Toronto Pride compromised by Zionism on all-sides

Toronto Pride is plagued with Zionism.

For years internal conflicts have led many to organize in response to pink-washing of Israeli Apartheid. This is the process where oppressors point to homophobic inclinations within the culture they are oppressing as a way to absolve and obscure guilt. It is used to silence the group experiencing oppression in protesting the oppression, even when they are protesting oppression as an LGBTQ issue. It disempowers the oppressed group by forcing a particular interpretation of cultural norms that is not indigenous to the culture.

Zionist pink-washing in Toronto Pride ramped up several years ago to support the exclusion of anti-Zionist queers of color organizers from the festival. Now funding may fall through in what Toronto Pride is claiming is an attempt to exclude the participation of Queers Against Apartheid. But pink-washing is not an option in this case, when many of the targets are other so-called Israeli's. Pride has initiated the Proud of Toronto Campaign (details below) to combat the funding cuts.

The funding cuts come at a time when many disenchanted queer activists are none too excited to swoop in to organize and save the festival. That said, it would be a great loss to the city and the queer community to lose Toronto Pride to the ugly forces of Zionism. First University of Toronto, now this?

The only hope for Pride is the guidance of a well-funded, well-supported organizing leadership that represents the real voices of the queer community in our city. We are indigenous, we are radical, we are anti-colonialist. We are ready for Toronto Pride to win us back.

Or perhaps more realistic is the approach of Queers Against Apartheid, who are abandoning Pride entirely and counter-organizing events during Pride Week publicizing Israeli Apartheid and contesting Israeli pink-washing of their international human rights record.

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Don't let City Council cut funding for Pride Toronto!

This a campaign to ensure that the City will fund Pride. It will also give you additional information about the business case for Pride as well as provide you an opportunity to write a letter to your councillor to tell them that you want Pride funded by the City. Please "like" and share in your networks.

The decision about whether or not to fund Pride Toronto is coming to City Council in April. A campaign has been waged to convince city councillors to vote against this funding. Pride Toronto is being accused of tolerating hate speech although there is absolutely no evidence that this has ever happened. This is an attempt to stop the group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid from participating in the parade. The heavy handed attempt to withhold funding from Pride is an attack on free speech and political expression in the parade, as well as an attempt to censor and control city funded events and programs - a very dangerous road to go down. To find your city councillor's and the mayor's email address go to http://app.toronto.ca/im/council/councillors.jsp. If you want to send your letter to the powerful Executive Committee, go to http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/decisionBodyProfile.do?function=doPrepare&decisionBodyId=262#Meeting-2011.EX5

For more info about the city council vote and the campaign to defund Pride go to http://www.xtra.ca/public/Toronto/On_a_razors_edge-9979.aspx

Proud of Toronto is looking for organizations to sponsor them. If you are an organization that can support the Campaign, please write to them at: info@proudoftoronto.com and let them know.

Maggie's Aboriginal Sex Worker Outreach Project

Thank you again to Chanelle Gallant for joining us on Frequency Feminisms. As promised here is more information about the Aboriginal Sex Worker Outreach Project. You can also visit http://maggiestoronto.ca for lots of great information on programs, services, resources, and events by and for sex workers in Toronto. The Aboriginal Sex Work Education and Outreach Project is by and for Aboriginal sex workers. Together we want to build your power to work safely, have safer sex and safer drug use, use street sense to reduce violence and HIV. We host talking circles, meals, develop resources and other activities and events. To get involved contact Maurganne at ASWEOP@maggiestoronto.ca or call 416-964-0150, extension 2 This project is for street sex workers of all genders and of Indigenous descent.

Needs of LGBT Haitians Largely Ignored in Post-quake Recovery Efforts

(New York, March 28, 2011) Violence and discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people has increased since the January 2010 earthquake, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and SEROvie said in a briefing paper issued today. The paper, The Impact of the Earthquake, and Relief and Recovery Programs on Haitian LGBT People (http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/article/publications/reportsandpublications/1369.html), documents anti-LGBT human rights violations that have occurred since the earthquake.

“UN Agencies, private organizations, and governments must recognize the horrible impact of the Haiti disaster on LGBT people,” said Cary Alan Johnson, IGLHRC’s Executive Director. “While the needs of some marginalized groups are at least acknowledged, LGBT people are completely ignored.”

