Aung San and Faith Bandler free essay sample

?Today, lack of equality and peace are prominent issues which shape the world. Such things are demonstrated in Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech, ‘Keynote Address at the Beijing World Conference on Women’ and Faith Bandler’s speech, ‘Faith, Hope and Reconciliation’ through the use of various language devices. The common uses of emotive language between the two texts greatly affect the audience as it creates a sense of sympathy and unity. For example, ASSK states, ‘The struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma is a struggle for life and dignity. It is a struggle that encompasses our political, social and economic aspirations. ’ the repetitive use of ‘struggle’ emphasizes the hardships for the people of Burma and their desire for freedom. It is a struggle for ‘young girls’ to be driven to ‘sexual slavery where they are subject to constant humiliation’, there is a struggle for freedom, dignity and security. We will write a custom essay sample on Aung San and Faith Bandler or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Her use of emotive language and repetition enables the audience to sympathise with her and the people of Burma that the causes of these struggles are lack of equality and peace in the world or our ‘global village’. Similarly in Faith Bandler’s speech, emotive language and repetition are recognised once again to unify the audience and the speaker to create a sense of sympathy which draws upon the theme of inequality and peace. It was a rather slow process for her to understand, ‘when there are millions†¦who are hungry, millions who are homeless, millions who are without work, the wrongfully imprisoned, the deaths in custody, the tortured†¦why is it so hard to find our commonalities? ’, Faith stresses the absurdity of how difficult it is for people to find ‘commonalities’ with her use of repetition of ‘millions’. Its becomes a problem when ‘millions’ are hungry, homeless and jobless as it portrays our society as unequal. The rhetorical questions asked throughout her speech such as ‘why is it so hard to find our commonalities? ’ and ‘what is reconciliation about? ’ state the obvious truths, that it isn’t hard to find reconciliation or peace within the world. Faith demonstrates a world of inequality through the use of emotive language and repetition. Suu kyi and Bandler’s speeches are effective in connecting to their audience when demonstrating the theme of equality and peace. Both activists demonstrate unity to the audience by using inclusive language and first person. For example, as Suu Kyi acknowledges the ‘strong and principled women’ who have lobbied for her release, ‘I cannot let this opportunity pass without speaking of the gratitude we feel towards our sisters everywhere. ’ The use of first person and inclusive language is evident throughout the speech, it illustrates a personal approach to her audience as well as clearly portraying her firm views of women. Bandler’s speech is also evident of the use of these devices. By using first person throughout her speech, it indicates her familiarity with the audience as she was â€Å"here once before† and also shows that she speaks from a personal experience giving the audience an idea of what she has been through such as her work in campaigning and co founding various companies. In order to move the audience about reconciliation whether it’s the ‘youth’ or the ‘not so young’, her use of first person and inclusive language connects to the audience. Both ASSK and Bandler bring their audiences together as a whole to look at common issues of the world and better ways to bring peace.

Southern Gothic Characteristics Flashcard

Southern Gothic Characteristics

Portentous and Pretentious - Commonly Confused Words

Portentous and Pretentious - Commonly Confused Words The adjective portentous means ominous or momentous, referring to a sign or prediction that something important is about to happen. Portentous can also mean pompous or self-important. (This second meaning overlaps with that of pretentious.) The adjective pretentious means full of pretense, making excessive or unwarranted claims to be important or sophisticated. Notice how these two words are spelled: portentous ends in -tous; pretentious ends in -tious. Examples No one spoke. But they all knew this was a portentous moment, and that this day Mister Skye would say a thing that would affect their lives. (Richard S. Wheeler, North Star. Forge, 2009)The notepaper had been given her as a wedding present, embossed with a monogram of her new initials, by a Southampton aunt, boxes of it; Marcia had laughed, thinking it hideously pretentious, the essence of everything she had married Harold to escape, and used it so seldom, once the thank-you notes were written, that after twelve years it was not used up. (John Updike, Couples. Knopf, 1968)Elizabeth Bishops poetry is rarely portentous or grand, and never pretentious or grandiose. (Michael Ryan, A Difficult Grace: On Poets, Poetry, and Writing. University of Georgia Press, 2000)I must have parchment! Oh, but I like writing on parchment! Each time you turn a page it rumbles like thunder. My words are so portentousthats portentous, dear, not pretentious- it seems appropriate. Like Jove. (David Blixt, The Master of Verona. St. Martins Press, 2007) Usage Notes [P]ortentous can be either ominous (a portentous event) or pompous (his portentous attitude); pretentious means pretending to be important. Since a pretentious person can also be pompous/portentous, theres a risk of confusion with these words. Prefer ominous or pompous to portentous.  (Wynford Hicks, Quite Literally: Problem Words and How to Use Them. Routledge, 2004)The main distinction is that a portentous man just might be as important as he seems, but a pretentious one cannot be as important as he claims. (Kenneth G. Wilson, The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Columbia University Press, 1993)Portentous . . . used to mean portending evil; ominous and has come to mean pompous; self-important, possibly because it sounds like pretentious mixed with portly- but there is poetic justice in that, since pretentiousness can be ominous. (William Safire, On Language. The New York Times Magazine, June 7, 1981)

