[KWPeace-groups] Meeting Notes for Monday 26 March 2018

[Bob Jonkman]

Hi: For those of you who weren't able to make it to the potluck meeting
on Monday, here are the notes I took.  For those of you who *were*
there, please let me know of any additions, deletions, changes, or other
errors.  I'll have them posted on the KWPeace site later tonight if
there are no corrections  (it'll look much prettier!); right now I have
to get to the WR Nonviolence meeting...

= Spring 2018 KWPeace Organizational Meeting and Potluck =
 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

Regrets
    Mo Markham: KW Vegan Society, KW Animal Save, Kitchener Waterloo
Climate Save, Mother Earth Save



Meeting Notes

    We should get Community Justice Initiatives (CJI) to come to KWPeace
meetings

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
        Is now the president of the African Canadian Association for
Waterloo and Area (ACAWRA)
            Reminder that Egypt is in Africa...


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


from Mo Markham

    We have posted a petition on our page, and I think on the KW peace
page as well, to ask that the crown attorney request that Benjamin
Stein, the so-called farmer who left several thousand pigs to die
without food water heat Etc not have animals in his care again in his
lifetime. This is mostly a publicity stunt, to try to get some media
attention to this case, the largest case of animal cruelty in Canadian
history.
        KW Animal Save AND London Pig Save will be attending the
sentencing in Simcoe on April 26th, and sometime before then we will
present the petition to the crown attorney.
    Our latest Save group, Mother Earth Save, will be holding a free
mothers' brunch on Saturday May 26th at st. John the Evangelist downtown
to help young mothers understand what's happening to the planet, and how
they can get involved to make change. There will be childcare provided
    And on Saturday June 23rd, the KW Vegan Society will hold a
fundraiser for KW Animal Save and Kitchener Waterloo Climate Save. This
will be a catered picnic and bonfire. I have posted this on the KW peace
site, and it is also on the KW animal save page.


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:
            Social Development Centre Waterloo Region
            Divest Waterloo
            Alliance Against Poverty
            Fair Vote Waterloo
            TransitionKW
            Disability and Human Rights Group
            KW Council of Canadians
            Basic Income Waterloo Region
        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

-- 
Kitchener-Waterloo Peace and Social Justice Groups
bobjonkman at kwpeace.ca           https://kwpeace.ca


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