[opirgyork] Days of Divestment + Stop Racial Profiling + Save the Schoolhouse + I ♥ Heart Alt Media + ReBuilding Bridges + NO LINE 9

[OPIRG York]

Hey Folks,

Lots is going on at OPIRG York- whether its events by our awesome working
groups, or events in the Jane-Finch community, or events, meetings, etc by
our allies- there is a lot going on! Below is a compiled list of some
upcoming things-* THIS WEEK:* Students Against Israeli Apartheid
@ York (SAIA) are tabling all week for the Days of Divestment (around the
BDS campaign)- please see the details below about the important petition
that all undergraduate students need to sign around boycotting Israeli
apartheid! Then of course on November 14th, our allies OCAP and
our working group Justice is Not Colorblind, both have important events
downtown that OPIRG York will be supporting. There is also a new callout
for Rally for Home Care - Dignity for Personal Support Workers & Clients,
which is on November 15th and following that is our evening event, the I ♥
Heart Alt Media Fundraiser- the opening of the ReBuilding Bridges
conference for the November 17-18th weekend! Please check out all the
upcoming events- listed below in digest format.

Also announcing the YU Free Press has released their newest issue last
week- check it out on the YUFP newsstands at York U!

*Interested in volunteering with OPIRG York?* Please contact our volunteer
coordinator, Victoria Barnett, at victoria at opirgyork.ca.

As always, get in touch with us:

opirg at yorku.ca
416-736-5724
https://www.facebook.com/opirg.yorku

-OPIRG York


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*DIGEST- In this email:*
*
*
**RED= OPIRG York related event*
**Blue= OPIRG York partnered org. event or endorsed event*

*1. ReBuilding Bridges Conference + **THE TAR SANDS COME TO ONTARIO -- NO
LINE 9 + ** I ♥ Heart Alt Media Fundraiser - Nov 15 & 17-18th*
*2. **DAYS OF DIVESTMENT- **SAIA York Divestment Campaign for BDS at York
University- Nov. 12-16th, **ongoing*
*3. Stop Racial Profiling! – Stop Racist Policing! - November 14th*
*4. Save the School House Shelter Defend the Downtown East! - November 14th*
*5. Miss Representation Screening - by the York Federation of Students -
November 14th*
*6. Rally for Home Care - Dignity for Personal Support Workers & Clients -
November 15th*
*7. DATES CHANGED! Mahjoub: Turning the Tables - November 26-30th, and
ongoing*

********************

*
*
********************
*1. **ReBuilding Bridges Conference- NEXT WEEKEND November 17-18th *

*November 15th-18th, 2012*
*Toronto, ON.*

Rebuilding Bridges is a convergence of community organizers, educators,
radicals and activists from across different social movements, intent on
engaging in conversations and discussions about our political work.
*
*
*ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE.*

Rebuilding Bridges is a convergence of community organizers, educators,
radicals and activists from across different social movements, intent on
engaging in conversations and discussions about our political work.

***Please write to rebuildingbridgestoronto at gmail.com for any
accessibility/childcare and billeting needs!***

*WORKSHOPS & PANELS: Saturday November 17th and Sunday November 18th, 10
am-5 pm*
*Saturday: Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George Street*
*Sunday: Bahen Centre, 40 St. George Street*
*
*
*WEBSITE: *rebuildingbridgesto.wordpress.com
*FACEBOOK EVENT: *https://www.facebook.com/events/293407270768607/
***Please continue to check these two online versions for any changes,
updates, etc.*
*
*
*
*

*I ♥ Heart Alt Media Fundraiser - Opening Concert for ReBuilding Bridges
Conference by OPIRG York and OPIRG Toronto*
https://www.facebook.com/events/425473674183054

*Date*: Thursday November 15th
*Location*: Bike Pirates
1292 Bloor Street West (near Lansdowne Station)
*Time*: Doors at 9 PM

$5 suggested donation. No one turned away for lack of funds!

*Snacks will be provided!
*Drinks for purchase
*Venue is accessible

*Please write to rebuildingbridgestoronto at gmail.com for any
accessibility/childcare and billeting needs!

Opening event of the ReBuilding Bridges conference for OPIRG York and OPIRG
Toronto: https://www.facebook.com/events/293407270768607/

Thursday, November 15th- SAVE THE DATE!

*Performances: *

- Houses for Birds (http://soundcloud.com/housesforbirds) (
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Houses-for-Birds/314337625257503?ref=ts&fref=ts
)
- Lee Reed (http://leereed.bandcamp.com/)
- Test their Logik (http://testtheirlogik.com/)
-DJ Zehra (will DJ after the performances)!



*THE TAR SANDS COME TO ONTARIO -- NO LINE 9!*

*THE TAR SANDS COME TO ONTARIO -- NO LINE 9!*
*Resistance, education and alternatives*

Sat. Nov 17, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George St., University of Toronto
Lunch provided, building is accessible

Special guests will include Maude Barlow (Council of Canadians) Art
Sterritt (BC Coastal First Nations, Executive Director) Wes Elliott
(Haudenosaunee land defender) and Vanessa Gray (Aamjiwnaang First Nation)
as well as resource people on labour and environmental justice issues.

