Children and youth

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A new leadership program for progressive young people is already making big waves in the  province. Next Up Saskatchewan offers leadership training to young people who are committed to social and environmental justice.
What do progressive people do when they realize that there are victories we can no longer take for granted, particularly when we see some of those hard-fought victories being eroded? What do we do when we realize that what we’re doing now — what we did in the past — to secure victories and move a progressive agenda forward may no longer be enough (if it ever was)?
Tonight, the Toronto District School Board is debating a motion over whether or not to extend a pilot project that currently sees flat screens being installed in four high schools across the city. If accepted, screens would be installed in 70 schools and 20 more schools in January.
Recent reports that federal funding for four anti-gang programs in Winnipeg will end in March raise the issue, yet again, of how our tax dollars are being spent. While concerns about street gangs, crime, and violence in Winnipeg’s inner-city continue to mount, the response of the Harper government is taking us in the wrong direction. Rather than building more prisons, we need to support the important work that is ongoing in these communities to address the root causes of these problems.
When feminism becomes its own form of oppression, what do we have to say about it? Western notions of polite discourse are not the norm for everyone, and just because we hear and use buzzwords like “intersectionality” in equity-seeking movements, doesn’t necessarily mean we're 'walking the talk' (i.e. actually being anti-racist). 
This issue of Our Schools/Our Selves is about how students and educators are confronting and resisting a narrow view of education, one that is often (although not exclusively) driven by a standardized, testing-based agenda. Some of the articles focus on strategies within the school system; others look at the very structure of schooling itself. Some tackle the issue of education and social justice; others look at how a narrow definition of education has led to standardization and corporatization in the classroom, with significant implications for life outside of school.
Defining the focus of the 6th State of the Inner City Report unfolded as it does every year.  We began the process by meeting with representatives from various organizations working in the inner city.  Some of our partners have participated in the State of the Inner City since we began the process in early 2005.  Others have more recently become involved.  What has been consistent each and every year is that the individuals and organizations who have contributed are deeply committed to improving the quality of life for individuals and families living and working in the inner city.  
 On November 12th, 2010, the federal government announced an investment of $45 million to increase the number of beds in Manitoba jails. Steven Harper’s Conservative government has made it well known that getting tough on crime is a top priority. While there is evidence that crime rates in Canada are lower than they have been in decades, it is also true that violent crime remains a very real problem and especially so in neighbourhoods with high rates of poverty.
The fall 2011 issue of Our Schools/Our Selves, edited by Larry Kuehn, explores the ways in which neo-liberal forces and the power of capital continue to deform public schools and constrain democratic ideals. According to the editor:
Since 1999, Nova Scotia Child Poverty Report Cards have recorded changes in child poverty rates to track progress on the government of Canada’s 1989 promise to end child poverty by the year 2000.  This year’s report card examines the period 1989 to 2008, the year for which the most recent data is available.  It also reviews changes for a later period (1997 to 2008) to assess the impact of the 1998 National Child Benefit initiative, which is specifically aimed at preventing and reducing child poverty.