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!

The University of Alberta has awarded David Suzuki an honorary degree in celebration of his impressive contribution to environmental awareness and literacy in Canada. Now, the institution is facing politically-inspired backlash from faculty, alumni, and conservative politicians. This backlash began with an overblown message from the University of Alberta Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Fraser Forbes, who called the honorary degree a “betrayal” and the “worst crisis… that we’ve faced in more than three decades.”[1] Forbes’ message inspired a number of conservative politicians including Jason Kenney and Matt Jeneroux to publicly protest the honorary degree, and even prompted a law firm to revoke its funding to the U of A. [2] In reality, offering Dr. Suzuki an honorary degree does not represent a betrayal by the university, but rather the banal recognition of a long-time academic, environmentalist, and media figure in Canada. Dr. Suzuki is a respected academic and broadcaster whose career spans over 40 years (his broadcast career began at the University of Alberta, where, as a professor, he appeared in science segments on campus television). Dr. Suzuki has published 52 books, and is the recipient of a number of major awards, including the Order of Canada. Dr. Suzuki has been awarded honorary degrees from dozens of universities and colleges, including the University of Calgary, Queen’s University, and many other Canadian post-secondary institutions. Critics like Forbes, Kenney, and others are protesting the University of Alberta’s decision for no other reason that he disagrees with them on the state and future of oil and gas activity in the province. They have not only relied on hyperbole to exaggerate the significance of awarding Dr. Suzuki an honorary degree, but are using their positions of influence and money to stifle opinions they disagree with. These actions reveal what these individuals — which includes a current dean at the University of Alberta — believe the university should be: a reflection of themselves in both appearance and intellectual thought. Sign the petition now if you agree that the U of A has the right to award an honorary degree to Dr. Suzuki for his historical links with the university and significant contribution to Canadian society. - Richie Assaly, Avnish Nanda, and Amy Sanderson [1] University defends its decision to award honorary degree to David Suzuki https://twitter.com/i/moments/988887038500966417 [2] Message from Fraser Forbes: https://www.ualberta.ca/engineering/news/2018/april/message-from-fraser-forbes

Canada has still not officially recognized the Genocide of Roma and Sinti (‘Porrajmos’) which occurred during Nazi occupation of Europe in World War II. In addition to committing genocide against the Jews, the Nazis committed genocide against the Roma and Sinti. On August 2nd 1944, the remaining 2897 Roma and Sinti men, women, elderly and children imprisoned in the Zigeunerlager (“Gypsy Camp”) were murdered in the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau. According to the most recent estimates, between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Roma and Sinti were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. For this reason, the international Roma community has designated August 2 as the day to commemorate the Roma and Sinti Porrajmos. Despite this history, the Porrajmos, which is often referred to as the “Forgotten Holocaust”, remains widely unrecognized by governments around the world. After the war, scant political and academic attention was paid to the fate suffered by the Roma and Sinti. During the Nuremberg trials, there was seldom mention of the mass murders of Roma and Sinti, and Roma witnesses were not invited to testify. Only in April 2015 did the European Parliament finally adopt a resolution recognizing the historical fact of the Porrajmos. The resolution declared “that a European day should be dedicated to commemorating the victims of the genocide of the Roma during World War II”. It states, furthermore, “the need to combat Antigypsyism at every level and by every means, and stresses that this phenomenon is an especially persistent, violent, recurrent and commonplace form of racism”. Romanipe invites the Canadian government to follow the example of the European Parliament and to formally recognise the Porrajmos. This recognition would grant legal and moral legitimacy to the Roma and Sinti, allowing them to be rightfully integrated into the history of the Holocaust and included in all official ceremonies, commemorations and events that honour the victims of World War II. Our inability to recognise the Roma Genocide continues to normalize hate and discrimination against these peoples today. In 2016, a monument dedicated to the Roma and Sinti victims was tragically vandalized in Berlin. Events like these signal the need to change perceptions and attitudes toward Roma and Sinti, in order to build a culture of understanding and acceptance rather than one of hate. In his note left in the book of remembrance at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in 2017, Justin Trudeau mentioned the importance of remembering this painful part of our history, and our commitment to never again allow such darkness to prevail. The lack of indignation at the recent killings of Roma by far-right extremists speaks to the very real dangers and consequences of forgetting the past. This is why we ask the Canadian government to respect its commitment to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and its aim of recognizing the Genocide of the Roma. . Officially recognising August 2 as the day of memory dedicated to the Porrajmos ensures that the right to remembrance of Roma communities is respected and that the untold stories of Roma and Sinti victims and survivors are honoured. Such recognition also serves to delegitimize current hate and violence, and acknowledges the fact that Roma and Sinti communities still suffer from discrimination and persecution. Will you write to the Prime Minister to support this initiative?