CSJ Newsletter

February 29, 2024

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CALLS TO ACTION

Open warming centres 24/7

There is no right to shelter in the City of Toronto. Mayor Olivia Chow’s budget must fix this.

Shelters are full with close to 10,000 people in them.

‘Temporary’ low-barrier, congregate respite sites, now employed for over six years, which have lower standards, are also full.

Warming centres, which operate with even lower public health standards, are routinely full WHEN THEY OPEN, usually only when it is -5C.

change.org

EVENTS

What’s happening at Remedy

When: Tuesday evenings, 6pm-7:30pm beginning February 27th – April 16th
Where: Remedy, 703 Bloor Street West, Suite 201

Are you worried, sad, angry or afraid about climate change? You’re not alone.

Dr. Paul Uy is facilitating an OHIP-funded (free) group for people concerned about climate change and the environmental crisis. The group will be guided by practices from The Work that Reconnects, a group facilitation method developed by the eco-philosopher and activist Joanna Macy. You’ll have a chance to share and process the complex emotions that many people feel around climate change – humanity’s impact on nature, and the risks, challenges and opportunities communities face as we grapple with a changing world.

drive.google.com

Trans Healthcare

When: February 29th, 5pm
Where: Queen’s Park, 111 Wellesley Street W

Join us for the second reading of MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam’s Private Member’s Bill, the Gender Affirming Health Care Advisory Committee Act. Let’s show our support for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and demand inclusive and affirmative healthcare.

ofl.ca | Facebook

Decolonize Drag

When: February 29th, 6pm
Where: OISE Auditorium

Join us for an evening of learning at the intersections of drag, gender, sexuality, and decolonization with author of Decolonize Drag, Kareem Khubchandani. As part of the Indigenous Education Network’s Two Spirit Series, this event is a unique collaboration with the Critical Health and Social Action Lab and Between the Lines Publishers.

eventbrite.ca

Palestine-Israel Upside Down

When: Thursday February 29th, 7pm

October 7 changed everything – it upended the “grand chessboard” of empire across the planet. What are the implications? How has the sacrifice of the Palestinian people helped to free the world from a dying empire which has trashed the planet.

October 7 turned the image and reality of Palestine-Israel upside down. Decades and generations of mind colonization by Zionist-Israeli narrative has been turned on its head and the world especially in the west is now seeing things for what they are. Just as the land and people of Palestine are de-colonizing, minds in the west are also in process of becoming de-colonized.

Amid the desolation and despair pressing down on the world there is also light. This wide-ranging talk by Robert Massoud provides context and brings perspective to the genocide in Gaza. It ultimately points to hope and optimism that we are turning a corner albeit at enormous cost exacted by empire scheming and war crimes.

zoom.us

International Women’s Day

When: Saturday, March 2nd, rally at 11am and march at 1pm
Where: OISE Auditorium, 252 Bloor Street W

No One Is Free, Until We’re All Free!

All are welcome to join: IWDTORONTO.CA

Art exhibit: RESISTANCE – From Kashmir to Palestine

When: March 2nd, 6-9pm, and March 3rd, 11am-9pm
$5 Donations encouraged

This exhibit is a statement, a gathering of voices, and a tapestry of stories that demand to be heard. Engage with compelling pieces that resonate with the spirit of resistance from Kashmir to Palestine. Share this, bring a friend, and be part of the conversation.

docs.google.com

Film screening: Revolution Until Victory

When: March 3rd, 1pm

Drawing from Palestinian struggle cinema, Off Frame AKA Revolution Until Victory (2015), traces fragments of revolution, interlacing images of and dreams for freedom. This experimental documentary from Kuwait-born, Gaza-raised Mohanad Yaqubi tells the stories of a people who have been resisting their oppression for millennia. The film offers a bridge between the past and the present, from the river to the sea. Paralleling Third Cinema, the Palestine Film Unit was established as part of the PLO in the 1960s.

docs.google.com

Hands Off Rafah

When: March 3rd, 1pm
Where: US Consulate

Gaza is facing starvation, its hospitals are besieged, threats of ground invasion in Rafah loom near, and Israel continues to unleash its onslaught on the over 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

instagram.com

Feminist Archival Scan-a-thon

When: March 3rd, 4pm
Where: CSI, 720 Bathurst St

Please join us after the screening of Analogue Revolution: How Feminist Media Changed the World for a scan-a-thon!

