It’s Back Again… Birth Tourism, Round 2!

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So my students wrote about this topic last year and luckily for you (insert a Kenrich groan, a Frederick comment, a Milica “WHAT!” a Tiya “noooo,” a Daniel “ooof!” and finished off with an Amelia, “Naniiiii!”  I’m sure Hanna is probably thinking about what to say… and Lim, Mark & Arnav might use this chance to do their quick dance! 

So here we go! 

Yet again, this is another controversial topic which asks for the thoughts of you – and only you! 

There is something that is continuing to happen a lot in our province happening in our province that has been stirring up a lot of hullabaloo. (I’m using this work because Lyiam, Brodie and Rohan from last year loved this word!) Have you ever heard of ‘birth tourism?’ Birth Tourism is when women travel to another country so that they can give birth to their baby in that country and gain citizenship. Example: If you were from Chocolatopia and came to Canada to have your child, they would automatically be Canadian not Chocolatopian anymore. Just to clarify, these women are NOT Canadian citizens. They come to Canada to purposefully have their child born here. 

Image result for birth tourismWell, why do people do this? If you are from a country that is less socio-economically developed (remember, we don’t use words like First World or Third World anymore!), why not have your child born in a country that will give them better living conditions? In fact, this child will get free public schooling, healthcare, other aid and eventually be able to sponsor their parents. This means that their parents can eventually become Canadian too. Sounds good, This is what some people are starting to think and are travelling to countries, especially: Hong Kong, the United States and Canada (top three for birth tourism).                                                          

Why do these women travel to these countries? Well nations like the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Tanzania and Fiji offer unconditional birthright citizenship. This means that if you are born in one of the above countries, you are now a citizen of that country.                               

To prevent birth tourism, countries like South Africa, New Zealand, France, Germany and the United Kingdom all have birthright citizenship with restrictions – that is, one parent must be a citizen of that country.  Interestingly, India is one of the only nations that does not have birthright citizenship because of its large population.                         

What has come up now is that the number of non-Canadian women that are having babies in Canada is MUCH higher than what is recorded. For example, in 2016, 313 non-resident Canadian women said that they had their children here when in fact, 3,200 babies was more of a correct number. 

Now think about it for a second. You know that your child could have a successful life if he/she/they were Canadian, wouldn’t you want to help your child in any way you could? But let’s also think about people who are trying to immigrate to Canada and have to wait so long to be reunited with their family or come here with their family. They have to go through lots of detailed paperwork and scans? How is it fair to them ?

You can read more on this article here: 

https://globalnews.ca/news/4411137/birth-tourism-canada/

So of course, it is time for you to weigh in. What are your thoughts about this issue? Do you agree or disagree with birth tourism, and why? Do you think that it is a big deal or is the media / government making us feel that it is? Please provide detailed responses of 15 (grade 5) – 20 (grade 6) sentences.     

Day of the Dead and Diwali!

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Woo, 2 great cultural celebrations so close together! If you could please write up about 5 things that you learned about both Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and Diwali (Aka Deepavali or Dipavali) that you thought were interesting. Do you have any questions about either of these festivities? 

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Halloween Costumes… What Were They Thinking?

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Halloween, as we learned about, has quite a history behind it. We learned about its old Christian and Celtic roots, and how today it has become a commercialised festivity. One such way that it has become commercial is how much people spend on it- from candy to costumes. We learned that people dressed up in scary costumes, but sadly some people in today’s society, do not understand how hurtful and humourless their costume choices can be. 

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One of my favourites is when people dress up in another person’s cultural dress. For example, some of the popular ones are: a Kimono (Japan), Saree (India), Thobe/Keffiyeh (Arab), or Aboriginal clothing… which are NOT Halloween costumes! 

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But unfortunately, we should have written this post before a large group of elementary teachers decided to make a very terrible mistake. This is how: 

Another now-deleted picture from the school's Facebook page showed staff members dressed in sombreros with maracas.

And sadly… it get’s much, much, MUCH worse… 

A since-deleted photo posted to the Facebook page of the Middleton School District.

These pictures were posted on the school district’s Facebook page but were quickly removed. But just to briefly summarise- the top picture is a bunch of teachers wearing very stereotypical 

Mexican dress with maracas (instruments) and sombreros (Mexican hats). If you look 

really closely, the lady in the middle’s hat reads ‘Mexican.’ The bottom picture is a group of teachers holding a wall which says ‘Make American Great Again.’ Remember who spoke of the wall and why? 

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Yep, none other than Trump, who said that a wall between Mexico and the US would stop 99% of illegal Mexican immigrants- many of whom are drug dealers. (Obviously, a completely and utterly false and racist remark).    

These teachers are from Idaho, US. Idaho is located by Washington and Montana… they are very close to Canada. 

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You can read the full story here: https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/02/us/idaho-teachers-border-costume-trnd/index.html

So now it is your turn to weigh in on this. Do you think that these individuals made an innocent mistake which was not meant to hurt anyone’s feelings? Or do you think that they should have known better than to dress and act in an insulting manner? How would you feel if your ethnicity or culture was Mexican? Would this have offended you? Since these individuals are teachers (clearly not as great as yours :)), does this affect your opinion of the situation at all? Remember to write detailed answers which are roughly 20 (grade 5) to 25 (grade 6) sentences. 

Voting

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So! On Saturday, I went out and voted. I do not know why everyone doesn’t! After all, we are very privileged that we live in a country where we have the freedom to vote- without fear or intimidation. I love feeling like I’m doing my part too as a proud Vancouverite. I know tha

t you all can relate because you probably had family members and friends who voted but what about you? To vote in Canada you must be: 

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  • A Canadian citizen (if you are a temporary or permanent resident, you cannot vote);
  • 18 years old or older on the election day;
  • A resident in the electoral district

How do you feel about the voting age? Do you think that it is fair that you have to be an adult of 18 years of age to vote or should you be able to vote at any age?

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Earthquake Strikes Indonesia

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Unfortunately, a devastating 7.5-magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami hit the island of Sulawesi on September 28th. Sadly, many have been hurt, killed or displaced. 

As you can see on the map, Indonesia is situated beside Malaysia, the Philippines, Australia and New Guinea. Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago (a group of islands) . It contains roughly 17,000 islands!! 

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You may read the full article here as well as some video links:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/07/asia/indonesia-earthquake-5000-missing-intl/index.html 

For your blog post, you will be writing two separate paragraphs. One paragraph will focus on facts about Indonesia. There are links listed below for you to perform your own mini-research on Indonesia and write about at least 10 new facts (grade 5) or 15 new facts (grade 6) that you did not know about. All of these facts must be in complete sentences. 

Links: 

Your second paragraph will be roughly 10 sentences (grade 5) or 15 sentences (grade 6) about your thoughts/feelings about what has happened in Indonesia. You can also talk about how the earthquake occurred and why it caused so much damage (look up ‘liquefaction’).  

Since this is a sensitive topic, please treat it as such…which I know you will!

Orange Shirt Day!

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Division 5 learned about the significance of Orange Shirt Day and who exactly Phyllis Webstad was. Students wrote about why they personally feel that every child matters and created their own orange t-shirt to stand in support of those who unfortunately endured residential school. We were lucky enough to have our teacher-librarian, Ms. Zimmerschied read us a story to understand the impact that residential schools had on our Aboriginal people.  

Welcome to Division 5’s Blog!

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Hello all 🙂 

I am very excited to launch yet another year of exciting blog posts! Feel free to comment on posts from your peers but most importantly, to have fun and critically / creatively examine some of the topics that we will discuss!

-Ms. Panesar !