Brand Life Cycle and Brand Knowledge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Brand Life Cycle and Brand Knowledge - Essay Example These parameters can be applied in brand positioning as well but the thought process needs to be different. For example, product positioning may possess metrics like product look, product features, product variants, overall analogous products in the industry, supply chain, customer support, replacement guarantees, etc. These aspects require a lot of operational considerations to be embedded in the product strategic framework. Hence, product life cycle assessed & planned by virtue of the realities in the market that includes customer perceptions, changing end user tastes, supply chain weaknesses (like obsolescence of raw materials) & creative destruction by new innovation activities by the competition. But brand positioning requires lot of thought process about the in-depth cultural & emotional aspects of the customers in the process of introduction, elaboration & fortification of brands that builds an overall "expectation framework" of end customers from the organization as a whole ( Park and Jaworski et al. 1986. pp137-139). It requires lot of strategic thinking at much wider perspective without looking much into the operational aspects. For example, going for an ISO 9001 certification can have one of the benefits as improved branding given that the customers develop better trust in the organization's commitment to quality of products. When we talk about products here, it is not specific to a particular product but is pertaining to the organization's overall quality commitment to its products. The products may become obsolete but such impressions last much longer - may die only if the next branding effort has not been made amidst changing market dynamics. For example, if the quality expectations of the consumers are modified to the latest version of ISO 9001 (ISO 9001:2008), the companies certified with the older versions may face brand obsolescence unless they tangibly demonstrate innovations in their internal quality control as per the new standard. Consumers may immediately realise this differentiating factor once one of the companies starts marketing their compliance with the latest version of the standard. Brand Knowledge and its impact on Retro Products and Brand Life Cycle Keller (2003. pp596) presented the key dimensions of brand knowledge as awareness, brand attributes, benefits, images (visualizations), thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and experiences. These dimensions form an important part of consumer memory that impact their buying behaviour. However, a closer look reveals that all these dimensions are volatile and possesses definitive risk of coming out of the consumer memory if the organization does not practice effective "memory refresh" or "brand reminder" techniques. Banbury & Mitchell (1995. pp178) and Hendricks & Singhal (1997. pp44) emphasized that incremental innovations and regular new product introductions impacts the business performance of organizations positively. These can result in complete refreshing of brand knowledge in the consumer's mind due to their door knocked by the innovative companies periodically to present new innovations & product releases.

Explaining governmental organizational structure Essay - 1

Explaining governmental organizational structure - Essay Example   unlike others, which speak for a single type of activity, it represents the men and women in the state’s government aviation agencies, who serve the public interests.  It comprises of highly qualified professionals in the aviation industry who collaborate with the federal government in the improvement and preservation of the safest and most efficient aviation system in the world. Others group include Aviation Advocacy Group, which advocates for the welfare of the air travelers. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is in charge of codifying principles as well methods of air navigation, internationally. It promotes the planning and growth of global air transport to ascertain safe and systematic growth (The Federal Transit Association, 2012). The Agricultural Aviation Association, for instance, Aerial Agricultural Association encourages agricultural industry based on pilots, staffs, and operators and the search for the best practices in the industry. Airline Groups and Associations works as watchdogs of the industry and provides advice to passengers on their rights and education materials that are published, for instance, Airline Public Relations Organization, AIRETS, and Air Transport Users Council. Airport Groups and Associations comprise of the airport management professionals (The Federal Transit Association, 2012). It was formed to compare operating performances and determine the best practices for the industry. The Airship and Ballooning Group and Association promote all matters relating to airships in magazines, books, and papers. It encourages research work on the airship. Flight Attendance Group comprises of flight attendants and retirees who come together to promote best practices of flight attendance and support charitable organizations. Gliding organizations promote the design and construction of sailplanes, which improves performance and safety (The Federal Transit Association, 2012). Medical Organizations help the air medical

