It is absolutely imperative that the well-being of women, particularly those in rural areas, is taken seriously. Waiting lists are untenable and the lingering profound effects on these women, their partners and their children will fan out for generations to come. It is an incredible obligation that you have to all of us.

URGENT:  Citizen rights are being abused and the Legislature is being bypassed as Ontario’s Attorney General decides to abruptly close the Local Planning Appeal Support Centre.   Add your support to three citizen and community advocacy groups based in Ottawa that are determined to hold the Attorney General accountable to the Legislature, which passed the Local Planning Appeal Support Centre Act in 2017.   On Feb. 21, barely nine months after the Support Centre began offering professional advice to citizens and citizen groups, the Attorney General has acted in a unilateral and possibly illegal way to shut down its operations.   Paul Johanis, chair of the Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital, called the Attorney General’s move “outrageous” because of the impact the decision will have on citizens' groups fighting municipal planning decisions, because of how the decision was handed down to staff of the Centre, and because the announcement has bypassed elected representatives in the Ontario Legislature. Ecology Ottawa and the Federation of Citizens’ Associations of Ottawa are also demanding accountability from the Attorney General.   “What we as citizen advocates know is that on Feb. 21 somebody from the Attorney-General’s office told Mary Lee, executive director of the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal Support Centre, that she and her staff were no longer needed,” said Johanis. “This action dealt a blow to citizens across the province who may not be able to exercise their rights effectively without the advice Lee and her team of professionals were set up to provide.” According to Johanis, creation of the LPASC was one of the bright spots of the previous government's land use planning reforms. “After only nine months in operation, the government cannot rationally justify a move to close this centre.  As far as we can tell, the Act that created the Centre has not been repealed, which makes us wonder if the closure is even legal.” Send the Attorney General a clear message by signing our prepared message or by writing one of your own.

This is extremely important because workers would have no choice but to work the 48+ hours or fear risking their jobs. It is an extremely unfair bill that throws away the rights of the workers. It would cause mental health issues from overworking and create a toxic environment that limits our ability to have a work week that allows us to live our lives. It seems as if Doug Ford is limiting the knowledge of our rights by preventing them from being seen at the workplace. It seems as if hes actively trying to make things intentionally worse for the worling class.

La solution: Selon le rapport sur le projet pilote d’entretien divulgué le 9 octobre 2018, le déneigement conventionnel de la piste multifonctionnelle est tout à fait envisageable, bien qu’elle entraîne une gestion des opérations accrue et une communication constante avec le public par PJCCI. Nous exigeons donc l’entretien et l’ouverture de la piste multifonctionnelle du Pont Jacques-Cartier à l’année dès maintenant. Envoyons un message clair à la société Les Ponts Jacques-Cartier et Champlain Incorporée qui a tout en son pouvoir pour valoriser le transport actif, favoriser de saines habitudes de vie et s’attaquer aux émissions des gaz à effet de serres. The Solution: According to the October 9, 2018 report on the snow cleaning pilot project, conventional snow cleaning of the bride path is feasible even though it would entail more attention to snow cleaning operations and communications with the public by SPJCCI. We therefore request year-round opening of the multi-functional path across the Jacques Cartier Bridge.  We want to send a clear message to Les Pont Jacques Cartier et Champlain Incorporée which has in its power the ability to promote active transportation, favor healthy life-styles and reduce green-house gas emissions.

We are asking everyone to please sign this petition and ask the Minister of Education to put this on the agenda for change. All students should see themselves and their families reflected in the curriculum. We need to begin with our children, we must teach them how our province has been changed for the better through the efforts of black British Columbians and this must be celebrated in our schools. The majority of racism begins in our schools. As an ally, I do not want my children to experience only white history as I did. White supremacy must end and our silence is complacency. Please consider writing a personal letter to: Education Minister: Minister Jennifer Whiteside: [email protected] In your letter also include asking for data. To end anti-black racism in our schools we need more quality data. Data will help us to understand the challenges that both students and educators face. Read more here: https://bccommunityalliance.com/. Click here to send a letter to Minister Fleming demanding anti-black racism be implemented in our schools: here:https://bccommunityalliance.com/anti-black-racism-petition/?fbclid=IwAR1dyluWFOgbUzch50ByCQF5BY32-wK9r6-LCA7mM8_TEKhYzzUTPBqIiGs Also, contact your Superintendent or the Trustees in your school district and send them a letter asking them to write the Minister of Education advocating for change. Support the work of African Descent Society BC. Please contact Yasin Kiraga Misago Founder and Executive Director of African Descent Society [email protected]. Get involved with the BCCA is a community based organization dedicated to combating the structural inequities created by anti-black racism. http://bccommunityalliance.com/ Thank you, Karina Reid

