Na Me Res Pow Wow
Great to see Chad and Ted representing the Aboriginal Peoples' Commission for the Liberal Party of Canada at the Na Me Res Pow Wow today - Meegwetch to Ted and Chad for putting up with the rain!
Also ran into Dr. Carolyn Bennett, MP for St Paul's who sponsored the APC table - Meegwetch Carolyn!
National Aboriginal Day
Wonderful sunrise ceremony at Toronto City Hall this morning to mark National Aboriginal Day - the great ceremony made getting up so early all worthwhile. Below is Councillor Mike Layton and Chief Human Rights Commissioner Barbara Hall raising the flags of the Mississaugas of New Credit, the Metis Nation of Ontario and Nunavut.
29th Annual AIDS Candlelight Vigil
Thank you to everyone for coming to the 29th Annual AIDS Candlelight Vigil last night at the AIDS Memorial - it was a great event and I was honoured to share the stage and light the main candle with Marcela Romero, the Pride Toronto 2013 International Grand Marshall, Argentinean activist and human rights defender for the transgender population in Latin America and the Caribbean.
World Pride Toronto 2014 Community Summit
Thank you to Pride Toronto and Councillor Wong-Tam for inviting me to speak about the Rainbow Railroad (
www.rainbowrailroad.ca) at World Pride Toronto 2014 Community Summit at Toronto City Hall. the response has been tremendous.
Adding to the comfortable workspace
I've added to the workspace - check out the new lamp, carpet and chair.
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| Before |
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| The new (not new) carpet, chair, lamp & plant |
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| Other new lamp from Ethel on Queen Street East (at Parliament) |
A comfortable workspace
I've moved to a new office cubicle and I wanted to spruce it up a bit. I've taken the first step which was to pick a fun fabric (I bought 2 yards) and tacked it up over the panels. Here are some before and after shots. Total cost = $100
Before:
After:
Next steps:
- Area Carpet
- Lounge Chair
- Lamp
'Spring makeover' for federal government weather website removes department branding
The Canadian Press
Posted: Apr 18, 2013 12:10 PM ET
Canadians checking the local weather on the federal government's website may have to squint to see the Environment Canada logo, but they'll get an eyeful of the Conservative "economic action plan."
The government says that the site — weather.gc.ca — has been given "a fresh new look."
The makeover includes removing from the top of the page the name and familiar logo of the federal department that provides the meteorological information on cities and towns across the country.
Except for the interactive main page with its multiple maps, in which "Environment Canada" is embedded in fine print above Iqaluit on the map of Canada, the logo has all but disappeared from the site.
What does appear prominently is a trio of brightly coloured links that promote last month's federal budget, the generic "economic action plan" website, and the Canada Revenue Agency's slogan: Tax Savings Working For You.
Green party Leader Elizabeth May claims the Conservatives are engaged in what she calls an Orwellian exercise that does not bode well for the future of the federal environment department.
But a spokeswoman at Environment Canada says the makeover simply follows new Treasury Board guidelines designed to make web applications more user friendly.
Waiting for the ring
For the second day, we are spending time at Toronto General Hospital.
Rose came here yesterday after having a bit of a problem with her heart. She's doing much better today and is resting in the ICU.
If you've ever been to the cardiac floor at TGH, you will know that there is a waiting room on the second floor where the families wait for news. It's a comfortable room with lots of cozy chairs, a tv, a computer, lots of magazines and plenty of places to plug in your various devices. It's a bit like doing jury duty but more of a familia responsibility as opposed to a civic responsibility (and many more places to comfortably sit)
There is also a phone in the room. This is the phone that connects families with the health professionals. Every once in a while, the phone rings and someone runs to the phone to answer and to see who is being called. Last night, they had a volunteer for a few hours who did this service. During the day it's a free for all - and then whoever answers will call out the name of the person who is being summoned back to the CCU or the ICU.
It's quite a process and as you can imagine - because people are concerned about their loved ones - there is also a fair bit of nervousness in the room.
Kirk pretending to be the volunteer at the desk - the phone is hidden from view behind the lamp.
Tweet from Canadian Hero Fund (@herofund)
Canadian Hero Fund (@herofund) tweeted at 6:56am - 9 Feb 13:
LCol Morrison is a reservist with a reserve brigade in Ottawa & the Land Force Central Area in Toronto. #dayinthelife pic.twitter.com/Jwxn7tix (https://twitter.com/herofund/status/300211612520968193)
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