Graduating during Covid

Graduating during COVID-19 is a weird experience. There was very little celebration on the last day of class, I remember that I had biology and when the lesson ended I thanked her for all that she has done during the past 2 years that I have had her as a teacher and then I closed my computer. There wasn't any yelling in the halls or high-fives, I simply closed my computer and had lunch. My emotions that day were fairly neutral and the rest of the day was insignificant as I carried out the same routine that I have been doing for months at this point. I think that all the other students agree with me in saying that we are all looking forward to university where we can make up for the lost social interactions and events that were cancelled because of Covid.

Everybody I talk to isn't focussed on what we missed out on in the last year of high school, but rather what is to come in university. It's almost like missing the last year of high school has amplified all the excitement of going off to university. That being said, I think it's safe to say that everybody in my grade is saddened and a little frustrated that we couldn't have our final prom, or go to school sports events, it definitely feels as though the social part of high school is missing, and there is nothing we can do to have a similar experience to those in the past. 

To be frank, there aren't any substitutes that could fulfill an in-person graduation or grad party. There have been some parties hosted by students in my grade, however, they are unsafe and have caused a significant amount of Covid cases. If it weren't for the risk I would have gone but I can't put my family in that situation. I am lucky in that I have made friends with the people in my neighbourhood and we can hang out and socialize, however, some of my classmates don't have the luxury of spending time with friends and have gone into depressive states.

In summary, there isn't really any substitute for our graduation being cancelled by Covid and some members of my class are truly struggling to cope with this reality. That's why I think it's important to routinely check-in and talk to people that you haven't seen in person for some time, if they aren't doing so well mentally you should try and help them cope with what they are going through. 

-Sean Lizzola | Sean is 18 and recently graduated from Upper Canada College in Toronto. Sean is the grand-nephew of Sister Ann Marshall, CSJ.

A Turning of the World

“Dear Black America — We are many things, aren’t we? We are hair. God yes, we are hair. And song. And memory. We are a language so deep it has no need for words. And we are words that feint, dart, and wheel like birds. Like James Brown, we feel good. Like Fannie Lou Hamer, we are sick and tired. We are fearsome. We are fire. Like God, we are that we are.”

These words from the poem, Dear Black America, by Tracy K. Smith are the opening words of a very provocative interview with Krista Tippett in her podcast On Being on May 27, 2021. In this year and a half of the pandemic, which as a side effect brought forward the depth of systemic racism and the depth of human alienation from our other-than-human world, Smith called together a group of 20 poets of colour to reflect out loud on the meaning and the impact of a barrage of reminders of the racial inequities of the world in which we live.

Also in the interview was poet Michael Kieber-Diggs who offered a piece of his writing about the experience of the last year and a half.

“It wasn’t that I wanted to let go and sink. It was that it was hard to keep my head above water and carry my stone at the same time. I wanted a place to rest. Okay? I wanted to float, just for a little while.”

The podcast offers a fresh and searing look at the impact of racism in the day to day lives of people of colour. Simply taking his dog for a walk evokes multiple feelings for Kieber-Diggs. What is most amazing is that there remains for them in the midst of it all a capacity for hope. Maybe it is connected to the belief that there is a revolution going on outside, and hopefully inside -

…one that may actually see a turning of the world. 

Sister Margo Ritchie, csj

Our Vanishing Heritage: Canada’s Irreplaceable Old Growth Forests

Forests  are our climate allies – defending against climate change. They sequester carbon below and above ground, provide habitat for endangered species, clean water and revive our spirits. The survival of Canada’s remaining old-growth forests is in jeopardy. The logging of old-growth forests in BC has increased this past year despite protests.   

In the June 2021  issue of The Walrus, Suzanne Simard, Professor of forest ecology at UBC, provides a startling description of how “trees cooperate, share resources, and communicate through underground fungal – or mycorrhizal – networks . . . “ in British Columbia’s old-growth forests. The giant 250-year-old trees are central in the ecosystem consisting of plants, fungi, rainfall, fires, birds, animals, and humans.  These marvelous old-growth forests contribute greatly to the quality of our environment and enjoyment of life.  However, they are rapidly disappearing and will never be replaced.   Our future will lack giant trees that nurture seedlings, host disappearing species, deter wildfires, protect water systems, absorb carbon dioxide, release oxygen, and feed our spirits.   

The May 27 issue of The Globe and Mail  contains an article by Justine Hunter, “Understanding the backstory behind the Fairy Creek blockade”.   The Teal Jones Group, the largest privately-owned timber harvesting and lumber-product manufacturing company in BC., had obtained a license to harvest a 12.8-hectare block of mainly old-growth forests.  On discovering a new logging road to this site last summer, a group of protesters called the “Rainforest Flying Squad” established a series of moving blockades to prevent access. On April 1 this year the BC Supreme Court granted an injunction that authorized the RCMP to remove protesters from blockades in logging roads within Tree Farm License areas.     

Hunter’s article states that BC has 57 million hectares of forests and about 200,000 hectares are harvested each year—mostly in replanted second-growth areas “which do not recreate the rich biodiverse ecosystems of an undisturbed forest”.  There are about 13 million hectares of old forests in B.C. and 80% of that consists of less productive areas of bogs or high altitude sparsely treed land of low commercial value. Approximately 50,000 hectares of old-growth is harvested annually. Unlike countries, such as New Zealand, old-growth logging is still permitted.    

Protests against logging old-growth forests continue despite more than 150 arrests. Protesters are chaining themselves to whatever they can to fight against logging in the Fairy Creek area of B.C. Hundreds of people continue to flood back into old-growth blockade camps cleared by the RCMP to protect what they view as the very limited remaining old-growth forests.                 

In Canada, we are facing a choice of valuing a lucrative resource that rewards governments and corporations versus protecting a valuable and irreplaceable heritage.   

-Sister Patricia McKeon, csj

Is This a New Moment for our Country?

It is only a few short days ago that the remains of 215 children were discovered on the grounds of a Residential school in Kamloops B.C and that a family of five out for a walk in London were intentionally run down by a speeding truck because they looked different. These are two instances that shook our country and so many of us have stopped to take a second look.  Many of us are asking what is our call right now?  How can we move with love and stand side by side with our dear neighbour in their suffering? 

I heard from a friend who shared a situation that happened to her and her father when they visited one of the Indigenous communities on Prince Edward Island.  There was a display set up in memory of the children and they wanted to go and pay their respects at the site.  There was an unexpected bonding that took place between her father who had been raised in an orphanage over 75 years ago and the woman they met whose father had been sent to a residential school on the Island at an early age.  It seemed that although their situations were different – they were the same.  Places of struggle and oppression where fear and mistrust of anyone in authority grew inside of these very young children which they still carry today.

As their conversation went on, the sharing of their stories became a healing moment of vulnerability as both parties realized that they – the white settler and the indigenous woman –had a commonality in each of their lives that they could name and claim in this moment as strangers.  Today, the display is to be taken down and my friend’s father has gone to assist with the task – certainly not something he would have ever dreamed of doing but now he has a new friend who is in need of assistance.  So easy when you think of it?  Neighbour helping neighbour. 

With Canada Day in a few short weeks, words from our National Anthem come to mind as I reflected on this dark moment in the history of our beloved country and our Province.

O Canada we stand on guard for thee. 

Is this our chance?  Could Canada Day 2021 be inviting each of us to create a new moment – where we can truly say together “we stand on guard as a Nation for you and you and you – and you are my sister and brother and we journey together for our children and our children’s children? 

-Sister Ann MacDonald, csj