EVENTS & MEETINGS:

1) Monday, October 1: Fall Planning Meeting of the Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury
2) Monday, October 1: Community Forum on Workplace Injuries in the Mining Industry
3) Wednesday, October 3: "Panhandling for Panhandlers" Anti-Poverty Action
4) Thursday, October 4: "Sisters in Spirit" Vigil for Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women
5) Wednesday, October 10: NISA at the STC: A Play in Honour of Mental Illness Awareness Week
6) Wednesday, October 10: "Raise the Rates" Town Hall
7) Thursday, October 11: What is the Community Start-Up Benefit?
8) Tuesday, October 16: Friends of Sudbury Transit Meeting
9) Sunday, October 28: Books for Food!

NEWS, ANALYSIS, & CALLS TO ACTION:

1) Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty Statement on Anti-Panhandling Campaign
2) ETFO Control Your Future Website (a message from the Sudbury and District Labour Council)
3) "Taking Back Sudbury's Night"

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Monday, October 1: Fall Planning Meeting of the Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury

Time: potluck at 6pm, meeting 7pm to 9pm
Location: Environmental Resource Centre (176 Larch Street, back
entrance)

This will be our fall planning meeting. Help set the agenda for the year
to make a difference in our community. The meeting will run 7 – 9 p.m.,
with a pre-meeting potluck at 6 p.m.. We hope you can make it out to
catch up with new and old friends!

The Caolition for a Liveable Sudbury (http://www.liveablesudbury.org) is
a grassroots network of citizen groups and individuals who share a
vision of Sudbury as a green, healthy and engaged community. Our work
includes research, education, advocacy, and action.  We also act as a
network connecting like-minded community groups and individual citizens
to share information and work together.

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Monday, October 1: Community Forum on Workplace Injuries in the Mining Industry

Time: 6:30pm
Location: Steelworkers Hall (66 Brady Street)

Hello Friends,

We need to get as many folks as possible to attend the Community Forum taking place at the Steelworkers Hall on 66 Brady St. on Monday October 1st at 6:30pm.

There will be guest speakers as well as families and friends of victims of mining workplace accidents and fatalities. It is clear after Last week's poll in the Northern Life, 79% of voters agree charges should of been laid in relations to the two deaths at Stobie Mine.

I'm asking you ALL of you to reach out to your contacts, friends and family members in order to show the our Politicians and Media outlets that we are outraged at recent events in the mining industry and that we request a provincial inquiry into mining practices in Ontario!

Thanks in advance for your Attendance (Monday October 1st)

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3) Wednesday, October 3: "Panhandling for Panhandlers" Anti-Poverty Action

Time: 4pm
Location: South-east corner of Elm and Durham, by the clock

This Wed. (Oct. 3rd) please join us at 4pm at the south-east corner of Elm and Durham by the clock. Bring hats or cups for panhandling, signs and banners, and we are also calling on all buskers and community musicians to join with us in this show of solidarity with panhandlers in our community. Any funds raised will be donated to those in need. Bring your signs and join us.

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Thursday, October 4: "Sisters in Spirit" Vigil for Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women

Time: 9:45am to 3pm
Location: Begins at N'Swakamok Native Friendship Centre (110 Elm Street) but moves to other locations -- see below

EVERYONE WELCOME -

Hand Drummers please bring your drums

9:45 Opening and Prayers – Winnie Pitawanakawat – N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre
10:00 to 10:30 March to City Hall - Start @ N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre 110 Elm Street.
Turn Right onto Elgin Street to Minto Street
Minto to City Hall court yard for Flag Raising

-Greetings and Welcome -
-Opening Comments by Deputy Mayor JOSCELYNE LANDRY-
ALTMANN-COUNCILLOR WARD 12
-Proclamation of Sisters in Spirit Day in Sudbury for October 4, 2012
Lowering Flag to Half Mast for Murdered Aboriginal Women
Moment of Silence
Hand Drumming –“Travelling Song”
Raising Flag and tying of Medicine Colours to flag pole
Hand Drumming – “Strong Women Song”
Messages of Lived Experiences of our Lost and Stolen Sisters.
“Honour Song” for ALL women.
11:30 End of City Hall Ceremony

