[opirgyork] Dec 6 Actions, Protest to Support locked up immigrants + Stop the Cuts and Confront Minister Milloy

[OPIRG York]

Hey OPIRG York members and community!

Again lots of stuff going on this week and next! We hope that you are all
able to take some breaks during the studying and essay writing time, and
get out to some awesome events, or in the very least, get some well-needed
rest and relaxation!

You can contact us at any time about ways to get involved, and help out.
Stay tuned for an announcement of a end-of-term celebration we will host
next week with the Centre for Women and Trans People! Contact Victoria
Barnett, our volunteer coordinator, at anytime: victoria at opirgyork.ca.

-OPIRG York
--
www.opirgyork.ca
416-736-5724
opirg at yorku.ca

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*In this email:*
*(1) ONGOING - Dec 14: **CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: YU Free Press Issue 5.2
"Extracting Africa"*
*(2) ONGOING - **SAIA York Divestment Campaign for BDS at York University +
An Open Letter to York U from SAIA*
*(3) Dec 6: Remembering Otherwise: Centering Race in Gender Advocacy*
*(4) Dec 6: DOWN WITH THE PRISON SYSTEM! PRISONERS OF THE WORLD ONTO THE
STREETS!*
*(5)** Dec 7: **Get on the bus from Toronto to Kitchener - Confront Milloy!*
*(6) **Dec 9: Sounds of Solidarity: Rally at Toronto Immigration Holding
Centre*
*(7)** ONGOING: Act Now: Support Mahjoub's Call for Independent Inquiry*
*(8) **Dec 11: Mahjoub: Tables turned, now time to end detention*
*(9) Dec 13: Sleep Out at Glen Murray's Office: Stop the cut to Community
Start Up *
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*CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: YU Free Press Issue 5.2 "Extracting Africa"*
For their upcoming issue, the YU Free Press is seeking submissions on the
topics of the exploitation of the African continent, its people and
resources.

*Topics can include:*
- Natural resource extraction
- Conflict
- (Neo)Colonialism
- Environmental Degradation
- Foreign Debt
- Human Rights Abuses
- Animal Rights Abuses
- Trade
- International Relations
- Cultural Extraction
- Humanitarianism
- Foreign Aid
- Development
& anything you can think of!

To diversify our news, features, comments and arts & culture sections, we
are happy to accept any and all mediums including art, photography, news
reports, commentary, film or book reviews, poetry, etc.

Suggested word counts:
News: 500 to 750 words
Features: max. 2000 words
Comments: max. 1200 words
Arts and Culture: max. 1500 words

For more information on the collective, and to view our past work, please
visit:
http://issuu.com/yufreepress

*Deadline for submissions is December 14th, 2012*
*Email all submissions and inquiries to info at yufreepress.org*

Share this with your friends, family, co-workers, and comrades!
*
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*SAIA York Divestment Campaign for BDS at York University*

Message from the Students Against Israeli Apartheid @ York: SAIA is
collecting 5,000 signatures for our petition demanding that the York
Federation of Students (YFS) endorse the Palestinian-led Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israeli Apartheid. WE are
demanding that York University cuts its ties with the Israeli Apartheid
regime.

*More info:*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSvspbe9qP4&feature=share
https://www.facebook.com/SAIA.York

If you are a York Undergraduate student (must be an undergraduate student
because it is a YFS petition), and have not yet signed the petition, please
get in touch with SAIA at saiayork at riseup.net!
*
*
*An Open Letter to the York University Community from Students Against
Israeli Apartheid*

Fellow students, faculty and administration,

As we write to you today we find ourselves deeply saddened and outraged at
the loss of civilian lives in the Gaza Strip, including the lives of many
children. Although a ceasefire has been declared, Gaza remains under siege
and is subject to severe economic sanctions, closed borders and violent
harassment from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), including the shooting of
an unarmed man on Friday November 23.

