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/ Leave a Comment on Good Friday Walk, April 15, 2022
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Good Friday Walk, April 15, 2022
On April 15, 2022 I gave the reflections at the annual Good Friday Walk put on by the downtown association and the […]
On April 15, 2022 I gave the reflections at the annual Good Friday Walk put on by the downtown association and the eucumenical council in St. Catharines. It was not recorded, but these are, as close as I can reproduce them, my remarks. We started at one end of Church St. and stopped at churches along the way, six churches in all. At each church a member would read the text and then I gave brief remarks followed by a song performed by the husband and wife duo Infinitely More.
Royal House: Matthew 26:31-46
The illusion of personal power.
I begin with an introduction, my father and his family, Oibwe people rooted in north-western Ontario. My mother's family, German and Ukrainian who came here after the violence of Stalin, the violence of the war, and found safety in a place that made my father's family unsafe. I begin there because that shapes how I understand the events of these chapters, the actions of those involved.
The question before us is the question posed by James Cone in his book The Cross and the Lynching Tree. What are we to make of the brutality of Rome and the cruelty of [Canada]? Of their striking similarities. Of the silence of progressive Christians. We gather together in these scenes, but we are not the same.
Who was it who stood at the lynching trees?
Jesus had previously told the disciples that he would die and Peter said no! Jesus responded with, get behind me Satan. So we hear Peter's belief that he would stand firm in the context of his earlier no. He understood now, or thought he did. Jesus was the messiah, and the messiah would die.
And we too who are violently pushed to the margins believe that we can stand firm in the face of power and the violence of the state. We believe that we can meet that power because that belief is hope, and without hope we are lost.
St George's Anglican: Matthew 26:47-56
Living in the presence of oppressive power
Friend, do what you came for.
Crucifixion was to Rome what lynching is to America. There are two recorded lynchings in Canada. A 14 year old Sto:lo youth in BC in 1884 and a second in Perth Ontario 1910. Crucifixion, like lynching, controlled through fear. Just as policing controls through fear. And those who are racially marginalized in Canada could see what was happening in the US. Lynching, and the fear of lynching, controlled us here too. White Christians can believe themselves safe in such a country, but the racially marginalized know we are not.
Individually, self defence in the face of such power is suicide. Collectively the Jews had been able to confront Pilate. By the hundreds they had laid down before him, daring him to kill them and he backed down. But a later protest, just a few years before these events we are discussing, was met with violence. With swords and clubs. The memories of this violence would have been on their minds. Jesus asked them, do you come at me with swords and clubs?
They did not come for him in the temple when there were large numbers with him. They came for him when he was alone, isolated. And they came against him in large numbers to prevent the resistance of a few years earlier.
People counsel non-violence. In the face of state violence, self-defence is suicide and so we choose non-violence. We are told not to provoke them, not to give them a reason to hate us. They elevate Martin Luther King as a model of non-violence. But they killed him anyway.
They kill us anyway.
Cathedral of Saint Catherine of Alexandria Matthew 26:57-68
Becoming subverted by the power of the state
We don't talk about power in these stories, and we need to. Because we hear things like High Priest or religious leaders and we think of the Pope or the Queen who is the head of the Church of England. We think of Billy Graham or Joel Osteen and others who wield financial and political power. But this was a people living beneath Roman occupation, and as Zora Neale Hurston has said; not all skinfolk are kinfolk. The Lakota killed Custer, but he had Crow scouts. Oppressed people want to survive.
The High Priest was appointed by Pilate.
Even so, even so with their allegiance to power they are not the villains. They have no power. Influence perhaps over their own community but influence is not power. And the racially marginalized who align with power eventually learn that power will cast us aside.
Friends, you who are violently pushed to the margins. Rome will use you, but it does not love you.
Knox Presbyterian Matthew 27:69-75
The power of individuals to shame us
That could have been me.
The lynching of Emmet Till galvanized the civil rights movement. People like John Lewis, who was a teenager then but would become a representative in the US Federal government, looked at what happened to Emmet and said that could have been me. I learned of the murder of Helen Betty Osborne in The Pas Manitoba and I realized, that could have been me. Sexually assaulted and killed because of what I represented. I have stood on the steps of City Hall, across the street from us today, talking about Colten Boushie and Tina Fontaine and the children found in unmarked graves and I know that could have been me.
Peter watched his rabbi get arrested. He had reacted rashly, cutting off the ear of a soldier and Jesus healed him. But now, alone in the firelight he had to be thinking, that could have been me. Under questioning we retreat, we feel shame. We may be brave in the moment, but in the quiet and the firelight we realize that could have been me.
And we are afraid.
Queen St. Baptist Church Matthew 27:11-30
The power of the state to destroy us
Who killed Jesus?
Was it the Jews who called for his crucifixion? Who demanded the release of Barabbas?
We can't ignore that it is in the text.
We can't make it about all of us, we all did this. That erases the Jews who are in the text.
We can't assume Matthew's audience or intentions.
So what do we do this this question?
We acknowledge what came from it.
The pogroms and expulsions.
Vandalism of synagogues
The Holocaust.
Who kills Black and Indigenous people?
Rome. Rome kills us and finds a way to blame the ones it oppresses.
Which brings us to the question that racially marginalized Christians wrestle with. We who claim the same Jesus as those who lynch. As those who controlled residential schools. As those who tear down our sacred spaces. We claim the same faith, the same Jesus. And so how do we understand the silence of white Christians?
I use the language of white and racially marginalized, not because I want you to feel guilty, uncomfortable perhaps but not guilty. You are part of a system and systems can be challenged, can be confronted, can be dismantled. You must not be silent.
St Thomas Anglican Church Matthew 27:31-54
The power of earth's grief to awaken us
We have talked about power. The illusion of personal power, living in the face of oppressive power, being subverted by the power of the state, the power of individuals to shame us, and the power of the state to destroy us. Now we turn our thoughts to the power of the earth's grief to awaken us.
In the ancient world mourners covered themselves in dust and they grieved. Today we see droughts and water where it is unhelpful. The earth mourns and grieves because of the actions of Rome, because of human perfidity.
Who gathered at the foot of the cross?
Who gathered at the lynching tree?
Who gathers in courtrooms where justice is denied?
Somehow this moment brings us together and the world will indeed cry out and release the things we leave unsaid.
Crucifixion was a common punishment. A warning to those who lack power, a warning to those the state wishes to control. And who are the crucified today: those who fill prisons, who are trapped in poverty, who are on death row, who are shot by police.
White Christians cannot separate themselves from this history. They cannot ignore it. Cannot imagine that everyone else does it. You must acknowledge what it comes from.
The oppressed and the oppressor come together at the foot of the tree and liberation is found in confronting the ongoing sin of white supremacy, in transforming the power of Rome.
Because if you do not the rocks themselves will cry out. The earth will shake and those who have fallen beneath the white Christian church will rise again.
/ Leave a Comment on Solidarity is not a metaphor
Solidarity is not a metaphor
Remarks from International Women's Day event, given March 7 2021 to the Peel Labour Council. One day Nanabush was walking along the […]
Remarks from International Women's Day event, given March 7 2021 to the Peel Labour Council.
One day Nanabush was walking along the shoreline. He was hungry. And he was lazy. So he looked for a way to get food without working too hard. He saw some ducks. He liked roasted duck. So he came up with a plan.
Nanabush called out to the ducks, Aniin! Zhiishiibag! Come over here. I have a song to sing for you. The ducks were cautious, but also curious and they came over. A loon, Maang, may or may not have been among them.
Nanabush told them they must keep their eyes closed while he sang. Just listen to the song and the drum he said, but keep your eyes closed or the power will be lost. Maang, who may or may not have been there, was suspicious, but eventually danced together with the ducks.
While the birds danced Nanabush grabbed one duck and wringing its neck he threw it into the fire. Nanabush kept singing and drumming and the birds, with their eyes shut, kept dancing. Eventually Nanabush had six ducks roasting in the fire. More than he needed. Greedy.
Maang, maybe there maybe not, smelled something different and opened one eye. She saw the ducks in the fire and cried out, or maybe one of the ducks saw and cried out, Oh my relatives, look what Nanabush is doing. He's tricking us. And they flew away.
Nanabush was angry and got up, chasing them and throwing rocks. In his anger he may have cursed the Zhiishiibag with red eyes because they looked when they promised not to. In his anger he may have harmed Maang and caused her to walk low to the ground.
When he got back to the fire, the ducks had burnt and he wound up with nothing.
Peel sits within the lands governed by the One Dish and Two Row treaties. These treaties, the first between between the Anishnaabe and the Haudenosaunee peoples and the second between the Haudenosaunee and the newcomers are, like all treaties, applicable to the people who signed them as well as their allies and other governments. These treaties govern our relationships in principles of peace, friendship, and respect.
So as we work together, seeking solidarity and good relationships, we need to think about what it means to live in principles of peace, friendship, and respect. We need to think about this shut eye dance we have been invited into and what it is costing us.
