Sudbury Social Justice News - Septembe 22, 2014

[PLEASE NOTE -- For those of you who subscribe to SSJN as an email update, there currently appears to be something wrong with the server, so this update has not gone through to the list. I have submitted an inquiry to riseup.net, and hopefully it will all be fixed soon. My apologies! -- SN]

EVENTS & MEETINGS:

1) Monday, September 22: Meeting of Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty
2) Monday, September 22: Raise the Rates Campaign Meeting
3) Monday, September 22: Presentation: What Does 'Organic' Really Mean?
4) Thursday, September 25: First Meeting of Council of Canadians, Sudbury Chapter
5) Thursday, September 25: Take Back the Night March
6) Saturday, September 27: One Struggle Movie Afternoon
7) Wednesday, October 1: Good Green Town Hall
8) Saturday, October 4: Global March for Elephants and Rhinos - Sudbury
9) Thursday, October 9: Mayoral Town Hall on Seniors' Issues
10) Thursday, October 9: Screeing of "I Am A Girl"
11) Wednesday, October 15: Creating a Culture of Participation - Workshop & Presentation

NEWS, ANALYSIS & CALLS TO ACTION:

1) "Stepped Up ODSP Medical Reviews Will Mean Improper Denial and Needless Hardship" by Ontario Coalition Against Poverty

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Monday, September 22: Meeting of Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty

Time: 6:30pm
Location: Offices of the Sudbury and District Labour Council (Suite 209 upstairs in 109 Elm Street, which is across the street from the Native Friendship Centre)

The venue is wheelchair accessible. Children are welcome to attend, or childcare support is available upon request. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. If you arrive late and doors are locked, please call the S-CAP phone (249-878-7227).

Matters to be discussed include: municipal election intervention; access to Handi-Transit; the S-CAP 11; and our direct action support work.

S-CAP is a direct-action anti-poverty organization based in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. We provide direct-action support work assisting individuals in their struggles with welfare and ODSP, housing, employers, and others who deny people what they are entitled to in order to meet their needs. In addition, we mount campaigns against and support educational work about regressive government policies as they effect working people and people living in poverty. We believe in the power of people to organize themselves. We believe in the power of resistance!

La coalition contre la pauvreté de Sudbury (S-CAP) est un organisme d’action directe luttant contre la pauvreté. Elle se trouve à Sudbury en Ontario.

Le travail de la coalition se base dans l’action directe et consiste à apporter de l’aide aux individus dans leurs luttes pour l’assistance sociale, l’invalidité, le logement, l’emploi et à les aider à faire face aux gens qui leur refusent ce à quoi ils ont droit pour rencontrer leurs besoins. De plus, la coalition fait des compagnes de sensibilisation et de dénonciation par rapport aux politiques gouvernementales régressives quant à leurs effets sur les travailleurs et travailleuses et les personnes vivant dans la pauvreté.

La coalition croit au pouvoir des personnes de s’organiser elles-mêmes; elle croit au pouvoir de la résistance!

Please call us (249-878-7227)

Email us at sudburyCAP@gmail.com

Website http://sudburycap.com/

S-CAP on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/257339454351403/

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Monday, September 22: Raise the Rates Campaign Meeting

Time: 7:30pm
Location: Offices of the Sudbury and District Labour Council (Suite 209 upstairs in 109 Elm Street, which is across the street from the Native Friendship Centre)

The venue is wheelchair accessible. Children are welcome to attend, or childcare support is available upon request. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. If you arrive late and doors are locked, please call the S-CAP phone (249-878-7227).

The Raise the Rates campaign which is sponsored by the Canadian Union of Public Employees - Ontario and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty is organizing a raise the rates week of anti-poverty action this coming Oct. 13-17th (see the call out below). The week is calling for the raising of social assistance rates by 55% to bring buying power back to what it was before the Harris government initiated the war on the poor; raising the minimum wage to $14 an hour indexed to the cost of inflation;  reinstating the vital provincal Community Start Up and Maintenance Benefit (CSUMB); and ending the reviews that are designed to push people off of ODSP.

The Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty, as an active participant in the Raise the Rates campaign, is proposing that the following be organized in Sudbury leading up to and during this week.

 
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Monday, September 22: Presentation: What Does 'Organic' Really Mean?

Time: 6pm to 7:30pm
Location: reThink Green (176 Larch Street, Suite 305, Sudbury. Note that this location is not wheelchair accessible.)

A talk about the benefits of organic food and understanding what being a certified organic farmer really means.

Presenters:
• Allison Muckle from Rowantree Farms
• Ryan Spence from Field Good Farms / Ferme j'me champ bien
• Bridget King, Public Health Nutritionist from the Sudbury & District Health Unit

FREE ADMISSION.
No sign-up.

This event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/269783789884560/

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Thursday, September 25: First Meeting of Council of Canadians, Sudbury Chapter

Time: 6pm to 8:45pm
Location: South End Library (1991 Regent Street. Wheelchair accessible.)

Council of Canadians supporters in the Sudbury area have told me they want to start a new chapter. I'd like to invite you to our founding meeting on Thursday, September 25 at 6:00 p.m.

We have real momentum on our side and we are looking for people like you who are ready to do more.

Come hear the latest updates on Council campaigns and discuss how they relate to local issues in Sudbury. We continue to fight against cuts to public health care and for the renewal of the Canada Health Accord. We're working hard to ensure that the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union doesn't sell out local economies and jobs, and to expose this secretive trade deal to public scrutiny. Chapters across the country have helped pass resolutions at the municipal level to protect our cities and our communities.

Working at the local level has never been so important. Come out on Thursday, September 25 to meet your neighbours and have your say about how we can solve issues of local concern such as:

* A fair share of mining tax revenues for the City of Greater Sudbury
* The chronic shortage of accessible, appropriate and affordable housing
* Improving health care to Northern Ontario with more doctors and clinical specialists

What do you think are the critical issues facing your community?

Join us! Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend.

If you can't make the meeting but are interested in knowing more about the chapter, please get in touch with me -- Mark Calzavara, Ontario-Quebec Regional Organizer, The Council of Canadians, at ontario-quebec@canadians.org.

 
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Thursday, September 25: Take Back the Night March

Time: 6pm to 8pm
Location: Beginning from Sudbury Secondary School (154 College Street, Sudbury)

Every 6 days in Canada, a woman is murdered by her husband or boyfriend.  And 1 in 2 women has experienced sexual assault at some time in their life.  It’s time for men, women and teens to TAKE BACK THE NIGHT and end violence against women.  You are encouraged to stop the cycle of violence and join TAKE BACK THE NIGHT on Thursday, September 25th for a downtown march at Sudbury Secondary School at 6pm. There will be information from 15 local community resources in both French and English.

TAKE BACK THE NIGHT is an international event with the mission of ending sexual violence in all forms. TAKE BACK THE NIGHT has since grown to encompass all forms of violence against all persons, though sexual violence against women is still the top focus.

You are not alone.  TAKE BACK THE NIGHT is a message of hope!

Tu n’es pas seul. REPRENONS LA NUIT, c’est un message d’espoir!

For more information contact Lynzy at (705) 523-7100 ext. 2647
Pour plus de détails, communiquez avec Sylvie au (705) 670-2517, poste 2226

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Saturday, September 27: One Struggle Movie Afternoon

Time: 2pm
Location: Meeting Room #1, Main Branch, Greater Sudbury Public Library (74 Mackenzie Street)

Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class (62 minutes)

Class Dismissed navigates the steady stream of narrow working class representations from American television's beginnings to today's sitcoms, reality shows, police dramas, and daytime talk shows.

Featuring interviews with media analysts and cultural historians, this documentary examines the patterns inherent in TV's disturbing depictions of working class people as either clowns or social deviants -- stereotypical portrayals that reinforce the myth of meritocracy.

Class Dismissed breaks important new ground in exploring the ways in which race, gender, and sexuality intersect with class, offering a more complex reading of television's often one-dimensional representations. The video also links television portrayals to negative cultural attitudes and public policies that directly affect the lives of working class people.

To join or share this event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/350626255096896/?ref_dashboard_filter=up....

