Communications: Vacant: [email protected]
Diocesan Communications Communique February 2022
| 2022_communications_communique_1.doc |
Diocesan Communications Communique November 2020
| fall_communications_chair_communique_1_.pdf |
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National Communique May 29, 2020
| national20200529_communications_communique_13.pdf |
Alberta Mackenzie CWL Communications Communique #4 - Our Lady of Good Counsel Weekday Masses April 26, 2020
| commcomm4-202004.pdf |
Below are a list of useful links.
National CWL website www.cwl.ca
Alberta Mackenzie CWL website www.cwl.ab.ca
Grandin Media https://grandinmedia.ca/
The Catholic Register https://www.catholicregister.org/home/canada
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops http://www.cccb.ca/site/
Vatican (The Holy See) https://w2.vatican.va/content/vatican/en.html
Catholic News Service https://www.catholicnews.com/
Catholic Organization for Life and Family http://www.colf.ca/en/
World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (WUCWO) www.wucwo.org
EDMONTON DIOCESAN CONVENTION 2019 ORAL REPORT
| diocesan_convention_communications_oral_report_2019.docx |
Midwinter 2018 Report
Communications – Carmen Routhier
Communications – Carmen Routhier
Reality Check: Authentication and Citizenship
To help young Canadians develop the search, authentication and critical thinking skills that are needed in the digital age, MediaSmarts and Facebook Canada have partnered together to develop the Reality Check program.
The second Reality Check video and tip sheet on authentication and citizenship help you make sure you're getting – and sharing – good information during an election campaign. Check it out!
Over the course of this two-year public awareness and education initiative, MediaSmarts will be developing a series of videos, tip sheets and lessons that will give Canadians of all ages the tools they need to verify different kinds of online information and to help them understand why it’s important to double-check before they share information online.
| Communications Report Feb 3, 2018 |
Canadian youth sharing others’ sexts at alarming rate: MediaSmarts study
Forty-two percent of Canadian youth who’ve sent sexy or nude images have had one shared without their consent, according to new research from MediaSmarts and the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, in partnership with TELUS WISE.
The national survey of 800 young people ages 16 to 20, conducted last August, found that 41 percent of youth had sent one or more sexts, with boys and girls sending sexts at roughly the same rate.
Meanwhile 46 percent of youth who’d received a sext had shared one, whether by showing it to others in person, forwarding it electronically, or posting it to a public forum. Boys were more likely than girls to have shared a sext.
The study found three main factors that influence non-consensual sharing behaviour:
Gender stereotypes: Youth who agreed with statements such as “Men should be more interested than women in sex” and “A woman cannot be truly happy unless she is in a relationship” were significantly more likely to have shared a sext.
Moral disengagement: Agreeing with statements that justified sharing sexts, such as “Sharing sexts is so common, nobody cares about it” and “If a boy shares a text he received with one friend and that friend shares it, then it isn’t the first boy’s fault”, was strongly correlated with sharing sexts.
A culture of sharing: Together, gender stereotypes and moral disengagement contribute to a culture of sharing among roughly a third of youth who see sharing sexts non-consensually as normal, acceptable and even positive. Parents are encouraged to talk to their children about the moral pitfalls of sharing sexts non-consensually. MediaSmarts has tip sheets and guides on its website to help parents navigate these difficult conversations.
Communication Communique - Annette deBoer ABMK Chair
“The truth will set you free” (Jn 8:32).
Thus began Pope Francis’s message for World Communications Day on January 24, 2018.
Pope Francis reminds us that “We are able to describe our own experiences and the world around us, and thus to create historical memory and the understanding of events. But when we yield to our own pride and selfishness, we can also distort the way we use our ability to communicate….when we are faithful to God’s plan, communication becomes an effective expression of our responsible search for truth and our pursuit of goodness. In today’s fast-changing world of communications and digital systems, we are witnessing the spread of what has come to be known as “fake news”. This calls for reflection, which is why I [Pope Francis] have decided to return in this World Communications Day Message to the issue of truth, which was raised time and time again by my predecessors, beginning with Pope Paul VI, whose 1972 Message took as its theme: “Social Communications at the Service of Truth”. In this way, I would like to contribute to our shared commitment to stemming the spread of fake news and to rediscovering the dignity of journalism and the personal responsibility of journalists to communicate the truth.
