Tuesday 31 December 2013
7 months after the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster many Canadian companies have still not signed the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh
TorontotheBetter calls on the companies named below in a recent message from ally Maquila Solidarity network to do the right thing and prevent further garment factory disasters. Please share with your own networks.
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December 20, 2013
Tell Canadian companies to sign Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh
On December 17, 25 human rights, women’s, trade union, student, teacher, community, and international development organizations sent an Open Letter to six Canadian retailers – Canadian Tire, Giant Tiger, Hudson’s Bay Company, Sears Canada, Walmart, YM Inc. -- urging them to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.
To date, only one Canadian company, Loblaw (owner of Joe Fresh), has signed the Accord, which provides for independent factory safety inspections, brand support for factory upgrades, health and safety training for workers and management personnel, democratically elected health and safety committees, an anonymous complaint process, and the right of workers to refuse unsafe work.
Read more: http://en.maquilasolidarity. org/node/1170
Take action: http://www.oxfam.ca/get- involved/take-action/ bangladesh-worker-safety
View Toronto Star article: http://www.thestar.com/news/ world/2013/12/18/canadian_ tire_other_canadian_retailers_ urged_to_sign_on_to_tougher_ bangladesh_safety_inspection_ plan.html
Here’s wishing all of you a good holiday break from the MSN team. We’ll be back in touch on Bangladesh and other solidarity efforts early in early 2014.
Lynda Yanz
Tell Canadian companies to sign Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh
On December 17, 25 human rights, women’s, trade union, student, teacher, community, and international development organizations sent an Open Letter to six Canadian retailers – Canadian Tire, Giant Tiger, Hudson’s Bay Company, Sears Canada, Walmart, YM Inc. -- urging them to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.
To date, only one Canadian company, Loblaw (owner of Joe Fresh), has signed the Accord, which provides for independent factory safety inspections, brand support for factory upgrades, health and safety training for workers and management personnel, democratically elected health and safety committees, an anonymous complaint process, and the right of workers to refuse unsafe work.
Read more: http://en.maquilasolidarity.
Take action: http://www.oxfam.ca/get-
View Toronto Star article: http://www.thestar.com/news/
Here’s wishing all of you a good holiday break from the MSN team. We’ll be back in touch on Bangladesh and other solidarity efforts early in early 2014.
Lynda Yanz
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Maquila Solidarity Network
416 532-8584
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Maquila Solidarity Network
606 Shaw St.
Toronto, ON M6G 3L6
Canada
Toronto, ON M6G 3L6
Canada
416 532-8584
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TorontotheBetter Montreal colleague reports honour for social investment activist Lucia Kowaluk
The following news was just received from long time social economy ally and supporter, Louise Constantin.
"Une nouvelle incroyable : l'une des nôtres, une militante du logement coopératif et de la lutte pour la justice sociale, Lucia Kowaluk, reçoit l'Ordre du Canada. Elle a fait la première page de The Gazette hier (voir ci-dessous). C'est aussi une de mes bonnes connaissances, car nous avons fait quelques projets ensemble. Entre autres choses, nous avons créé un club d'investissement éthique qui est resté actif de 2005 à cette année, où nous avons décidé de le dissoudre, car les membres n'étaient plus intéressés. Par exemple, nous avons acheté des actions de Barrick Gold (!!!) pour céder nos procurations à des représentants autochtones du Chili et leur permettre de venir contester le projet Pascua Lama à l'assemblée des actionnaires."
"Une nouvelle incroyable : l'une des nôtres, une militante du logement coopératif et de la lutte pour la justice sociale, Lucia Kowaluk, reçoit l'Ordre du Canada. Elle a fait la première page de The Gazette hier (voir ci-dessous). C'est aussi une de mes bonnes connaissances, car nous avons fait quelques projets ensemble. Entre autres choses, nous avons créé un club d'investissement éthique qui est resté actif de 2005 à cette année, où nous avons décidé de le dissoudre, car les membres n'étaient plus intéressés. Par exemple, nous avons acheté des actions de Barrick Gold (!!!) pour céder nos procurations à des représentants autochtones du Chili et leur permettre de venir contester le projet Pascua Lama à l'assemblée des actionnaires."
THE CITY IS HER CAUSE
LUCIA KOWALUK, who will be named to the Order of Canada, might be unknown to many Montrealers, but her legacy is all around
“All I’ve ever done is see something that enrages me because it’s not just,
and then do something about it.”
