Charity straight from the oven

          Cathy Langdon and Carol Metanczuk are special people in today's world. For many years, these two people have been trying to make a difference in the world by making donations to their church and other causes, but donating the same things every year is getting old. They want to contribute in a new way. From her home in Saskatoon, Ms. Langdon said that, "there are so many good causes out there and there are only so many times a person can ask the public to keep pouring donations out of your pocket." This year, Cathy and Carol asked themselves what they could do to raise more money for charity. They came to the idea of opening a bakery, and selling bread to make profits which would be donated to charity. The proceeds from their small endeavor, known as In Our Hands, are donated to two charities: International Justice Mission, which works on human rights issues; and Hands at Work, an African charity that works on poverty and HIV/AIDS issues. Both women stay around their houses, and they fit the bread making around the schedules of their families. Ms. Metanczuk is considering going to Africa to see the charities in action. Both Ms. Metanczuk, and Ms. Langdon have been told that, "it's not going to make a difference." They think that this is wrong- they believe that "every little bit that everybody does, does make a difference." They hope that this article has encouraged people to think, "Well, gosh, we can raise a few hundred dollars. It will count."

          I strongly believe that the work that the two women are doing is outstanding. First of all, they are donating to charity. I think that everyone who is in the middle-class or higher should donate money or gifts to help those in need. I appreciate the work that these two women are doing, and I applaud them even more for having found a creative way to raise money by baking bread. They are good citizens, and they are doing their part to make a difference. Some people think that donating a few hundred dollars does not make an impact on world issues. We need less of those people on the planet, and more people who are positive and willing to donate. Donating any amount of money makes a difference. Just think about it; if every fortunate person in the world donated one hundred dollars, it would all add up to a significant amount. Globally, we need more special people like Cathy and Carol, who are committed and willing to make a difference. Donating helps, no matter what the amount is because it all adds up.

To catch a cheat: York U. targets bogus degrees

          Recently, York University has made changes to their degrees and transcripts to strengthen the integrity of the university's degrees. This has happened due to an investigation conducted by the Toronto Star which showed that "a former student fabricated dozens of its degrees." An undercover investigation conducted last December revealed how Peng Sun, a former York University student, was illegally selling almost perfect copies of York University degrees for three thousand dollars apiece. Mr. Sun also sold near perfect copies of transcripts on watermarked paper that contained the university logo. A star reporter allegedly bought an MBA and a sealed transcript of marks from Sun for only four thousand dollars after a series of meetings in parking lots around Toronto. During these meetings, Sun told the undercover reporter that he had manufactured hundreds of York University and University of Toronto degrees in the four years since he began this process. Sun also noted that his clients were mainly Chinese visa students who had done poorly in their school careers "in Canada and wanted to go home with a degree that would get them good jobs." Sun charged the same amount for a BA, MBA, and a PHD because he felt that it was all the same- pen ink on paper. After the transaction, two Toronto Star reporters confronted Sun in his car. When they demanded for the money to be given back, Sun obeyed and has never been charged. Sun's own degree, a bachelor's in human resources management from York University is real. He graduated from the Atkinson School of Administrative Studies in 2007.

          I find it unbelievable how this man has continued to sell these diplomas and has not been caught yet. Why didn't the reporters from the Toronto Star call the police when they met with Sun during their investigation? I find Sun's actions to be considered a crime. He is taking away jobs from those who are working hard and actually paying the full amount to earn a specific degree. How would you like it if some person got a job over you because they had a certain fake degree that you didn't? I would be furious. In life, I have learned that you must work hard to be successful. This certainly does not fall into that category. If I was one of the people who had bought a degree from Sun, I would feel extremely guilty and ashamed of myself for having taken jobs from hard working innocent individuals. By buying the fake degrees, the buyers are not doing themselves very many favours. Although they may have gotten a job because of the degrees, they have cheated themselves and have not learned the basic essential skills that you learn in university. If I were a director of Admission for a certain company, and had to hire some people to work, I would definitely thoroughly check the background of each person to make sure that their degrees were real. I would not want to hire a person who has cheated in education, because it is a sign that they may also cheat in the workforce. I hope that the police can find Mr. Sun, because he is taking jobs away from innocent people, and is a threat to businesses and companies throughout Toronto.

