Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Migrant workers are flipping the script and using Photovoice to tell their own stories

Reena Kukreja, Assistant Professor, Global Development Studies, Queen's University, Ontario 
The Conversation

MAY 8,2022

What happens when undocumented Bangladeshi and Pakistani men in Greece pick up their cell phones to record their lives as migrant agricultural workers?

“This will let the people learn how we live our lives here,” said one of the men, referring to the photos and videos they were taking. For the workers, these serve as evidence of their migrant existence.

COVID-19 and worries about food security have resulted in increased media coverage about migrant agricultural workers, with stories usually told on their behalf. Four sets of South Asian migrant men in Greece wanted to flip the script and tell their own stories.

They used Photovoice, an arts-based social justice tool, to present themselves and their concerns directly to people. This eventually transformed into a travelling multi-media exhibition and a digital archive, This is Evidence.

Long hours, low wages

Each year, thousands of young South Asian men arrive in Greece, Europe’s frontier, often driven by poverty, climate change, political unrest, or ethnic or religioius violence in their home countries. Undocumented and hence “illegal,” they end up in Greece’s agrarian and urban informal economy as flexible workers. Despite 90 per cent of Greek agriculture being dependent on migrant labour, they are paid low wages, face wage theft and are forced to work long hours without breaks.

Since 2017, I have been conducting research with many of these men to study how their “illegality” and restrictive immigration policies shape labour outcomes and the men’s masculine aspirations.

The process behind the exhibition emerged organically as the men used WhatsApp to send me images of their lives. I suggested the use of Photovoice so they could share their lives with a wider audience.

Photovoice is a participant-oriented visual research strategy used to collaborate with socio-economically and politically marginalized populations.

Participants take images of what they consider important and not what researchers wish to highlight. The photos are accompanied by texts that emerge through conversations among Photovoice participants. These narratives are often used to advocate for policy changes.

The unique insider perspective provided by Photovoice makes it highly valuable for cultural mediation and self-representation.

Sharing their thoughts

Three groups of Bangladeshi men employed in the strawberry agribusiness, and one group of Pakistani men engaged in the informal economy in Athens, formed separate WhatsApp groups, including me in each. The groups were active from mid-2018 to late-2021.

They used their phones to take photos, to record video and voice messages about the precarity of life as migrant workers. They also spoke of workplace injuries, sub-standard housing and worker activism for free access to COVID-19 vaccines. The ubiquity of cell phones made it easy to do without drawing attention to themselves.

Through this project, the men were able to communicate with each other and myself using WhatsApp groups as forums for discussion. So their worries about being detained from gathering in one place, combined with unpredictable work hours, did not stop them from being able to document their experiences. This resulted in greater dialogue and collective decision-making.

The rules were simple: permission had to be granted from those photographed and all shared images implied fair use for exhibitions and other methods of awareness-generation.

This is Evidence


Their work resulted in a multi-media exhibition I helped curate. We worked together to select images, videos, soundscapes and plan a replica of migrant shacks from Manolada.

The exhibition, This is Evidence, was thematic, addressing border crossings, backbreaking labour, COVID-19 and activism. Quotes were selected from their voice messages and interviews.

The exhibition premiered in early April 2022 at Technopolis City of Athens. It will move on to Canada to venues such as Kingston, Ont., Toronto and Waterloo, Ont.

While this project engages with a small set of migrant South Asian men in Greece, the visual articulation of their migrant experience resonates with other migrant workers across the world — including those employed under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program in agrarian communities across Canada.

This project challenges the stereotypes of migrant men, often vilified because of their gender identity, race and religion. It also serves to empower by allowing the experiences of “disposable” migrant agricultural workers in Greece to reach a wider audience through multi-city exhibitions and the digital archive.

The men recognize that when it comes to being heard by ordinary people, policy and changemakers, many avenues are closed to them. This is Evidence serves as an accessible mode of communication. By disrupting their “othering,” the men seek to give voice and power back to racialized migrant workers.

 For them, this project is a political act of resistance.

“We participate to get our voice heard. We want change in the way people view us and our plight.”

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.


Read more:


Reena Kukreja receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada - Connection Grant for this work.
Forced to relocate to a flood plain: Manitoba First Nation says protection is overdue



Winnipeg Sun


The marshy delta of Manitoba’s Fisher River was not the original home of Peguis First Nation. But having been relocated there more than a century ago after an illegal land transfer, and facing increased flooding in recent decades, the community is hoping to get some permanent infrastructure for protection.

“We have asked for a diversion (channel). We have asked for ring diking. We have asked for elevated roads … but nothing has occurred,” Chief Glenn Hudson said in an interview from the community that has been swamped again this year.

A reservoir upstream that might hold back water during flooding would be another option, he said

More than 1,400 of 3,500 residents have left the reserve since the Fisher River spilled its banks last week. Most have gone to Winnipeg, 60 kilometres to the south.

Hundreds of homes have been surrounded by water or have been flooded. Residents who have stayed are trying to keep homes protected with sandbags and are ferrying food and people by boats.

Manitoba faces the threat of flooding almost every year. Many communities are protected by dikes, diversion channels or reservoirs. The town of Morris in the Red River Valley, with a much smaller population than Peguis, is one of many with a ring dike that can keep the community dry even when surrounding farmland and roads are submerged.


© David Lipnowski
Rebecca Sutherland, of Pequis First Nation, and Shaine Paul from Red Rose volunteer to sandbag a home at risk of flooding in Peguis First Nation, Man., Wednesday, May 4, 2022.

Hudson, who has been chief for all but two of the last 15 years, said the federal and provincial governments have been in talks about possible permanent flood protection.

It would be less expensive than frequent evacuations and cause much less stress in the community, he said.

Ottawa pays for evacuations and temporary emergency measures, including sandbagging. It also provides compensation after flooding.

The federal government indicated Friday it is willing to look at permanent protection.

“There is a history of flooding in this community and we have some important work to do once we get through this crisis period to talk about the future of supporting Peguis in resiliency efforts,” Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said in Ottawa.

Peguis was originally the St. Peter’s reserve and was situated on good agricultural land closer to Winnipeg. The federal government did a land transfer in 1907 that resulted in the First Nation being moved to its current location.

Peguis has other smaller reserves as well.

The federal government conceded in 1998 that the transfer was illegal. The two sides reached a settlement 11 years later.

While this year’s flooding is the worst in a long time, the First Nation has faced high water and evacuations frequently over the last few decades, most notably in 2009 and 2011. In 2017, when flooding was a non-issue in most of Manitoba, Peguis was still affected and more than 100 people left.

Hudson said drainage improvements upstream since the 1970s have made things worse by allowing water to flow to Peguis more quickly.

“That improvement stops at the south end of our First Nation … and therefore (water) bottlenecks when it comes through.”

The federal government has provided help to flood-proof some of the most vulnerable homes and has cost-shared a study with Manitoba.

“The … study concluded mitigation measures were possible, but would likely cost several hundred million dollars and would likely not prevent all types of flooding,” Matthew Gutsch, a spokesman for Indigenous Services Canada, wrote in an email.

Jay Doering, a flood expert and professor of civil engineering at the University of Manitoba, said a community ring dike for the sprawling area the reserve covers would be costly.

