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Effective Citizenship Journal – Kevin BelyeaWhat is citizenship?January 7th Today in class we spoke about being Canadian. What does it take to really be a Canadian citizen? More importantly, what is a citizen, anyway? According to a quick online dictionary search citizenship is “a legally recognized subject of a state.” It is the link between personal and state that grants citizens the rights to work, live, and be politically active in a country. Throughout history we have seen the intricacies and complications that go along with citizenship. Generally, it goes all the way back to the first ancient Greek democracies. From the little that can know about such an ancient civilization it is evident that they had apparently elected representatives and also held many direct voting by all citizens (citizens being men over 20, who had served their military service). This would have been the beginning of the idea of citizenship, which has now grown to be much more convoluted. Citizenship is a complex mix of rights and obligations that are pertinent to the specific state the citizens belong to. In Canada, we have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms devoted to Canadian rights as well as an additional document entitled Aboriginal People’s Rights for First Nations Canadians. Along with our rights as citizens of Canada we have some obligations. First off, to obey the law of Canada, not always the most fun thing to do, but it is required for good governance as long as no persons/groups are above the law. Our other obligations are voting, jury duty, taking responsibility for ourselves/families, protecting heritage/environment and to help others in our community (Discover Canada, 2012). These obligations and rights become the framework for Canadian identity and citizenship. It is because we have these freedoms that we have the power to interact with our government on such a level. But, it does not come free, it takes adhering to the obligations set forth by the Canadian government to enjoy the rights of Canadian citizenship.Almost every action we take can be viewed as an act of citizenship, as most actions can affect other people belonging to the same state. Simply buying a slice of pizza involves paying taxes to the state, passing state currency over to the pizza maker and involves the decision of which pizza place to give this monetary support to. To buy from American pizza company like Domino’s or go to a more locally owned restaurant?The fact of the matter is citizenship is now inherent to our existence. Effectively managing how we interact with the system is the loftier task. Every day we are given choices to act with or against the government, to speak out, to listen, engage or disengage with the public system that we belong to. Today in class we looked at what the Canadian government’s mandatory test for all seeking citizenship encompasses. Knowledge the Canadian government believes is important to know in order to participate properly with the Canadian system. It includes questions about culture, history, and language. This official stance on what Canadian citizens need to know is beyond my own knowledge. Personally, I am somewhat interested in Canadian history and do know the gist of the war of 1812, WWII, etc. and would argue that my understanding might exceed other more disinterested persons of my age. But, still I received some wrong answers on the test. Some of the questions seem a bit too hard, and even unfair to second language English speakers. Canada is a country mostly made of immigrants, and to put barriers this large in front of seeking new Canadians seems counterproductive to creating the lovely mosaic of cultures that is Canada. Now that our cities are being much more globalized, and stronger because of it, I do see some importance of making sure that new Canadians understand the governmental system and some cultural/historical context for its ideals and values. I just do not agree with the harshness of a mandatory test with such high expectations. Those interested will learn this information over time. I really do not see the need for a new comer to Canada in Alberta to understand the cultural significance of Acadians in the Maritimes. It’s a nice ideal that everyone will know our history and become proud Canadians, but Canada’s face is changing and it should be embraced. Feb 11th Citizenship in a Global EraToday we look citizenship to another level by broadening our scopes out of Canada to view citizenship as a global phenomenon. The readings were very intriguing especially the news story about a fruit vendor in Tunisia. For his entire life he had lived in a country where police we so corrupt that they could literally rob the fruit vendors at the market place without any repercussions. One day, he tried to stand up for himself, and was assaulted by the officer who was taking his produce. He went to the local government, and no one listened. Mohammed Bouazizi proceeded to light himself on fire in front of the municipal government’s building. He became a martyr for his cause, and now his memory is credited for making the first waves in the recent Tunisian revolution, which then started the Arab Spring.Mohammad Bouazizi was making a stand for his social rights. He saw that he had no other option, and because others saw what he did, everything changed. He faced common barriers that most people face in the developing world. He had no political power, or recognition and could not participate in a system that listens to citizens, so he had to take matters into his own hands. I can imagine when an extremely corrupt government challenges people they feel helpless, as it is an entire system working against their freedom. But, when people band together, changes can be made. It’s called revolution and it has happened countless times across history. Though they are often violent, revolutions can sometimes be the only way for political change to be made to then ensure healthier relations between citizens and state. When enough people gather and show that they will not cooperate with their government any longer, hopefully states will get a reality check and realize that they need citizens to govern, to be a government in the first place.An ideology that I firmly believe in is that we are not just citizens of one country, but citizens of an entire planet. Canadians decisions and actions, though only explicitly pertain to responsibilities and obligations in Canada, are also part of international responsibilities and obligations. For example, how Canadians manage the environment only legally matters here, but our environmental footprint knows no borders. I would love to see world leaders look at more issues from a global perspective, like the Millennium Development Goals, we need to measure our progress less as competing nations, but more on the whole of progress. The MDGs are very innovative because they make goals and targets that are responsibilities for all nations, even though the direct effects of world hunger do not affect citizens in all nations’ borders on the same levels. From a young age, I have had this idea instilled in my head, when I went to a summer camp with children from ten different countries all gathering together. The simple message of us all being interconnected has stuck with me and I count myself not only as a Canadian citizen but a global citizen, and I strive to be at home in any nation. Nations need to start seeing hunger / disease / natural disasters / war / poverty and any other human affliction as global problems, to which we all have responsibility to act upon. March 11th 2013CITIZEN ENGAGEMENTToday’s class was on the topic of citizen engagement. Two guests, Sue Rickards and Maurice Robichaud, both presented very strong examples of citizen engagement.Sue told the story of the Poverty Reduction Initiative that happened in New Brunswick. It involved bringing all the right people to come together around a single issue and make real changes in poverty. Her approach proved to be very fruitful, and the word of wisdom to resonate the most profoundly with me was the importance of relationship building. That all it takes is some time together to know each other better. Not just having a network, but a solid network can really do a lot of the work for you when engaging yourself as a citizen. Providing space for candid remarks and genuine communications helped the stakeholders realize that they’re all there for the same purpose: poverty reduction in New Brunswick.Maurice Robichaud’s presentation focused on New Brunswick’s former government’s attempt to sell NB Power to Hydro Quebec. He explained how everything happened from his point of view, which was very interesting to me, since I had only ever heard sides of the debate from fairly outside sources. This topic was very interesting concerning public engagement, as the public ended up denying the government of their original plan by protesting the NB Power deal.Both of these stories provided interesting insights as to when, and how much citizen engagement is important in government policy. Though I know referendums cannot be held on every decision (this would be costly, and redundant) and that we have made our voices heard already at elections, there are certain times when public engagement is crucial.The proposed NB Power deal for example as Mr. Robichaud stated, could have been more explicitly involved with citizens. The opposition party would not have painted their deal as a ‘backdoor’ deal, and the idea could have been shot down by the public, instead of having the Liberal government fall for the proposal. So? When should citizens be engaged in government? On election day, and that is it, or more often? Which subjects are appropriate for engagement?Personally, I think something that needs to be stressed is that in our system the citizens are always engaged in some fashion. Whether the invitation is extended to the public or not, public appeal and opinion drive decisions made by politicians and are usually the determining factors of how they got their jobs as politicians in the first place. Citizens and government are very tightly intertwined in accountable governments. When New Brunswick politicians do things against the general will of the citizens (for example conflict of interest investments) it can go without being noticed by the citizens, because it is somewhere in our mindset, that “these things happen” in a way, corruption is part of the game and NBers seem to be willing to live with it. ................
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