LUCIA KOWALUK
LUCIA KOWALUK has dedicated her life to making Montreal a better place to live. A force behind heritage groups, initiatives to help the homeless and the fight to save the Milton-Parc neighbourhood during the 1960s, Kowaluk will be named to the Order of Canada on Monday. Behind her is the soon-to-be-vacated Hôtel Dieu hospital, which she wants to see used for community housing. The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.
JOHN MAHONEY/ THE GAZETTE— Jane Addams, pioneer U.S. social worker, 1860-1935
Lucia Kowaluk has spent a lifetime helping, building, comforting and cajoling others to do the same.
So when the governor general of Canada’s office phoned i n December and Kowaluk discovered what her friends had done for her, she responded in classic modesty with a question: Why me?
Kowaluk is one of the Canadians who will be named to the Order of Canada on Monday.
It’s overdue recognition for a person whose name might be unfamiliar to many Montrealers, but whose legacy is all around, her friends say.
“I was, first of all, stunned when I got the call from Ottawa,” said Kowaluk, who will turn 80 in July. “My friends spent a year-and-half on this application, and I didn’t know anything about it. I mean, it’s overwhelming when you think about it.”
A social worker by training, Kowaluk has been a founder and force behind such groups and initiatives as the Milton-Parc community of housing co-operatives, Heritage Montreal, a dropin centre for the homeless in St-James United Church, the Chambreclerc non-profit housing corporation for the homeless and the Montreal Urban Ecology Centre, on top of being a sparkplug who has organized numerous demonstrations — and has gotten arrested in the process — to save green space and heritage and promote trafficcalming measures.
“She knows what needs to be done and how to organize people, but she also has the human touch,” said Joshua Wolfe, an urban planner who met Kowaluk 30 years ago when he was an undergrad. She was a guest speaker at his environmental issues class giving a talk on behalf of Save Montreal, a heritage group she helped found in 1973 after the demolition of the Van Horne Mansion.
Wolfe, who was at the time interested in science, technology and the environment, says he promptly joined Save Montreal and refocused on urban conservation.
“She empathizes,” Wolfe said. “She’s able to speak to all kinds of people. She’s able to reach out and use the vocabulary of the people she’s with and understand their concerns and deal with them, whether it’s an intellectual, a politician or other person.
“I think it’s innate in her, but it’s also her training as a social worker.”
The letter to the advisory council for the Order of Canada nominating Kowaluk was signed by architect Phyllis Lambert, founding director emeritus of the Canadian Centre for Architecture. They met in the 1970s as founding board members of Save Montreal, and later worked together to found Heritage Montreal and again to turn Milton-Parc into the largest zero-equity, non-profit housing project in North America.
“With gentle, firm persuasion, she encourages people from all walks of life to get involved in causes that help themselves and others,” Lambert’s four-page letter says of Kowaluk.
“She has benefitted the lives of so many Montrealers in need, whether by improving their housing situation, creating a dignified, welcoming refuge for them or actively promoting ecological behaviour. At the same time, by her example, she inspires future generations of social workers, community activists and ordinary citizens.”
Kowaluk was in fact involved as of the late 1960s in Milton-Parc, a neighbourhood near McGill University that was filled with 19th-century greystones and small apartment buildings that a developer planned to raze for multiple phases of highrise apartments and shops. The residents and a changing real estate market stopped the project after one phase.
Claire Helman’s 1987 book the Milton-Park Affair — on the battle that wound up saving 95 per cent of the buildings in the six square blocks and the community’s subsequent success to get Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to buy the neighbourhood and turn it into co-operative housing — offers a glimpse of Kowaluk’s ability to fire up sometimes demoralized residents, whom she had organized into individual street committees by the 1970s.
Kowaluk’s modesty, Wolfe reckons, leads her to evaluate her contribution as equal to that of everyone else.
“She sees herself — unconsciously, I think — not as a leader but someone who accompanies other people,” he said.“She’s a leader, but she’s a leader by being part of the group and bringing people along with her.”
In typical fashion, he said, Kowaluk’s reaction when she learned she was to be named a member of the Order of Canada was, “Why me? There are so many other people.”
And then she began to list names of people, Wolfe added.
Testimony to her power of persuasion is the 1985 opening of the homeless dropin centre inside St-James United Church on Ste-Catherine St. W.
“People just wanted a place to come to sit, to chat, to eat something, just to get off the street,” Kowaluk said. A number of them suffered mentalhealth problems. Kowaluk arranged for an area of the church to be transformed into the drop-in centre, which she ran for its first five years.
She then set up Chambreclerc, offering small living quarters and shared kitchens for the homeless.
