I gotta be the worst fantasy football player.
It was a big mistake not to play Trent Green today, I was going to play him, but I forgot to switch it. All year I have made little mistakes like that and it has cost me. I am second to last in my league. However, it is a lot of fun for me. I talk a lot of smack and sadly I didn’t deliver this year.
Today I went to the Remember Me event. In the first round table discussion I was overwhelmed by the lack of men at the Human Trafficking discussion. The dominant theme was that men are the source of the problem. It is the men that have created the market for prostituted women. Being a man in the room I felt awkward. I didn’t know what my role was in helping stop this problem. The round table discussion also discussed the problem that neo-liberal economics has increased the commodification of women and in the sex industry there is no recognition that women are humans and the sex industry is normalizing the dehumanization of women.
Michelle Miller from REED raised the question on how men could address this issue. She said she challenges men in churches to address these problems among them church. This question was not explored thoroughly, but they did talk about the need to liberate women. In my opinion, the liberation of women is inseparably linked to the liberation of men. So the issue of how do we challenge men to change is at the same time liberation women. There were no men in the round table discussion, but it would be good to find another venue to bring in both men and women to talk about this issue.
Another theme that made me deeply sad is the treatment of aboriginal women in Canada. I saw the documentary Trail of Tears about the aboriginal women disappearing on Highway 16 in BC. It was a troubling film. There has been a terrible inertia in the investigation of the disappeared women in BC. The film estimates about 32 women who have disappeared. A woman in the group said that Canada is made of two societie: Canadians and second-class citizens. The aboriginals are still living in a colonial model. The women on the highway are forced to hitch-hike because they are poor and have no other means. It made me so sad to see the families suffering for their lost daughters. Here is a little snippet from an Amensty International document on the issue:
In the Stolen Sisters report, Amnesty International noted that violence against Indigenous women is carried out in a climate of public indifference to the welfare and safety of Indigenous women. It is our hope that this indifference will soon be a thing of the past. Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities have started to come together to honour the lives of Indigenous women and girls who have been murdered or gone missing in Canada – and to demand action. It is critical that Canadian officials listen to this demand for human rights.
Amnesty International continues to urge all levels of government to work closely with
Indigenous peoples to established concrete, coordinated plans of action to stop violence against Indigenous women. Such plans of action must include measures to ensure that:
-reliable and comprehensive statistics are gathered as to the nature and scope of the violence;
- effective protocols for responding to reports of missing Indigenous women and cases of violence against Indigenous women are developed and implemented by police forces across Canada;
- adequate, sustained support is provided to organizations providing programs to assist Indigenous women and girls escape from harm.
-more is done to address the extreme social and economic marginalisation that places so many Indigenous women in harm’s way.
One thing that was very hopeful was the talk on The Swedish Law
Against Prostitution by Gunilla Ekberg. In Sweden they have started to make laws to criminalize the buyers in the sex industry. She said that she has faced death threats for the work that she does.
Overall Remember Me was a great experience. I wish more men were at the event. It was informative and challenging.
