KWPeace – Page 11 – Newsletters, articles and events for Kitchener-Waterloo's Peace and Social Justice activists

Proposals to address the lack of affordable housing in Waterloo

I have been drawing attention to the lack of affordable housing in the city of Waterloo, and how the updating of the zoning bylaw now underway could do much to bring more lower-end-of-market rental units onstream.

I have three main proposals:

Reduce the amount of parking required when a condo or apartment building is built. And don’t always require a parking space for accessory apts created in a home. Parking makes construction much more expensive. And in a home, the lack of room for a side-by-side parking spot now means an apartment cannot be allowed – this needs to change.
Remove many other obstacles that now exist to creating apartments in houses and detached garages.
Bring in Inclusionary Zoning in all new developments. This means that every building, subdivision, etc, would have to include a given percentage of affordable units. This leads to a mix of income levels in the same neighbourhood, as opposed to ghettoization.

These three measures could open up the rental housing market substantially.

Here are links to some my recent articles on affordable housing in Waterloo.

Letter to Waterloo Chronicle: City officials have to hear about it on new zoning | Waterloo Chronicle (22 July 2016)

Mention in Waterloo Chronicle (interview with editor Bob Vrbanac): Concerns over new zoning bylaw | Waterloo Chronicle (14 July 2016)

Waterloo Chronicle: Editorial: Take the time to listen (13 July 2016)

Submission to the city’s public input portal on zoning review: Letter to the City of Waterloo on Zoning and Affordable Housing | KWPeace (16 July 2016)

If you think these are good ideas, please write to the papers and your city councillor. There will also be a second round of public input in fall 2016.

Reminder: KW Peace Organizational Pot Luck on Wednesday, 20 July 2016

Hello all,

Our next potluck dinner for KW Peace is on Wed, July 20th. We will not have access to the kitchen this time, so please bring your own dishes, cutlery, serving utensils, a way to carry your dirty dishes home afterward, and whatever else you would need.

We will be meeting in Stirling Ave Mennonite Church’s Peace and Justice room upstairs.

What: KW Peace Organizational Pot Luck
When: Wednesday, 20 July 2016 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Where: Peace and Justice Room, Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church
Location: 57 Stirling Avenue North, Kitchener, Ontario (intersection Weber St.) Map
Facebook: KW Peace Organizational Pot Luck Dinner

We will be planning our fall event at this meeting, Local Approaches to creating positive change. Brief summary:

KW Peace invites local groups and community members working for positive change in the Kitchener Waterloo Community to join us for a day of sharing, collaboration, and action.

There’s so much positive action happening in KW and we want to celebrate it by getting together and learning from each other! Come prepared to be inspired by the incredible people working our out community, and share your own work and passions to inspire others. Although our work may seem very different on the surface, all of us are working to improve life for those around us, battle injustice, and create positive change in Kitchener-Waterloo.

The event will consist of a keynote speaker, sharing by local groups about their goals and projects, and collaborative visioning for the future of our community. Lunch is provided at no cost.

Let me know if you can make it!

Emily

Emily Mininger
PeaceQuest KW Affiliate Facilitator

Email: e.mininger@gmail.com
Phone: +1-519-568-3879
Twitter: @PeaceQuestKW
Facebook: Peacequest.ca | Facebook
Website: PeaceQuest Kitchener-Waterloo

Letter to the City of Waterloo on Zoning and Affordable Housing

To Waterloo staff and councillors:

Thank you for the opportunity to give input on the review of our zoning bylaw.

My response pertains mainly to Residential zones. At the end I’ll add some brief ideas on Commercial and Employment zones.

