[van-announce] Two DTES rallies: Police Violence and MCFD

[Harsha W.]

- please forward widely -

1) TOMORROW: Emergency Rally to Stop Police Violence in Our Neighbourhood
2) Tues Aug 3: MCFD Keep Our Families Together

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STOP POLICE VIOLENCE IN OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD!

EMERGENCY RALLY
Tues July 27 4:30-5:30 pm
@ Police station (312 Main)

A loved member of our community, 26-year old Sandy with cerebral palsy,
was shoved and thrown to the ground in a physical assault by police
officers on the beat in the Downtown Eastside. This is the latest in a
series of daily assaults, arrests, beatings, and police brutality in the
DTES. This one just happened to be caught on tape and has sparked outrage
across the neighbourhood and city.

- The Police Apology to Sandy is Not Enough: Get that Officer off the
beat! - Why Do Police Not Get Criminal Charges for Assaulting Women and
Disabled people?
- No to Internal Investigations: Armed, Violent, and Dangerous Police Off
Our Streets!

Stand Up for Yourself, Your Friends, Your Neighbours. Come out!
Organized by DTES Power of Women Group


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MCFD: KEEP OUR FAMILIES TOGETHER!

Gather at Ministry of Child and Family Development Regional Office Tuesday
August 3 from 3:30-5:30 pm
@ 865 Hornby, corner Smithe

The Ministry of Child and Family Development (MCFD) has forcibly removed
many children from their families, especially from single mothers, poor
families, Indigenous communities, and from parents who were themselves
caught in the vicious cycle of foster homes. There are currently more
Indigenous children in the child welfare system than there were in the
residential school system. Thousands of mothers and families are enduring
surveillance and scrutiny instead of receiving support.

The DTES Power of Women Group is organizing to defend and support healthy
families. Almost all the women in our group have had their children
apprehended temporarily or permanently, or are currently facing the threat
of child apprehension.

All welcome, please join us!
For more information project at dewc.ca or call 604 681 8480 x 234.

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The Power of Women Group is a group at the Downtown Eastside (DTES)
Women's Centre, located in the DTES of Vancouver, the poorest off-reserve
postal code in Canada.

We are a group of women (we are an inclusive group) from all walks of life
who are either on social assistance, working poor, or homeless; but we are
all living in extreme poverty. Our aim is to empower ourselves through our
experiences and to raise awareness from our own perspectives about the
social issues affecting the neighbourhood.

Many of us are single mothers or have had our children apprehended due to
poverty; most of us have chronic physical or mental health issues for
example HIV and Hepatitis C; many have drug or alcohol addictions; and a
majority have experienced and survived sexual violence and mental,
physical, spiritual, and emotional abuse.

For indigenous women, we are affected by a legacy of the effects of
residential schools and a history of colonization and racism.