Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action 46.ii

We call upon the parties to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement to develop and sign a Covenant of Reconciliation that would identify principles for working collaboratively to advance reconciliation in Canadian society, and that would include, but not be limited to:

ii. Repudiation of concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples, such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius, and the reformation of laws, governance structures, and policies within their respective institutions that continue to rely on such concepts.

#WordWednesday

Today's post is my 100th #WordWednesday, so I thought I'd take a look at the words "one" and "hundred." They're so common that it seems a little odd to think about their etymology (origins), but…well…I'm a little odd, so there you go.

The word "one" showed up in Old English in about 1200. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, "one" used to be pronounced the way we now say "atone" and "alone." An English friend of mine talks about children as "little 'uns," and others say "good 'un" or "young 'un." Our current pronunciation of "wun" came into general use in the 18th century.

Various expressions use the word: one-night stand (performance on stage) dates from 1880, while its more modern meaning of a sexual encounter came into use in 1963. In 1893 an agreeable fellow became known as "one of the boys." The drinking expression, "one for the road," came into use in 1950 as a song title.

The word "hundred" is an Old English word that has a long history in many languages. The common word for hundred in Old English was hund. The word's history includes a stint in Old Norse as hundrath, which meant 120 – referred to as the "long hundred" of six-score, a "score" being a group of 20. The hundred we know today was considered the five-score hundred and was referred to as the "short hundred."

So, this is my wun-short-hundredth #WordWednesday. Thanks for joining in.

Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action 46

We call upon the parties to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement to develop and sign a Covenant of Reconciliation that would identify principles for working collaboratively to advance reconciliation in Canadian society, and that would include, but not be limited to:

i. Reaffirmation of the parties’ commitment to reconciliation.

Click on reconciliation if you are interested in learning and/or doing more.

Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action 45.iii

Here is part iii of the TRC Call to Action 45:

We call upon the Government of Canada, on behalf of all Canadians, to jointly develop with Aboriginal peoples a Royal Proclamation of Reconciliation to be issued by the Crown. The proclamation would build on the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the Treaty of Niagara of 1764, and reaffirm the nation-to-nation relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Crown. The proclamation would include, but not be limited to, the following commitments:

iii. Renew or establish Treaty relationships based on principles of mutual recognition, mutual respect, and shared responsibility for maintaining those relationships into the future.

Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action 45

This post completes (and reviews) Call to Action #45, from 45.i to 45.iv:

We call upon the Government of Canada, on behalf of all Canadians, to jointly develop with Aboriginal peoples a Royal Proclamation of Reconciliation to be issued by the Crown. The proclamation would build on the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the Treaty of Niagara of 1764, and reaffirm the nation-to-nation relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Crown.

The proclamation would include, but not be limited to, the following commitments:

i. Repudiate concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius.

ii. Adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for reconciliation.

iii. Renew or establish Treaty relationships based on principles of mutual recognition, mutual respect, and shared responsibility for maintaining those relationships into the future.

iv. Reconcile Aboriginal and Crown constitutional and legal orders to ensure that Aboriginal peoples are full partners in Confederation, including the recognition and integration of Indigenous laws and legal traditions in negotiation and implementation processes involving Treaties, land claims, and other constructive agreements.

Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action 45.ii

TRC Call to Action 45 continues here with 45.ii

We call upon the Government of Canada, on behalf of all Canadians, to jointly develop with Aboriginal peoples a Royal Proclamation of Reconciliation to be issued by the Crown. The proclamation would build on the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the Treaty of Niagara of 1764, and reaffirm the nation-to-nation relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Crown.

The proclamation would include, but not be limited to, the following commitments:

ii. Adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for reconciliation.

Writing Quotation

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect. -- Anaïs Nin

Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action 45.1

This Call to Action is longer than most, so I'm going to break it up over a few days.

45. We call upon the Government of Canada, on behalf of all Canadians, to jointly develop with Aboriginal peoples a Royal Proclamation of Reconciliation to be issued by the Crown.

The proclamation would build on the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the Treaty of Niagara of 1764, and reaffirm the nation-to-nation relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Crown.