Perhaps most shocking, conservative religious leaders in Haiti even blame LGBT for the earthquake, leading to increased stigma and violence.

“In the days and weeks after the earthquake, we were shouted at in the streets…you gay people, take your sin and go, you are responsible for this tragedy’” said Reginal Dupont, Program Manager at SEROvie. “Many masisi were attacked, verbally and physically.”

This irrational blaming of LGBT people for natural disasters is a global phenomenon, with conservative evangelicals like Pat Robertson having blamed homosexuality for the devastation of Hurricane Katrina as well as other natural disasters.

The findings detailed in IGLRHC/SEROvie briefing paper are based on more than 50 interviews conducted by IGLHRC and SEROvie in Haiti in April and September of 2010 with LGBT people and representatives of relief organizations, the United Nations and diplomatic missions in April 2010.

The much-needed security, health and community services provided by organizations such as SEROvie - rare enough before the quake - have been devastated and this has compounded the vulnerability of people whose lives were already characterized by secrecy, isolation, discrimination, and violence.

According to Reginald DuPont, SEROvie’s Program Manager, “Our center was a place for LGBT people to relax, obtain services, and find acceptance. The earthquake destroyed our offices, took the lives of fourteen young men, and deprived the community of a safe haven.”

IGLHRC and SEROvie acknowledge the devastation suffered by all Haitians but it is important to note that LGBT Haitians suffered a range of human rights violations, including those related to their right to security, in particular ways. “LGBT people rely on friends, family and trusted neighbors for security,” said Johnson, “The earthquake disrupted regular patterns of movement, scattered friends, families, and neighbors, and damaged or destroyed the doors, windows, and walls that had previously provided some measure of safety.”

As the briefing paper notes, the basic rights of LGBT Haitians were violated in other ways. Interviews with Haitians and international aid workers show how, for example, the well-intentioned policy of distributing emergency food rations to female heads-of-households had the unintended side-effect of excluding many gay men and transgender people living in families without an adult female. Many lesbian women living without male relatives or friends, although otherwise able to obtain food aid, were discouraged by chaotic and dangerous distribution lines.

This increased vulnerability of LGBT people in disasters and emergency response situations is not unique to Haiti, and IGLHRC and SEROvie draw on similar experiences from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the 2005 Hurricane Katrina in the US and the 2010 Chilean earthquake in the briefing paper’s conclusions and recommendations.

“While earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes and other natural phenomena will continue to occur, there is nothing natural or inevitable about the ways in which LGBT people are denied equal access to housing, food and security that could mitigate the impact of such disasters,” said Johnson.

IGLHRC and SEROvie urge the government of Haiti and other governments facing such disasters, as well as donors and aid agencies, to base relief and reconstruction efforts on the respect and promotion of all human rights, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity, and to include LGBT organizations in relief and recovery efforts.

A PDF version of The Impact of the Earthquake, and Relief and Recovery Programs on Haitian LGBT People in English and French is available at http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/article/publications/reportsandpublications/1369.html

Victory in Indonesia!

Following a three-year struggle for union recognition and full bargaining rights, Indonesian workers have won a huge victory in their battle with Nestle. The IUF - the global union federation in the food sector - played a key role in a major worldwide campaign that went under the "Nespressure" slogan. As the IUF stated today on its website,

The agreement, which was initialed by the IUF and Nestlé corporate management on March 28 and signed by the union and local Nestlé management on March 31, sets the stage for the SBNIP to bargain the Panjang workers' collective agreement including the wage bargainingwhich Nestlé management had been steadfastly rejecting for years.

Full details of the victory are at http://cms.iuf.org/?q=node/851

Rights Groups Call on Government to End Abusive Solitary Confinement in Women's Prisons by BCCLA

The BCCLA and other rights groups are calling on the Minister of Public Safety to end the use of the Management Protocol program in women's prisons.

The BCCLA joined with other concerned groups, including the B.C. Union of Indian Chiefs, the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, the John Howard Society of Canada, Prisoners' Legal Services, Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, West Coast Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, Pivot Legal Society, and the Criminal Lawyers' Association, to express its serious concern over the continued use of this controversial program.