These are the underlying assumptions I am bringing regarding what kind of residential areas would be desirable to live in:

Remember that we are building neighbourhoods.
Every neighbourhood needs to include green spaces and gathering spaces that facilitate casual encounters with one’s neighbours.
Neighbourhood green spaces should be small, frequent, and linked together if possible — user-friendly.
Every neighbourhood needs to be walkable and cyclable. No overly long blocks should be allowed, especially if they block access to amenities. Where these mistakes have already happened — on Lester St. and Marshall St. — the city must do its utmost to buy back an easement to insert a walkway. Plus easements to continue these walkways right through to the LRT station beyond Phillip St. and from Lodge St. to the plaza. Extremely important that we find a way to do this.
Neighbourhoods would also benefit from having a community centre. Please zone in space for them. Make sure that a conversation is open between staff working on zoning and those developing a neighbourhood strategy.
Fewer parking spaces should be required for houses, apartments, and condos.
Many apartments and condos could be offered without parking. That is, less than one parking spot per unit.
In fact a maximum number of cars should be set, because of the nuisance that cars pose to neighbours. In the vicinity of my house several driveways are being used as parking lots for multiple cars, continually coming and going, so that it’s never peaceful to go to my front yard. I think anything above two cars on a residential lot should have to pay some kind of fee or penalty.
What this city lacks most is housing for the whole bottom half of the market, everyone from median income on down. No one is building for them. The young, the pensioners, and the people who serve us coffee, take care of the elderly, clean offices, and provide security at events, should be able to live among us in decency. Providing for this huge demographic should be a prime goal of zoning bylaws. We especially lack lower-end rental units.
Every neighbourhood should be planned to include a mix of income levels, and a mix of ownership and rentals.
As soon as Inclusionary Zoning becomes available in Ontario — expected in fall 2016 — Waterloo should make use of it for all new development.
If density bonusing is used (and I’m not sure it ever should be), the green space and/or affordable housing created should have to be in the same neighbourhood.
In traditional neighbourhoods we should make it easier to create secondary units, frequently without parking, to bring lots of affordable housing onstream.
And why should we care if a family wishes to use a one-bedroom-plus-den unit as two bedrooms to make it affordable for them? The city should not be in the business of harassing and micromanaging people. Making developers change dens to dining rooms will prevent all residents from having a home office/computer room or guest room. We should do a lot less micromanaging!
Finally, every neighbourhood should be visually appealing and where possible reflect the uniqueness of Waterloo and its heritage. New development should fit its context.

I hope these assumptions I’m coming from are also shared by Waterloo officials. How might they apply to the specifics of the zoning bylaw?

Discussion Paper on GENERAL REGULATIONS 2.10 Secondary Dwellings

If a house is spacious enough, why couldn’t it have a basement apartment and/or a coach house unit and/or an upstairs apartment or main floor addition, or even all of these?

Why should it matter that an apartment or coach house be with a detached house and not a semi-detached or townhouse?

Why couldn’t municipal services be connected up to a detached garage in the future (at the owner’s expense); why should the connection have to have existed prior to this bylaw?

Why should it matter what percentage of the floor area of the main dwelling the secondary dwelling is?

Why should every added unit have to have parking?

What DOES matter is that there be adequate green space on the property, that the added units meet standards of safety, space, and decency, and that noise bylaws be enforced. The lot frontage doesn’t matter. Whether the entrance faces the street or the side yard doesn’t matter. We need to pick our battles, so to speak.

I think we should encourage house designs that lend themselves to the future creation of accessory apartments. Give people choice. If a family wishes to create a unit for an elderly parent or a grown child, or both — or if a young homeowner or a widow wishes to add a “mortgage helper” apartment — make it easy to do these things. It should be expected that people will do it. Get rid of the rules that don’t matter. Allow there to be some units designated as no parking.

In this way hundreds of affordable accommodations could be added in the city very quickly, blending into their neighbourhoods and with no ghettoization.

Discussion Paper on LOW-DENSITY RESIDENTIAL

As above, we should anticipate greater density being added by homeowners over the years, and don’t let rules about bedrooms per hectare restrict this too much. It’s the gentlest way to increase density and provide much needed affordable housing.

Discussion Paper on HIGH-DENSITY RESIDENTIAL

I’ve only been able to view a map covering from Erb Street to University Avenue so it’s hard for me to pinpoint locations in the rest of the city.

