There is no "I" in Team but there is a "u" in volunteer!

About 8000 community organisations in Quebec are responsible for all the hours of volunteer done in the province. The young people’s biggest motivation for volunteering (91%) is because they believe in the cause or organization they support. Others say they volunteer because they want to use their skills and experiences (73%), to explore their strengths (49%) and to improve job opportunities (47%)…. [1] When people do service learning they have the obligation to do the work and when people do volunteer work, they choose whether they want to do the work or not. When people choose to do the work their intentions are good and the work they do will be done right. People should be able to make the choice to get involved or not. The only right way to help someone is when you do it for the right reasons. When someone volunteers, they are giving some of their time. In other words, volunteering is like making a present of your time to someone or an organisation. In order for a present to be real, it has to be given because someone truly wants to offer it. You cannot force someone to make presents to people.

  

For many reasons people choose to do volunteer work. Unfortunately many choose to not get involved. The ‘’millennium generation’’ born between 1980 and 1995 are now taking over the job market and slowly replacing the baby-boomers that are now more and more retiring. The way they think and do things is different from the past generations. Even though, they are hard workers, they focus more on their success and on themselves. For many, their own interests go before the company they work for or the community’s interests. [2] Because the ‘’millennials’’ are busy, taking care of their own business, they don’t spend time volunteering and giving some of their time to community organisations. This generation is more individualist than the ones before, this would explain why many wouldn’t ‘’waste’’ their time helping 

other people.

I think lots of people think volunteering will take lots of their time but the truth is that organisations know you have many other things to do in your life. If you can’t be there on one day they need you, they will find someone else. They know that when someone volunteers, they do it on their spare time and usually most people don’t have that much spare time which means they won’t be able to be there every time organisations need them. This is another reason why organisations need many volunteers in order to be able to function normally and to be able to always have enough volunteers while not putting pressure on people to always be there.

I think the best way to incite people to volunteer is by making volunteering accessible to everyone. People won’t search and try to find somewhere to volunteer but when it is offered to them or easy to find, they will be more inclined to volunteer. Another way to make people volunteer would be to make them feel good when they do it. Helping people makes you feel good and useful. It is important that when people volunteer, that they are in a positive environment and thanked for what they have done. Most people have lots of things to do and if they don’t feel appreciated where they volunteer they might just keep their time to do something else. I believe people are more inclined to volunteer when they are with friends. Volunteering associations should try to recruit people when they have group activities this way volunteers would be able to be with friends and even make friends while volunteering. This would make the volunteering experience more enjoyable to volunteers. Generally, when people volunteer once, they start doing it on a regular basis. I believe it would be a good idea to try to have as many people to try volunteering once. This would probably make them like it and want to do it again.

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[1]

Giving and Volunteering in Quebec survey of 1997, http://www.givingandvolunteering.ca/files/giving/en/rp_1997_g_and_v_pq_en.pdf

[2]
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4126233n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox

Turning interest into passion

As a child I knew that one day I would become an adult and have a job just like my parents. When I was young I wanted to do all sorts of things but never really knew what job I would choose because there were so many different choices. I always thought the moment I would need to make my choice was in a long time and it never really bothered me not knowing what career I would do later. It is really important for me to love my future career because I am going to work for a long time. The most important is to be passionate about what you do because when you are, your job doesn’t feel like one.

Since I didn’t know what do after high school and didn’t want to stop studying, I decided to go to cegep and study in sciences because I was told I could do anything after having studied in sciences. In the past years I have discovered a new interest for business management. I have always admired people who have worked hard all their life and were able to make their business a successful one. The other thing I like about business administration is that you are your own boss. I would really like to be, as much as possible, able to make my own decisions in my future career.

Every time I go to Quebec city, I visit my uncle who owns a big furniture store. I usually work there when I visit him and do all the things he doesn’t have the time to do. Since what he does interests me, he often shows me how he does things. For example, last time I visited him, he made me do his accounting and his price changes in his computer system. It was really fun to act like a boss and experience his job.

Last year, I was also chosen to be part of a business program and received one hundred hours of business courses. I was also in charge of a business this summer and worked really hard since I had to do everything a boss usually does. The business was a home cleaning company. The main things we did were window and gutter cleaning. I was in charge of the employees, the clients, the accounting, the production, the equipment etc… This experience made me learn so much about business management. I really think this is what I want to do later. This new interest really changed for a passion after experiencing business management for real this summer. After cegep, I will probably go study in something that has to do with business or finance.