The Management Protocol is a program that exists solely in women's prisons. A key feature of the Management Protocol is its use of prolonged and indefinite solitary confinement, which places women in isolation for up to 23 hours a day. There is no judicial oversight on its use. Of the women who have been placed on the Management Protocol, all but one have been aboriginal, strongly suggesting that the Protocol is being applied in a discriminatory fashion.

In the wake of the BCCLA's lawsuit, filed earlier this month, challenging the Management Protocol and the use of prolonged, indefinite solitary confinement, the Correctional Service of Canada informed media that it would be "moving away" from the use of the Management Protocol. "Unfortunately, the Correctional Service of Canada has been claiming that it is 'moving away' from the Management Protocol for years," said Grace Pastine, Litigation Director at the BCCLA. "Meanwhile, women continue to suffer. We
need action, not words. The Management Protocol must be abolished."

In 2009, the Correctional Investigator, the independent ombudsperson for federal offenders, recommended that the Management Protocol be abolished.

The correctional service did not follow this recommendation, but instead stated that it would review its strategy "with a view to moving away" from the Management Protocol. In May 2010, the correctional service again claimed that it would "move away" from the Management Protocol.

"And yet, in 2011, we have still yet to see any true movement away from the program, or from
the use of long-term solitary confinement as an administrative tool," said Carmen Cheung, Counsel at the BCCLA.

The serious harms resulting from long-term solitary confinement are well-documented. It is almost 50 years since Canada passed a Bill of Rights that precludes cruel and unusual punishment and preserves due process; it is almost 30 years since Canada adopted a Charter of Rights embedding those principles into the constitution and guaranteeing them to all people in Canada.

Read the Letter to the Minister of Public Safety
http://www.bccla.org/pressreleases/11Toews.pdf

2010-2011 MIGRANT FARM WORKERS REPORT PUBLISHED

Report finds federal government complicit in Canada’s abuse of migrant farm workers

Canada’s most comprehensive annual report on the challenges facing migrant farm workers has been released. It confirms that abuse and exploitation of migrant farm workers are rampant in Canada’s agriculture industry. The 2010-2011 Status of Migrant Farm Workers in Canada report is published by UFCW Canada and the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA). For more than two decades UFCW Canada has been a leading advocate for farm workers' rights, and in association with the AWA operates 10 agriculture worker support
centres across Canada. The latest report is the seventh released since 2003. The 25-page report exposes federally operated migrant farm worker programs as rife with human and labour rights violations — and those programs are expanding with the assistance of the Harper Conservative government.

Read more (.pdf):
http://www.ufcw.ca/templates/ufcwcanada/images/awa/publications/UFCW-Status_of_MF_Workers_2010-2011_EN.pdf

“No More Stolen Sisters: Safe Shelters, Safe Housing, Safe Services”

* HOW TO SUPPORT:

1) PETITION: Please sign our online petition. We are hoping to gather 5000
signatures in two weeks and need your help to make this happen! Link to
petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/DTESsafe/petition.html

2) ENDORSE: If you are a member of a women’s group, social justice
collective, community centre, union, service organization, or campus
group, we request that you please endorse our three demands by emailing
hwalia8@gmail.com or calling 778 885 0040.

Our current list of endorsers include: Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre,
DTES Power of Women Group, WISH Drop-In Centre Society, Walk4Justice,
Battered Women’s Support Services, Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House,
PACE Society, Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council, Vancouver Status of
Women, Oxfam Canada, No One Is Illegal Vancouver, Vancouver Action,
Council of Canadians, Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and
Solidarity Society, Aboriginal Women’s Action Network, West Coast Legal
Education and Action Fund, Streams of Justice, Franciscan Sisters of the
Atonement, Carnegie Community Action Project, Purple Thistle Centre, W2
Community Media Arts Society, Life Skills Centre , Ending Violence
Association of BC, Portland Hotel Society, Pivot Legal Society, UBC Centre
for Race Autobiography Gender and Age studies, Interfaith Institute for
Justice, Peace and Social Movements, Women Against Violence Against Women,
Aboriginal Front Door