The Ontario PC Party has been hijacked. Under a cloud of controversy, Doug Ford and a small group of supporters took control of the political party prior to the 2018 Ontario election. This group refused to present a PC Party election platform to Ontario voters and instead rode to power on a wave of frustration with the previous Liberal Government. Now more than six months into their mandate, the Doug Ford controlled PC Party government has revealed its policy agenda and the manner in which it intends to operate. This includes: appointment of unqualified friends to high level public positions; a refusal to respond to news media questions; illegal spending on personal items like RVs for the Premier's personal use; gutting our education system; and secret plans to privatize healthcare in Ontario. This secret agenda was never presented to Ontario voters during the 2018 election and we are just seeing the beginning. The Doug Ford government approach and their secret policy agenda do not represent the values of the Progressive Conservative Party and the vast majority of PC Party supporters. The PC Party is under seige and Ontario's democracy is under attack. We are calling on MPPs currently sitting within the PC Party caucus to stand up for the values of the PC Party and Ontario voters by leaving the caucus for the duration of the current provincial government. This is in the interests of the constituents you represent and to ensure the integrity of the PC Party.

Beautiful old trees that are homes to Eagles, and other large birds are being taken out for no apparent reason, and clearcutting is being practiced everywhere in Qualicum Beach, Parksville, and Lantzville for subdivisions.

I was discussing the coin collections with my neighbour who has never seen any of them and I realized that i have yet to see a collection that highlights those that have helped shape this great country from the early settlement days to our present times. It's only right that we correct this issue. I realize some will say this isn't significant but, i feel that isn't correct. This will show how we remember our past and present and spread knowledge regarding who helped create what we have today and to give people something to do research on and perhaps learn how the individual has affected us to this day. Please join me in signing this and lets try to set a collection for 2020 if at all possible