According to a report by the Ministère du Développement économique, de l’innovation et de l’Exportation (MDEIE), Quebec will soon face a shortage of entrepreneurs. They say that businesses in Quebec usually live shorter lives and less people are actually starting businesses in Quebec that in the rest of Canada. This will be a major problem when the baby-boomers get retired because there will be no one interested and capable of taking over their business.[1] This is good for me because entrepreneurs will have lots of opportunities in the future.

In conclusion, whether I go study in business management after cegep or something else, all I want is to love what I do. I know I will find something that suits me and that I will love doing for the rest of my life. Even though I have to know for next year what I will study in at university, I am not stressed because I know I will find what I want to do. There are no bad choices and it doesn’t matter if choosing what I want to do takes a few years. It is better to take my time choosing and be sure of my decision when I will make it than to realize that I want to do something else in ten years and to regret all my life the choices I have made when I was young.

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[1] http://www.lifeinquebec.com/news/entrepreneurs-needed-quebec-facing-shortage/

crime law

Crime has always been something people needed to deal with. In Canada, when people go against the law, they get consequences. For the minor cases offenders get fines or need to do community work. For the bigger crimes people go to prison.  The purpose of the Canadian justice system is to always find new ways to lower the criminality and to find better ways to deal with criminals. The Canadian government is now trying to pass a new law called the bill C-10.

The conservative government wants by passing the bill C-10, to have inmates stay longer in prisons by having tougher laws concerning crime. This law is meant mostly for young criminals who, according to the government don’t have proper punishment for their actions. The bill also predicts that we would have to expand prisons in order to have more room for the new inmates the law is going to the Canadian prisons.

This bill would cost lots of money because housing criminals costs lots of money. In fact, the average annual cost of detaining an adult in a prison is $50,375. Having a young offender in a prison is estimated to cost annually $100,000.[1] A 2,1 billion dollars has also been planned to expand the prisons in order to have more cells since the law would make criminals stay longer in prisons.[2]

I believe it is alright to toughen the laws concerning the sexual predators and the drug criminals because even though for the past twenty years, the crime rate hasn’t stopped decreasing, the drug crimes and child sexual abuse has gone up.[3] I think for this reason it is normal that the punishment for those crimes get more severe in order to discourage people from doing those crimes.

                             

I think that putting young offenders in prison won’t fix the problem. In fact I believe this is going to make matters worse. I believe that people’s behaviors are influenced by the people they are with. When you take criminals and make them live with criminals in prisons I don’t think this helps them. By investing in rehabilitation and by making criminals live with good people and by trying to help them fix their problems. For example, I think making them do community work instead of going to prison is more beneficial to them. It would also cost less to the state to have them see psychiatrists or teachers than to put them in jail. The best way for people to change is by giving them a good example, giving them the resources they need and by giving them encouragement. Putting someone in a positive environment rather than a negative one would help very much I believe. I think someone who is occupied won’t have the time to get in trouble. A good way to prevent youth crime is to keep teenagers occupied. The government could give more funding to sports and activities for teenagers instead.

The state of Texas has changed it’s way of doing things. They have invested money on community programs for young offenders and the results are astonishing. The youth inmate population has dropped from more than 4,000 in 2006 to about 1,400 today. The state has even closed prisons.[4] They are saving money and they have reduced crime rates. The C-10 bill should maybe be inspired more out of the success the new way of doing things has had in Texas. The ideas are good but unfortunately, the changes would probably not bring the expected results.

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[1] http://www.stthomasu.ca/research/youth/myths.htm

[2] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/weighty-tory-crime-bill-targets-drugs-refugees-parolees-and-terror/article2172621/

[3] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/weighty-tory-crime-bill-targets-drugs-refugees-parolees-and-terror/article2172621/

[4] http://www.texasappleseed.net/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=607&Itemid

Group Story :D

In one of our english courses we had to write a group story. This is how it worked: the first person had to write a sentence on a sheet of paper and give the paper to the next person. The next person had to write a sentence to add to the previous one and than fold the paper so that the next person could only see the last sentence and so on until the sheet of paper is filled completly.

