplishment. Still, when entering the workforce with other seasoned professionals, your academic accolades become second to your professional achievements and your position in the company.

What do these rankings ultimately mean? A potential for DEI-inclusive practices, perhaps? That isn’t something that someone would want in this kind of profession. This kind of audit also opens law firms up to intense criticism from people who put merit above all other aspects of professional advancement. On the other hand, there is a potential for firms to receive clientele based on their blink score, with higher ones having the chance to bring in more race-based clients who can help that law firm grow.

It is only the beginning, and changes will undoubtedly be made in the legal field as Blink Equity continues to dive deep into the gap between people of colour and decision-making roles in these law firms. This audit has the power to shift the power scale, and place people of colour in higher positions. There are hierarchies in any profession, and while every Lawyer is qualified to do what they are trained to do, it is no shock that some are considerably better than others at their jobs. The ones who know how to use this audit to their advantage will rise above the others and create a representative image for themselves among their population.

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“The Pfizer Papers!” Documentation of worldwide genocide

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BY SIMONE J. SMITH

We are living in a world where promises of health and safety came packaged in a tiny vial, one injection was promoted by powerful governments, supported by respected institutions, and championed by legacy media worldwide. Sadly, beneath the surface, a darker truth emerged.

Reports from around the globe began to tell a different story—one that was not covered in the news cycles or press conferences. Families torn apart by unexpected losses, communities impacted in ways that few could have foreseen, and millions questioning what they had been told to believe.

Those who dared to question were silenced or dismissed (the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper being one of those sources). “Trust the science,” we were told. “It’s for the greater good.” As time went on, the truth became impossible to ignore.

Now, I bring more news to light—information that demands your attention and scrutiny. The time to passively listen has passed; this is the moment to understand what’s really at stake.

I reviewed an interview with Naomi Wolf, journalist and CEO of Daily Clout, which detailed the serious vaccine-related injuries that Pfizer and the FDA knew of by early 2021, but tried to hide from the public. I was introduced to “The Pfizer Papers: Pfizer’s Crimes Against Humanity.” What I learned is that Pfizer knew about the inadequacies of its COVID-19 vaccine trials and the vaccine’s many serious adverse effects, and so did the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA promoted the vaccines anyway — and later tried to hide the data from the public.

To produce “The Pfizer Papers,” Naomi, and Daily Clout Chief Operations Officer Amy Kelly convened thousands of volunteer scientists and doctors to analyze Pfizer data and supplementary data from other public reporting systems to capture the full scope of the vaccines’ effects. They obtained the data from the Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency, a group of more than 30 medical professionals and scientists who sued the FDA in 2021 and forced the agency to release the data, after the FDA refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request.

It was then that the federal court ordered the agency to release 450,000 internal documents pertaining to the licensing of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The data release was significantly and the documents so highly technical and scientific that according to Naomi, “No journalist could have the bandwidth to go through them all.”

The “Pfizer Papers” analysts found over 42,000 case reports detailing 158,893 adverse events reported to Pfizer in the first three months The centerpiece of “The Pfizer Papers” is the effect that the vaccine had on human reproduction. The papers reveal that Pfizer knew early on that the shots were causing menstrual issues. The company reported to the FDA that 72% of the recorded adverse events were in women. Of those, about 16% involved reproductive disorders and functions. In the clinical trials, thousands of women experienced: daily bleeding, hemorrhaging, and passing of tissue, and many other women reported that their menstrual cycle stopped completely.

Pfizer was aware that lipid nanoparticles from the shots accumulated in the ovaries and crossed the placental barrier, compromising the placenta and keeping nutrients from the baby in utero. According to the data, babies had to be delivered early, and women were hemorrhaging in childbirth.

Let us take us to another part of the world, where research has been done on other pharmaceutical companies. A group of Argentine scientists identified 55 chemical elements — not listed on package inserts — in the: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, CanSino, Sinopharm and Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines (according to a study published last week in the International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research).

The samples also contained 11 of the 15 rare earth elements (they are heavier, silvery metals often used in manufacturing). These chemical elements, which include lanthanum, cerium and gadolinium, are lesser known to the general public than heavy metals, but have been shown to be highly toxic. By the end of 2023, global researchers had identified 24 undeclared chemical elements in the COVID-19 vaccine formulas.

Vaccines often include excipients — additives used as preservatives, adjuvants, stabilizers, or for other purposes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), substances used in the manufacture of a vaccine, but not listed in the contents of the final product should be listed somewhere in the package insert. Why is this important? Well, researchers argue it is because excipients can include allergens and other “hidden dangers” for vaccine recipients.

In one lot of the AstraZeneca vaccine, researchers identified 15 chemical elements, of which 14 were undeclared. In the other lot, they detected 21 elements of which 20 were undeclared. In the CanSino vial, they identified 22 elements, of which 20 were undeclared.

The three Pfizer vials contained 19, 16 and 21-23 undeclared elements respectively. The Moderna vials contained 21 and between 16-29 undeclared elements. The Sinopharm vials contained between 17-23 undeclared elements and the Sputnik V contained between 19-25 undetected elements.

“All of the heavy metals detected are linked to toxic effects on human health,” the researchers wrote. Although the metals occurred in different frequencies, many were present across multiple samples.

I am not going to go any further with this; I think you get the picture. We have been sold wolf cookies, very dangerous ones. These pharmaceutical companies must be held accountable. I am proud of anyone who has gone after them for retribution, and have received it. Regardless, in many ways, there is no repayment for a healthy life.

REFERENCES:

https://ijvtpr.com/index.php/IJVTPR/article/view/111

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/why-a-judge-ordered-fda-to-release-covid-19-vaccine-data-pronto

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender_category/toxic-exposures/

Pfizer’s ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ — and Legacy Media’s Failure to Report on Them

55 Undeclared Chemical Elements — Including Heavy Metals — Found in COVID Vaccines

 

Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency

FDA Should Need Only ‘12 Weeks’ to Release Pfizer Data, Not 75 Years, Plaintiff Calculates

Judge Gives FDA 8 Months, Not 75 Years, to Produce Pfizer Safety Data

Most Studies Show COVID Vaccine Affects Menstrual Cycles, BMJ Review Finds

Report 38: Women Have Two and a Half Times Higher Risk of Adverse Events Than Men. Risk to Female Reproductive Functions Is Higher Still.

 

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