Regent Park Focus

For this edition of Catch da Flava radio show, host Diamond introduced us to the topic of police presence in Regent Park. Because of a long and dark history involving negative relationships with police in the neighbourhood, Regent Park and its youth feel a strong sensitivity toward the very presence of police in the community, and the looming connotations behind that presence. As our show is based in Regent Park, all youth panelists have had interactions in the neighbourhood and understand its impact as youth. Joining our panel discussion were Beverley, Erika, Judy, and Joel. Generally, all panelists felt a wariness when it comes to police presence in the neighbourhood. Although some can not speak of any personal experience of negative interactions with authority, they seem to know of someone that has faced some kind of negative experience. Erika and Diamond expressed concern as maternal figures to young Black men in their lives. Understanding through lived experience, they have ...

For our November 28th show of Catch da Flava Youth Radio on Radio Regent, we invited a guest from The CRC which is a local community centre in Regent Park. Cavell Hart joined us for the first half of the show and shared with us on air about holiday festivities going on in the neighbourhood, highlighting an upcoming Winter Market hosted in Regent Park. It will start off in the Big Park with pretzels baked on location at the Bake Oven, before heading over to The CRC to see all the local vendors and the products they will sell. The event hopes to support local businesses by giving them an opportunity to sell their products, and an opportunity for local food industry professionals to provide food services in the community.   There will also be a free movie screening for kids to get them in the spirit of the season with a holiday classic, and other free activities for kids including gingerbread decorating. The events will take place Thursday, December 7th from 5-8PM EST at 40 O...

Date: Nov 27, 2017 Hosts: Anny & Victoria Guests: Wendy De Sousa from METRAC Topic: Healthy Relationships This week our hosts Anny and Victoria led a conversation with our guest Wendy De Sousa from METRAC who helped shed some light on what a healthy relationship and unhealthy relationship looks like, what consent is and how we can unwillingly contribute to the concept of consent such as kissing on the cheek as a form of affection. The second half of the show our hosts led a conversation about the cycle of abuse, the honeymoon phase and what someone can do if they know someone is in an abusive situation. Wendy shed some light on where someone who is being abusive can receive help. We also spoke about what stalking is and how technology is making it easier for people to be stalked online, especially when one leaves their abuser. We went into detail about online safety when dealing with a potential stalker which includes how to get a restraining order if need...

What The Health?: Celebrating our Unique Bodies Diva Girls Group November 24th 2017 This week the divas started off with their favorite icebreaker, circle rock. Shortly after the icebreaker the diva girls watched a health slideshow. The divas were shown 6 photos on the screen and had to write down whether the person in the picture is healthy or unhealthy, privately in their notebooks. After they watched the slide show, Londzo and Maymuna discussed which photo were healthy and unhealthy and if the divas disagreed, they would have to elaborate on why they disagree. The divas also worked on a “What The Health? “Pie chart. The divas were spilt into 2 groups; each group was given a piece of chart paper and markers. The chart paper had a big circle with four labeled quadrants. The quadrants were labeled as physical, mental, spiritual and sexual. At the top, each group had to define what the 4 versions of health meant to them. Once the groups were finished working, they presented ...

For the second half, host Johanna talked to us about financial difficulties around tuition and the debt surrounding it. She spoke on the rising rate of tuition debt from students across Ontario, her personal experience struggling to finance her education, and introduced the guest for the evening, Zuberi Attard, who is a Carlton University student and creator of the tuition and bursary website scholarpro.ca​ Like Johanna, Zuberi had struggled with personal issues and financial constraints when it comes to funding his education, but with the assistance of others and applying to various scholarships and bursaries, Zuberi was able to finance his entire post-secondary education solely on the money he received from various scholarships and bursaries. ​ Zuberi gave us some tips and highlights when it comes to applying for scholarships and bursaries, such as distinguishing the difference between the two. He shared with us that scholarships and bursaries are not necessarily for students wi...

For our November 21st edition of Catch da Flava Youth radio, we started things off with host Diamond leading a panel discussion on anxiety and how it plays a role in student attendance. According to a recent survey commissioned by Children’s Mental Health Ontario, interviews of parents and their children suggest that both age groups miss school and work to cope with mental illness, which explains why anxiety would be a barrier to social productivity, such as being present in school.​ We asked our panelists, Beverley, Erika, Joel, and Johanna some questions regarding the topic including how they cope with anxiety and stress, if they’ve ever experienced overwhelming anxiety, what they feel contributes to anxiety-related absences in school such as other life obligations, or pressures from school. Other questions focused on significant players in the issue, such as the school board’s role in aiding students, the provincial government’s resources and funding for mental health f...