We also write to you with a bittersweet sense of accomplishment and
exhilaration as we celebrate the November 15 victory - the passing of a
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions resolution at the York University
Graduate Students' Association. As we move forward from this victory, we
need to build upon the momentum generated and push the broader York
community to examine its complicity with Israel’s human rights violations
against the Palestinian people. Now is the time to urge the broader York
community to take a decisive stand against Israel’s violations of
international law.

York University is currently investing its Pension Fund in companies that
are complicit in, and profit directly from, Israel’s violations of
international law, including its most recent bombing campaign against Gaza.
For example, York is invested in BAE Systems, a company that sells guidance
systems for fighter jets to the IDF. These F-16 jets have been used in the
past to bomb civilian targets in both Gaza and Lebanon. BAE Systems also
manufactures nuclear weapons for other governments, including the United
Kingdom. York is also invested in Northrop Grumman, a company that
manufactures parts for Apache Helicopters and other military
equipment. Amnesty International has condemned this company for its role in
providing equipment to the IDF during the notorious 2008/9 bombing of the
Gaza Strip.

In the past two years, York has also invested its Pension Fund and its
Endowments Fund in two other companies that profit from Israeli violations
of international law. One of these companies is Lockheed Martin, a company
that sells F-16 fighter jets to the IDF. The IDF has used these jets to
bomb civilian targets, including the Islamic University of Gaza in June of
2006. Another company that York has invested in is Hewlett Packard, a
company that has developed and sold computer technology to the Israeli
state for use in its military checkpoints in Gaza, the West Bank and the
occupied Golan Heights. These checkpoints disrupt the daily lives of
Palestinians, often preventing them from accessing essential services such
as education and medical care. They also prevent the people of Gaza from
leaving the tiny strip of land that they are illegally confined to, so that
they cannot escape to any other place whenever the Israeli army decides to
start bombing.

The York University administration is responsible for administering the
faculty and staff Pension Fund. The pensions of the York faculty and staff
come directly from the money that has been made from investments in the
above-mentioned companies. This is money that has been tainted by the blood
of the Palestinian people. Because the Endowments Fund was also invested by
the York administration in the above companies, student scholarship money
has also come from violations of international law. While York's investment
policies for both of these funds contain vaguely-worded statements
regarding "environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors", the policy
lacks the directive to enforce these values. Furthermore, the language in
this policy is not specific enough to prevent investments in companies that
violate international law and human rights.

Students Against Israeli Apartheid is calling on all members of the York
University community to take a stand and demand that York divest from these
companies and others involved in violations of human rights and
international law. We are also asking that all members of the York
University community demand that York University set up an ethical
investment policy to prevent future investments and re-investments into
companies profiting from war, violations of international law and
violations of human rights. Specifically, we are demanding language that
prohibits investment in companies profiting from Israeli violations of the
rights of the Palestinian people; this includes weapons manufacturers,
companies involved in the building of illegal Israeli settlements in the
occupied territories, companies involved with the building of the Israeli
segregation wall and companies that manufacture computer equipment used in
Israeli military checkpoints.

We are asking for the explicit support of all undergraduate students, in
the form of a petition, to urge the York Federation of Students to join the
Graduate Students' Association by endorsing the call for Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). We urge all members of the York community
to answer the call to BDS put forward by over 170 Palestinian civil society
organizations in 2005.

The BDS campaign is a peaceful movement aimed at pressuring the state of
Israel to end its violations of international law and human rights, and it
is modeled on the international BDS movement against apartheid-era South
Africa. The demands of the BDS campaign are: the end of Israel's occupation
of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the dismantling of the Apartheid
Wall as recommended by the International Court of Justice; the recognition
of the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to
full equality; and the right of return for Palestinian refugees as
stipulated in UN General Assembly resolution 194. The BDS campaign is not
affiliated with any Palestinian political party and does not endorse a
particular one-state or two-state solution to the conflict.