-Events to continue @ N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre Noon to 3 P.M.
-Exhibition of local Aboriginal artists
-Social and Drumming
-Feast
-Closing Prayer

This event on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/events/304062789692579/

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Wednesday, October 10: NISA at the STC: A Play in Honour of Mental Illness Awareness Week

Time: 7:30pm
Location: 170 Shaughnessy Street, Sudbury

In honour of Mental Illness Awareness Week, Northern Initiative for
Social Action is pleased to present “Henry and Alice: Into the Wild”,
the sequel to the very successful comedy, “Sexy Laundry”.

Join us for a night of comedy on Wednesday, October 10th at 7:30pm at
the Sudbury Theatre Centre.

Featuring art from NISA’s Artists' Loft (show runs from September 7th to
October 17th), with a short intermission and locally catered desserts.

Tickets are $40 and can be purchased by going to nisa.on.ca.

Thank you for supporting NISA and mental health awareness. For more
information, please call 705-222-5375 and ask for Alex.

This event on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/events/434992269884647/

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Wednesday, October 10: "Raise the Rates" Town Hall

Time: Free meal & refreshments at 6pm, the Town Hall at 6:30pm
Location: Jubilee Centre, 195 Applegrove Street, Sudbury
(Off Lorne, behind the Court House). Wheelchair accessible.  

Join the discussion at the Sudbury Anti-Poverty Town Hall Meeting

Contact: Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty (S-CAP)
sudburyCAP@gmail.com // 249-878-7227
Also contact us for information on childcare and transportation subsidization.

Speakers include:
• John Clarke of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
• Carrie Lynn Poole from CUPE-Ontario
• Elizabeth Richer from Mamaweswen, The North Shore Tribal Council

Since the Mike Harris cuts of the 1990’s people on Ontario Works and ODSP have seen the spending power on their cheques fall by close to 60%. This year’s Provincial Budget continued the rapid decline with rates that don’t even keep up with inflation. Following the previous gutting of the vital Special Diet benefit, this year’s Budget also brought a series of cutbacks for people on social assistance including the elimination of a benefit known as ‘Community Start-Up’. This vital benefit is planned to be cut in January 2013.

The Liberal government froze the minimum wage in 2011. Workers trying to survive on a minimum wage are already making poverty wages and are seeing their incomes fall even further as a result of inflation and this freeze. Currently close to 1 in 6 workers in Ontario are working at or close to the minimum wage rate.

We are fighting this cut and demanding raises in social assistance and minimum wage rates to where people can live with health and dignity. Join us to talk about ways we can fight back together.

Sponsors: The Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty, The Sudbury and District Labour Council, The Sudbury CUPE Council, Mamaweswen, The North Shore Tribal Council, The Research Centre in Social Justice and Policy and Poverty, Homelessness and Migration Research Project at Laurentian University, The Sudbury Worker’s Education and Advocacy Centre, Laurentian University’s Association des étudiantes et étudiants francophones (AEF) and Graduate Student’s Association (GSA), Sudbury Action Centre for Youth (SACY), Laurentian University’s Labour Studies Program, PSAC Sudbury and District Area Council

These Town Hall Meetings are organized across the province by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and CUPE-Ontario.

This event on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/events/199946496804811/

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Thursday, October 11: What is the Community Start-Up Benefit?

Time: 10am
Location: Downtown Library, 74 Mackenzie Street, larger meeting room downstairs

What is the Community Start-Up Benefit and why are they trying to take it away from us? How to best apply for the Community Start-Up?

Join John Clarke from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) in a workshop for people on OW and ODSP and for those who assist them in applying for what they need. The workshop will be followed by a clinic for people applying for the Community Start Up Benefit where John Clarke and members of S-CAP will asssit people in applying for this benefit and supporting them in getting it from OW or ODSP.

