The plan put forth by Minister of Education Stephen Lecce and Premier Doug Ford to reopen schools this fall amidst the pandemic is not enough. The underfunded plan leaves everyone in the dark as to how schools will be run, and limits the resources to keep students safe. Elementary schools, in particular, have very little in terms of actual safety measures, with overcrowded classrooms preventing social distancing and masks being non-mandatory for grades three and below. Many faculty are already at a greater risk of infection, especially in a cramped environment such as a classroom. Children are also known to be asymptomatic, which will make doing symptom checks extremely difficult, making it that much harder to detect and control outbreaks if they occur. The government has made promises such as adding 900 new custodians and 500 nurses. But, for nearly 5,000 schools across Ontario, this is not nearly enough. There have also been promises for new HVAC systems, but there is little time to install them before the beginning of the school year. Please sign this petition if you feel students and faculty deserve to be protected at school, and that Lecce and Ford should rethink their current reopening plan, so we can go back to school with confidence that we, our families and our teachers will be safe.

In current classrooms, physical distancing is impossible. If the government does not change course and insists on reopening schools without reducing class sizes, our kids, friends, and family members will contract the virus.

TDSB staff have put together a plan that will allow class cohort sizes to decrease to 15-20 students per class, as recommended by Toronto Public Health. The plan costs $20 million dollars for additional teachers - drastically less than other plans or approaches - and it requires a slightly shorter school day. However, the plan cannot proceed unless the Minister of Education gives TDSB permission to shorten the school day by 48 minutes. And Minister Lecce has refused that permission. By refusing permission, the Minister is forcing Toronto schools to cram kids into larger classes where their risk of exposure is much higher due to a lack of physical distancing. There is no justification for such a risk when we have a high-quality, effective plan on the table. Tell the Minister - protect our kids and give TDSB the simple permission it needs to enact this plan. Note: if you'd like to read the full TDSB plan, you can do so here: https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/0/docs/Returning%20to%20School_A%20Guide%20to%20the%20Safe%20Reopening%20of%20the%20TDSB_August%2010.pdf

We need to challenge the power of the military-industrial complex Do you know that the largest lobby group for the fighter jets is a charity - the Global Affairs Institute? We need the $19 billion for housing, child care, the green new deal, and for education, long-term care, etc. Quote: "More for COVID-19 latest hurdle in Canada's long road to buying new fighter jets" Fighter jets are a major polluter, and they are mainly used for air shows.

2020 is not the year that Canadians need to hold a Federal Election! The Bloc Quebequois leader has vowed to trigger a federal election in the fall if the PM and Finance Minister fail to resign over the WE scandal. Is now really the best time to hold a federal election, diverting attention and resources from the critical fight against Covid-19. Disrupting current programs and policies which have proven mostly effective in controlling a global pandemic for partisan political posturing seems like the last thing Canadians need at this time of strife.

CanWhite Sands has applied for a sand processing plant to take out 5.5 CFL football fields squared by 26 stories high of silica sand each year for the next 25 years. The oxygenizing of this silica will produce acid of a pH of 2.44 leaching heavy metals like arsenic. The drainage is to the Brokenhead river where this acid along with a polyacrylamide which breaks down in sunlight and acid to acrylamide a potent neurotoxin. This project will pollute the Brokenhead river contaminate the carbonate aquifer and kill lake Winnipeg. This environmental assessment plan ignores key aspects of the proposal that will lead to this damage. Link to Government EAP: gov.mb.ca/sd/eal/registries/6057canwhite/index.html CWS Proposed Project Impacts to Brokenhead River - Dennis Analysis.pdf https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:f4976d99-cf02-4f89-8814-0505b2f4a1f4 Dennis LeNeveu's Correction of Free Press Article https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=139593417826957&id=115584813561151 Risk Assessment of CanWhite Sands Project “Dangerous to Eastern Watershed” By “Our Line in the Sand”- a local community group https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:d9881975-18b3-45d2-8198-a8f9126fa284

This project is likely to lead to the same type of pollution we've seen from Teck mining in BC's Elk River Valley: poisoned fish and denuded rivers. And of course, burning the coal will sink our climate targets. These areas of southern Alberta are beautiful and well-loved, and should not be sacrificed to dirty industry.