The oppression of the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israeli state
is not some far off issue that we can choose to ignore. We are already
deeply implicated in the human rights violations of the Israeli State
through our investments in the above-mentioned companies. We do not have
the privilege to remain ‘neutral’ on this issue. The York University
community must speak out and demand that our investments no longer be put
towards companies or institutions that are involved in violations of
international law and human rights!

As the revolutionary academic Frantz Fanon wrote in his 1956 resignation
letter to the French colonial government in Algeria, “There comes a time
when silence becomes dishonesty.” York University is an institution with a
call to “social justice” written into its mandate. Many of us at York
University work towards the broad goals of social justice in our activism
and extra-curricular work, we teach about these ideals in our classrooms,
we write about them in our essays and theses. If we do not have the courage
to speak out against what is happening right now in Gaza, and if we do not
have the courage to demand divestment from companies involved in
human rights violations, we are perpetuating dishonesty, and we are
hypocritical.

As Canadians and as people studying in Canada, it is also important that we
recognize and speak out against our own complicity in occupation and
settler-colonialism here in Canada as well. We should remember that the
South African apartheid system was based upon the Canadian system of
reserves for indigenous people. We should also be aware that the Canadian
government, under the leadership of Stephen Harper, was one of the first
governments to express its unconditional support for the State of Israel’s
recent bombing campaign against the people of Gaza.

We at SAIA urge everyone in the York University community to speak up and
put an end to the cloak of fear and silence that surrounds this issue! We
invite you to stand with us in solidarity with the Palestinian people and
with Palestinian students who are currently struggling for their rights to
education and academic freedom. Now is the time to speak up! Now is the
time to take action! We cannot expect to hold our university, our state
government, or other state governments accountable unless we speak out!

Silence is not neutrality. Silence is complicity.

Yours in solidarity,

Students Against Israeli Apartheid at York University


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*Remembering Otherwise: Centering Race in Gender Advocacy*
Thursday, December 6 | 6:30-8:30PM
By *Arms (For Montreal) *(Open space in front of CWTP, Student Centre 322)
*http://www.facebook.com/events/524297354261465*
 Join *feminists of colour organize *(foco) for an evening consisting of
short drama, dub poetry and a candlelit conversation that seek to
complicate the idea of who is remembered on the National Day of Action and
Remembrance on Violence Against Women and to contextualize how gendered
violence disproportionately affects Indigenous and racialized women and
transpeople.

Refreshments will be provided.
--------------------------

An event to complicate the idea of who is remembered on December 6
(National Day of Action and Remembrance on Violence Against Women) and to
contextualize how gendered violence disproportionately affects Indigenous
and racialized women and transpeople.

Location: "Arms (For Montreal)" art installation in front of 322 Student
Centre (CWTP) at 6:30 to 8:30pm

Refreshments will be provided.
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► DramaShort:
A RED'S GIRL REASONING (DIR: ELLE-MáIJá TAILFEATHERS)
After the justice system fails the survivor of a brutal, racially-driven
sexual assault, she becomes a motorcycle-riding, ass-kicking vigilante who
takes on the attackers of other women who've suffered the same fate.

► DubPoetry:
DEIDRE D-LISHUS WALTON
poet mother fire goddess diva storyteller, dispensing words of wisdom,
laced with dub and framed by womanly hips, hard hitting political sistah,
telling it like it is and why a spade should never be called a spade
feminist dyke warrioress fighting hate with words and poetry and starting
love-fires everywhere spinning it and spitting it to educate the yoots
breaking the bonds of mental bondage with my word[s]word.

► A CandlelitConversation about Racialized Gendered Violence:
BLACK COFFEE POET (http://blackcoffeepoet.com/black-­‐coffee-­‐poet)
ZAINAB AMADAHY (http://www.zainaba.com/about.html)
KIM CROSBY (http://kimkatrincrosby.squarespace.com/)


Co-sponsored by the Centre for Women and Trans People at York, York Centre
for Human Rights and York United Black Students' Alliance


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*DEC 6th: DOWN WITH THE PRISON SYSTEM! PRISONERS OF THE WORLD ONTO THE
STREETS!*


ON THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE POLICE MURDER OF MAPUCHE WEICHAFE ALEX LEMUN…

DOWN WITH THE PRISON SYSTEM! PRISONERS OF THE WORLD ONTO THE STREETS!