Join us for a day of discussion and organizing for action to stop tar sands
pipelines in Ontario as part of the OPIRG Building Bridges Conference.
http://rebuildingbridgesto.wordpress.com/?s=bridges%2C+OPIRG

*PROGRAM*
10:00 Workshops: The tar sands impact: environmental injustice at home and
abroad.
* Tar sands in our communities
* Tar sands and workers: the climate jobs alternative
* Climate justice and the Global South
* Tar sands and structural causes of climate change and capitalism
* How to defeat Line 9

*12:45 Keynote Panel:* Tar Sands Pipelines: Resistance, Solutions and
Solidarity
Guest speakers: Maude Barlow (Council of Canadians) Art Sterritt (British
Columbia Coastal First Nations) and Wes Elliott (Haudenosaunee land
defender).

*3:00 Stopping the Pipelines: A Realistic Goal*
A People’s Assembly with action-oriented breakout sessions.
Face Book Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/505545582789129/

*What is Line 9?*
First Nations’ land defense is catalyzing resistance across Canada to the
tar sands menace. In Ontario, this threat is posed by Enbridge’s Line 9
pipeline, which could soon be pumping corrosive and toxic tar sands across
the province.

Line 9 cuts through Toronto, north of Finch. Tar sands in Line 9 would
violate indigenous land rights, menace natural environments, and threaten
Toronto and communities across the province. And exploitation of Canada’s
tar sands escalates climate change, posing a deadly threat to all the
world’s peoples. No Line 9!

Part of the OPIRG Rebuilding Bridges conference a joint effort by both
OPIRG York and OPIRG Toronto rebuildingbridgesto.wordpress.com

Co-Organizers: Center for Social Justice, Climate Justice Working
Group/Science for Peace, Common Frontiers, Council of Canadians-Toronto,
Latin American Caribbean Solidarity Network, OPIRG-Toronto/York, St.
Paul-Trinity Public Witness Circle, Toronto Bolivia Solidarity

*For more info: *boliviaclimatejustice at gmail.com. www.t.grupoapoyo.org

********************

*2. DAYS OF DIVESTMENT- SAIA York Divestment Campaign for BDS at York
University*

Join Students Against Israeli Apartheid at York University on November 12
to 16 for a week of outreach and mobilization. We aim to collect 5,000
signatures for our petition demanding that the students' union, the York
Federation of Students (YFS) endorse the Palestinian-led Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israeli Apartheid! - YOU MUST BE
AN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT AT YORK UNIVERSITY TO SIGN THIS PETITION.-

Find us in Central Square.

We invite and encourage allied groups to table alongside us.

Our activism will continue, and our numbers will keep on rising - until
York University cuts its ties with the Apartheid regime.

More info:
http://www.facebook.com/events/451201411581718/
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!

>
********************

*3. Stop Racial Profiling! – Stop Racist Policing! *

On November 14, 2012, join us as we speak out against the continued racial
profiling and racist policing directed at affected communities here in
Toronto.

Our struggles to be free from racist police harassment and unconstitutional
violations of our rights has resulted in many studies and much talk, but in
the neighbourhoods, nothing has changed – police still harass, intimidate,
illegally search, arrest, and brutalize the people, and especially Black
and racialized youth.  The Toronto Police Services Board's words have
proved empty and hollow, and the "new way of doing business" looks exactly
like the old one.

>From TAVIS to Form 208 cards, the security they talk about doesn’t mean
safety for us.  It’s time to find real solutions to neighbourhood problems!


On November 14, 2012, join us in saying – enough is enough!

No more illegal detentions and searches!

Stop racial profiling and racist policing!

Speak out in front of 40 College Street before the Toronto Police Services
Board meeting on November 14, from 1230PM -130PM

*Event endorsed by:* Justice IS NOT Colour-Blind Campaign, Law Union of
Ontario, Rights Watch Network, Network for Pan-African Solidarity, Nation
of Islam (Toronto), the office of Jagmeet Singh, and OPIRG York

To endorse please email speakoutnovember14 at gmail.com.

********************

*4. **Save the School House Shelter **Defend the Downtown East!*

*Wednesday, November 14th
9am
Moss Park (Queen and Sherbourne)
*Free Breakfast, Rally and March*

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/289020987881979/?context=create

In June, the City of Toronto's 'Community Development and Recreation
Committee', including local councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, voted to close
down the School House on George St, a 55 bed men's harm reduction shelter.
On Wednesday, November 14th the issue of the School House Shelter will be
brought back to City Hall for a final report on how the money that should
be spent keeping the shelter open, will instead be re-shuffled in the
system.

In the mean-time, all shelters remain overcrowded, harm reduction
programming is scarce, the Provincial cut to Community Start-Up will throw
more people on to the streets, and winter is about to set in.

