Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Four Deaf Yorkshiremen

Sarah MacKenzie, at SEDHHS just showed me the most awesome video!

I couldn't get the link to work, but if you go to youtube, search for "Four Deaf Yorkshiremen".

And then sit back and enjoy!

Monday, August 9, 2010

PD Opportunity - Vancouver

Members,

We are thrilled to be able to offer the Interpretation of Interactive Interviews Workshop this coming November!

This is the second of the two available CES workshops. Upon completion of both workshops you are eligible to take the TOI. Even if you don't feel ready to take the TOI anytime soon, both of these workshops provide fantastic professional development. It's a great opportunity to assess your current skill level and establish goals for the future. To register for this workshop you must...

1) be an Active AVLIC member
2) have successfully completed the WTK
3) have already completed the Interpretation of Narratives Workshop
4) have maintained your membership since entering the CES process

Dates: Saturday, November 6 & Sunday, November 7, 2010
Location: Douglas College, New Westminster, BC
Facilitator: Deloris Piper
Cost: $200
Registration Deadline: Monday, August 23, 2010

This intense, theory based workshop takes place over two days. There are seven required readings that are provided through the AVLIC website (password protected). All workshop participants are required to provide a sample of their interpretation of specific materials. These materials are provided by AVLIC via web-streaming. After submission two sets of AVLIC Feedback Specialists, one Deaf and one certified (COI) interpreter, will evaluate the sample interpretations. These samples will be returned by the facilitator at the workshop and participants may keep them. WAVLI Professional Development can assist with taping locations if a member is unable to locate the necessary taping equipment on their own.

Samples must be received at the AVLIC Office by Friday, September 24, 2010.

The registration from is available at www.avlic.ca under the Services tab, in the Canadian Evaluations System section. Sign in using your name and password, and once on the CES page just scroll down to "Phase Two Registration Form" and click on "Online Form". Registration and payment must be received at the AVLIC office by Monday, August 23, 2010.

AVLIC
110 - 39012 Discovery Way
Squamish BC
V8B 0E5

This workshop requires a minimum of six eligible members to register and it is restricted to a maximum of eight. If the minimum number of registrations is not received, the workshop will be postponed or cancelled.

Please contact wavli.pd@gmail.com or ces@avlic.ca if you have any questions.

Brianne Braun & Nicole Pedneault
WAVLI-Professional Development

NFSD Closed

Thanks, Chrissy, for this article. This is, indeed, sad news.

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/08/02/nl-deaf-school-closing-802.html?ref=rss

Educational Interpreting Issues letters

Dear Members,

The Educational Interpreting Issues Committee has developed two letters for member use which are now posted on the AVLIC website under the Members Only tab or by following this link: http://www.avlic.ca/member.php?eiic. One letter is for members to send to their local unions; the other is for local school districts. Members who work in the Kindergarten to Grade 12 setting may download these letters and use them to lobby for change or to educate unions and school district administration as needed. Each Affiliate Chapter also has a copy of these letters via e-copy.

Ministers of Education and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) across the country will soon be receiving a similar letter with a copy of the MAVLI DVD, Best Practices in Educational Settings Making an Informed Choice: Educational Interpreters vs Signing EAs. The DVD, as most are aware, is an educational tool developed by MAVLI that demonstrates the difference between an interpreter and a signer.

Several years ago the EIIC conducted a survey of Affiliate Chapters. An area of need identified at that time was educating both unions and school districts about the role and responsibility of an interpreter. We hope that these resources assist interpreters in the K-12 setting in these areas.

Sincerely,

Colleen Friel
AVLIC President
president@avlic.ca
www.avlic.ca
Minister Cannon Invites Disability Stakeholders to Witness
Ratification of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Convention Advances Disability Rights as Human Rights

New York, March 11, 2010 - Today the Government of Canada has ratified the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Canada is now the 82nd country to make this international commitment to protecting and advancing the human rights of persons with disabilities.

Traci Walters, National Advisor to Independent Living Canada, was in attendance at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City to witness this historic moment. “Today’s ratification marks the culmination of years of work by the Government of Canada and the organizations that represent Canadians with disabilities,” she said. “It demonstrates to Canadians with disabilities that our Government is thoroughly committed to the promotion and protection of the human rights of all Canadians citizens.”

“The importance of ratification of the CRPD for Canadians with disabilities cannot be overstated,” said Kelly Nadeau, National Chairperson of Independent Living Canada. “Ratification enshrines the rights of Canadians with disabilities to be fully included in all spheres of Canadian life and is a formal and international acknowledgement of the contributions that people with disabilities make to Canadian society.”