Investigating the Accuracy of the Air-column Length

Investigating the Accuracy of the Air-column Length 1.0 Introduction (max 500 words) Sound is a vibration that transmits as a typically audible mechanical wave of displacement and pressure through a medium such as water or air (Wikipedia, 2015). A pressure disturbance that travels through a medium (particle to particle interaction) is called a sound wave. Particles become disturbed, causing one to exert a force to the adjacent particle; hence particles are disturbed from rest resulting in energy being transported through the medium (The Physics Classroom, 1996-2015). The displacement of a medium’s particles is parallel to the wave propagation direction, which characterises longitudinal wave (A.Russell D, 1998). Particles do not travel down the tube; they vibrate back and forth between their individual equilibrium. Due to the longitudinal waves, there are particles in the air that are compressed, whereas others are dispersed, which are called compression and rarefaction (Figure 1). The longitudinal wave does not have peaks, so the wavelength is usually measured using the distance between the compressions or the rarefactions. Figure 1 – Compression and rarefaction (Geeks Unite, 2013) The speed of sound is dependent on the temperature, which can be generated from, where v is the speed of sound and T is the temperature. However, in the experiment the velocity of sound waves is found by multiplying the wavelength and the known frequency of tuning forks. Wavelength is described as the length of one cycle of the wave. When a system is driven by the natural frequency, a resonance frequency occurs. However, the amount of wavelength sections can determine several natural frequencies through a column of air in a tube ( in Figure 2). When a tuning fork is held above the tube (Figure 2) while vibrating, if the tuning fork’s frequency aligns with the air column, air particles will be pushed by the tuning fork’s vibrations at a frequency which causes the vibration in the air column (Ping E, 2011). Figure 2 – Example of the experiment’s setup (NASA, 2010) Figure 3 – Resonance tube with closed and open end (NASA, 2010) Although compressions and rarefactions are in opposite directions, when they are reflected at the end of the closed tube (closed end is water) into the converse direction; propagation of waves are produced. The wavelength is calculated through the air column, because a tube’s shortest resonance length is a quarter of the wavelength (Figure 3). Resonance occurs at the greatest amplitude of the sound waves, hence, wavelength can be calculated as (Walding R et al, 2004). The fundamental frequency (first harmonic) has a node (when displacement of the amplitude is zero) at the closed end of the air column and an antinode at the open end (Figure 3 left) (The Physics Classroom, 1996-2015). By adjusting the tube, the third harmonic will appear next as one vibrational node and two vibrational antinodes form the frequency of the harmonic (Figure 3 right). Even though the wavelength and frequency can be multiplied to find the velocity of sound, they are not factors that will affect the velocity, which indicates the changes in wavelength only results in an inverse impact of the frequency (The Physics Classroom, 1996-2015). 4.0 Discussion 4.1 Analysis By investigating the accuracy of the air-column length using resonance tubes in water, it was clear that the results were achieved with relatively high accuracy when compared with the calculated air-column length when the room temperature was measured and assumed to be constant at; hence the velocity of sound was. It was discovered that the resonance tube’s diameter had an indirect relationship with the length of air-column, which an increase in tube’s diameter results in a decrease in the air-column length. From Table 1, the air-column lengths for each tube at all frequency declined from 0.161m, 0.231m and 0.329m to 0.134m, 0.203m and 0.301m respectively as the diameter of tubes increased from 0.0164m to 0.0865m (same trend in Table 2). As Graph 1 showed more explicitly through the decreasing linear trendlines at different frequencies, the indirect relationship between air-column length and tube diameter was justified. Moreover, the gradients of the trendlines were the end correction that appeared to be between, which approximately corresponded with equations of the theoretical data and the formula of wavelength (), but for this experiment using end correction of 0.4 could be invalid as each set of data may have its specific end correction, possibly causing inaccuracies. The measured data seemed to contain relatively high accuracy (overlapped with the theoretical data) in contrast with the theoretical data (Table 2) in Graph 1. Therefore, the end correction and hypothesis were justified. As frequency is inversely proportional to wavelength, Graph 2 illustrated the inverse relationship between frequency and air-column length where all air-column lengths declined as the frequency grew. While the values were close to 1, the data plotted did not perfectly fit the trendlines, which indicated that some errors were in the data (see 4.2 Evaluation). Due to tube B and C having similar diameters (0.038m and 0.039m), and only three decimal places were kept when calculating the