September monthly meeting

Join us tonight from 7 - 9 p.m. as we discuss the upcoming provincial elections in light of important topics like the Mega-quarry, Health Care, Energy, Transit, Trade and Water.

Speakers include:
Megan Cobean, Ontario Health Coalition
Angela Bischoff, Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Jacob Louy, transit advocate
Mega-quarry Awareness group

Date: Wednesday, August 28
Time: 7 - 9 p.m.
Location: Toronto City Hall (100 Queen St. West), room 3

All welcome!

People's Assembly Fair - Saturday 27th August

We're busy prepping for the People's Assembly Fair next weekend (August 27). It'll be a fun filled day with live music, environmental & social justice workshops, interactive games, kids area, free food and more.  

We'll be facilitating a workshop on CETA and how it will affect our local communities. Let's get the word out to our councillors that Toronto should declare itself exempt from CETA!

There's also going to be a nifty button making area at our table, so come create custom buttons and magnets!

See you at the Fair next Saturday.

Time: 12 – 5 p.m.

Location: Dufferin Grove Park, 875 Dufferin Street (south of Bloor)

Cost: free!

It's almost time for the People's Assembly Fair! With free workshops, live music, free food, a kids center and more, it's going to be a lot fun for everyone. So come out, join the debate and be heard.

Bring some new faces and lets talk, be heard and create some action!
Be excited, we know we are!

Here are the things we have set up so far:
Clean Train Coalition - Interactive booth
Toronto Chapter of the Council of Canadians - C.E.T.A. Workshop and diy button making
Green Peace with Dix Sandbeck - The Economy and The Environment Workshop
Food Not Bombs - serving a vegan/vegetarian meal
Living Well Climate Justice Network - Discussion Based Seminar
Mega Quarry Awareness - Info Booth and A Discussion Based Seminar
Toronto Public Library Workers Union - Workshop, Info Booth and Kids story time.
People's Voice - Info Booth
Stop U of T Animal Research - Workshop 
Toronto Environmental Alliance - Interactive Game
the zeitgeist Movement - Info Booth and Music
Mining Injustice Solidarity Network - Info Booth and Workshop
No One Is Illegal - Surprise Workshop

For more information vist the Toronto People's Assembly website or find us on Facebook

2011 Toronto Chapter Water Forum

Water Forum 2011: Healthy Water, Healthy Cities

Date: Sunday, March 20

Time: 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Location: Metro Hall, 55 John Street (2 blocks east of Spadina Avenue on King Street)

Cost: free

Please RSVP to torontochapter@gmail.com with Water Forum in the subject line!

Join the Council of Canadians Toronto Chapter in celebrating World Water Day at our 2nd annual Water Forum!

We have an exciting day planned,

·         U.N. Right to Water and Sanitation: a recent historic “win”

·         Toronto's Drinking Water Quality: ensuring that our tap water is as healthy as possible

·         Lake Ontario: When will we stop putting sewage in it?

·         CETA: the threat to water and Toronto

·         Reclaiming the Great Lakes as a Commons

“Healthy Water, Healthy Cities” reminds us that clean water is essential to us all and there's a growing challenge to provide clean water to urban areas, which contain more than half of the world's population. Come hear about the recently passed U.N. Right to Water and Sanitation, a historic win for water justice activisits worldwide. We'll explore water challenges in Toronto and hear how our chapter's water campaigns are oriented towards making changes to the way Toronto treats it's drinking water, its wastewater and the wellbeing of the watersheds and lake waters in our region. The threat CETA (the Canadian-E.U. Trade agreement) poses to water and Toronto in particular, will also be discussed.

  

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198469470171418

Hundreds gather for People’s Assembly on Climate Justice in Toronto

A report on Saturday's Assembly from the Climate Justice Network.

Activists, Organizers, Neighbourhood Participants discuss community response to the Climate Crisis

Toronto – On Saturday December 4^th, the Global Climate Campaign’s International Day of Climate Action, hundreds of activists, community organizers and neighbourhood participants gathered for the second Toronto People’s Assembly on Climate Justice at Sidney Smith Hall, on the University of Toronto campus.

“The People’s Assembly on Climate Justice is a people’s  alternative to the corrupt and illegitimate solutions which are being pushed through the United Nations,” says Julien Lalonde, a community organizer with Toronto Bolivia Solidarity and a core facilitator at the Assembly.  “By using channels of collective dialogue and community empowerment we are working together  to become a movement that understands the fundamental interconnectedness of our struggles for social, economic and environmental justice.”

Building on the horizontal process established during the Reclaim Power People’s Assembly in Copenhagen last December, the Toronto Assembly was an ambitious all day affair. Using a combination of breakouts and plenaries, participants discussed movement building, building alternative spaces, accountability to front-line communities, economic reform, offgrid energy solutions, and much more, in response to the initial framing question asking what we can do together to create a stronger movement for Climate Justice.  In the afternoon seven People’s Council’s were created to begin formulating responses to topics identified by the Assembly as priority issues.