The proclamation would include, but not be limited to, the following commitments:

i. Repudiate concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius.

#WordWednesday

Last Wednesday my post was about Lewis Carroll and his doublets. Well, I'm not quite ready to quit, so here's a step up from the basic doublet.

Lewis later modified the rules to make the puzzles more difficult. Here is the example he used to introduce a new version of the doublet: Change IRON into LEAD by introducing a new letter or by rearranging the letters of the word at any step. You may not do both in the same step.

IRON

icon (Results from changing the "r" in "iron" to "c")
coin (Results from rearranging the letters in "icon")
corn (Results from changing the "i" in "coin" to "r")
cord (Results from changing the "n" in "corn" to "d")
lord (Results from changing the "c" in "cord" to "l")
load (Results from changing the "r" in "lord" to "a")
LEAD (Results from changing the "o" in "load" to "e")

Now, try your hand at this kind of doublet.
10. Change HATE into VEIL with three links. (Answer tomorrow.)

TRC Call to Action #44

This is the second Call to Action in the RECONCILIATION section:

We call upon the Government of Canada to develop a national action plan, strategies, and other concrete measures to achieve the goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Check out the UN page HERE.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action 43

The TRC's Calls to Action fall under two main headings -- LEGACY and RECONCILIATION. The first 42 Calls to Action were in the first section. Now comes the second major section, RECONCILIATION.

43. We call upon federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to fully adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for reconciliation.

Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action 42

This is the last Call to Action in the Justice part of the LEGACY section.

42. We call upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to commit to the recognition and implementation of Aboriginal justice systems in a manner consistent with the Treaty and Aboriginal rights of Aboriginal peoples, the Constitution Act, 1982, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, endorsed by Canada in November 2012.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission -- Call to Action 41

We call upon the federal government, in consultation with Aboriginal organizations, to appoint a public inquiry into the causes of, and remedies for, the disproportionate victimization of Aboriginal women and girls. The inquiry’s mandate would include:

i. Investigation into missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls.

ii. Links to the intergenerational legacy of residential schools.

Writing Quotation

“Myrna could spend happy hours browsing bookcases. She felt if she could just get a good look at a person’s bookcase and their grocery cart, she’d pretty much know who they were.”

- Louise Penny, from Still Life

#WordWednesday Answers for two doublets (and a few more to try):

Here are the answers to the two doublets I posted yesterday:

APE – apt (or ope) – opt – oat – mat – MAN (I don't know how Carroll did it in five links.)

FLOUR – floor – flood – blood – brood – broad – BREAD

And if you're hooked...

Go from SLEEP to DREAM with five links.
Increase ONE to TWO with six links.
Turn BLACK into WHITE with six links.

Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action 40

We call on all levels of government, in collaboration with Aboriginal people, to create adequately funded and accessible Aboriginal-specific victim programs and services with appropriate evaluation mechanisms.

#WordWednesday

Lewis Carroll, whose nom de plume was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, was not only a fine author (Alice in Wonderland, etc.) but also an eminent mathematician. As such, he liked puzzles and created the doublet, which he introduced in 1879 in Vanity Fair magazine.

The doublet challenges you to turn one word into another legitimate word (not a proper noun) by changing only one letter at a time. Carroll's original Vanity Fair puzzle turned HEAD into TAIL in four links (four words between HEAD and TAIL):

HEAD
heal (Results from changing the "d" of "head" to "l")
teal (Results from changing the "h" of "heal" to "t")
tell (Results from changing the "a" of "teal" to "l")
tall (Results from changing the "e" of "tell" to "l")
TAIL (Results from changing the first "l" of "tall" to "i"

So, if you like word puzzles you might like to try changing APE into MAN in four or five links (It can be done in four; Carroll did it in five). And how about turning FLOUR into BREAD in five links?

I'll give the answers tomorrow.

Truth and Reconciliation -- Call to Action 39

We call upon the federal government to develop a national plan to collect and publish data on the criminal victimization of Aboriginal people, including data related to homicide and family violence victimization.

Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action #38

This TRC Call to Action is bringing us closer to the end of the Justice section of the Calls to Action.