Divas Blog Nov 17th 2017 This week the diva girls explored new creative writing styles. They first started off with a circle rock, where we sit around a circle and we shared one special thing about ourselves. Shortly after that the divas played a Parts of Speech Game. The girls had to define an adjective, verb, noun and ad adverb. Then they were split into two teams, the teams had to write down as many adjectives as possible that started with a special letter like P. As rounds progressed they also were told on how many syllables the adjectives must have. The diva girls really enjoyed the game and after playing a few rounds the girls watched a Haiku video. After watching the video the divas learned about what a haiku is and each girl was given a word, and they had to write a haiku about it without using the word they were given. Once they were finish writing their haikus, other members of the group had to guess what the word was! The divas had a snack break full of hea...

For this episode of Catch da Flava Youth radio show, host Diamond Bailey introduced the topic of e-cigarettes and what we may think about it. Diamond introduced information on the topic, citing that a study of over 44,000 high school students in Ontario and Alberta was published last month in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), stating a "strong and robust" linkage between so-called vaping and subsequent tobacco use. With that knowledge, Diamond started the discussion about vaping and e-cigarettes for youth participants Beverley, Joel, and Johanna. Some of her questions considered their thoughts on smoking and the use of cigarettes and vaping among youth, their views on the relationship between vaping and increased drug use later in life, and the appeal of e-cigarettes to youth. Many of the youth participants offered up varied opinions, but the general consensus seemed to be that vaping and cigarettes was not a favorable habit to develop, and that although many ...

For our November 14th edition of Catch da Flava Youth Radio Show, we shared a short interview we had with Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Laura Albanese. In tone with our theme of newcomers and immigration, host Erika welcomed guest Geneviève Ramage to our show, to talk about her role at the TD Learning Centre, which provides free services to newcomers in the Regent Park community. Geneviève discussed the services available, especially the IWIP program, which stands for Immigrant Women Integration Program. Minister Albanese had mentioned that all of us, with the exception of the Indigenous community, are all immigrants to Canada, so Geneviève shared with us her personal story of being a newcomer to the Regent Park community, and how her family is also immigrants to Canada. Discussing this, she shares about how diverse the Regent Park community is and how different it has been to her original upbringing, and what coming to a new community has taught her about others...

Date: Nov 13, 2017 Hosts : Brianne, Seymouria & Victoria Guests : Mandy Bonisteel (George Brown College); Kevin Vowles (White Ribbon Campaign) Topic : Women Abuse Prevention November is Women Abuse Prevention month, and this week Brianne, Seymouria and Victoria lead a conversation to raise awareness about how to identify and help prevent women abuse with our special guests Mandy Bonisteel a professor for the past 20 years in the George Brown’s Assaulted Women and Children’s Advocate Program with a primary focus on survivors of sexual abuse as well as Kevin Vowles who works as Community Engagement Manager for White Ribbon. He delivers workshops, speeches and training to empower men and boys to take a stand against violence against women and girls, through a lively analysis of gender-based violence fuelled by unhealthy and toxic masculinity. Before they went into an in-depth conversation, Seymouria shared some stats about women abuse in Ontario. Our hosts int...

The Diva Girls Group Session 7: The C-Word...The Basics of Consent- Part 1 November 10th , 2017 Today the Diva's learned about the basics of Consent. To start off, the Divas played a myth busting game. The Divas were given six statements (3 myths and 3 facts) and were required to split into two groups. Each group had a T-chart paper marked Fact or Fiction and they were to guess whether the statement is Fact or Fiction and put it in the correct category. When the Divas recorded their answers, they took it up as a group to see who got the most correct answers. When in groups the girls were shown facts and myths. Facts Only about 0.3% of perpetrators of sexual assault are held accountable, while over 99% are no Women, the elderly, LGBTQ+, and Indigenous folk are at increased risk of reporting sexual abuse Many assailants appear to be upstanding citizens and show little to no history of mental health problems. Myths Most assailants have a history of mental or sexu...

For our last show celebrating Media Literacy Week on November 10th, We shared an interview with President of the Ontario College of Management and Technology, and Chair of the International Cyber Security and Intelligence Conference, Yomi Olalere. Mr. Olalere shared with us some best practices when it comes to protecting oneself online, including two factor authentication that Professor Deibert mentioned in our Thursday show, and trying as much as possible to only utilized website that have a security feature, what he calls “HTTPS” as opposed to “HTTP”, as it guarantees that the website has security features meant to protect their visitors. In continuing his advice on how to protect oneself online, Mr. Olalere tells us to stay guarded, not to interact with people we don’t know online, and to make sure to privatize our accounts and only share with those we actually know. He mentions that the significance of having a cyber security and intelligence conference comes down to the fact t...