“What probably makes more economic sense is what was done in the Red River Valley following the 1997 flood,” Doering said. “The majority of those homes were put up on pads.”

The 1997 flood — often called the flood of the century — prompted a new requirement that homes and flood defences be elevated to withstand water at least 60 centimetres above the 1997 level.

A dam or other project that could hold back water upstream could also be feasible for Peguis, Doering said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2022.
As La Niña cooled the globe in March, the Arctic was running a high fever



The Weather Network

With the tally of global temperatures complete, last month ranked as the fifth hottest March of the past 143 years. Meanwhile, Arctic temperatures soared far above average.

Across the equatorial Pacific Ocean, the cooling influence of La Niña continues to dominate. As a result, global temperatures have been on the more moderate side so far in 2022, with each month ranking at least in the top 10 hottest in the record books.

March 2022 continued that trend, with the major climate agencies — NASA, NOAA, the Japanese Meteorological Agency, and Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service — ranking it as the 5th warmest month of March since 1880.This graph ranks each global monthly average temperature against the average temperature for each month from 1980 to 2015, putting each into perspective for Earth’s seasonal cycles. March 2022 ranked as the fifth hottest month of March since 1880. Credit: NASA GISS

By comparison, the relative heat across the Arctic is remarkable.

According to NASA, the globe was, on average, just over 1°C warmer than average during the month of March. However, temperature anomalies across the Arctic Circle were among the highest seen across the entire planet, soaring to nearly 7°C warmer than normal for the month.

As La Niña cooled the globe in March, the Arctic was running a high feverHere, NASA's global temperature anomaly map for March 2022 (left) is combined with a graph (on the right) showing the average temperature anomaly based on latitude from the south pole (bottom of graph) to the north pole (top of graph). 
Credit: NASA GISS/Scott Sutherland

This 7°C temperature anomaly is the average computed across the entire Arctic. However, in their latest report, the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) breaks down a much more regional look at the temperature.

"March temperatures were up to 9 degrees Celsius (16 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than average north of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, up to 6 degrees Celsius (11 degrees Fahrenheit) above average in the East Siberian Sea, but up to 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) above average over a wide area," they said.

This warmth took its toll. In March, the amount of sea ice across the Arctic is usually still growing, and typically reaches its winter maximum extent around the middle or in the latter half of the month. However, this year, the extent instead slowly declined during the month.


As La Niña cooled the globe in March, the Arctic was running a high fever
This graph of Arctic sea ice extent shows the peak of 2022 in relation to the past four years and 2011-2012, which was the precursor to the lowest summer sea ice extent on record so far. 
Credit: NSIDC

The maximum for winter sea ice extent in the Arctic was reached on Feb. 25. That is one of the earliest maximums since satellite tracking of sea ice began in 1979. The current record is held by 1989 and 1996, when the maximum occurred on Feb. 24.

While the winter maximum extent gives no indication of what's to come with the September minimum, sea ice across the Arctic is in very unhealthy shape. The amount resilient, multi-year ice has been declining for years.


© Provided by The Weather NetworkAs La Niña cooled the globe in March, the Arctic was running a high feverThe two panels of this image show the age of sea ice across the Arctic in the last week of March, both in 2000 and 2022. Lighter colours represent older ice. The amount of older, multi-year ice has decreased significantly over the past 22 years. Credit: NOAA Climate.gov/NSIDC

When satellite tracking of sea ice began, 43 years ago, the amount of sea ice that survived the northern hemisphere summer covered over half of the area of the Arctic Ocean. This persistent ice, which is mostly located north of the Canadian Archipelago and Greenland, survived year by year, and it was much thicker and stronger than the young ice that formed and melted each year. However, as the maps shown above reveal, global warming has been causing the amount of multi-year ice to dwindle, while the area of younger ice has increased dramatically.

This trend is strengthening a climate feedback loop in the Arctic. Younger sea ice is thinner and thus more vulnerable to being fractured and scattered by storms and wind patterns. More of the dark ocean surface is exposed as this ice breaks up, which allows the water to absorb more sunlight, and thus store more heat. The increase in heat then causes the loss of more multi-year ice, increasing the amount of younger ice, and so on. As this continues, we are getting closer and closer each year to seeing the Arctic Ocean completely ice-free by late summer.

Scott Sutherland -
 Apr 27, 2022
 The Weather Network
Once the slick is gone: New tool helps scientists monitor chronic oil in Arctic wildlife











Jennifer Provencher, Adjunct professor, Department of Biology, Carleton University 

Yasmeen Zahaby, Masters Student, Department of Biology, Carleton University - 


Sunday, May 8, 2022


When we think about the Arctic, most of us think of a snow-covered barren landscape and vast stretches of icy ocean. This is far from the reality of the Canadian Arctic today. With approximately 150,000 people calling it home, this region is certainly not barren.

The Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth. This stark increase in temperature affects wildlife, plants and humans and results in less sea ice, which many predators and hunters use year-round.

The loss of sea ice is also making the North more accessible than ever, thus increasing the probability of major oil spills as ship and tanker traffic multiplies. These spills expose the wildlife to new contaminants, including polycyclic aromatic compounds — the main contaminant in oil spills — which can cause cancer in birds.

This influx of new contaminants in the environment makes it challenging for researchers to monitor their effect on wildlife. After studying ways to monitor the quantity and variety of contaminants in Arctic wildlife, we have created a new tool — ToxChip — to analyze changes in the DNA of animals exposed to oil and solve this challenge.

Increased oil exploration and extraction

Between 1995 and 2015, shipping traffic nearly tripled in the Canadian Arctic due to depleting sea ice. Newly accessible shipping routes, including the Northern Sea Route, cut transit time between East Asia and Western Europe by about 10 days.

As the Arctic contains around 13 per cent of the world’s unexploited oil, the race to claim this precious resource is on. Unfortunately, more extraction and shipping in the Arctic will inevitably lead to more oil spills.

The infamous Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 discharged nearly 37,000 tonnes of crude oil into Alaska’s southern coast, killing over 30,000 birds.

More recently, a fuel tank at a power plant released 20,000 tonnes of diesel into the Ambarnaya river in Russia in 2020.

The main compounds found in oil and petroleum products called polycyclic aromatic compounds, or PACs, can harm birds in the marine environment. When emitted through exhaust or spills, these chemicals make their way into wildlife and plants in the area. They easily attach to fat in animals and can accumulate in them throughout their lifetime.

Birds reveal environmental contaminants

Seabirds are especially vulnerable to the effects of oil, as they feed on the water surface. Oil can coat a bird’s feathers, making them unable to fly or regulate their temperature.

Birds also clean their feathers with their beaks, which introduces oil into their digestive system. Oil and petroleum products also affect birds, causing stunted limbs, reduced breeding and population declines.

In fact, there are documented long-term effects on ducks, whose survival rates were lower compared to non-oiled birds for at least 11 years after a spill.
New technologies can help track contaminants

Each gene in an animal’s DNA contributes to a specific natural function. Some genes are responsible for regulating an animal’s metabolism, while others take care of suppressing tumours. Therefore, if a specific gene is induced after exposure to a contaminant like oil, we can tell what biological processes have been affected.

