Newsletters, articles and events for Kitchener-Waterloo's Peace and Social Justice activists
Eleanor Grant writes:
On Sat May 25 many communities around the world will hold a March Against Monsanto. Read why here:
Council of Canadians: March against Monsanto Everywhere on May 25
(As yet I haven’t heard that anything is planned in KW.)
Eleanor Grant writes a semi-regular e-mail newsletter on social justice issues. You can contact Eleanor at eleanor7000@gmail.com
From Eleanor Grant’s newsletter:
“GREEDY LYING BASTARDS”
Thursday May 23, 7:00 p.m.,
at The Original Princess, Princess St. Waterloo.Just released and already an award winning feature length documentary, this movie digs deep into controversial issues connected to the fossil fuel industry and its regulation, our addiction to fossil fuels in light of climate change & the powers that be …
Displays & info starting 6:30 pm – SPECIAL STUDENT pricing – with ID $5 – Valuable Energy $aving DOOR PRIZES
Eleanor Grant writes a semi-regular e-mail newsletter on social justice issues. You can contact Eleanor at eleanor7000@gmail.com
A presentation by KAIROS Grand River.
Restoring a Good Life for All: Affordable housing for everyone
Presenters: Michael Schuster, former Commissioner Social Services at Region of Waterloo, Colin Gage, GM Victoria Park Community Homes.
When: Monday, 27 May 2013, 7:00pm to 9:30pm; Doors open at 6:45pm
Where: First United Church, 16 William Street West, Waterloo (map)
Through visually stunning footage from over fifty countries, all shot from an aerial perspective, Yann Arthus–Bertrand shows us a view most of us have never seen. He shares with us his sense of awe about our planet and his concern for its health. With this film, Arthus-Bertrand hopes to provide a stepping-stone to further the call to action to take care of our HOME.
Who: TransitionKW
What: Home (2009)
When: Wednesday, 22 May 2013 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EDT) (iCal)
Where: REEP House for Sustainable Living, 20 Mill Street, Kitchener, Ontario (map)
Registration: Eventbrite
Eleanor Grant writes:
An exciting upcoming event on Thurs May 30:
In conjunction with Dream for Uganda, Neruda Productions is pleased to present the Suubi Youth Dance and Drum Troupe from the Cambridge Secondary School in Eastern Uganda on May 22 at Gallery Momo in St Jacobs, and on May 30 in the Rotunda Gallery at Kitchener City Hall.
Suubi Youth are the stars of the drama club at the Cambridge Secondary School which provides refuge, counseling, and an education free of cost to 400 children impacted by war, poverty and AIDS.
“The enthusiasm and joy of these young people who have faced such great adversity has a lot to teach us about the healing power of dance and music,” explains Isabel Cisterna, Neruda Productions’ Artistic Director. “Their music and their joy is inspirational.”
Suubi Youth will spend time with students at Rockway Mennonite School in Kitchener and will also visit high school students in Tobermory and Lion’s Head between performances in Waterloo, Toronto and London.
In Uganda, education is not free so the Cambridge school motto, “nothing without struggle,” applies not only to its students, but also to those who founded and operate the school.
Suubi Youth are touring Southern Ontario on a cultural exchange from May 18 to June 1, visiting schools, performing, and raising funds to purchase a biofuel stove for their school in Kyengera, just outside the capital, Kampala. The biofuel system will provide enough clean burning gas to power stoves and eventually lights, making the school more self-sufficient and able to give up the dirty charcoal brazier that requires cutting down trees to fuel.
Performances by Suubi Youth in Waterloo are by donation, or ‘pay what you can’ (PWYC, suggested $10).
