Tuesday, 17 August 18:00 - 19:30

Room 116, Wallberg building 200 College Street Toronto, ON

on Friday, August 20th to help kick of the Green Party of Canada Convention. Everyone is welcome!

The open house will take place on Friday, August 20 from 1 pm ­ 3 pm. Our office is located at: 191 John Street, Lower Level Toronto, Ontario

We need your help to staff the table and to tell Green Party members about Fair Vote Canada and voting system change. Saturday August 21 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

255  FRONT St W, Toronto

Tuesday Aug 24 from 7-9pm Ryerson Student Centre - Oakham Lounge (2nd floor) 55 Gould St. 

August 26th from 6:30pm - 9:00pm at the Bloor Cinema

Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 7pm to 9pm

Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave, University of Toronto, St. George Campus.

Saturday, September 22, 2010, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Where:   Scadding Court Community Centre Gymnasium 707 Dundas Street West, Toronto ON M5T 2W6 (please enter through doors on the east side of the parking lot on Bathurst St.)

SAVE THE DATE!

Date: Friday, September 24, 2010

Time: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Place: Ontario Bar Association Conference Centre (20 Toronto Street, wheelchair accessible)

Human Trafficking in Canada a Serious Problem

On Tuesday, October 12, at University of Toronto's Hart House, attend the kick-off event of the National Public Awareness Campaign to End Modern-Day Slavery in Canada and book launch of Invisible Chains with author Benjamin Perrin.

Join individuals and local organizations working to end human trafficking and learn what you can do to fight the exploitation of individuals in Canada who are forced into the sex trade or exploited for their labour.

Register now to attend.

FoodShare is a partner in the August 26th screening of Fresh

Fresh is a new documentary by Ana Sofia Joanes that examines the consequences of our industrial food system and offers a practical alternative for how we grow, buy and eat our food. FoodShare is delighted to be partnering to help with a screening and events related to the film in Toronto. This will include lectures, workshops, farm to table dinners and will culminate in the screening of the movie on August 26th from 6:30pm - 9:00pm at the Bloor Cinema.

Immediately following the movie will be a panel discussion with some of the leading food activists in the Toronto area. To date, panelists include Debbie Field, Executive Director of FoodShare and inaugural winner of the Green Toronto Award for Local Food and Tammara Soma of Sustain Ontario and the Toronto Youth Food Policy Council.

For more information, visit:http://radishesandrhubarb.blogspot.com/p/fresh-movie.html

Public Forum

Anti-Native Organizing and the "Claedonia Crisis": Countering the Right Wing Backlash

Tuesday August 3, 2010 7 PM

OISE Room 5-170, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto.

After the Six Nations people of the Grand River territory began the reclamation of the "Douglas Creek Estates" housing development in Caledonia in February of 2006, a grass-roots anti-Native campaign has been building in nearby white communities. Led by full-time organizers backed by local developers these anti-native activists have organized a "militia" to oppose "native lawlessness," held regular protests against native smoke shops, and have consistently supported the actions of local governments to criminalize Six Nations land defenders for the past four years. The protests they have organized against Six Nations have been attended by neo-Nazis from elsewhere in Southern Ontario, and more recently ­ in the wake of the Israeli attack on the Gaza Flotilla ­ anti-native organizers have sought to tie struggles for indigenous self-determination on Turtle Island to "Muslim Hatemongers" and so-called "terrorist formations" such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Tamil Tigers while at the same time solidifying the links between "democratic" settler states such as Canada and Israel.

On August 3rd, join us for a panel discussion examining the nature of the right wing backlash to the "Caledonia Crisis" in the context of a growing right-wing populist resurgence taking place in the United States and Canada.

This event is being organized as part of the July 31 2010 "Call to Action Against Racism and Fascism" issued by Portland anti-fascists after ARA member Luke Querner was shot by suspected fascists on the evening of March 27th 2009.

This event is co-organized by Common Cause and the CUPE 3903 First Nations Solidarity Working Group (FNSWG) and sponsored by the Pan-African Solidarity Network

About the presenters:

Wednesday August 11, 2010 -  6pm

Volunteer Plug In YOUR chance to get involved in local voting reform!