“Through a horizontal people’s process, the Assembly seeks to create a space where we can work together to share experience, knowledge, and resources in order to build a local response to a global crisis,” says Brett Rhyno of Environmental Justice Toronto, who participated in the original Reclaim Power People’s Assembly. “The challenge of the climate crisis can only be met with a coordinated response that will bring forth our power in numbers.”

As the Canadian government works to obstruct progress in Cancun by opposing a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol and at home by killing the Climate Change Accountability Act, the need is clear for communities to step up and start building their own solutions. The goal of the People’s Assembly is to generate new possibilities and new hopes in order to bridge the gap from separately operating groups, communities, and individuals, to converge into one diverse, united movement.

The Toronto People’s Assembly is in solidarity with La Via Campesina’s call for 1000 Cancuns and, after successfully bringing the People’s Assembly model to Canada in advance of the G20, it collaborated with the Council of Canadians to produce a national call for People’s Assemblies which has resulted in fourteen People’s Assemblies happening across the country during the UN negotiations in Cancun.

For more information on the People's Assembly go here http://torontopeoplesassembly.wordpress.com/

People's Assembly on Climate Justice - December 4th

 

Our chapter is part of the People's Assembly Toronto event happening this Saturday. Fourteen communities across the country will hold Assemblies to collectively make climate justice a reality. We hope to see you on Saturday at this historic event!

- Tara Seucharan.

 

 

 

Dear People's Assembly Participants,

First some inspiring news! Back in June, we established the model of the People's Assembly here in Canada. Now, thanks to national promotion of the idea through the Council of Candians, there be 14 People's Assemblies happening across the country this December. With your continued participation, the Toronto Assembly on Dec 4th will easily be the largest and most ambitious of these national Assemblies.

The second Toronto People's Assesmbly will occur on Saturday December 4th and will run from 9:30am-5pm. It will be held at Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St George St in room SS2118. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. As this is a grassroots community effort we will be asking a PWYC donation at the door to help cover costs. All contributions are welcome and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

The main question we will address is how we can work together to create a stronger and more united movement for Climate Justice in Toronto. As with last time, we will employ a horizontal process and use a combination of breakout and plenary discussion. Taking your input from the First Assembly, we will aim to create more focus and be more action-oriented in our discussions.

Because we are going to be making food to share with you throughout the day, we highly encourage everyone to pre-register by sending an email to peoplesassembly.toronto@gmail.com - even if you are not able to join us for the entire day, we hope you will come out for however much time you can spare.

If you would like to volunteer, we have plenty of need for extra hands to help cook, set-up and perform various tasks throughout the day on Dec 4th. For further details on how you can help, please contact us at peoplesassembly.toronto@gmail.com or call 647-869-6496.

You can also help us build the Assembly by joining us on Facebook and inviting your friends to join us. You can also download all our outreach materials for printing or electronic distribution here. If everyone took a moment to tell 5-10 friends about the Assembly, it would go a long way to growing our movement!

The killing of the Climate Change Accountability Act in the Senate last week by unelected Conservative Senators makes what we are trying to do all the more important. It is clear that our government is recklessly opposed to taking real action on climate change will be going to the UN Climate Talks in Cancun only to promote false solutions and to protect the doomsday-esque Tar Sands gigaproject. If we want to realize the goal of Climate Justice we must band together. Only as a united movement can we hope to have enough power to create the just solutions that will combine our ongoing quest for social justice with effective action to prevent catastrophic climate change.

See you at the Assembly!

Brett Rhyno
on behalf of the People's Assembly on Climate Justice
http://torontopeoplesassembly.wordpress.com/
peoplesassembly.toronto@gmail.com
647-869-6496

Organize to Win Workshop

Given the recent changes at City Hall . . .  it’s time to get your group Organized to Win!  Please join the Toronto Chapter of The Council of Canadians to learn how to become more successful advocates for the causes we work so hard on.

Workshop Leader:  Liz Benneian

Hosted By:  The Council of Canadians Toronto Chapter

Date:  Saturday, November 20^th

Time:  11:00am to 3:30pm

Location:  Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil Street, Toronto

Fee:  PWYC; Suggested donation of $5 to $20;  All profits will be donated to the G20 Legal Defense Fund.

Registration:  Pre-Registration is required!  Please email us at torontochapter@gmail.com with your name, organization name, and how many people will be attending from your organization.  Please put “Organize to Win” in the subject line.  We will email you the hand-outs to be used during the workshop – please print and bring them with you.

* Includes light refreshments - please bring your own mug.