For more information or an interview contact Isabel Cisterna, Artistic Director, Neruda Productions at: isabel@nerudaproductions.com or +1-519-502-9677
Dream for Uganda: Suubi Youth
When: May 22, 2013 – 4:00pm
Where: Gallery Momo – The Mill, 1441 King St. North, St. Jacobs, ONDream for Uganda: Suubi Youth
When: May 30, 2013 – 6:00pm
Where: Rotunda Gallery, Kitchener City HallFor more information visit:
nerudaproductions.com
dreamforuganda.com
www.cacoskyengera.org/
— 30 —
Eleanor Grant writes a semi-regular e-mail newsletter on social justice issues. You can contact Eleanor at eleanor7000@gmail.com
Sign the petition to protect the CBC from political interference.
To Prime Minister Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty: Keep your hands off the CBC. Remove the CBC amendment from the budget bill.
(from Sum Of Us in partership with LeadNow.ca)
Should Andrea Horwath press for more changes to the Ontario budget? Such as improvement in minimum wage and welfare rates? Fill in the survey at Your Say Ontario or send an e-mail to Andrea Horwath at ahorwath-qp@ndp.on.ca
Eleanor Grant writes:
- Sun May 5 at 10:20 a.m: First United Church, Waterloo (King & Wm) – Outreach church service focussed on homelessness in our community.
- Sun May 5 at 7 pm AND Mon May 6 at 9:15 pm: Princess Twin – Movie: HIT ‘N STRUM, a drama about a homeless musician in Vancouver.
- Stepping Up: Monday May 6th 2013, 11:30am -1:00pm: Join us for a silent walk with masks, from Waterloo Square to Kitchener City Hall, to raise awareness of homelessness in the Waterloo Region.
RSVP to Mike Savage by Phone: (519-579-5268) or by email : msavage@golden.net- Speaking Up: Tuesday, May 7th, 1:00- 2:30pm at Kitchener City Hall Rotunda: Speakers from all walks of life will discuss personal experiences of homelessness as well as challenges of service provision in the Waterloo Region. Light Refreshments will be served.
- Tues May 7 at 7 pm: First United Church – Discussion of Hit ‘n Strum movie. (This is not a screening of the movie.) Please RSVP to Mike at msavage@golden.net
- Thurs May 9 at 5:30 pm at Kitchener City Hall: free BBQ sponsored by Downtown Kitchener Community Health Centre – followed by Kindred Spirit awards.
For more information:
http://www.homelessawarenessweek.org/
Eleanor Grant writes a semi-regular e-mail newsletter on social justice issues. You can contact Eleanor at eleanor7000@gmail.com
The 2013 Ontario budget will be announced this Thursday. We need your support to help us raise the minimum wage!
Eleanor Grant writes:
Peace and Justice Friends –
Please join in the May 1 Twitter / E-mail campaign to Premier Kathleen Wynne, in time for the Ontario Budget on May 2. Tell her Ontario needs a minimum wage of $14 now!
Initiated by Workers’ Action Centre in Toronto.
Let’s flood the Premier’s computer! Simple steps in forwarded msg below.
More articles on minimum wage:
“Melt the Freeze! Campaign to Raise Ontario’s Minimum Wage” by Jean Kenyon
“Behind the Numbers: Boost the Minimum Wage, Boost the Economy, from the bottom up” by Armine Yalnizyan
Trish Hennessy “What if the minimum wage were a living wage?”
Armine Yalnizyan: Welcome to the wageless recovery!
Eleanor
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: “Special Diet” <forspecialdiet@gmail.com>
Date: Apr 29, 2013 5:49 PM
Subject: action alert – may day email and twitter campaign!This International Workers Day – May 1st – take a moment to tweet or email Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, demanding a raise in the minimum wage.
$14.00 Now!
The 2013 Ontario budget will be announced this Thursday. We need your support to help us raise the minimum wage!
Please forward this call-out to your networks, friends and family. We only have a few days, and every message counts!
Callout adapted from Workers Action Centre, workersactioncentre.org:
Take action on Mayday to send a message to Premier Kathleen Wynne before the May 2 budget. Ontario needs a minimum wage that lifts workers out of poverty now; no delays, no commission to study minimum wage.
