On December 4th, the AGM for the Nelson & District Women’s Centre will be held at the Adventure Hotel at 5:30pm. Many know the Centre to be a place of support and service to the community. What some members may not be aware of is that over the past several months, the staff have been working to the point of exhaustion -many to the point of resignation- due to a lawsuit filed by a group of so-called feminists who appropriated the name the Bread and Roses Collective. Over these months, effort and emotional energy have been diverted from supporting the community in full capacity to responding to a Supreme Court lawsuit filed by women who question if other marginalized genders should be allowed to be voting members of, employed at, engage with or utilize the support and services of the organization. This bullying tactic was used to execute a hostile takeover of the board and force others out through mental and emotional exhaustion. The pressure of this lawsuit on the volunteer board and part time staff led to periods of time where drop in services were closed, impacting some of the most marginalized members of our community. History shows us that that dividing and excluding the marginalized is in itself an act of violence. With the Trans Day of Remembrance passing on Wednesday November 19, we speak the names of transgender people, (particularly TPOC) who are killed each year (at least 311 this year) in acts of transphobic violence. It is also a time to reflect on other acts of violence against trans people, including emotional violence, micro-aggressions and the systematic exclusion of trans bodies in community spaces. If you care about the inclusion and the support of all marginalized genders, come to the Nelson District Women's Centre AGM on Wednesday, December 4th or send a proxy vote to elect board members who aim to build a longer table, not a higher wall. For more background info, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9staXcyOYKs

The people at the bottom of society have all but been forgotten, the middle class needs both parents of the family to hold full time jobs in order to maintain that stature. Their children are left to be raised by strangers lacking the love and focussed required to nurture a wholesome human being. The wealthy add to their riches by investing in other business enterprise while little of the prosperity filters down.

The Chilliwack city council rejected a proposal to support the LGBTQ community by painting a rainbow crosswalk in downtown Chilliwack. In response, a group of community members worked with community organizations and local First Nations to paint 16 rainbow crosswalks throughout the city in private property and on First Nations land! The whole world needs to know that even though the city council refuses to make the city a safe place for LGBTQ people, the local community is organizing to fight back.

We are deeply concerned about the lack of front-line supports and resources for our most vulnerable students. Teachers are expected to deliver various levels of the curriculum and assist children with behavioral challenges on their own. These children need proper assessments/diagnosis - they need more EA's, access to child and youth workers, social workers, school support counselors and psychologists. We have seen a significant increase in violence in our classrooms/schools. Teachers are injured to the point that requires medical intervention and often sick time. As a result of the lack in funding and cuts, teachers are faced with unsafe situations for them and their students. Research has shown that smaller class sizes support increased student performance yet this government wants to increase class size. Smaller class size improves student behaviour and relationships. Caps on class size are effective...averages are not! Public education is the foundation of a strong country and strong citizenship. Our entire future depends on the education of our children and any cuts to education hurts kids. Large class sizes hurt all students, but particularly those with special needs or behavioural issues. Teachers cannot teach without the supports that they need, and students can't learn without the supports that they need to be successful.

We currently have the technology to install green or solar roofs on all kinds of buildings. There are incentive programs to get homeowners to install solar panels on their roofs. Several buildings have installed green roofs. The problem is, these innovations are too few and far between. Solar power allows us to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels for the electricity we use every day in our homes and workplaces. The more power we can capture from the sun means less coal, oil, or natural gas being burned to heat and light our homes and to power our electronics and appliances. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen thus reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in our air. They also have a cooling effect. Green rooftops can lead to cleaner air for us to breathe and cool our cities. In a time when summer heat waves are becoming more frequent, we can use the cooling effect that plants provide in our gardens and parks but also on our rooftops. The technology exists. There are currently incentives for installing solar panels on residential homes but, look around, how many people do you see taking advantage of these incentives? Are they enough? Change is not happening quickly enough. We need to act fast to reduce our carbon emissions and get to net-zero as fast as we can. Changing the National Building Code to require green or solar rooftops on new construction is one way to do that.

