On Monday, after weeks of uncertainty amidst the rise of the Omicron variant, BC students finally returned to school. [1] But less than two days later, two schools shut down when students and staff fell sick. [2] Omicron has changed the game, but BC’s school reopening plan doesn’t reflect that. Many teachers have not received their COVID-19 booster shots, critical equipment like HEPA filters and N95 masks are in short supply, and from now on parents won’t even be notified if their child is exposed to the virus. [3-4] BC’s current plan takes for granted that huge numbers of teachers and students will contract the virus—but that’s not a sacrifice we’re willing to accept. [5] To make sure our schools are safe for our kids, we need the government to deliver: Safer Classrooms: N95 masks should be available, and better ventilation and HEPA filters installed in shared spaces. Protections for Staff: teachers should be prioritized for access to the COVID-19 booster, and plans should be in place so they can stay home if they get sick. Better reporting: rapid antigen tests should be widely available, and cases closely monitored and reported in schools. Options for online learning: online learning needs to be available to students who are sick or who can’t risk getting infected. These calls are coming from educators, unions, students and parents [6-8]. They have been on the frontlines of this pandemic for the past two years—and they know what they need to be safe. Will you sign the petition calling on Minister Whiteside to deliver a real plan that prioritizes the health and safety of students and staff? Sources [1] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-parents-in-bc-alberta-anxious-as-schools-set-to-reopen-amid-covid-19/ [2] see [1] [3] https://globalnews.ca/news/8495596/covid-bc-back-to-school-plan-friday-omicron/ [4] see [1][2] [5] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-dr-bonnie-henry-says-bc-schools-must-plan-for-the-likelihood-of/ [6] https://globalnews.ca/news/8501219/bc-medically-vulnerable-parents-teachers-school-covid/ [7] https://globalnews.ca/news/8499505/covid-omicron-back-to-school-worries/ [8] https://globalnews.ca/news/8480530/covid-b-c-teachers-delayed-back-to-school-plan-omicron/

BIPOC folks bear a disproportionate share of the impacts of pollution in Canada, while being the least responsible for creating it. The dump site in Kanehstatà:ke, which is filled with toxic settler construction waste, is a clear example of what is known as 'environmental racism' and must be cleaned up as soon as possible! **For full disclosure of research and dump data, see the website listed further below on this petition page. This call to action is currently supported by the following organizations across Québec and Canada: 350 Canada 350 Montreal Action cancer du sein du Québec / Breast Cancer Action Quebec Action Environnement Basse Laurentides Amnesty International Canada (English Speaking) Amnistie internationale Canada (francophone) Association des étudiant.e.s diplômé.e.s du département d'histoire de l'Université de Montréal (AÉDDHUM) Association québécoise des médecins pour l'environnement (AQME) Black Environmental Initiative Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment/ Association canadienne des infirmières et infirmiers pour l'environnement (CANE-AIIE) Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment Canadian Coalition for Environmental and Climate Justice Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) - Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique (SCFP) Centre justice et foi CFMS HEART Chrysaliid Design Ciel et Terre Climate Justice Laurier Climate Justice Montreal Climate Pledge Collective Coalition Alerte à l'enfouissement Rivière-du-Nord Coalition Verte / Green Coalition Collectif La ville que nous voulons Com'femme Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain-CSN Créat’heure Éducative David Suzuki Foundation / Fondation David Suzuki DAWN Canada Divest McGill Earth Action Inc. Eau Secours Eco-Art Workshop Program Environmental Defence ENvironnement JEUnesse Extinction Rebellion Québec Fondation Filles d'action / Girls Action Foundation Fridays for Future Toronto Front commun pour la transition énergétique Front commun québécois pour une gestion écologique des déchets (FCQGED) Gidimt'en Checkpoint GreenFaith Montreal Groundswell Projects Ilot centre de crise de laval Indigenous Climate Action Indigenous Land Defence Across Borders Intre-G Productions KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives L'R des centres de femmes La CEVES Le Collectif Soignons la justice sociale/The Caring for Social Justice Collective Les enjeux de l'insecticide Bti sur la biodiversité MARE (Mouvement d'action régional en environnement) Mères au front Mères au front Rosemère et les environs Mères au front de Rouyn-Noranda et leurs alié.e.s Mères au Front Vaudreuil Soulanges Montreal Quaker Meeting Mouvement d'éducation populaire autonome de Lanaudière (MÉPAL) Mouvement d'éducation populaire et d'action communautaire du Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean (MEPAC) Mudgirls Natural Building Collective Mutant Akademy / Revolt Motion Nature Canada Nature Hudson No More Silence Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace OPIRG Toronto Organisation of Urban Planning Students at McGill People's Health Movement Canada - Mouvement populaire pour la santé au Canada Planners Network-Montreal Chapter Pour le futur Montréal Pour Nos Enfants / For Our Kids Montréal Prevent Cancer Now Projet accompagnement solidarité Colombie Quit RBC / Lâche RBC Ralliement contre la pollution radioactive RAVEN (Respecting Aboriginal Values and Environmental Needs) Raven Knits Design Recherche Indépendante de retraité.e.s en Écologie Regroupement d'éducation populaire en action communautaire des régions de Québec et de Chaudière-Appalaches Regroupement écocitoyen de Sainte-Marthe-sur-Le-Lac Relais-femmes Research for the Front Lines Réseau Alternatif et Communautaire des Organismes (RACOR) en santé mentale de l'île de Montréal Réseau d'action des femmes en santé et services sociaux Réseau des femmes des Laurentides Réseau des Tables régionales de groupes de femmes du Québec Réseau Québecois Action Santé Femmes (RQASF) Save Fairview Forest - Sauvons la Forêt Fairview Seniors For Climate Action Now! SCAN! Sierra Club Québec Small Change Fund SOS territoire Stand.Earth Table de concertation de Laval en condition féminine Table de concertation du mouvement des femmes de la Mauricie Table des groupes de femmes de Montréal Table régionale des organismes volontaires d'éducation populaire (TROVEP) de Montréal Table ronde des OVEP de l'Estrie (TROVEPE) The Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities and Community Health Project True North Insight - Voie boréale Union paysanne Voix juives indépendantes - Montréal Women's Healthy Environments Network

