Monday, November 7, 2011

Hello everyone.  Here's a quick update on classroom activities and dates to remember.

Socials 10:
We continue our study of the NLCA this week.  We should have this unit completed by next Thursday, November 17.

English 30-2:
Students are beginning a combined poetry and play unit.  The following are the notes students will have tomorrow for Ian Ross's play, farewel:

Ian Ross’s farewel

The central subject of farewel is the destructive colonial power of Canada.  Set in the fictional Partridge Crop Reserve, the play asserts the First Nations’ presence and the current movement toward self-government and self-determination.  Some of the key issues of the play are:  who has the power, how they get the power, how they use it, and what kinds of responsibilities follow, or should follow, from having it.  Ultimately, the play offers an alternate existence based upon inclusion rather than exclusion, and not on conquering outside territory but on developing an internal sense of community.

The title farewel is an inversion of the word welfare and is used as a colloquialism, or slang expression.  On the Partridge Crop Reserve, welfare is the symbol of government economic control and oppression.  The play is structured around the reserve inhabitants waiting for their welfare cheques.  It soon becomes clear that these government handouts are not enabling residents to achieve independence, but rather producing disabilities among the residents and an overall loss of self-esteem.  Being “on welfare” (think addiction, like being “on drugs”) is a paradox, meaning the opposite of “faring well”, and by the end of the text, actually saying “farewell” to “welfare” is actually the first step toward self-determination, pride, and well-being.

As we read, note the following:

-          The shift in loyalty of the reserve’s residents

-          Repetition in changes in symbols, actions, words, and ideas from the beginning to the end of the play

-          The change in Melvin

-          Binaries or opposites

-          Themes of identity, culture, and power

-          Puns or word play

-          Double entendres or double word meanings

-          Ironies

-          The treatment of race and gender

-          The role of poverty

Important dates to note:
Friday, November 11--Remembrance Day, no school
Thursday, November 17, 5-7 p.m.--Parent/Student/Teacher interviews
Friday, November 18, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.--Parent/Student/Teacher interviews
Friday, November 25--No school, Teacher Professional Development

Thanks for your interest and support.

High Arctic Relocation

High Arctic Relocation:

• 1953-1955
• Northern Quebec
• Natural food sources scarce due to over-hunting and over-fishing
• Cold War between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. resulted in the creation of the Distant Early Warning (D.E.W.) Line in Canada.
• The cold war was a period of great tension between the two superpowers, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The results of this tension were the arms race (each country amassing huge amounts of nuclear weapons) and proxy wars (e.g., Vietnam). It was largely an ideological conflict between capitalism (U.S.) and communism (U.S.S.R.).
• The Canadian government wanted to populate Canada's high arctic for security purposes and to guarantee their claim to the Northwest Passage.
• The D.E.W. Line was created because the U.S. Recognized that the U.S.S.R.'s most direct flight path, in the event of a “hot” war was over Canada's arctic region. Thus, they created radar stations at strategic points along the D.E.W. Line(s) for security and early warning of attack.
• The Cold War ended in the late 1980's with an end to the arms race and the dissolution of the U.S.S.R.
• Individuals and families relocated to the high arctic were promised that if they were unhappy after two years, they could return home. This promise was not kept.
• Relocatees were not allowed to bring anything with them when relocated, and were in fact forced to wear government issued clothing that was inadequate for the conditions they would face.
• Individuals relocated were forbidden to ask R.C.M.P. or armed forces members for survival assistance. Some members of these organizations were unscrupulous and actually raped the Inuit women in “exchange” for food products.
• The families of Grise Fiord and Resolute affected by this received an apology and compensation from the Federal Government.