3) WRITE-IN: We are requesting that everyone to please send an email along
the lines of the below to all of the following people in BC Housing, City
Council, MLA’s and MP’s. Email addresses compiled here:

rich.coleman.mla@leg.bc.ca, yourvoice@christyclark.ca,
sramsay@bchousing.org, dmcmann@bchousing.org, MMcNeil@bchousing.org,
gregor.robertson@vancouver.ca,

lranton@vancouver.ca,
Ellen.Woodsworth@vancouver.ca, clrcadman@vancouver.ca,
clrchow@vancouver.ca, clrdeal@vancouver.ca, clrjang@vancouver.ca,
clrlouie@vancouver.ca, clrmeggs@vancouver.ca, clrreimer@vancouver.ca,
clrstevenson@vancouver.ca, harry.bloy.mla@leg.bc.ca,
stephanie.cadieux.mla@leg.bc.ca, mary.polak.mla@leg.bc.ca,
ida.chong.mla@leg.bc.ca, mable.elmore.mla@leg.bc.ca,
Jenny.Kwan.MLA@leg.bc.ca, daviel@parl.gc.ca, Davies.D@parl.gc.ca,
Dhaliwal.S@parl.gc.ca, Fry.H@parl.gc.ca, Murray.J@parl.gc.ca,
Siksay.B@parl.gc.ca, Julian.P@parl.gc.ca, Dosanjh.U@parl.gc.ca

RE: Safe Housing and Safe Services for Women in the DTES

It has come to my attention that for the past two months a coalition has
been raising the urgent issue of women’s safety in shelters in the
Downtown Eastside. I have been dismayed by the lack of response by all
levels of government about the ongoing violence committed against women in
the Downtown Eastside. Sexual assaults against women in this neighbourhood
in particular are normalized and their safety is not considered of highest
priority as we have seen with the ongoing tragedy of missing and murdered
women. This would never be acceptable in any other part of town. I support
the call for a 24 hours drop-in space and shelter for women in the
Downtown Eastside, housing for homeless women and children, and clear
protocols to be established within co-ed shelters.

Sincerely,
(NAME, ADDRESS, CONTACT INFO)

* ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN:

Over the past two months a growing group of women residents of the
Downtown Eastside as well as a coalition of DTES and women-serving
organizations have been raising the urgent issue of women’s safety in
shelters in the Downtown Eastside. This has come in response to a number
of reported sexual assaults in DTES shelters.

We have been dismayed by the lack of response by all levels of government
about the ongoing violence committed against women in the Downtown
Eastside. We have been outraged that all four of our correspondences have
been ignored. We have been shocked that our delegation to BC Housing in
March 2011 was met with a heavy presence of police and we were shut out
from any dialogue on this issue. All this suggests to us that BC Housing
as well as city and provincial officials do not consider women’s safety a
priority within their funded facilities.

Sexual assaults against women in this neighbourhood are normalized as we
have seen with the ongoing tragedy of missing and murdered women. Women
should not have to “choose” between the indignity of homelessness and
being warehoused in shelters, and the high-risk of assault associated with
both. We will not remain silent or complicit and are continuing a
grassroots campaign based on three core demands that we believe can and
should be met in a timely manner.

We are calling for:

1) A 24 hours low-barrier women-only (includes all self-identified women)
drop-in space and shelter in the Downtown Eastside, ideally on Hastings
Street between Main and Jackson. The establishment and operation of this
service should be done through an accountable process including a
transparent call for tenders and in consultation with community
organizations and DTES resident women.

2) Housing for homeless women and children with at least 100 new units to
be made available immediately.

3) Clear provincial standards for women’s safety in co-ed shelters to be
implemented immediately in all existing and new shelters, including but
not limited to:

• Women-only facilities in co-ed shelters with adequate women-only beds
and services within those spaces.

• Women staff and training for all staff by women’s organizations
experienced in issues of sexual and gender violence. Shelter contractors
must demonstrate the ability to ensure safety and security for women
shelter users and all staff must be able to demonstrate an understanding
of gender inequalities that contribute to violence against women.

We are calling on allied groups, communities, and individuals to support
us. Please get involved and spread the word! For more information email
project@dewc.ca or call 604 681 8480 x 234. Website:
http://womensmemorialmarch.wordpress.com/

* BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

- Open Letter to Mayor Gregor Robertson “Women Respond to Sexual Assaults
in Downtown Eastside Church Shelter While Shelter and City of Vancouver
Ignore Reports” http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/newsrelease/6390

- Press Release “Women Respond to Comments by Reverend Ric Matthews of
First United Church; Reiterate Calls for 24-hour Women’s Shelter and Safe
Housing in DTES” http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/newsrelease/6496.

