KWPeace 2018 Spring

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Revision as of 17:06, 27 March 2018 by BobJonkman (talk | contribs) (more notes)
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Date
26 March 2018 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Location
Peace and Justice Room, Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church, 57 Stirling Avenue North, Kitchener Map
Participants
Laura Hamilton: Divest Waterloo, Food Not Bombs, Faith and the Common Good
Cathy Scott: Fair Vote Waterloo
Sharon Sommerville: KW Council of Canadians, Alliance Against Poverty
Dwyer Sullivan: Educators 4 Justice, Camp Micah, Conscience Canada
Sue Klassen: Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church, Peace and Justice Working Group, Grand Valley Institute outreach, Alternatives to Violence
Victor Klassen:
Gehan Sabry: Cross Cultures Magazine
Lynn Schulze: Crossing Borders Program
Alejandra: Crossing Borders Program
Bob Jonkman: Green Party, WR Nonviolence, KWPeace


Meeting Notes

Groups Reports

Fair Vote Waterloo

  • Electoral Reform is on hiatus, it is not active at the government level
  • FairvoteWRC is still doing education
  • No petition, but has a form to pledge to vote only for a party with a commitment to Proportional Representation


KW Council of Canadians

  • Primary campaign is water
  • Also health care as a local initiave
    • Bill 160, the overhaul of health care delivery
      • It's presented as an omnibus bill
      • Includes removal of ban on private hospitals
      • Increased use of private clinics for diagnostics
      • Concerns over patient privacy and info sharing
      • The cost of private care is greater
      • KWCoC has met with all local MPPs
      • This needs to be a campaign issue in the Provincial Election (7 June 2018)
        • Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife is on board, will present petitions in legislature
      • "Privatization by stealth"
      • Privatization requires profit -- fair wages and employment equity? (private workers vs. unionized workers)
      • MPPs presented excuses of "aging infrastructure" and "aging population"


Alliance Against Poverty

  • Political Action Campaign to implement Free Transit for all
    • First steps: Get Free Transit for low income people


Educators For Justice

  • Speaker Candice spoke on native justice at Conrad Grebel University on Friday


Conscience Canada

  • Promotes the divestment of 8.9% tax used to fund Canadian military to be used for other purposes
  • Saturday, 7 April 2018 at 3:30pm is Conscience Canada AGM; Tamara Lorincz will be speaking on Canadian military spending and the effects on climate change.


English Catholic Teachers

  • Social Justice for Human Rights


Crossing Borders

  • A group of refugees and students, coming together to break down barriers
  • Have done 100 presentations to schools, organizations!
  • Workshops with 16 kids, presented to City Hall, schools, &c.
  • Partnering with Mennonite Coalition for Refugee Support (MCRS)
  • Working on a partnership with CJI
  • Have received grants (maybe can provide some experience for the Social Develop Centre's Community Hub initiative)
  • Jeremy Horne has been their fundraiser
  • 10 years of Crossing Borders
    • Started by kids, from program during Human Rights Week


Cross Cultures

  • Plaque for Mutual Respect
    • After seven months of bureaucracy
    • Unveiled at the UN Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21 March 2018
    • Indigenous people want to mount this on a natural substrate
    • To be place in Victoria Park near the entrance at the Clock Tower
    • Amanda and Scott provided more information for the plaque
  • Gehan is attending AGMs for ethnic associations


St. John's Co-op Kitchen

  • There is a grant for a coach
    • Sean ---, a Union Co-op to pool funds, limited to $10,000
    • Commitment to fair labour practices and a living wage
    • The kitchen is a social incubator
    • ...but also a back-end for other programs, eg. marketing your product
    • get more funding (?)
  • Community Dinners, eg. Syrian Ladies
    • Expected 100, cooked for 150, but 225 showed up
    • Extra costs cut into the honorarium to the cooks
    • Will invite ACAWRA
  • Start cooking classes to raise funds
    • get stories to tell at dinners
      • eg. from Crossing Borders
      • Jacky Terry, board member at ACAWRA may have stories


WR Nonviolence

  • No response from City Hall about booking Roos Island in Victoria Park for Saturday, 14 July 2018
  • Bob thinks the drop-dead date for confirming the booking is end of April


Other Notes

  • Alejandra is a refugee from Colombia
    • Got permanent residency through Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds
    • The Refugee Board and Immigration Board don't communicate; she was still receiving notices after getting permanent residency
    • How to get employment as a refugee? Kitchener Waterloo Multicultural Centre and City of Kitchener provided a Healthy Lifestyles Ambassador placement as a Lifeguard
      • This program is no longer funded


  • 22 April 2018 is Earth Day
    • There is a Climate Walk in Toronto


  • Access to politicians
    • Local politicians treat delegations from activist groups as though they were "storming the Bastille"


  • Festival season!
    • Space at Kitchener City Hall
      • None available before summer
      • Difficult to get hold of _____ (organizer/venue reservation)
      • But space is still available


  • Joint All-Candidates Meetings
    • Topic: Social Justice for Health, Anti-Poverty, Electoral Reform, Environment
    • To be put on by:
    • By having multiple groups involved, candidates can no longer use the excuse of not participating because this is a "single issue".
    • The Record and Rogers are no longer hosting a public All Candidates Meeting
      • and the Chamber of Commerce doesn't allow questions (and does not address social issues, anyway)
  • John Milloy
    • Hosted a Faith and Politics (presentation? seminar? workshop?)
    • Follow up at Centre for Public Ethics
      • Get people active, teach them how to organize
    • Monday, 9 April, 5:30pm to 7:30pm


  • Indigenous Storytellers
    • 10,000 year old stories
    • Listening as well as telling
    • On the Doctrine of Discovery
    • There will be four performances
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