You’ve faithfully masked up, kept your distance, and gotten your jabs. Your family life, social life, work and mental health have all suffered. You may be facing housing and financial crises. You’ve likely not received much medical or dental care, either. By necessity, we have all ceded so much control over our lives to the pandemic. The pandemic isn’t over. The only way through it with our sanity intact is regain control over our ability to protect each other and stop the spread through informed choices. Rapid covid tests have their flaws, but the one thing that they do fairly well is let us know when we are infectious. Masks and vaccines are great and the new antivirals look very promising, but they don’t tell us what we need to know when we need to know it: before you cuddle your best friend’s newborn, or leave your elderly mother stranded at the ferry terminal because you felt a tickle in your throat at 2 am the night before. Free rapid tests are available universally in some provinces and are restricted to specific populations in others. Calls for the BC government to make these tests universally available have fallen on deaf ears for many, many months. We must redouble our efforts to put pressure on this government to do the right and infinitely doable thing. Please add your voice to others calling for free, universal access to at-home rapid Covid-19 tests NOW.

This grotesque, untimely and out of scale development might be have been possible 20 years ago, but now it is clearly destructive to the River and landscape which makes the area unique. It is disrespectful of First Nations eons of care for the land and waters. It disregards local settler communities and their heritage village. And it sets a precedent for development and pollution along the banks of the Grand to Lake Erie.

Not all disabled people can operate a car, or afford to own one. And sidewalks are often too narrow, and/or uneven for mobility aids. The climate emergency requires that we give everyone the opportunity to travel using low-carbon modes of transportation. Bike lanes host many types of users, who move at different speeds - including some with disabilities. Many cycling advocates and other organizations support access to cycling facilities by people using electric mobility aids.