I worked in child welfare for 16 years, a member of CUPE Local 2328 and have served as a union steward, Secretary, and spent several years as a member and then co-chair for the Health and Safety Committee. Despite its challenges, I still believe that the Health and Safety Committee is a good place to do effective work in improving the workplace so shoutout to all of you who sit on those committees. I know your pain and I wish you strength because it's worth it.
Before that I worked for the Niagara Region Sexual Assault Center where I supported victims of sexual assault who come to the hospital within 72 hours of that assault. A trained nurse provided the victim with medical care and, if the victim gave consent, the nurse collected and documented the evidence.
Before that I worked as a secretary. I sold shoes when Kinney was still a thing. I have waited tables and made pizza. Answered phones and for one brief month I worked at a call center, going through the phonebook and calling people to see if they wanted to get a Zellers credit card.
Alongside all of those things I have raised children who became men who have gone off into the world. I have helped to organize vigils and solidarity events, dancing and drumming in intersections from Niagara to Toronto. I have gone to solidarity events and stood outside the mosque after the shooting in Quebec along with hundreds of others holding our candles while snow drifted down. I have shared a stage with my drum sisters at Pride and made sure that we were a drum group that did not require skirts of our members who were not comfortable in them. I have collected sweaters and coats for migrant farm workers, and dropped off watermelons in the summer heat.
I have shared my story and my thoughts and my food with anyone who would listen and now I have a podcast and a bookclub and a website where I collect all of these thoughts and conversations in one place. You can find me at Daanis.ca I have written essays and endless twitter threads and I'm working on a book about how we got here, and how we can move forward so I am excited to be here today talking with you about how we can move forward.
I'm going to brave and let the words fall out.
Over the years there have been increasing conversations about decolonizing child welfare just as there are conversations about decolonizing education and medicine and just about every field we work in. We're going to decolonize and we're going to reconcile. But we live in a world where decolonization means putting settler colonialism into a medicine wheel and reconciliation means that one side keeps the power and the other gets reconciled to it.
Decolonization is not a metaphor
In their essay, Decolonization is not a metaphor; Eve Tuck and K Wayne Chang assert that decolonization is not interchangeable with other ideas about social justice and human rights. It's not something we do along with accessibility and anti-racist work. It is profoundly different and asks much more from Canada and its citizens.
At the core, decolonization means restoring land and recognizing sovereignty. These are the fundamental harms of colonialism and therefore frame the solution. Land Back.
We are not one of many minority groups in a nation of immigrants. We are the original people and if we existed at that time as independent sovereign people, then Canada, and labour, needs to reckon with what that means today.
At what point did we give up our sovereignty? I put it to you that we did not. That every treaty and agreement we made was, from our point of view, an agreement between equals in which our sovereignty, our collective independent existence, was the authority by which we made these agreements.
In a very real sense, it was we who recognized you and dealt with you as if you were sovereign entities like us.
It is necessary to mark the distinction between Settler and Indigenous when we are talking about solidarity because these relationships matter. Remember the shut eye dance. Understanding these relationships helps to open our eyes.
Settler colonialism is the imposition of new political, economic, and social structures on top of Indigenous peoples, pushing them aside in the process and taking control over land in order to control and extract resources. We know the history of Canada. The annexing of land over hundreds of years and then moving people onto it, displacing the Indigenous people. This is the relation that settlers have to the land and to the state.
Indigenaeity is dynamic and complex. It is not an identity, it is not a noun. When I introduced myself earlier I gave you my identity. My name, my clan, my tribe. When I say that I am an Indigenous person I am describing my relationship to both the settler state and the land. As a racial category, being Indigenous locates me geographically not phenotypically. It places me here, but also in the way. A people to be pushed aside or absorbed into the body politic, either way we cease to exist and the land is free from the encumbrance of our existence.
Black Canadians also exist in a particular relationship to the settler state. They are the real and metaphorical descendants of those who came in chains because although many have immigrated since then, the way that Blackness was constructed in North America means that they are all seen the same way, seen as movable property, exploitable and excess labour.
To be racially marginalized in Canada is to be forever out of place.
It is true that there are inequities and harms within the settler population and that not everyone arrived here in the same way. These are the social justice issues that we rightly work to address. Housing. Food security. Health care. Child care. Elder care. Those essential workers who are not paid as if they mattered. Who carried the load of care during the past year, both the work itself and trauma of losing our clients as Mina noted. Most of the people getting sick with Covid are not getting sick because they refuse to wear masks, most of those who are sick are working-class or racialized or both. This matters because how we remember this pandemic and it's impact on labour, particularly feminized and racialized labour, will matter.
So I understand that there are important matters to be resolved and that simply being a white settler is not being handed the keys to the kingdom. There are matters of accessibility and anti-racist work that need to be done. Matters of inclusion for those outside of the gender binary. But inclusion into what?
Solidarity with those whose existence puts them in conflict with the colonial state demands more than access to human rights. Demands more than access to the source of our oppression.
Decolonization is not a metaphor, and neither is solidarity.
Organizing as a place to develop collective voice
In her book Take Back the Fight, Nora Loreto quotes Harsha Walia from an interview she did with Feminist Wire.
"Feminism is not only about the issues affecting women or those outside of the gender binary – in terms of violence against women or reproductive justice – but also about completely shifting our paradigms of what justice and equality means and how we embody it – in particular our relationship to community care and the gendered division of labour that sustains it. Feminism's most transformative potential lies in the valuing of relational work, in care work like child care, elder care, and emotional labour, in lifting up ancestral knowledge of grandmothers about land stewardship and how we manifest our responsibilities to each other, and in nurturing our communities through interdependency and resiliency.
"So dismantling patriarchy to me is as much about breaking down a system that privileges male and cisgendered supremacy as it is about breaking down a societal paradigm predicated on competition, domination, commodification, expendability, and isolation. "
When politicians talk about job creation their focus is on industry, a primarily male area, while the public sector gets demonized and cuts to social goods like education and healthcare results in the layoffs of women and those outside the gender binary who gravitate into care work as well as those who are in precarious jobs and rely on publically funded care work so that they can maintain their own employment. Are these not also jobs? The public sector is jobs and we know what the impact of chronic underfunding and devaluing of these jobs has led to. It has led to inadequate care of seniors. It has led to inadequate care of children. It has led to inadequate housing and mental health services. It has led to increased policing and incarceration, jobs dominated by men.
Labour unions provide a place to address these inequities. They provide a structure in which we can have conversations about priorities. We can develop and articulate positions and then give weight to those demands through public and political pressure. We saw this happen in 2018 when students organized against the changes to Ford's sex ed curriculum. Their actions coordinated with the ETFO legal challenge as well as pressure by groups like PFLAG and the Conservatives abandoned the roll back that they had promised. We see it in the ongoing work of the Fight for 15, which is not even a living wage in many places anymore. Labour unions provide the kind of structure that can move awareness campaigns from #MeToo and the Women's March to articulated policy recommendations that change systems and not just individuals.
But too often when we talk about inequity we are not talking about breaking down the societal paradigms predicated on competition, domination, commodification, expendability, and isolation.
Dismantling patriarchy is not just about having more women in the places dominated by men when those places are sites of domination. White feminism has a long history of enacting oppression on women who are racially marginalized. They break through glass ceilings and then repair the hole.
Settler unionism
Just as settler colonial governments annexed land and moved people onto it, displacing the Indigenous peoples, settler unionism annexes jobs and displaces racialized workers. After emancipation and after the movement of Indigenous peoples into urban spaces labour played a significant role in controlling access to jobs. Racist ideas shifted from the system of plantations and reserves that confined Black and Indigenous people to an ideology that confined us and enacted violence on us. As Black and Indigenous people moved to cities and entered the labour market racist beliefs moved from the elites as a system of power to the organized proletariat. With government endorsement in the 30s it became the associated state, arguing for better circumstances within it and gatekeeping those newly emancipated without.
Job descriptions and non-interchangeability clauses in collective agreements prevent workers, mostly racialized, from moving out of low paying positions. And just as colonial governments frame their violence as defence or national security, labour frames its actions as protecting Canadian jobs in the face of immigrants who would steal our jobs. In the face of Indigenous people who block construction or pipeline jobs. Just protecting jobs. Doing our jobs.
It reminds me of a quote from Amilcar Cabral, a Black revolutionary who was assassinated in Guinea in 1973.
"Imperialism is quite prepared to change both its men and it's tactics in order to perpetuate itself. It will kill its own puppets when they no longer serve its purposes. If need be it will even create a kind of socialism which people will call neo-socialism"
In December 2020 CUPE sent out a tweet in support of striking farmers in India, but blurred out the communist symbols in the signs they were holding.
And although they had showed strong solidarity with the overdose prevention site at Moss Park in 2018, in February CUPE Local 416 helped Toronto Police tear down tiny homes that had been built to shelter homeless people in the winter.
In 2019 two large unions voted for pension changes that benefitted them but harmed some smaller unions with larger numbers of new employees.
Unions make statements of solidarity, unions read equality statements at the beginning of every meeting but what does solidarity really look like when labour comes into conflict with pipeline protestors or Mi'kmaq fishermen or Haudenosaunee land defenders at 1492 Landback Lane?
