Email your MPP here: https://act.leadnow.ca/tell-your-mpp-support-independent-facilitation/ People with developmental disabilities and their families are just learning their life-line to inclusion is about to be severed by our provincial government “for the people.” There has been a terrible misrepresentation of what Independent Facilitation is and what this $3.1 million program means to our most vulnerable neighbours and their families. So let me try to explain. Imagine you're the loving parent of a child with a moderate-to-severe developmental disability. Imagine the almost all-consuming amount of stress this has caused you - first, the diagnosis, the battery of tests and appointments, wanting nothing more than a clean bill of health for your loved one, the anxiety of not knowing how severe it will be, then the crushing feeling of all the expectations you had around family life and raising children slipping away. Imagine that coupled with getting to experience the sweetest little person; the unmitigated joy you see in their smile and eyes when you make them laugh with delight. This person, who you know better than anyone, yet who, chances are, will not be known in this way by anyone else. Imagine the struggles of raising this child through school, where kids can be so needlessly mean, especially to those more vulnerable in the social pecking order than them. Imagine the tears, the frustrations, you have tried your absolute best to help guide them through, as they encounter situation after situation where they are told they are different, where they are made to feel unwelcome, where they don't feel like they belong. Imagine watching them struggling to express their feelings to you, wondering why they don't have friends. Imagine watching them slowly recede into isolation, spending time only with you, or by themselves. Imagine wondering - will they ever experience a romantic kiss? Will they ever know love aside from you? Imagine your heart breaking as you realize the thing you want to provide to them most - a sense of community, the joys of companionship - is beyond your ability to build by yourself. Imagine the terror that keeps you up on some nights, as you consider what life might be like for them once you are dead. Once the one person who knows them, their champion, is gone. Imagine the concern you feel, not knowing how they will fend for themselves. The vast majority of connections your loved one has developed inside the medical system over the years have been largely transactional, with no real depth of relationship with any of their health care providers. Sure, they know your child's name, and can tell you up and down about their condition, but that's about all they know. Imagine everyone telling your son or daughter what they can't do, what they won't be, and informing them what their very limited options are. For so many families, this is not imagination. This is heart-wrenching reality. Now, imagine a person who comes and visits with your child weekly. Who forms a relationship with them. Who gets to know them, as an individual, not just as a collection of conditions. A person who is geared towards helping your child realize the skills and talents that they do have, that they can use to create meaning and happiness in their life. A person who will work to help build friendships and community up around your child; a network of care that will persist well into the future after you are gone. A person who walks beside your loved one, helping them find their own voice, to be able to make their own choices. A person who listens, and helps them feel understood. A person who can help bear the burden and can offer you a break. A person who, beyond the health of your child, cares about their empowerment. Finding a job, joining a club, volunteering - these are all outwards signs of the real change that is happening; the creation of social networks and instances where the individuals can use their talents to give back and feel valued. To feel like they belong. Independent Facilitation also eases many downstream systemic burdens - on the health care system, housing, missed work for parents. The increased quality of life resulting from reduced family stress, as well as the self-directed aspect of helping people find their voices to make their own choices, is hard to overstate. One of the biggest benefits of Independent Facilitation, above and beyond what is provided through the existing institutional approach, is the impact it has on depression and loneliness. Studies, focused on greater society, have correlated depression and isolation with negative health outcomes – which means more economic burden. In a community that is arguably the most isolated, many people for the first time had someone to walk with them and help guide them through how to structure a meaningful, connected life. It is very human to want to feel useful, to have purpose. Independent Facilitation helps individuals who otherwise would have been overlooked to determine theirs, structure the necessary steps needed to achieve it and empower them to actually move themselves forward. This is prime space for Ontario, and Canada, to exhibit leadership; how we treat our most vulnerable populations says more about our culture, province and country than any number of political slogans ever could. It is a crying shame to see our provincial leaders effectively turning Ontario's back on a significant portion of our own. Honestly, I can't help but feel that if Doug Ford had a family member with a developmental disability, he would get it. He would be Independent Facilitation's biggest champion instead of being the guy who is about to drop the axe on the service.

