Toronto Community Mobilization Network

Fight Rob Ford – Stop City Cuts!
Contingent for the Community Day of Action in Toronto
Saturday, April 9, 2011

Meeting at: 12:30pm @ the corner of Church and Dundas (going together to join the rally at Dundas Sq.)

**Bring banners, signs and flags!

On Saturday, April 9th – OCAP and allies will be joining the ‘Respect Toronto’ Day of Action as a grassroots community organizations contingent. We are joining under the banner ‘Fight Rob Ford – Stop City Cuts!’

In the few short months since Ford took over at City hall, already we have seen the cutting of services in the 2011 budget like shelter spaces and transit access for poor communities, as well as moves towards privatization of garbage collection and Toronto Community Housing (TCHC).

Under Ford, poor communities will see a deepening of the crisis of poverty in this city;

-Currently, there are approximately 10 000 people homeless, and
emergency shelters are too-often overcrowded and unable to provide for people in the way that they should.

-There are over 76 000 people on the waiting list for social housing (TCHC); that list is a shameful 10 years long, with existing TCH units now being sold off.

-There are 18 000 families on the waiting list for subsidized childcare.

-The newest stats show that reliance on food banks is up 28% since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008.

As bad as the present round of cuts will be, they are only the first round. Ford has made clear he intends to contract out services to low paying employers and take a knife to vital community needs. His regime is the local expression of an austerity agenda that people are facing and resisting across the world.

We are calling on workers facing the loss of their jobs and communities the loss of basic services to unite and stop the Ford agenda. Similar to infamous Tory Premier (and friend of Ford), Mike Harris, we should not take a ‘wait and see’ approach with the current city regime. Ford's agenda is clear; cuts are being made, the erosion of services is already happening, and privatization is on the horizon. Ford and everything he stands for must be defeated.

Join us! Saturday, April 9th @ Dundas and Church: march together, defeat Ford!

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
www.ocap.ca / 416-925-6939
--------------------

Community Day of Action in Toronto
1 p.m. Saturday, April 9, 2011
Rally at Dundas Square, followed by a march to Toronto City Hall

WHAT'S AT STAKE?
• Services and programs that serve every resident and community, such
as libraries, child care and recreation centres
• TTC serving all neighbourhoods
• Environmental leadership in challenging climate change
• Keeping public control of public services, such as waste removal
• Safeguarding vital public assets, such as housing
• Good jobs and the fundamental rights of workers

TAKE ACTION!
On Saturday, April 9, 2011, rally at Dundas Square (Yonge & Dundas) and march to Toronto City Hall to defend our communities, public services and good jobs. Together, we can stop cuts, closures, user fees and privatization that will hurt every person and every neighborhood in Toronto. Let’s speak up before it spreads to every city and town in Ontario.

-please forward widely -

G20 DEFENDANT AND INDIGENOUS POLITICAL PRISONER

RYAN RAINVILLE STILL “BEHIND BARS”

Tuesday October 26, Mississauga New Credit - Today on Tuesday October 26,

Ryan Rainville appeared in an Ontario Superior Court to argue for his

release on bail. The Judge adjourned the application for Ryan to be

released to a First Nations Bail Program citing 'inadequate supervision'.

In considering Ryan's bail application, the judge also did not take into

account Gladue factors, which forces the judicial system to consider the

systemic marginalization and over-incarceration of Indigenous people as

result of colonialism and poverty.

Ryan is a young Indigenous man from the Sakimay Nation and is charged with

several unfounded charges stemming from June demonstrations against the

G20 in Toronto. Ryan has been imprisoned since August 5 when he was

arrested at his home in Waterloo, and has since been denied bail once

before in September.

While targeting strong voices of dissent is part of the state's desired

culture of fear, the repression and attempted silencing of Indigenous

resistance is part of the ongoing legacy of criminalization and

colonization for 500 years across Turtle Island.

According to Indigenous supporters of Ryan "Ryan has been strong in his

denouncements of injustice and has spoken out without fear. He is honest,

humble and respectful toward his family and people around him. He has also

honoured his role as a man in the community by standing beside Indigenous

women when we needed support.

As native people, our bodies and our minds are constantly under attack

from the state. Their power rests on our degradation, and their violent

exploitation of the land and water feeds and profits the colonization of

every poor and oppressed person. There is nothing new or unusual about

Indigenous people - whether Haudenoshonee or Mapuche, Anishinaabe or

Palestinian - being targeted, violated and locked up under racist,

classist and sexist guises of "law and order" or "justice".

We denounce the ongoing state repression of all people resisting the

austerity measures which are designed to force our relations, friends and

allies into enslavement to a faltering system, to assimilate those of us

coerced into submission, and exterminate those of us who refuse to bend to

colonial terms. Freedom for all prisoners and detainees, including the

Tamil women and children still held behind the walls of a detention

centre, and who are now subjected to the same four walls which face Ryan."

Ryan appears in court again on Thursday November 4th at 9:30 am at 361

University Avenue. Ryan's supporters are requesting people to attend court

on Thursday morning to show their support for Ryan and for all who are

being targeted by the state.

For more information please contact: thesheelephant@yahoo.com or

mcorbiere@hotmail.com or hwalia8@gmail.com

FUNDRAISING REQUEST:

There is an urgent need for defence-related funds for Ryan by next week.

You can mail cheques to: No One Is Illegal-Toronto, 90C Beverley Street,

Toronto, M5T 1Y1. Please be sure to indicate "Ryan Rainville" in the memo.

You can also make a secure donation online through Paypal on the No One Is

Illegal-Toronto website (http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org) Please be sure

to send an email to nooneisillegal@riseup.net and let us know you have

donated and what amount

_______________________________________________

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