June 20th

Today FFWPR looked at some of the organizing against the G8 and G20. We covered the issues that activists wishing to protest the G20 would like to highlight and we covered the recent press conference organized by the Toronto Community Mobilization Network about their work and organizational structure. We played the following clips:

• Resist the G20
• T.C.M.N. Press Conference Part 1
• T.C.M.N. Press Conference Part 2

We also covered the 2010 People’s Summit, discussing the issues that were brought up during the weekend in over 500 different sessions with Summit organizer, Maria and we talked with Sharmeen Khan from T.C.M.N about the network, its objectives and goals, organizing structure and action plan.

June 6th

We covered Black Music Month and played the Following talk by Angela Davis:

How Does Change Happen

May 16th

Today, we spoke with Anna Willats, a long-time community activist and organizer about the gender justice resistance to the G8 and G20 summits coming to Toronto in June (June 25-27). Anna discussed the need for organizing that reflects the concerns of women, queer and trans peoples and takes an intersecting view of gender, race, class etc. The organizers are focusing on a number of issues, including but not limited to:

· Recent decisions by the Harper Government to refuse to fund maternal health which has to do with abortions for women in the developing world, thus inflicting hardship on thousands of women and effectively polarizing the discourse on maternal health at the G8 and G20.

· The personal and structural violence faced by indigenous women (500 missing and murdered indigenous women, the violations of the Calona Accord etc).

· The impacts on poor and working class women through cuts to welfare including the special diet.

· The violence emdemic in the immigration system along with its gendered impacts wherein women who already face life-threatening situations in their countries of origin are further disempowered within our immigration and refugee system either through sexual and financial exploitation or by deportation to countries where their lives are put at risk.

· The negative consequences of the encroachment of the mining industry on native communities and lands.

· The impacts of global and national policies on communities of women around the world and in Canada...

This grassroots group of feminists is working under the umbrella of the Toronto Community Organizing Network. They seek to empower women on the ground to undertake creative actions that will challenge the foundations of capitalism and globalization with a focus on the impacts on women, queer and trans people.

The group is still in the planning phases and would encourage everyone’s involvement. Please come out to the next organizing meeting.

When: May 20, 2010 at 6 PM

Where: 17 Pheobe street (closest intersection is Queen and Spadina)

Note: the space is accessible and child friendly.

The group, although a loose and informal network, brings together womyn and trans people from a number of different struggles including pro-choice, migrant justice, mining justice, worker rights, and other movements.

For information, drop Anna a line at awillats@sympatico.ca or visit the following website:

G20.torontomobilize.org

We next spoke with Daniella who is in Toronto as part of the Mining (in)justice conference held in the city last weekend (May 7-9). The conference was comprised of a number of workshops and caucuses and was a way for the impacted communities to band together and form global alliances as well as to draw attention to the devastating impacts of mining industries at home and abroad and raise the consciousness of Canadians. She is a representative of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos peoples. She talked at length about the impacts (environmental degradation and human rights violations as well as police repression) that are constant features of mining projects. She pointed out the role of Barrick Gold, New Gold and Gold Corp all of which are headquartered in Canada and all of whom are responsible for the exploitation of indigenous peoples and their lands. She also described the various ways in which Barrick Gold strives to present an image of being a philanthropist and paints the company as a agent of economic development and progress. She talked about programs offered to the local people, especially the women, who are then coopted and used by the company as spokespersons for the benefits of mining enterprises. She referred to this as the creation of a parallel culture which alienates the local people while coopting the few. For the people of the Diaguita Huascoaltinus, this has meant the division of this farming community and the start of the process of environmental degradation. More information can be found here. Visit protestbarrick.net for updates and to follow the activities of mining corporations and those who resist their encroachment.

May 30th

Janet Hatcher Roberts is the executive director of the Canadian Society for International Health, where she has overseen the design and implementation of global health systems strengthening projects since 1997. She is also the co-director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Technology Assessment, Knowledge Translation and Health Equity with the Centre for Global Health, assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine and an affiliate scientist at the Institute for Population Health with the University of Ottawa.

Roberts has extensive experience in international public health policy, health systems capacity building and research. Over the past three decades, she has been involved in global health and development and gender health projects at the International Development Research Centre, the Canadian International Development Agency, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada. She has also served as director of the Migration Health Department with the International Organization for Migration in Geneva.

Toronto vs. the G20

Community action for global justice

Saturday, June 5

10:30am-6pm

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

252 Bloor Street West

What are we protesting, again?

It’s a good impulse to feel contempt for the G20. It’s a better impulse to want to talk about it. Join student and community activists to learn about the G20 and current social and environmental justice campaigns in Toronto, and to get involved. Free citywide teach-in. Lunch included!

PROGRAM

10:30 WAKE UP. COFFEE.

11:00 INTRODUCTION: What is the G20 and why should we care about it?