About the Workshop

Citizens’ groups fighting to protect natural spaces, stop incinerators, ensure more sustainable planning etc. are usually outgunned by “experts”, outmaneuvered by municipal staff, shut out by local media and outfoxed by politicians. But citizens groups can beat all these odds and win.  Learn how at the Organize to Win seminar led by Oakvillegreen Conservation Association president Liz Benneian, an award-winning community activist and environmental leader.

Oakvillegreen has been a tremendously successful citizens’ organization, partly because it had the help of some experienced organizers.  Oakvillegreen now wants to pass that experience and learning on to other organizations so they can be more effective in their battles.

The seminar will discuss: how to organize; forming successful strategies; developing effective tactics; getting publicity; understanding bureaucracies and politicians; and avoiding pitfalls.  Plenty of real life examples of successes and strategies will be given and those attending will be encouraged to add to the discussion with their stories and questions.  The seminar is geared to give participants useful tools their groups can employ immediately to become more successful.  The seminar will be especially helpful to groups that are just forming, offering critical information on how to get a new group organized. This seminar is not just for group leaders but for all members who want to learn how to become more successful advocates.

About Liz

Seminar leader Liz Benneian is a former newspaper editor who has been president of Oakvillegreen since 2005.  In 2010, she received an award from Heritage Ontario for her efforts in preserving the Province’s natural heritage. In 2009, she was the recipient of Earth Day Canada’s National Hometown Hero Award. She is a previous recipient of the Town of Oakville’s Spirit Award and Rotary’s Paul Harris Award for community service. Liz has helped found several environmental organizations and given the Organize To Win seminar to more than 15 community groups around the province.  www.oakvillegreen.org

My G20 Poem

I Stand on Guard for Thee

June 26^th twenty-ten

Toronto’s G20 was then.

I attended workshops and training in preparation,

I had no idea so many would need reparation.

The People’s Summit was inspiring

but the police were already perspiring,

worrying about what we would do

with plans to throw us in their zoo.

The Week of Action was about our rights

for democracy we are forced to fight.

And while those with a lot of clout

participated in a Shout Out,

the police agencies started to brace

all of their planning resulting in a disgrace.

On that Saturday morning

it was grey and pouring,

yet thousands showed up to say

they weren’t happy with the way,

Harper and his rich friends were ruling

- the entire world they are ruining.

The police told us to stay away

creating fear amongst the fray,

but we came out anyway

despite the threats that we would pay.

And not because we were rebels

or wanted to cause troubles,

but because we love our country

and in theory still are free

to protest and detest

lest we lose what’s best.

The land, water and air

it’s plight just isn’t fair.

Polluted by multi-nationals,

the public getting no rationale.

As Nafta and CETA rob us blind

our public services we’ll no longer find.

Harper forcing trade deals through in a hurry.

Whose favour is he trying to curry?

And yet voices are so critical

at a time so pivotal.

We’re not just fighting for our view

we are fighting for you all too.

So if our marches inconvenienced you,

imagine fresh water for only a few – but not you.

And not your loved ones.

It’ll be protected by corporate guns.

For a steep profit

they’ll clean it and sell it

back to Canadian citizens.

How will we afford our medicines?

Now privatized.

Harper’s dream realized.

Everything in Canada for sale,

even the delivery of our mail.

So for those who were not there,

please dare to be fair.

The media coverage was one-sided,

almost as if they were pre-guided

on what to say and what to play

regardless of the peaceful reality.

It was banality.

Showing burning cars for hours

was media produced by cowards.

Over a thousand arrested,

many never even protested.

Thrown in cages

and igniting rages

that had not been

because the guards were unjustly mean.

Laughing at the sick,

did they forget this was the public

they swore to serve and protect?

The police actions cannot go unchecked.

They must have meant to demean

serving urine in Styrofoam – obscene.

And all because people were on a street

or trying to get home – not beat.

It is berserk

that those who had to work

were expected to accept defeat

as if earning a living was to compete

with the establishment.

Such an embarrassment.

Harper’s legacy - a folly.

Canada’s resources his debauchery.

Tailings ponds growing and leaking

as multi-national corporations are guzzling and sabotaging

our fresh water, our trees, our tar

our land forever scarred.

While trade deals, conceal

true intent, and the extent to which they will

change Canada without our consent.

The G20 hangover is not ending

with the civil action suit still pending.

And as the police add pictures to their line-up

to try to counterbalance their fuck-up.

I, we, us

the active citizens, protesters and anarchists amongst us,

will continue to right the wrongs.

Alone and in throngs.

To bring Canada back to it’s former pride

and if we fail, at least I can say I tried.

Oh Canada, I know you can once again be

a land healthy, strong and free, and so

I stand on guard, for thee.

T.F.