Mapuche, Anarchist and Revolutionary International Solidarity Night

In support of the CAM Mapuche Political Prisoners, HECTOR LLAITUL & RAMON
LLANQUILEO + LEONARDO QUIJON of the Chequenco Community, currently on
Hunger Strike

“If you think you are free, it is because you have not flown high enough to
crash with the fence.”

**********

THURSDAY, DEC 6TH @ 8PM – HARVEST NOON CAFE | GSU U of T

Free Meal [By Donation] Beginning 7:30PM

16 Bancroft Avenue (North of College, East of Spadina)

**********

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

ALAINA TOM (Native Youth Movement): ***Directly from the West Coast** On
the Development of Enbridge Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan Pipelines
and the Criminalization of Indigenous Protest in occupied Turtle Island.

SPECIAL GUESTS:

AMANDA LICKERS (Peterborough Anarchist Black Cross/ Sustained Engagements
Nogojiwanong Anarchists Collective): On the current situation G20 Political
Prisoner George Horton Norabuena and the 72 Hour Solidarity Hunger Strike
for International Political Prisoners.

JAROSLAVA AVILA (WCCC [Toronto]): On the current situation of Mapuche,
Anarchist and Anti-Authoritarian Political Prisoners in Wallmapu and $hile,
including the current CAM Mapuche hunger strike, the finalization of the 14
Anarchist Bombs Case, Luciano “Tortuga” Pitronello, the Security Case among
others.

DOUG GILL: The Case of Kelly Pflug Back, G20 Political Prisoner sentenced
to 11 months in Prison at Vanier Correctional Centre for Women in Milton,
on the state of women in prison.

TREVOR MCINNIS: On the current situation of Irish Republican POWs, Marian
Price and others in occupied Northern Ireland.

WES ELLIOT and members of the SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND RIVER TERRITORY: On
the proposed Enbridge Pipeline Reversal and criminalization of indigenous
land claims struggle.

TRADITIONAL HADENOSAUNEE OPENING CEREMONY: Dakota Elliot

VIDEOGRAPHY:

*INTERVIEW TO MAPUCHE POLITICAL PRISONERS:WENTE WINKUL MAPU* (Wallmapu)

*IRELANDS HUNGERSTRIKERS: 1980-1981* + *STATEMENTS OF FRANCIS MACKAY &
MARIAN PRICE* (Ireland)

*BASQUE COUNTRY – EUSKAL HERRIA: SOMETHING TO SILENCE* (Basque Country)

*THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE SAN MIGUEL PRISON MASSACRE* (Chile)

*******

10 years after the cruel police murder of our young Weichafe Alex Lemun and
in the hypocritical framework of International Human Rights Day, we call
out in solidarity to support the Arauco Malleco Coordinator of Communities
in Conflict (CAM) Mapuche Political Prisoners and Leonardo Quijon of the
Mapuche Community of Chequenco, all currently on Hunger Strike; as well as
extend our solidarity to the Political Prisoners of the World sequestered
by State Capital and their governments in turn.

We outright reject the paternalistic and deceitful policies designed by
international human rights institutions and the governments that uphold
them, who dominate, exploit, imprison and kill us in their filthy prison
systems. Prison, as the prototype of social control and punishment for all
those that infringe the laws and authorities, is designed to maintain State
Capital and has turned into the most productive and lucrative business for
the dominating classes.

Therefore, we outright reject the jurisdiction of the Colonial Capitalist
State and its Prison System, since this represents the most vile by-product
of the colonialist invasion we have suffered on our territories. More than
500 years of territorial, ideological and cultural displacement has
demonstrated this.