The rest of Pope Francis’s message can be found at the link below: https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/communications/documents/papa- francesco_20180124_messaggio-comunicazioni-sociali.html
In order to express only the truth as much as we can, we need to do our part to stop the spread of fake news, and any other hurtful or discriminatory social media posts we see. While not totally fail proof, we can check out https://www.snopes.com/ Snopes.com is known as “the definitive fact-checking and Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.” Even if something is true, take the time to ask yourself if the world will be a better place for having the information spread about or will you just be promoting sensationalism or alarm. Having the means to share information does not always mean we should – remember the saying “God gave us two ears and one mouth, so we would listen twice as much as we speak”!
In the October 2017, the government announced its response to the Report on the Public Health Effects of the Ease of Access and Viewing of Online Violent and Degrading Sexually Explicit Material on Children, Women, and Men. The Link Below takes you to the complete document.
http://www.ourcommons.ca/content/Committee/421/HESA/GovResponse/RP9148083/421_HESA
_Rpt11_GR/421_HESA_Rpt11_GR-e.pdf
The government response includes
Updating the Guidelines for Sexual Health Education
Producing public awareness resources on how to stay safe on the internet
Support for Cypertip.ca (https://www.cybertip.ca/app/en/) a hotline for reporting online sexual exploitation of children
Support for Kids in the Know (https://www.kidsintheknow.ca/app/en/ ) the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s national safety education program
The government will continue to work with providers (tech companies, electronic, software, and browser developers) to assist parents with protecting their children online and
The government will continue to support efforts to block Canadians from foreign based internet addresses associated with images or videos of child sexual abuse.
While this is all well and good, it still does nothing to limit access to adult pornographic sites to those over 18 years of age. The web blog created by Hope for the Sold has a very good analysis of the government’s response (and other good social justice topics) and can be found at hopeforthesold.com (Link below)
http://hopeforthesold.com/5-things-you-should-know-about-the-health-ministers-response-to- pornography/
Alberta Mackenzie Provincial Council is continuing work on the National CWL Resolution 2017.02 Mandatory Age Verification Mechanisms for Adult Pornographic Websites. The Council has purchased 10 viewings of Over 18 - A Documentary About Pornography. Your Diocesan Council will be discussing how to best present this documentary in your areas, to reach the most people.
In addition, a member of Provincial Council has designed a postcard to facilitate action by the CWL and by members of the general public to request the government to enact legislation that requires age verification for all adult pornographic websites. These postcards are available now, for a price of $7.50 per package of 250 ($30 for 1000 postcards) plus shipping costs. Postcards can be purchased by contacting Sister Susan Scott at [email protected] or 780-968-5543 (leave a message if there is no answer). Preferred payment method is by cheque made out to Alberta Mackenzie Provincial CWL.
These postcards are designed with space for a personal message, and can be sent to any member of the federal government. While there are differing opinions as to whether postcards are worthwhile, it is known that a handwritten personal message included makes them more effective; it does not have to be a long message. And if we send, and continue to send, then it is to be hoped that the government will eventually get our message. It is our plan that postcards will also be available for sale at Diocesan and Provincial CWL conventions being held this spring and summer. It might be good to remind the government that mandatory age verification for websites is already being used for online gambling sites – so we know the technology is available and they just need to put the laws in place to take a huge step towards protecting our children.
