THE UNDERSTANDINGS

THE UNDERSTANDINGS

Monday, March 8, 2010

Jason Kenney on gay-rights removal: ‘I did not do such a thing'

Dean Beeby
Ottawa — The Canadian Press Published on Wednesday, Mar. 03, 2010 6:19PM EST Last updated on Thursday, Mar. 04, 2010 7:25PM EST


Canada's Immigration Minister is apparently denying any role in the removal of references to gay rights from a citizenship study guide released last fall.
Asked Wednesday why he blocked any information about same-sex marriage and Charter rights protecting sexual orientation, Jason Kenney said: “I did not do such a thing. No, no, you are wrong.”
The minister then disappeared into the Conservative caucus room in the Centre Block of Parliament Hill.
The Canadian Press reported this week that an early draft of the guide, which new immigrants must study for citizenship tests starting March 15, included references to the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1969 along with other gay-rights milestones.
But a memo to Mr. Kenney from bureaucrats at Citizenship and Immigration last June show the sections were removed at the request of the minister's office. Another memo to Mr. Kenney in August indicates bureaucrats were rebuffed when they made a last-ditch request to have gay rights re-inserted in the guide.
The guide released last November with fanfare made only a passing reference to gays and lesbians, in a photo caption.
Internal documents related to the guide were obtained under the Access to Information Act.
Asked about Mr. Kenney's apparent denial, spokesman Alykhan Velshi said Wednesday that “the minister's signature isn't on any decision note or anywhere else” in the released documents, suggesting someone else in the minister's office made the gay-rights decision on his behalf.
Mr. Velshi was asked last week to explain Mr. Kenney's decision to remove the gay-rights material. He responded that the guide could not be “encyclopedic” – without any indication the minister might not have been responsible for the removal.
On Wednesday, Mr. Velshi did not respond to further requests for clarification.
The confusion about the guide, which replaces a 1995 version, extended to the gay-rights group, Egale Canada. Executive director Helen Kennedy met Mr. Kenney in early December to ask that gay rights be included in the next edition of the guide.
“The first five minutes of the meeting that we had with Kenney were him explaining to me that this was an oversight,” she said in an interview Wednesday from Toronto. “They made a mistake – they were going to fix it.”
Ms. Kennedy, who was also asked at the meeting to provide the department with suggested wording, called the minister's office this week after she learned the early draft of the guide had indeed included references to gay rights.
“I basically said ‘What's going on? ... Why are you asking me to write something when you already had something?' ... It's very confusing.”
The minister's staff did not provide an explanation, she said, but assured her again the problem would be fixed in the next edition. Egale has still not come up with its preferred wording.
Mr. Kenney has been a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, speaking as an opposition MP against enabling legislation that was eventually passed in 2005.

Friday, March 5, 2010

My hate for the fashion industry

This is just a bit of my problem and sometimes to an extent of hating the fashion industry. WASTE WASTE WASTE!!!!! The industry is very enviromental unfriendly and it seems to be ignored. I wish that everytime a designer presents his/her collection would also show us how much textile and other unknown things that are wasted. I enjoy fashion and the designers are quite talented individuals, but when there is no pressure from the public to direct the fashion industry to a more greener way then I have a problem. The designers themselves should look into possibility to improve their work and be more earth friendly.

Anyways here's a very good article that was written 3 or 4 years ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/fashion/25pollute.html

Perfect moves, clothes, EVERYTHING

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Z56dxeGMA

Why wasn't I alive.....







The lifestyle and the fashion of these men interest my mind beaucoup. The third picture is my favorite. The mix of the classic style and a hip hop style. They pulled it off so well.



Those boots


the scraf work


c'est simple


Simply bubbly


He refused to tell me......

Enough said! : D



I haven't spoken to a genuinely happy person like this girl here for a long time and this picture is exactly how her personality is.

My love for socks


Classy but yet not so Classy



Check out the bag!

His name should be Shaun



This guy was on the go and I think this is the fastest picture I ever taken. He was nice to stick around for about 10 seconds. I like his color choices and his chill look.

Some festival....Some kids?



Both have a simple but yet appealing look. I believe the girl is wearing a one piece. kudos to her!

Nice guy with a killer bag



I had a very pleasent with this gentleman here. the story goes like this, I just came from work very tired and as I was walking to get on the "C- Train" I saw his brown bag and immediately felt in love with his whole style. I ran after him abit and asked him if i could take a picture of him, which he accepted kindly and making him miss his train. He was very nice about it and we chatted for a while. I learnt that the wonderful brown bag comes from his mother. I appreciate how he made the bag his own. Overall i had fun taking his picture!

Few Street fashion shots in Calgary

I enjoy very much fashion and style in general and street fashion is my favorite part of fashion. I am all for all kind of self expression and in fashion is no different. Street fashion obviously inspires me in many various ways. The rare, the ugly and the unconventional ideas or fashion intrigues my mind. All Street fashion pictures on this blog are mine. I took them, so if you decide to use them anywhere please credit me. thank you

A second time is always a charm