I think our city needs more RMU-20 throughout the city to provide affordable rentals, now that the province allows frame construction up to six storeys. Not having to provide costly underground parking should allow more affordable units to be built. Don’t require a parking spot for every unit, especially Uptown.

Two good locations for RMU-20 are close to me in the core: Bridgeport Road between Peppler Street and Laurel Creek, and the houses just north of 151 King Street North.

Please change the zoning of 151-161 King Street North so that 151 with its tasteful-density additions is preserved, and the homes between there and the 12-storey building on the corner are designated RMU-20. Best use for that location.

The Bridgeport Road site could have RMU-20 closest to the homes on Peppler, and could step up to RMU-40 nearer the creek. I hope the city will facilitate removing the H provision where the gas station used to be (in front of the carpet warehouse). A good site for development, but not 25 storeys.

These suggestions would both decrease an 81 to a 20. But I’m happy to see an upgrade to RMU-20 proposed for Weber Street, Bridgeport/Royal, and Erb Street East and West. Another spot that should be upgraded to RMU-20 is the apartments at 29 Elgin Street — I’m not sure why it’s shown as R4 on the map. I would also be OK with some R-8 townhouses on King Street between Central Street and 151 King Street North, blending in with 151. That could fit nicely. Alternatively this corner might be a good location for a community centre serving both MacGregor-Albert and Uptown North. Something to think about.

I don’t think there should be any RMU-81 on King between Elgin and Noecker, and perhaps Marshall. (What happened at King/Noecker/James is a ghastly mistake, and I believe the city owes SERIOUS restitution to the St. Sofia church congregation for permitting this encroachment.) I suggest we need a category in between RMU-40 and RMU-81. Say RMU-50, which would allow 14 or 15 storeys. Existing neighbourhoods could more easily live with that.

Less than one parking space per unit should be required, in all of the above. Mandate more and better bicycle parking (this shouldn’t be a “bonus” point but basic). And we need to keep pushing the Region for better transit and be willing to contribute more revenue for it.

So I’m saying: more RMU 20, more allowance for accessory units in R 1-4, less parking, more bike parking, and no 25-storey towers: change RMU-81 to RMU-50.

This option is more affordable for everyone, allows neighbourhoods to feel coherent, and preserves the character of the city.

Discussion Paper on OPEN SPACE …

I like the vision of “urban open space system within built-up areas”. But I didn’t see anything about improving general walkability by avoiding overly long blocks.

Walk/cycle links need to be restored where poor planning in the recent past failed to provide for them: Hickory, Lester, Phillip to LRT and Brighton, Marshall, Lodge to plaza. This must be a high priority, so neighbourhoods can breathe again.

As mentioned above, it is urgent that the city buy an easement for a walkway close to the end of Hickory Street, or else all of Northdale will be locked in forever and frustrating to live in. And make sure the walkway continues all the way to the LRT station and University of Waterloo campus, with some green space along the way.

As for Lodge Street, there’s still time to acquire the land and build a walkway from Lodge Street to the plaza, while working to find a way to get an easement through to Marshall. Please make this a priority.

The ditch running behind University Plaza is a good potential place for green space. Would it be possible to extend it out to Weber and to Regina? This would provide more foot and bike access to the plaza, reducing bicycles on University. A footbridge (or several) over the ditch to the plaza, some trees and stone benches, and a walkway out to Lodge Street and eventually Marshall and Brighton … Please act now to make this happen! Put it on the zoning map. It could be a gem.

A parkette would also be the best use of the low land around the art gallery between Regina and Peppler. And it could eventually be linked across Peppler to Brighton Park. Please pencil it in and work toward assembling it over the years.

These are two or three examples of walking links and green space potential in my immediate neighbourhood. And are there any plans to complete Laurel Trail from Weber Street to Moses Springer Park? Just five or six houses …

Much more could be done with Laurel Creek uptown as well, as regards green space.