Her housing work carried on as she helped out in the 1990s on the Benny Farm project to create social housing in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and with involvement in the N.D.G. community council and Passages, a housing project for young prostitutes, while her environmental work is showcased by her cofounding in 1996 of the Urban Ecology Centre. She was the centre’s first co-ordinator for a decade, during which time it created the first “green roofs” in Montreal. She was also a founding member of a group that established the Strathearn Intercultural Centre in the late ’80s to offer artistic programs in a surplus public school that she had fought to convert into community space.
Kowaluk, the eldest of three daughters, was born Lucia Tweedie and raised in Albany, N.Y., by a schoolteacher mother and a father who worked for the telephone company.
As a child, she once organized her neighbours to fill in the potholes on their country road, Kowaluk recounted, laughing. At her 70th birthday party, one of her sisters humorously described Kowaluk’s various childhood attempts at community activism.
Kowaluk moved to Montreal in her 20s to study for her master’s degree in social work at McGill.
In 1961, she was a founding editor of the journal Our Generation Against Nuclear War, where she met her future husband, Dimitri Roussopoulos, a writer, activist and founder of Black Rose Books.
She married Roussopoulos in 1970 after a first marriage to Alex Kowaluk.
She and Roussopoulos, who still live in Milton-Parc, have one son, who lives in British Columbia.
Kowaluk proudly boasts that her 14-year-old granddaughter is a member of Greenpeace.
“She and her father went to a demonstration in Victoria against the number of oil tankers using the harbour,” she said. “That’s my granddaughter.”
Kowaluk claims she has slowed down since a kidney infection in 2010 left her weakened.
Even so, she’s organizing a coalition to fight for the soonto-be vacated Hôtel-Dieu hospital to be reused for community housing and social uses.
Again, Kowaluk says she doesn’t see her contribution as exceptional.
“All I’ve ever done,” she said, “is see something that enrages me because it’s not just, and then do something about it.” lgyulai@montrealgazette.com
Wednesday 25 December 2013
TorontotheBetter speaks at worker self-management educational at Ryerson University Toronto Anarchist Fair
TorontotheBetter colleague embarking on art project with children in Togo, Africa
In our tradition of cultural inclusion, TorontotheBetter artist colleague Fabrizio Bianchini will soon be sharing his skills with children in Togo, Africa. We look forward to ongoing links between Torontothe|Better and people and cities in Togo. Here is Fabrizio's description of the project:
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Fabrizio Bianchini
Date: Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 8:33 AM
Subject: Project for 600 kids of the street in Togo, Africa
From: Fabrizio Bianchini
Date: Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 8:33 AM
Subject: Project for 600 kids of the street in Togo, Africa
I am writing you because in one week I am leaving to go 3 weeks in Lomé, capital of Togo, in Africa to work on an art-community project about 600 kids of the street that are helped by a local NGO called Ange and I am running a crowdfunding campaign to get some funds.
This is the link http://www.indiegogo.com/ projects/600-faces-art-to- help-street-kids-of-lome/x/ 358826
The project is auto-financiated and I am here to see if you want to contribute even with a small sum or in case you cannot, if you can spread the voice to your friends and relatives. I would appreciate it a lot.
The goal is to make a 40 square meters mural on the outside walls of the center and a documentary in order to sensitize the local and international public opinion about the work of Ange and to find more funds for them to keep saving kids from a tough life.
Thank you in advance for your help and if you need to have more information, you can visit my webpage www.jupiterfab.com or send me an email.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,
FAB
FABRIZIO BIANCHINI
jupiterfab@gmail.com
Web: www.mediterraneansolution.com
www.jupiterfab.com
Tel: +34 622 20 45 07
Skype: jupiterfab
jupiterfab@gmail.com
Web: www.mediterraneansolution.com
www.jupiterfab.com
Tel: +34 622 20 45 07
Skype: jupiterfab
Saturday 7 December 2013
International solidarity with migrant workers
TorontotheBetter participant Beit Zatoun house hosted a Global Migration panel discussion on Saturday December 7th. Panelists and audience members called for more just working conditions and full employment policies worldwide. One clear conclusion: solidarity within and between local and migrant worker organizations, including unions, is key to better living conditions for all.
Monday 2 December 2013
Rise Asset Development nominated for Social Finance Award
Brand new TorontoTheBetter member,Rise Asset Development, has been nominated for the 2013 Social Finance Innovator Award, presented by SocialFinance.ca and the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing.
The award recognizes the Most Promising Collaborations in the Canadian Social Finance landscape, and Rise is one of nine finalists. This is the second year Rise has been nominated for the Social Finance Awards.
