Seeking some climate justice and labour justice? You’ve come to the right place. Here’s how Denmark and Germany are showing us that it isn’t brain surgery. Why re-invent the wheel; just steal ideas from people who already get it. Simple! Denmark Someone once told me that Starbucks stores in Safeway
Continue readingTag: Justice
Politics, Re-Spun: A Little Bit of Civil Terrorism…
A little bit of civil terrorism keeps the population docile, afraid of irrational and unjust behaviour from law enforcement [sic] but hey, it helps us all live more peacefully because if you’re not a terrorist, you have nothing to fear from police terrorism via unconstitutional and racially discriminatory persecution. Right?
Continue readingIlluminated By Street Lamps: Supervised Injection In Toronto: Why The Discussion Has Screeched To A Halt
By Joe Fantauzzi @jjfantauzzi Drug use is a multifaceted issue in urban life. Addiction can take an enormous toll on individuals and can leave the municipalities in which those people live struggling to adequately service their needs as well as the needs of the community. Supervised injection facilities, in which
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Occupy, For Democracy
Journalists protest the erosion of freedom of expression in Canada on Feb. 27 in Toronto. Photo Credit: Hiba Zayadin When I write about soft fascism, I sometimes feel too Canadian. I don’t want to be impolite and talk about hard or old school or 20th century fascism because frankly, when
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Will Today Be the Day You Die at Work?
Do you feel lucky, punk? Well… do you? Every day, four Canadians will die as a result of a workplace accident, injury or industrial disease. If you make it home from work today, you are one of the lucky ones. Statistically speaking, 1000 Canadian workers die annually as
Continue readingLarry Hubich's Blog: Bill 5 & 6 Charter Challenge Heads to the Supreme Court of Canada
A panel of three Supreme Court Justices has decided that the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the SFL et al case against the Government of Saskatchewan’s Bills 5 and 6 – so-called “essential services” legislation and amendments to Saskatchewan’s Trade Union Act. On May 16th in Ottawa, the Federation, along with the plaintiff group and intervenors, will present the case for the highest court in the land.
Though no organization ever wants to be in the position of taking its own government to court, Bills 5 and 6 represent significant infringements upon the fundamental rights of Saskatchewan working people. On behalf of the people of the province, and on behalf of the generations of people that struggled for the rights we enjoy today, it is our responsibility to challenge laws that appear to be unconstitutional, particularly when they concern people’s basic rights at work.
In 2010, the United Nation’s International Labour Organization (ILO) found that Bills 5 and 6 violate Canada’s international law commitments.
In April 2013, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal released a much-anticipated decision recognizing that Canadian law has evolved to a point where a right to strike may be protected by the Constitution. At numerous points, the Court of Appeal notes that, though it could not overturn previous Supreme Court decisions respecting a right to strike, striking could very well be a fundamental right protected by the freedom of association.
Before the Supreme Court of Canada, the SFL et al will be making the case that Saskatchewan people, and all Canadians, enjoy a right to strike that is constitutionally protected. We are also asking for a declaration that the 2008 changes to the Saskatchewan Trade Union Act substantially interfere with workers’ right to form unions of their own choosing, for the purpose of bargaining collectively with their employers.
In only a matter of weeks, working people in the province and across the nation will finally have an answer to questions raised in the Fall of 2007.
Continue readingLarry Hubich's Blog: Bill 5 & 6 Charter Challenge Heads to the Supreme Court of Canada
A panel of three Supreme Court Justices has decided that the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the SFL et al case against the Government of Saskatchewan’s Bills 5 and 6 – so-called “essential services” legislation and amendments to Saskatchewan’s Trade Union Act. On May 16th in Ottawa, the Federation,
Continue readingLarry Hubich's Blog: Bill 5 & 6 Charter Challenge Heads to the Supreme Court of Canada
A panel of three Supreme Court Justices has decided that the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the SFL et al case against the Government of Saskatchewan’s Bills 5 and 6 – so-called “essential services” legislation and amendments to Saskatchewan’s Trade Union Act. On May 16th in Ottawa, the Federation,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Let’s Play Cowboys and Indians
Why not? It seems to be working in Washington, DC. And you know what? They’ve got our backs. When ranchers are farmers and tribal communities realize that the tarsands and their toxic pipelines threaten us all, it’s pretty easy to figure out how working together gets things done. They’re even
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Help Conservative Senators Stop Harper’s Banana Republic
Emperor Stephen Harper and his double double. Interesting times indeed. 8 Conservative senators have decided that Emperor Stephen Harper has no clothes. The Emperor has whipped and intimidated his backbench, cabinet and senators for a long time. Senator Hugh Segal stood up to him on bad legislation. Though he left
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Poor Kids, Poor Families and Shame
“When Centennial’s students found out Seymour couldn’t hold a pyjama day because many students didn’t have pyjamas, they fundraised to buy every Seymour student a pair last Christmas.” – When the Field Trip’s Too Pricey, Students ‘Self-Exclude’ BC’s disgusting and preventable child poverty crisis. Let’s stop coddling the rich! When
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Calling For An Occupy Vancouver General Assembly
It’s now Friday, April 4, 2014. Greetings, world, the reboot of the Occupy Movement, the Worldwide #WaveOfAction [follow it live in Twitter here], has begun in a variety of places around the world! And it will last for 3 months while it evolves its next phase. But as it turns
Continue readingIlluminated By Street Lamps: The Toronto G20 Summit: A State of Exception
By Joe Fantauzzi@jjfantauzziBetween June 26 and 27, 2010, thousands of demonstrators[1] descended on Toronto, Ontario to protest while the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies[2] met behind a protective fence built of steel and secretive legislative authority. When the tear gas cleared and the G20 Summit ended, 1,105 people had been
Continue readingThings Are Good: Restorative Justice and Neuroscience
In this TED talk, Daniel Reisel examines how neuroscience backs up the (already obvious) reasons that restorative justice works better than punitive justice.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Honing In On Friday’s #WaveOfAction
We need to think about two things for this Friday’s Occupy Movement reboot in the Worldwide #WaveOfAction: When thinking about pursuing social, political and economic equality, what is the list of things we need to change, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally? Who do we need to build coalitions with to
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Is Your Job Bullshit?
Work should be liberating, not enslaving! It’s Saturday so it’s the weekend so you’re not working. But that’s just an incorrect hypothesis. Lots of people are working this weekend. In fact, weekends don’t mean much to billions of people. They are a luxury, relatively speaking. But your job may be
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Random Terrorism From North American Police
Five police beat and kill Luis Rodriguez. You know you’re living in an increasingly terrorized state when the police kill for no good reason. Sure there are extenuating circumstances, but that should lead to caution, not an impulse to deadly violence. That impulse marks the increased tendency/willingness of the police
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