Parkettes need to be an integral part of all future development. As mentioned above, it should not be allowed to “horse-trade” parkland fees for green space far away; the green space should have to be where the development is. Same goes for affordable housing; it should have to be on the site.

Affordable housing, walkability, and green space. Zoning can do so much to enhance them all. In these ways we can build future neighbourhoods that feel safe and fostering for all the diverse ages, incomes, cultures, household types, and occupations of people who will live here.

Here are two articles on visioning urban growth that I found inspirational:

Density at a Human Scale, by Kaid Benfield:
http://www.sustainablecitiescollective.com/kaidbenfield/988196/smart-growth-not-all-urban-density-created-equal

Zoning for Happiness in Edmonton:
http://edmontonjournal.com/news/insight/in-a-happy-zone-how-planning-rules-can-improve-a-neighbourhood-vibe

And new info: Ontario’s Climate Action Plan will legislate away cities’
ability to require parking minimums:
http://tvo.org/article/current-affairs/the-next-ontario/why-parking-spots-in-the-gta-could-get-scarcer-and-pricier

Let me conclude with a few thoughts on Commercial and Employment zones:

Less parking! Less parking! Less parking! I support the points regarding parking made by TriTAG at:
http://www.tritag.ca/blog/2016/03/20/can-the-city-of-waterloo-move-beyond-parking-minimums/

Employment districts in north Waterloo need much better bike and bus access. They need to be much better integrated with the city and include mixed uses.

I also think we need a rule that nothing can be built that’s only one storey. Industrial “parks” are huge space wasters. If production needs to be on one level, some other use could be built above.

There also need to be strong incentives to include on-site renewable energy and green roofs.

Thank you for your time in considering all these suggestions regarding how Waterloo should grow. Our residential areas, and commercial and employment areas too, should promote neighbourliness and inclusion, and commitment to place, and good stewardship.

Eleanor Grant

Peace Camp Workshops: A huge success!

Peace Camp is an initiative housed in the MSCU Center for Peace Advancement at Conrad Grebel University College. The 2016 Directing team is made up of Kaitlyn Skelly, a current University of Waterloo student going into her 4^th year of Speech Communication and Peace and Conflict Studies and Rebekah DeJong, a recent University of Waterloo Alumni of Peace and Conflict Studies.

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The Peace Camp Team is happy to share that we have completed another successful workshop season! The Peace Camp 2016 season resulted in 101 peace education presentations facilitated at 30 different schools across the region, reaching an estimated 3235 students. Throughout the hour long workshops Rebekah and I had the chance to work with youth in elementary schools ranging from Grade 3 to Grade 8. It was a wonderful opportunity to explore ideas of social justice and peace building with youth and to empower students to use their abilities to have a positive impact on their communities.

Our activities ranged from Peace Postcards that became random acts of kindness to team building activities that challenged participants to complete a bridge building task without verbal communication. Junior students experienced a Circle Process that explored the impact our words have on the feelings of those who hear them. Intermediate students tried their hand at conflict analysis to understand the root causes of problems and create solutions that turn conflict into a peace building opportunities. These activates highlighted the workshop participant’s peace building skills and demonstrated how each individual is capable of being peace builders in our communities.

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We loved seeing students experience “aha!” moments when ideas and concepts we were discussing clicked for them, especially when talking about how we can apply peace building to our everyday lives. It was exciting to witness the creative ideas students had to solve problems, express themselves and the depth of understanding for peace and compassion they demonstrated in our sessions.

Students we worked with were enthusiastic and engaged with the topics of social justice and peace building. In our feedback from teachers we were told that,

“the students were highly receptive and reflective based upon the ideas discussed”

and that they were impressed with the level of engagement their students showed while participating in the workshop. Another teacher said that “the message is positive and important and having it come from young adults is great”. Educators were pleased with the connections their students could make with local university students, “Thank you, so impressed with the many programs coming out of the University of Waterloo”. Rebekah and I are glad to hear about the positive impact this program has had on students and are grateful to the educators who welcomed us into their classrooms.