By tabling the CRPD in the House last December 3, 2009, on the UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Government of Canada promised to consider disability issues as matters of national importance. Today the Government has followed through with that promise.

“This is truly an historic day for persons with disabilities in Canada and it was an honour to be invited to participate in the final step of this process,” said Walters. “Today Canadians with disabilities are enormously grateful to all Members of Parliament and to all Parties for their support in developing and ratifying the CRPD, as well as to the groups and organizations such as the Council of Canadians with Disabilities and the Canadian Association for Community Living which played an integral role in representing Canadians with disabilities at home and on the international stage.”


For More Information Contact:
Traci Walters, National Advisor to Independent Living Canada
613.563.2581 x 13

402-214 ch. Montréal Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1L 8L8
Tel./Tél. (613) 563-2581 Fax/Téléc. (613) 563-3861 TTY/ATS (613) 563-4215
info@ilc-vac.ca
www.ilcanada.ca - www.vacanada.ca
DEAF SCHOOLS STILL UNDER ATTACK
DESPITE NEW INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT

Ottawa (ON) -- It has been a week of great joy and angry grief for Deaf Canadians at opposite ends of the country.

On July 19th in Vancouver, an agreement was signed that repudiated 130-year-old resolutions that have caused incalculable damages to Deaf people all around the world.

Exactly one week later, the Newfoundland and Labrador government pushed Deaf education backwards again by announcing the closure of the Deaf school in St. John’s.

In 1880 in Milan, Italy, the International Congress of Educators of the Deaf (ICED) passed a motion that effectively banned Sign language from Deaf schools and prevented Deaf people from becoming teachers. More than a century of plummeting literacy and employment resulted in Deaf communities everywhere.

That 1880 motion was formally rejected last week when the “New Era” agreement was signed by ICED Chairperson Claire Anderson, World Federation of the Deaf President Markku Jokinen, Canadian Association of the Deaf President Doug Momotiuk, and B.C. Community leader Wayne Sinclair.

“We did it to try to erase the worldwide ignorance and misconceptions about the deaf,” said Sinclair, who spearheaded the negotiations. “The Milan decision was a disaster for all of us. It resulted in two-third of Deaf people being functionally illiterate, and only one-third of us are fully employed.”

Responding to the closing of the Newfoundland School for the Deaf, Jim Roots, Executive Director of the Canadian Association of the Deaf (CAD), caustically observed, “It seems the Newfoundland government is no longer half an hour ahead of everybody else. Instead, they are now 130 years behind!”

The government justified the school closing by saying all 199 Deaf students in the province are enrolled in regular schools, but Roots questioned whether there were sufficient support services in place to meet the needs of 199 students.

“Newfoundland has no more than a handful of qualified Sign language interpreters, and they are all overwhelmed with community demands. The province certainly doesn’t have 199 fully-qualified interpreters to serve these students.

“So the government is basically telling these students to either drop out of school or else move to Ontario and try to enroll in the Deaf schools there.”

Doug Momotiuk, President of the CAD, pointed out that the Newfoundland decision not only goes completely against the “New Era” document, it also violates the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

“The Convention explicitly protects our right to be educated in Sign language in Deaf schools,” he explained.

A coalition is building among Deaf organizations such as the Canadian Association of the Deaf, Deaf Bilingual Coalition - Canada, service agencies including the Canadian Hearing Society, and community groups.

“We’re going to work together to address these issues in every province,” promised Chris Kenopic, newly-appointed President and CEO of the Canadian Hearing Society. “The New Era document and the United Nations Convention are not just pieces of paper. They represent a whole new attitude about the right of Deaf children to an education that includes Sign language.”



For further information:
(1) Wayne Sinclair, independent Vancouver Deaf activist; email to deafwanderer@hotmail.com or text to 778 899 5975.
(2) Roger Carver, Executive Director, Saskatchewan Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services; email to rcarver@sdhhs.com.
(3) Doug Momotiuk, President, Canadian Association of the Deaf; email to DMomotiuk@smd.mb.ca

Introducing...



(So this is a little late, but here is the introduction to Carly Jones, living in Fredericton.)

Carly is originally from Brampton, Ontario, and began studying Sign Language at George Brown College, Toronto. In 2007 she moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia to attend NSCC's ASL/English Interpreter Program. Upon completing the program Carly moved to Fredericton, New Brunswick to begin her interpreting career at the Post-Secondary level. In addition, she interprets part-time in the Community, where she has the opportunity to be mentored by some of our more seasoned Interpreters. Carly is an active member of AVLIC and AVLI-NB.