They are asking for support: visit the Rise voting page and select “Vote for me!”. You may vote once, per computer, until December 4th at 11:59 EST.
The award recognizes the Most Promising Collaborations in the Canadian Social Finance landscape, and Rise is one of nine finalists. This is the second year Rise has been nominated for the Social Finance Awards.
They are asking for support: visit the Rise voting page and select “Vote for me!”. You may vote once, per computer, until December 4th at 11:59 EST.
Labels: Rise Asset Development
Friday 29 November 2013
People United follow-up to Push Back! Move Forward conference
Through a reference from Social Economy colleague Ushnish Sengupta on November 28th TorontotheBetter was able to attend an organizing session
of Toronto's People United which took place at TorontotheBetter directory enterprise Beit Zaitoun. The event brought together city social justice activists to work on collaborative strategies for change, with a definite eye on upcoming elections at all levels of government in Canada.
of Toronto's People United which took place at TorontotheBetter directory enterprise Beit Zaitoun. The event brought together city social justice activists to work on collaborative strategies for change, with a definite eye on upcoming elections at all levels of government in Canada.
Thursday 28 November 2013
Congratulations to the Community Bicycle Network on its 20th anniversary
TorontotheBetter invites all who can to attend the CBN bash on Friday Dec.6. See below for the details. CBN is one of our original TorontotheBetter directory partners.
TorontotheBetter - with our partners We Build Toronto's Social Economy.
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TorontotheBetter - with our partners We Build Toronto's Social Economy.
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CBN would like to cordially invite you to our 20th Anniversary
Party Friday December 6, 2013 at 8pm at 761 Queen Street West.
This is an opportunity to celebrate something special in the
Toronto cycling community; a 20 year old not-for-profit cycling organization!
There will be cake, music, door prizes, a silent auction,
refreshments and special guests who will make nice, feel good speeches!!
Please save the date and join us for this special occasion.
Also, if you could help us spread the word, that would be great.
Thank you very much,
Adrian.--
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Community Bicycle Network
761 Queen Street West
communitybicyclenetwork.org
416-504-2918
Community Bicycle Network
761 Queen Street West
communitybicyclenetwork.org
416-504-2918
Tuesday 19 November 2013
Micro-lending: Poverty Solution or Illusion? A Critical panel discussion
2013-14
/ 9th Annual TorontotheBetter
Action Learning Series
FOR A BETTER Toronto IN A
BETTER WORLD
ALL TorontotheBetter EVENTS ARE PAY WHAT YOU CAN - Proceeds to the Alliance for Toronto’s Social Economy [ATSE]
ALL TorontotheBetter EVENTS ARE PAY WHAT YOU CAN - Proceeds to the Alliance for Toronto’s Social Economy [ATSE]
– “Micro-lending:
Poverty solution or illusion?”
Movie excerpt from Tom Heinemann's "Caught in MicroDebt" and discussion.
Speakers:
Eugene Ellmen – Oikocredit Canada and rep from the Peel Poverty Action Group. Movie excerpt from Tom Heinemann's "Caught in MicroDebt" and discussion.
The micro-loan revolution set in motion by Nobel Prize winner Mohammed Yunnus goes on, but does it achieve what it promises? And look who’s driving it.
Friday 15 November 2013
Short Notice for Event on 18th!
BOOK LAUNCH AND FUNDRAISING DINNER
BUILDING SANCTUARY:
The Movement to Support Vietnam War Resisters
in Canada, 1965-73
Monday November 18th, 2013
Steelworkers Hall
25 Cecil Street,
Toronto
6:00 pm Dinner
7:00 pm Programme
$20 suggested donation
Please join us...
...for a discussion with author and anti-war activist JESSICA SQUIRES about her recently published book,
BUILDING SANCTUARY: The Movement to Support Vietnam War Resisters in Canada 1965-73.
The history of the movement that fought for Vietnam War Resisters to win asylum in Canada has played an important role in the development
of today’s movement in support of a new generation of U.S. War resisters. This event will be an opportunity to discuss some of the
less-known aspects of that history, and its relevance to the struggle for asylum today.
Jessica will be introduced by Vietnam War resister Tom Riley, and lawyer Alyssa Manning will provide a legal update.
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About the book:
“Between 1965 and 1973, a small but active cadre of Canadian antiwar groups and peace activists launched campaigns to open the border [to draft resisters and deserters]. Jessica Squires tells their story, often in their own words. Drawing on interviews and government documents, she reveals that although these groups' efforts ultimately met with success and helped shaped debates about nationalism and Canada's relationship with the United States, they had to overcome state surveillance and resistance from police, politicians, and bureaucrats… By telling the story of the Canadian movement to support Vietnam war resisters, Building Sanctuary not only brings to light overlooked links between the anti-draft movement and immigration policy – it challenges cherished notions about Canada in the 1960s and Canadian-American relations today.”