Mina is the first woman of color in her role. What does solidarity really look like when our executives are white and our lowest paid workers are not.
Decolonization is not a metaphor. It means restoration of land and sovereignty. And solidarity is not a metaphor. It means thinking about what you are enacting on Indigenous land and racially marginalized people.
It means getting behind those who experience the greatest oppression and ensuring that we are working to breaking down a societal paradigm predicated on competition, domination, commodification, expendability, and isolation, rather than working for more inclusion in that paradigm. How will the things you are asking for impact the most marginalized among us, not just your members? In the 30s, a time often recognized as a high point in the labour movement, the New Deal brought about improvements for white labour at the expense of Black sharecroppers and Indigenous peoples. Woody Guthrie sang "this land is your land" and promoted the building of dams which dispossessed Indigenous peoples of that land.
Evolving revolution: Imagining what is possible
Unless labour stands behind those who are experiencing oppression, solidarity will only and forever be a metaphor. Unions cannot stand only for their members, seeking what is best for their membership in a colonial state that relies on the oppression of others in order to function. In that way labour is, and has been, part of the colonial project. We could organize all workers into unions and then fight for better lives for all of our members and win and then what. Canada had outlawed slavery decades before the US did, but our industries relied on the products of enslaved labour just as they do globally today.
What of those whose labour is unpaid? What of those whose unpaid labour we rely on? Those whose excess labour is imprisoned in Canada or erased in the global south. What about their lives? At what point in our fight do we keep our promise to go back for them?
Look to your executive, whose experience do they represent? When we talk about representation is it enough to make that representation proportional? Should your executive look like the workplace? What if it inverted the workplace? If the workplace is 75% white, what if the executive was only 25% white? What if your executive reflected your clients, the people you care for in the course of your work.
And how do we do that? How do we do it now. People are approached and encouraged to run. People are appointed to committees to build their confidence. People are sent to training. People are cultivated and encouraged so I am putting to you that you cultivate and encourage those whose social positioning forces them to the margins. And that means building relationships.
What kind of solidarities can be built on stolen land?
What is possible when we imagine a solidarity that does not consist of bringing everyone inside an oppressive system. Winning rights within an oppressive system is not anti-oppressive work. What kind of solidarities are developed that ultimately rely on stolen land and exploited labour?
We win things for ourselves, and make strategic alliances that are not solidarity because they serve white interests and do not liberate land or people. Interests that are built on maintaining a societal paradigm predicated on competition, domination, commodification, expendability, and isolation. Interests that seek more inclusion in that paradigm rather than it's dismantling.
We need to develop meaningful relationships. It always comes down to relationships. Solidarity is about showing up to actions, but it is also about developing meaningful relationships between actions. Relationships with the people who are most impacted by the harms this society relies on. Relationships with those that our jobs pay us to care for, to teach. To work with them as interns, not allies. To be there to learn and support their sovereignty.
We need solidarities that cross labour and activist lines are what will create a better future.
We need solidarities that consider the realities of exploited Black labour and stolen Indigenous land.
It is easy to see the other, the bosses and the politicians as the ones inviting us to dance with our eyes shut. But what is the solidarity that you invite Black and Indigenous people into?
Miigwech.
2 Comments on Remarks on policing
Remarks on policing
These are my remarks to the special Regional Council meeting on policing in the Niagara Region on July 23, 2020. You can […]
These are my remarks to the special Regional Council meeting on policing in the Niagara Region on July 23, 2020.
You can view the entire meeting here.
You can listen to my conversation with Matt Holmes of iHeart radio at 610 CKTB
This article from the St. Catharines Standard mentions every presenter except me. Probably because I asked that no media come to an event I organized in February because of the way that the media misrepresents Indigenous actions. Then I corrected the misinformation in the article as well as the misspelling of my name. They took me out of that article and I haven't been mentioned by this paper since. Oopsie.
Note that while I did generally stick to my notes, these are not a transcript of my presentation and there may be additional comments in the audio, or things here which I did not say.
Council recently passed a motion that racism is a public health issue. That means that we need to recognize the racial inequities within policing that result in poorer outcomes for Black, Indigenous, and other people of colour.
Increased calls for service are directly related to decreased availability of community goods. I worked in Child Welfare for 15 years; policing related contacts were most often directly related to lack of services contributing to escalation of stress. Stable housing, food security, and access to meaningful mental health services for adults and children are needed. I criticized a police officer on social media once, got called into HR. The officer who reported my comment felt confident enough to remark that I may not get a timely response next time I call.
I disagree with McKendrick (Tara McKendrick, ED of CMHA for Niagara Region), calls to defund police do not include additional money specifically for training in mental health. Defunding police calls for money to be taken from policing and provided to those services already providing crisis, acute, and long term mental health care. These programs exist but are inadequately funded. Defunding police would release funding for these programs.
The CMHA has clearly stated that mental health is not a crime and that a mental health crisis requires a mental health response, not a police response. Including money for additional training goes directly against the CMHA's own statement. CAMH and medical doctors have also spoken out on this.
We know that access to stable housing, food security, and mental health services result in safer and more stable communities. The research on this is consistent and yet the political will to adequately fund these things does not exist. I can only infer from this that safer and more stable communities are not really the goal. Particularly since there is clear research indicating that Black and Indigenous people are often inadequately diagnosed and treated.
The primary purpose of body cameras in the public eye is accountability which demonstrates a fundamental mistrust of police. If we trusted police we would not be asking for body cameras. They solve the wrong problem.
There is no consistent evidence to support decreased police violence related to body cameras, much of that research is problematic in its methodology and the most consistent evidence of decrease is when officers do not have the ability to control when the camera is on or off. Other studies have shown that assaults on officers increased with body cam use. Research has also shown that the footage from these cameras has resulted in increased prosecutions, one study showed that 93% of body cam footage was used in prosecutions of civilians and three British studies showed increased arrests, charges, guilty pleas, and guilty verdicts. While I can see that this would be appealing to Police, this will have a negative impact on BIPOC who are already over represented in the criminal system. Body cameras do not lead to less invasive policing. They lead to more invasive policing and there is no evidence that they improve public opinion of policing.
1 a) Diversity and cultural sensitivity are not the same thing as anti-racism and research does not support a positive outcome from implicit bias or diversity training which continue to situate the deficit or difference in other communities and often has the adverse effect of reinforcing stereotypes.
A recent statement that there is no systemic racism in the NRPS simply demonstrates a lack of understanding about systemic racism. Anti-racism means identifying inequities and then adopting policies that restore balance. Simply treating everyone the same does not address inequity because everyone is not the same.
Systemic racism is policies and practices that may appear neutral, but result in disadvantages or inequity. Many of our policies and practices come from periods in our history that we now recognize deliberately excluded Black and Indigenous people. Those policies and practices are not neutral.
Mental health training that does not include cultural context is an example of a policy that appears neutral but results in inequity.
Training should also include knowledge of how policing has historically reinforced these inequities.
Chief McCulloch said that they will not tolerate racism, what does that look like?
Regarding annual training, the 2016-2018 NRPS business plan identifies doing this training twice a year for 24 officers. At 48 officers per year it will take at a decade for 100% of frontline officers, not considering all other staff who have interaction with the public, interpret data or are otherwise involved.
How many officers participate annually?
BLM different in Ontario? Desmond Cole has spoken extensively to the flaws in Ontario policing, the inadequate responses of SIU departments most recently seen in the Dafonte Miller case. I will refer council to his book, The Skin We're In for detailed coverage of multiple incidents.
1 c) Carding or street checks must be stopped immediately. Carding and street checks are another example of a policy that may appear neutral but creates inequity by disproportionately targeting Black and Indigenous people. They take place in primarily white parts of cities where Black and Indigenous people are not expected to be and are assumed to be there for anti-social reasons. Vancouver council unanimously voted to end this practice yesterday. Similarly, foot patrols which provide support to mostly white business owners have the impact of making Black and Indigenous people feel unsafe. These two practices are related and must stop.
1 d) Racially disaggregated data on all police interactions need to be publically available in order to determine inequities. We know that broadly Black and Indigenous people are over represented in policing and incarceration, we need to know what is taking place locally.
1 f) Many of these relationships already exist.
1g) A 0% increase is inadequate, particularly in the context of other needs in our communities.
The NRPS budget of $188.2 million from the 2020 operational budget for the Region of Niagara represents an increase of almost $8 million, 4.49% over the 2019 budget). Public Health and Community Services, which oversee services to Homelessness, Seniors, Children, Ontario Works, Public Health, Emergency Medical Services, and Emergency Management received a combined increase of only $6 million, 1.4% over last year. Niagara Regional Housing only received an increase of $1.8 million, or 2.8%.
The bulk of this increase is for police officers, one newspaper article stated that they sought to recruit 40 additional officers at a cost of 2.7 million. At an average rent in Niagara of $1000 that would pay for one year of 2,250 rental units for people needing stable housing. That would pay for 60 mental health workers. That would pay for shelter space and addictions services. It would pay for community based programs that do preventative, not reactive, work.
