Sustainability forum focuses on collaboration

City of Kitchener logoThis is a media release from the City of Kitchener

KITCHENER – Collaboration and commitment are on the agenda for the Sustainability Networking Forum on Saturday, April 20 at Kitchener City Hall in the rotunda from 9 a.m. until noon.

Hosted by the City of Kitchener councillor, Yvonne Fernandes, and the environmental advisory committee, the forum highlights the need to work together and also identifies the values and principles that underscore collaboration. During the morning there will be a guided presentation for attendees to work together on a variety of activities.

Grassroots environmental groups have a wide variety of reasons for organizing; this forum will be an opportunity for them to connect with each other, find common threads and perhaps pool resources in a wider effort to get their message out to the public. The hope is that a bigger annual event can be planned so that the public will be able to attend in the future.

Participation in the forum is open to community environmental organizations by registration. Contact Brian Scott, City of Kitchener, at brian.scott@kitchener.ca.

What: Environmental sustainability networking forum
Who: Councillor Fernandes and the environmental advisory committee
When: Saturday, April 20, 9 a.m. to noon.
Where: City hall rotunda

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The Kitchener City Hall Rotunda is at 200 King St. W., Kitchener, Ontario (map)

(En)Gendering Resistance: Exploring the Possibilities of Gender, Resistance and Militancy

Re-blogged from WPIRG

(En)Gendering Resistance: Exploring the Possibilities of Gender, Resistance and Militancy

WPIRG’s 2013 School of Public Interest Conference

April 19th-21st

engenderingresistance.noblogs.org

Examining the social, political and economic realities of gender, as well as the liberatory possibilities of militant resistance to gender based oppression, WPIRG’s 2013 School of Public Interest will focus on the theme of (en)gendering resistance. A purposeful play on words, the conference theme is intended to encompass reflections on the lived experience of gender, the gendering of activism, and strategies for fostering vibrant resistance movements.

Taking place April 19th-21st at the University of Waterloo, the weekend long conference will bring together community organizers, activists and students, to critically discuss issues related to gender and resistance/resisting gender. Shaping, while simultaneously being shaped by the ways in which we live, love, fuck and resist, the intricacies and potentialities of gender will be explored.

Our vision is to provide an inclusive space to engage in dialogue that challenges the narratives of the mainstream feminist movement, expanding its critique and radicalizing its practice. We dream of a feminism that does not seek the inclusion of marginalized identities within the dominant order, but rather, strives to unapologetically challenge the dominant order itself. How can we develop a movement for gender justice that is necessarily anti-capitalist, anti-colonial and critical of state institutions? How can we foster resistance practices that are firmly rooted in anti-racism and an intersectional analysis of gender?

Patriarchy and gendered oppressions are everyday perpetuated within our communities and movements. Sexism, queer and transphobia permeate social justice groups and organizations. Gender violence and sexual assault occur with tragic frequently within our ‘safe’ spaces. How can we challenge the reproduction of gender oppression within broader social and environmental justice movements? How can we develop non-state responses to issues of sexual violence? What potential exists for the construction of holistic and nurturing communities of resistance? How can we strengthen our ongoing work, and build our collective capacity to resist?

In the spirit of engendering resistance, WPIRG invites community-based activists, those struggling everyday against gender oppression, supporters, and anyone who sees value in gathering to resist and share strategies, to participate!

Have Your Say on Casinos

Waterloo:

Web comment form: Take Survey: Casino Feedback
Phone: +1-519-957-9727
E-mail: casinofeedback@waterloo.ca

The deadline to submit feedback is April 30, 2013

Notice: City of Waterloo seeks input on casino

Kitchener:

CasiNO – Kitchener Public Consultations –
When: Tuesday, 23 and 30 April 2013 starting at 6:00pm with a presentation from OLG; public consultations for those who have registered to speak will follow. A second session will be held April 30. Pre-registration for the 30 April session is not mandatory but is strongly recommended and can be done on the City of Kitchener’s Casino web page or by calling Linda Korabo at +1-519-741-2200;ext=7591

Location: Kitchener City Hall Council Chambers, 200 King St. W., Kitchener, Ontario (map)

Notice: Public Consultation on a Casino in Kitchener

News release: Council votes in favour of public consultation on casino

An online survey will be available from April 15 – May 1, 2013.

Labour Day Of Mourning

Sunday, 28 April 2013, 10:30am: LABOUR DAY OF MOURNING
Victoria Park, between the Pavilion and the river (map).
This annual event commemorates those killed or injured on the job.

According to the Ministry of Labour, “every day in Ontario, an average of nearly 50 young workers under age 25 are injured or killed on the job”. Eroding labour standards are a huge issue, that’s not getting nearly enough attention.