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Throughout the 2016 workshop season one of the questions students ask us most often was “Is there a real Peace Camp in the summer?”, and the answer is YES! We have a week long day camp in August for youth ages 11-14. The camp is located on the University of Waterloo Campus at Conrad Grebel University College. This summer’s theme is ‘Peace In Action’ and the goal is to show campers that whatever their interests may be, whether it is art, music, math, engineering, business or even fashion, be they can use them to pursue peace. Registration is still open and we have a few more spots available.

Click here for more information or to register for Peace Camp

Nonviolence Festival Day In The Park — 9 July 2016

Nonviolence Festival

The Nonviolence Festival Day In The Park is taking place this weekend, Saturday, 9 July 2016 from noon to 5:00pm on the island in Victoria Park, Kitchener.

There will be vendors of homemade goods, information tables for community groups, music in the gazebo, food, and games for kids (with prizes!).

Join us for this celebration of Diversity, Peace, and Social Justice, held yearly since 2005!

If you’re on Facebook let us know you’re going!

The Nonviolence Festival is one of many Peace and Social Justice organizations in the KW Peace Collective.

Nonviolence Festival invites all to join for annual Day in the Park Celebration

Nonviolence Festival

Join the Nonviolence Festival on 9 July 2016 from Noon to 5:00pm on Victoria Park Island, Kitchener for the family friendly Day in the Park celebration!

You can visit community group displays to learn about positive things happening in the Kitchener Waterloo community. There will also be local artists and vendors, live music by local artists, food with vegetarian friendly options, and a children’s activities area.

It’s a great way to engage with the community and spend a wonderful Saturday afternoon in the park.

The Nonviolence Festival has been celebrating diversity, peace, and social justice since 2005, making this year’s festival the 12^th annual Day in the Park celebration. In a world where we struggle against violence and fear, the Nonviolence Festival focuses on positive ways we can engage with those around us, working for peace and positive relationships. They define Nonviolence as ‘treating others the way you wish to be treated’ and when that principle is applied to our relationships at home, workplace and the world, we build the kind of world in which we want to live.

The Nonviolence Festival’s Day in the Park is one of multiple events held by the group throughout the year that are guided by nonviolence principles. Visit their Facebook page to stay up to date – https://www.facebook.com/The-Non-Violence-Festival-8613247145/.

Contact nonviolencefest@gmail.com for more information.

@Eleanor70001 writes a Letter to the Editor on Zoning Review

The letter was published in the Waterloo Chronicle on 22 June 2016: City officials have to hear about it on new zoning

Hi All,

I sent the letter below to the Waterloo Chronicle and they replied accepting it, but unfortunately they didn’t get it in this week. That means they haven’t yet given it a URL link I could have sent out on Twitter.

I am trying to launch a conversation about how we can tweak the zoning bylaws to create more affordable housing. Zoning Review is going on right now in all 3 cities in WReg, but the window for public input will soon close.

Please add your ideas and circulate this. And be sure to send comments to your city.

Much appreciated,

Eleanor

From: “Eleanor Grant” <eleanor7000@gmail.com>
Date: 13 Jun 2016 13:26
Subject: Letter to Ed on Zoning Review
To: “editorial” <editorial@waterloochronicle.ca>

To the Editor, Waterloo Chronicle:

We had a lively meeting at the Rec Centre on June 9, organized by Uptown ward councillor Melissa Durrell, to discuss the new draft zoning bylaw. Everyone should see this new map. (See Waterloo.ca/ZoningReview)

Now’s our chance to let city officials know if we like or don’t like their proposed changes, and suggest our own (within some limits). Comments are open till July 4.

The neighbourhood associations present at the meeting expressed a desire for medium-rise zones to buffer traditional neighbourhoods from new high-rise development. They also wanted to see more local parkettes.

