All community members benefit from the services available at the South Riverdale Community Health Centre, whether by being a direct service user, or by reaping the benefits when people who use drugs and other marginalized people have access to health and social services they wouldn't otherwise have access to. Given this reality, we sign this letter in support of: ** The many important community-based health and social services provided by the South Riverdale Community Health Centre (SRCHC); ** Continuation of the Supervised Consumption Site and harm reduction programming at SRCHC; ** Ongoing collaboration between South Riverdale Community Health Centre and the community at large, which includes residents of Leslieville, South Riverdale, and Toronto more broadly. We also call on all levels of government to work together to: ** Increase funding for SRCHC to enable them to sustain and expand services in light of the socio-economic crises facing so many in the community; ** Increase funding for the Supervised Consumption Site and harm reduction programming at SRCHC to ensure there are enough staff and programming to meet the increasing needs of service users, and actively engage with the broader community; ** Address gun violence through strong gun control measures and community programming that targets the root causes of violence. With love, kindness, and care, Leslieville Harm Reduction Coalition Leslieville Harm Reduction Coalition is a group of neighbours committed to supporting our community, including and especially marginalized people, people who use drugs, people who access harm reduction services, and people experiencing homelessness. As a coalition, we care about all of our neighbours.

Dear Premier Stefanson, In solidarity with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC), Chief Kyra Wilson of Long Plain First Nation, and the families of the missing victims, I am calling on the Manitoba Government to search the Prairie Green Landfill for the remains of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (Buffalo Woman). You recently announced that the Government of Manitoba would not fund the search of the Prairie Green Landfill, stating that the search would be too dangerous for workers. However, the feasibility report on the landfill search clearly states that it can be completed successfully. The report outlines recommendations for on-site hazardous materials teams to monitor air quality, act as safety officers and perform decontamination of personnel who work closely with evacuated materials. Multiple experts have re-asserted that the risks can be mitigated. Kris Dueck, the forensic consultant who co-chaired the technical feasibility study of a search at Prairie Green stated publicly that, “it’s pretty clear to most who have read the study that risks can be mitigated, and the search can be conducted safely. Any argument that would oppose those findings, in our opinion, aren’t necessarily based in fact.” Experts have reiterated that landfills have been successfully searched before. In 2021, the body of a suspected murder victim was found by authorities in a London, Ont. landfill, eight months after they were believed to have been brought there. Retired Deputy Chief Sean Spalding of the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service, also attests to the effectiveness of such operations, having successfully conducted landfill searches. Your ongoing refusal to search the landfill only perpetuates systemic gender-based, colonial violence against Indigenous women and girls. Lack of institutional will was identified as a key factor contributing to the ongoing MMIWG2s+ crisis in the 2019 MMIWG2s+ inquiry report. It is evidently clear that, in this case too, the primary barrier to searching the Prairie Green Landfill is lack of political will. As the daughter and niece of Morgan Harris have stated, your government’s refusal to search for her remains feels like “a slap in the face” to her grieving relatives. I urge you to not sustain the injustice suffered by Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, and their families, and search the Prairie Green Landfill. Sincerely, Marlene Hale Wet'suwet'en Elder

Prohibit religiously motivated discrimination in BC’s publicly funded hospitals. No one should be denied or otherwise encumbered from receiving assisted dying provisions on religious grounds in our secular society.

Because we need to take a bigger bite out of plastic pollution. There is still far too much plastic pollution entering landfills and the environment that is simply not recycled or reused.

