August 2024 – KWPeace

Rally to keep CTS sites open in Ontario, 5:30pm Wednesday 28 August 2024 at 150 Frederick Street, Kitchener

What: Rally to keep Consumption and Treatment Sites open in Ontario
When: 5:30pm to 8:30pm, Wednesday 28 August 2024
Where: in front of Waterloo Region Council Chambers
Location: 150 Frederick Street Map

From the Social Development Centre Waterloo Region:

SDC stands in solidarity with those asking the province to keep CTS (Consumption and Treatment Services) sites open in Ontario. Come show your support at at a rally for change tonight.

Dear friends,

SDC is deeply concerned about the planned closure of Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) sites across Ontario, and we wanted to share our official statement with you. The Ford government’s decision is anti-science, anti-evidence, and yet another way to limit the healthcare options available to Ontarians. SDC stands in solidarity with drug use advocates and all those who’re asking the province to keep CTS sites open.

Read The Media Release (PDF, 251 kBytes) (Mirror)

Julian Ichim and Donald Lacasse are members of SDC’s lived expertise consultancy and have been fighting for safe injection sites with the Alan Ryan People’s Defense Brigade since 2014. These are some of their reflections on the provincial government’s decision to dismantle harm reduction services like CTS sites and safe supply.

What some lived experts are saying: “By closing down the safe injection site and rejecting safe supply, the Ford government is promoting criminality and keeping drugs in the hands of dealers who only care about profit and not people’s lives.” “I am worried that this is a process of elimination. They did this when they first came to this land. By eliminating us, they can start over. They can erase us and rewrite history again.”

How You Can Help

Please join us in supporting grassroots organizers at a peaceful rally this evening – together, we can bring greater awareness and urgency to the need for an adequately resourced, evidence-based drug strategy in Waterloo Region.

Tonight’s rally for change is being organized by the Drug Action Team Waterloo Region, an unfunded, volunteer-driven team of Waterloo Region residents with interest, experience, and expertise in resolving a wide range of drug-related issues. You can find them online at drugactionteam.ca.

Overdose Action Day Rally for Change. Wednesday, Aug 28th. 5:30 – 8:30pm. 150 Frederick St. Kitchener. 820+ residents of Waterloo Region have died by preventable overdose. Rally together to call all levels of government and community to action. We have the evidence, we know the solutions, now is the time for action. Bring your signs, banners, shirts, photos of loved ones. Free Pizza (while supplies last).

In solidarity,
The team at SDC

Grief Walk for Palestine, at KW Farmer’s Market, every Saturday at 11am

What: Grief Walk for Palestine
When: Every Saturday at 11:00am
Where: Kitchener Farmer’s Market
Location: 300 King Street East, Kitchener Map
Online: @KWPalestine on Facebook
Additional links: https://linktr.ee/kwpalestine

Every Saturday at 11am there is a grief walk for Palestine from the Kitchener Farmer’s Market. Organized by KW Friends of Palestine

BW illustration of a First Nations man wearing a ceremonial headdress and a Palestinian man wearing a keffiyeh, both dancing on a line of barbed wire. There is a red highlight on the headdress. — From KW in support of Palestine

(Edit: Saturday, not Sunday)

Waterloo Region ACORN Day of Action for Anti-Renoviction Bylaws, 1:00pm on Tuesday 27 August 2024

What: Region-Wide Day of Action for Municipal Anti-Renoviction Bylaws
When: Tuesday 27 August 2024 at 1:00pm
Where: Register on Zoom
Contact: Vonica Flear, kw@acorncanada.org Phone: +1‑226‑545‑4359
Website: https://acorncanada.org
Waterloo Region ACORN: https://acorncanada.org/locations/waterloo-acorn/

ACORN members and tenants across Waterloo region are banding together to fight for better protections from bad-faith evictions.

On Tuesday August 27th, Waterloo Region ACORN will be holding a Region-Wide action calling on Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge city councils to enact anti-renoviction bylaws similar to the one passed in Hamilton earlier this year.

