AndrewKurjata.ca

Canada

Why the “Sinking Ship” of Community Journalism Is Worth Saving

In Canada on 5 February 2012 with 1 comment

Chris Shepard explains why he’s leaving journalism: “Frankly, working as a reporter outside of a major urban centre is no way to make a living. You can’t raise a family on a reporter’s salary. “ I know very little about working for a small-town newspaper, and less still about what that would be like in [...]

Go Ahead, #TweettheResults

In Canada, social media on 14 January 2012 with no comments

From Minister of State for Democratic Reform Tim Uppal: 1/5: GoC is committed to bringing Canadian elections into 21st century… — Tim Uppal (@MinTimUppal) January 13, 2012 2/5: … by introducing legislation to get rid of the dated ban on early transmission of election results. #elxnresults — Tim Uppal (@MinTimUppal) January 13, 2012 3/5: The [...]

Who Speaks for First Nations?

In Aboriginal, British Columbia, Canada on 15 December 2011 tagged Aboriginal, First Nations, Gitxsan, treaty with 3 comments

This is one I’ve been meaning to write for a bit. It started December 2, when news broke that the Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs in northeastern B.C. had apparently entered into an agreement Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Project. The exact words: “On behalf of the Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs, Hereditary Chief Elmer Derrick today announced an agreement [...]

Banning the Burka

In Canada, citizenship on 13 December 2011 tagged burka, burqua, canada, Islam, Jason Kenney, Muslim with no comments

Yesterday, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced that burkas and other forms of religious face coverings would be banned during citizenship oaths: From the National Post: “Kenney said the move follows complaints from citizenship judges, MPs and others who’ve participated in citizenship ceremonies who have argued it’s hard to tell whether veiled individuals are actually reciting [...]

How much do you cost the government?

In Aboriginal, Canada, politics on 3 December 2011 tagged Aboriginal, Attawapiskat, british columbia, budget, canada, First Nations, money, numbers, per capita, Stephen Harper with 16 comments

→ The finances of the Attawapiskat reserve have been placed under third-party control, in part to figure out where $90 million of federal government money went in the last five years. But how much is $90 million anyways? And how much money does the government spend on you? I’ve only been sort-of following the Attawapiskat [...]

Canada Day: Music, Money and Stereotypes

In Canada on 1 July 2011 tagged blogging, meta, writing with no comments

It’s Canada Day. I don’t have anything new for you, but I’d like to share some of my past writing on Canada that people have liked. My most popular blog post of all time was this piece from last year called “How Independent Music Helped Transform A Nation.” It’s my theory that Canadian content rules [...]

Stereotypes

In Aboriginal, best of, Canada on 21 June 2011 with 2 comments

Let me preface this by saying that my exposure to issues facing Aboriginal* people in Canada is as close to purely academic as you can get. I cannot and would not claim to speak for anyone from those communities. But I would like to talk about the stereotypes they have to face. Drunk. Lazy. Waiting [...]

Social Media, Crowd-Sourced Justice, and the Vancouver Riots

In best of, Canada on 18 June 2011 tagged Vancouver riots with 1 comment

I wrote this on my phone, so I apologize for any spelling errors and the fact that I’ve pasted full urls instead of just hyperlinking text. update: fixed One of the things I’ve come to appreciate about blogging is having an outlet to write and work out my own thoughts on some difficult and not-so-difficult [...]

Vancouver Riots

In best of, Canada on 16 June 2011 tagged Vancouver riots with 5 comments

It’s ironic that I spent part of game six discussing man’s inhumanity to man. I was at a pub watching with some friends. As Vancouver failed to rally, we started talking real estate, which of course led to a discussion of a post-apocalyptic society (caused by some sort of physical disaster or complete economic collapse [...]

Verified Twitter Accounts: Who Needs Them In Canada?

In Canada, social media, Twitter on 9 June 2011 with no comments

Peter Mansbridge joined Twitter recently. It caused a minor tizzy in the Canadian Twittersphere, as people speculated over whether or not this was the real thing. Hesitation to believe was particularly high as we’d been down this road before– a fake Mansbridge account had fooled people back in 2009. You know what would have helped? [...]