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Citizen Jane

10/30/2013

Citizen Jane is a short film being made in Vancouver about the discrimination LGBT soldiers faced for over 25 years in the Canadian Forces.

In order to finish their film, producers are looking for support. To learn more or make a donation, here is their website.

Equality did not come easily, and this is a story worth telling.

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Robinson biography released!

10/19/2013

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The book is finally out.

Here is a partial list of stores that are carrying it. If you don't see your favourite bookstore on the list, don't worry - more are ordering it. You can also always drop in and ask them to order it, or order it yourself online through New Star Books, Chapters or Amazon. Some Chapters locations will also be carrying it.

BC: Bolen Books, Mosaic Books, Black Bond Books, 32 Books, Munro's Books, Albany Books, UBC Bookstore, Talewind Books, Laughing Oyster
AB: University of Calgary Bookstore
MB: McNally Robinson Booksellers
ON: Perfect Books, Octopus Books, Another Story, Glad Day Bookshop, Words Worth Books, Ben McNally Books, York University Bookstore, Books on Beechwood
QC: Archambault
PEI: The Bookmark
NWT: Yellowknife Book Cellar

And, don't forget about the launch dates:

Vancouver:
Friday, November 15 at 7:00 PM at the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art (639 Hornby Street)

Ottawa:
Tuesday, November 19 at 5:30 PM at D'Arcy McGee's (44 Sparks Street)

Toronto:
Saturday, November 30 at 2:00 PM at Frontier College national headquarters (35 Jackes Avenue)

Everyone welcome - see you there!

I would also like to share a word about October 17, the day the book was released. October 17 is the UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. I admit that part of me feels strange about launching a product on a day in which we are meant to reflect on the least fortunate among us. On the other hand, Robinson worked hard fighting this injustice throughout his career. The book tells these stories, and I hope it will help spawn some discussion among readers about ways we can all fight poverty.

Awareness is important. The concept of "awareness" of poverty would be laughable in much of the world. It's right there. But there are parts of Canada where it's easy to forget, where you can even pretend it doesn't exist.

According to UNICEF, 13% of Canadian children live in poverty. (That's worse than the average across the 34 other richest countries in the world, by the way).

And Canadians are lucky. Worldwide, the UN estimates that 1.2 billion people live not just in poverty, but what they call "extreme poverty." And while those numbers are going down, that's because of improvements in India and China. Take them out of the equation, and there has been no change. The poor in the rest of the world are as poorly off as they were before I was born.

The statistic that I find the most painful is that 19 000 children under the age of five die due to preventable causes every day. That's 13 a minute. I first heard a version of that statistic when I was in grade 10. The number has gone down since then, fortunately. I still can't fathom it.

We could debate what the solutions are. I hope we do. But the first step is agreeing that this is a problem that needs our immediate and most serious attention.

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Citizen Jane

Robinson biography released!

Graeme TRUELOVE

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