- Press Release “Women’s Action in Downtown Eastside for Women’s Safety”
and Open Letter to BC Housing:
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/newsrelease/6692

* SELECTED MEDIA:

- Video of press conference:
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/video/press-conference-women-respond-sexual-assault-dtes-shelter/6484

- Podcast of Vancouver DTES women’s groups shut out of B.C. Housing
office:
http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/pivot-legal-society/2011/03/vancouver-dtes-womens-groups-shut-out-bc-housing-office

- Women rail against violence in shelters:
http://www.theprovince.com/news/assault+protest/4488619/story.html

- Safe Housing, Safe Shelters and Safe Services for Women:
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/story/vancouver-politics-and-service-provision/6707

- More emergency shelter spaces needed for women, Vancouver council hears:
http://www.straight.com/article-382418/vancouver/more-emergency-shelter-spaces-needed-women-vancouver-council-hears

- Women’s groups outraged over sexual assault comments:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/03/02/bc-first-united-church-sexual-assaults.html

Send an email to Ont party leaders re Ontario Hunger Report

New report from Ont Assoc of Food Banks
**Send an Advocacy E-card to the 3 Ontario party leaders now by clicking on
www.oafb.ca

Please share this with your networks.

Key Facts from Ontario Hunger Report 2010
• 402,000 Ontarians a month were forced to turn to food banks in 2010, up
sharply from 374,000 in 2009
• Since the recession hit in 2008, food bank use in Ontario has grown by
28 percent, an unprecedented increase
• In 2010, 3.1 percent of the Ontario population accessed food banks, making the
province of Ontario the third most intensive user of food bank services, after
Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba
• In an effort to balance fixed incomes with rising costs of living, more Ontario
seniors are turning to food banks to make it through the month – 12 percent of
the adults served were over 65 in 2010, up from 4 percent in 2009.
Seniors also make great use of meal programs offered by food banks

Profile of Food Bank Clients

FAMILY BACKGROUND
• Single adults now comprise the largest proportion of the population served by
food banks – 38 percent in 2010, up from 26 percent in 2002
• Single parent families are the second largest group served -- 30 percent in 2010
down from a peak of 39 percent established in 2003
• Two parent families come third. They accounted for 22 percent of food bank
clients in 2010, down from 27 percent in 2002
• Children and youth under the age of 18 account for 37 percent of the population
served by food banks in March 2010, down from 40 percent in 2000.
• 15 percent of food bank clients were new Canadians (have lived in Canada
less than 10 years) in 2010 down from 29 percent in 2007
• Aboriginal clients also declined over time to 7 percent in 2010

SOURCES OF INCOME
• Most Ontario households using food banks depended on social assistance
(45 percent) in 2010. But this was much lower than the 65 percent in 2000.
• In contrast, the number of households receiving Ontario Disability Program
(ODSP) benefits increased over the decade from 14 percent in 2000 to 23
percent in 2010
• Over 5 percent of the households served relied on pension income, about the
same as in 2001
• Only 11 percent of households had employment income in 2010, about the
same as the early 2000s; access to Employment Insurance (EI) fluctuated
through the decade, hitting a low of 2.6 percent of households in 2008 and a
peak of 5 percent in 2004
• In rural areas (communities under 10,000), 9 percent received EI benefits and
40 percent received social assistance, while 22 percent accessed
Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) benefits

HOUSING
• 64 percent of people served by food banks in 2010 lived in market rental
accommodation; 27 percent lived in social housing. Only 4.4 percent owned
their own homes
• Comparing the Ontario average with rural areas, homeownership was higher
in rural settings (17 percent of food bank clients), but rental accommodation
was lower, at 51 percent in 2010. And more people were living with family or
friends (6 percent rural vs. 2 percent for the province as a whole)

Jacquie Maund
Coordinator, Ontario Campaign 2000
Coordinator, Social Reform, Family Service Toronto
www.campaign2000.ca
www.familyservicetoronto.org