OUT OF OUR TERRITORIES!

Free Our Mapuche Political Prisoners on Hunger Strike!!

FREE ALL MAPUCHE, ANARCHIST & REVOLUTIONARY POLITICAL PRISONERS that
Struggle for their Liberation ACROSS THE WORLD!

**CALLING OUT ALL ANTI-COLONIAL/ANTI-CAPITALIST/ANTI-AUTHORITARIAN
Organizations/Groups for Endorsements, Please Contact WCCC [Toronto] at
wccc_98 at hotmail.com**


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*Get on the bus from Toronto to Kitchener - Confront Milloy!**
Inviting ourselves to Minister Milloy’s Holiday Open House

STOP THE CUT TO THE COMMUNITY START-UP AND MAINTENANCE BENEFIT (CSUMB)!*

Friday, December 7th

BUSES FROM TORONTO:

*Please Reserve a Seat to make sure you get a spot, Call: 416-925-6939

EAST-END: 10am, Allan Gardens Park (Carlton/Sherbourne side)
WEST-END: 9:30am: Sistering, 962 Bloor St. West AND 10am: PARC, 1499
Queen St. West

IN KITCHENER:
Rally @ 12:30 pm
Address: 1770 King St. E, Unit 6C

Minister of Community and Social Services (a.k.a Misery), John Milloy,is
planning to host a ‘holiday open house’ on Friday, December 7th at his
constituency office in Kitchener. But this is the same Minister that is
cutting the only benefit for people on social assistance (OW or ODSP),
that lets them get housing or stay housed. As of January 1st, 2013, the
CSUMB is slated to be cut by the Provincial Liberal Government. Minister
Milloy thinks that he can host a holiday open house while thousands in
this province are homeless or at risk of being homeless as a result of
this vicious cut.

Join Poverty Makes Us Sick and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty as we
invite ourselves along to Minister Milloy’s holiday shindig, and make sure
the message is heard loud and clear: STOP THE CUT TO THE CSUMB, RAISE THE
RATES NOW!

**This event is launching a Week of Action across Ontario to Save CSUMB**

WEEK OF ACTION TO SAVE THE COMMUNITY START UP AND MAINTENANCE BENEFIT
December 7th - 14th: Take Action in Your Community to Stop the Cut!
See here for more info: www.ocap.ca

Poverty Makes Us Sick
website: povertymakesussick.wordpress.com
email: forspecialdiet at gmail.com
Facebook group: Poverty Makes Us Sick!
Twitter: @kwpmus

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
Website: www.ocap.ca
Email: ocap at tao.ca
Phone: 416-925-6939
Facebook group: Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
Twitter: @OCAPtoronto

province-wide: #RaisetheRates

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*Sounds of Solidarity: Rally at Toronto Immigration Holding Centre*
Sounds of Solidarity Rally
Toronto Immigration Holding Centre
December 9, 2012 at 4pm.
Meet at 2:30pm at Federal Court House, 180 Queen West, to get on the buses
to the Toronto Immigration Holding Centre

FREE THE THREE! FREEDOM FOR MIGRANTS! END DETENTIONS!

On December 9th, join us from across Southern Ontarion for a family
friendly demonstration outside the Toronto immigration detention centre in
solidarity with security certificate detainees Mohammad Mahjoub, Mohamed
Harkat and Mahmoud Jaballah and all those locked up in immigration
detention.

RSVP FOR BUSES: http://bit.ly/BusesDec9

We will be a noisy, musical presence to express our support for those
locked up inside. We will have live performances, drummers and hot
chocolate! Please bring whistles, pots, pans and other noise makers, dress
warm and bring a flashlight. Speakers and performers to be announced
shortly.

December 10th marks the 10th year anniversary of Mohamed Harkat’s arrest
under a security certificate. Mahjoub will be in court in Toronto for a
detention review, once again calling on the judge to free him from over
twelve years of arbitrary, indefinite detention. And it is International
Human Rights Day.