Better Ballots has been exploring fourteen options for voting reform during the past seven months. We've hosted four Town Hall meetings as well as a Mayoral Forum. Now is your chance to get more involved by joining the advocacy campaign of your choice.

We'll be directing people to existing campaigns such as VoteToronto, Fair Vote and iVote Toronto where they already exist, and we'll be creating new groups for options like term limits, lower voting age, online voting, ranked ballots (instant runoff), weekend voting, etc. where they don't already exist.

Better Ballots does not advocate for any particular reform, but rather encourages discussion, debate and engagement on the topic of democratic renewal in Toronto.

Where: Metro Hall, 55 John Street, Room 309

Join us as we activate our supporters, and connect people with projects!

Webpage

Saturday, September 22, 2010, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Mayoral Debate on Disability Issues

Then Save the Date!

Where:   Scadding Court Community Centre Gymnasium 707 Dundas Street West, Toronto ON M5T 2W6 (please enter through doors on the east side of the parking lot on Bathurst St.)

For more information, please contact Alina Chatterjee at alina@scaddingcourt.org or at 416.392.0335 ext.230

Tooker Gomberg's Birthday Partee

August 12, 2010

12:00 pm ­ 6:00 pm

Tooker Gomberg Memorial Library

The Centre for Social Innovation, 4th floor

215 Spadina Ave, Toronto

Free, all welcome

Enjoy b-day cake while perusing 800+ of Tooker's own books ­ everything from activism to urban design, transportation, energy, biodiversity and eco-novels. Or visit the library Mon ­ Fri, 9:30 a.m ­ 6:00 p.m.  Books are available for loan. 

For more info click here or email Greenspiration

The Green Party of Ontario is having an open house

on Friday, August 20th to help kick of the Green Party of Canada Convention. Everyone is welcome!

If you would like to check out our new GPO office, meet other Greens, and kick off the weekend with some refreshments, this event is for you!

The open house will take place on Friday, August 20 from 1 pm ­ 3 pm. Our office is located at: 191 John Street, Lower Level Toronto, Ontario

If you plan on attending this event, please let us know by responding to this email.

We hope to see you there!

Economic Crisis? Who Pays?

A public forum on the government's proposed public sector wage freeze. 

Tuesday Aug 24 from 7-9pm Ryerson Student Centre - Oakham Lounge (2nd floor) 55 Gould St. 

*Closest subway stop is Dundas. Building is on the corner of Gould and Church Sts.   

At risk is free collective bargaining, workers rights, public services and our communities, so join members of the Toronto Workers' Assembly for a discussion on what's happening and how we can and should respond. 

More details to come. Please visit www.workersassembly.ca/

DROP G20 CHARGES! RESISTING THE CRIMINALIZATION OF DISSENT

Tuesday, 17 August 18:00 - 19:30

Room 116, Wallberg building 200 College Street Toronto, ON

[Please note that Childcare is available upon request. Please let us know by Mon, Aug 16 by emailing nahed.work@gmail.com]

Speakers include Lesley Wood, Syed Hussan, AJ Whithers and Farrah Miranda.

For ten days at the end of June, the Police led a coordinated armed assault against Toronto's civilian population. Community organizers were in particular targeted. Mobilizations for justice, for dignity and for self-determination were... infiltrated, harassed and intimidated. A Canada wide response is at hand as people fight to have the criminal charges dropped and to continue the struggle against the G20's anti-people and anti-environment policies. (Support the Legal Defence Fund! http://g20.torontomobilize.org/support)

To understand why people mobilized against the G20 and how organizers were targeted; to hear accounts of police brutality and repression; and to understand the political nature of the bail conditions, the criminalization of dissent and ways to support the people facing charges, join us for an informative panel and discussion.

This event is focused towards activists, grassroots organizers and people who are interested in knowing more and acting in solidarity with local struggles and defendants.

LESLEY WOOD is a Professor of Sociology at York University and a member of the Toronto Community Mobilization Network and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty. Lesley will be speaking about G20 policies, police violence during the summit and the role of global justice movements and community struggles. Read her latest movement article at: http://bit.ly/bT5LdB

SYED HUSSAN is a member of the Toronto Community Mobilization Network and No One Is Illegal-Toronto. He was arrested on the morning of June 26, 2010 and held for 12 days. Hussan will speak about his arrest, bail conditions, and the need for solidarity and ongoing organizing.