One Struggle Points of Unity: http://onestruggle.net/points-of-unity/.

For more information contact Rachael Charbonneau rachaelcharbonneau@vianet.ca or 705-670-1982.
 

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Wednesday, October 1: Good Green Town Hall

Time: 6pm to 9pm
Location: St. Andrew's Place (111 Larch Street, Sudbury)

Meet-and-greet starting at 6pm with city council candidates for this fall's municipal election. A mayoral town hall will go from 7pm to 9pm.
Here's your chance to meet your candidates and ask your questions around green issues, climate change and citizen engagement!

This event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1455737588030732/

 
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Saturday, October 4: Global March for Elephants and Rhinos - Sudbury

Time: noon
Location: Starting from Memorial Park in downtown Sudbury

It’s a trans-national business that funds terrorist organisations, fuels conflict in Africa, and poses environmental, development and security challenges. The illegal wildlife trade is also a lucrative business, generating an estimated USD$20 billion per year.

At the launch of the United for Wildlife “#WhoseSideAreYou” campaign, in June this year, HRH Duke of Cambridge said, “There are two thousand critically endangered species on the verge of being lost forever. It’s time to choose a side – between the endangered animals and the criminals who kill them for money. I am calling on people all around the world to tell us: whose side are you on?”

The answer will be loud and clear from the thousands of people in over 100 cities worldwide joining the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos (GMFER) on 4th October this year.  Dr Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace, has given her support to the march, saying, “We must join forces everywhere to stop the slaughter of elephants and rhinos. They feel pain, they know suffering. We must stop people from buying ivory.” Support has also been given by English actor Ricky Gervais: "How can we allow the extinction of 2 magnificent creatures for the sake of the some morons owning tasteless trinkets or trying fake medicine?"

Also supporting the event, Joanna Lumley, OBE and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, says "If we stand by and watch the brutal extinction of rhino and elephant, the stain of shame on our human consciousness will never be forgiven or forgotten."

The organisers of the grass roots event to be held at Memorial Park Downtown, Sudbury Ontario, October 4th 2014 at 12:00 pm, say that, “only a truly global response will stop our globally iconic species being sold into extinction. World Animal Day this year must focus on action - individuals, peoples, governments - all of us must act to end the vile trade in endangered species.”

Officially acknowledged by United For Wildlife as an event that will raise awareness about the crisis facing the world’s wildlife, GMFER organisers hope the event will also help to reduce demand for endangered species ‘products’ and will be pushing for governments to ban all commercial trading of endangered wildlife and to put an end to wildlife trafficking.

“Individuals, and society as a whole, can choose to shun ivory, rhino horn, lion and tiger bones as commodities,” say event organisers, “but we need governments to play their part too, by increasing penalties for bribery, corruption and trafficking offenses, and by shutting down all retail outlets and ivory carving factories.” The Global March will also call on governments to publicly destroy their stockpiles of illegal wildlife products, to show “zero tolerance for illegal trading”.

In Africa four elephants are illegally killed for their ivory every hour, and estimates are that between only 250,000 to 400,000 survive today.  Illegally killed for their horn, it is estimated that less than 22,000 African rhino now remain.  As for lions, more survive now in captivity, where they are bred to be shot by hunters, than roam in the wild.

Their path to extinction is very clear and the causes are well understood. “Ivory, rhino horn, lion and tiger bones continue to be sold to feed a relentless and growing demand, largely in Asia, where the body parts of these endangered animals are still viewed as highly sought after products,” explain the march organisers.

The ivory and rhino horn trade is particularly cruel and gruesome – not only do poachers indiscriminately slaughter adults, babies or whole herds alike, but often hack off an elephant’s tusks or rhino’s horns while they are still alive.  “When it comes to choosing between saving the elephant, rhino and lion from extinction or slaughtering them for some mythical medicinal property or for an expensive carving, the choice is clear,” GMFER event organisers say.

