All Candidates Debate: A Packed House!

The room was packed--some attendees
listened from the hallway.

Students, staff, faculty, and community members crowded into the room last week to hear this region's four candidates share their views on student poverty, immigration, marijuana, and more. 

Member were given a few minutes to introduce themselves and their party platform, and then the questions began. 

Lambton College Professor Lois Nantais, our debate moderator,
kept us organized and focused.

To keep the candidates on their toes, the debate featured a "lightning round": each candidate was invited to ding in to answer speed questions including the light (favourite book, favourite band) and the serious (personal relationships with poverty).

One hour was not enough. We spilled into hour two, but still, time ran out, because we all have questions that need answering. Audience members were invited to submit questions via Twitter, and we had more than we could handle: what will your party do to make Sarnia a welcoming place for young people to stay? What steps will your party take to ensure Canadian scientists have access to data? What are your thoughts on a woman's right to choose? What really happened to Marilyn Gladu's Twitter account?

The goal was to encourage students to talk about the election and to remind all of us to vote, and that was certainly accomplished. The event also reminded the candidates that they should be listening to what students have to say.

Tomorrow: All Candidates Debate!

All four local candidates will join us at Lambton College tomorrow, September 24, at 11:30. This is a student-led debate. The questions will be real, and we hope the answers will be too. Please join us in N105! 

Chew on This

Dignity for All has been calling on the federal
government to create a plan to end poverty. 

On Tuesday, October 6, members of the Centre for Social Justice and Vocalize will take part in the "Chew on This" campaign. We'll hand out lunch bags containing an apple and information about the fight against poverty in Ontario. (You'll find us in the South Building, in A-hall, and we'll be there all day.) The goal is to get people talking about poverty, which is an impediment for increasing numbers of college students across the province. We also hope that our participation in this campaign will help to remind everyone that poverty should be a key election issue. 

The Precarity Penalty, released in May 2015 by McMaster University and the United Way, explains the connection between unstable employment and poverty. More and more Canadians are working in "precarious employment," without benefits or a livable wage. Part of the solution is increased access to education: the report notes that "Workers with fewer educational credentials are simply dropping out of the labour force" (14), suggesting that those who complete post-secondary education will have a better chance of success. But education is only part of the answer. Even for those with diplomas and degrees, contract and temporary positions have become increasingly normalized, and the income gap continues to grow. Without national vision, it will be difficult to create lasting change. 

To read more, visit The Precarity Penalty, available here: http://pepso.ca/

To learn more about a federal anti-poverty plan, visit the Chew on This site: http://www.chewonthis.ca/about

This weekend: The Wizard of Oz!

This weekend, the talented young people who are part of Rebound's Act II program will stage their production of The Wizard of Oz.

The employees and volunteers at Rebound have helped thousands of youth in our community over the years, and the theatre program is a perfect example of what makes Rebound so successful. According to the Rebound website, the Act II program "provides an artistic approach that allows youth to reach their full potential in a fun and safe environment." 

Michelle Shelswell, a Rebound volunteer and a faculty member at Lambton College, is studying the difference this program makes for those involved. You can read more about Michelle's study in this week's edition of The Sarnia Journal. 

If you'd like to support the life-changing work that happens at Rebound, please consider attending The Wizard of Oz this weekend.

World Suicide Prevention Day

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day.

According to CAMH (the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health), " an estimated 4,000 Canadians – and one million people worldwide – die by suicide each year." And as we all know, thousands more contemplate or attempt suicide. Despite the huge portion of our population affected by these tragedies, we too often stay quiet about suicide, and the taboo--that suicide does not make for polite conversation--still lingers.

But more and more people are working to change that. Here at Lambton College, the Jack Project is encouraging all of us to talk about mental health. To show your support for mental health awareness, you can join the Suicide Prevention Sarnia Lambton team at Canatara Park this evening. At 6:30 pm, they'll walk together to bring attention to the ways that mental illness affects us all.

If you'd like to learn more about the Lambton College chapter of the Jack Project, check out their facebook page.

Festival of Good Things

For the third year in a row, the Festival of Good Things will be a chance to celebrate the creative and positive energy that seems to be growing in our community these days.

The folks behind this festival work hard to make sure that it's fun and free. There is a charge for admission to evening concerts ($10 per night), but entrance to the rest of the day's events is by donation. There will be music, vendors selling handmade goods, and this year, the Run of Exploding Colour, a chance to fundraise for your favourite charity. There are lots of activities for kids and families, and all are welcome.

I really admire the idea behind this event. The organizers decided they'd like to see a festival in Sarnia, and they made it happen, and they made it free. If you're in support of creative events like this one, you might consider volunteering to help ensure the festival's success.

The Festival of Good Things takes place on the Friday and Saturday of Labour Day weekend (September 4 and 5) at the Sarnia Bay Marina. To learn more, visit the Festival of Good Things.

Another Awesome Win!

A hardworking team of people from Lambton College had the chance to pitch an idea to Sarnia's Awesome Foundation last week. Though they'd had only a few days' notice before presentation day, they'd been working on their idea for weeks. The team put together a creative and impressive proposal, and . . . . they won!

The pitch: help ensure the success of the second annual Global Citizenship Summit, to be held at the Lambton Event Centre on November 18, 2015. You may have read about last year's summit--the night, which featured interesting speakers, wonderful food, and the chance to learn about many different cultures, was a huge success, and this year will be great again. You can read more about the goals of this year's Global Citizenship Summit here. 

The winning team accepts the Awesome Foundation funds,
which will be used to support this year's Global Citizenship Summit.
Thanks to Alisia Esene for the photograph.

Thank you to the wonderful and dedicated team--Kari Roos, Katie Horvath, Suhail Babwani, Amy Weiler, Zackery Roos,  Bonnie Szeto, Tunji Ibidunni, Emily Fortney Blunt, Rebecca Marshall, Ruth Geurts, and more--who worked so hard to make this happen in such a short amount of time. 

Thanks also to the generous folks behind Sarnia's Awesome Foundation. You may have read about the Awesome Foundation on this blog before, since Lambton College's Aboriginal Student Council won Awesome Foundation funding to host the Round Dance last January. 

Stay tuned for more information on the Global Citizenship Summit!