Changes in an animal’s gene expression — ability to convert DNA instructions into functional products, like protein — can tell us a lot about how it responds to a specific chemical, or group of chemicals. Current methods to measure the contaminants in animals are costly, rely heavily on lab animal use and can only measure the effects of one contaminant at a time.

We have developed a new tool called a ToxChip, which investigates the effects of contaminants on the DNA level in sensitive genes. It can quickly detect changes in the genes of seabirds in response to a contaminant. The ToxChip can be customized to species, contaminants and genes of interest.

So far, we have developed two ToxChips: one for the black guillemot and one for the thick-billed murre. These seabirds nest on rocky cliffs which serve as breeding grounds.

The guillemot doesn’t stray far from its colony and feeds on fish close to the shore. The thick-billed murre, on the other hand, can travel far from the colony and is known for diving deep into the water to catch their prey.

Both species are far from endangered and their colony populations can reach the millions, making it possible to determine the extent to which contaminants are affecting the birds. As these birds are heavily reliant on open-water food sources, an oil spill could quickly be detrimental to the entire colony.

ToxChips can be applied following an oil spill to quantify potential sub-lethal or irreversible damage. Different types of PACs can tell us where they come from. PACs from forest fires will have a different chemical make-up than PACs from an oil spill. This ToxChip data allows us to determine the cause of toxicity to seabirds.

Through a recent use of the ToxChip, we were able to determine the likely effects from a natural oil seep off the coast on Nunavut.

A cheaper, faster and more affordable solution


The future applications of this tool are vast and promising. It can help look at the effects of pesticides on bullfrog’s DNA or the impact of plastic pollution on the biological processes in pink salmon and so on. Species-specific ToxChips can help shape evidence-based policy recommendations or monitoring initiatives that would limit vessel traffic in endangered bird areas during the breeding season.

Monitoring contaminants in wildlife is particularly important to those who rely on local country food. Using these tools can help inform those living in the Arctic if the animals they depend on have been exposed to contaminants.

They can be used as an emergency response to an oil spill. Oil can linger long after the clean-up crews have removed the visible oil from the environment. ToxChips can help understand if seabirds continue to be exposed to oil pollution.

While the tool is still evolving, it has been developed for two seabird species and is being put into practice currently to assess gene expression changes after a large oil spill and at an old military site with known contamination.

ToxChip projects will make contaminant testing more affordable, more accurate, faster and less dependent on lab animals. It could help reduce the impacts of oil pollution on animals in the future.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.


Read more:

Huge sharks, tiny plankton: Exploring the changing Arctic from an icebreaker


Jennifer Provencher is affiliated with Environment and Climate Change.

Yasmeen Zahaby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Blue marshlands store as much carbon as green forests, says study



The Canadian Press

Sunday, May 8,2022

VANCOUVER — Estuaries edged by tall grasses and wildflowers that are home to birds, crabs, tiny fish and other wildlife are more effective than young coastal forests at capturing and storing carbon dioxide, says a study.

The Cowichan Estuary on Vancouver Island captures and stores about double the amount of carbon compared with an actively growing 20-year-old Pacific Northwest forest of the same area, said the recently published study in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

Tristan Douglas, a University of Victoria graduate and lead author, said so-called blue carbon, or the greenhouse gas stored in marine and coastal ecosystems, is different from those held on the land.

He said saltwater estuaries, where fresh water meets the ocean, hold as much carbon as forests even though they represent just a small fraction of the area.

"The plants and algae that grow on the sea floor surface and in the water, they're very efficient at taking carbon dioxide and converting it into organic molecules," he said.

Trees sequester greenhouse gases but they have a limited lifespan, die, decompose and are converted back into carbon dioxide, he said.

In estuaries, Douglas said, carbon is quickly converted into plant-based material, buried in the sediment and becomes oxygen-free just a few millimetres under the surface.

"So, it's very likely that the deposited organic matter won't get readmitted as carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere."

The study said estuaries have far more potential at mitigating climate change than forests, especially because of the threat of wildfires, which send plumes of carbon back into the atmosphere.

"If the carbon that's stored in estuaries is not disturbed, it doesn't have that same risk of being all of a sudden converted back into mass amounts of carbon dioxide," Douglas said.

Waterlogged areas with plants such as salt marsh grasses, sedges, mangrove forests and seagrasses are particularly efficient natural carbon sinks, the study said.

"They capture and store up to 70 per cent of the organic carbon resident in marine systems despite only occupying 0.2 per cent of the ocean surface."

Douglas said the world has lost about 70 per cent of mangroves and about 30 to 40 per cent of all marshlands and sea grasses in the past 100 years, and will lose another 40 per cent if it's a "business as usual approach," in the next century.

The study suggested that human activities have reduced the carbon capture and storage capacity of the 466-hectare Cowichan-Koksilah Estuary by about 30 per cent, equivalent to putting 53 gasoline-powered motor vehicles back on the road.

Eelgrass on about 129 hectares of the intertidal zone has been disturbed by log handling and storage, while about 100 hectares of salt marsh was drained for farming and cattle pasture since being settled by colonists, it said.

Douglas said it is up to policy-makers to make it worthwhile to protect these areas by adopting more sustainable land-use and development practices.

The Cowichan Estuary has traditionally been used by the Coast Salish people and it is an important area for harvesting shellfish, salmon and seaweed, among other things. But since the mid-1800s, the land has mainly been used for agriculture and sawmills, he said.

"A lot of the historical accounts of eelgrass describe it covering almost all of the lower intertidal area, but now it's really relegated to less than a third of where it historically grew."

These estuaries act as a buffer by tempering the incoming tides and mitigating storms, he said.

A number of these areas have been wiped out to protect coastal communities, he said, leaving them no room to adapt to rising sea levels.

"It's pushed beyond its level of natural resiliency," Douglas said.

"They can withstand a lot of gradual change, but things have changed so fast, and they're put through so much stress that they can't keep up with these current land practice uses."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2022.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press
Why mothers hold untapped power in the climate fight
Rachel Maclean - Yesterday 
The Weather Network

It was almost two years ago now when Brianne Whyte vividly remembers standing over her newborn son’s crib and crying.

No stranger to taking climate action, mostly spurred on by feelings of anxiety and dread, she says it was looking at the tiny new life in front of her that really kicked things into high gear.

“We see the impacts of climate change all around us. It's no longer a future problem. It’s impacting us in the now and we know it's getting worse,” the Toronto mother told the Weather Network.

“For parents, particularly, when you see the future that our kids are inheriting, it's terrifying. This is an all hands on deck project. We can't kind of sit back and hope our governments do the right thing, because they haven't been doing the right thing for a really long time.”

After searching the web, Whyte stumbled across a group called For Our Kids that she felt was a perfect fit when it comes to taking action. Eventually Whyte would help launch the Toronto chapter that dedicates most of its time lobbying politicians, curating an online discussion toolkit to talk about the problem, and connecting with other parents facing similar feelings.For Our Kids is an organization of parents, grandparents and allies fighting for climate action under smaller umbrella groups across Canada. The kids pictured here attended the Montreal Action for a Just Transition on March 19, 2022. (For Our Kids/Flickr)

“People are just so happy to find a community of like-minded people where they can talk and kind of gain support and also take action together,” said Whyte.