11:30 OPENING PLENARY

Economic Justice in Ontario: Poverty, Disability, and Workers’ Rights

The theme of this G20 summit is “recovery and new beginnings.” But the G20 isn’t pursuing anything new. The G20 has used the economic crisis to reinforce the myth of its own legitimacy, on the backs of poor and working people around the world. In Canada, austerity measures have already provoked outrage and opposition. Why should poor and working people pay for a crisis that capitalism imposed? Hear from anti-poverty activists, union organizers and workers.

1:00 FREE LUNCH

1:45 SESSION ONE (choose one)

Migrant Justice, Imperialism and the G20

Food and Water Security

At Home and Beyond: Gender Justice in a Neoliberal World

G20 and the University

3:15 SESSION TWO (chose one)

Climate and Environmental Justice

Indigenous Sovereignty and the G20

Apartheid and the G20: Palestine Solidarity in Canada

4:45 CLOSING PLENARY

On the Ground in June: Know your rights!

Massive demonstrations, black blocs, human chains and nonviolent resistance, police brutality, tear gas, and mass arrests. Sound dramatic? Romantic imagery of protests and demos can obscure the realities of the work that goes into making them happen and the range of skills and knowledge that make them successful. From Seattle WTO to Quebec FTAA; from Pittsburgh G20 to Vancouver anti-Olympics; and finally in Toronto this June, prepare for what’s coming by learning from the past. Join us for an historical workshop on demos, a primer to your legal rights on the street, and an overview of possibilities for participation, presented by the Toronto Community Mobilization Network.

[[ All events are wheelchair accessible. ]]

FULL PROGRAM AVAILABLE AT http://g20.torontomobilize.org/torontoVSG20.

ON FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=111541778889778&ref=ts

RSVP to toronto.vs.g20@gmail.com

Sponsored by University of Toronto Students’ Union * Ontario Public Interest Research Group * Toronto Community Mobilization Network * Sierra Youth Coalition * Science for Peace * Canadian Youth Climate Coalition * University of Toronto Graduate Students' Union * Health Studies Students' Union * Diaspora and Transnational Student Union * Native Students' Association * Caribbean Studies Students' Union * Equity Studies Students' Union * Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3902 * No One Is Illegal - Toronto * Ontario Coalition Against Poverty * And others!

May 2nd

On Sunday May 2^nd we interviewed Fariah who spoke about the action (rally and march) that was organized to bring awareness to the federal government’s proposed changes to immigration law that will target refugees. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is pushing a bill that will dismantle the Immigration and Refugee board, deny the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment or the Humanitarian and Compassionate Application to many claimants and ban claimants on the basis of their country of origin. The Canadian government will have a list of countries they deem safe inspite of refugee claimants’ lived realities. Proposed changes also shift responsibility of refugee sponsorship to families and private organizations. http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/node/442

We also interviewed Juanita Peters from the Council on African Canadian Education (CACE). The Council on African Canadian Education (CACE) is the outgrowth of the Black Learners Advisory Committee (BLAC). Formed in 1990, the BLAC was the response to ongoing struggles of African Nova Scotians to eliminate racism and receive equity in education.

In order to fulfill its mandate, the BLAC released a comprehensive study in December 1994. Encompassing 46 recommendations, the report was entitled the BLAC Report on Education - Redressing Inequity, Empowering Black Learners. One of the primary recommendations stated that the BLAC have its status modified to a provincial advisory council. In January 1996, the Nova Scotia Legislature formalized this recommendation. http://www.cace.ns.ca/home.shtml

Juanita joined us on Sunday May 2, after a three day youth conference which included African Canadian students from across Nova Scotia. There were more than 150 youth who attended the conference where the discussion centred around challenges that African Canadian youth are facing within the education system and how that can be addressed. The conference also helped to work around ascertaining the support that the youth need to succeed. We also spoke with Juanita about her recently released documentary addressing the history of Africville. The African Canadian community established in the 1800s was destroyed by the Halifax municipal government in the 1960s and the residents of Africville were scattered throughout Halifax, Nova Scotia. The property owners of Africville were never compensated in spite of promises from the government. The people of Africville even though they were uprooted and scattered continued to meet at the location every year and their determination eventually paid off with an official apology from Mayor Peter Kelly on February 24, 2010, too little too late for many. http://www.africville.ca/society/media2009_coast0730.html

http://www.africville.ca/society/apology.html

The songs we played were:

Faith Nolan Viola Desmond

Sibongile Khumalo Ancestral Ways

Faith Nolan Womon in the World

Nina Simone   I wish  I knew how it would feel to be free

Faith Nolan Africville

April 25th

We talked with Marcia Brown who is a plaintiff in a multi-million dollar law suit against the Government of Canada, which neglected its fiduciary duty to first-nations communities by transferring child welfare to the province. The law suit is brought forward by survivors of the “sixties scoop,” including Marcia herself. Thousands of first-nations children were taken from their parents, removed from their communities and forced into the foster care system where they were assimulated into non-native families. This resulted in “identity genocide” and long-standing difficulties for the individuals and for indigenous communities. Marcia talked about her own traumatic experiences within the foster care system and later as an adopted child in a white family. She regrets the little time she spent with her grandmother who taught her all she now knows about medicine and her families heritage. She brought forth this legal case when she realized that there were thousands like her. The legal case will set an important precedent along with providing closure for many families still in search of lost relatives. The hearing is taking place in court room 6 at 361 University Avenue between April 26-30. Please try and come out and show your support!