- Send a tweet to @Kathleen Wynne, #14now
- E-mail Kathleen Wynne at premier@ontario.ca – or write a letter from your organization supporting our call for an immediate increase and no panel! (Sample E-mail)
- Submit a letter to your local paper on why your community needs a raise now
- Like the Campaign to Raise the Minimum Wage on Facebook to get regular updates
Why we need a minimum wage increase now!
In March, communities across Ontario came together to launch a campaign for a minimum wage increase. Creative actions took place in 15 different cities, calling for a raise in the minimum wage to $14. The message was clear, we need an increase now!
As we get ready for the 2013 budget to be announced on May 2, we are calling on the government to raise the minimum wage to $14 and not to delay with an advisory panel or commission.
We need a raise in the minimum wage to $14 an hour now because:
- A strong minimum wage will help workers, our communities and boost our economy.
- Working full-time should raise us above the poverty line. Working 35 hours a week, we need $14 an hour to get 10% above the poverty line (LIM) in 2013.
- The minimum wage has been frozen for 3 years while rent, food and transit costs have soared! It’s time to melt the freeze, and then index the minimum wage to the cost of living each year.
Don’t delay with an advisory panel
If the Minister of Labour creates an advisory panel to study the minimum wage:
- It will be a deliberate strategy to have a minimum wage rate set below the poverty line while trying to avoid responsibility for that decision.
- It will be a way to distance the government from a decision to keep minimum wage workers in poverty.
- It will be a waste of time and taxpayer’s money.
We have seen other examples of the Ontario government under Dalton McGuinty establishing panels and commissions to make recommendations that were inadequate, or that the government didn’t follow, such as the long-term affordable housing strategy and Social Assistance Review Commission.
Ontario workers don’t need a panel or commission to study the minimum wage. We need an increase now to bring us out of poverty!
For more information, visit: workersactioncentre.org
Take action!
The Campaign to Raise the Minimum Wage is coordinated by ACORN, Freedom 90, Mennonite New Life Centre, OCAP, Ontario Campaign 2000, Parkdale Community Legal Services, Put Food in the Budget, Social Planning Toronto, Toronto and York Region Labour Council and the Workers’ Action Centre.
For additional info and local action visit povertymakesussick.wordpress.com PMUS is a proud member of the Raise the Rates campaign, and actively participates in the #14now Raise the Minimum Wage campaign
Eleanor Grant writes a semi-regular e-mail newsletter on social justice issues. You can contact Eleanor at eleanor7000@gmail.com
From Toronto Media Co-op via @alexhundert:
Report back from the (En)gendering Resistance conference
Community accountability was the buzzword of this year’s School of Public Interest, titled ‘(En)gendering Resistance: Exploring the possibilities of gender, resistance and militancy.’ The weekend long conference, organized by the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group at the University of Waterloo, was an engaging, though sometimes disjointed, community affair which played host to a diversity of feminists from across southern Ontario and beyond, converging around the question of gender liberation.
Read the rest at Report back from the (En)gendering Resistance conference | Toronto Media Co-op.
Eleanor Grant writes:
Hello Friends –
Please take a moment to sign the appeal below from IndustriALL global union.
It calls on Bangladesh to guarantee freedom of association (including the right to unionize), and improve building and fire safety and the minimum wage for the more than 3 million garment workers in Bangladesh. (According to Global Labour and Human Rights, the starting wage in these awful garment factories is 14 cents an hour, and many women work more than 12-hour days. Read more at http://www.globallabourrights.org/ )
And meanwhile, consider joining in the annual Labour Day of Mourning to commemorate workers who’ve been killed or injured or made ill on the job. SUNDAY APRIL 28, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in Victoria Park at the workers’ monument – between the pavilion and the river. Hosted by Waterloo Regional Labour Council. All are welcome.
Eleanor Grant
Visit the IndustriALL Web Site or the IndustriALL Facebook page.
Eleanor Grant writes a semi-regular e-mail newsletter on social justice issues. You can contact Eleanor at eleanor7000@gmail.com