At the Meet and Greet, many of you talked about wanting to know our Community more intimately - more than the average citizen.
I wondered how we should start exploring our environnent..... so let's begin with some things to think about...and a citizenship challenge... (Do you remember who said, "Challenge me...make me uncomfortable!")
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| Nature is the ultimate metaphor for "belonging in community". Photo by Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2010 |
Here goes: I’d like you to think about the meaning of “COMMUNITY”.
How would you define it?
Words like… “place”, “people”, “connection”, “home and family”, “neighbourhoods”, "nationality" ... ?
What makes Thunder Bay a Community, and how do we know that we belong here?
We'll explore that question more at the Retreat.
Back to Roots
The word “community” has old roots from an Indo-European based “mei”, meaning “change” or “exchange”. Mei joined “com”, meaning “with”. The combined word became “kommein”, or “shared by all”.
The idea of “change or exchange, shared by all” is close to the meaning of community today. Community building is a core strategy for sharing the burdens and benefits of change and exchange.
Leading Community
In leadership terms, we will be exploring the ways that communities transform and shift from what they used to be, to what they can become. We will be thinking about the structure and dynamics of belonging. We will need ideas from diverse backgrounds and disciplines and translate them into simple, structured actions.
As Peter Block says: “We must be willing to trade problems for possibilities.”
- “How do we create community? "
- "How do we create a future that doesn’t only get better, but is of a different nature than the one we now experience? "
- "How do we create a community where all people feel they belong?”
Let’s Start Here: Belonging in Community - Citizenship
In other words, community and citizenship don’t just happen by chance. Neither does citizenship, the privilege of belonging to a certain community. Informal citizenship is easier than formal citizenship, isn’t it?
So here is a challenge for you…
Belonging in Community: Can You Pass the Test?
If you are Canadian born and bred, you most likely haven’t thought about trying to pass the Canadian Citizenship Test. We take our citizenship for granted. This is your chance to explore the requirements to officially “belong” to the Canadian Community.
An Alumnus from last year’s LTB class, Yolibeth Mejias de Pernia,
aced the actual Government test with a 100% mark. Could you?
(Yolibeth’s full story next week!)
She says: "Venezuelan by birth, Canadian by choice," I made Canada my country of choice for Permanent Residency. I have worked hard to build my future in this great country. Becoming a Citizen of Canada is one of the most important steps I have ever taken in my life. I thank god I became Canadian... after all these years of waiting and hoping... it end ups with a great feeling... although I've passed my citizenship test in 2008 but believe it or not I'm still feeling great and proud of this achievement which changed my live to the best."
The Canadian Citizenship Test
Here’s a sample of the questions from the Government of Canada’s website.
Time requirement: 30 minutes.
In order to become a Canadian citizen, you must demonstrate a basic knowledge of Canada by passing a multiple choice test.
All the questions found on the citizenship test are based on information provided in the citizenship study guide Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship.
You will be required to successfully answer questions on the following topics:
· The rights and responsibilities of a Canadian citizen (including the right to vote in elections, the right to run for elected office in Canada and voting procedures)
· Canada’s government and social, cultural and political history
· Canada’s geography
How many of these Citizenship Questions can you answer correctly?
1. Name two key documents that contain our rights and freedoms.
2. Identify four (4) rights that Canadians enjoy.
3. Name four (4) fundamental freedoms that Canadians enjoy?
4. What is meant by the equality of women and men?
5. What are some examples of taking responsibility for yourself and your family?
6. Who were the founding peoples of Canada?
7. Who are the Métis?
8. What does the word “Inuit” mean?
9. What is meant by the term “responsible government”?
10. Who was Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine?
11. What did the Canadian Pacific Railway symbolize?
12. What does Confederation mean?
13. What is the significance of the discovery of insulin by Sir Frederick Banting and Charles Best?
14. What does it mean to say that Canada is a constitutional monarchy?
15. What are the three branches of government?
16. What is the difference between the role of the Queen and that of the Prime Minister?
17. What is the highest honour that Canadians can receive?
18. When you go to vote on election day, what do you do?
19. Who is entitled to vote in Canadian federal elections?
20. After an election, which party forms the government?
21. Who is your Member of Parliament?
22. What are the three levels of government?
23. What is the role of the courts in Canada?
24. Name two Canadian symbols.
25. What provinces are sometimes referred to as the Atlantic Provinces?
All the answers can be found in the citizenship study guide Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship. Go to: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/cit-sample.asp
Did you ace the test or struggle? Tell us...
COMMENTS: Go to www.xowhat.blogspot.com . Scroll down to the end of this article. Click on “Comment”. Write as much or as little as you like. If you're a first time blogger, just jump in!
What are your reactions to “belonging to community” and the Citizenship quiz.?
Yours in Leadership and in Community
Maggie
Yolibeth’s story about her Citizenship Ceremony will be in next week’s blog.
4 comments:
Maggie... thanks for this fine post. Great questions and I love your use of the Citizenship test as a reference point for 'community' discussion. It makes me wonder about all the communities I consider myself part of - how do I know when I am truly part of / belong to that community? What's the connection between what I personally say/feel and the actual relationship I have with that community? What's the community test I have to pass?
These are questions we all should know the answer to but don't. And, that's because, as long time citizens, we simply let the importance of knowing slide away as we pursue the 'important business' of whatever it is we claim toi be important.
Maybe revisiting the Citizenship test is another way of saying we need take time to 'smell the roses', plant and watch a garden grow, consult with your dog, ask ourselves what we've become, are becoming, and how we got here. Maybe it's a reminder to 'stop the world' for a moment, to 'not do' and take stock of what is.
My Grandfather used to tell me to always look back so you'll see what the trip looks like when you return. This was in answer to my question of how is it that you never get lost in the bush?
I've always marvelled at people who become Canadian citizens, because I know that the knowledge they posess of our country far outstrips my own. It is easy to take for granted what we have been given to us (in my case) from birth. Suffice it to say, I did not do as well on the test as I would have liked.
Also, when we discuss the term community, and what it means to belong to a community, I think that it embodies more than just people in general. I often view the term 'community' to mean 'like' people, or 'similar' people. We often put labels on ourselves in order to find people who are 'like' us, so that we open ourselves to finding a specific community that we feel we belong to on a deeper level, as opposed to simple geographic location.
How many communities to I belong to? How many communities within those communities? How many do I think I belong to, but lack in my responsibilities to that community? It is something I definitely need to think about.
Community and citizenship were two things I thought a lot about while I was in school. With regards to belonging I would have to say it’s not easy to say for myself and my background that I felt I belonged in Canada. Reading and learning about the history of Canada and my ancestors history in it really was and is a painful past. To name a few books like Daniel Francis “The Imaginary Indian”, Harold Cardinal “The Unjust Society”, Thomas Berger “A Long and Terrible Shadow and learning about experiences such as residential schools, the sixties scoop, Indian Act, etc….well my reactions ranged from anger, sadness, despair, disappointment, disgust, pride, shame and many others.
Reflecting on these questions now I have realized that I am no longer filled with as many emotions as I had than. I have come to realize that with this knowledge I have a responsibility to speak the truth, as hard as that is and even if it makes others uncomfortable. The Canadian Philosopher George Grant once wrote “the conquering relation to place has left its mark within us. When we go into the Rockies we may have the sense that gods are there. But if so, they cannot manifest themselves to us as ours. They are gods of another race, and we cannot know them because of what we are, and what we did. There can be nothing immemorial for us except the environment as object”. I’m not sure if I’m thinking along the same lines as Grant but I do think that every Canadian and especially ones that want to be leaders need to profoundly think about the relationship between Canada and Aboriginal peoples. Another great Canadian thinker John Ralston Saul has thought about it and in “A Fair Country: Telling Truths about Canada”, and has left a lot for Canadians to think about.
Canada, Ontario and Thunder Bay are great places to live, my people called North America, Turtle Island and my people the Anishnawbek lived and travelled all over Ontario and Thunder Bay is a very sacred place for my people. No matter how much government and others have made my people and I not feel like we don’t belong I know we belong here and always will. In my culture community is the most important thing, and everyone in that community is of equal importance. In the past everyone felt like they belonged because everyone knew what there responsibilities were through there dodems or clans. I believe values, family, community and people is what it’s all about but in today’s world these things seem to give way to money, materialism and technological progress, ....we really need to question whats important.
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