“I just know that in the future, I need to be able to look at my son and tell him, ‘I did everything I could. I tried.’”

THE MOM FACTOR


Mothers are more powerful than they realize, according to Dr. Melissa Lem.

As president-elect of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), the Vancouver physician’s bio states she is an internationally recognized expert on the nature-health connection.

“My son and the beautiful landscapes in this country are the most wonderful things I've ever seen in my life. And I'm really inspired to protect them,” she said, adding that’s how she got involved in the park prescriptions program for the BC Parks Foundation.


Dr. Melissa Lem stands with her son on Mount Pocahontas
 in beautiful British Columbia. (Submitted by Melissa Lem)

“As a physician, I'm trying to inspire my fellow health-care professionals to prescribe nature to their patients to connect them to nature to both improve their well-being and also inspire them to want to protect the planet.”

And it’s working. The program has motivated more than 6,000 health-care professionals to register to prescribe nature to their patients.

The work was, in part, inspired by an opinion piece she wrote in 2019 for The Narwhal.

“In some ways, I think writing that piece down almost spurred me to take more action because it was concrete. Now it’s a real thing,” said Lem. “I like to think that every time I write a prescription for nature, that I'm doing a little part for the planet at the same time.”

While Lem’s goal is that every province and territory follow the parks prescription initiative, she hopes to also see mothers realize just how powerful their voices are — something she thinks is more prevalent south of the border with highly organized American groups that come with fancy websites and deep pockets.

“It is hard though because often as mothers, as parents, we're doing this off the side of our desks, right? Like, this is not our full-time job. My full-time job is as a family physician, and I do this after my son's asleep or on the weekends or in evenings. So that can be really hard to fit it in. But because it is so important, I think more and more parents and moms are stepping up.”

POWER IN NUMBERS

And there is power in numbers, not only politically but economically too, as women are believed to control a large share of household spending in Canada.

“So when we decide, for example, what kind of stove to buy, or what kind of housing decision to make, or even what kind of consumer goods to buy, what food to feed our families, that has a major impact on the economy within Canada…. We can really wield that power to make sure that the right decisions are happening,” stated Lem.

As a doctor, Lem also suggests parents provide more of a plant-based diet not only for the health of their kids but the environment too.

But swearing off meat has been a touchy subject for some Canadians, especially in Alberta.

TAKING ACTION IN ALBERTA

It’s part of a larger public opinion puzzle that Claire Kraatz, a mother of two, is trying to navigate as she helps launch a new For Our Kids chapter in cattle country.

“It can be a polarizing topic here in Alberta. And there's a lot that goes along with that. So listening will be a big part of it,” she said.


Claire Kraatz has taken up the fight against climate change in Alberta in honour of her two growing boys. (Rachel Maclean/The Weather Network)

After seeing the devastating wildfires in Fort McMurray in 2016, Kraatz felt she could no longer just sit back and be silent.

“I think the health impacts will be quite significant,” she said. “We see it in the summertime with all the fire last summer. [It] was weeks on end.”

Kraatz teamed up with another Alberta mom from Camrose to launch online meetings on how they can best take action.

“She and I teamed up on Twitter and decided it was time for us to do something together and try and rally the troops across the province to join us,” Kraatz said, adding she couldn’t leave all the climate action work to her two teenaged sons — one of whom has a great love for the outdoors.

Since launching in February, the first goal is to build a community of like-minded Albertans and then connect with other environmental groups in the province.


For Our Kids has chapters for parents, grandparents and allies countrywide and organize events like trash cleanups, protests, and marches — like this one in Montreal in March 2021. (For Our Kids/Flickr)

“I needed to get out and talk about it more with other like minded people. So that's what really inspired me,” she said.

Kraatz says they also want to support the For Our Kids campaign to electrify school buses across the county.

“It's happening much faster in other provinces. So if we can highlight the positive things about that, then I would say that would be a success,” she said.

THE PUSH FOR ELECTRIC BUSES

Campaign organizer Ruth Kamnitzer says there are many health and climate benefits to switching to electric buses.

“They're also financially viable in the long run, there's financial savings. And so they're really a great deal all around for schools and for kids,” Kamnitzer said.


One of the biggest For Our Kids campaigns underway is lobbying for electric school buses, which campaign organizer Ruth Kamnitzer says is gaining momentum.
 (For Our Kids/Flickr)

Like many of the moms involved in For Our Kids, she believes the technology is improving everyday for range and operating in cold climates but the fact that children won’t be inhaling diesel fumes while standing near an idling bus is a great place to start.

“If you've ever ridden a school bus as a kid, I'm sure you remember the experience. You know, if you stand next to a diesel bus, you can smell the exhaust coming out. You don't need to be a doctor to realize that's not great for your health,” said Kamnitzer.

Besides advocating for cleaner transportation, the For Our Kids organization is an umbrella group that oversees dozens of volunteers in chapters around the country — connecting generations together looking to take up the fight.

They have also launched a Mother’s Day pledge drive to help raise funds for future battles.

It turns out that climate change isn’t going away in the coming decades, but maybe there will be a brighter future for the next generation if moms realize their power to take climate action.

Thumbnail credit: For Our Kids/Flickr
Great White Sharks Are Making Their Way To Canada & An Almost 1,000 lb One Is Leading The Pack



Canada Edition (EN) - 
Saturday, May 7, 2022

As the weather gets warmer, great white sharks are heading up north to Canada and one that's almost 1,000 pounds is leading the way.

OCEARCH, a shark research organization that goes on expeditions in Nova Scotia waters, tags and tracks great whites as they migrate through the ocean off the coast of Canada and the U.S.

The organization's chief scientist, Robert Hueter, told the Boston Herald on May 3 that Ironbound, a 12-foot-4 great white weighing 998 pounds, is moving north before other sharks in the region.

Most typically, they start to leave southern waters in mid to late May and then usually arrive in northern waters at the beginning of June.

"Ironbound is a bit more of a pioneer leaving early," Hueter said. "He's the leader of the pack and you really don't want to get in his way."

This great white shark is an adult male that was tagged off the coast of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, in 2019, and he's named after West Ironbound Island which is near Lunenburg.

At the beginning of May, he was pinged heading north off the coast of New Jersey and New York.

"He's been through the wars and knows what he's doing by making the move earlier than the rest of them," Hueter said.

Ironbound isn't the only great white that's moving up the east coast of the U.S. toward Canada and you can track their journeys online.

Mahone (13 feet 7 inches and 1,701 pounds), Sable (11 feet and 807 pounds), Ulysses (11 feet and 990 pounds), Tancook (9 feet and 715 pounds), and Breton (13 feet 3 inches and 1,437 pounds) have also pinged further north recently.

Great whites tend to spend the summer and fall around Atlantic Canada.

OCEARCH said it's because the waters are a "feeding aggregation" for the animals before they head down south in the winter!
Another Whale Has Been Spotted Right Near Montreal — Here's What's Happening (PHOTO)

Thomas MacDonald 
mtlblog

A whale was spotted in the Saint Lawrence River near Montreal on May 8, Robert Michaud, president of the Groupe de recherche et d'éducation sur les mammifères marins (GREMM) confirmed to MTL Blog.



© Provided by mtlblog


This is the second whale sighting near Montreal in recent years. In 2020, a humpback whale captivated the city after travelling hundreds of kilometres upriver. Its breaches near the Old Port warmed the hearts of pandemic-weary Montrealers.

That whale was eventually found dead near Varennes.


© Provided by mtlblog
Minke whale in Montreal.Minke whale in Montreal.Alain Belso | Courtesy of the GREMM

This time, it's likely a minke whale, a much smaller species, Michaud told Narcity Québec. It was seen in the Le Moyne channel near Montreal's Île-Sainte-Hélène.

"It is not frequent, but it's normal for animals to move away from their regular range," the GREMM president said.

"It happens to whales as well as polar bears and moose. Often it's young animals that are explorers, disoriented animals or animals that have made a series of mistakes — a bit like us when we get lost in the forest, a series of bad decisions that lead us to places and positions that are very uncomfortable."

He added that it's "difficult to say in the case of this minke whale what brought it here, but one thing is certain: it's not in the right place, it's not good for its health and we hope it decides to return home as soon as possible."

Unfortunately, he said, officials can't do much to turn it around.

"We don't have a safe and efficient way to make the animal go back downstream; it has already been tried elsewhere with no success. Its fate is somewhat in its own hands, and what we're going to do is watch over the navigation."

In the meantime, the GREMM is sending a team to try to take photos and examine the animal. Michaud said it's small and likely young.

Mariners have also been warned of its presence.

According to the NOAA, minke whales can grow up to 35 feet in length.


In 1836, Maria Monk exposed an alleged account of sexual abuse of Catholic nuns and the killing on infants by the clergy in Montreal, Canada. 

However, the book was dismissed by scholars as an anti-Catholic hoax.

Maria Monk - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Monk
Maria Monk (June 27, 1816 – summer of 1849) was a Canadian woman whose book Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, or, The Hidden Secrets of a Nun’s Life in a Convent Exposed (1836) claimed to expose systematic sexual abuse of nuns and infanticide of the resulting children

Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk (1836)

Awful disclosures of Maria Monk, as exhibited in a narrative of her sufferings during a residence of five years as a novice, and two years as a black nun, in the Hôtel Dieu nunnery at Montreal. By Maria Monk; in London.

In the prevailing anti-Catholic atmosphere of early-nineteenth-century America, and fresh after the Ursuline Convent riots of August 1834 in Massachusetts (in which a convent of the Roman Catholic Ursuline nuns burned down by the hands of a Protestant mob), the publication of Maria Monk's revelations of her time at the Hôtel-Dieu convent in Montreal became a sensation. With nuns forced to engage in sexual acts with priests and being locked in the cellar as a punishment for disobeying, the story had similarities to the popular Gothic novels of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Maria also tells of how any babies that were born as a result of these liaisons were immediately baptized, strangled, and buried under the convent. It was from this fate that she wanted to save her unborn child which led her to escape and consequently publish her exposé.

Although the preface claims the events and persons described to be real, after the initial sensation died down some began to question the veracity of Maria's tale. American journalist William L. Stone traveled to Montreal and visited the convent, later writing that the descriptions found in Maria's book bore no resemblance to the actual building. Tales of Maria's past seem to suggest that she had been confined by her mother in a house for fallen women from which she was expelled in 1835 due to her pregnancy. In October of the same year, a New York newspaper announced Maria's forthcoming book which was then published in January 1836. It is believed that the book was not written by Maria herself but either written down or indeed fabricated by one or more of the various clergymen that surrounded her during this time of publicity, such as Reverend William K. Hoyt and Reverend John Jay Slocum, in an attempt to make money through the sensational narrative. When or how she had come to meet these men and how much influence they had over her is unknown, as is the truth of the narrative found in her book or indeed anywhere else regarding Maria's life or character.

For a great list of various editions of the book and related material - including Maria's "sequel" and an affidavit from Maria's mother) - see this great page from the University of Penn Library.

TRICK OR TREAT? THE AWFUL DISCLOSURES OF MARIA MONK (1836)


by Tasha Jones | Oct 16, 2018 | Articles, Books, Montreal 

|

“Mr Bloom turned over idly pages of The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, then of Aristotle’s Masterpiece. Crooked botched print. Plates: infants cuddled in a ball in bloodred wombs like livers of slaughtered cows. Lots of them like that at this moment all over the world. All butting with their skulls to get out of it. Child born every minute somewhere. Mrs Purefoy.” (Ulysses)

When it was first published in 1836, The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk caused a literary and religious storm in Montreal, and abroad. Why? Because the book was purported to be a real account of a young woman’s trials as an ‘inmate’ of Montreal’s Hôtel Dieu nunnery.

In the book, Maria claims that she and the other nuns (‘black nuns’ as she calls them) were systematically raped by the Catholic priests who lived next door to the nunnery. Any child born of these rapes was immediately baptized, strangled, and then buried in the cellar of the nunnery and covered with lime.

Maria also confesses to participating in the murder of a young nun who refused to kill a newborn baby. As a punishment for her disobedience, the nun was forced to lie down, and a mattress was placed on top of her. Priests and the ‘black nuns’ jumped on the mattress until the young nun was crushed to death, and her body was buried in the cellar.

But is the story real, or a publishing hoax?

And who was Maria Monk?

According to her Wikipedia entry, Maria Monk was a Canadian woman born on June 27, 1816. It’s possible that Maria suffered a head injury as a child, and she may have spent some time living in an asylum. A fellow patient in the asylum, with whom Maria may have been friends with, was supposedly a nun. Did Maria receive her ‘source material’ from her?

It’s also claimed in the entry that Maria spent seven years living in a Magdalene asylum. Did she use that experience as a reference for her text? Or was she used by her publisher who hired a ghost writer to pen the book?

Maybe Maria is the book’s author and she was an ‘inmate’ of the nunnery?

As it turns out, Maria’s story was debunked and the book is now considered a hoax. Perhaps this is one of the earlier examples of fake news?

Of course, I read the book because of its appearance in Ulysses. Leopold Bloom gets it for his wife Molly, but she wasn’t too impressed with it, unable to even remember the title:

“should we tell them even if its the truth they dont believe you then tucked up in bed like those babies in the Aristocrats Masterpiece he bought me another time as if we hadnt enough of that in real life without some old Aristocrat or whatever his name is disgusting you more with those rotten pictures children with two heads and no legs thats the kind of villainy theyre always dreaming about” (Ulysses)

The Awful Disclosures is not a page-turner by modern standards, but it has its charms. Although it’s hardly salacious, and lacks any detail about the sex crimes, it was still interesting to read about the tediousness of life in a nunnery. Go figure. The most shocking thing to me was that anyone would willingly sign up for a life of unremitting drudgery, constant supervision, and endless prayer and fastidiousness to religious patriarchy.

Upon taking the veil, Maria dies a symbolic death by lying down in a coffin, and from that moment on she has vowed complete obedience to the nunnery, and the male-dominated Catholic church.

Her reward? To be gang raped later that night by three priests. This, with the approval of the Mother Superior.

If you’re interested in browsing through the book yourself, it is available for free at Project Gutenberg, and despite its faults, the content is still relevant and spooky, especially during this time of year.




MARIA MONK.

Boston Pilot (1836-1837), Volume 2, Number 33, 13 August 1836 IIIF Collection Link

We would direct the attention of our readers to the following extracts from those liberal, talented, and spirited papers, the New York Transcript and New Hampshire Patriot, in reference to the gross and groundless falsehoods parroted forth, from the instructions of her clerical keepers , by that modern Messalina, Maria Monk. The testimony of several respectable Protestant Clergymen, who have lately visited the Convent at Montreal, and who are about publishing the results of their observations and enquiries, will certainly fasten disgrace and dishonour on the clerical fanatics who enjoyed the criminal and libidenous favours of that infamous creature. p. Maria Monk’s Awful Disclosures. We perceive by the Montreal papers, that the inspection of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery in that city, proves that the Disclosures are a tissue of falsehoods, as far as regards the localities of that religious house, and that it is quite certain that this woman could never have been an inmate of it. It is disclosed, moreover, that she had resided at one time in a sort of Magdalen Asylum in Montreal, for penitent prostitutes, and that the names of the pretended nuns introduced by her into her work, were actually those of certain of the frail sisterhood who were in the asylum at the very period she inhabited it. The “ Refutation” will appear forthwith, and when it sees the light, we will give an analysis of it to our readers. Since writing the above we have been favoured with an inspection of the manuscript copy of the “Refutation,” and the pieces justifcatives appended thereto in the form of a mass of affidavits, the most important of which are those of the gentlemen who visited the interior of the Hotel Dieu nunnery, to compare it with the description given by Maria Monk. Among those were the Rev. Mr. Curry, Corresponding Secretary of the Home Missionary Society ; the Rev. G. W. Perkins, Pastor of the American Presbyterian Church; the Rev. Henry Esson, Pastor of the Scotch Presbyterian Church; Benjamin Holmes, Esq., Cashier of the Montreal Bank, Justice of the Peace ; John Ostell, Esq., Architect and Surveyor; and John Jones, Esq., Editor of the Ami du Peuple Newspaper. — All these gentlemen declare that there is not the slightest resemblance between Maria Monk’s description, and the buildings and vaults; and that had any alteration been made since the publication of the book, it would have been necessary to alter it from summit to foundation. Nothing can be more complete than the sworn evidence of these gentlemen, who are among the most respectable in the British Provinces. There are also affidavits of James Ray, so frequently mentioned in the “Disclosures;” Maria

Howard, Miss Reed, and Jane McCoy, who were repentant prostitutes in the Magdalen Asylum at the time Maria Monk was there; andjalso of various persons with whom Maria Monk" lived during the period she states that she was an inmate of the nunnery. The work will be ready in a fortnight, and will be issued by, one of our respectable publishers. We, therefore, consider this most impudent humbug as being most satisfactorily exposed. A little time was necessary for this conclusion ; anti that time has been so employed as toj bring’ conviction to the minds 'of the most bigoted and credulous. [N. Y. Transcript. Maria Monk’s “Awful Disclosurf.s.’’ A further examination of the affidavits about this woman’s impostures, discovers the fact, that the account she gives of the interior of the nunnery act.oids with the localities of the female penitentiary in Montreal, superintended by Mrs. McDonnell ; ‘that the conventual discipline she relates, is in some degree copied from that which prevails in that institution ; and that Louis Malo a constable of the Court of King’s Bench, is the real father of her child. Is it not an extraordinary instance of the credulity of the public mind, that upwards of 25,000 copies of such ridiculous trash as Mr. Theodore Dwight’s rifacimento of a strumpet’s lies, should have been sold, and that a feeling of indignation and abhorrence should have been so excited against a religious society so excellent, exemplary, and universally respected as the Sceurs de Charite of the Hotel Diet] hospital foi the sick and infirm ? [N. Y. Transcript. From the New Hampshire Patriot. Maria Monk:—again. As the editors of the different religious papers in this State (we regret to say without a solitary exception to our knowledge,) have avowed their belief in the monstrous and abominable legend published to the world as the narrative of this abandoned woman, but, in reality invented by an artful and designing cabal at New York, and written by Mr. Theodore Dwight, the public cannot fail to be interested in whatever is calculated to establish or impeach the veracity of the “Awful Disclosures,” since it will equally serve to strengthen or diminish their confidence in the candour, Christian charity, sound judgment, and unerring discretion of the religious'press. They will accordingly be pleased to learn that measures have been instituted by the ecclesiastical authorities of the Roman church, such as are calculated to satisfy all of the truth or falsity of the pretended revelations of horrors and abominations. The Bishop of Montreal has named a committee to examine and report upon the alleged disorders of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery, the pretended scene of Maria’s imprisonment and suffering; with whom a Protestant clergyman is joined in order to remove the slightest opportunity for questioning the fairness and impartiality of the investigation. In announcing this arrangement, the N. Y. Transcript enumerates the following reasons why its editor—by the way, one of the most talented, best informed, and most unprejudiced in that city—entertains no doubt of the issue: “ In the first place, to every unprejudiced and reasoning mind, the book itself was its completest refutation, and the character of the authoress, as given by herself, was sufficient to destroy her reputation for truth. VVe happen to be well acquainted with the localities, and with most of the gentlemen whose names were introduced ; and from what we know of them, from the position of some, and the peculiar circumstances of others, we were morally sure, that the affair was a fabrication. In the next place, we had many conversations with respectable Protestants from Montreal, who expressed their utter disbelief of the entire story, and who informed us of sundry events in the life of the authoress, quite sufficient to shake the belief of the most enthusiastic in the horrors of her tale ; the ignorance of the female whose recital was embodied by another, was also a suspicious circumstance, as the art of book making is now pretty well understood, and this publication was immediately followed by another of a more revolting character still, from the pious press of Leavitt, Lord & Cos.; and lastly, from the fact that she was disavowed by her mother and brother, who declared the whole story a fiction, and the relator a disgrace and a misfortune to them. When she came out with her charges against the Catholic clergy of Canada, she must have made up her mind, that her own character would be scrutinized, and ‘ her pedigree looked into for on the good character of a witness depends his or her credibility. This test has not redounded at all to the advantage of the good fame of the person on whose credibility depends the stability of the ingenious legend named ‘Awful Disclosures,’ which title might more appropriately be affixed to the developments recently made in Montreal respecting her. It appears to have been ascertained that a constable of the Court of King’s Bench there, (whose name we have) has discovered that she was at one time an inmate of a licentious house in the suburbs, and that on one occasion she figured at the criminal bar for pilfering. The Catholics. The last Monitor contains an excellent article on the course which certain religious bigots are pursuing towards the Catholics in this country. The spirit and sentiments it contains are such as will commend it to every liberal, enlightened Christian and patriot, and should put to the blush the bigotry and knavery which stoops to the grossest falsehoods, knowingly and wilfully, in order to prostrate a sect who manifest in their lives as many of the Christian virtues, and as much perfection, as any other in the land. We shall transcribe the article to our columns. [New Hampshire Patriot. Patriotism. The Presbyterians and their associates from some of the other churches, sent no invitation—or, in other words, would not permit the children of Unitarians and others, to walk in the Sunday School procession, at Louisville, on the fourth of July. We have not heard, for some time, of a meaner exhibition of sectarian animosity. On the national anniversary of our liberty, when every heart should be grateful—when the sight of our country’s flag, associated as it is with such proud recollections, should have gladdened the bosom of every patriot in the land to see a line of distinction drawn upon that day, between the children of our citizens, was indeed a pitiful proceeding. What a bright example was this for the rising offspring of our country, what an effectual method to fill their hearts with love for one another, from which, when grown into manhood, they would not depart! Had Catholics been guilty of such conduct, what a cry would be raised throughout the land—what appeals to patriotism, what love of country would be professed, what a horror for the Pope, Prince Metternich, and the emperor of Austria! Whenever Catholics have been proved guilty of such conduct as this, then, indeed, let( them be denounced ns traitors. [Catholic Telegraph.]