The public needs to be reminded that there are many possibilities that could have led to this catastrophic event, and without a completed investigation, there is no way for Mission Group to assure public safety. BC Minister of Labour Harry Baines said himself when asked about increased regulations for developers and construction trades that it would be “inappropriate to comment until the investigation is complete.” We are asking: is it not equally inappropriate for construction to resume on the same site until that same investigation is complete in case there are recommendations that are necessary to ensure this doesn’t happen again. “There are so many painful layers to this experience so far. It is all still raw for everyone. We are just asking for a little time without being reminded of what those buildings took from our families. When the accident first happened I felt a connection to the site as it was where Cailen took his last breath. The memorial site now has construction all around it and the memorial looks to become insignificant in the big picture of the project and the site itself. This is going to be a long grieving process and the families need a place to go and remember their loved ones and not be reminded of the tragedy with all the surrounding construction. Our loved ones are not collateral damage, they mean more than deadlines and money.” -Chris Vilness Mission Group itself expresses one of their core values as “building it right,” and goes on to describe themselves as, “honest, transparent and committed to doing the right thing with uncompromising integrity. We know that what is right is not the same as what is easy, and while we may fall short at times, we always make it right. This is our foundation.” Given this commitment, we feel it should be a very easy decision to right this wrong. They either comply with these requests to pause, connect, and consult, or make it clear that these words on their website are nothing more than that- words that do nothing to honour five souls gone too soon in favour of profit over integrity.

During last summer’s heat wave, I was luckily able to spend $700 on an AC unit just in time to find some relief. While those 600 people were in an actual fatal emergency, my partner and their two cats were feeling very stressed and desperate in their hot 1950s building in south Vancouver. In the 1950s the buildings were made to store and hold heat because they had little clue the opposite was a more vital need. They didn’t expect the changes in the climate we’ve seen now. Luckily I could house my partner and their cats for a couple weeks, and we made it through with the AC. Not everyone was as lucky — but the most vulnerable in our communities shouldn’t have had to spend hundreds to survive. As British Columbians, we are currently living in fear of unnecessary deaths and climate hardship this summer and into the future. We need government action right now. Sources [1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-heat-dome-coroners-report-1.6480026?utm_medium=email&utm_source=actionkit
 [2] see [1] 
 [3] https://council.vancouver.ca/20210720/documents/b5.pdf [4] https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/05/canada-disastrous-impact-extreme-heat

This week, Premier Doug Ford stood up in front of journalists, and spread harmful, well-worn stereotypes about migrants. [1][2] We need to show Ford that Ontarians are united with the migrant members of our community. If thousands of us sign the open letter in solidarity with migrants, it could nip the Premier’s harmful election strategy in the bud and send a clear message: Ontarians won’t let Ford divide us. Sign now. [1] https://www.thestar.com/politics/2021/10/18/ontario-opposition-leaders-call-on-ford-to-apologize-for-immigrant-remark.html [2] https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2021/10/19/doug-ford-doubles-down-on-comments-about-hard-working-new-canadians.html

We want inclusive, equitable, safe childcare for ALL children and youth in BC.

Nous sommes musiciennes et musiciens, réalisatrices et réalisateurs, interprètes, comédiennes et comédiens, conceptrices et concepteurs, autrices et auteurs. Nous avons fait le choix de vivre de notre art. Ce choix implique son lot de sacrifices et d’abnégation : cadences effrénées des tournages, efforts pour maîtriser les caprices d’un violoncelle, la dureté d’un ballet sur nos corps, les heures interminables d’écriture dans la solitude… Mais à ces sacrifices s’ajoute le fait que, devant la loi québécoise, les dizaines de milliers d’artistes ayant perfectionné leur métier pour gagner leur vie doivent renoncer à de larges pans de droits en matière de travail – des droits fondamentaux, reconnus par nos chartes et pourtant accessibles à l’ensemble des Québécoises et des Québécois. Comment expliquer, en 2021, que les deux principales lois en matière de santé et de sécurité au travail ne s’appliquent pas automatiquement aux artistes ? Comment comprendre, en dépit de tout ce que le Québec a traversé au cours des dernières années, que les dispositions législatives pour contrer le harcèlement psychologique et sexuel en milieu de travail ne s’appliquent pas d’emblée au milieu artistique, qui n’a pourtant pas été épargné ? Comment justifier que les associations d’artistes dont nous sommes membres en soient réduites à quémander, lors de la négociation de nos ententes, des dispositions pourtant prévues par les lois du travail et auxquelles tous les employeurs du Québec doivent se conformer ? Le gouvernement de François Legault a promis de réformer les lois sur le statut de l’artiste au cours d’un premier mandat. Toutefois, le refus de son gouvernement la semaine dernière à l’Assemblée nationale de s’engager à déposer un projet de loi en ce sens nous apparaît des plus inquiétants, notamment en raison de l’échéance électorale de 2022. Colmater les brèches Il est ici opportun de rappeler – même si là n’est pas notre revendication – que les artistes n’ont jamais été couverts, ni par les normes, ni par le Code du travail. C’est en constatant ce vide juridique, mais aussi les conditions de pauvreté et de précarité qui prévalaient à l’époque, que l’Assemblée nationale avait adopté en 1987 les deux lois sur le statut de l’artiste. La première Loi (S-32.1) a permis aux artistes de négocier des ententes qui établissaient des conditions de travail de base. Le fait qu’une majorité de producteurs reconnaît et met en œuvre des ententes collectives négociées a amélioré, à plusieurs égards, nos conditions de travail et de vie. Il faut néanmoins souligner que ce droit à la négociation collective n’a jamais été conféré aux autrices et aux auteurs du Québec encadrés par la Loi S.32.01 dans les domaines du livre ou du théâtre, cette loi n’obligeant pas les éditeurs et les diffuseurs à négocier des conditions minimales de travail et de diffusion. La réforme annoncée des lois sur le statut de l’artiste doit donc corriger cette injustice en protégeant ces autrices et ces auteurs au même titre que leurs collègues d’autres disciplines comme le cinéma et la télévision. Sur d’autres plans, de nombreuses failles de la loi doivent également être corrigées : trop de producteurs trouvent encore le moyen de se déresponsabiliser de leurs obligations d’employeur en refusant de reconnaître les ententes pourtant appliquées par une large majorité d’entre eux. Ou encore, en étirant les négociations pendant parfois plus de 20 ans, rendant obsolètes les dispositions des ententes antérieures dans une industrie sans cesse en évolution. Cette pression à la baisse de nos conditions de travail n’est pas étrangère au fait que, plus de 30 ans plus tard, le revenu médian des artistes se situe toujours aujourd’hui sous le seuil de pauvreté. La réforme tant attendue des lois sur le statut de l’artiste doit pouvoir contraindre l’ensemble des producteurs à appliquer les conditions minimales de travail qu’on retrouve dans les ententes négociées par les associations d’artistes. Quand l’État finance en fermant les yeux… Comment peut-on aujourd’hui accepter que l’État et ses organismes publics puissent cautionner des producteurs qui refusent de se soumettre à l’esprit de la Loi ? En effet, les nombreux programmes de subventions et d’appuis financiers (sous forme de crédits d’impôt) du gouvernement à l’industrie culturelle sont alloués sans qu’aucune forme de vérification n’ait lieu quant au respect ou non d’une entente collective au cours de la production. Toute forme de financement de l’État doit impérativement être conditionnelle à l’application de conditions minimales de travail reconnues. Quand on sait à quel point l’aide publique est essentielle au secteur des arts et de la culture, il s’agit là d’une façon efficace de s’assurer que les droits du travail de tous les artistes soient respectés. Au gré du temps, nous avons l’habitude d’être qualifiés de bohèmes, de rêveurs, de boute-en-train, de fous du roi, voire de marginaux ou d’iconoclastes. Nous demandons aujourd’hui que la loi cesse de nous considérer comme une catégorie à part afin d’avoir les mêmes droits que tout le monde. Parce qu’on travaille, comme tout le monde.

The SPFA compliments existing protections found in s. 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, removing any room for interpretation regarding the extent of student journalists' rights to freedom of expression and of the press. The apparent school administrative doctrine that students shed their Charter rights upon entering the doors of a public school is one that is both at odds with Canada's Constitution and as a democratic society, we must reject in its entirety. Oftentimes, student journalists shed light on the specific experiences of their campuses, as well as the pressing issues facing youth. They can report on the state of our education system, bringing a view from the inside. As members of a younger generation, one highly susceptible to misinformation, they can act as the first responders to fake news and falsities spreading in their community. Student journalists can do all of these things, but they need to freedom to do so, and they need that freedom to be protected. What happened to The Nest happens to student journalists across the country. Students are denied their rights simply because they are students. That's unacceptable in a country like Canada. The SPFA needs to pass to ensure no students in the British Columbia school system are denied their fundamental rights and ensure that their voices are heard in our society.

This is a matter of public health. We need to protect the most vulnerable including children who can't be vaccinated yet, people who are sick, people with disabilities and the elderly. The delta variant is more contagious and more dangerous. We can't afford to sit and watch another wave take over. It's time to act.