For over a decade now, Mohammad Mahjoub, Mohamed Harkat and Mahmoud
Jaballah have lived in arbitrary and inhumane detention as a result of
security certificates. Mahjoub was imprisoned for 8 years (including 2.5
years in solitary) and over 4.5 years under continuing house arrest and
conditions; Harkat was imprisoned for 3.5 years (including 1 year in
solitary) and 6.5 years under house arrest and conditions; Jaballah was
imprisoned for over six years prison (including 1.5 years in solitary) and
5.5 years under continuing house and conditions… yet, none of them has ever
been charged.

Mahjoub, Harkat and Jaballah are three of the thousands of migrants in
Canada who spend more time in worse jails simply because they don’t have
full immigration status. With the full implementation of Bill C-31 in
December, and with Bill C-43 looming in Parliament, increasing numbers of
migrants will find themselves behind bars. Since the Harper government came
in to power in 2006, over 72,000 people have been locked up in immigration
detention. This includes families and children as well as those jailed in
maximum security prisons without access to service or programs.

On December 9th and 10th, insist Free the Three! Freedom for Migrants! End
Detentions!

Attend an action near you or organize a workshop, info-picket or action in
your community. Email justiceformahjoub at gmail.com: we can provide flyers,
media release, and other support.

Please also take a moment to sign the statement against security
certificates at
www.harkatstatement.com/<http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.harkatstatement.com%2F&h=KAQGeqI63&s=1>

In solidarity,

Justice for Mahjoub Network
The Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee
Justice for Jaballah
No One Is Illegal – Toronto
People’s Commission Network
Anarchist Black Cross – Toronto

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*Act Now: Support Mahjoub's Call for Independent Inquiry*

"I am a political prisoner here in Canada. My case is political; it is not
a legal one. Never in these twelve years have I been charged with any
crime. Never has the secret information used to destroy my reputation been
disclosed to me. Never have I been given the dignity of a fair and open
trial.

I am a Muslim, I have a long beard, I practice my religion - and I am proud
of that.

This does not make me a terrorist.

My hands are far, far cleaner than the hands of the Canadian and Egyptian
officials involved in my case. I have never terrorized any person in my
life.

Today I am calling for an independent inquiry into my case, aimed at
holding the individuals, agencies and structures responsible for all these
abuses accountable for their actions. Please support this call."

Mohammad Zeki Mahjoub
26 November 2012

*Full statement: www.supportmahjoub.org/independent-inquiry/
Backgrounder: www.supportmahjoub.org/overview-of-abuses/*

*5 things you can do right now! *

(1) Forward this email to friends, family and mailing lists.

(2) Write to Stephen Harper & Rob Nicholson know that you are aware of
Mahjoub's call and will support him in his fight for accountability.

Emails: pm at pm.gc.ca, mcu at justice.gc.ca
CC:  Justice for Mahjoub Network at justiceformahjoub at gmail.com

Sample Text:
Mr. Stephen Harper & Mr Robert Nicholson,

I demand that your government immediately free Mr. Mahjoub and the other
two security certificate detainees and end proceedings against them. I am
also writing to put you on notice. I received Mohammad Mahjoub's call for
an independent inquiry today and will be supporting him in his fight for
 justice and accountability. Canadian government agencies, laws, and courts
are complicit in the abuses he has faced and must be held accountable.

