May 2024 Newsletter
This week, history was made at Queen’s Park. MPP Sol Mamakwa, stood up and spoke Anishininiimowin, the Indigenous language of the Anishinaabe people also known as Oji-Cree, in the chamber. Until recently the Standing Orders of the Legislature only allowed English and French to be spoken in the chamber. This was because the rules require that questions only be asked in languages for which real-time translation can be provided. This has functionally meant that only English and French can be used. Thanks to MPP Sol Mamakwa’s advocacy, the list has been expanded to include Indigenous languages spoken in Canada. The Legislature will now ensure that translators are hired and on site when Members give notice that they will speak in our land’s first languages.
Sol Mamakwa’s speech was incredibly moving. He shared how speaking his language connects him to community, culture, and his family and acts as resistance against colonial structures. He spoke about learning the language from his mother, who shared teachings with him as they enjoyed the land together. Sol’s mother was in the chamber as he spoke, and one can only imagine how proud she is of her son. She was also celebrating her 79th birthday! She was joined by over 100 guests in the chamber, who were there to hear Sol Mamakwa speak. Many of them had travelled from remote and northern communities to hear their language being spoken in the legislature. It was an incredible moment in our history.
Israel’s Military Forces Bombs Civilians In Rafah
This last week saw some of the deadliest violence in Israel’s war on civilians living in Rafah.
An assault by Israel’s military forces on tents in Tel al-Sultan unleashed horrific consequences, murdering 40-50 civilians and injurying at least 200 more. This happened a week after Israel had dropped leaflets instructing civilians to move to Tel al-Sultan as a safe zone, and two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel’s occupying forces to halt the assault on Rafah. Despite Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who the International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor is seeking a warrant for on account of war crimes and crimes against humanity) calling the event a “tragic mistake”, Israel’s military proceeded to bomb another designated safe zone — the Al-Mawasi refugee camp — two days later, killing at least 21 more people.
Canada’s NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh condemned Israel’s attacks on civilians, calling on Trudeau to support the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court processes, and impose immediate sanctions on Israel.
Israel’s reputation is taking severe damage as a result of their government’s plausible genocide. This was reinforced this week when Aryeh Neier, a human rights advocate whose family survived the Holocaust, who founded the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch, spoke on CNN calling Israel’s war on Gazans a genocide. You can watch that interview here.
Federal Dental Care Program
Starting in 2023, the Federal Dental Care Program (CDCP) was introduced in Canada. Canadians with a household income of less than $90,000 and no private dental insurance coverage can access the plan by application. Residents become eligible for the plan throughout 2023-2024 according to age:
May 2024: Age 65+
June 2024: All Canadians with a Disability Tax Credit certificate
2025: All ages
Note: If you are covered under the provincial dental plan (OSDCP), you can still qualify for federal coverage under the CDCP. Your coverage will be coordinated between the two plans to prevent duplication and gaps in coverage.
To apply online and for more information about the CDCP, visit www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/dental/dental-care-plan or call 1-833-537-4342.
Thousands of Pages of Incriminating Greenbelt Documents
The Ontario NDP has publicly released nearly 4,000 pages of government records that we believe provide further evidence about the Ford government’s corrupt Greenbelt scheme.
Obtained via Freedom of Information request from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the documents reveal Ford government officials covering their tracks and concealing their intentions to give preferential treatment to certain speculators as they planned to remove 7,400 acres of land from the Greenbelt. The documents also point to officials in the Premier’s office having greater involvement in the Greenbelt scheme than was previously disclosed.
This month, NDP MPPs questioned the Auditor General and ministry officials at a Public Accounts Committee hearing to review the AG’s special report on the government’s changes to the Greenbelt.
The FOI records include the following revelations:
The Premier's Stakeholder Relations director, Carlo Oliviero, was invited to a July 2022 meeting with the lobbyist of a developer whose lands were later removed from the Greenbelt. The meeting was arranged through the Stakeholder Relations director's personal email account.
Text messages show that Ryan Amato met with Patrick Sackville on Oct. 20 to discuss the Central Pickering Development Plan, the revocation of which was necessary to allow development within the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve (DRAP) in the Greenbelt. When the revocation was later announced, on Oct. 25, the Ford government falsely claimed the DRAP would continue to be protected, even though ministry officials were working to remove these protections.
Days after Greenbelt developer Shakir Rehmatullah attended Doug Ford’s daughter’s wedding, ministry staffers were tasked with researching a proposal that would allow Rehmatullah’s Greenbelt property in Nobelton to be developed, deeming it a “priority project.”
Lydia’s Law - Shut Down by Conservatives
Queen’s Park was supposed to be flooded with hundreds of advocates and survivors on Wednesday evening for a debate on Lydia’s Law, a bill I co-sponsored. But Ford’s PCs callously cancelled the debate, leaving everyone shocked and angry. First, survivors didn’t get their day in court. Now, they lose their day in the Legislature.