1 h) It is important that the diversity target not simply reflect a statistical mirror of the community but that 60% of the Board be from marginalized communities and that it have co-chairs, one of who is a member those communities. It is not enough to listen to members of these communities; they must be in positions of real authority where they can push for change. They should also be fully civilian and exclude former police officers.
Friendly amendment: Mental health and addiction calls require a mental health and/or addiction response. Not an armed response. These are health issues, not crimes. Regional council has already recognized that racism is a public health issue. Unstable mental health and addiction are two outcomes of systemic and interpersonal racism and as such calls of this nature result in disproportionate criminalization of Black and Indigenous people. These calls are rooted in public health and require a public health response. This is how we create and sustain safe communities.
Furthermore, although not addressed in the motion, I am requesting that any stores of tear gas, pepper spray, or other chemical agents be destroyed. These are not permitted for use in combat situations under the Geneva Convention and have no place in policing.
This motion indicates a willingness to move forward on issues related to policing, but it does not contain the specific and necessary anti-racist language that will truly provoke change and hold the NRPS accountable. It asks for reports without making demands. Black and Indigenous people have been waiting for longer than Canada has existed for systems that will challenge rather than reinforce inequity. It is unreasonable to make us wait longer.
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/sites/default/files/attachments/Anti-racism_and_anti-discrimination_for_municipalities:_Introductory_manual.pdf
https://www.governing.com/topics/public-justice-safety/gov-body-camera-effects-research-gmu-study.html
https://cmha.ca/news/statement-on-police-and-wellness-checks
Flipping Tables
Becoming good relatives / Speeches
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Recognizing racism, and becoming Anti-racist
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text:
Наталія Миколаївна Гелах (, 30 травня 1978) — білоруська веслувальниця, олімпійська медалістка.

Виступи на Олімпіадах

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Білоруські академічні веслувальники
Білоруські бронзові олімпійські медалісти
Академічні веслувальники на літніх Олімпійських іграх 2000
Академічні веслувальники на літніх Олімпійських іграх 2004
Академічні веслувальники на літніх Олімпійських іграх 2008
Бронзові призери літніх Олімпійських ігор 2008
Бронзові призери літніх Олімпійських ігор 2004
Уродженці Берестя

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text:
BUSINESS BRIEFS
Jillian Maes has been promoted to manager of marketing and communications at St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center.
She has worked at the hospital for the past four years as public relations specialist and as marketing coordinator. In her new role, Maes will manage internal communications, special events, clinical and non-clinical marketing support, community outreach programs and lead the service excellence communications team.
Maes received a bachelor's degree in mass communications from Colorado State University-Pueblo in 2004.
Cathy Grasmick, owner of the construction company Mass Service and Supply LLC, has been recognized as number 23 of the Top 100 Woman-Owned Businesses in Colorado by Colorado Biz Magazine.
She operates the business with her husband, Mohammed Ghamdi, and will be mentioned in the magazine's May issue.
Jon Scott Chaussee has been promoted to marketing director at Key Financial Decisions. He was a representative for the company and previously worked in advertising in San Francisco.
Terry Cordova was employee of the month for La Tolteca Foods for April. He has worked for the company since 1989 in route sales and was recognized for his service and dedication.
Emergency Medical Technician Matt Nolting has been selected as the May Employee of the Month for American Medical Response of Pueblo.
Keller Williams Performance Realty real estate agent Felicia Beltran was named to the Keller Williams International Leadership Council to represent the Colorado region for a two-year term.
Alisa DeCesaro, an environmental health specialist at the Pueblo City-County Health Department, has passed the National Environmental Health Association-sponsored credentialing test to be a registered environmental health specialist. The credential qualifies her as an environmental health specialist III.
Karen Downey, a registered nurse, recently was certified to do Acudetox, a form of acupuncture using pressure points on a person's ear she said helps with drug and alcohol addictions, stress, weight loss and more.
Dentist Elmer A. Villalon recently completed a mini-residency at the University of California at Los Angeles Dental School on facial pain, especially on obstructive sleep apnea. Other topics included sleep as it relates to headache and face pain. If you've received a new job or promotion, particularly having to do with a management position, please let us know. Contact The Pueblo Chieftain business desk at 404-2761 or jamos@chieftain.com . The deadline for submissions is noon Wednesday.
Seminar on starting a nonprofit organization, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., Pueblo County Conference Room, 1001 N. Santa Fe Ave, sponsored by Mi Casa Resource Center and SCORE small business counseling agency. Cost is $25. Write to svelasquez@micasadenver.org .
Pueblo Business Women's Network monthly meeting, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., networking and lunch, Pueblo Country Club, 3200 Eighth Ave. Cost is $12. Call 547-8125 or see www.pueblobwn.com .
The "Getting Started: Startup Essentials for a Small Business" workshop, 5:30 p.m., conducted by the Small Business Development Center at Pueblo Community College. Call 549-3224. May 22 Pueblo Downtown Association meeting, 11:45 a.m., Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo, Gateway Park. Cost is $12. Call 543-7155 or write rsvp@pueblodowntown.com .
Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours mixer, 5 to 7 p.m., Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo.
Ribbon-cutting for The 101 bar, 5 p.m., 101 N. Union Ave., hosted by the Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce.
June 6-8 Colorado Renewable Energy Conference, Pueblo Convention Center.
Remodeling open house for University Park Care Center, 3 to 6 p.m., 945 Desert Flower Blvd., hosted by the Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce.
National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisers state convention, Pueblo Convention Center.
Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado's Business Fair, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., El Centro Del Quinto Sol, 609 North Erie Ave. Call 542-1605 or write zellar@bbbsc.org .
June 26 Pueblo Downtown Association meeting, 11:45 a.m., Rosemount Museum.
The Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado Foundation is offering its first $2,500 scholarship for a graduating high-school senior. The recipient must attend a college in Colorado. The deadline for entry is July 5.
For more information, call Carol Odell at 719-636-5076, ext. 111.
United Country Real Estate, headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., announced that United Country Ð Butte Valley Realty of Walsenburg received the company's Master Salesman Award for 2007.
The company also received a Listing Proficiency Award for excellence in listing properties.
Betty Jo Cordova is Butte Valley's owner and a real estate broker.

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text:
Home > Asia Pacific > South East Asia > Thailand
Quiet tsunami prayers mark Christmas in Thailand
By Darren Schuettler, The Star (Reuters), Dec 25, 2005
KHAO LAK, Thailand -- Simple Buddhist ceremonies marked Christmas Day in Thailand's tsunami zone on Sunday as relatives of victims remembered their loved ones on the eve of the Indian Ocean disaster's first anniversary.
<< Buddhist monks recite prayers during a ceremony to commemorate the first anniversary of the tsunami on Thailand's Phi Phi island December 25, 2005. (REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad)
"I will have to die before I can forget," said 80-year-old Thai Sorjia Aiawsakul, who lost her son, daughter-in-law and niece in the Dec. 26 tragedy, which killed an estimated 231,000 people in Asia and Africa. Thailand's official death toll stands at 5,395.
"He was the son I liked most. Even though a year has passed I think about him each day. I still cry every day," she said as saffron-robed monks intoned Buddhist chants at Wat Ban Muang on Khao Lak, the coastline where most of Thailand's victims died.
In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the temple served as a temporary morgue for the hundreds of bodies of foreign holidaymakers and Thais dragged from the waves and debris.
On Sunday, it hosted around 300 mourners -- both Thai and foreigners -- seeking a chance for quiet reflection before Monday's planned mass commemorations.
"We wanted to come here to remember those who died," said 17-year-old New Yorker Joann Johnson, who is teaching English and art at a school in the nearby fishing village of Ban Nam Khem, which has been totally rebuilt in the last year.
While many of the physical scars of the tsunami have disappeared with the reconstruction in Thailand, the mental scars of victims -- and orphans in particular -- remain.
"There are many at my school who lost their relatives. It's a very difficult time right now for the kids," said Johnson, who was accompanied by her parents and two sisters.
On Koh Phi Phi, the backdrop to cult backpacker movie "The Beach", Buddhist monks from 13 different nations led a similar day-long ceremony on a secluded beach far away from the hustle and bustle of the rejuvenated paradise isle.
Many survivors said they had spent the last year wondering why they had been spared when so many others on Phi Phi -- around 700 people in the final reckoning -- had perished.
"I guess it makes you a little more religious," said Denny Sacipovic, a 25-year-old Swede who narrowly escaped the killer waves when he left the island with his girlfriend and her mother the day before disaster struck.
"Was it just luck or is there something more that decides if you are going to make it?" said Denny, whose back is covered with elaborate tsunami tattoos and the date few will forget -- Dec. 26, 2004.
Since her brush with death, 41-year-old Internet consultant Evelyn Rodriguez from San Jose in California has been running a weblog to try to make sense of an event that completely reshaped her view of the world.
"It's one thing to read about the immortality of the soul, but it's another to see your own life flash before your eyes," Rodriguez said.