“Building Sanctuary is a fascinating study of war resistance and the sixties in North America. Based on official police records as well as oral interviews and newspaper evidence, it not only tells the engrossing story of the immigration to Canada of about forty thousand US war resisters but also subtly analyzes the political and ethical issues raised by resistance to the War in Vietnam. At a time when a reactivated militarism once more challenges progressives throughout the world, Jessica Squires provides us with an inspiring, insightful account of how an earlier generation of activists fought the madness of war – and emerged with some precious, if fragile, victories. A must-read for students of modern Canada, antiwar activism, and the sixties.” – Ian McKay, Department of History, Queen’s University, co-author of Warrior Nation: Rebranding Canada in an Age of Anxiety
War Resisters Support Campaign
Web: http://www.resisters.ca/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WarResisters
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/WarResisters
Sunday 27 October 2013
Worker Control - the way to go for a social economy that cares about workers
In an increasingly corporate economy more, not less, of us are workers and suffering the consequences in various forms of stress. On Saturday October 26 TorontotheBetter members were among the audience at the 12th Annual Caribbean Studies Conference on Racism and National Consciousness with the theme of "Towards a Self-Caring Society." One important message that TorontotheBetter, a unionized worker co-op based programme, fully supports: a key aspect of self-care is a supportive workplace and the best way for workers to get one is to take control of it. In the afternoon panel discusssion pictured above educator Ajamu Nangwaya spoke about the need for intensified organization to expand worker co-ops, while Reba Plummer, of TorontotheBetter ally Urbane Cyclist explained the mechanics of operating a worker co-op and Lorenzo Fiorito of the Coalition for Tamil Rights and the Elimination of Police Violence spoke about the definitely "un-caring", i.e. racist, practices of police in Toronto and elsewhere in Canada.
Tuesday 22 October 2013
Oct.29, 2013 - TorontotheBetter PWYC movie/discusssion series features Anarchosyndicalism:the other union tradition
*Tuesday October 29,2013-7pm at OISE
252 Bloor St. West. Toronto-
Room#4422
- “Anarchosyndicalism: the other union tradition”
Movie “Together We Win” from the New York City Starbucks organizing campaign by the Industrial Workers of the World [The Wobblies] and discussion. Speaker: Marc Young Toronto IWW member
Movie “Together We Win” from the New York City Starbucks organizing campaign by the Industrial Workers of the World [The Wobblies] and discussion. Speaker: Marc Young Toronto IWW member
– “Micro-lending:
Poverty solution or illusion?” Speaker:
Eugene Ellmen – Oikocredit Canada
*Saturday Dec 10-7pm at Good Times Bad Times Tea Shop 1421 Bloor St. W. Toronto - “Stay In School? A Critical View of the Mantra” Speaker: Hector Bunyan - Playwright, Educator, Worker.
*Saturday Dec 10-7pm at Good Times Bad Times Tea Shop 1421 Bloor St. W. Toronto - “Stay In School? A Critical View of the Mantra” Speaker: Hector Bunyan - Playwright, Educator, Worker.
Monday 21 October 2013
Mall overwhelms shoppers
TorontotheBetter to partner with Peel Poverty Action Group
Following discussion with the Peel Poverty Action Group (PPAG) in October, 2013 we are pleased to report that as part of our social economy outreach strategy we will be collaborating with PPAG on our social economy education initiatives, starting with a movie screening in Brampton or Mississauga in early 2014. The photo shows PPAG members and at bottom left the most recent issue of PPAG's Tough Times newsletter. More details of our Rethinking Social Enterprise programming to follow.
Sunday 13 October 2013
New social economy bill receives first reading in Quebec National Assembly on October 10, 2013
Message recently received from Louise Constantin,TorontotheBetter Montreal correspondent. See:
http://reliess.org/a-great-day-for-the-social-economy-in-quebec-canada/?lang=en
http://reliess.org/a-great-day-for-the-social-economy-in-quebec-canada/?lang=en
Monday 7 October 2013
FROM INDUSTRIAL FOOD TO WORLD FOOD: A BOOK LAUNCH AND PANEL DISCUSSION ON WORLD FOOD DAY
Foodshare will be hosting a book launch and panel discussion on World Food Day (Wednesday, October 16th, 2013) to ask how industrial food influences the way we eat and other questions.