When determining our long range plans, unit plans, and individual lesson plans, Ontario’s educators look to the curriculum to inform and guide us. The curriculum is determined by the Ministry of Education, which claims to conduct reviews on a regular basis. The curriculum for each subject area consists of general big ideas, and specific expectations that determine our learning goals and the outcomes of our students. For each subject area and subsequent strand (ie. number sense and numeration in math), there are general and specific expectations that tell us what our students should be able to do after successfully completing the academic year. These expectations shape what we teach every day. As there are no such curriculum expectations about Black identities or race, what requires teachers to include these subjects in their lessons? Nothing. Without Ministry mandated curriculum, Black identities and histories are not being taught in a meaningful way, and ultimately left to the discre​tion of the teacher. This approach will not uproot systemic racism in our schools, and there needs to be change in the curriculum given to teachers.

It has taken decades to establish laws and regulations to protect Ontario’s environment - it’s wildlife, biodiversity, ecosystems and species at risk. Now, the Ford government is taking advantage of its majority government to gut these regulations while ignoring its legal obligations under the existing environmental protection laws. On July 22, 2020 in the last week of Ontario Parliament’s summer session Premier Ford rammed through Bill 197, the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act on Wednesday and cancelled Thursday sitting. Bill 197 passed after no consideration at committee, and only 50 minutes of debate at Third Reading. It is a giant piece of omnibus legislation with far-reaching changes, including gutting environmental oversight rules. The Ford government was "not compliant" with the law by passing its omnibus economic recovery bill Tuesday without consulting the public on major environmental changes according to auditor general Bonnie Lysyk. Previously the Ford government eliminated the office of the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario and more recently, on July 1, 2020, exempted forestry activities from the requirements of the Environmental Assessment Act.

It is time that the federal government started moving ahead. Based on the lessons learned from COVID-19, it's time to adopt new and innovative ways to ensure the work we elected our officials to do can get done.

La plupart de ces appareils électroniques finiront par être jetés dans les 3 ans en raison de la nouvelle technologie et de l'obsolescence prévue. La durée de vie moyenne d'un ordinateur a considérablement raccourci de six à deux ans, et le cycle de vie moyen des téléphones mobiles d'aujourd'hui n'est que de 9 à 18 mois. Ainsi, jusqu'à 50 millions de tonnes de déchets électroniques sont produits chaque année, la plupart provenant de pays du premier monde dont les lois strictes sur le recyclage rendent son élimination en toute sécurité coûteuse et laborieuse. En conséquence, une grande partie est exportée vers des pays du tiers monde, tels que la Chine, l'Inde, le Pakistan, le Vietnam, les Philippines et l'Afrique, qui n'ont pas de réglementations strictes. Cette exportation est illégale en vertu de la Convention de Bâle qui stipule que «les déchets dangereux doivent être éliminés dans le pays d’origine». Ses effets sur l'environnement: Les produits chimiques contenus dans les déchets électroniques peuvent inclure le mercure, le plomb, le cadmium, l'arsenic, le nickel et le chrome. Ces composés peuvent être très persistants dans l'environnement et sont absorbés par les plantes par le sol et les humains par leur nourriture, eau, air, poussière, contact cutané et ingestion. Ce que cela peut faire aux gens: Selon l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS), de petites concentrations de plomb, de mercure et de cadmium ont le potentiel de causer des dommages neurologiques, le cancer, des maladies des poumons, des reins, de la thyroïde et du foie, et peuvent causer des troubles du comportement et d'apprentissage chez les enfants. Ce qui peut être fait: Les gouvernements du monde entier doivent cesser d'exporter leurs déchets électroniques vers ces pays du tiers monde et chercher plutôt à améliorer leurs propres méthodes de gestion des déchets. Les gouvernements devraient se sentir responsables de la gestion de leurs propres programmes de recyclage des déchets électroniques, ce qui rend plus économique et plus durable pour les entreprises d'explorer cette voie, plutôt que de simplement se décharger de l'obligation aux pays qui ont besoin d'argent.

- No public notification, information, or consultation about the closure, duration or reopening - Impacts (reduced routes) to cyclists, pedestrians, and families during this time of social distancing / pandemic - Impacts to kids (increased distance / increased risk on high traffic routes) walking to local public schools including Norseman, Our Lady of Sorrows, Bishop Allen, and ECI - Impacts to traffic to local businesses on Bloor street