For our Thursday November 9th radio show celebrating Media Literacy Week, we welcomed founder and director of The Citizen Lab at The Munk School of Global Affairs at The University of Toronto, Professor Ron Deibert. Professor Deibert joined us for a very informed half hour discussion on technology and politics. With a background in political science, Professor Deibert found that politics has now bled into the technological world, as more abuses of power have spread online, such as documented activity of governments hacking into citizen accounts. High target individuals such as investigative journalists, other politicians, and human rights activists have had their privacy infringed upon. Professor Deibert talked to us about his work at The Citizen Lab, what it does to expose government abuses, and how he feels that politics is no longer simply a social science, and that it necessarily has to bleed into computer science and engineering, as many of his colleagues at The Citizen Lab...

On November 8th, Indigenous Youth Radio premiered their rebooted radio show with new host Chantal McGregor. Chantal works at Council Fire Native as the Youth-Drop-In Wellness Navigator and discussed Media Literacy Week and Treaty Recognition Week for this series of the show, as they are on the same week. Treaty Recognition Week is always the first week of November, so for this year it was on November 5th to 11th, and this is the second annual Treaty Recognition Week for the province of Ontario. This celebration is meant to honour the importance of treaties and helping people learn more about treaty rights and treaty relationships. Promoting greater awareness of treaties is one of efforts by the Ontario government to facilitate healing and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. It is meant to be the government's commitment to work with Indigenous partners and rebuilding relationships based on trust and respect with First Nations, Métis and Inuit. The Treaties Recognition Week A...

For our November 7th show of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, we sat down with Josh Dyer from Myseum Toronto, to talk about how Myseum is changing the way we connect through curated material. In celebration of Media Literacy Week, we talked to Josh about how Myseum utilizes information technology to create a new model of museums, as it travels from different locations, highlights different facets of city life, and uses the internet to share some of the highlights of Toronto. This year’s Media Literacy Week theme is “Inclusion in a Connected World: A Place and Voice for All”. In light of this year’s theme, we ask Josh how he believes Myseum creates a sense of inclusion through their innovative new model of what a museum is. Josh shares that through pop-up exhibits, social media, the internet, and traveling the city, Myseum helps engage the narratives and stories that don’t often get told, that usually are ignored because it highlights different spaces through their pop-up exhibits, and so...

On Monday, November 6th, Regent Park Focus introduced its week-long radio programming to promote Media Literacy Week, with special guests Simona Ramkisson from Mozilla HIVE Toronto and Craig Carter-Edwards, Zoya Khan, and Eliana Trinaistic from Migrahack and Welcome Home TO to talk about media literacy from different perspectives and organizations. Co-hosts Diamond, Judy, and Kyle were able to sit down with them to talk about this year’s Media Literacy Week theme: Inclusion in a Connected World: A Place and Voice For All. We would like to thank our special radio guests Simona Ramkisson, Craig Carter-Edwards, Zoya Khan, and Eliana Triniastic for sharing their perspective and experience on how media literacy helps create inclusion in a connected world. We would also like to thank Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Laura Albanese for taking the time out to visit our centre and spread the word about this generous grant, and sitting down to chat with us. Interview with Si...

On Monday, November 6th, Regent Park Focus welcomed its doors to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Laura Albanese. The Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration recently awarded Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre a generous grant for civic engagement, through the Multicultural Community Capacity Grant program. This program aims to utilize funding from the grant in order to support a civic engagement project that engages newcomer youth through multimedia resources that promote social inclusion and participation in community life. After, Diamond spoke to the audience who attended the special press conference for the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration to talk about how Regent Park Focus has helped her through media arts, and how it has benefited her as a resident of Regent Park. Shortly afterward, Diamond joined us again to go on radio with co-host Judy to talk to Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Laura Albanese about the grant that Regent Park Focu...

This week Judy chats with Geneviève R. and Claren Grosz about their menstrual cycle, which seems to bring them great excitement and joy. The conversation revolved around texture & consistency of flow, Diva Cups, and the fury of cramps. For the second half, Judy continued her conversation with Claren and was joined with screenwriter Shannon Bramer about their upcoming theatre production "The Hungriest Woman in the World" and their experience in theatre as women. To find out more about their upcoming play, check out:  http://www.pencilkitproductions.com/hungriest/