Panelists will include Anthony Winson, author of "The Industrial Diet" and Wayne Roberts, author of the "No Nonsense Guide to World Food." There will also be an opportunity to meet the authors of FoodShare's first cookbook and to purchase a signed copy.
For location, contact and more details visit the event listing here.
Panelists will include Anthony Winson, author of "The Industrial Diet" and Wayne Roberts, author of the "No Nonsense Guide to World Food." There will also be an opportunity to meet the authors of FoodShare's first cookbook and to purchase a signed copy.
For location, contact and more details visit the event listing here.
Sunday 6 October 2013
TorontotheBetter supports workers in precarious employment
TorontotheBetter is pleased to support the Workers Bowl on November 2, 2013, a fundraiser for the Educational and Leadershiup Fund for Workers in Precarious Employment. Thanks to TorontotheBetter fellow-worker Adam Perry for bringing this event to our attention. See Adam's.appeal below
_____________________________________________________________________________
Note: You have not been added to any email lists. This email was sent to Taodhg [Tim] Burns at burnscurr@gmail.com by Adam Perry at jadamperry@gmail.com.
For more information go to: http://www.gifttool.com/athon/ AthonDetails?ID=2153&AID=2493
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On November 2nd 2013, I will be participating in the Workers' Bowl. This fundraiser benefits the "Education and Leadership Fund for Workers in Precarious Employment". This fund will support collaborative projects with the Workers' Action Centre to provide workers' rights education and one-on-one support for workers in precarious employment, as well as supporting their development as community leaders.
Please consider donating to this important cause. Use the link at the bottom of this email, and go visit my site.
Thank you in advance for your generosity!
Please consider donating to this important cause. Use the link at the bottom of this email, and go visit my site.
Thank you in advance for your generosity!
Click here to visit my personal web page in support of Ontario Employment Education & Research Centre.
or copy and paste this link into your web browser:
http://www.gifttool.com/athon/ MyFundraisingPage?ID=2153&AID= 2493&PID=393451
Or, Click here to view my team page for Cherry Pickers
or copy and paste this link into your web browser:
http://www.gifttool.com/athon/ OurTeamPage?ID=2153&AID=2493& TID=16685
or copy and paste this link into your web browser:
http://www.gifttool.com/athon/
Or, Click here to view my team page for Cherry Pickers
or copy and paste this link into your web browser:
http://www.gifttool.com/athon/
Note: You have not been added to any email lists. This email was sent to Taodhg [Tim] Burns at burnscurr@gmail.com by Adam Perry at jadamperry@gmail.com.
For more information go to: http://www.gifttool.com/athon/
Monday 16 September 2013
In Forma Theatre Fall 2013 Programs
In Forma Theatre has two new exciting programs starting now! PlayRite: Rexdale Intergenerational Theatre Ensemble and Youth Entrepreneurship: focussing on the food industry.
See here for full details.
See here for full details.
Labels: In Forma Theatre
Sunday 15 September 2013
Open House & Yard Sale
OPEN HOUSE and YARD
SALE
Saturday Sept. 21st
8:00 am – 4:00 pm
1376 Bathurst Street
(on west side, 2 blocks south of St Clair, near
Alcina)
Monday 9 September 2013
Rays of hope for Solar Energy says today's Toronto Star, but the skies not so sunny in Canada. TorontotheBetter has a suggestion...
Check out TorontotheBetter's one source solar energy supplier, Interect at:http://www.torontothebetter.net/2Binterect.htm
Sunday 18 August 2013
ChemTrails environmental warning for unsuspecting city-dwellers from Nav, our Brampton correspondent
Watch what we eat, yes, but hard to watch what we breathe. Thanks, Nav Mundi, who sent us this warning video about what's in the clouds above us:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqATQtwOY34#at=90
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqATQtwOY34#at=90
TorontotheBetter Supports Denis Poitras - Montreal's solidarity lawyer
TorontotheBetter's Montreal correspondent Louise Constantin reminds us to support better world activist ally Denis Poitras. In a better world maybe we would not need lawyers but for the foreseeable future we need allies like Denis.