Healthcare collapse is one of the most urgent issues in our province. We need your help. Patients are unable to access care until they are near death. Front-line healthcare workers are experiencing medical-level burnout, PTSD, moral & ethical distress, and mass resignation. This is a huge cost to British Columbians in all the ways of assessing cost. The solutions proposed to increase University funding and hiring doctors is essentially useless and cruel to young professionals/new graduates. For the salary of 1 doctor, the province could hire multiple nurse practitioners (NPs), nurses or allied health professionals such as social workers, rehabilitation specialists and social service & housing workers; these clinicians and workers are best-positioned to address the staggering issues of housing, social service referrals, community & residential rehabilitation, home & community support care, government disability funding & programs etc. Healthcare and social service workers are largely young women who work in risky situations in acute care & dangerous areas of downtown & SROs. We are tossing bodies at a problem that needs to be remedied at the systems level & human-resource-retention & safety. Meanwhile, thousands of workers are ending up on medical leave with psychological & physical health issues which is funded by WorkSafe BC, on long-term disability supports, tax-payer funded public resources and/or individually-funded private services (counselling, psychologists and private psychiatrists etc). This is no way to treat our 'healthcare heroes' who we glorify in the media & then readily ignore. We're deep in a crisis and we can't let this continue; the height of the problems are yet to come. This year in April & May alone, more than 100 doctors, nurses, healthcare workers & social service providers working for Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and Fraser Health (FHA) signed open letters to the media crying out because of a large lack of resources and poor treatment of the individuals they provide services for. Additionally, more than 700 Canadian academics also signed an open letter decrying the dismantling of the Main & Hastings encampment. It cannot be overstated how significant this is; health authority employees are risking their employment and careers by doing this. The alarm bells are going off yet the fire is being ignored. May 2023: More than two dozen Surrey Memorial Hospital ER doctors signed an open letter: - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-memorial-hospital-physicians-open-letter-1.6843980 - https://globalnews.ca/news/9700128/surrey-memorial-hospital-crisis-doctors-letter/#:~:text=Dozens%20of%20emergency%20room%20doctors,to%20patients%20and%20the%20public.%E2%80%9D May 2023: 36 Surrey Memorial Hospital Obgyn doctors signed open letter. - "More than two-thirds of women's health providers at the hospital have signed a letter saying critically inadequate resources are compromising patient safety, resulting in an untold number of close calls and the death of a newborn in 2020" attributed to lack of resources, according to the healthcare workers involved. - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-memorial-hospital-womens-health-doctors-open-letter-1.6858473 April 2023: 44 nurses, community outreach and social workers signed an open letter to Vancouver Coastal Health “Many of us who are on the front line have witnessed and/or been the recipients of police-led violence or escalation, both physical and verbal,” the document reads. - https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vch-workers-decry-east-hastings-decampment-despite-fearing-employer-blowback April, 2023: More than 700 people signed “An Open Letter from Academics Against Vancouver’s encampment evictions” in response to the city’s efforts to remove all tents and structures from East Hastings Street. The letter was addressed to 25 B.C. politicians, including the premier, Housing Minister, Health Minister, Vancouver’s mayor, the entirety of city council, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees. - https://bc.ctvnews.ca/vancouver-must-do-better-700-academics-decry-dtes-decampment-in-open-letter-1.6355904

Many of us, if not the majority of residents would want to stay in our own homes into our old age. We want to avoid needing to move into Long Term Care Buildings just because our houses do not adapt to some of our specific living needs as we age. If homes were planned from day one to allow seniors to move about easily in our homes as we age, then the number of Long Term Care Homes could be reduced. All the related costs of care for seniors could be reduced! The happiness of Seniors, as we age would maintained. Families could plan so much easier how to continue caring for their loved Elders into the later years of life!

Access to housing should be a basic human right. In order for housing to be accessible it must be affordable. By placing a cap on the number of houses one can own, supply would be increased as houses owned above the cap would be required to be put on the market. If you could imagine tap water was unsafe and all drinking water was bottled, the housing issue that is the subject of this petition is analogous to someone buying as much bottled water as possible from the grocery store and then selling sips to people at greatly inflated prices.

This system allows companies and individuals to stake mining claims on First Nations lands from the comfort of their offices, without gaining the consent of the Indigenous people who live there. You have stated that we need to “listen to Indigenous voices and ensure they are heard loudly and clearly.” Your government’s refusal to respect Grassy Narrows’ Indigenous Protected Area completely contradicts your own words. This is not in the spirit of reconciliation that your government espouses to care about. Grassy Narrows has been fighting for justice for over 50 years, it is time to make things right. Grassy Narrows is demanding that Ontario respect their Indigenous Protected Area and end all logging and mining activity on the area. Will you commit to that now? We must respect Grassy Narrows' decisions for their territory. Never again should harmful decisions be imposed on Grassy Narrows people and the territory that they depend on. This is an issue of high concern to me and I will be watching closely to see that justice comes at long last to Grassy Narrows.

We need to recapture our politicians from the undue influence of fossil fuel companies who are even helping to write our government’s climate policies. Recently, for example, the government of Alberta granted 4.3 billion to fossil fuel companies at a time when people are unable to find a family doctor in this province, and at a time when at least two large companies stream-lined their operations by laying off workers. Meanwhile forest fires raged out of control all across the country, affecting peoples lives in several negative ways.

The Ford government is sitting on $22.6 billion of so-called “excess funds” – money stashed away from the public purse that they have no plan to spend any time soon. Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy claims the FAO’s report doesn’t reflect new government spending. [1] But if the province’s growing budget surpluses haven’t been allocated to any public programs, where is this money going? There are so many ways that $22.6 billion could make a difference. Ford and Bethlenfalvy could use it to: fund our public health care system, build more housing, increase disability support funding, support public transit infrastructure, or invest in our education system. And that's just to name a few. A massive petition from thousands of us across the province – demanding that Finance Minister Bethlenfalvy and Premier Ford stop stashing away billions of dollars and instead invest in public services for Ontarians – can ensure these “excess funds” are put to good use. Will you add your name today? [1] https://globalnews.ca/news/9762549/ontario-government-22-billion-excess-funds-fao/

If people are motivated to keep that drink container in order to get their dollar back, perhaps they will refrain from tossing their other garbage, mostly fast food wrappers and cardboard coffee cups, out the window at will. Large fines for littering, rigorously enforced, with community service cleaning up communities and ditches might also help.

It’s a step backwards in our society to build housing that does not promote environmental living practices. Just because it may be more convenient certainly doesn’t make it acceptable. We must act locally to make the changes necessary in every realm of living to address the real threats of pollution and climate change.