Got feminist and queer stuff? Posters, buttons, news clippings, iconic letters or documents that tell a story about lesbian, feminist LGBTQ2S+, queer organising and community? Bring it over to our Scan-athon and we’ll help you scan and digitise it!

eventbrite.com

Youth Take on Ottawa and New York for Nuclear Disarmament

When: March 3rd, 4pm

Panelists are Rooj Ali, Molly Hurley and Sarah Rohleder who will discuss their experiences and important outcomes of the Youth-Parliament Nuclear Summit in Ottawa and the Second Meeting of States Parties for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the Nuclear Ban week events in New York. Organized by the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace.

zoom.us

Tooker: 20 years on

When: March 3rd, 7pm

March 3rd marks the 20th anniversary of the passing of Tooker Gomberg – one of Canada’s most daring and courageous political figures, as well as friend, co-conspirator and guiding light to so many of us.

We invite you to join in reflection and celebration of this exemplary writer, activist, politician, videographer, public speaker and advocate for a better world.

zoom.us

Join @UofT

When: Monday, March 4th, 9am to 1pm
Where: King’s College Circle

Join @UofT teaching assistants, service workers, and postdocs fighting for respect, dignity and a living wage. 9am-1pm at King’s College Circle, St. George Campus: Twitter poster

Canadian Foreign Policy Hour with Yves Engler

When: Mondays at 6pm

Join author Yves Engler on Mondays for a weekly news roundup and interactive discussion about Canada’s role abroad. This weekly session will delve into the latest developments on subjects ranging from military affairs and Canada’s role in Ukraine to its contribution to Palestinian dispossession, and the exploitation of African resources. Join Yves for a critical take on Canada’s foreign policy. Questions, comments, and criticisms are all welcome.

zoom.us

#Disrupt PDAC

When: March 5th, 5pm
Where: Fairmont Royal York Hotel, 100 Front St W

The world’s largest mining convention is coming to Toronto again. Join us Mar 5th to crash their fancy awards gala, hear from communities resisting Canadian mining and tell the industry their violence + destruction is nothing to celebrate!

mininginjustice.org

Topia – issue launch

When: March 5th, 6:30pm
Where: Another Story Bookshop, 315 Roncesvalles Ave

Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies – launch, panel discussion with special guests.

anotherstory.ca

Reimagining Systems (of Care) by Us for Us

When: March 6th, 6pm

Imagining a Toronto where our funds are invested in community and divested from systems of surveillance. The Toronto City Budget has increased funding to the police, again. The TTC has resumed fare inspectors and special constables. Surveillance, and the funds required to maintain it, are expanding. What are our possibilities in a future that diverts those funds to something else? Instead investing in ourselves, in our communities, in each other. What could Toronto be like if we invest in systems of care?
A conversation moderated by Robyn Maynard with Panelists Desmond Cole, Butterfly GoPaul, and Rebeena.

zoom.us

Yellow Briar Book Club

When: March 6th, 7pm

Denison Avenue, a novel by Christina Wong with illustrations by Daniel Innes, was the best-selling Canadian fiction last week and a contender for the CBC’s Great Canadian Book Debate, airing March 4-7.

mailchi.mp

ARTICLES

Defunding UNRWA is Collective Punishment

Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) condemns Canada’s shameful decision to suspend further funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) while Palestinians in Gaza face the disastrous consequences of Israeli forces’ deadly assault. According to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on food security, famine is an inevitable consequence of such actions by Western states.

Source: The Bullet No. 2953

Israel Killed 12,300 kids in Gaza

By Judy Haiven

Drum roll, please. Today, I want to salute Canada’s media. It is largely because of you, and your coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, that the latest poll reveals approximately the same number of Canadians support Israel as support the Palestinians. Does that sound fair – after four months of Israel’s total destruction of Gaza, Israel’s murders of 12,300 children (43% of the total death toll), more than 1,000 children with one or both legs amputated, and the 610,000 children trapped in Rafah?

Source: The Bullet No. 2954

The Ford Government’s Hospital Privatization Scheme

By Ontario Health Coalition

A new report, Robbing from the public to build the private: The Ford government’s hospital privatization scheme reveals that local hospitals in every region of Ontario have operating rooms sitting idle the majority of the time. The public has funded local hospitals for more than 70 years to build operating room capacity that is unused while the Ford government is shunting unprecedented public money to private for-profit clinics and hospitals to build new operating rooms, the Coalition reports.

Source: The Bullet No. 2955
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