In May 2012, the Mental Health Commission of Canada released its report “Changing Directions, Changing Lives: the Mental Health Strategy for Canada.” I critique the Aboriginal components of this report,
Caledonia, Ontario is near the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve in Southern Ontario. There have been ongoing tensions between the two communities relating to Six Nations land claims. My post deals with a dispute in 2012.
From 1937 to 1941, my mother attended the University of Rochester, where she got a B.A. in Art History. One of the activities at the school was maypole dancing. My mother’s maypole dancing artwork can be viewed in this post.
My father Charles T Peterson (1913-2007) served in the Canadian Army Dental Corps during the Second World War. In 1943, he married my mother. Around 1949, he set up his periodontal practice in London, Ontario. He frequently stressed to me the importance of knowing who you are and where you come from.
My mother invented a baby chair that was used by the Service League of London as a fundraiser from about 1958 to 1967. Museum London has two different versions of this chair in their collection. Poet Colleen Thibaudeau Reaney penned the poem that is on my mother’s grave at the Leith, Ontario United Church cemetery.