This story was writen by:

Jonathan Bouvette, Emily Marcotte, Alexandra Bachand, Anika Va Kooten and Nicolas Bouliane

This creaky flooring reminds me of

My sister when she practices violin. It’s terrible! It sounds like

Nails scratching across a chalkboard. It makes me feel

So happy! It’s the best feeling I have ever experienced

Next to when I won third place at a hot dog eating contest

But I found out the day after the contest I had gained 15 pounds and I also found out that

I was pregnant

When I saw Ricky Martin because

I felt like his hip movements were calling me ; I had to

Dance with him but I couldn’t because

I am in a wheelchair and I have no legs. This made me cry

Because I will never have louboutin shoes.

Just Be true to who you are - Jessie J

This mid-October, Jamie Hubley decided to end his own life because of the bullying he had to bear because he was openly gay. This fifteen year old high school student’s story is unfortunately not an isolated case. According to the Canadian Children's Rights Council, « [i]n Canada, suicide is the second highest cause of death for youth aged 10-24. Each year, on average, 294 youths die from suicide. Many more attempt suicide. Aboriginal teens and gay and lesbian teens may be at particularly high risk, depending on the community they live in and their own self esteem. »[1] Jamie Hubley’s story affected Rick Mercer, a comedian who has a popular show on CBC, and he made a rant saying that all well-known gays should be openly talking about their status and become role-models for the young gays of Canada. I believe all the well-known homosexuals of Canada should be public about their sexual orientations and be proud to defend and become role models for teenagers.

In Canada, suicide accounts for 24 percent of all deaths among 15-24 year olds and 16 percent among 16-44 year olds. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for Canadians between the ages of 10 and 24 compared to the eleventh cause of deaths in Canada all ages combined.[2]Men are four times more a risk than women. Unfortunately gay teenagers are way more at risk than the rest of the teenagers.

It is important for adults to show the example and treat everyone with respect and see the world through other people’s eyes. Everyone has something to bring to the world but when someone takes away their own lives, it is someone who would have contributed to making the world a better place we lose.

As Jamie Hubley said before taking away his own life, he was tired of being the only openly gay person in his school.[3] It is hard to feel different and to feel alone. I believe gay teenagers feel bad about who they are because they feel different and not normal. This is why adults and well known people of Canada should be public about their sexual orientation to become role models for the gay teenagers but more importantly to not make them feel alone and different. Teenagers who get bullied because of their differences often feel like they need to change and like it is their fault if they are not like the others. They need to feel like they are not alone and they didn’t do anything wrong.

If more adults would show that they are gay, it would be more common to talk and see homosexual people. This would also discourage the bullies because they wouldn’t be bullying someone who is different because in fact they aren’t. 

Everyone is different and no matter how different someone is, he needs to be respected for who he or she is. No one deserves to be bullied and as so many people have said before, it does get better.

As Jessie says the song ''Who you are''

Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing,
It's okay not to be okay...
Sometimes it's hard, to follow your heart.
But tears don't mean you're losing, everybody's bruising,
There's nothing wrong with who you are!

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[1] http://www.canadiancrc.com/Youth_Suicide_in_Canada.aspx

[2]  Canadian Psychiatric Association (2002). Mental Illness Awareness Week fact sheet.

[3] http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/10/18/ottawa-teen-suicide-father.html

Tuition fees

According to the government, the universities don’t have enough money to operate. The tuition fees are already increasing more than the inflation. The inflation in Quebec is about 2,7 % per year but the tuition fees have gone up of 4,3 % last year.[1] This means the fees were already increasing more than inflation. The Quebec government has announced it would within five years double the tuition fees.  As it was widely reported, tuition fees should go up from 2,200$ a year to 3,800$ in 2016-2017.[2]

This will have an impact. I am sure people will be more oriented towards less long education degrees in order to have less debt and to have a job faster. For example, the tuition hikes will probably lower the amount of people going to universities mostly the ones getting a masters or doctorates degree. People will be more oriented towards DEP’s or technics since they will cost less and get them a job faster. In other words, Quebec will lose professionals and have less people with good education. People will be less oriented towards studying. I find already too many people don’t go to school after high school but I am sure this won’t help. People will probably need to take a year to work before going to university in order to be able to pay all their expenses and to avoid accumulating large debts.

In 1888, the universities were funded at 87% by the Quebec government. The rest was assumed by at 7,5% by the students and at 5,4% by the private sector. In 2009, the universities are funded only at 65,8% by the Quebec government. The rest paid at 22% by the students and at 12,2% by the private sector.[3] The students went from paying 7,5% of the universities fees to 22% in about twenty years but the actual government thinks this is not enough and wants to double the cost of going to university. I think the tuition hikes will, instead of giving more money to the universities, give the opportunity for the government to lower even more it’s contribution to the education.