text:
State Government Administrator
The Honorable Lucille Whipper
Academic administrator and state government administrator Lucille Simmons Whipper was born on June 6, 1928 in Charleston, South Carolina, to Sarah and Joseph Simmons. In 1944, Whipper was a student activist at her high school, Avery Institute, in Charleston, South Carolina; her graduating class sought to desegregate the College of Charleston. While a student at Talladega College, where she received her B.A. degree in economics and sociology, Whipper became involved in a movement to integrate college student organizations throughout the state. Whipper continued her graduate education in political science at the University of Chicago where she received her M.A. degree. Whipper also later earned a certificate in guidance and counseling at South Carolina State University.
In the late 1960s, Whipper served as an organizer and director of Operation Catch-Up, a tutorial program for high school students; Operation Catch-Up was a forerunner of the Upward Bound programs. In 1972, Whipper was appointed to serve as Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Human Relations at the College of Charleston. Whipper became the College's first African American administrator and developed its first affirmative action plan. With the support of members of the Charleston County delegation and the President of College of Charleston, Theodore Stern, Whipper organized the Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture committee. The committee then founded the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture in 1990.
Whipper served as vice chairman of the Democratic Party Convention in 1972 and was later elected to the Charleston District 20 School Board. In 1985, Whipper became the first African American female to serve as an elected state official from the Tri-County area. Whipper served for years on South Carolina Human Affairs Commission and sponsored two important pieces of legislation — one making marital rape a crime and the other requiring the monitoring of state agencies' hiring goals for minorities and females. In 2004, Whipper co-founded the Lowcountry Aid to Africa project, donating money to foundations and organizations helping people and families in Africa affected by AIDS.
Lucille Simmons Whipper was married to the late Rev. Dr. Benjamin J. Whipper, Sr., and lives in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. She is the mother of six children and is a grandparent.
Lucille Simmons Whipper was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on February 1, 2007.
Academic Administrator
St. Matthew Baptist Church
South Carolina Women\'s Baptist Educational and Missionary Convention
Charleston School District Twenty Board
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated
Lowcountry Aid to Africa
Links, Incorporated
Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture
South Carolina Voices of the Civil Rights Movement
Esau Jenkins-A Retrospective View of the Man and His Times
Avery Normal Institute
Burke High School
Buist Academy
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church School
WHI11
https://thmdaprodmedia.blob.core.windows.net/media/story/video/444243
A2007_039_Whipper_Lucille_EAD.pdf
A2007_039_Whipper_Lucille_EAC.pdf
State government administrator and academic administrator The Honorable Lucille Whipper (1928 - ) served as the organizer and director of Operation Catch-Up, the vice chairman of the Democratic Convention in 1972, a member of the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission, and the first African American administrator at the College of Charleston.
Charleston County Public Schools
Charleston Public Schools
South Carolina. General Assembly. House of Representatives
Green, Pink
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Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating of The Honorable Lucille Whipper's interview
Tape: 1 Story: 2 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper lists her favorites
Tape: 1 Story: 3 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes her mother's family background
Tape: 1 Story: 4 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers her parents' parties
Tape: 1 Story: 5 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper recalls her mother's occupation
Tape: 1 Story: 6 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper recalls her mother's involvement in the church
Tape: 1 Story: 7 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes her father's family background
Tape: 1 Story: 8 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes how her parents met
Tape: 1 Story: 9 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes her stepfather's family background
Tape: 1 Story: 10 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers her sister
Tape: 1 Story: 11 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes the sights, sounds and smells of her childhood
Tape: 2 Story: 1 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers the Great Depression
Tape: 2 Story: 2 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes her early education
Tape: 2 Story: 3 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers St. Stephen's Episcopal Church School in Charleston, South Carolina
Tape: 2 Story: 4 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes the Buist School in Charleston, South Carolina
Tape: 2 Story: 5 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes her early interests
Tape: 2 Story: 6 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper recalls her experiences in high school
Tape: 2 Story: 7 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes the color discrimination at the Avery Normal Institute in Charleston, South Carolina
Tape: 2 Story: 8 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper recalls her college aspirations
Tape: 2 Story: 9 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers her mentors at the Avery Normal Institute
Tape: 2 Story: 10 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers discrimination at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina
Tape: 3 Story: 1 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers her high school graduation
Tape: 3 Story: 2 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama
Tape: 3 Story: 3 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper recalls joining Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Tape: 3 Story: 4 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes her early civil rights activism
Tape: 3 Story: 5 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper recalls her social life at Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama
Tape: 3 Story: 6 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers her husband, Stephen Edley
Tape: 3 Story: 7 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers attending the University of Chicago
Tape: 3 Story: 8 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper recalls teaching at the Haut Gap School on Johns Island, South Carolina
Tape: 3 Story: 9 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes her husband, Benjamin Whipper, Sr.
Tape: 3 Story: 10 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper talks about the Gullah language
Tape: 3 Story: 11 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper talks about racial discrimination
Tape: 3 Story: 12 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers the birth of her daughter
Tape: 4 Story: 1 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes the A Better Chance program
Tape: 4 Story: 2 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper recalls her challenges at Bonds-Wilson High School
Tape: 4 Story: 3 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers school segregation in South Carolina
Tape: 4 Story: 4 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement
Tape: 4 Story: 5 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes Operation Catch-Up
Tape: 4 Story: 6 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper recalls her position at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina
Tape: 4 Story: 7 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers Margaretta Pringle Childs
Tape: 5 Story: 1 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper recalls her efforts to preserve the Avery Normal Institute, pt. 1
Tape: 5 Story: 3 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture
Tape: 5 Story: 4 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper recalls her first elected office
Tape: 5 Story: 5 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers her election as a state legislator
Tape: 5 Story: 6 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes her committee involvement
Tape: 5 Story: 7 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper recalls serving on the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission
Tape: 5 Story: 8 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper recalls her challenges as a legislator
Tape: 5 Story: 9 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus
Tape: 5 Story: 10 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper talks about gerrymandering
Tape: 6 Story: 1 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes her decision not to seek reelection
Tape: 6 Story: 2 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper recalls mentoring David J. Mack, III
Tape: 6 Story: 3 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes her work with The Links, Incorporated
Tape: 6 Story: 4 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes her presidency of the state women's Baptist convention
Tape: 6 Story: 5 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper reflects upon her life
Tape: 6 Story: 6 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper share a message to future generations
Tape: 6 Story: 7 - The Honorable Lucille Whipper narrates her photographs
The Honorable Lucille Whipper describes Operation Catch-Up
The Honorable Lucille Whipper remembers her election as a state legislator
You participated in tutorial program for black children in Charleston County [South Carolina]?$$Yeah during Johnson's [President Lyndon Baines Johnson], I think I was then at Burke [Burke High School, Charleston, South Carolina].$$Okay.$$During the War on Poverty when, what, what they call equal opportunity commissions or something under the War on Poverty the county was granted money to establish commissions for programs for economic and educational opportunity and Charleston County established the OEO, I think you call it, Office of Economic Opportunity, and they had the various programs. They established Head Start programs. Our church in the city, my husband's [Benjamin Whipper, Sr.] church, was one of the first to have a Head Start program.$$What church was this?$$St. Matthew--$$Matthew okay.$$--Baptist Church [St. Matthew Baptist Church, North Charleston, South Carolina].$$Okay.$$'Cause I went to all of the community meetings and so forth to find out. At least I was keeping up with the program as it was developing through [U.S.] Congress and so I was well aware of what, what purposes it could serve and so forth and I was focusing on what could be done as far as education was concerned. And so when they established the OEO office I knew the people that were on the commission and even the people who were staffing and together, besides the Head Start program that they started and one was at my church, we wrote a proposal for a tutorial program. I was still impressed by the ABC program [A Better Chance] and what they did in the summer and things like that, so we established what we called Operation Catch-Up, which was sort of the beginning of the Upward Bound idea of working with students and enrichment program in the summer and then tutoring them during the school year. And so we established Operation Catch-Up that worked in the county, worked throughout the county. It was most, in the summer we had a summer program, I think the first summer program was at my church, St. Matthew. Again, I got the church involved all these things, and then the next year we were at the Catholic school and I think one year we were at Burke one summer. And we employed graduate students from the northeastern universities, became faculty, and that created a lot of stir because they lived in the homes of the students, and there was some negative new, news stories about that, you know these white--$$White.$$--graduate students living in black homes, and then the curriculum, 'Lord of the Flies' [William Golding], and all of that stuff coming down with all that, that type of curriculum. So, we got some negatives on that score, and I directed that project and gave it up, I forgot when. I think I probably gave it up when I moved to the College of Charleston [Charleston, South Carolina]. But, that program really identified a lot of students and assisted them into college being ready to go into just any school that they wanted to go into. It was a very enriching experience for them, and we expanded it throughout the county and we had stations for tu, tutoring and homework throughout the county of, in the city and in the various areas of the county.$So what happens next?$$The next thing was that I thought I was living in the district that, where a vacancy occurred. We'd gone to single member districts, okay, the state, and the representative for District 109 had been indicted with some charges, federal charges, and was it federal or state charges, that's Representative Woods [Robert Roosevelt Woods]. He had become very powerful, chaired the Ways and Means Committee [House Ways and Means Committee] in the state, as with blacks we always, always say when you get to have certain power you better watch out because somebody is waiting to get you on maybe some charge you never even thought about. He was a minister and had, I think he had a Head Start, if not a Head Start he had some federal program and so they threw all of that into whatever they charged him with. So, the district became vacant and I thought that I lived, I did not look at the boundaries, I was about three blocks outside of when I decided that I was gonna run with my husband's permission and enthusiasm, family, everybody yeah go for it. So, I had to move into the district. We built that house, and I was a few blocks outside of the district. And I thought it would be easy for me to find a house in the district. Couldn't find a house in the city, that's how I got in Mount Pleasant [South Carolina] because all my life I've been in the city, except no when we first got married I was in North Charleston [South Carolina]. So, I had to look at the laws as to when you had to be in the district legally and so forth, and we rented after my first announcement and I made sure that, and it was very interesting because some of the first questions people would ask, "What a minister's wife doing running for a political office?" And I said, "What a minister doing," 'cause we had many ministers--South Carolina is one of those states that you don't really get paid to be a legislator, you know you get a stipend. And that of course know, you know holds back a lot of people from running for political office because you gotta work, but pastors were more flexible, so you would find everyday to have a lot of pastors and I said, "Well if the pastor can run for political office I sho' don't see why his wife can't." My husband [Benjamin Whipper, Sr.] had no problems with it at all, and so we moved into the district. We finally found a house and moved into the district; I've downsized since then. I was very interesting, very interesting. I had to fight one of the person who also offered was a male who was a long-time activist, at least he was among those that had desegregated the golf club. He was supported by most of the Democratic leaders like Hollings [Ernest Hollings], you know and so folks said, "You sure are crazy that you're gonna run against," what they call him Big John. He was the, the key person in all of the elections and so forth and so on. And so I told them I thought I could be, beat him because at the level that I had worked, you know with that Operation Catch-Up, I've been all in the county, I knew parents all over the county and Big John was just in political environment more so, and so that was my first battle and I won that in the primary.