Caledonia protesters may have had guns, court told

          On Tuesday, a Caledonia man who is suing the Ontario government and Ontario Provincial Police told court that he spied on native protesters as they unloaded wooden crates that police later speculated could have contained assault rifles. David Brown and his wife, Dana Chatwell, have filed a seven million dollar lawsuit against the Ontario Provincial Police for abuse of power and neglect of duty over a standoff at Douglas Creek Estates. The small portion of land located twenty kilometres southwest of Hamilton is claimed by natives to have been stolen from them two hundred years ago. It has been the site of conflict since 2006 between the town, police, and native protestors. The police bought the land from the developer later for around twelve million dollars. David admitted that he crept into occupied land after concerns were raised by neighbours due the excessive amount of unusual activity and trucks in the area in 2006. Due to his curious nature, he took a peek for himself by crawling about 50 metres onto the occupied property, keeping low to the ground and hiding in the grass. He said that he saw men unloading wooden crates from a white Jeep and carrying them to a couple of tents. He claimed the crates to be one metre long, thirty centimetres deep and thirty centimetres wide. He noted that the crates appeared to be marked with fluorescent pink and green "funky" letters, which David noticed were similar to the Cyrillic writing from his time spent working in a lumber yard, which he saw on shipments of Baltic birch from Russia. After seeing this, David decided to call OPP Inspector Brian Haggith, the detachment commander, and to meet with him and another officer to pass along the information. Over the past two days, Brown has testified in Superior Court about living under siege after the OPP's unsuccessful raid on Douglas Creek Estates in the early morning of April 20, 2006. Almost 200 police officers were repelled by native protestors, who held bats, bars, and two-by-fours. For six weeks, David and his family were trapped inside the native barricades until the Ontario government negotiated an agreement which allowed them to be taken down. After that, David's family claims that their home was trespassed, as well as being subjected to constant threats from the natives. The stress and fatigue wore David and his family down, but when David's wife collapsed at work and was taken to a hospital in July 2008 of a suspected heart attack, David contacted a lawyer and eventually ended up in counseling.

          I believe that David is right in saying that the government has not done their part in this situation. He definitely has the right to sue the government. After all, this situation caused so much stress and fatigue on David's family that it almost killed his wife. Part of the problem here is the government in the first place in their ability to mediate and come to an agreement. The natives feel that the Hamilton land was stolen from them two hundred years ago and is rightfully theirs. This has caused anger in the hearts of all the natives in the areas, and they have done almost anything to protect it. This is the major conflict. The government needs to come to an agreement with the natives because if they don't, then the land will continue to be the site of conflict in the area. The natives are fighting for what is theirs, and they have no problem in repelling the police using baseball bats and wooden sticks. That brings in another part of the situation- police. I feel that David is wrong in suing the Ontario Provincial Police. The police don't want to start fights, their job is to resolve conflict and save people who are in danger. They had a very little influence on the situation. I mean they could have fought and killed the natives to resolve the situation, but that wouldn't go over well with the natives in the other parts country. The police did the best they could, and David should recognize their efforts and thank them for trying to help the situation.

Jobless rate spikes as manufacturing hit hard

           Due to the recession over the past year, Canadian employment has dropped by 43 200 jobs. Canada released this statement on Friday, which also states that all of the jobs dropped were part-time. The decreased amount of jobs has resulted in a change in Canada's employment rate from 0.2 percent to 8.6 percent. Many people predict that this rate will be increased to 10 percent by 2010. The United States unemployment rate is the highest since April 1983, as it has already reached the double digits at 10.2 percent. The disappointing decline in Canada was due to the job losses from women aged 25 and older, and youths between 15 and 24. The decline came from retail, wholesale, natural resources, and other services. Alberta was the province with the highest amount of job losses, with 15000 lost, while British Columbia was second with a decline of 13000. Erin Weir, an economist with the United Steelworks, described that "Other pockets of employment growth were construction, education and healthcare, which supports the notion that government stimulus is currently the only job creator," Rising unemployment is not uncommon, but the data from October changes the positive signs of the previous two months, which showed a trend of small growth. Overall, there were 70 700 fewer employees in October- 25 600 less in the public sector, and 45 200 less in the private sector. Although this seems to be only bad news, there were two positive things that we found out in the data. There was a net increase of 16 500 jobs including self-employment, and hourly wages were 3.3 percent higher than at this same time last year.

          I find it baffling how there are so many people unemployed in Canada right now. How do they live? I can't believe that so many people are currently losing their jobs due to this recession. I knew that the recession was affecting some businesses, but I didn't realize the amount of people who have lost their jobs. As a country, we need to stimulate the economy and create more jobs to bring it back to what it was before. I hope that we can accomplish this goal, because it pains me to see so many good workers without jobs just because companies and businesses are trying to cut costs to survive the recession. The mother of one of my friends lost her job this year, and it was devastating for her. Not only did it affect her confidence and self-esteem, but it also affected the lifestyle that she lived. Suddenly she had lots of free time, and became angry when she couldn't find a job to suit her. There is more to behind the scenes than everybody realizes, as this current recession has affected many people including their personal lives as well. We are in a bad economic situation, and I hope that we can pull out of it and restore the amount of jobs and employment opportunities for the people who are desperately trying to earn money.