air-column lengths, the trends were not presented distinctly as the other three tubes. If the results were kept in more decimal places, tube C would have a shorter air-column length than tube B at constant velocity of sound and frequency. Anomalies were expected and four were identified (highlighted in Table 7). Standard deviation was used to distinguish between the raw data. Results were seen as anomalies if they were not in the range of two standard deviations and average air-column length (). The highlighted data were believed to be one-off values as they appeared randomly, hence disregarded when calculating the average air-column length. The anomalies may have occurred due to parallax when interpreting the measurements from the measuring tape, which can be avoided in further experiments. Another reason may also be mistaking overtones as resonance or missing points of resonance, and particles (e.g. PVC pipe’s debris/scraps) Overall, the data collected were relatively reliable and expected in the hypothesis, thus, justified the inverse relationships between air-column length and tube, as well as frequency and air-column. Therefore, the data proved that wavelength was inversely proportional to frequency (The P hysics Classroom, 1996-2015). 4.2 Evaluation The experiment was completed in one day with consistency. However, errors were found between measured data and theoretical data. Table 3 showed the percentage error between measured and calculated (theoretical) air-column length. All percentage errors were less than 1% (varied from 0.004% to 0.612%). Hence, the errors were insignificant and the measured results contained relatively high accuracy with precision. Theoretically, the velocity of sound should be the same at across all tubes at all frequencies as the temperature was kept constant; however, the data varied between a range of and (Table 4). Percentage errors were negligible (all under 1% with highest value of 0.397%) which were calculated to compare with the theoretical velocity at () (Table 5). Propagation error of velocity of sound was also investigated by considering the error of apparatus, which was compared with the theoretical velocity. Since this error was less than, the error was considered to be insignificant that the measured data contained comparatively high accuracy; thus, justified the experiment as a valid experiment. Graph 3 presented the average velocity calculated, the velocities of five pipes differed from each other. Theoretically, an increasing trend in variance should present in Graph 3, but pipe B and C seems to have extremely large variances (errors), hence disregarded. Thus, increasing trend only applies to pipe A, C and E. Evidently, pipe A had the smallest variance, which implied high precision; hence, pipe A was considered to have the highest accuracy. Furthermore, random errors were made as the tuning fork may have been held incorrectly as hands were moving up and down to adjust the air-column, or pipes were not held completely perpendicular to the ground. The anomalies can be improved by using an electronic ruler to collect air-column lengths to avoid parallax. When finding the harmonics, overtones which relates to the third and fifth frequencies should be avoided. In addition, room temperature may be measured when collecting each trial’s data to calculate the speed of sound to ensure higher accuracy of the air-column length. Due to the experiment being conducted in the classroom with all other experiments conducting at the same time, surrounding noise might be another reason for anomalies occurring; hence the experiment should be completed in a quiet room to avoid resonance interference by other sounds. Furthermore, the experiment can be extended by using AFO (Audio Frequency Oscillator) that generates frequency (at certa in level) and a speaker instead of tuning forks to alternate the frequency and water level to determine the air-column length (Gadani D.H, 2011). Resonance is used in real life applications, usually for music instruments. Flutes can be estimated as cylindrical tubes with two open ends, whereas a clarinet has a closed end which the air is blown from one end and resonance occurs (Walding R et al, 2004). Clarinets usually have frequency range between 125Hz to 2000Hz (Brown S, 1996-2012) with 15mm inner diameter (Fox S, 2000). Since clarinet’s frequency could be around 200Hz, theoretical equation (at 256Hz from Graph 1) was manipulated (Graph 4) to determine the air-column length of the clarinet. The fundamental harmonic is predicted to occur at 33cm; however, at the third harmonic the result (99cm) almost matches with the real clarinet length of 94cm (Nave R, 2015). The length of clarinet must be an exact wavelength in order for the resonance to occur. Therefore, with a percentage error of 6.38% the prediction seems reasonable and appropriate, which justifies that the experiment can be extrapolated to real life application in the future. 5.0 Conclusion When the velocity of sound was kept constant at a certain temperature, the resonance tubes’ inner diameters were measured with known frequencies written on tuning forks, the wavelength was calculated, hence the air-column length could be determined (). It was found that the air-column length had an indirect relationship with the frequency when velocity of sound was kept constant and an inverse relationship with the tubes’ diameters while both velocity of sound and frequency were maintained the same. This supported the hypothesis that frequencies would have similar impacts on the air-column as the decrease in frequency would lead to an increase in air-column length when diameter was unchanged.