Lydia’s Law is a bill designed to help the survivors of sexual assault seek justice. It is named after a young survivour who shared her story with MPP Catherine Fife and asked how we could improve the court system to be faster, less re-traumatizing, and more accessible for survivors of sexual assault and abuse.
This bill was incredibly important to many survivors, especially those who did not even get their day in court because of massive delays. Many survivors were excited to finally feel heard and have their concerns raised directly to the Conservative government.
Instead, the government used procedural tricks to cancel the debate and move the bill directly to second reading. The Conservatives did this because this bill is embarrassing for them. They don’t want anyone to know just how many cases Ontario Courts throw out or how many guilty parties are walking free just because courts are understaffed.
Ford likes to say that he’s tough on crime, but he has created a system where the perpetrators of violent sexual assaults continuously walk free. We can’t let this continue. For anyone who is the survivor of an assault, I hear your story, and I stand with you. The Ontario NDP stands with you. We won’t rest until our justice system actually brings justice for all.
Lydia’s Law would increase transparency and accountability in the handling of sexual assault cases in Ontario by adopting key measures, which include:
Ensuring the Attorney General monitors criminal cases pending for 8+ months and documents the reasons for these delays
Making the Independent Legal Advice Program more accessible to survivors
Launching a review of the Victim Quick Response Program to ensure it is meeting the needs of survivors
ICC Charges For Crimes Against Humanity In Gaza
Two weeks ago, the International Criminal Court (ICC) made history when their Chief Prosecutor announced that he is seeking to obtain arrest warrants for political leaders from the governments of both Hamas and Israel.
The three Hamas leaders are Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, and Ismail Haniyeh. Warrants are being sought for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine as part of an illegal attack on civilians, taking hostages, and the widespread use of rape as a weapon of war.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan repeated the ICC’s calls for the immediate release of Israeli hostages when announcing that his office is seeking these warrants.
The ICC is a different body than the International Court of Justice (ICJ): the ICC oversees the prosecution of individuals for international crimes; the ICJ oversees the prosecution of states for international crimes. The ICC is a court of last resort. It only prosecutes cases when a state’s judicial system fails to prosecute crimes committed outside of their borders. The ICJ did also make news today by ordering Israel to halt military operations in Rafah.
The two Israeli leaders for whom warrants are being sought are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The charges against Israeli leaders are the result of Israel’s use of starvation as a method of warfare and intentional attacks against civilians. Mr. Khan said, “Israel, like all States, has a right to take action to defend its population. That right, however, does not absolve Israel or any State of its obligation to comply with international humanitarian law. Notwithstanding any military goals they may have, the means Israel chose to achieve them in Gaza – namely, intentionally causing death, starvation, great suffering, and serious injury to body or health of the civilian population – are criminal.”
Chief ICC prosecutor Karim Khan added that, “Since last year, in Ramallah, in Cairo, in Israel and in Rafah, I have consistently emphasized that international humanitarian law demands that Israel take urgent action to immediately allow access to humanitarian aid in Gaza at scale. I specifically underlined that starvation as a method of war and the denial of humanitarian relief constitute Rome Statute offences. I could not have been clearer. As I also repeatedly underlined in my public statements, those who do not comply with the law should not complain later when my Office takes action. That day has come.”
Canada is a signatory to the Rome Statute, and I believe that Canada should defend work to realize an international rules-based order. Mr. Khan put this well when saying, “Today we once again underline that international law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all. No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader – no one – can act with impunity. Nothing can justify wilfully depriving human beings, including so many women and children, the basic necessities required for life. Nothing can justify the taking of hostages or the targeting of civilians.”
Put most simply, if Canada believes in an international rules-based order, Canada must accept that the rules apply to all people and all countries. Even our allies. Even ourselves.
Mr. Khan’s announcement is historic. This is the first time that the ICC has sought to obtain a warrant against leaders who are political allies of Western countries. It is unacceptable that Mr. Khan was threatened by Western governments when announcing that he was seeking these charges and told that the ICC was only “built for Africa and thugs like Putin”.
A warrant is not a conviction. If the charged leaders of Hamas and Israel are innocent, they should have nothing to fear from the kind of impassioned judicial process that the ICC administers.
Mr. Khan’s announcement that he is seeking these warrants is worth watching or reading in full.
Backlogs at the Human Rights Tribunal
Ontario’s Human Rights Tribunal (HRTO) is badly failing Ontarians. The backlog is currently three years long and growing, despite fewer cases being received this year than in 2015.