The closing of the School House is a gateway for the re-development and
gentrification of the entire Downtown East. On George St alone,
politicians and slumlords have let buildings that should have been
converted to affordable housing long ago, instead sit empty and catch
fire. They talk about 'cleaning up the neighborhood' but instead of
building housing, keeping shelters open, and providing more and better
services, they cut services, reduce shelter beds, and blame the poor. They
talk about 'mixed income' neighborhoods, and yet no one looks at mixing up
Rosedale, only the Downtown East is the target.

We can not let this shelter be closed, and we will not let poor people be
pushed and priced out of the Downtown East. OCAP has said from the
beginning that we will not simply watch the School House be cleared or sit
empty while people die on the streets. We have brought our community
together to fight for this space, and on November 14th we are not backing
down.

Get involved, join OCAP and the Downtown East Committee:
416-925-6939 / ocap at tao.ca / www.ocap.ca

Twitter: @OCAPtoronto
#SaveSchoolHouse

Fact Sheet on the School House Shelter: http://www.ocap.ca/node/1020
--------------------------------------------------------
*Next Downtown East Community Meeting

Wednesday, November 7th
6pm
St.Lukes (Sherbourne/Carlton)*

Join us for our next Downtown East public community meeting to talk about
the School House, the history of the Downtown East, and resistance in the
neighborhood to upscale development. Food and tokens provided.

********************

*5. Miss Representation Screening - by the York Federation of Students*

November 14
6-9
Chancellor's Room

This film looks at the representation of women in the media and politics.
It critically looks at how the image of women that is perpetuated through
popular culture and the media affects young women and the implications of a
culture that values women simply for looks. A discussion to follow the film
will hopefully allow us to delve deeper into the issues presented and even
some that might not have been included in the film.


********************

*6. Rally for Home Care - Dignity for Personal Support Workers & Clients -
November 15th*
http://www.facebook.com/events/523427754352702/

Rally for Home Care - Dignity for PSWs & Clients
*Date: *Thursday November 15
*Time: *3 pm
*Location: *80 Grovsenor Street, Toronto (Ministry of Health and Long Term
Care)


Personal Support Workers (PSWs) are the heart of home care.

They provide the majority of care that is required for vulnerable adults,
seniors or those living with disabilities to be able to stay in their own
homes with independence and dignity.

Over the past number of years PSWs at Central Neighbourhood House, through
their activism and union - CUPE 4308, have started to gain some of the
respect they deserve for their work. That respect has meant improved wages,
sick time and family health benefits.

Unfortunately, the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care does not share
that same commitment and a lack of funding for home care means the basic
improvements they have gained are now at risk.

Without improved funding, PSWs can not continue to stay in a job that
leaves them in poverty. This means that clients face the loss of trusted
and caring professionals because PSWs can no longer carry the burden of an
underfunded home care system.

We believe that the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care can make the
commitment to ensure PSWs and clients receive the dignity and respect they
deserve.

Join us on Thursday November 15 at 3 pm to send that message for all PSWs
and those that they provide care to.

*For more information contact *416-529-9600 or cupe4308 at gmail.com

********************

*7. DATES CHANGED! Mahjoub: Turning the Tables*
*Update and Call to Action from the Justice for Mahjoub Network*

Read our full update here:
http://www.supportmahjoub.org/mahjoub-an-end-in-sight/

*DATES CHANGED! Mahjoub: Turning the Tables*
http://www.facebook.com/events/548613898489453/

*26 - 30 November 2012*
*from 9:30 to 5:30pm (lunch break 12 to 2pm)*
*180 Queen St., room 6D, Toronto*

Mr. Mahjoub will be in court to expose the myriad abuses – racial
profiling, use of torture-obtained information, destroyed evidence, breach
of solicitor-client privilege, stealing defence documents, more – that have
marked his 12-year case. His lawyers will ask the court to stop proceedings
against him and through out the security certificate.

In November, our focus will be on holding government officials accountable
for all the crimes committed against Mr. Mahjoub, as one of many Canadian
victims of the "war on terror". We demand an end to Islamophobic and racist
immigration and security laws in the war of terror against people of colour
and Muslims.

*-- *If you are in Toronto, please sign up for a shift of court solidarity
the week of  26 to 30th  November: http://doodle.com/wyf2q6mmyuwtpkq8

*--* Put some time aside on November 26 to respond to a call for action
that will come out that day!

*- - - - - *

Read our full update of coming happenings and actions here:
www.supportmahjoub.org/mahjoub-an-end-in-sight/. Please note that
cross-Canada day of action on December 9-10, 2012.

Please join our mailing list by emailing justiceformahjoub at gmail.com and
like our facebook page at facebook.com/supportmahjoub.

In solidarity,
Justice for Mahjoub Network
www.supportmahjoub.org
justiceformahjoub at gmail.com
facebook.com/supportmahjoub
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