Support the Region of Waterloo’s Official Plan for Smart Growth

Citizens are organizing to support the Region of Waterloo’s Official Plan for Smart Growth, in face of the OMB ruling against it in January, which favoured developers and urban sprawl.

See Smart Growth Waterloo Region’s What Can I Do.

A great deal is at stake here:

  • Waterloo’s precious remaining farmland, that can never be replaced.
  • Democracy – the right to make local decisions, and not have them struck down by an unelected commission.
  • The precedent it sets for all of Ontario.

Your are urged to visit Smart Growth Waterloo Region, where there’s more info as well as actions you can take.

Fair Taxation For All

Monday, 29 April 2013, 7:00pm: Fair Taxation For All with Dennis Howlett, executive director of Canadians for Tax Fairness.
First United Church Waterloo (King and William St) (map).

Dennis Howlett is touring to launch CTF’s new book The Great Revenue Robbery.  The book will be available for sale at the event.

Very timely in light of new revelations that $32 trillion worldwide is deposited in tax havens, with billions in lost revenue to governments that are struggling with deficits and austerity.

Event sponsored by KAIROS Grand River as part of series Restoring A Good Life for All.  Co-sponsored by Waterloo Region Labour Council.

http://www.taxfairness.ca/news/book-launch-events-planned-great-revenue-robbery-april

Rally for Gaza CANCELLED – but let’s keep in touch

Friends,

I just heard that the Palestinian students have cancelled the rally against
the war in Gaza, scheduled for Sunday.

But as we all know, the war on Gaza is not over. With the ongoing blockade they can’t even get what they need to start rebuilding – again.

In brainstorming with a friend tonight, I wondered if those of us who are interested could start some ongoing action in KW, to raise awareness of the daily violence that Palestinians face.

Did you all see the 2 excellent letters in Friday’s Record, confronting the unjust way the Palestinians are portrayed by gov’t and media? One was by Rev Desmond Jagger-Parsons of Trinity United Church – who is one of the people on this list. Desmond you were really on a tear! Good for you.

What are some things we might do? Share articles among ourselves? Start a moderated discussion list? Start a blog? Hold a regular public vigil – for Palestinians killed, or imprisoned, or land lost, or homes demolished and trees uprooted …. it’s endless.

Please let’s keep talking and sharing ideas. We’ve abandoned the field to the pro-Israel spin doctors for too long!

Shalom,

Eleanor Grant

Rally For Gaza, Sunday 25 November

Please forward to your friends and networks:

Message from Students for Palestinian Rights:

Please join our peaceful demonstration condemning the attacks by the Israeli Military Forces on:

When: Sunday November 25, 2012

Time: 2:00 p.m.

Location: Kitchener City Hall

Bring any flags, signs, and kuffiyahs or anything else you may have.

Oct 19 Vigil to mourn Ashley Smith

Announcement from Shannon Balla:

Remembering Ashley Smith
Community gathering & vigil

October 19th, 7-8pm
Speakers Corner (King and Benton), Kitchener

On the 5th anniversary of Ashley’s death in a segregation cell in Kitchener’s Grand Valley Institution for Women

Come and share a time of collective mourning and a renewed commitment to change as we remember Ashley and others who struggle against the isolation and oppression of the prison system

Hosted by:  We Remember Ashley Smith Campaign

For more information: 226-789-6786; shannon.balla@gmail.com

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/events/198140513653901/

 

Background: 
Ashley Smith (January 29, 1988 – October 19, 2007) died at age 19 in a segregation cell at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener.  Having been denied a transfer to a psychiatric facility and on suicide watch, Ashley tied a ligature around her neck and, while staff watched (having been ordered not to intervene), asphyxiated to death. The over four years of Ashley’s institutionalization were marked by isolation, violence, forced injections, and frequent transfers. In the 11 months before her death, while in federal custody, she was moved 17 times between 8 facilities in 4 provinces, largely for ‘administrative reasons’. She was denied access to her family, to advocates and to legal counsel. 

 

Reports of the Federal Correctional Investigator and New Brunswick Ombudsman attribute Ashley’s death to failures of individual staff and to much deeper failures within the correctional and mental health systems themselves.  A provincial coroner’s inquest was launched in Ontario but was halted in September 2011 due to legal challenges and logistical obstacles.  A new inquest is set to begin in January 2013.

 

Ashley’s death in Grand Valley five years ago exposes the inherent violence of the ‘corrections’ system and demands a response from those of us who live in the community where she died.  Remembering Ashley, and all those who have died or been damaged by these institutions, is an act of collective resistance against a deeply unjust ‘justice system’.  Strengthening our shared commitment to building communities of love, equity, and true justice is at the heart of this event.