While we continue to pressure the government for action parents also need to be proactive about speaking to their children about the dangers of the internet and about pornography. Not an easy subject at any time, there is a book available which may help called Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids. It’s a read-aloud book that introduces an awkward topic in a comfortable way, written by Kristen Jenson, who is also the founder of Protect Young Minds, a website dedicated to helping parents empower their kids to reject pornography https://protectyoungminds.org/
Another site that provides a huge amount of information for parents and teachers is Media Smarts - http://mediasmarts.ca/
It may seem that the focus of this standing committee is on electronic media, and that is true because it is the communication tool that has taken over much of the heart and minds of especially our young people, and like so many new innovations, it is growing much faster than our ability to know how it will affect our lives and our communities. On February 1, 2018 Bell Canada used text messages, mobile and long distance calling, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat to raise almost seven million dollars to help support mental health initiatives. Part of their discussion was on how social media has shaped the lives of the first generation to grow up with access to all that technology, and how many new mental health concerns, physical health concerns and social community health concerns have developed over the last 20 years related to the use of “personal devices”.
A communique released by the National Chairperson of Communications, Shari Guinta, at the end of January talks about an article in the Toronto Star that reports that the federal privacy commissioner says Canadians need better tools to protect their online reputations. The article goes on to say that Canadians should have the right to “easily delete information they’ve posted about themselves on social media and have the right to challenge information that’s illegal, inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.” All members are encouraged express their views to the privacy commissioner on personal privacy and freedom of information.
Please remember and encourage your family, friends, and CWL sisters – the best protection for each of us, and our reputations, is to practice internet etiquette and never post anything that we may not want to be viewed by the whole world, and to use the internet safety tools that are available to us (many are free) to protect yourselves while online.
Other online resources to assist in the efforts to combat pornography:
Covenant Eyes http://www.covenanteyes.com – internet accountability software and helpful e-books for download.
Defend Dignity https://defenddignity.ca/ fights against commercial sexual exploitation Fight the New Drug https://fightthenewdrug.org/ articles and videos detailing the
effects of pornography in many areas.
Integrity Restored http://integrityrestored.com/ helps the recovery of those affected by pornography
Strength to Fight https://strengthtofight.ca/ a Canadian website that fights for a porn free Canada.
Will Help Us Protect Kids From Violent Pornography,Mister Prime Minister?
PRIVACY GUIDELINES
| Email Privacy Guidellines.pdf |
| Message for World Day of Communications 2017.docx |
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The videos are part of the comprehensive program – The Parent Network: Social Media and Your Kids – which also includes a downloadable workshop and facilitator’s guide to be used in a community setting. The resources in The Parent Network program were made possible by financial contributions from Bell.
New Videos for ParentsMediaSmarts has created two new videos for parents to help them keep up with their kids’ social media use. Social networks are a great way for teens to make and connect with friends but there are issues parents need to understand. These new resources will help parents support their kids as they explore the online world.The videos offer tips on talking to kids about social media use and issues that can arise; identifying potential safety risks; and establishing good house rules for social media.
New Videos for ParentsMediaSmarts has created two new videos for parents to help them keep up with their kids’ social media use. Social networks are a great way for teens to make and connect with friends but there are issues parents need to understand. These new resources will help parents support their kids as they explore the online world.The videos offer tips on talking to kids about social media use and issues that can arise; identifying potential safety risks; and establishing good house rules for social media.
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The Canadian Coalition Against Internet Child Exploitation (CCAICE) is a voluntary multi sector group of industry, government, non-governmental and law enforcement stakeholders working to help protect Canadian children. You can find out more by visiting (www.cybertip.ca ) Check out the Canadian Centre for Child Protection
(www.protectchildren.ca) for information and awareness opportunities.
(www.protectchildren.ca) for information and awareness opportunities.
"Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today's Young Kids" by Kristen A. Henson & Gail Poyner is a simple workbook to assist parents discussing the dangers of pornography with their children. The workbook is available through Amazon.ca
Pornography Awareness Presentation - available on the CWL National site
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| Your Connected Life Guide: A Teen's Guide to Life Online.pdf |
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