Read more about The Honorable Lucille Whipper
Betty Francis
Government lawyer and state government administrator Betty Hager Francis was born and raised in Washington, D.C. Her father, William Henry Hager, was a supply clerk for the United States Department of Treasury and a part-time carpenter, while her mother, Helen Brown Hager, was a homemaker and owner of a catering business. Francis and her siblings were raised in a devout Catholic home. Her childhood neighborhood exposed her to prominent African Americans such as Charles Houston and Edward Brooke, III, whose niece, Peggy Amos, was Francis' best friend. In 1963, Francis graduated from high school at the Sacred Heart Academy where she headed the student council.
Francis attended Howard University on a four-year academic scholarship while also working in the Capitol Hill office of Indiana Senator Birch Bayh. She took a year off from college to work on the 1966 United States Senate campaign of Edward Brooke, III in Boston, Massachusetts. Francis got married shortly before graduating from Howard with her B.A. degree in political science in 1967. She then returned to Boston to work at Harvard University's Astrological Observatory. In 1971, she began working at the Harvard University Press, where her boss persuaded her to go to law school. She attended Suffolk University Law School at night, earning her J.D. degree in 1980.
From 1980 to 1981, Francis worked on family and probate cases as an attorney for Greater Boston Legal Services. She then worked at the Boston Housing Authority where she handled landlord-tenant disputes, civil rights issues and labor and personnel cases. In 1984, she was appointed Deputy Chief Counsel for the Massachusetts Department of Public Works. Three years later then-Governor Michael Dukakis appointed her Associate Commissioner of Massachusetts Department of Public Works. Francis directed the maintenance and operation of roads and bridges and worked on a variety of other transportation issues, including the multi-billion dollar project to build the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel (also known as "The Big Dig"). She also served as Chief Administrative Law Judge in that agency. Francis was elected the first President of the Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials, serving from 1988-1994.
In 1991, Washington, D.C. Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly appointed Francis as Director of Public Works, making her the first woman to hold this position. She received particular recognition for improvements to vehicle registration and parking management; for the initiation of curbside recycling; and for the successful reengineering and delivery of snow removal services within the District. Francis was named Director of Prince George's County, Maryland's Department of Public Works and Transportation in 1995. She was the first African American and the first woman to hold the position in the County's history. She led a dramatic increase in capital investment in the County's transportation infrastructure, the development of its regional and community-based transit services and significant improvements in land development and emergency response operations. She served in this post until 2004. Francis has three children and two grandchildren.
Betty Francis was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on May 18, 2004.
Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials
Conference of Minority Transportation Officials
National Forum for Black Public Administrators
Scenic America (Organization)
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Transportation Planning Board
Suffolk University Law School
FRA04
A2004_052_Francis_Betty_EAD.pdf
A2004_052_Francis_Betty_EAC.pdf
Steak, Potatoes (Mashed)
State government administrator Betty Francis (1946 - ) worked as an attorney for the Boston Housing Authority, was appointed Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Works, Director of Public Works in Washington, D.C., and Director of Prince George's County, Maryland's Department of Public Works and Transportation.
Campaign of Edward W. Brooke for U.S. Senator of Massachusetts
Harvard University College Observatory
Boston Housing Authority
Massachusetts. Dept. of Public Works
District of Columbia Department of Public Works
Prince George's County (Md.). Dept. of Public Works and Transportation
Hager Management Group, LLC
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Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating of Betty Francis' interview
Tape: 1 Story: 2 - Betty Francis lists her favorites
Tape: 1 Story: 3 - Betty Francis describes her mother's family background
Tape: 1 Story: 4 - Betty Francis describes her father's family background
Tape: 1 Story: 5 - Betty Francis talks about her ancestors and her parents' courtship
Tape: 1 Story: 6 - Betty Francis describes her earliest childhood memories
Tape: 1 Story: 7 - Betty Francis describes her siblings and daily life during her childhood
Tape: 1 Story: 8 - Betty Francis describes her childhood neighborhood of Petworth in Washington, D.C.
Tape: 1 Story: 9 - Betty Francis describes the sights, sounds and smells of her childhood
Tape: 1 Story: 10 - Betty Francis describes her experiences in elementary school in Washington, D.C.
Tape: 2 Story: 1 - Betty Francis describes her junior high school years at Sacred Heart School in Washington, D.C.
Tape: 2 Story: 2 - Betty Francis describes her religious upbringing in the Roman Catholic faith
Tape: 2 Story: 3 - Betty Francis describes her high school experiences at Sacred Heart Academy in Washington, D.C.
Tape: 2 Story: 4 - Betty Francis describes her experiences at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Tape: 2 Story: 5 - Betty Francis talks about her parents' pride in her academic achievements
Tape: 2 Story: 6 - Betty Francis describes working on the 1966 U.S. Senate campaign of HistoryMaker The Honorable Edward Brooke
Tape: 2 Story: 7 - Betty Francis talks about her impressions of the Civil Rights Movement and her ambitions
Tape: 2 Story: 8 - Betty Francis talks about graduating from Howard University in 1968 and moving to Boston, Massachusetts
Tape: 3 Story: 1 - Betty Francis talks about her experiences at Suffolk University Law School in Boston
Tape: 3 Story: 2 - Betty Francis describes her first jobs as a lawyer
Tape: 3 Story: 3 - Betty Francis talks about her tenure at the Massachusetts Department of Public Works
Tape: 3 Story: 4 - Betty Francis talks about her tenure as director of public works for Washington, D.C.
Tape: 3 Story: 5 - Betty Francis talks about her tenure at the Department of Public Works in Prince George's County, Maryland
Tape: 3 Story: 6 - Betty Francis reflects on her achievements in her career in transportation administration
Tape: 3 Story: 7 - Betty Francis considers the benefits and pitfalls of working with elected officials
Tape: 4 Story: 1 - Betty Francis describes recent trends in the transportation industry
Tape: 4 Story: 2 - Betty Francis talks about future plans for her career
Tape: 4 Story: 3 - Betty Francis talks about the adult lives of her siblings Beryl and William
Tape: 4 Story: 4 - Betty Francis reflects on her relationships with family and friends
Tape: 4 Story: 5 - Betty Francis considers her aspirations and things she wishes she had done differently
Tape: 4 Story: 6 - Betty Francis describes her hopes and concerns for the African American community
Tape: 4 Story: 7 - Betty Francis describes how she would like to be remembered
Tape: 4 Story: 8 - Betty Francis talks about why she believes history is important
Tape: 4 Story: 9 - Betty Francis considers the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
Tape: 4 Story: 10 - Betty Francis offers advice for those looking to work in the transportation industry
Tape: 4 Story: 11 - Betty Francis reflects upon her legacy
Tape: 4 Story: 12 - Betty Francis narrates her photographs
Betty Francis describes her first jobs as a lawyer
Betty Francis talks about her tenure at the Department of Public Works in Prince George's County, Maryland
And after law school [Suffolk University Law School, Boston, Massachusetts], what was next for you?$$After law school, I had a series of--I left Harvard University Press [Cambridge, Massachusetts] where I learned to edit. I could edit with the best of 'em, 'cause I really did learn from the best about how to edit. So in 1980 I went first to Greater Boston Legal Services [Boston, Massachusetts] in the Family Law Unit. And in the Family Law Unit we did a lot of things, guardianships, divorces. We were the pioneers for open adoption. I keep reading about open adoption now, and I remember that we really were working on that back then. And it was a hard sell. But it was a little bit depressing, 'cause I was still a little naive, and I had to sort of boogie away from there. And then I went right--$$Depressing, how so?$$Well, because it was people who did not have means. And they had, you know, all the social problems and kids that were being--you know, I had to get cart guardianships for children whose parents were either not present, or neglecting them, or abusing them, or whatever. And so, it was just a little difficult. Then I went to Boston Housing Authority [BHA, Boston, Massachusetts].$$What year was this?$$That was 1980, probably '81 [1981]. And during that time, you know, the Boston Housing Authority had fallen into deep disrepair, and so a court order put it into receivership. And this wonderful young man by the name of [Lewis H.] Harry Spence was the receiver and really turned it around so that all--really rehabilitated some old public housing and integrated. And so for three or four years I worked there as an attorney, a staff attorney in the Boston Housing Authority. And one of the senior attorneys there at the Boston Housing Authority moved over to the Massachusetts Department of Public Works, which is the Massachusetts Highway Department. And about, you know, six months after she was there she asked me to come over there to be deputy general counsel, so that was big news in Massachusetts at that time. And so I was very happy to do that. But while we were at the Boston Housing Authority I did a lot of landlord tenant law, and so that was an interesting, exciting time.$And what did you do next?$$After that [director, Department of Public Works, Washington, D.C.] in 1995, when we lost the election, [HistoryMaker] Mayor [Sharon Pratt] Kelly [later, Sharon Pratt] lost the election, and then it was just about that time that another one of my guardian angels, whose name was Major [F.] Riddick [Jr.]. You might know his name. He was chief of staff to Governor [Parris N.] Glendening. And a friend of mine in Chicago [Illinois] came together. She, her name is Christine Boulware, and she had an executive search firm. And a young man by the name of [HistoryMaker] Wayne Curry had just been elected county executive in Prince George's County, Maryland, which I didn't know very much about, but they told me that was my next assignment. You know, my friends told me this is your next assignment. And so I came to work. I met with Wayne Curry, and I was just so impressed with him now. He, too, is a brilliant person, one of the most articulate people I have ever met. And he had a vision for Prince George's County that made me understand immediately what I was to do. I mean he didn't have to sit down and write me a letter. Once he told me what he saw as Prince George's County, I knew what the transportation component needed to be. So all these other experiences I had led me to this, and I really believe that very, very profoundly. And he really transformed Prince George's County. I mean it was a sort of, it was PG County [Prince George's County], it was sort of backwater. I think now we have a recognition as being the only jurisdiction in the country that has gone from a predominantly white, blue collar place to one that is predominantly African American. It has the highest household income of African Americans in the country, which means the world. It has the highest educational level of African Americans in the country, which means the world. And some of the things that have hap- that are happening here in Prince George's, I really do, I know that Wayne Curry was responsible for raising the bar. And I mean even the newspaper doesn't call us PG County anymore. If you've noticed, the newspaper refers to us as Prince George's County. Prince George's County is 500 miles, square miles, 820,000 people. It's almost a thousand people, so it's a major force in this, in this Washington [D.C.] metropolitan region. We have the second, we, we are the second highest technology center in the State of Maryland. We are the number one center for artists in the region. If, you know, people may not know that. But anyway, that's my Prince George's County spiel.
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The Fujiwara Regency
When Kammu moved the capital to Heian (Kyoto), which remained the imperial capital for the next 1,000 years, he did so not only to strengthen imperial authority but also to improve his seat of government geopolitically. Kyoto had good river access to the sea and could be reached by land routes from the eastern provinces. The early Heian period (794-967) continued Nara culture; the Heian capital was patterned on the Chinese capital at Chang'an, as was Nara, but on a larger scale. Despite the decline of the Taika-Taih reforms, imperial government was vigorous during the early Heian period. Indeed, Kammu's avoidance of drastic reform decreased the intensity of political struggles, and he became recognized as one of Japan's most forceful emperors.
Although Kammu had abandoned universal conscription in 792, he still waged major military offensives to subjugate the Emishi, possible descendants of the displaced Jomon, living in northern and eastern Japan. After making temporary gains in 794, in 797 Kammu appointed a new commander under the title seii taishogun (barbarian-subduing generalissimo; often referred to as shogun). By 801 the shogun had defeated the Emishi and had extended the imperial domains to the eastern end of Honshu. Imperial control over the provinces was tenuous at best, however. In the ninth and tenth centuries, much authority was lost to the great families, who disregarded the Chinese-style land and tax systems imposed by the government in Kyoto. Stability came to Heian Japan, but, even though succession was ensured for the imperial family through heredity, power again concentrated in the hands of one noble family, the Fujiwara.
Following Kammu's death in 806 and a succession struggle among his sons, two new offices were established in an effort to adjust the Taika-Taiho administrative structure. Through the new Emperor's Private Office, the emperor could issue administrative edicts more directly and with more self-assurance than before. The new Metropolitan Police Board replaced the largely ceremonial imperial guard units. While these two offices strengthened the emperor's position temporarily, soon they and other Chinese-style structures were bypassed in the developing state. Chinese influence effectively ended with the last imperial-sanctioned mission to China in 838. Tang China was in a state of decline, and Chinese Buddhists were severely persecuted, undermining Japanese respect for Chinese institutions. Japan began to turn inward.
As the Soga had taken control of the throne in the sixth century, the Fujiwara by the ninth century had intermarried with the imperial family, and one of their members was the first head of the Emperor's Private Office. Another Fujiwara became regent for his grandson, then a minor emperor, and yet another was appointed kanpaku (regent for an adult emperor). Toward the end of the ninth century, several emperors tried, but failed, to check the Fujiwara. For a time, however, during the reign of Emperor Daigo (897-930), the Fujiwara regency was suspended as he ruled directly.
Nevertheless, the Fujiwara were not demoted by Daigo but actually became stronger during his reign. Central control of Japan had continued to decline, and the Fujiwara, along with other great families and religious foundations, acquired ever larger shoen and greater wealth during the early tenth century. By the early Heian period, the shoen had obtained legal status, and the large religious establishments sought clear titles in perpetuity, waiver of taxes, and immunity from government inspection of the shoen they held. Those people who worked the land found it advantageous to transfer title to shoen holders in return for a share of the harvest. People and lands were increasingly beyond central control and taxation, a de facto return to conditions before the Taika Reform.
Within decades of Daigo's death, the Fujiwara had absolute control over the court. By the year 1000, Fujiwara Michinaga was able to enthrone and dethrone emperors at will. Little authority was left for traditional officialdom, and government affairs were handled through the Fujiwara family's private administration. The Fujiwara had become what historian George B. Sansom has called "hereditary dictators."
Despite their usurpation of imperial authority, the Fujiwara presided over a period of cultural and artistic flowering at the imperial court and among the aristocracy. There was great interest in graceful poetry and vernacular literature. Japanese writing had long depended on Chinese ideograms (kanji), but these were now supplemented by kana, two types of phonetic Japanese script: katakana, a mnemonic device using parts of Chinese ideograms; and hiragana, a cursive form of katakana writing and an art form in itself (see the Arts , ch. 3). Hiragana gave written expression to the spoken word and, with it, to the rise in Japan's famous vernacular literature, much of it written by court women who had not been trained in Chinese as had their male counterparts. Three late tenth-century and early eleventh-century women presented their views of life and romance at the Heian court in Kagero nikki (The Gossamer Years) by "the mother of Michitsuna," Makura no soshi (The Pillow Book) by Sei Shonagon, and Genji monogatari (Tale of Genji)--the world's first novel--by Murasaki Shikibu (see Literature , ch. 3). Indigenous art also flourished under the Fujiwara after centuries of imitating Chinese forms. Vividly colored yamato-e (Japanese style) paintings of court life and stories about temples and shrines became common in the mid- and late Heian periods, setting patterns for Japanese art to this day.
As culture flourished, so did decentralization. Whereas the first phase of shoen development in the early Heian period had seen the opening of new lands and the granting of the use of lands to aristocrats and religious institutions, the second phase saw the growth of patrimonial "house governments," as in the old clan system. (In fact, the form of the old clan system had remained largely intact within the great old centralized government.) New institutions were now needed in the face of social, economic, and political changes. The Taiho Code lapsed, its institutions relegated to ceremonial functions. Family administrations now became public institutions. As the most powerful family, the Fujiwara governed Japan and determined the general affairs of state, such as succession to the throne. Family and state affairs were thoroughly intermixed, a pattern followed among other families, monasteries, and even the imperial family. Land management became the primary occupation of the aristocracy, not so much because direct control by the imperial family or central government had declined but more from strong family solidarity and a lack of a sense of Japan as a single nation.