The Sixties Scoop in Canada

Critical Social Work School of Social Work University of Windsor 401 Sunset Avenue Windsor, Ont. Canada N9B 3P4 Email: [email  protected] ca Website: http://www. uwindsor. ca/criticalsocialwork/ Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information can be found at: http://uwindsor. ca/criticalsocialwork The online version of this article can be found at at: http://uwindsor. ca/criticalsocialwork/the http://uwindsor. ca/criticalsocialwork/the-sixties-scoop-implications-for-social-workers workers-andsocial-work-educationCritical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 11 o. 1 11, Online publication date: May 2010 53 Alston-O’Connor The Sixties Scoop: Implications for Social Workers and Social Work Education Critical Social Work 11(1) Emily Alston-O’Connor, BSW Abstract This paper examines issues concerning First Nations peoples and the child welfare system, and their implications for social work today. It explores the Sixties Scoop to illustrate the devast ating impact such policies and practices had on Aboriginal children, families and communities. Cultural genocide is part of this legacy.To deliver more culturally appropriate services, awareness about and acknowledgement of these mistakes can assist social workers to incorporate a social justice perspective into their practice with Aboriginal clients. As well, implications for social work education regarding professional training, curriculum content and course delivery by Aboriginal faculty members are highlighted The Sixties Scoop: Implications for Social Workers and Social Work Education Religious leaders and the government of Canada have apologized to First Nations peoples for the abusive experiences they endured in the residential school ystem. However, the closure of the residential schools did not end the attempt to assimilate Aboriginal children into mainstream Anglo-Canadian society through separation from their families. A sudden acceleration in child welfare workers removi ng Native children from their Aboriginal communities coincided with the dismantling of the church run education system. As the next painful chapter in the history of the colonization of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples, the Sixties Scoop quickly evolved into an aggressive tool for assimilation and cultural genocide.Its legacy has implications for social work practice today. Origins of the Sixties Scoop Governments in the mid 20th century viewed Aboriginal people as â€Å"child-like creatures in constant need of the paternal care of the government. With guidance, they would gradually abandon their superstitious beliefs and barbaric behaviour and adopt civilization† (Titley, 1992, p. 36). Segregated day and residential schools had failed to meet the goals of assimilation: most former students did not embrace the Euro-Canadian identity.The Parliamentary committee examining the Indian Act between 1946 and 1948 rejected the existing policy and proposed Critical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 11, No. 1 54 Alston-O’Connor instead the integration of young Indians into public schools (Titley, 1992). Concurrently, the Department of Indian Affairs created agreements with the provinces to take primary responsibility for children’s general welfare within their own provincial agencies (Armitage, 1995). As residential schools became discredited, the child welfare system became the new agent of assimilation and colonization (Johnson, 1983).Returning to their reserves and bands, many residential school students felt alienated and overwhelmed. Growing up in the residential school system, Aboriginal children were not given role models to look up to. They were not shown affection nor taught how to love or care for others. They had few traditional child-rearing skills from their own parents and relatives to rely on (Armitage, 1995). This had detrimental effects on the families of survivors of the residential schools for the generations of children who followed (Four nier and Crey, 1997).During the era of the Sixties Scoop, Kulusic (2005) suggests that â€Å"power, privilege and poverty are complexly related to the disproportionate number of Aboriginal children who were removed from their own communities† (p. 26). Unfamiliar with extended family child-rearing practices and communal values, government social service workers attempted to ‘rescue’ children from their Aboriginal families and communities, devastating children’s lives and furthering the destitution of many families.Culture and ethnicity were not taken into consideration as it was assumed that the child, being pliable, would take on the heritage and culture of the foster/adoptive parents (Armitage, 1995). The forced removal of children and youth from their Native communities has been linked with social problems such as â€Å"high suicide rate, sexual exploitation, substance use and abuse, poverty, low educational achievement and chronic unemployment† ( Lavell-Harvard and Lavell, 2006, p. 144).Newly designated funds from the federal to the provincial governments were â€Å"the primary catalysts for state involvement in the well-being of Aboriginal children†¦as Ottawa guaranteed payment for each child apprehended† (Lavell-Harvard and Lavell, 2006, p. 145). Exporting Aboriginal children to the United States was common practice. Private American adoption agencies paid Canadian child welfare services $5,000 to $10,000 per child (LavellHarvard and Lavell, 2006). These agencies rarely went beyond confirming the applicant’s ability to pay, resulting in minimal screening and monitoring of foster or adoptive parents (Fournier and Crey, 1997).In 1959, only one percent of all children in care were of Native ancestry. By the late 1960s, â€Å"30 to 40 percent of all legal wards of the state in Canada were Aboriginal children, even though they formed less than 4 percent of the national population† (Fournier and Crey, 1 997, p. 83). At the height of the Scoop, one in four status Indian children were separated from his or her parents for all or part of their