Other Recent Posts
University of Toronto declines to divest from pro-Israel institutions
University of Toronto’s (U of T) President Meric Gertler has officially rejected student group Occupy4Palestine’s demands to divest from companies and institutions supporting Israel’s military, restating the university’s commitment against taking “positions on social or political issues” and against “academic boycotts.”
After occupation, students meet with U of T president
Student-organizers of the two-day occupation at the University of Toronto (U of T) say they left their Apr. 3 meeting with the school’s top brass feeling “a lot of disappointment” at their lack of commitment to stop investing in companies supporting Israel’s military.
U of T students occupy president's office for Palestine
A two-day occupation at the University of Toronto (U of T) ended late on Apr. 2 after the students secured a meeting with University President Meric Gertler on Wednesday, Apr. 3. Students have been pushing for the university to divest from companies supporting Israel’s military and to cut ties with Israeli universities complicit in its apartheid.
Canadian Police-Involved Deaths in March 2024
At least 11 people were killed in Canadian police actions in March 2024. These deaths include people who were directly killed by police, as in police shootings, or died during police deployments or in police custody. In March, three people were shot and killed by police, two were killed during a police vehicle chase, and five died in custody or during an arrest. One person was killed in an “altercation” with private security.
Moving Beyond Electoral Politics and the Sedative of Empathy
“A slaughter isn’t a slaughter if those being slaughtered are at fault, if they’ve been quietly and effectively dehumanized — in the media, through policy — for years,” writes Palestinian-American writer, professor, and psychologist Hala Alyan. “If nobody is a civilian, nobody can be a victim.”
Learning from Organizers – Saleh Waziruddin
Saleh Waziruddin is a South Asian anti-racism activist who has participated in grassroots struggles throughout his adult life. In his 20s, he organized in the Muslim community in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Now in his 40s, he lives in Niagara, Ontario, and is active in the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association (NRARA). Though not one of its founders, he has been part of the group since it started in 2018.
Analysis: Rank and file solidarity with Palestine
Migrant Spring Marches Held Across Canada, Calling for Status for All
A series of nationwide demonstrations for migrant workers rights were held across eight Canadian cities this weekend.
Supporters in Toronto gathered at Christie Pits Park on Saturday demanding permanent residency status for all undocumented people in Canada. The “Migrant Spring” protest also called on the federal government to remove unfair immigration requirements for care workers and to end deportations immediately.
Op/Ed: A Movement for Palestine Solidarity Grows in Surrey
As I reported recently, the mayor and council for the City of Surrey have been so desperate to keep Palestine solidarity voices from speaking at council meetings in an effort to get the city to vote on a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, that they have taken to locking all residents out of council meetings. They have recently gone so far as setting up new riot fencing to keep the public from even coming within several meters of city hall.
Searching for queer community outside Toronto’s gay village
Every weekend, Toronto’s Church-Wellesley neighbourhood comes alive as one of the largest “gay villages” in North America.
Canadian Police-Involved Deaths in February 2024
At least five people were killed in Canadian police actions in February 2024. These deaths include people who were directly killed by police, as in police shootings, or died during police deployments or in police custody. Three people were shot and killed by police in February, one was killed during a police chase, and one died during an arrest while in medical crisis. Two victims were in mental distress at the time police were deployed against them. One person was in a medical crisis.
Op/Ed: Something is rotten in the City of Windsor...the Windsor Police Service
I was born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, and still have connections there. So I keep an eye on goings on in the old hometown and still have great interest in what is happening. It was there that, as a blue-collar kid, I was first set upon, targeted, and harassed by cops, and that I started to figure out what policing was really all about.
Media Release: Toronto town hall on anti-Palestinian racism
Torontonians from Across the GTA to Attend Emergency Town Hall About the Rise of Anti-Palestinian Racism: In Our Classrooms, Campuses and Workplaces
WHEN: Friday, February 23, 2024, 7:00pm
WHERE: Yonge-Dundas Square area (please call for exact location)
LIVE STREAM: TBA
Healthcare workers slam their CEOs for slandering pro-Palestinian protesters
Toronto healthcare workers are pushing back against their employers, demanding an apology and a retraction for what they say are “false accusations of antisemitism over the fabricated Mount Sinai story.”
Anti-Palestinian racism permeates Canadian institutions, critics say
Referring to pre-1948 Palestine as a “crappy piece of land with nothing on it” — as former BC NDP Minister of Postsecondary Education Selina Robinson recently did — is not just a sign of ignorance but an expression of the anti-Palestinian racism (APR) that critics say runs deep within our institutions and across political party lines.
Op/Ed: Surrey City Council locks out residents, fails to shut down Palestine solidarity
Palestine solidarity organizing and mobilizations in Surrey, British Columbia (traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Katzie, Kwantlen, and Semiahmoo) have been growing in size and frequency. Now it seems local politicians are getting worried and taking pre-emptive steps to silence voices against the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
How an urban village model is tackling Toronto's housing crisis
Kizito Musabimana is one of more than 1000 Rwandan refugees who came to Canada following the Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsis in the 1990s, which claimed around one million lives in 100 days. After struggling through a period of homelessness in Toronto, and knowing the importance of culture and community, Musabimana would set out to help others from the African diaspora access culturally-sensitive resources, particularly affordable housing.
B.C. cabinet minister sacked after making racist comments about Palestinians
B.C.'s Minister of Post Secondary Education and Future Skills, Selina Robinson, stepped down on Monday, February 7, over anti-Palestinian comments she made six days earlier during a Zoom meeting with B'nai Brith Canada, a zionist organization. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network Vancouver called an emergency rally Monday morning at the Guilford Sheraton Hotel in Surrey, where the B.C. NDP was holding the All MLA Retreat.
Canadian Police-Involved Deaths in January 2024
At least four people had their lives taken in police actions in January 2024. The police-involved deaths include people who were directly killed by police, as in police shootings, or died during police deployments or in police custody. All deaths in January occurred during arrests or in custody. This includes two people killed during intoxication arrests, a practice that is often deadly and should be ended.