December 13th Show

This week, Frequency Feminisms talked with Sara Vance from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, concerning the forced relocation and subsequent firing of long-time advocate for the homeless, Gaetan Heroux. Heroux faces reprisal for his support of staff at Street Health to negotiate a fair collective agreement even as union busting by Street Health management has pushed the organization to a precarious situation. Vance described some of the work Street Health does with the homeless and under-housed population in south-east toronto and specifically Gaetan’s tremendous contribution for the past two decades. She also talked at length about the community support for Gaetan and for Friends of Street Health.

Contact: Street Health, 338 Dundas St. East, 416.921.8668

We also talked about the ongoing Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen and Canada’s role and culpability in resolving the climate crisis. As a major contributer to the climate crisis, being a developed country and the producer of more than its fair share of carbon emissions. We talked about the impact on developing countries and particularly the gendered and racialized impacts of climate change. We heard an interview originally broadcaste on Democracy Now with activist, Naomi Kline.

Finally, FF-WPR talked about efforts to organize against the 2010 Winter Olympic games in Vancouver and local organizing to appropriately welcome the Torch to Toronto on December 17, 2009. Rally to “Block the Olympic Torch” leaves from North-west corner of College and University on Dec 17 at 5:15 PM.

Music by Faith Nolan