Don’t stand on the sideline, “Whose side are you on?” Find a march near you:
Website: http://www.March4ElephantsAndRhinos.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/March4Elephants
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EleRhinoMarch Email:March4ElesAndRhinos@gmail.com

 
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Thursday, October 9: Mayoral Town Hall on Seniors' Issues

Time: 1:30pm to 3pm
Location: Parkside Older Adult Centre (144 Durham Street, Sudbury)

All candidates for Mayor in the forthcoming municipal election on Oct. 27th have been invited to meet with interested citizens at a special event sponsored by Friendly to Seniors – Sudbury, the local chapter of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) in conjunction with the Older Adult Parkside Centre.

A similar event was held at the same location during the last election and was well attended, and will be moderated again by well know Sudburian Gerry Labelle.

Candidates will be given the opportunity to present their platforms and answer questions, particular to, but not necessarily related to seniors issues.  While the event which will take place from 1.30 p.m to 3.00 p.m. Thursday Oct. 9th will be of particular interest to older citizens those citizens of other ages available at this time are also invited to attend.

No other recent local election has raised as much interest as the current contest and is of such significant importance.  As Sudbury’s older adult population continues to grow there is considerable concern with respect to the direction our municipality is moving with regards to accommodating Seniors issues, particularly in the areas of increased taxation, affordable housing, maintaining infrastructure and quality of life matters including health care etc.

Those interested should be present at the Older Adult Parkside Centre in the Centre for Life 144 Durham Street prior to the 1.30 p.m. start of the meeting on Thursday Oct. 9th.  Refreshments will be available.

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Thursday, October 9: Screeing of "I Am A Girl"

Time: 7pm to 9pm
Location: Sheridan Auditorium, Sudbury Secondary School (154 College Street, Sudbury)

LEAF Sudbury will celebrate Person’s Day 2014 with the documentary, "I am a Girl" on Thursday, October 9, 2014 in the Sheridan Auditorium at Sudbury Secondary School. The film presentation will start at 7:00 p.m. followed by a reception and refreshments.

I AM A GIRL, directed by Rebecca Barry, is an inspirational feature length documentary that paints a clear picture of the reality of what it means to be a girl in the 21st century. Feminism may have promised equality and sought a better and fairer world for women but the reality is that girls make up almost a quarter of the world’s population yet still face the greatest discrimination of any group in the world. Yet in spite of many obstacles, girls have found extraordinary ways to persevere and in this documentary we hear their stories of strength, hope, courage and a refusal to be second best.
Tickets will be sold at, The Apollo restaurant, Gloria’s, Laurentian University Bookstore and at the door. Tickets are $25. There will be free parking.

Contacts: Carol Stos. 705 675 1151, X 4273, Tannys Laughren 705-586-6915

This event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/669472923142033/

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Wednesday, October 15: Creating a Culture of Participation - Workshop & Presentation

Time: Workshop -- 1pm to 4pm
      Presentation -- 7pm to 9pm
Location: Holiday Inn (1696 Regent Street, Sudbury)
Cost: Workshop -- $30
      Presentation -- $15

In celebration of our 25th Anniversary and to launch our Social Enterprise Division the Social Planning Council Sudbury is excited to invite you to join us on October 15th for what promises to be a fun, informative and entertaining event!
 
Dave Meslin will lead us in a participatory workshop in the afternoon practicing skills to Creating a Culture of Participation (More details to follow but geared to leaders and front line staff).
 
In the evening our very own Stef Paquette will set the tone and Dave Meslin will illustrate an optimistic picture of what's possible at City Hall, within the non-profit sector and in our communities.
 
Workshop: $30
Presentation: $15
Workshop + Presentation: $40
Sponsorship is available.  Please contact us for more information.
events@spcsudbury.ca
705-675-3894
 
Book on-line:  http://www.eventbrite.com/e/creating-a-culture-of-participation-tickets-...
 
Call out for cool ideas to feature at this event!  Contact Annette at events@spcsudbury.ca, 705-675-8891, ext. 213, to book your free spot to promote YOUR ‘cool’ idea.

NEWS, ANALYSIS & CALLS TO ACTION:

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"Stepped Up ODSP Medical Reviews Will Mean Improper Denial and Needless Hardship"
by Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
(Originally published at http://ocap.ca/node/1191)