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[Anselmo]: Hello! This is DeafDots,
11 December 2020.

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Bringing alerts & news reports
at intervals for all Deaf Canadians!

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[Anselmo]: Black Lives Matter
movement started on social media

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with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter
when George Zimmerman was found not

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guilty of the murder of African
American teen Trayvon Martin in 2013.

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The movement increased awareness
across the US and heightened with

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the death of George Floyd by
Minneapolis police officers in 2020

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which created a global outcry.

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Natasha “Courage” Bacchus,
a Black Deaf Canadian

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attracted mainstream social
media including NBC News

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when she stood up at a
public rally in June 2020

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to voice her experiences
with racial discrimination.

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[Natasha]: When it happened
with George Floyd’s disaster death

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by the
cops, and from this point ahead,

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Black Lives Matters
didn’t stop there.

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Black Lives Matter should be
continuing because it reminds you to

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analyze yourself who you are,
your past, your present

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and what you did to IBPOC,
Black and Indigenous people.

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Black Lives Matter
will never stop.

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[Teyolihwake]: Why George Floyd
made a huge impact on the globe;

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my first thought response was
his last word that hit me hard.

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All my thoughts and
my heart; everything.

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And at the same time,
it triggered me

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because I witnessed what
those Black people went through;

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their community
and my community.

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We together have experienced
the same patterns of racism

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and include
media of police brutality.

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We suffer from that.

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The media of the police brutality
of George Floyd hit the world loudly

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and people looked at the media and
this media showed the truth of how

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this person as a
Black man was treated.

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His last word hit me hard.

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[Nur]: There is a lot of evidence
relating to anti-black racism

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happening in schools in
the Greater Toronto Area.

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This evidence can apply
to the entire nation, Canada.

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The document: “Towards
Race Equity in Education:

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The Schooling of Black Students
in the Greater Toronto Area”

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discovered that Black students
get serious consequences.

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They were highly supervised
and maybe that is why

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we do not see
Black Deaf leaders in Canada.

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So that is why we have to change the
frame for those Black Deaf students

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so we can look forward to
positive changes for them

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and levitate their
academic abilities.

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[Anselmo]: Racism is still
ingraining into circles of people,

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in communities,
in mainstreamed systems and everywhere.

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If you say that audism is still
happening today, so is racism!

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[Anselmo]: The COVID-19 pandemic
has affected the mental health

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of everyone everywhere.

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And what about Deaf people?

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Canada Association of the Deaf
(CAD) says the mandated personal

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isolation and “social distancing”
that separate us from friends, family,

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also creates barriers in
accessing regular health care,

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support programs, and services, which
lead to increased levels of anxiety.

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-DeafDots approached
Dr. Cathy Chovaz,

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an associate professor in the Psychology
Department at University of Western Ontario.

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Dr. Chovaz, who is Deaf, is a clinical
psychologist who advocates linguistic

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and culturally accessible and
effective psychological care for

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Deaf children,
adolescents. and adults.

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She does assessments and therapies
for mental health disorders and

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consults other health
care professionals

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and agencies on mental
health and deafness.

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[Dr.Chovaz]: Deaf people and
hearing people are not the same.

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The needs of mental health for
Deaf people are different because

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maybe that deaf person
couldn't get a degree,

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family communications
is stressful,

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hard to find a job,
and discriminated against, growing up.

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All that can impact
mental health.

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This means that Canada needs to
focus more on Deaf mental health

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and
must do more research!

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[Anselmo]: Mental health is
a state of well-being in which

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the person realizes
his or her own abilities,

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being able to handle
the stresses of life,

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can work productively and
contribute to his or her community.

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In 1977, the Supreme Court of Canada
ruled in Eldridge v British Columbia that

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Deaf people have the right to
have government funded services

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in any
recognised sign language.

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Deaf people face numerous
obstacles in the mental health field

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- dealing
with issues from COVID-19,

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and at same time also
face a shortage of therapists

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equipped to
work with Deaf people.

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Deaf people find it a challenge to
reach out and talk with someone and

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struggle to trust
their therapists.

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They can't talk to their
families or neighbours,

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and end up more isolated.

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What is important right now
is to take care of ourselves

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and support each other,
and be compassionate to others.

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[Anselmo]: In August 2010, CBC reported
the provincial government was closing

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the Newfoundland School
for the Deaf in St. John's.

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They cited as their reasons: no
students set to attend in the fall,

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and no new enrolments
projected for the next five years.

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Former students,
parents and Deaf community leaders claim

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that the government did not
make an effort or allow the school

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to boost its enrollment.

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What’s the story,
Nicole?

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[Nicole]: The Newfoundland
School for the Deaf,

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which opened in 1964,

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was the only school for the deaf in
Newfoundland and Labrador province.

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At that time, the provincial
Education Minister told CBC

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"It has served generations of deaf and
hard of hearing students in our province,

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but the time has
come for change",

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and blamed the number of
changes in medicine and society.

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Since then, former students,

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parents and activists have
been battling with the government.

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The Newfoundland and Labrador
Association of the Deaf (NLAD)

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advocated for access to greater
language and education resources,

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centralized education for deaf
or hard of hearing students,

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and include ASL as
an option to all students.

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The group created the
hashtag #DeafChildrenMatter.

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[Kim]: My husband did an awesome
presentation to the school board

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explaining four problems.

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The first; There are no
Teachers of the Deaf.

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Second; there is
no ASL provided.

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Third; There is no
exposure to Deaf culture.

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Fourth; there are no deaf
classmates to make friends with.

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[Nicole]: Former student
Nicole Marsh estimated in 2017

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there are 325 deaf and hard of
hearing students in the K-12 system.

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It is a struggle getting the
government to recognize and work

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with parents and Deaf
Community leaders to

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address
the needs of Deaf Education.

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[Kim]: Now things
are a little better,

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Carter has started a new school,

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a new class that
are all Deaf kids.

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However,
there are still some challenges.

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There is no curriculum.

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We do not know if next year,
the class will continue.

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[Anselmo]: Provincial education
officials appear not to be equipped

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or struggling to deal with
multiple factors that continue

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to impact Deaf education.

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[Anselmo]: Many books written and movies
made about the 1917 Halifax Explosion.

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What exactly happened?

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On 6 December 1917, two ships
in the Halifax Harbour collided.

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With one ship
full of explosives,

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Halifax was devastated,

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killing 1,600 people
and injuring 9,000 people.

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Many buildings were
flattened in the blast but

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the Halifax School for
the Deaf was left standing.

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Even with blown out windows
and doors flying through the air,

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all the people inside
the school survived.

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This happened 103 years ago.

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[Anselmo]: This month, December
marks 103 years since the explosion!

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Dr. Linda Campbell at Saint Mary’s
University in Halifax has been

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leading research efforts to document and
tell the story of this huge explosion.

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In 2016 they hosted a fundraising
drive to cover costs of production,

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and are working
on a DVD release.

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Thank you for watching
DeafDots Alerts & News.

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You can send your news
through www.DeafDots.ca

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or email to
news@deafdots.ca