The Petition: WHEREAS the University of Saskatchewan was founded for, and has a proud tradition of serving as an institution of higher learning for all the people of Saskatchewan, advancing unbiased science and knowledge for the benefit of society as a whole, independent of commercial interests; WHEREAS the University of Saskatchewan’s administration has recently exerted its considerable efforts and resources towards suppressing information with regard to the University's corporate partnerships with agriculture chemical companies, like Monsanto, Bayer, Dow, Syngenta et alia; WE THE UNDERSIGNED do petition University Chancellor, the Honourable Roy Romanow (elected by University Senate), to make representations within the University of Saskatchewan Administration to cease their legal obstruction and to comply with the prudent and reasonable recommendations of Saskatchewan's Information and Privacy Commissioner to lift the University's heavy redactions on the proceedings of the Symposium on "Research Management and the Right to Know" (Dec. 2015) and similar documents requested for public scrutiny. End of petition With the redactions lifted, the blatant attempts to suppress and hide the collusion between U of S industry chairs, faculty and the GMO/AgriChemical corporations will be more clearly revealed. The next step will be an even more public indictment of these activities. And we promise to keep you, our supporters, informed as we continue this struggle. Please join us!!!

Every Canadian should live with dignity regardless of their circumstances. Combing the resources of all Federal and provincial income support programs could fully fund such a pension program with enough left over to support low-income housing and other social programs to lift everyone out of poverty. Such initiatives would also reduce medical and prescription costs as well as impact significantly to reduce the cost of situational mental disorders and associated stressors.

Dispenasry workers face fines, arrest, and up to 2 years in jail for the crime of working (and paying taxes) in a grey/black market venture. Please help workers caught in this regrettable, structural failure under Ontario's Conservative Government, and its failed MJ distribution scheme. More arrests, this time in Ottawa and Windsor, maybe Leo Lucier could get you some respondents: https://sputniknews.com/us/201811091069661388-cannabis-shops-raided-ontario/ TO police raided 5 dispensaries, 19 October: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/cannabis/article-toronto-police-raid-and-shut-down-five-marijuana-dispensaries-vow-to/ 6 arrested in Hamilton, Oct. 25: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamilton-police-execute-warrant-georgia-peach-cannabis-dispensary-1.4880436) And four more arrests Tues, 6 Nov, in Essex, ON: https://theprovince.com/news/local-news/opp-lay-cannabis-act-charges-after-raid-on-pot-shop-in-essex/wcm/f65698d7-ea66-49b3-8a03-23220ced72ed

On April 18th, Vancouver City Council unanimously passed a motion to advocate to the Province of British Columbia to allow permanent residents the right to vote in municipal elections. Now we need the support of those in the provincial government to amend the Vancouver Charter (1953) to expand voting rights to permanent residents. With your support, we can show the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Honourable Selina Robinson that the public believes every voice in our community should have a right to participate in democracy. Permanent Residents are valuable, contributing members to society and they deserve to be represented in their local government. Sign the petition to tell your MLAs and the B.C.’s the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs to allow Permanent Residents the right to vote.

Israel is an apartheid state that illegally occupies Palestinian land. Decades of United Nations Resolutions have done nothing to compel The State of Israel to comply with international law. As Educators, we do not wish to profit from the illegal seizure of Palestinian land, and the human rights abuses committed against Palestinian men, women and children. Please Boycott, Divest, and Sanction our pension plan holdings of all Israeli companies, and companies that do business with the state of Israel.

This a Latin-american humanitarian crisis and chaos. We as Canadians have to step up and support a fair process to people needing real protection and entry into Canada. These people are escaping from gangs violence, government corruption and prosecution with the support of the US government who provides all the weapons and Trump has developed a hate campaign to stop these people in need of protection and violating their most basic human rights. Human Rights declaration: Article 14-Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. We have to call for the Canada embassy in these countries to process valid refugees claims and allow them entry into Canada. They are not criminals, and are fleeing violence and deplorable economic hurdles. This is the time for Canada to just stay silent and complicit and act now and oppose this madness that has raised and has become part of the normal since the election of Donald Trump.

This is needed to ensure that MPs don't just flip parties to create headlines and to further erode Canadians' trust in our institutions, democracy, parties and our system in general. We need strong parties, more parties and a system whereby people don't just flip parties to benefit themselves. We need true representation and good representation and to ensure that parties are not picking off MPs for their own advantage. Therefore, I would suggest this is imperative so that Canadians can have faith in the system. Also, constituents in these cases of crossing the floor may not even be consulted. That is why this is so important and why this petition is absolutely essential. I would regard it as essential so as to ensure our democracy is not sold out to special interests, parties with the most money, big donors or even payoffs in future elections. This must be brought to the attention of everyday Canadians.

