Governor General Visits Regent Park Focus

By -
April 1 wasn't the typical April Fools Day. As a matter of fact, there wasn't anything foolish about the day. What happened was something great and exceptional. Regent Park Focus received an amazing surprise visit from Adrienne Clarkson, the Governor General of Canada. The role of the Governor General was instituted when Canada became a country at Confederation in 1867. Our system of government is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy which means that Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Canada and her will is represented by the Governor General of Canada. Sworn in on Oct. 7, 1999, Adrienne Clarkson became Canada's 26th Governor General. Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson is the say-all and end-all when it comes to approving and passing federal laws. She is also the commander-in-chief of the Canadian Forces. Born in Hong Kong, Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson came to Canada as a refugee with her family during the war in 1942. She received her early education in the Ottawa public school system and later obtained an Honours BA in English and MA in English Literature from the University of Toronto. She also did postgraduate work at the Sorbonne in France. Before being appointed Governor General, Clarkson served as chairwoman of the board of trustees of the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec. She was also the executive producer and host of the CBC television program, Something Special. During her 90-minute visit to Regent Park Focus, Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson enjoyed a presentation of videos created by local youths and also radio excerpts from Catch da Flava radio, a local youth program broadcasted from Regent Park. She also participated in a taped broadcast, hosted by one of the youth journalists for Catch da Flava. Having the Governor General in the Focus environment was an incredible experience. The youth were honoured and proud to have Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson view their work. The Governor General’s visit to Regent Park included tours to Dixon Hall, the Regent Park Community Centre and Pathways to Education. For more information log onto www.catchdaflava.com and check out the radio archives.

Emmanuel Kedini

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Camping with the Divas Girls Group

By -
Image
This past week the girls group headed to Guelph for a three day retreat to celebrate the end of this year’s program. It rained almost the entire time, but we still managed to have a great time! For many of the girls it was the first time they had been out of the city. They were excited to go canoeing, take part in a scavenger hunt and spend time in the conservation area exploring and drawing in their sketch books. Because of the rain we also came up with lots of creative ways to have fun inside. We painted tote bags, learned to cook lots of delicious food, and put on a “Kids Canadian Idol” show. The girls all said they wished the trip could have been longer and were already planning next year’s trip on the way home.
Read more

Catch da Flava - Discussing Mental Helath and Peacebuilders

By -
Image
On today's Catch da Flava radio show for Tuesday, January 14, 2020, we focused on two separate but intertwined issues. They were youth mental health and the youth justice system. Our hosts were Shajuanah and Jamelia with co-hosts Kaila, Thalia, and Fazra. Our guests for the mental health segment was Michelle Cauch, a Student Success Advisor at Centennial College and Michelle Galeotalanza, a mental health professional and professor at Centennial College. They discussed what is mental health, why is youth mental health important, why is youth mental health different from the other age groups, what are the major youth mental health issues, where should the youth get help, how can they seek trusting professionals to speak to on issues of mental health? These were just a few of the many interesting topics and questions we discussed. Our guest for the next segment was Rachelle Bloomfield, a staff, leader, and counselor at Peacebuilders. Peacebuilders is a nonprofit organization...
Read more

Radio Regent News and Views - August 6th, 2021

By -
In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, we hear two reports by student groups currently working at Focus Media. Each summer, youth community members are welcomed into the Centre, given access to multi-media technology and encouraged to create content with a local community news emphasis. on today’s show, one group interviews Liberal Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre, Marci Ien, about homelessness in the community; and another group presents a report on the state of maintenance and general safety in St. Jamestown residential buildings. In addition, we’ll hear a migrant worker tell his story of being wrongfully repatriated to his country of origin, unfortunately an all-too common occurrence in Canada.
Read more