It was a revelation, for example, that high-rise developers were able to increase density in exchange for paying a parkland fee – but the parkland money went to beautify Waterloo Park, not to create green space in the neighbourhood where the fee was collected. But children and seniors need places to play, and meet their neighbours, close to home day to day.

Another topic that came up is affordable housing. The zoning bylaw presents many needless obstacles, for example by making it hard to create “secondary” units and Granny flats in residential neighbourhoods. Why don’t we facilitate this? The “free market” is failing to provide one-bedroom rental units that seniors and low-wage workers can afford.

Get rid of those stringent parking requirements. Allow some rental units to be designated as no parking. The people who need low-rent units usually don’t have a car.

Thanks to the work of outgoing Minister of Municipal Affairs Ted McMeekin, Ontario now allows cities to use Inclusionary Zoning. This means that new multi-unit buildings would have to include a designated percentage of affordable units. If all developers have to do it, then none can complain that they’re at a competitive disadvantage.

Waterloo should act now to adopt Inclusionary Zoning in the Uptown area, so that there will be some affordable housing that’s near transit.

There’s a lot we can do to build a more inclusive and friendly city, just by tweaking the zoning bylaws.

But it won’t happen until the officials hear from us!

Eleanor Grant

KW Peace Meeting: Thursday, 16 June 2016, 6-8pm

Hello All!

The next KW Peace potluck meeting will be June 16th 2016 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm in the Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church’s Peace and Justice room (a different room than before), 57 Stirling Avenue North Kitchener. Map Please bring a dish to share!

If you haven’t been posting your events to the KW Peace calendar, please consider checking it out! We want to advertise the KW Peace calendar to the public, so it’d be ideal to have lots of events posted. If you need help with the website, please contact Bob Jonkman – bobjonkman@kwpeace.ca

At our previous KW Peace Potluck meeting we had discussed holding a one day conference event, hosted by the members of this group and open to other group members as well as members of the public. This would be a unique opportunity to work together each other and share our work and ideas! We’re really excited about this idea, and hope that you’ll be excited too.

The focus of this event would be “Perspectives on Peacemaking,” and we invite groups to share how they are making peace in our local or global community. We define peace in the broad holistic sense, so any work that improves our community and contributes to social justice is included. The main purpose of the event would be highlighting the great work that goes on in our community, learning from each other, as well as giving people practical ways to get involved and make a difference.

Tentatively we are thinking our event would include longer presentations (30 mins to 1 hour), round table discussions, and short (2-5 min) presentations. During the longer presentations, a group or speaker might share an issue that is relevant to our community, how they address the issue, and how people can get involved. The round table discussion would have pre-selected questions that you discuss with people around you, in order to facilitate sharing of ideas and information. The short presentations would give a group an opportunity to just briefly say some kind of announcement or message they want to get out to this audience. We would also have table space available for displays or other types of publicity materials (brochures, business cards, etc)

Please let us know if you are interesting in helping with the planning and facilitating of this event, presenting a long or short presentation, or having table space for materials.

Additionally, if you are interested in participating in the KW Peace initiatives, please sign up for the KW Peace Groups mailing list.

Thanks,

Emily

Emily Mininger
PeaceQuest KW Affiliate Facilitator

Email: e.mininger@gmail.com
Phone: +1-519-568-3879
Twitter: @PeaceQuestKW
Facebook: Peacequest.ca | Facebook
Website: PeaceQuest Kitchener-Waterloo

Forty Years of Turning Swords into Ploughshares — 17 May 2016 in Ottawa

When: Tuesday, May 17, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: Great Hall, Christ Church Cathedral, 414 Sparks Street, Ottawa

FREE EVENT

Join us for a dialogue on working for peace, featuring presentations by Ploughshares researchers, including: Cesar Jaramillo, Branka Marijan, Sonal Marwah and Jessica West.

This item was mirrored from Forty Years of Turning Swords into Ploughshares | Project Ploughshares.