All posts tagged: "villa Edelweiss"
Villa Floare de Colt (Edelweiss) opened even since 2002, was inaugurated as a guesthouse with 8 large and welcoming double rooms and a wide range of facilities until 2013. After a two years break, Floare de Colt (Edelweiss) villa was reopened on 1st of May and welcomes you with a new accommodation building with 12 new rooms, exceptional design and finishings to the highest quality standards. Besides these, the eight existing rooms have been renovated and modernized in order to reach an European Union accommodation level.
In a relaxing atmosphere, you can dine at the restaurant villa or you can order a variety of dishes from coffee, teas and cocktails at the bar. Having a restaurant with 40 seats maximum, at Edelweiss villa in Baile Herculane can organize family events (christenings, birthdays, banquets) and corporate events (meetings, training).
Very soon, we will open the pool, sauna and the based therapy. Thus, our customers will benefit from the exceptional healing powers, curative and regenerative of thermal waters from Baile Herculane.
Perhaps you have not thought that the name of the villa really has to do with the flower-queen. Those perennial flowers were found in the past in large number even here, at Herculane on Domogled. It can still be found in the Carpathian Mountains (Rodnei Mountains and Maramures, Obcinele Bucovinei, Rarău, Ceahlău, Ciucaş, Bucegi Mountains, Fagaras, Cozia and Retezat), but in Herculane we remember it through kindergarten and Villa Floare de Colt (Edelweiss).


this is a project i've been meaning to do ever since i first saw it at bella dia! so cute and easy! my kids had a blast helping me. they loved tracing their hands, and they thought it was funny that sawyer's was so tiny! you could easily make this a no sew project by using felt for the bodies, and gluing them together.
i started with a stack of fall colored fabrics, and let the kids pick which one they wanted for their turkey. cut out their handprints, stitch, turn them inside out (i used a knitting needle and a lot of patience) and stuff your bird. add some felt feathers, beak, and wattle, draw on a sharpie eye, and you have yourself a turkey! we didn't add wings to the sides, but you can if you want.
i love our little turkey family! to make sure we know whose bird is whose, i added a sharpie initial in the corner. you could embroider them on if you wanted, but i'm lazy :) i've been looking through my basket stash to find a proper nest, but haven't got one picked out yet.
what about you? what's your favorite handprint turkey craft? making anything fun for your own thanksgiving? share a link in the comments!


We worked closely with the Ludwigs to renovate their home into one in which they could grow old, remodeling their master bathroom, kitchen, deck, and a two-story garage addition with a second-floor apartment.
Accessible remodeling projects are essential to Aging-in-Place or staying in your home when the unexpected happens. For the Ludwigs' bathroom, we designed a large walk-in tile shower with a linear drain to accommodate Ms. Ludwig's chair, installed a Kohler® wheelchair accessible sink, and applied a 60″ wide rule throughout to allow for her chair to turn all the way, giving complete mobility and access to all areas of the bathroom, from the toilet to the shower to the vanity.
"All the decisions we made were with the idea that as we get older, we're going to need more assistance" – Keith and Sabrina Ludwig, Chesapeake.
To provide access to the back deck, the Ludwigs' home required a partial remodel of the sunroom, including removing a step-down into the sunroom and leveling the floor. Through French doors, a ramp leading to the deck completed the process of ensuring Ms. Ludwig's easy access to view the backyard. As the Ludwigs plan to stay in their home, they thought it wise to build a detached garage with a second-floor living space, in case their needs ever require live-in assistance.
Jerry Harris Remodeling is a Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist serving South Hampton Roads since 1985.


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700 East 11th • Hutchinson, KS 67501
Home to the NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship since 1949 and home to the 2017-2019, 2021 and 2023 NJCAA DI Volleyball Championship. Since 2021 the Sports Arena has hosted the National DII Christian Homeschool Basketball Championship, and the KCAC Volleyball Championship since 2017.
The City recently completed a $29.5 million renovation in 2017. The renovation consisted of:
New entrance on the south side featuring updated concourse and new concession areas
New practice facility on north side featuring three auxiliary courts
Various multi-purpose rooms to be utilized for hospitality areas and meeting rooms
Updated press box area for media broadcasts
On-site event parking with over 1,000 stalls
Main Event Floor: 22,206 sq. ft.
Fixed seating 5,559
Practice Courts:
Multi-purpose Gym (two courts): 14,820 sq. ft.
Multi-purpose Gym (single court): 7,980 sq. ft.
Four Visitors Locker Rooms
Two Official's Locker Rooms


There are a lot of components to consider when it comes to company payroll administration. From calculating vacation pay for your employees to issuing records of employment, we address and answer ten of the most frequently asked payroll questions regarding all things related to payroll management and payroll administration.
1. Can employers give paid time off instead of overtime pay?
An employee and an employer can make an agreement in writing that the employee will receive paid time off (PTO) instead of overtime pay when they work extra hours. This is referred to as "time off in lieu" or "banked time". If an employee has agreed to bank their overtime hours, they must be compensated at the rate of time and a half (1.5 hours) of PTO for each hour of overtime worked. Typically, paid time off must be taken within three months of the week in which the overtime was earned.
2. How is the rate of vacation pay calculated and when is this pay payable?
According to the Employment Standards Act, vacation pay rate is calculated as a percentage of the wages an employee earns during the year. Starting with the minimum requirement of two weeks of annual vacation time, vacation pay is 4% of all earnings made in the first year of entitlement, and this rate accrues based on each consecutive year of employment.
The sum of the vacation pay is payable before, during, or after the taken vacation time, which is dependent on the established policy as set by the employer. If agreed to in writing by the employer and the employee, vacation pay may be paid on every paycheque.
For further details on paid time off and annual vacation policies, check out our blog post on paid time off policies.
3. How is statutory holiday pay for employees determined?
Eligible employees are entitled to be paid an average day's pay on statutory holidays and on a day-off in honour of a statutory holiday (if the stat holiday falls on a regular day-off). An average day's pay is calculated by dividing the total wages (including commissions and vacation pay, but excluding overtime pay) earned in the 30 calendar days before the statutory holiday by the number of days worked.
For more information, read our complete guide to statutory holiday pay.
4. What is the bonus tax method?
The bonus tax method is used for calculating taxes, along with CPP and EI deductions, on bonuses, retroactive payments, and other payment outliers. Calculating bonus tax varies in ease and difficulty level.
For a breakdown on how to process the calculations, check out our blog post on the bonus tax method.
5. I accidentally overpaid an employee through a payroll error — what do I do?
If the overpayment was due to an administrative miscalculation, you are required to rectify the payment through deductions. The amount of the overpayment should also be deducted from the total income listed on the employee's T4 form. If the employee pays back the owed amount within the year of the error, they're only required to pay back the net total (provided that you can adjust the remittances before the year's end).
To determine if you have the right to deduct overpayments or if you must first request consent from the employee, read our blog post on dealing with overpayments issued to employees.
6. What are the tax implications of paying an employee in cryptocurrencies?
Since cryptocurrencies are managed by advanced computer algorithms and not by a central bank, digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Dash, and Ethereum are not considered legal currencies by the CRA. However, they are still taxable. Employers and employees are advised to keep track of the equivalent Canadian dollar value of the cryptocurrency upon the initial exchange of the cryptocurrency.
For more information on paying employees in cryptocurrency, see our blog series on cryptocurrencies.
7. When do I report payroll remittances to the CRA?
You will need to send remittances to the CRA according to their submission schedule. The deadlines vary depending on your average monthly withholding amount. Penalties will incur for missed deadlines.
For more on determining your remitter classification and remittance deadlines, refer to our easy-to-follow guide to payroll deduction remittances.
8. Are taxable benefits subject to EI and CPP deductions?
Yes. If an employer provides a taxable benefit to an employee, the employer must calculate the value of the benefit, calculate the proper payroll deductions for the taxable benefit, and file an information return.
Additionally, bonuses, incentives, awards, and gifts are also considered taxable earnings and unless stated otherwise, are subject to CPP, EI, and tax deductions. If paid in kind, the value is subject to CPP and taxes but not EI.
The Employers' Guide to Taxable Benefits and Allowances informs employers on which taxable benefits are subject to CPP and EI withholdings along with the codes that are required to report them on the employee's T4.
9. Which small business expenses are eligible for tax deduction claims?
Spending related to the management, operation, and growth of your small business, from annual license fees to meals and entertainment expenses for entertaining clients, can qualify as partially or fully deductible.
For a list of eligible small business expenses, see our blog post on tax deductions for small business owners.
10. When do I need to distribute T4 slips to my employees?
Employers are responsible for preparing T4 slips for all of their company's current and previous employees who received income during the year. T4 slips must be sent out via mail by February 28th. If opting to go the paperless route, you must have an employee's written permission for them to receive their T4 electronically.
For a comprehensive guide to the T4 process, download our free Year-End Guide for Payroll Pros.
Rise can help you navigate and automate your payroll processes with accuracy and efficiency. Book a free demo today to discover how.
Vacation Time & Vacation Pay: What's the Difference?
All employees are entitled to a paid vacation in Canada. However, the vacation time and vacation pay they receive are two separate issues.
Paid Time Off Policies: What Needs To Be Tracked?
Many employers implement paid time off policies without tracking them effectively. Here's how to avoid making that mistake.