{"id":344,"date":"2014-12-24T13:11:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-24T13:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rf.podcastfixit.com\/index.php\/2014\/12\/24\/stepping-up\/"},"modified":"2015-06-01T19:40:41","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T19:40:41","slug":"stepping-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/12\/24\/stepping-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Stepping up"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Joel Ceausu<\/b>
\nwww.thesuburban.com<\/a><\/p>\n

With few exceptions, the stands, galleries and hallways of political venues are filled with gripers, shouters and critics. For many people, it\u2019s easy to lob advice from the safety of the cheap seats. <\/p>\n

But few people ever step up when faced with overwhelming odds, or put themselves out there in service of others and what they believe. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to complain,\u201d says Sherlyn Figueira, whose recent bid for an EMSB council seat is a perfect illustration. <\/p>\n

Helplessness, indifference, apathy and deflection: those were the regularly encountered by the Notre Dame de Gr\u00e2ce mother of four as a school volunteer, governing board member and parent. \u201cIt got me to think a little more about stepping up,\u201d she says, and that\u2019s precisely what she did, running in Notre Dame de Gr\u00e2ce\u2013Montreal West. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was facing this consistent look of helplessness of all facets from teachers to administrators,\u201d she recalls, struggling to make heads or tails of the system to get help for her kids or those of other parents. \u201cIt\u2019s terrible when you don\u2019t know where to turn, or if you do then there is no help there.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone I heard from at the board, including elected officials, spoke through rose-coloured glasses.\u201d Everything is fine; she was told, \u201cThere is never any urgency and were always bigger issues at play.\u201d <\/p>\n

Depressive principle<\/b>
\n
<\/b>
\nShe was stunned by the closure of St. John Bosco school \u201cthat was held together by a community for 50 years,\u201d and equally incensed knowing parents can wait two years for necessary professional assessments of their children\u2019s difficulties, with little choice but to submit to a sclerotic system or shell out thousands from their own pocket, not even a remote option for many. \u201cI realized that the only way to know what was really going on was to roll up my sleeves and find out for myself.\u201d <\/p>\n

She say the Quebec government \u201cdropped the ball\u201d when it came to election registrations, \u201cwhich undermined the English-speaking community…It\u2019s a very depressive principle that here in Quebec we have come to learn to live with and accept so little despite working so hard and paying so much in taxes to all levels of government.\u201d <\/p>\n

So the mother of four, with two jobs took on another tiny task\u2014running for office. \u201cNot easy,\u201d she laughs, \u201cafter a full day at work getting all the kids home, fed, and then heading out to knock on doors.\u201d <\/p>\n

At many of those doors, she listened to people \u201cwho felt disenfranchised, who needed to be heard. It\u2019s our humanity that more than anything else, we all want to be heard. For so many people with kids who have special needs, for so many parents who feel no one\u2019s listening to them because they are not part of the system, well,\u201d she says, \u201cI was going to try and change that by going right through the front door.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI look at American schools\u2014many of which are underfunded\u2014and yet they can still function with a strong sense of purpose and camaraderie that makes kids feel secure, be it around a sports team or sense of community. I don\u2019t think we have enough of that here, and it\u2019s so unfortunate because if there is anything I wanted to convey, it was that we can only survive in this world if we stick together, link arms and be part of the change for the greater good.\u201d <\/p>\n

All in the trying<\/b>
\n
<\/b>
\nThose lofty ideas don\u2019t necessarily jive with the rough and tumble of local politics, which included loaded audiences lobbing hostile questions; local publications bizarrely refusing advertising to non-residents, and the chilling effect of money, even for a school board race.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cI tried to contribute by stepping up to plate while distancing myself from all that negativity. I wouldn\u2019t be good at it anyway; I\u2019m too positive a person.\u201d<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nDespite the breakneck schedule, lack of experience, and strength of her rivals\u2014a popular incumbent; a longtime union leader; and a former teacher, principal and administrator\u2014Figueira earned 915 votes, only 72 ballots behind incumbent Joseph Lalla. <\/p>\n

Yet with all that, plus the extra little legacy of campaign debt, there\u2019s no hint of bitterness or regret in her tone. \u201cIt would have been wonderful to win, but it\u2019s really all in the trying.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can win every battle, but if we all win a bit, we all get ahead. This is how I was raised. Whether it\u2019s for me, my family or my community, I give it my all,\u201d she says. \u201cI think of my children and their future, and I don\u2019t know what other life lesson to give them.\u201d
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By Joel Ceausu www.thesuburban.com With few exceptions, the stands, galleries and hallways of political venues are filled with gripers, shouters and critics. For many people, it\u2019s easy to lob advice from the safety of the cheap seats. But few people ever step up when faced with overwhelming odds, or put themselves out there in service<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nStepping up - Newscoverage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/12\/24\/stepping-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stepping up - Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Joel Ceausu www.thesuburban.com With few exceptions, the stands, galleries and hallways of political venues are filled with gripers, shouters and critics. 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