An invitation to protest the TPP in Toronto on Friday, 13 May 2016

Jodi Koberinski @JodiKoberinski of Dangerous Ideas writes:

To get into the hearings, arrive at Ritz Carleton by 8:00am… Protests and a people’s hearings (running as a parallel process) outside the Ritz Carleton beginning at 9am…

also check out Shiv Chopra and the Canadian Council for Food Sovereignty and Health’s tour and youtube videos….

Civil society protests outside the House of Commons trade committee hearings on the TPP in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Saskatoon.

The House of Commons standing committee on international trade will be in Montreal, Quebec City, Windsor and Toronto this week to hear testimony on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

And civil society will be there to let them know that they want the TPP stopped and that the hearings themselves are not as inclusive or welcoming to the public as they should be. At the previous committee hearings in Vancouver (April 18), Calgary (April 19), Saskatoon (April 20), and Winnipeg (April 21), members of the public had to produce identification, have their bags searched, and be frisked. Only 12 organizations were allowed to present at the 1-day hearing in Vancouver, even though 175 people had registered to testify.

The hearings will take place this week in Montreal (May 10), Quebec City (May 11), Windsor (May 12) and Toronto (May 13).

In Montreal, the Council of Canadians, Citizens in Action, and the Raging Grannies will be outside the Queen Elizabeth Hotel (900 René-Lévesque West) this Tuesday at 8:30 am with placards, banners and images of what they hold dear that would be threatened by the TPP.

In Windsor, the Council of Canadians Windsor-Essex chapter will be outside the Best Western PLUS Waterfront Hotel (277 Riverside Drive West) this Thursday at 8:45 am. They will be setting up a speakers corner for anyone wishing to send a video message to the House of Commons committee.

And in Toronto, the Council of Canadians, OpenMedia, LeadNow, the Trade Justice Network, Common Frontiers, and others are organizing an action outside the Ritz-Carlton Toronto (181 Wellington Street West) on 9:00 a.m. this Friday.

Unifor has also just announced this morning that it will hold rallies in both Windsor and Toronto at 10 am outside the hearings, as well as help fill the hearing rooms in these two cities.

Presumably in response to criticisms that the committee has only heard from a small number of organizations and not concerned individuals in the cities it has visited already, the committee has now scheduled one-hour at the end of each of day for “Spontaneous Presentations”. NDP MP Tracey Ramsey, a member of the committee, says, “Members of the public who wish to speak at these sessions must register on-site. The list of speakers will be determined on a first-come, first-served basis. The Committee Chair will decide how much time each speaker will be given based on the number of speakers.”

The hearings have already been met with protests.

In Vancouver, the Council of Canadians Vancouver-Burnaby chapter joined with OpenMedia, LeadNow and other allies to unfurl a large banner outside the hotel where the hearing was taking place. The banner said, “170,000 Say No To TPP”. The groups also organized to have a 16 foot high Jumbotron outside the hotel with messages of concern from people across the country.

In Saskatoon, the Star-Phoenix newspaper reported, “Members of Climate Justice Saskatoon and the local chapter of the Council of Canadians set up placards and protested outside the Radisson Hotel during a public consultation on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.”

And in Winnipeg, Council of Canadians organizer Brigette DePape tells us, “Activists from Migrante Manitoba, No One Is Illegal, the University of Winnipeg Student Association, Solidarity Winnipeg, the Public Services Alliance of Canada, and the Council of Canadians chanted and distributed leaflets outside the Delta Winnipeg Hotel where the hearing was taking place.”

Beyond attending the hearings, you can also email your comments on the TPP to the committee via email at ciit-tpp-ptp@parl.gc.ca The committee is accepting written submissions (of no more than 1,500 words in length) until June 30. Media reports suggest that the House of Commons will vote on the ratification of the TPP in the fall of 2017, just before the November 2017 deadline set by the 12-signatory countries.

For our critique of the TPP, please see our campaign web-page.

This item was mirrored from An invitation to protest the TPP this week! | The Council of Canadians