childhood; for non-status and Metis children, one in three spent part of their childhood as a legal ward of the state (Fournier and Crey, 1997).Social welfare policies allowed government agencies to â€Å"continue to remove Aboriginal children from their homes and communities and damage Aboriginal culture and traditions all the while claiming to act in the best interest of the child† (Johnson, 1983, p. 24). The permanent removal of thousands of Aboriginal children during the Sixties Scoop laid the foundation for more complex, destructive effects on First Nations communities and culture with repercussions extending beyond their lifetimes. Critical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 1, No. 1 55 Alston-O’Connor Cultural Genocide and Loss of Identity The loss of their children caused irrevocable mental, emotional and spiritual harm to individuals, families and communities. â€Å"Indian children were taken away like souvenirs by professionals who were supposed to be helping the whole family† (Fournier and Crey, 1997, p. 91). The actions of child welfare workers destabilized traditional First Nations culture, quickly stereotyping Aboriginal women as unfit mothers and living off the land as uncivilized.Welfare agencies played a very important role in â€Å"defining, transmitting and shaping what were seen as legitimate or normal cultural expectations and practices† (Ward, 1984, p. 22). The acceptable home criteria reflected a nuclear, middle class lifestyle. Once an Aboriginal child was placed, social agencies did not offer support to the newly formed families even though research has shown that transracial adoption is more problematic because children lose their cultural heritage and their true identity (Kulusic, 2005).Permanent estrangement from one’s roots was inherent in the Sixties Scoop adoption struc ture. Aboriginal names, like postal codes, signify which First Nations their family belongs to (Cuthand, 2007). With legal adoptions, children’s birth family names disappeared as the adoptive surname was issued on all records. Sealing their case files erased any past family history and made repatriation nearly impossible for the adopted child and their grieving families. Some reserves lost almost an entire generation of their children to the welfare system (Johnson, 1983).Many children were placed in distant communities, exported to other provinces or across the US border to the homes of middle class white families (Kulusic, 2005). Scattering children across the continent undermined identification with the close-knit traditional Aboriginal culture and destroyed its kinship network. The legal rights of Aboriginal children were forgotten. With the erasure of their ancestry, the knowledge of being a treaty Indian child was suppressed. Special privileges available as a result of their Native status were lost through the apprehension and adoption process (Kimmelman, 1985).In accordance with treaty rights, one might expect that child welfare agencies would place the child in a culturally appropriate environment, focused on healthy development as an Aboriginal child. Such considerations were routinely ignored (Kimmelman, 1985). This large-scale removal of Aboriginal children to non-native families throughout the 1960s and 1970s damaged the cultural legacy of all First Nations peoples. The long-term implementation and destructive intergenerational impacts of Canadian government policies during the Sixties Scoop are consistent with the United Nations definition for cultural genocide.Article 2 of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as, â€Å"any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing mem bers of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group† (Office of the High Commissioner). Critical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 11, No. 1 56 Alston-O’Connor Under the misguided goal of assimilation, Aboriginal children were forcibly relocated to non-Aboriginal communities. Placements with families who could not offer socialization within an Aboriginal framework of traditional knowledge and pride of heritage destroyed one of the most important intergenerational processes for cultural knowledge and continuity. Individual Suffering and the Plight of the Family Many of the legal adoptions throughout the 1960s and 1970s were unsuccessful.Alienated children became runaways, turned to street life for s upport and experienced an overwhelming sense of lost identity, â€Å"a sense of social isolation greater than that which they had experienced in the church-run schools† (York, 1990, p. 205). Anxiety and culture shock were common after moving from remote, rural areas into suburban settings to live with strangers. Many children had difficulties developing attachments to their new parents, had an inability to connect and were distrustful (York, 1990). Some adults, adopted as children, reported physical, sexual and emotional abuses. Others were even treated as domestic servants (Fournier and Crey, 1997). Children are so highly valued in Aboriginal culture that those without children are considered disadvantaged (Johnson, 1983).Research confirms that Native families who â€Å"approached child care agencies in search of help for funds to supply food and shelter ended up losing their children †¦ Often times they were only offered one option: to relinquish custody of the childà ¢â‚¬  (Kimmelman, 1985, p. 196). Problems of alcoholism, emotional stress and low selfesteem were compounded with the increased formal scrutiny and likelihood that other children would be removed from the family (Johnson, 1983). The actions of the social welfare agencies â€Å"weakened the traditional family structure, and in doing so, weakened Aboriginal society as a whole† (Johnson, 1983, p. 61). Implications for Social Work Practice Today Client Contexts The impact of the Sixties Scoop is multi-layered.Understanding the specific nature of this colonial oppression of Aboriginal peoples requires current social workers to incorporate a social justice perspective when addressing specific issues with