For details see Rabble post at:
http://rabble.ca/news/2013/08/activists-organize-to-support-denis-poitras-montreals-movement-lawyer
For details see Rabble post at:
http://rabble.ca/news/2013/08/activists-organize-to-support-denis-poitras-montreals-movement-lawyer
Tuesday 13 August 2013
Repair Cafe Celebrates Moneyless Sharing Economics
What is old is new again as many in Toronto and beyond experience tough times and many freely give of their skills and knowledge. TorontotheBetter was pleased to visit and learn at Skills forChange's recent Repair Cafe, where repair needers met repairers. There was a 3-D printer, a clock-fixer and a felt-maker. Probably a candlestick maker too. Bottom line: problems solved and no money asked or given. Here is free exchange in the raw. It's called sharing. Now there's an idea with legs,,,
Wednesday 31 July 2013
Take the time to read labels
It all started with a jar of pickles!! |
Yesterday, a couple of friends in my building sent me a copy of the following article entitled "READ LABELS".
It spoke about something that has become a problem for me in recent years and so I felt it might be of interest to friends and acquaintances of mine. While I rarely forward items that are being widely circulated to other folks (out of a fear of unknown cookies that might be attached), I really felt that this was an important reminder. Interestingly, I received a number of immediate responses to this article -- all very positive. The following, from a close friend, is typical of the type of responses I received.
"Hi Sallie: Thanks for this. I already avoid many products but it looks like I should be adding a few more to my list. It's a little more difficult for me to check things but I'll find a way. NOTE: (She only has about 14% vision and is legally blind, but is also a real trooper! S. Thayer). I have the same concerns with vitamins. And you have to be careful with spices. I saw a documentary on spices explaining how ground plastic, bugs and all sorts of nasty stuff has been found in them depending on where they're from. Even if products come from the US or Canada but are packed in China, for example, they're most likely contaminated and should be avoided. Again thanks."
However, I did receive one negative response which read, in part, as follows:
"... . I did not like the article ... . It sounds very un-scholarly, like someone on a rant. I would be inclined not to believe some of the more gross sections. Some economists promote a return to regional economies, but most don’t because it can lead to increased inequalities between self-sufficient nations and those that are not. It’s a complex issue, increased these days by the knowledge that transporting anything usually adds to pollution. [Friends] who try to shop locally..., for food, at the market, have told me they cannot afford local prices."
I felt the need to respond to this somewhat critical email and so wrote the following:
"While it is unfortunate when people have to pay the real costs of food production, just as when they have to pay the real costs of clothes production (the Goodwill store doesn't stock what they need, for example), I, personally, feel that we must become less willing to always go for what is cheap. I know how difficult it is for many people –- for example, a number of the ladies of my acquaintance who live in buildings with rent subsidies, only pay about $100 a month or less in rent because that is 30% of their total monthly income! We try to help each other out as much as we can, but poverty stalks so many older folks, especially women as their incomes were so low during their working life or else they stayed home with children as a single mom and they are now left with nothing but the Old Age and the supplement. However, if we don’t face up to paying the real costs of items, I am afraid we will have more and more situations like the Bangladeshi clothing factory and all sorts of other places of production where the workers are basically modern days slaves. Even in China this is so often the case – they work for so little with no other recourse just so that we can have cheap products on our grocery store shelves. This is a real dilemma for all people, but especially those of religious faith, it seems to me. I struggle with it every time I need something from the store and have to ask myself the question: do I put my conscience aside and get something cheaper that I can more easily afford? -- something that is quite possibly made by some person who is forced to work for pennies a day in unsafe working conditions -- or do I purchase something locally produced for which the people growing and preparing it are being paid a living wage. This is truly not an easy issue for any of us. These are just some of my thoughts as I continue with my own personal struggle in these areas."
At any rate, here is the article that started this conversation. I hope it proves helpful to you as well.
READ LABELS
This is of some importance for all of us, I think . . . .
A couple of weeks ago I bought bread & butter pickles at Safeway.... they were disgusting, soft & mushy..... they were made in India . I checked a jar of the Safeway brand relish (I bought it because I wanted a tall jar), ... made in India ! What the heck, don't we have cucumbers in Canada? Presidents Choice also carry pickles "made in India".
Anyway, I returned the pickles to Safeway, no problem there, explaining the situation, the customer service person said, "What?" -- checked the label and said, "I would never dream they were made in India and I am not a pickle person although I just bought a jar to take to a function but I will bring them back tomorrow."
I told her I would be phoning head office to tell them that Safeway Canada products should be made in Canada not India . Next day I phoned the Canada Safeway head office customer service. I had a nice, long and very funny chat with the rep. After telling my story, she asked, "Why are pickles made in India , what type of pickles were they...?" [Bread & Butter]. She said, "I just bought a jar last night being true to my Safeway brand.... but I never read the label."
She could not believe that the pickles were made in India and said that she will return them. In awe she said, "we have tons of cucumbers in Canada ."