Before asking even more money to the students. Universities should try to cut on their expenses. On average Quebec’s university rectors are paid 358 000$ per year.[4] Instead of asking all of the money to the students the universities could try to cut on the expenses this way the amount they are asking the students could be lowered a little bit.

For my part the tuition hikes will not have an impact on whether or not I am going to go to university or not but it will have an impact on how much I spend during my studies. I will have to check more how I spend my money in order to finish studying with least debt possible. I know I will probably need to have to keep a job during my university studies to be able to pay all my expenses. Increasing tuition fees will have an impact on how many hours people work while they go to school. Everyone know that working while going to school lowers grades. The increase in tuition fees might have an impact on grades since probably the majority of students will have to work more to pay everyting.

Even though Quebec universities are amongst the least expensive universities in Canada, they should start by finding ways to lowering their operating costs before asking more from the students. Also, I think it is alright to increase tuition fees but I believe that doubling them within five years is a little too much. Things should go a little more gradualy. Who gets double their salary increased within five years?

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[1] http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2011/09/16/why-the-tuition-problem-is-worse-than-you-think/

[2] http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Student+associations+pledge+escalat

[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIQNeqT0BOs&feature=related

[4] http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/actualites/education/201103/11/01-4378633-augmentation-du-salaire-du-recteur-de-luniversite-laval-decision-malavisee.php

Departure... Displacement...Migration... Immigration

Are there lessons we can learn from Sophia’s story?

Sophia had to come to Canada. When she first moved here she lived in Ontario with other Bahamian immigrants. It was hard for her to leave her family and friends behind but at least she was with other people from her country. After meeting her lover they decided to move to Granby in a French community even if she had never spoken French.  She went from an English community with people from her country to a French community with nobody from the Bahamas. It must have been really hard for her to integrate in a society that doesn’t share her culture or language.  At least her good education must have helped her when she arrived because she only had to do a course to have her diploma approved here in order to get a job. Her story shows that we have to be persistent to get what we want. She had to do a course to get her diploma approved to get a job, she had to learn our language, she had to make new friends and she had to find a place to live. It must be really hard to know what to do when you move to a place you have never been before. Another lesson we can learn from them is that anything is possible. Immigrants arrive here with nothing but they can become successful.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHgow can we participate in our community to help immigrants and refugees integrate and to help them avoid poverty?

I believe each immigrant has to get French courses when they immigrate in Quebec. The best way to integrate to a community is to at least be able to speak their language. When an immigrant doesn’t have the language of the country it is harder to find a job for them because every job requires the ability to speak to other people. Another way to help immigrants integrate to our community is to encourage them to study and help them receive loans and bursaries for school. They also need some professionals to help them find jobs they are going to like. I believe the best two ways to have immigrants integrate is to have them interact with the population of the country they immigrate in. To be able to do this they need to be able to speak the language everybody speaks. Too many immigrants arrive in Canada and go live in ethnic communities.  They never speak our language or interact with the rest of our community. Another good way to have them interact with us is to help them get a job. When they work they have to speak and work with Canadian people. Having a job also helps people make friends and when people arrive here they don’t have many friends. Friends will also help them and encourage them to integrate better in our society and share our culture with them.

Should we participate/get involved in helping immigrants integrate or should we leave it up to the professionals?

I believe that immigrants need friends in order to integrate to a community. The only way for them to have friends is for us to be opened minded and to accept them in our society. Too many immigrants go live in ethnic groups because they feel different and don’t know what to do to get accepted by the society. The professionals need to be there to guide them during their immigrating process. For example to have them do French or English courses or help them find a program at school or even to help them get a job. Once an immigrant knows our language and has a job, it is up to us to accept them in our community and interact with them. They need to be with people from the country they immigrate to and not only people with their culture. It is people from their societies that have to show them our culture and not teachers.

If I would arrive to a new country and not know anybody I would like it if there would be professionals to help me at first to get a job, learn the language and help me find a place to live in. After that I would like some resources to be in place if I have any problems or questions but I think professional help should only be there at first to help the immigrants when they arrive. Then for the next few years someone should be there only if people need more help. In other word help should be there at first but then only when needed.