Aboriginal clients. It provides insight into how the colonizing process has pressured people to â€Å"detach from who they are but left them with no means to alleviate the pressure† (Hart, 2007, p. 27). In our role as counselors, this framework gives us the ability to rejec t assessment tools that merely label, personalize and pathologize individual expression and relate these problems to the larger socio-political reality (Hart, 2007). We are better prepared to identify how media stereotypes and social prejudices translate into everyday life for thousands of First Nations people.As Fournier and Crey (1997) note, the current generation is suffering the effects of hundreds of years of colonialist public policies. By situating the client’s presenting problem in a societal context, we set the stage to identify strategies to offset the impoverishing effects of these social justice issues. As social workers, it is our ethical duty to look beyond individual risk factors and to change society’s foundational inequalities and constraints (CASW, 2005). One of the ways to address the power imbalance between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal culture is to incorporate Critical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 11, No. 1 57 Alston-O’Connor Indigenous knowledge .Battiste (2002) argues it can only be fully learned and understood when learned in context, taught through Indigenous teaching methods, including sharing circles, experiential learning, meditation, prayer, ceremonies and story-telling. Thus social workers must become familiar with and support traditional healing processes. Hart (2007) believes â€Å"†¦ if the helping professions respected Aboriginal perspectives, they would incorporate methodologies which directly address the effects of genocide, colonization and oppression. † (p. 31). Native Elders have been speaking about relationships between individuals, families, communities and the world around them for generations. They can serve as role models for positive growth and well being (Hart, 2007).Their wisdom and knowledge can contribute support, direction and spiritual resources to aid both individual and collective problem solving and healing. Social workers must take an active role in encouraging direct participati on in rituals and ceremonies with First Nations clients. The blessing of an event, attending a sweat lodge or going to a sharing circle establish oneness within the group and have symbolic importance. Spirituality and connecting with one’s roots play a powerful role in building a strong sense of Aboriginal identity and hope. These practices are not part of a theoretical approach designed by academics to help Indigenous Peoples.They are meaningful expressions of Aboriginal culture and need to be recognized as valid approaches within the helping process. Effective social work practice must support the self-determination of clients to choose traditional approaches and must not be limited by textbook theory or policy driven programs to resolve issues (Hart, 2007). Culturally Appropriate Practice Analysing the impacts of the Sixties Scoop is essential to changing the social realities for Aboriginal peoples today. Practicing from an anti-oppressive philosophy, our mandate includes identifying stereotyping and over generalizing. Misperceiving traditional practices can have a negative effect on the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal working relationship.To counteract the colonial mentality of our Anglo-Canadian society, social workers must become knowledgeable about Aboriginal perspectives and how they are reflected in traditional and urban Aboriginal culture. Past personal and generational experiences are important as well as present events that will affect future generations (Hart, 2007). Social workers who work with Aboriginal clients must respect and appreciate their worldview. Openness and sensitivity to nuances related to culture, education, and ways of communicating are essential skills. Individuals must be self aware and alert to the possibility that the social workers’ own life experiences will affect the way they view this population (Levin and Herbert, 2004).Positive cultural attributes such as intergenerational strength of spirit and collective re silience are qualities to celebrate and build upon when social workers partner in the journey toward Aboriginal healing and community renewal. The cultural view of the collective is a core Aboriginal belief that affects social work practice. First Nations culture and communities place an honourable emphasis on kin and its strengths and meaning. Immediate family often includes extended family members and distant relatives. The community is seen as another extension of the family and needs to be included in any healing process. It is crucial to be aware of this collective belief and its manifestations within the community as it affects the language, the terminology and the focus used by the social Critical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 11, No. 1 58 Alston-O’Connor orker with the client and their relatives when discussing issues and communicating about programs and options. Trust issues may be a concern when working with First Nations peoples. Research findings by Levin and Herbert (20 04) identified fear and a lack of trust in health care settings due to discrimination and stigmatizing actions. They also reported that Aboriginal women, in particular, lacked trust in health care workers, be it doctors or social workers, due to the inexperience of workers, lack of communication with patients, cultural insensitivity, and absence of knowledge or understanding of Native healing practices (Levin and Herbert, 2004).Often service providers have inadequate information about the experiences of living in poverty or the needs, perspectives, cultures and traditions of First Nations clients. Mistrust has grown out of lived experiences such as the Sixties Scoop. Lack of understanding of this influencing factor creates substantial barriers to the establishment of a trust-based