Email your MPP here: https://act.leadnow.ca/tell-your-mpp-support-independent-facilitation/ People with developmental disabilities and their families are just learning their life-line to inclusion is about to be severed by our provincial government “for the people.” There has been a terrible misrepresentation of what Independent Facilitation is and what this $3.1 million program means to our most vulnerable neighbours and their families. So let me try to explain. Imagine you're the loving parent of a child with a moderate-to-severe developmental disability. Imagine the almost all-consuming amount of stress this has caused you - first, the diagnosis, the battery of tests and appointments, wanting nothing more than a clean bill of health for your loved one, the anxiety of not knowing how severe it will be, then the crushing feeling of all the expectations you had around family life and raising children slipping away. Imagine that coupled with getting to experience the sweetest little person; the unmitigated joy you see in their smile and eyes when you make them laugh with delight. This person, who you know better than anyone, yet who, chances are, will not be known in this way by anyone else. Imagine the struggles of raising this child through school, where kids can be so needlessly mean, especially to those more vulnerable in the social pecking order than them. Imagine the tears, the frustrations, you have tried your absolute best to help guide them through, as they encounter situation after situation where they are told they are different, where they are made to feel unwelcome, where they don't feel like they belong. Imagine watching them struggling to express their feelings to you, wondering why they don't have friends. Imagine watching them slowly recede into isolation, spending time only with you, or by themselves. Imagine wondering - will they ever experience a romantic kiss? Will they ever know love aside from you? Imagine your heart breaking as you realize the thing you want to provide to them most - a sense of community, the joys of companionship - is beyond your ability to build by yourself. Imagine the terror that keeps you up on some nights, as you consider what life might be like for them once you are dead. Once the one person who knows them, their champion, is gone. Imagine the concern you feel, not knowing how they will fend for themselves. The vast majority of connections your loved one has developed inside the medical system over the years have been largely transactional, with no real depth of relationship with any of their health care providers. Sure, they know your child's name, and can tell you up and down about their condition, but that's about all they know. Imagine everyone telling your son or daughter what they can't do, what they won't be, and informing them what their very limited options are. For so many families, this is not imagination. This is heart-wrenching reality. Now, imagine a person who comes and visits with your child weekly. Who forms a relationship with them. Who gets to know them, as an individual, not just as a collection of conditions. A person who is geared towards helping your child realize the skills and talents that they do have, that they can use to create meaning and happiness in their life. A person who will work to help build friendships and community up around your child; a network of care that will persist well into the future after you are gone. A person who walks beside your loved one, helping them find their own voice, to be able to make their own choices. A person who listens, and helps them feel understood. A person who can help bear the burden and can offer you a break. A person who, beyond the health of your child, cares about their empowerment. Finding a job, joining a club, volunteering - these are all outwards signs of the real change that is happening; the creation of social networks and instances where the individuals can use their talents to give back and feel valued. To feel like they belong. Independent Facilitation also eases many downstream systemic burdens - on the health care system, housing, missed work for parents. The increased quality of life resulting from reduced family stress, as well as the self-directed aspect of helping people find their voices to make their own choices, is hard to overstate. One of the biggest benefits of Independent Facilitation, above and beyond what is provided through the existing institutional approach, is the impact it has on depression and loneliness. Studies, focused on greater society, have correlated depression and isolation with negative health outcomes – which means more economic burden. In a community that is arguably the most isolated, many people for the first time had someone to walk with them and help guide them through how to structure a meaningful, connected life. It is very human to want to feel useful, to have purpose. Independent Facilitation helps individuals who otherwise would have been overlooked to determine theirs, structure the necessary steps needed to achieve it and empower them to actually move themselves forward. This is prime space for Ontario, and Canada, to exhibit leadership; how we treat our most vulnerable populations says more about our culture, province and country than any number of political slogans ever could. It is a crying shame to see our provincial leaders effectively turning Ontario's back on a significant portion of our own. Honestly, I can't help but feel that if Doug Ford had a family member with a developmental disability, he would get it. He would be Independent Facilitation's biggest champion instead of being the guy who is about to drop the axe on the service.

Ford just made slashing cuts to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). This will put higher education out of reach for tens of thousands of Ontarians. Ford's legislation will also end the six month grace period for repaying student loans, which means students could graduate in April and receive a bill for hundreds of dollars in May - before they’ve even secured a job interview. Doug Ford is balancing his budget on the backs of students - mere months after handing billions in tax breaks to his well-connected buddies. We have to stand up for students, and put a halt to this short-sighted, fiscally irresponsible and cruel cut to students' futures. Students have been organizing rallies, and there's another one this Friday. If we get this petition as big as we can before that, we can show Ford that students won't allow this. Tell Doug Ford and the Education Minister - immediately save and fully reinstate OSAP.

At 82, I don't have long left, but for those about to retire,like my children and grand children, the struggle to survive will become more difficult as they age, and I'd like to leave the planet knowing their lot will be easier I am lucky enough to be able to garden to supplement income and ensure I have decent food to eat, but as they are city bound, they will not have this option.

URGENT: Tomorrow Toronto City Council will be debating whether or not to declare a state of emergency to trigger immediate action on the homeless crisis affecting our city. Declaring a state of emergency will take people off the streets and help save lives. We’re partnering with Progress Toronto to deliver the petition to councillors tomorrow, but to convince them to support it, we have to collect as many signatures as possible right now. Sign before it’s too late. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recently, the City of Toronto began issuing eviction notices to homeless people who seek shelter from fierce winter weather in tents under the Gardiner. These notices are delivered under the guise of “no camping” by-laws and force people to either hide from authorities or attempt to navigate a shelter system that lacks the resources to accommodate them. [1] With severe winter weather predicted this weekend, forcing these people out of their tents into unsafe and over-capacity shelter system that may or may not even be able to take them in is cruel, inhumane, and dangerous. The city of Toronto must take immediate action to expand shelter capacity, and halt tent evictions until capacity is more than adequate to provide safe, secure shelter for those in need. All too often, these are the people who are left behind. A flood of public pressure from a massive petition will let Mayor Tory and City Council know that this issue isn’t going to fade away, and could force a change in policy. Source: [1] https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/city-giving-homeless-living-in-tent-cities-2-weeks-to-vacate-structures-1.4254610