 ITDR. JOHN S. BARTLETT, No. II Atkinson Street.


“Awful Disclosures”
— But No Longer Unbelievable
Maria Monk Reconsidered


In the light of modern revelations and nunsploitation movies, 19th Century tales of immorality and crimes in Roman Catholic convents appear far less fantastic.

IN 1836, a controversial book exploded upon the scene like an artillery shell, written by a woman who had supposedly fled the revered Hotel Dieu nunnery in Montreal, Canada. It bore the title, Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, or, The Hidden Secrets of a Nun’s Life in a Convent Exposed! The book immediately touched off an acrimonious firestorm of wild polemics with its sensational allegations. And no wonder — for the author, “Maria Monk”, claimed that in the many years that she had been enclosed there in the cloister of the “Black Nuns,” as the sable-clad Sisters of Charity were called, she had witnessed or been subjected to a number of horrific crimes and abuses.



The nun’s tale



Priests, Monk claimed, under the pretext that such godly men could not sin, regularly used nuns for sex in a private room reserved for “holy retreats.” On the very day she took her solemn vows, she said that she herself had been forced to have intercourse with three priests, and once again with the first for good measure. More on that later.

Monk said she had personally witnessed an offspring from such a union being immediately baptized after birth, nonchalantly suffocated, and tossed into a pit of lime in the basement (where there were presumably others), with acid later added to dissolve the tiny corpse. A ledger she found in the Superior’s office listed many more.

At the mere whim of a superior, disobedient or recalcitrant nuns were severely disciplined with punishments that ranged from petty annoyances up to Inquisition-like torture. In dark cells in the cellar near the pit, several sisters were imprisoned for unknown sins apparently for life. Nuns would disappear in the night for no known reason never to be spoken of again; Monk firmly believed some had been murdered. Suicides were also not unrumored.

All of this took place in a forbidding atmosphere of medieval despotism, where the only thing expected of a nun was silent, unquestioning obedience. Superstition ruled supreme — hair and nail clippings of an elderly nun thought to be holy were prized as relics, for instance. Bizarre penances, such as drinking the Superior’s foot-bath, were often imposed and strange rituals were frequent. Nuns, for example, would be placed in their coffins upon taking their vows to show they had died to the world, and then propped sitting up in church after they died to show they now lived in Heaven.

Meanwhile in this hell on Earth, the sisters were expected to constantly spy on each other and inform the Mother Superior of any defects, disobedience, or independence in themselves or others. Yet lying to outsiders was encouraged insofar as it would further the faith — especially if it brought in wealthy new recruits.

The aftermath


According to her own account, having become pregnant, she escaped, and told her story to a Protestant minister at a hospital for the poor in New York. He persuaded her to tell her story to the world.

At any time, such outrageous charges would have sparked an outcry; in the jostling pandemonium of pre-Civil War America, they touched off an immediate conflagration of bombastic claims and counter-claims. For this was the era of the “Know Nothings,” stridently anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic nativists. Even before the Potato Famine brought starving hordes of Irish over, these men feared the influx of Roman Catholics as a sneaky invasion of papists determined to subvert the liberties of free, white Protestants and take over the country. Catholic apologists instantly saw that Monk was a tool being used by Protestant nativist agitators and fought back vigorously in kind.

It was quickly realized that proof of Monk’s story hinged on the existance of certain secret entrances and passages built into the nunnery. She had described these in detail, showing how a priest could gain entrance to the cloister unobserved at any time, day or night, with secret signals so he did not have to mention his name or even speak a word. Like the much later controversy surrounding the McMartin Preschool, a Col. William Leete Stone found no signs of such secret passages in the Hotel Dieu during a brief inspection and after interviewing her, was convinced she had never even been there. This finding, along with the story that she was a actually a prostitute, had been in an asylum, and died in prison as a pickpocket, was loudly trumpeted throughout the press, and Catholic propagandists triumphantly labelled her an imposter and hoaxer to this day.

But was she? She was not the only former nun to break silence at that time; shortly before Monk, a woman named Rebecca Reed came out with similarly horrid tales that led a mob to burn her former convent in South Carolina. Famous ex-priest Charles Chiniquy, himself a French Canadian, spoke out about many clerical abuses in Montreal several decades later. Maria Monk herself countered the claims of Stone in the back of her book with statements of nearby residents attesting to unexplained building supplies for interior alterations at the Hotel Dieu that happened shortly after she first spoke out in the newspapers.

In the Preface she implored,

Permit me to go through the Hotel Dieu Nunnery at Montreal, with some impartial ladies and gentlemen, that they may compare my account with the interior parts of the building, into which no persons but the Roman Bishop and Priests are ever admitted: and if they do not find my description true, then discard me as an imposter. Bring me before a court of justice — there I am willing to meet [her detractors] and their wicked companions, with the Superior, and any of the nuns, and a thousand men.

This, needless to say, never happened and Maria Monk is nowadays remembered only with derision. Despite the fame, or rather notoriety, her life ended tragically. She lost credibility by running off again, falsely claiming she had been abducted by a gang of priests. She may have been married briefly, but in any case had another child, was arrested for pickpocketing, and died in poverty in an almshouse in 1839 (although some sources say 1849).

Her testimony


But for someone out to boldly defame the Catholic Church, she went about it in an odd manner. The tone of the book is anything but lurid or sensationalistic; she knew the gravity of what she was claiming, and related her story quite calmly and rationally throughout. It is certainly not titillating. While using florid Victorian language about her feelings concerning the “debased characters” of the priests who had access to the convent and its inhabitants, Monk showed great circumspection in discussing the actual abuse.

This, for instance, is all she had to say about what happened after she took her vows:

Nothing important occurred till late in the afternoon, when, as I was sitting in the community-room, Father Dufresne called me out, saying, he wished to speak to me. I feared what was his intention; but I dared not disobey. In a private apartment, he treated me in a brutal manner; and, from two other priests, I afterwards received similar usage that evening. Father Dufresne afterwards appeared again; and I was compelled to remain in company with him until morning. [Emphasis added.]

I am assured that the conduct of priests in our Convent had never been exposed, and it is not imagined by the people of the United States. This induces me to say what I do, notwithstanding the strong reasons I have to let it remain unknown. Still I cannot force myself to speak on such subjects except in the most brief manner.

And indeed, she was true to her word. Far more space in her book was devoted to the daily life of the nuns. More space is even allotted to the antics of “mad Jane Ray M’Coy”, who helped her survive, than all the discussion of the wicked doings of the priests and her superiors.