AJ WHITHERS is a member of DAMN 2025 and the Ontario Coalition Against Povert (OCAP). OCAP is a grassroots anti-poverty organization that faced increasing police repression following mass demonstrations in 2001. AJ will be speak about the targeting of various community groups in 2001 and during the G20 and the need to struggle against the G8/G20 policies in the coming years. Read more at http://bit.ly/bKZfyu and http://ocap.ca/node/904

FARRAH MIRANDA is a member of No One Is Illegal - Toronto, a grassroots migrant justice organization that fights for access to entitlements, justice and dignity for all people, irrespective of immigration status. Farrah will be speaking about the targeting of racialized people in the lead up to and during the G20 and the need for solidarity and movement building in the days ahead. Read statements from No One Is Illegal at http://bit.ly/9xt45c and http://bit.ly/dkQ8hG

Endorsers: Ontario Coalition Against Poverty | No One Is Illegal - Toronto | Rainforest Action Network - Toronto | Common Cause - Toronto Branch | Latin American Solidarity Network | SAIA York | SAIA UofT | Women's Coordinating Committee Chile Canada | Ryerson Student Union

To endorse this event, please email abeeramajeed@yahoo.ca

Sponsored by: Hussan Freedom Committee, Ontario Public Interest Research Group - Toronto

Fair Vote Canada -- Toronto Chapter will have an information table at the Green Life Style Show at the Green Party convention.

Join us for an enjoyable two hours next Saturday.

We need your help to staff the table and to tell Green Party members about Fair Vote Canada and voting system change. Saturday August 21 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

255  FRONT St W, Toronto

We are participating in the Green Life Style Show http://www.greenlifestyleshow.ca/

Please come out to help distribute FVC literature (we have new leaflet) and ask attendees to sign our Declaration of Voters' Rights.

Time slots:

11am-1pm ____  _____, 1pm-3pm   ____  _____ 3pm-5 pm   ____  _____,  5 pm -7 pm  ____  _____

Please contact Mark Greenan mark.greenan@fairvote.ca  which slot you would prefer.

(Note--It is important to tell Mark you are coming so that you can gain free admittance into the exhibit area as our volunteer)

Social Planning Toronto Symposium - Schools as Community Hubs: The Vision, The Challenge, The Opportunity

SAVE THE DATE!

In Toronto, a variety of organizations and individuals, from Cabinet Ministers to Mayoral candidates, from Boards of Education to staunch critics of the educational status quo, have been promoting the concept of schools as community hubs.  Three years ago, Social Planning Toronto hosted the Schools@theCentre conference to focus on the central role of schools in communities.  On Friday, September 24, we will have an opportunity to bring together a broad range of individuals and organizations to continue that conversation, exploring the diverse visions for schools in community, the barriers which exist to progress, and the opportunities which currently exist to make progress toward a reality in which schools are at the heart of their communities.

If you are interested in the relationship between schools and their communities, mark September 24 on your calendar now.

Sessions topics will include:

Date: Friday, September 24, 2010

Time: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Place: Ontario Bar Association Conference Centre (20 Toronto Street, wheelchair accessible)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 7pm to 9pm

Mayoral Debate on "Building a Fair Toronto for All"

Equity Toronto and the Good Jobs for All Coalition are hosting a public mayoral debate to assess the candidates' positions on building a fair Toronto for all on Tuesday, September 14 from 7pm to 9pm at Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave, University of Toronto, St. George Campus.

The mayoral candidates will be asked questions that reveal their position on tackling inequity, and ensuring good public services and good public sector jobs are available to all.  

"We must reverse the growing gap between the haves and have-nots in our city," says Anita Khanna, interim executive director of the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians. "Good public services that are informed by the communities they serve, that provide good jobs for all, and address the needs of all Torontonians help foster a thriving fair city.  Torontonians deserve to vote on October 25 knowing whether our mayoral candidates will use our public sector to build a fair city for all or one scarred by inequality."

Six mayoralty candidates will participate in this event. The candidates were chosen based on their standing in the polls and their responses to a questionnaire sent to all candidates that gauges a candidate's position on how they intend to build a fair Toronto.

For information contact: