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Tired
of ‘waiting’ for justice, angry aboriginal and poor people are gearing up
for a hot summer of mass protest actions that deserve the broadest possible
support.
“Many of our communities have reached a breaking
point,” Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine told the
Canadian Club in Ottawa in
mid-May. He warned that poverty, government inaction and the
glacial pace of land-claim negotiations are breeding desperation and rage
among native peoples across the country. “The anger and frustration
are palpable.”
The Conservative federal government scuttled the Kelowna Accord, the
2005 agreement between Ottawa,
the premiers and aboriginals that would have pumped $5 billion into
native communities to improve education, housing, health and other
services. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has put nothing in its place
and the latest federal budget largely ignored natives.
Aboriginal leaders have set June 29 as a cross-country
day of protest. Chief Terry Nelson of Manitoba’s Roseau River First
Nation is threatening to block a major railway line through his
community. Other blockades are expected. A YouTube video titled
“When Justice Fails, Stop the Rails” provided instructions on sabotaging
rail lines.
Meanwhile, Six Nations members continue a 15-month
occupation in Caledonia, south of Hamilton, on land they claim. And
in April, members of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation held
up passenger and freight trains near Deseronto, Ontario, in another land dispute.
A Senate committee recently reported that more than
850 claims are waiting to be resolved, and that it could take 90 years to
settle them all. Clearly, waiting won’t work.
At the same time, a widening income gap and deepening
poverty in urban and rural areas alike condemn growing numbers of people
to a desperate struggle for survival. For over twenty years welfare
rates, the minimum wage and social housing have been virtually
frozen. As a result, preventable diseases and deaths due to
exposure are on the rise.
Toronto Anti-Poverty (TAP), which describes
itself as “a non-partisan coalition of community organizations, trade
union activists, health providers and low income people”, is organizing a
Day of Action for Wednesday, September 26th.
Feeder marches across Toronto
will converge that day on Queen’s Park, the seat of the provincial
government, in the throes of the Ontario election set for October
10. The mass protest challenges all parties to immediately increase
social assistance rates, increase the minimum wage and build
affordable/social housing now.
Socialist Action advocates an immediate 40 per cent
raise in welfare and disability rates, a $12.50 minimum wage in Ontario,
and the emergency construction of 200,000 new units of social housing and
100,000 renovated units across Canada.
TAP says, “We believe there is momentum right now for
real change in Ontario, and
want to build a broad movement across Toronto, with low-income people, students,
trade unionists, community workers, faith groups and others. We invite
you to join us in organizing the next steps to win real action on
poverty. To endorse the action and to get involved, please contact
Toronto Disaster Relief at tdrc@tdrc.net.“
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