Does anyone reading this know of improvements in this area?

38.We call upon the federal, provincial, territorial, and Aboriginal governments to commit to eliminating the over-representation of Aboriginal youth in custody over the next decade.

Truth & Reconciliation Call to Action #36

We call upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to work with Aboriginal communities to provide culturally relevant services to inmates on issues such as substance abuse, family and domestic violence, and overcoming the experience of having been sexually abused.

Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action 37

We call upon the federal government to provide more supports for Aboriginal programming in halfway houses and parole services.

Writing Quotation

I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by. ― Douglas Adams

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Truth and Reconciliation. Look closely. Seek truth. Listen. Offer and accept reconciliation. This is how we all move forward.

Here is Call to Action #35.

We call upon the federal government to eliminate barriers to the creation of additional Aboriginal healing lodges within the federal correctional system.

#WordWednesday

Depending on individual pronunciation variations, the following two common words are homophones (words that sound alike but have different spellings and meanings) or near-homophones: "bizarre" and "bazaar." However, they don't have related origins, though for a time linguists thought they did.

bizaare – This word means grotesque, odd or fantastical. Its origins date back to the thirteenth century when Italian people spoke of bizarro or bizza as having to do with quick flashes of anger. That meaning slowly evolved to mean "unpredictable or eccentric" and then, eventually, "strange or weird." And, so, to the present day. Maybe someday, given how ordinary the strange and weird are becoming, bizarre will end up meaning "same old, same old!"

Then there's bazaar. This word isn't nearly as old as bizarre; it comes from only the late 1500s. Just a kid, etymologically. Bazaar also comes from an Italian word, bazzarra, which itself came from the Persian bazar, which, in turn, stems from an older Iranian word for sale or traffic.

Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action #34

We call upon the governments of Canada, the provinces, and territories to undertake reforms to the criminal justice system to better address the needs of offenders with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), including:

i. Providing increased community resources and powers for courts to ensure that FASD is properly diagnosed, and that appropriate community supports are in place for those with FASD.

ii. Enacting statutory exemptions from mandatory minimum sentences of imprisonment for offenders affected by FASD.

iii. Providing community, correctional, and parole resources to maximize the ability of people with FASD to live in the community.

iv. Adopting appropriate evaluation mechanisms to measure the effectiveness of such programs and ensure community safety.

Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action 33

We call upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to recognize as a high priority the need to address and prevent Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), and to develop, in collaboration with Aboriginal people, FASD preventive programs that can be delivered in a culturally appropriate manner.

Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action 32

We call upon the federal government to amend the Criminal Code to allow trial judges,

upon giving reasons,

to depart from mandatory minimum sentences and

restrictions on the use of conditional sentences.

Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action #31

We call upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to provide sufficient and stable funding to implement and evaluate community sanctions that will provide realistic alternatives to imprisonment for Aboriginal offenders and respond to the underlying causes of offending.

Writing Quotation

This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. – Toni Morrison

Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action #30

We call upon federal, provincial, and territorial governments to commit to eliminating the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in custody over the next decade, and to issue detailed annual reports that monitor and evaluate progress in doing so.

#WordWednesday

I enjoy learning new words, especially if they sound interesting, feel satisfying to say, and/or have a fun or interesting meaning (remember my "wisdom of wombats" a couple of weeks ago?). Well, here's a great word from my friend Helene that I'd never heard before. It satisfies all three conditions for me to like it and, as a bonus, instantly reminded me of another friend, Veronika. She is absolutely a nemophilist – someone who loves the solitude and beauty of woods and forests.

The word nemophilist comes from the mid-19th century, having been spotted first in the magazine The Atlantic Monthly. You might recognize Greek-ness in the word…and you'd be right. It comes from ancient Greek's word for a wooded pasture or glade, nemos, combined with the suffixes, -philos, loving or dear, and -ist, one who is. That is, nemos+philos+ist = nemophilist.

Are you a nemophilist? Know anyone who is?

Truth & Reconciliation Calls to Action 29

We call upon the parties and, in particular, the federal government, to work collaboratively

with plaintiffs not included in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement

to have disputed legal issues determined expeditiously on an agreed set of facts.