In Other Schools: Homeless Online and Campus Military Recruiting
February 20, 2008
Montreal filmmaker creates online home for homeless
MONTREAL (CUP) - Homelessnation.org originated in Montreal but has since become a national forum for Canada’s street people, providing them not only with a voice, but an opportunity to connect with each other and with homeless advocacy groups.
Montreal filmmaker Daniel Cross’s 1997 release, The Street, aimed to relay the stories of Canada’s itinerant urban population. But five years ago, he realized that film is an inadequate medium to convey his extensive research.
Cross was forced to exclude the stories of hundreds of men, women and children, but he found an alternative in the Internet’s emerging social networking and media technologies.
Conceived in 2002, but officially released in 2005, Homelessnation.org is Cross’s vision to bridge a digital communication divide that he feels isolates and alienates the homeless community from the non-homeless.
“One of Homelessnation’s main goals is to give the homeless community a public forum of representation through avenues created by New Media,” said Alexandra Yanofsky, national coordinator for Homelessnation.
Homelessnation’s 3,000-member community includes homeless people throughout Canada as well as formerly homeless people, advocacy workers and concerned Canadians.
Student protesters dragged from career fair
LONDON, ONT. (CUP) - For the second year in a row, a peaceful protest against the Canadian Forces’ presence at the Fanshawe College career fair was broken up by security.
The February 13 protest involved approximately a dozen students lying on the gymnasium floor in front of the Forces booth wearing torn shirts painted with red smudges to signify blood.
“All we were doing was trying to bring awareness that the military is recruiting on campus,” said Jonathan Simone, one of the protesters who was dragged out of the gym by Fanshawe security.
“They not only pulled me out, but they’ve also banned me from [the] J-building. And when an educational institution and officials where I’m paying fees to attend treat the students that way, it definitely solidifies my not wanting to return next year.”
The protest, which started quietly but quickly drew a crowd, was broken up when college security, on hand for the Career Fair, called for backup from the school’s special constables.
Representatives from the Canadian Forces approached the matter casually.
“It’s all about freedom of choice and freedom of speech,” said Chief Petty Officer Second Class Peter Hale, who was on hand from Ottawa.
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