Every year wages and poor working environments are created over what a CEO feels they deserves in the form of a bonus every year, when workers are the ones that assist in the wealth of a company not the CEO.

This is important because once he’s deported I will be a single mother of 4. I won’t be able to support my family as my common law partner works two jobs to help support our family. My children are suffering because they have never been a part from their father.

Worms and soil microbes lock more carbon dioxide than any other method which has zero cost. Worms work for free! There is more carbon dioxide locked in the soil than in all the atmosphere and all the plants. Canada is big and could support a lot of worms. NPK fertilizer kills worms and mine the soil so that the topsoil rapidly degrades and releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It is the greatest human caused source of carbon dioxide. In addition if worm friendly deciduous trees would be planted in forests the forest soils would lock away far more carbon dioxide at almost zero cost. By adopting worm friendly policies we will all enjoy more nutritious food, cleaner water and because more water is stored in the soils far fewer droughts and floods.

Transportation Choices Sunshine Coast (TraC) is a member-based organization working to create more sustainable transportation alternatives on the Sunshine Coast. TraC believes that free public transit for Sunshine Coast children and youth will help fight climate change by reducing CO2 emissions from cars and make transit equally available to all children and youth regardless of income. Join us as we help build early sustainable transportation habits by promoting alternatives to car use.

On January 16th, 2019, Vancouver City Council voted unanimously to declare a Climate Emergency and embrace available tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On April 29th, 2019, Vancouver City Council approved the Climate Emergency Response report which describes several Big Moves, but omits action on food systems because "staff do not have a clear enough picture of how much [food-related emissions] can be reduced or what the most appropriate roles are for the City to articulate a meaningful Big Move for food consumption. Staff will continue to monitor and pursue this opportunity as these plans are reviewed and updated." Global food systems change is a necessary measure (though not sufficient on its own) in order to reach our targets for reducing emissions and global heating. [1] "Research shows that, without substantial changes, greenhouse gas emissions from the food sector will increase by 38% by 2050." [2] Vancouver still has a chance to sign on to this pledge and become a Good Food City, in line with Vancouver's goal to be the greenest city in the world, and show leadership among the global C40 cities. [1] "Options for keeping the food system within environmental limits", 2018. Nature. DOI:10.1038/s41586-018-0594-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0594-0 [2] https://www.c40.org/other/good-food-cities

The Sampling Instructions for testing for Lead Content often instruct individuals to run their cold water taps for two minutes before taking their sample for analysis when tests are prescribed by civic authorities. It is my opinion that that passage of water will clear out all water in an average dwelling and this household will only be sampling water from the water mains outside their homes. I believe there should be two samples taken. One sample should be taken right away- on turning on the tap. Then the Person collecting the sample can put their finger into the continuing flow of cold tap water until he notices that the water suddenly turns cold to them. This may be two minutes... but it may be more for larger and multiple dwellings. (ie Apartment Buildings) My point is this: This colder water comes from the Water Mains outside each dwelling. It is the lead content comparison between these two water samples that will clearly indicate the safety for drinking purposes and foods calling for water content.

This is a petition to change Doug Ford's job as Premier of Ontario to a 'part-time' position. He shut down Ontario Parliament for an unprecedented 4 ½ -month summer break. Winter break is another 2 months so it would appear he can do his job by working less than half the year in the legislature. As he is not working enough hours in the legislature to be considered full-time, his job as Premier should be reclassified as part-time with no benefits and no pension. This fits with Ford’s desire for improvements to government efficiency. Ford should lead by example on efficiency. It is an unbearable hypocrisy if a leader promotes efficiency but does not start by making his own job more efficient, and then make his cabinet and inner circle more efficient. Ford was elected to govern Ontario, not be a campaign poster boy or campaign worker for the federal election. Is it a form of theft to take a full-time salary as Premier but spend months on side projects for organizations external to Ontario? If you would like the job of Premier of Ontario during the Doug Ford regime to be reclassified as a part-time position without benefits or pension, please sign this petition.