On top of that, the tribunal is delivering a shockingly low number of actual resolutions to the cases it does get through. A baffling 96% of final decisions in 2023-24 were “jurisdictional or procedural” dismissals of applications. This means that the application was closed before the applicant was able to make an oral argument or attempt mediation.
80% of the HRTO's dismissed applications are due to applicants abandoning their cases. Applicants give up because they have no legal representation or have been waiting for updates on their cases for three or more years. In many cases, even if they won the case, so much time had passed that there was no reasonable solution that could be implemented.
For some time, it has been clear to me that this government wants to destroy Ontario’s tribunals, making them so slow and ineffective that people know that filing an application is futile. This will give the government reasonable grounds to cut funding to the tribunals, privatize them, or further decimate their ability to deliver justice outside of the courts.
The backlog at the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal means that it is failing to uphold its mandate and that human rights in Ontario are under severe threat. Discrimination cannot happen unchecked in Ontario, yet it currently is. That is a disgrace.
If you are interested in this issue I encourage you to read the entire press release from Tribunals Watch Ontario. They are an incredible source of information and tireless advocates for impartial, effective tribunals that serve Ontarians well.
Pride Weekend Volunteers Needed!
Come and celebrate pride with us and connect with your community. The Ontario NDP will be running a table all Pride weekend and walking in each major parade! You can sign up for a volunteer shift at the links below. You can choose to help with the NDP booth, walk in one of the parades that weekend or both! See you there!
Friday June 28th:
Walk with the Ontario NDP in the Trans March (Friday June 28): https://volunteer.ontariondp.ca/TOC/rsvp/6bfac5cf-6e2f-423f-a46d-a6bbf653361b/
Table for the Ontario NDP on Friday Evening: https://volunteer.ontariondp.ca/TOC/rsvp/56b27c2a-1db3-4002-84de-263e2e32b2eb/
Saturday June 29th:
Walk with the Ontario NDP in the Dyke March (Sat June 29): https://volunteer.ontariondp.ca/TOC/rsvp/be762ba4-5d8e-4524-9c5f-d920c28ec6ea/
Table with the Ontario NDP on Pride Saturday June 29th at 1PM: https://volunteer.ontariondp.ca/TOC/rsvp/6ebc739f-b0ca-4782-a7a3-44116e536a7d/
Table with the Ontario NDP on Pride Saturday June 29th at 3PM: https://volunteer.ontariondp.ca/TOC/rsvp/33ca853b-6a30-4142-b1ad-486ff2f59e5b/
Table with the Ontario NDP on Pride Saturday June 29th at 4PM: https://volunteer.ontariondp.ca/TOC/rsvp/37a05326-8ae1-4ec2-86b6-34c12026910f/
Sunday June 30th:
Walk with the Ontario NDP in the Pride Parade (Sun June 30): https://volunteer.ontariondp.ca/TOC/rsvp/cb4a625d-a7dc-42fe-9d7b-ea3cb7d0e564/
Table with the Ontario NDP on Pride Sunday June 30th at 1PM: https://volunteer.ontariondp.ca/TOC/rsvp/017565d3-ca3c-41e8-a9fb-d6b466cd99f9/
Table with the Ontario NDP on Pride Sunday June 30th at 3PM: https://volunteer.ontariondp.ca/TOC/rsvp/a7d09e44-bdad-4887-8cdd-9846079c808b/
Table with the Ontario NDP on Pride Sunday June 30th at 4PM: https://volunteer.ontariondp.ca/TOC/rsvp/d0ab5d59-9114-4051-8467-d87ea19d5780/
Free events at the Lakeshore Interpretive center found at 2 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Dr
Grace: One Story of Thousands
September 2023 - July 2024
Grace: One Story of Thousands follows the life and experiences of Grace, one of the 1,511 people buried in the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital Cemetery at the corner of Horner and Evans Avenues in south Etobicoke. Through personal letters and surviving hospital records gathered by Grace’s great-niece, you are invited to pause and reflect on a life lived – not defined – by the institutional system in Ontario. With a shift toward historical accuracy, personhood, and agency, the Interpretive Centre invites you to experience history through a new perspective
Queer Joy
January 8 - April 26 2024
Through a collaboration with the LGBTQ+ Resource Centre and the 2SLGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group (ERG) at Humber, we honour the identities and self-expression of two-spirited, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex members of our community, students, staff, and faculty.
Celebrating the theme of "Queer Joy", join us for a juried art exhibition in January-April 2024 in our newly launched Second Floor Gallery!
Witnesses of the Past
January 8 - April 26 2024
Explore the historical traces of the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital and its associated cemetery, now everyday spaces in Etobicoke Lakeshore.
Through renovations and retrofitting, the physical site is one of the most enduring markers of memory to those who lived and laboured on this site and spent months, years or decades in this institution. Featuring the artwork of photographers Sherry Prenevost, Emily Briden, and Amber Briden whom we thank for their work and for capturing the rich details of these historic spaces.