relationship between service providers and clients. This lack of trust has implications when trying to develop or implement community based initiatives as trust is vital to its success (Levin and Herbert, 2004). Legacy Lessons The destructive effects of the Sixties Scoop have important lessons for social workers today.Past mistakes in terms of the cultural context of First Nations children in care must not be repeated. Social workers uphold the fundamental child welfare principle that children should not be removed from their families solely on the basis of poverty. However, this core principle has not been equitably applied in provincial child welfare practices towards First Nations parents and children. The overrepresentation of First Nations children in care continues to be placed in nonAboriginal families (MacDonald and MacDonald, 2007). Caucasian families without cultural supports for Aboriginal children in their care may be unaware of how to address issues such as racism, prejudice and loss.As noted by Sinclair (2007) â€Å"†¦several studies found that a positive parental attitude towards the child’s ethnic group, as well as some form of social involvement with tha t ethnic group in the family’s life is significantly correlated with a child’s positive adjustment and positive sense of identity† (p. 70). While pride in the child’s Aboriginal heritage can be encouraged when specific cultural involvement plans are in place, many agencies and communities do not have the personnel to share these traditions and values. In some regions, cultural identity considerations have led to the development of policies that prioritize placement with extended family members or with foster care providers within the same community when children are removed from their parental home (McKenzie and Morrissette, 2003).The ongoing development of culturally appropriate child welfare services needs to include provisions for personal involvement with Aboriginal heritage languages, cultural traditions and values if apprehended children are to avoid the alienation and identity loss experienced by Aboriginal children from the Sixties Scoop. Professio nal Training It is clear that the social work profession and the Schools of Social Work have not been ‘neutral’ in the education and training that produced past social workers (MacDonald and MacDonald, 2007). Social workers’ Euro-centric assumptions sanctioned the destructive role of child welfare agencies in relationship to Aboriginal culture. The government’s assimilation goals Critical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 11, No. 1 59 Alston-O’Connor for First Nations peoples were congruent with the professional criteria for â€Å"the best interests of the child† during the Sixties Scoop.MacDonald and MacDonald (2007) note that social work education programs today play a key role within the colonizing mentality of child welfare agencies. â€Å"Through a social justice lens, the Schools of Social Work need to examine their role in the colonial processes that continue to impact on First Nations people in this country† (MacDonald and MacDonald, 2007 , p 43). Social workers can be pro-active in calling for changes in their professional faculties. It is important to consider the method in which social work students are receiving their education. Tensions and stereotypes must be discussed openly. While the Sixties Scoop may be a potential factor in many of our clients’ lives, it is also one in many of our social work students’ lives. There is a need for supports to reflect on the needs of all Aboriginal students including those who know their culture, and those who are new to their culture, as well as those who practice tradition and those who were raised within the church† (Clark, Drolet, Arnouse, Walton, Rene’ Tamburro, & Mathews, 2009, p. 305). Culturally relevant education, training and curriculum development are critical to help inform empowering approaches. The inclusion of Elders in the field education programs, incorporation of spirituality and ceremony into all classrooms and an emphasis on Abor iginal leaders facilitating these practices can provide deeper insight into the Aboriginal culture and its rich history. In addition to First Nations child welfare agencies and National First Nations organizations, the schools of Social Work need to play an active role in the development of culturally appropriate social work education (MacDonald and MacDonald, 2007).They need to ensure that Aboriginal faculty teach decolonizing practices to all social work students. Recommendations on how to make the curriculum and the Schools of Social Work more reflective of and relevant to First Nations students’ needs must be implemented. As well, social worker associations need to advocate for future social work graduates to be equipped to partner with the Aboriginal community in their work toward social justice. During the Sixties Scoop, the basic principles of intrinsic human value and the right to self-determination were erased by a government intent on cultural genocide. By forcibly reassigning First Nations children to non-Aboriginal families, kinship affiliations were obliterated.Its multi-generational legacy of grief and loss in relation to family, identity, culture, heritage and community profoundly is still being felt today. As agents of child apprehension, social workers must examine their role in this tragedy and in the colonization of Aboriginal peoples. A commitment to implementing culturally relevant social work practice with First Nations clients is essential for the profession. We have the opportunity to critically evaluate current issues and to partner with members of the Aboriginal community in identifying best practices to challenge the myriad of social, political and personal issues that resulted from the Sixties Scoop.As progressive agents for social justice, it is one of our responsibilities to create changes to ensure that Aboriginal peoples and their communities have the appropriate resources to flourish and grow. 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