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Tuesday, October 16: Friends of Sudbury Transit Meeting

Time: 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Location: Environmental Resource Centre, reThink Green, 176 Larch Street (back entrance)

This will be a regular meeting of the Friends of Sudbury Transit.

This event on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/events/476807685685021/

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Sunday, October 28: Books for Food!

Time: 10am to 2pm
Location: 875 Notre Dame NFIA/Industrial Alliance

Used Book Fair! All the money raised will go to the Sudbury Food Bank.

I'm looking for people to help with this book fair, and I'm looking for book donations. This can only happen if people are willing to donate their used books.

If you have books to donate please contact Aimee Marlok @ 705-929-1989 or amarlok1@hotmail.com

We will also have food donation boxes set up too. So feel free to bring some canned goods!

This event on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/events/501726066506058/

NEWS, ANALYSIS, & CALLS TO ACTION:

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Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty Statement on Anti-Panhandling Campaign

Email: sudburycap@gmail.com
 
The Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty (S-CAP) would like to express its disappointment in the anti-panhandling posters being produced by the Sudbury police and the downtown businesses. The posters use language that encourage people to see panhandlers as dangerous outsiders. In the context of the poster's inflammatory message, the statement 'the downtown belongs to all of us' merely implies that those without homes or money are not a part of society. Coupled with an increase in ticketing for loitering, we see this poster campaign as yet another front being opened in the war against the poor.
 
The posters misrepresent the facts of panhandling. The poster claims that the services available to panhandlers are adequate and that panhandlers only "claim" to be looking for assistance. This is untrue. There are many gaps in the social safety net and these gaps are growing larger with cuts to programs such as the Community Start Up and Maintenance Benefit. Many panhandlers are in it for survival and to imply that people would never need extra financial assistance is outrageous.

The Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty will be taking a number of steps to counter these posters. We will be compiling a list of the downtown businesses that display this poster. If business owners are concerned about the presence of those in poverty they should work politically for genuine solutions to poverty. Businesses should be ashamed to take part in such a dehumanizing campaign.

We are calling for people to join us in "Panhandling for Panhandlers" on Wednesday October 3. We will be meeting at 4 o'clock on the corner of Durham and Elm street. Any funds raised will be donated to those in need. Bring your signs and join us.

Then on Wednesday, October 10th we will be joining with representatives of CUPE Ontario and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty to hear people's stories of living in poverty and surviving on minimum wage, ODSP and OW. One in six workers in Ontario earn the minimum wage or close to it. Ontario social assistance recipients have seen their spending power fall by almost 60% since the Harris government cuts back in the 90s. Come hear the stories that cut through the myth that everyone has adequate access to the resources they need.

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ETFO Control Your Future Website (a message from the Sudbury and District Labour Council)

Dark days are upon us. What can we do?

We must let the government know exactly what we think about the anti-collective bargaining legislation passed on September 11, 2012. Many Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) members were in the gallery of the Ontario Legislature and witnessed EVERY Liberal and EVERY Progressive Conservative MPP vote in favour of Bill 115, the act that violates our collective bargaining, legal and human rights.

Let’s take ACTION!

The ETFO Control Your Future website has a template that you can use to email your MPP. (www.controlyourfuture.ca)

You can use the prescribed message or edit the letter to convey your own message. The ETFO Rainbow Teacher Local is asking every member to email your MPP EVERY Friday to express your dissatisfaction and increase the pressure.

Sudbury, Liberal MPP Rick Bartolucci’s contact information is rbartolucci.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org or 705-675-1914 if you would like to contact him directly.

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"Taking Back Sudbury's Night" by Scott Neigh
Published at Grassroots Sudbury Media (http://www.mediacoop.ca/group/sudbury) and The Media Co-op: http://www.mediacoop.ca/story/taking-back-sudburys-night/13154