We also talked about Kimberley Rogers- a woman who was nine months pregnant, was put under house arrest for supposedly defrauding the welfare system (when she took student loans to return to school to improve her life and get out of poverty) and who died in her non-air conditioned apartment in Sudberry Ontario on a sweltering August day while on house arrest. This is a glaring example of poor bashing and the attacks on our poor and working classes while we ride out this recession, while there are bail-outs for banks and corporations. The poor are once again being taxed to support the upper classes with the recent announcement by the Provincial government to slash the special diet allowance for people on Ontario Works and ODSP. You can hear about the impact this will have on the affected communities as the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty gathered testimonials from people on OW and ODSP. These are in three parts and can be found here:

· Part 1/3 (10 minutes)

· Part 2/3 (9 mins) which we partially played on the show, featuring Dr. Roland Wong

· Part 3/3 (10 minutes)

The footage from the rally can be found here

We also talked about the recent pardon granted to Canada’s Rosa Parks- Viola Desmond. Viola Desmond, an African Canadian woman, was forcibly removed from a movie theatre on November 8, 1946 for sitting in the whites-only section of the Roseland Theatre, a movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Her activism had a lasting impact on the African-Canadian community and led another African-Canadian woman, Carrie Best (who herself and her son) had had a similar experience to found a newspaper "The Clarion" (the first African Canadian-owned and published newspaper in Nova Scotia) to publicise Desmond's story and the issue of racism. Desmond was granted a free pardon by the lieutenant-governor of the province of Nova Scotia and an apology from its premier for the institutional racism she had suffered (this was intended as an apology for her family and for all African-Canadians). Her sister and remaining family were present for the historic event- an apology that came almost 63 years later. We talked both about the relative obscurity of Viola Desmond compared to her counterpart in the States (Rosa Parks) and also about the tendency in some mainstream media outlets to pronounce the apology as somehow indicative of an end to institutional and systemic racism. The apology and free pardon came about a month and a half after a similar apology for the destruction of Africville in 1967.

Healthy Living Tips

By Neena Saloiya

1. When eating out, consider trying to be content with yourself enough to be able to buy salad and if absolutely necessary bread.
2. For your home: buy Preferably some kind of bread other than white bread. Honestly, breads like Rye, sphelt, rice and flat breads are usually better than whole wheat. Even gluten free bread is best.
3. Perhaps make your own flat breads, that way you will save more money, and use less yeast.
4. Buy vegetables in bulk.
5. Buy beans in bulk.
6. For your meals: have salad once a day, (preferably with dark lettuce like romaine, and mix in things like spinach and or grated carrots, and cale and arugala.
7. Then for the second time of the day have frozen vegetables.
8. To budget wisely: write down everything you spend money on right after you spend your money. That way you'll know what you have and what you've spent. Reward yourself for the less you spend.
9. Buy your milks or alternatives in bulk.
10. If you want to watch a movie, buy your movies and watch them at home.
11. If you want pop corn, buy yourself a popper from Wall-Mart for $15. The pop corn that comes with it is only $7.99, and you can make a lot of it.
12. Find affordable places to shop such as Kenzington Market at 65 Nassau Street, and 487 Church Street. Also Bloor West Village, Food Basics and No Frills.
13. Make yourself smoothies for breakfasts and or fruit salads out of fruits like apples, and grapes and affordable fruits.
14. Get things from community gardens and farmers markets of local produce.
15. For free healthy activities: ask if any church in your area or worship place is holding any social community outreach activities.
16. Go out for all day breakfasts and ask if you can have some tomatoes, or cucumbers or some variation ov vegetables on the side.
17. Go for walks.
18. Volunteer as doing good for others brings happiness.
19. Get in touch with Food Share Toronto, and sign up for a good food box, and look for a Good Food café near you. Look for it all at www.foodshare.net
20. Have some activity to distress yourself. As in, find things to laugh about, or things to look at or touch that don't cost a lot to help yourself smile.
21. Listen to music, whichever kind you like.
22. Find and hang around people that can validate you, or their presence and compliments can help you raise self esteem.
23. Buy things like laundry detergents, shampoo, soap, dryer sheets, dish detergent, tooth paste, hand cream, and shaving lotion in larger quantities, so you won't be constantly spending money.
24. Read used books but clean them off right when you get them home to avoid having cock roches in them.
25. Join a subsidized gym (usually in community centres.
26. Join another interest oriented agency or class that's affordable.
27. When going out to eat again, find Indian restaurants with buffets, or Mediteranian falafel places, as they're more affordable.
28. Also find Chinese markets or malls where food is a little more affordable when you get two sides or three for a nominal fee.