In North America, safe roads and licensed drivers are something that we take for granted. Pedestrian deaths are not a daily norm, and if they are to ever occur, we can be sure that the drivers will be held accountable. This is not the case for citizens of Bangladesh, where unregulated driving and lack of road safety lead to hundreds of deaths on a regular basis. Ambulances cannot even travel to patients on time due to no rules regarding the safe passage of medical vehicles. Last week, the deaths of two teenagers in a senseless truck hit and run sparked massive protests across the nation. Teenagers, young adults, teachers and more took to the streets halting civilian drivers, and government officials, demanding proof of licensing. Protesters have a simple demand: Safer roads. This demand was not met. What they were met with was violence. Multiple students and teens have been severely injured, raped and even murdered for daring to speak out about the lack of consequences that government officials and the wealthy face for reckless driving which results in the deaths of hundreds. More than a hundred students were injured on August 4th when police opened fired with rubber bullets. Students shared stories, pleas and proof of the violence via facebook. The government's response was to halt mobile internet access for 24 hours. This is a violation of human rights, children are being attacked and losing their lives for demanding safer living conditions, and it is our responsibility to foster change.

Doug Ford’s announcement that he’s going to single-handedly slash Toronto city council in half is a massive abuse of power. Ford and his cronies cooked this idea up behind closed doors, without any consultation or even once mentioning it during his election campaign. If Ford wanted to help Toronto then he would be using his powers to support affordable housing, transit, and jobs. Instead, without any consultation, he is dropping this bombshell on Toronto right in the middle of the municipal elections. And it isn’t a coincidence—he’s purposefully meddling in our political system to cause chaos and make it easier to control City Hall from Queen's Park. With fewer councillors, Ford’s banking on ramming his agenda through City Hall, so he and his developer friends can have their way. But we’re not going to let it happen. Leadnow and Progress Toronto are teaming up to stop Ford’s takeover of Toronto. We’re ready to fight back—are you? Sign the petition telling for Ford to keep his hands off Toronto.

This pilot project is extremely important to all Ontarians, regardless of disability or any other individual or family life circumstance. There is still far too much poverty in this province as it is, and I applaud Miss Wynne for her efforts regarding this invaluable financial plan, one of very few good ideas she proposed during her party's long leadership tenure. As prices continue to rise on everything in our daily lives, this file's urgency is key.

Vancouver City Council delayed their decision to refer the new Chinatown zoning policies to public hearing by three weeks and will be reconsidering the referral on June 5. If the new policies do not get referred to public hearing, this means they will die on the vine and Chinatown will be continue to be open season for real estate developers and speculators. A newly formed group call "Chinatown Voices" made up of developers and property owners, like 105 Keefer's Beedie, are trying to derail the public hearing process and stop the necessary zoning protections for Chinatown. They already managed to get City Council to delay the referral for public hearing by three weeks. We can't let them win again. --- Why are the new zoning policies important? The new Chinatown zoning policies contains new policies that will potentially help alleviate the intense real estate pressures and protect the historic built character of the neighbourhood. If some of these measures to do not get put in place as soon as possible, the door is wide open for more proposals similar to the 105 Keefer rezoning and make it impossible for us to move forward with a UNESCO bid to designate Chinatown as a World Heritage Site. Major policy improvements include: - Rescinding of rezoning policy that allowed for higher heights (so we don't get another 105 Keefer proposal) - Restoration of the historic heights of the neighbourhood - Addition of density, site width, and retail width limits that were never in place before Full report here: http://council.vancouver.ca/20180515/documents/p8.pdf Although the zoning policies can have even stronger protections that what the City has currently proposed, we need to first get the new policies to public hearing to stop more 105 Keefer's from getting into the City development application process as soon as possible. --- How can you help? 1. Sign this petition to urge City Council to refer the new Chinatown zoning policies to public hearing. 2. Share it with you friends and family to sign. The more people, the more pressure. We need to outnumber the "Chinatown Voices" group. 3. Subscribe to the #SaveChinatownYVR mailing list to keep updated on the next steps of this campaign: http://www.savechinatownheritage.org/join-mailing-list We can do this!