In an age so famously reticent to speak of sex this was natural perhaps; surely quite different from the explicitly detailed confessions gloried in today. For many survivors of such cult-like abuse, however, often the only way it can be talked about is in such an unemotional, matter-of-fact manner as Monk. It is too painful otherwise.

The wrath of God’s wives

It is indeed strange that many people who are willing to ascribe any degree of wickedness to male clergy have a strong denial about female religious. Among victims and survivors that I have talked to those who had been molested by nuns seemed to bear a special burden, perhaps because of this. Yet, as every veteran of parochial schools has at least one story about mean or crazy sisters, a certain recognition of it exists in popular culture.

Undeniably, the best reason to reconsider Maria Monk’s claims is based on modern revelations of victims and survivors of clergy sexual abuse. Reports in recent years have detailed extensive and global abuse of nuns by priests, which the Vatican has vigorously denied. Nuns, especially in Africa, have been even more vulnerable than before as they are deemed to be safe from AIDS.

It may be significant that Canada has unfortuntely been one of the major epicenters of these scandals. Since the late 1980s, there has been one grim exposure after another of abuse and neglect of children in Church-run institutions on a massive, institutional scale, beginning with the Mount Cashel Orphanage run by the Christian Brothers in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and extending through one institution after another across the entire country.

Thousands of children over decades at Mt. Cashel and in similar facilities were subjected to foul food, severely beaten with belts and fists on a regular basis, and occasionally sodomized. A film, The Boys of St. Vincent’s, effectively dramatized the situation, but was banned in Canada after its first showing.

Then there are the so-called “Duplessis orphans”, some 3,000 children who were condemned to be treated as retarded simply for the higher rates the government would pay for their care. Indian children were treated even worse, if that’s possible, in Church-run residential schools. Two nuns, for instance, members of the Sisters of Charity, have been charged with assault at a residential school in Ontario. However, this abuse occured not just in Catholic schools, but also those run by Anglicans, Presbyterians, and the United Church of Canada as well. The recompense due to the Native population from this legacy of abuse may soon lead to the bankruptcy of the entire Anglican Church of Canada.

All of these innocents were victimized by an unholy bargain between the Church and the Canadian state, where the Church took charge of orphans and the underprivileged with the blessing of government grants and virtually no oversight — a situation already begun in Maria Monk’s day. (To which I say, thank God for the Masonic Founders of the US and the separation of church and state!)

The Sisters of Charity also figure in scandals in Ireland and in Australia. In Ireland, a Sr. Dominic of the Sisters of Mercy not only molested a 10-year-old girl, but also held her down to allow “a smelly vagabond” rape the child. Such cases are not common, but they do exist.

In Australia, war orphans sent from England were subjected to such abuses by the nuns as being burnt with a red-hot poker during an exorcism, locked in underground cells, scalded in boiling water, and so on in some of the worst atrocities ever said to be described there. “Madness, ruthless and sadistic madness, on the part of at least some of the nuns, and a depthless depravity on the part of some of the men who inhabited the place, are the defining characteristics of some of those who ran the orphanage,” Professor Bruce Grundy, the author of a report for the government, exclaimed. “There was no limit to the sexual deviance that could be engaged in with those unlucky enough to find themselves singled out as ‘the chosen ones’.”

He began his investigation, by the way, after police failed to find evidence that stillborn babies and children who died from disease were buried in unmarked graves. One can only wonder how these stories get started.

But, knowing the depravity that human nature is capable of, can anyone today claim in good conscience that Maria Monk‘s story could not be true? I doubt it.


The first victim



Illustrations from an Anti-catholic tract.
Top: "A Nun Stabbing a Priest," Middle: "Death-Pit — Trap Door — Cell," Bottom: "The Smothering of the Nun."


It is time, I believe, for her name to be rehabilitated and her courage recognized and honored. Whether crazy or an imposter, Maria Monk was the first voice to speak out for North American victims of clergy sexual abuse, and paid the price for it. She was roundly reviled for her efforts. Even if she became a madwoman, pickpocket and a prostitute with several illegitimate children, it does not indicate her story is not true but more likely the opposite, for many victims of abuse come to unfortunate ends, especially if scorned and disbelieved. Certainly her verbal maltreatment by the mouthpieces of the Church after she spoke out is similar if even more severe than what many later survivors have faced.

With such factual horrors having been proven by government commissions and courts of law, the claims of rampant abuse and crime by Maria Monk do not sound so wildly extravagant anymore. Even the charges of infanticide which moderns find most revolting might look entirely different to those women who lived in medieval gloom before the invention of contraception.

After all, the Roman Catholic Church opposes such measures as abortion partially because it believes the soul of the infant, if unbaptized, will not be allowed into Heaven due to Original Sin. At least, the nuns might say in their deluded self-justification, their babies, being brought to term and baptized, were guaranteed an eternity of happiness, unlike today’s aborted fetuses forever doomed to Limbo, whatever that means. Their sins, they would claim, were thereby the lesser.

In any case, Maria Monk never claimed all nunneries were corrupt, but only spoke of her own experiences. But hers was not the only one so debased, and conditions have not necessarily changed for the better. A decade ago I listened in pity and horror along with several hundred other people at a conference as an elderly woman softly told her story. She had, at her quite advanced years, recently quit Regina Laudis, a wealthy convent, related somehow to the Benedictines and Sisters of Mercy, based on an island off the East Coast. Among other things, she claimed that the order stole land, duped recruits and supporters, and led by several shady confessors, advocated Eucharistic meditations for the sisters that were overtly autoerotic fantasies. Her complaints to the ecclesiastical authorities brought no relief but only harsh discipline for herself, and so she was forced to leave in protest.

Whether either her tale or that of Maria Monk is true or not, how can any of us on the outside ever know for sure? The lives of those women behind the cloister’s forbidding walls remain as insulated from the world today as if they were in a Dark Age harem.

Empty convents


Ironically, Maria Monk’s ultimate revenge lays not so much in reform but in extinction. It is not generally realized that many more nuns than priests have quit since the Second Vatican Council. Roman Catholic orders of female religious are withering away as their members grow old and are no longer replaced. Figures show that in the US there are only half as many in 1994 as there were in 1965, and the average age of a nun is now over 65.

The reason for this mass exodus may not be that the modern outside world is so glamorous. Perhaps it’s because the cloister is not that mysterious but cozy refuge portrayed in those old Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman movies any more than the priesthood is.

In reality, a convent is more like a prison, the uncomplaining inmates of which the Church has ruthlessly and thanklessly exploited throughout two millennia. Only those women who have actually been there can say if any of these disturbing tales are true, if a nun’s life is indeed worth such sacrifice. It should be noted that once Vatican II threw open the doors, many of these inmates have spoken, silently but eloquently, with their feet.

And so the cloisters’ silence deepens. The halls do not echo much anymore with the nuns’ whispered secrets or their footsteps hurrying on unknowable errands, but the mystery remains.
Links


The Nuns' Stories: Vatican Condemned for Abuse of Nuns by Priests

Awful Disclosures — the entire text in .gif and .pdf format

Imposters — from the 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia