Great Huffington Post article about Social Workers

Ilaina Edision, Senior Vice President for Operations at VNSNY recently wrote an inspiring article for the Huffington Post that profiles the story of several Social Workers working in the United States.

Click here to check out the article.

Insite Makes Front Page News Again!

The Harper government still has not made a final decision regarding the continuation of federal support for Vancouver's supervised injection site and the issue has made front page news in Canada for the second time this month.

Read the article by Wendy Steuck, of the Globe and Mail that presents both sides of the argument regarding the existence of Insite and hold a debate in your classroom - with half of the class taking the side of "Support" and the other half of "No Support."

Social worker uses social media to be heard...

There was an interesting article in the Guardian today that profiled a social worker who is using social media to connect with service users and key influencers. Check out the article here.

The best resource within the article is a link to the subject's blog - Fighting Monsters: Life and Thoughts of a British Social Worker. The website is a treasure trove of useful resources:

• links to other social workers blogs
• extensive and current commentary on current events
• audio resources (extensive list of useful podcasts)
• weblinks and more!

Definitely a blog to bookmark!

A Great Online Resource: The Fifth Estate

Photo taken from the fifth estate website.

www.cbc.ca/fifth

I just found this great resource and wanted to pass it along. I really enjoy the CBC show "the fifth estate" and recently visited their website and was happy to discover that they post links to all broadcasted episodes and the videos are free to access.

This past weekend, the fifth estate broadcast a documentary titled "The Life and Death of Abdinasir Dirie" with host Gillian Findlay. The documentary is the story of the Abdinasir Dirie, the murdered child of Somalian refugees who settled in Canada, fleeing the civil war.

His family settled in Toronto's St Jamestown and later Abdinasir made his own way to the oilfields of Alberta looking for work. While living in Alberta, he was murdered and no one has yet to be charged with the crime.

This documentary is a good look into the conditions of racilized immigrants in Canada. While watching the film think about how you feel towards Abdinasir. Think about what kind of stereotypes you may have towards Somalian-Canadians. Do you disagree with his mother and think that he was possibly involved in drug dealing or some form of organized crime? Why do you think Abdinasir went to Alberta?

Refer to page 266 in the Social Work in Canada resource and read "Case Study: Using the Anti-Racism Analysis Tool." Figure out how you could incorporate this tool into your practice with troubled youth like Abdinasir. Why is it important to not jump to conclusions about a case like this?

Canadian Social Trends Magazine - Online Resource

This online publication from Statistics Canada discusses the social, economic, and demographic changes affecting the lives of Canadians. It contains the figures for major social indicators.

All issues are provided free online with links to downloadable PDF versions of the publication.

This is an excellent resource for anyone teaching or studying social issues in Canada. Click here to access the website.

National Film Board of Canada

The National Film Board of Canada is a great source of free video available for use with your students. There are many films available free of charge and most of the films can be watched online, directly from the website. There are also embed links that allow instructors the ability to embed video directly into their own website or online course software systems.

Content description of film was taken from the National Film Board of Canada website:

This film is a short documentary that is a moving tribute to Richard Cardinal, a Métis adolescent who committed suicide in 1984. Taken from his home at the age of 4 due to family problems, he spent the rest of his 17 short years moving in and out of 28 foster homes, group homes and shelters in Alberta. A sensitive, articulate young man, Richard Cardinal left behind a diary upon which this film is based.

CASW Response to Budget 2010

The Canadian Association of Social Workers has posted a report in response to the Federal Government's Budget 2010 released last month.

Click here to read their perspective on what the budget will mean to social policy.