For your reference, the full letter is here:
www.supportmahjoub.org/independent-inquiry/

Name

(3) Click here to share this note on facebook! http://on.fb.me/V6PR4y

(4) Click this link to post a message on twitter: http://bit.ly/SjSSf3

(5) On December 9-10, participate in an action against immigration
detention and in support of security certificate detainees near you:
http://bit.ly/dec102012

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*Mahjoub: Tables turned, now time to end detention**  *

*Dec. 9 - 10: Actions in 8 cities: Free the three! Freedom for migrants!
End detentions!
Details: http://bit.ly/dec102012 and http://goo.gl/maps/ESOl5*

*Dec. 11: Mahjoub in Court for detention review.
Join us in Toronto at 180 Queen West, 6th floor, 9:30am - 5:30pm. *

Last week Mohammad Mahjoub was in court for an important turning point in
his security certificate case. His lawyers insisted that the case against
him be quashed because of the endless abuses against him. An overview of
some of those ordeals is here:
http://www.supportmahjoub.org/overview-of-abuses/. Some reporting direct
from the court room:facebook.com/supportmahjoub. It is not clear when the
judge will make a decision - any time in the next months.

At the same time, Mr Mahjoub bravely called for an independent inquiry.
Read his courageous statement, and what you can do to support him here:
www.supportmahjoub.org/action-2/what-to-do/

Next week, on December 6th, 9th and 10th, actions are being organized in
Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, Vancouver and
Halifax in solidarity with security certificate detainees Mohammad Mahjoub,
Mohamed Harkat and Mahmoud Jaballah and all those locked up in immigration
detention.

December 10th marks the 10th year anniversary of Mohamed Harkat’s arrest
under a security certificate. Mahjoub will be in court the following day in
Toronto for a detention review, once again calling on the judge to free him
from over twelve years of arbitrary, indefinite detention. It is just a few
days before C-31, the law that will see many refugees automatically
detained, is expected to be fully implemented. And it is International
Human Rights Day.

*Join an action near you: http://bit.ly/dec102012 or
http://goo.gl/maps/ESOl5*




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*Sleep Out at Glen Murray's Office: Stop the cut to Community Start Up *
*
*
Sleep-Out at Glen Murray's Office:
Stop the Cut to Community Start-Up

Thursday, December 13th
514 Parliament St (at Winchester)


6pm: Meal and Rally
7pm – 8am: SLEEP OUT

*Bring your sleeping bags and mats
*Prepare to sleep-out all night or come stop-by for as long as you can
*Breakfast and Coffee the next morning at 8am

---------------
The Provincial Liberal Government is set to cut the Community Start-Up and
Maintenance Benefit (CSUMB) January 1st, 2013. The CSUMB is a housing
benefit for people on social assistance (OW and ODSP). For thousands of
people across the Province every month, it is literally the difference
between being homeless on the streets or being able to get a place to live.
The cut to this benefit will mean that many more people will be made
homeless and a time in Toronto when so many shelter beds have been lost and
the shelter system itself is in crisis. We must STOP THIS CUT!

Glen Murray is MPP for Toronto Centre which includes the 'Downtown East',
one of the poorest neighborhoods in all of Canada with a high concentration
of homelessness. Welfare and disability rates are already impossible to
survive on as this government cuts away at more and more benefits and the
rates of income keep falling. Today welfare rates are almost 60% below
where they should be, meaning a measly $606/month for a single person.
Murray is campaigning to take over running the Province from McGuinty. We
challenge Murray that this is the despicable legacy he
is a part of and we demand he take action to stop the cut to Community
Start-Up.

Winter cold is about to set-in and a growing number of people on the
streets will be put at risk – sleeping in the cold will have devastating
effects on people's health; too many homeless have frozen to death on these
streets already. Emergency action is required. As this government prepares
to cut a housing benefit that will make more people homeless, we will sleep
in their doorways, camp-out in their hallways, create shelters out of their
constituency offices. People have the right to housing, health and safety.

Join OCAP December 13th to SLEEP-OUT at Murray's office. STOP THE CUT TO
COMMUNITY START-UP, RAISE the RATES, BUILD HOUSING NOW!
---------------------

This event is part of a WEEK OF ACTION TO SAVE COMMUNITY START-UP happening
across Ontario, December 7th - 14th, see here:http://ocap.ca/node/1031

To get involved contact:
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
416-925-6939 / ocap at tao.ca
www.ocap.ca
@OCAPtoronto
#SaveCSUMB
#RaisetheRates
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