On January 17th, Hamilton City Council voted unanimously in favour of the city passing a strong anti-renoviction bylaw called the “Renovations License and Relocation Bylaw.” This happened after a 5 year effort by Hamilton ACORN and several motions passed to direct the creation of a bylaw based on the success of policy from New Westminster, BC. The original bylaw in New Westminster eliminated renovictions since passing in 2019, reducing the total number of renovictions from 333 to zero. The new Hamilton bylaw will require landlords to:

Apply for a licence within 7 days of issuing a tenant a N13.
Provide tenants with a Tenant’s Rights and Entitlements Package
Provide tenants wishing to exercise their right to return to their unit (at the same rent!) with temporary accommodation OR a rental top up for the duration of the renovations.

ACORN members across the Region are ecstatic to see Hamilton pass STRONG tenant protections that will significantly reduce the number of affordable units being systematically removed by landlords taking advantage of the loopholes in Ontario’s rent control measures. Waterloo Region ACORN members will be meeting on Zoom on August 27th to review ACORN’s renoviction bylaw campaign and facilitate phone blitzes to Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge city council offices to call for similar bylaws to be passed in each city.

Maribel Jagorin, Co-Chair of the Waterloo Region chapter of ACORN and currently facing renoviction from her own apartment, says, “There is a big disconnect between the cost of living and income. There is a housing crisis out there. How am I supposed to live? I can’t afford somewhere else, and there’s nothing out there for me. I am fighting for my affordable housing and my rights because everywhere I look I can only see greed and lack of balance. Landlords are privileged!”

Fight for Farmland Protest Rally at Waterloo Region Council, 6:00pm on Wednesday 28 August 2024

What: “We are NOT a Willing Host” Protest Rally
When: 6:00pm on Wednesday 28 August 2024
Where: Outside, Region of Waterloo Council Meeting
Location: 150 Frederick Street, Kitchener Map
Contact: wilmotlandowners@gmail.com

The Fight For Farmland Group is asking for support at two particularly important rallies. It is important that the public turn out to show that Wilmot Township “Is NOT a Willing Host”. This is in response to Doug Ford’s comment that they would not force a mega industrial site on an unwilling host. If it’s appropriate, we encourage you to forward this invitation on to your individual group’s contact list.

Wilmot Township Community members will gather for the “We are NOT a Willing Host” protest to stand united against the Wilmot Land Assembly. This rally aims to send a clear and powerful message to the Township that the community is firmly against being designated as a willing host for the proposed development.

This is expected to be our biggest rally yet. We urge everyone in the community to join us and show our collective strength.
The event will feature a live performance by local artist Punkeydoodles Steve, who will perform his hit song “770 Acres.”
Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from local farmers and guest speakers who will share their perspectives on the proposed development.
We are gratefully accepting donated food items for the Wilmot Family Resource Centre. Your contributions will support local families in need.
Please bring your signs and banners to show that we are NOT willing hosts!

The first rally is being held outside the Wilmot Township Council Meeting at Castle Kilbride at 5:30pm on Monday 26 August 2024.

For more information and updates visit http://fightforfarmland.com/

Fight for Farmland Protest Rally at Wilmot Township Council, 5:30pm on Monday 26 August 2024

What: “We are NOT a Willing Host” Protest Rally
When: 5:30pm on Monday 26 August 2024
Where: Outside, Wilmot Council Meeting at Castle Kilbride
Location: 60 Snyder’s Road West, Baden Map
Contact: wilmotlandowners@gmail.com

The Fight For Farmland Group is asking for support at two particularly important upcoming rallies next week. It is important that the public turn out to show that Wilmot Township “Is NOT a Willing Host”. This is in response to Doug Ford’s comment that they would not force a mega industrial site on an unwilling host. If it’s appropriate, we encourage you to forward this invitation on to your individual group’s contact list.

This is expected to be our biggest rally yet. We urge everyone in the community to join us and show our collective strength.
The event will feature a live performance by local artist Punkeydoodles Steve, who will perform his hit song “770 Acres.”
Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from local farmers and guest speakers who will share their perspectives on the proposed development.
We are gratefully accepting donated food items for the Wilmot Family Resource Centre. Your contributions will support local families in need.
Please bring your signs and banners to show that we are NOT willing hosts!

The second rally is being held outside at the Regional District Headquarters, in advance of the Regional Council Meeting at 6:00pm on Wednesday 28 August 2024.

For more information and updates visit http://fightforfarmland.com/