She said she was writing up two reports, one to Corporate and one to buyers with my concerns. We both had a good laugh when I said, "... well there is some good in this -- I will be reading my Safeway labels and not assuming because it says Safeway Canada that it is Canadian produce."
I told her I will not be buying any products like this. She was really funny, then she said, "What about the relish?" I said it was comparable with other no name products and I only bought it because I wanted a tall jar to put my Bick's relish in, but I will not be buying it again because it is made in India. She then said, "I am going to write that one up as well... I just cannot believe it! Now you're telling me Bick's is not made in Canada ..... anyone got a canner?!!!"
Time for a revolt! Interesting and scary food info here. Look even more carefully at labels now. Did you know, Green Giant frozen vegetables are from China and so are most of Europe 's Best?! Arctic Gardens is OK. Never buy the grocery store garlic unless it is clearly marked "from USA " or Canada, the other stuff is from Asian countries and, so I have been told, is grown in people poop (even worse than chicken poop). Buy only local honey, much honey is shipped in in huge containers from China and re-packed here. If the country of origin is not clearly marked, Beware... if unsure, ask an employee. Watch out also for packages which state "prepared for", "packed by" or "imported by".
In Ontario, the country of origin has to be clearly shown on the item in the store; not sure about other provinces. I go to the local farmers' markets in season and keep a wary eye open the rest of the year. Please read this very carefully, and read to the very bottom. It's of some importance for all of us.
How is it possible to ship food from China cheaper -- than having it produced in Canada or at least the U. S.? For example, the "Our Family" brand of the MANDARIN ORANGES says right on the can "FROM CHINA" .... so for a few cents more buy the LIBERTY GOLD BRAND from California. Beware: Costco sells canned peaches and pears in plastic jars that come from China. All "HIGH LINER" and most other fish products come from CHINA or INDONESIA . The package may say: "PACIFIC SALMON" on the front, but look for the small print. Most of these products come from fish farms in the Orient and there are no regulations there on what is fed to these fish.
Recently the Montreal Gazette had an article which quoted the Canadian Gov't about how Chinese feed the fish... they suspend chickens in wire crates over the fish ponds and the fish feed on chicken excrement. The Canadian Government recommended and stressed NOT to buy any type of fish imported from China. If you search the internet and learn what the Chinese feed their fish you'll be alarmed, e.g. growth hormones, expired antibiotics from humans... Never buy any type of fish or shellfish that comes from these countries: Vietnam, China, etc. .... Check this out yourself.
BICK'S Pickles have recently ceased operations in CANADA -- look and see where they are coming from now. Stienfeld's Pickles are made in India -- just as bad!!! But many No Name pickles are made in Canada. Another example is canned mushrooms. No-Name brand comes from Indonesia. Next to them on the shelf were President Choice brand... Product of Canada!! Also check those little fruit cups we give to our children. They used to be made here in Canada in the Niagara region, until about 2 years ago..... They are now packaged in China! Remember, the Chinese export inferior and even toxic products, dangerous toys and goods to be sold in North American markets. And even though our federal government seem to want to expand the market with China; yet 70% of North Americans believe that the trading privileges afforded to the Chinese should be suspended!! Well, duh.
Why do you need the government to suspend trading privileges? Simply do it yourself ... Try buying only items from CANADA and the USA. Look on the bottom of every product you buy, and if it says 'Made in China ' or 'PRC' (which now includes Hong Kong ), simply choose another product, or none at all. You will be amazed at how dependent you are on Chinese products and you will be equally amazed at what you can do without. Who needs plastic eggs, for example, to celebrate Easter? If you must have eggs, use real ones and benefit some North American farmer. Easter is just one example; the point is not waiting for the government to act... Just go ahead and assume control on your own.
Canadian Thermos bottles were made here for many years. Thermos sold out in the 1990's and now the bottles, those that keep our food warm or cold are made in CHINA. We lost, among other things, about 200 jobs! But THINK ABOUT THIS: If 200 million North Americans refuse to buy just $20 each of Chinese goods, that's a billion dollar trade imbalance resolved in our favour... fast!! The downside? Some Canadian/American businesses will feel a temporary pinch from having foreign stockpiles of inventory. However, just one month of trading losses, will hit the Chinese for 8% of their North American exports. Then they will at least have to ask themselves if the benefits of their arrogance and lawlessness were worth it.
START NOW and don't stop. Send this to everybody you know. Let's unite and show them that we are intelligent Canadians /Americans and nobody should take us for granted. If we can't live without cheap Chinese goods for one month out of our lives... we deserve what we get!