All these events are free, and a great way to learn about the History, and Nature of our home.
Patterns & Parallels: The Great Imperative to Survive
May 6, 2024 - July 26, 2024
On loan from the Roberta Bondar Foundation
Patterns & Parallels: The Great Imperative to Survive features photography from Dr. Roberta Bondar, the first female Canadian astronaut, to tell the story of the migratory patterns of three bird species: the Whooping Crane, Lesser Flamingo and Piping Plover.
The exhibition is a key part of the Roberta Bondar Foundation’s Space For Birds project, which uses photography to create a visual story that will help us understand the biodiversity of nature and the impact of human actions and climate change on bird migration and habitat loss.
Hosted in The Fashion Institute, the exhibition will be on display at
3166 Lake Shore Blvd W, Etobicoke, ON M8V 1L6.
Exhibition Visiting Hours
Tuesday - Friday 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
*Until July 13th, adjusted hours available July 15th-26th
Local Municipal Updates!
Public Wifi Strategy Consultation
City of Toronto kicks off consultations for expanded free public wi-fi strategy
Beginning Thursday, May 30, the City of Toronto will hold a series of public consultations to inform an expanded Free Public Wi-Fi Strategy based on considerations including how residents use free public Wi-Fi, which City spaces could benefit from it, steps the City can take to enhance the experience of getting online and ways to monitor quality and identify areas for improvement. In addition to public consultations, the City is working with community organizations across Toronto to facilitate in-depth discussions with people with lived experience in the digital divide.
Consultations
Virtual consultations will be held on:
Thursday, May 30, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, June 18, from 1 to 2 p.m.
In-person consultations will be held on:
Tuesday, June 4, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Driftwood Community Recreation Centre, 4401 Jane St.
Thursday, June 13, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Heron Park Community Centre, 292 Manse Rd.
Participants have the option to join virtual consultations by phone. More information about timing, locations and dial-in details for virtual consultations can be found on the City’s webpage.
Summer Recreation Programs Registration – June 4
Registration for the City’s Summer Recreation Programs opens at 7am on June 4 for Etobicoke residents – plan ahead by checking the full programming list here! If you need help preparing for registration, call 416-396-7378! Call centre hours are:
Before June 2 – Monday to Friday, from 8am– 5pm
Monday, June 3 – 8am–7pm
Tuesday, June 4 – 7am–5pm
Wednesday, June 5 – 7am–5pm
Registration for After-School Recreation Care programs for the 2024/2025 school year will begin on June 7, at 7am. Call centre support will be available from 7am–5pm.
Welcome Policy – Recreation Fee Subsidy
If you live in the City of Toronto and have a before-tax total family income that is below the Low Income Cut-Off threshold, you may be eligible for the Welcome Policy Recreation Fee Subsidy – learn more and apply here! This credit can be used to register for City recreation programs including CampTO. Those receiving social assistance (Ontario Works) are pre-approved to receive this credit and should speak to their caseworker or apply online.
Discounts for older adults
Participants 60 years of age and older receive a 50% discount on the regular price of adult recreation programs excluding private, semi-private and small group lessons. Learn more here!
Next Week — Mimico Neighbourhood Mobility Plan
On June 3, 2024, Etobicoke York Community Council (EYCC) will consider the final design for the Mimico Neighbourhood Mobility Plan. This is an important step towards enhancing road safety measures in Mimico.
You can review the staff report, which provides comprehensive details about the proposed speed hump locations and incorporates feedback from various City divisions, including emergency services. This information is crucial for understanding how the proposed changes could affect our community and the rationale behind the specific design decisions.
There are two ways you can engage with this item at EYCC:
Making a Deputation: You may choose to attend the Community Council meeting and speak directly to Council members about your opinions and concerns regarding the speed hump installation. This is a valuable opportunity to voice your perspective (either in person or online) and make an impact on the decision-making process.
Submitting Comments: If you prefer not to speak at the meeting, you can still contribute by submitting your comments by email.
Register to speak or submit your comments by email to etcc@toronto.ca and learn more about Council and deputations at Toronto.ca/Council under “Have Your Say”.
If you would need support from Councillor Amber Morley’s office, please reach out by phone (416-397-9273) or email (councillor_morley@toronto.ca)!
Apply to be Toronto’s first Youth Poet Laureate
Writers and/or spoken-word artists between 16 and 27 years of age are encouraged to apply to the City of Toronto’s newly announced Youth Poet Laureate program. Toronto’s Youth Poet Laureate will advocate for poetry, language and the arts by inspiring and engaging youth to share their stories through written and spoken word. Toronto residents can apply until June 10. Learn more and apply here!
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