Canada

Upping the Anti #5

ant — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 00:42:11 -0400

Issue #5 of Upping the Anti is now being distributed. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the journal or to distribute the journal in your community or organizations, please email uta_distro@yahoo.ca so that we can add you to our list of local distributors. This issue of the journal is 212 pages long and we are selling single copies for $10 including postage. If you want 5 or more copies for distribution, the journal is $5 per copy, and we'll cover the postage.

Our mailing address where you can send your $10 in well concealed cash to for a copy of the journal is: Upping the Anti, 998 Bloor St. West, P.O. Box 10571, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6H 4H9. If you live in the US or elsewhere, please order our journal through AK Press as it costs us too much to mail it to you from Canada. Please continue reading this post for the full table of contents of this issue and the introduction to this issue.

Upping the Anti #3

ant — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 17:11:55 -0400

A new submission guide is available for UTA. Issue 4 coming in May of 2007. Deadline for submissions is March 1st.

Issue #4 of Upping the Anti is being launched in Toronto on May 1st, 2007. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the journal or to distribute the journal in your community or organizations, please email uta_distro@yahoo.ca so that we can add you to our list of local distributors. This issue of the journal is 182 pages long and we are selling single copies for $10 including postage. If you want 5 or more copies for distribution, the journal is $5 per copy, and we'll cover the postage. The full text of our first issue is available here. Journal articles and PDF files will be uploaded to the website in a staggered process over the next few months.

An Open Letter from Anti-Zionist Jewish Youth in Canada

Gary — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:03:22 -0500

If you would like to sign on to this letter, send an email to
antizionistjews@gmail.com with your name and city

January 5th, 2009

Like much of the world, we have spent the last week watching in shock and disgust as Israel continues its assault on the Gaza Strip. With the body count rising and a new tragedy in full bloom, we feel that it is important to speak out as Jewish youth in Canada and to denounce what Israel is doing in our name.

The Jewish diaspora is diverse and divided on its positions on the state of Israel’s policies. At this juncture in history, as Israel has committed its worst massacre in Gaza since it began its illegal occupation in 1967, we feel that it is crucial that Jews speak out and denounce Israel’s actions that amount to no more than war crimes committed by an apartheid state.

As Jewish youth, we are diverse, but we are unified in our solidarity with our Palestinian brothers and sisters in Gaza.

Some of us are students. We are outraged by the bombing of the Islamic University in Gaza city, as well as other civilian infrastructure such as hospitals and mosques.

Israeli Slaughter, International Culpability: Gaza Massacre Points to Urgent Need for Viable Sanctions

Gary — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 23:00:38 -0500

By Dan Freeman-Maloy, the Bullet, Socialist Project.

There is every reason to be outraged. But despite the severity of Israeli atrocities in Gaza, we have little right to act surprised. Whatever else can be said, Israel has made it abundantly clear that until its actions are met with credible international sanctions, it will subject Palestinians (and very likely others in the region) to massive, recurring waves of violence.

This was clear when the Obama-Biden campaign helped to lay the political foundation for this assault. It was clear when, amidst threats of such an operation and ongoing colonization in the West Bank, the European Union voted to upgrade relations with Israel earlier this month. For those of us in Canada, it has been clear as the Harper government has sharpened its alignment with Israel in the absence of any sustained parliamentary opposition.

Last Security Certificate Detainee To Be Freed

Gary — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:43:56 -0500

www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/560982
January 02, 2009, Michelle Shephard, National Security Reporter

The last remaining terrorism suspect who has been held for seven years under
a "national security certificate" has been ordered released from detention.

Federal court Justice Richard Mosley ruled Friday that there is no evidence
that Syrian Hassan Almrei "poses a threat to the safety of any individual"
and should be released under strict conditions.

"I am satisfied that any risk that he might pose to national security or of
absconding can be neutralized by conditions," Mosley wrote in his 100-page
ruling.

Conditions for his release will likely include 24-hour monitoring by agents
with the Canada Border Services Agency, wearing a GPS monitoring bracelet
and a ban on any use of cellphones or computers.

"Hassan was very, very happy - very pleased," said his lawyer Lorne Waldman
after speaking with Almrei by phone. "Personally, I'm delighted. Holding
someone in Canada without charge, without trial, is a very serious matter
and I'm relieved that this detention will end soon."

Critics of Canada's immigration law that allows the government to deport
non-citizens deemed a risk to national security have called the Kingston
holding centre where Almrei is held "Guantanamo North."

Scores of Temporary Foreign Workers deported by Ontario agri-complex

scottn — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:15:51 -0500

Scores of Temporary Foreign Workers deported by Ontario agri-complex
from UFCW Canada, December 6, 2008.

CAMPBELLVILLE, ONTARIO - Dec. 6, 2008 — More than 70 Mexican and Jamaican agriculture workers at a mushroom grow house facility outside of Guelph were fired without notice on December 6, by Rol-Land Farms, a $50 million-a-year, privately owned industrial agricultural corporation that operates a number of mushroom growing operations across Canada. No reason was given for the firings.

The workers were in Canada on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, championed by the Harper government. They were also evicted from the housing provided to them by Rol-Land and are in the process of being repatriated.

"No company should have the right to treat human beings like disposable farm tools," explained Chris Ramsaroop of Justicia for Migrant Workers, an advocacy group that works with migrant workers across Canada. He added, "these workers have lost everything over night: their jobs, their housing and even their ability to stay and work in Canada. Rol-Land Farms didn't even issue notices to their employees."

Ontario farm workers can join unions, court rules

scottn — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:58:51 -0500

Ontario farm workers can join unions, court rules
by Tracey Tyler, from The Toronto Star, November 17, 2008.

Farm workers across the province have won the right to join unions.

In a 3-0 decision today, the Ontario Court of Appeal struck down sections of the Agricultural Employees Protection Act, which prevent farm workers from engaging in collective bargaining.

The court said the legislation violates agricultural employees' rights to freedom of association under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and gave the Ontario government 12 months to rewrite the law.

While most Ontario workers have had the right to join unions since 1943, farm employees have been excluded from the mainstream labour relations regime because agriculture has been considered unique - sensitive to time and weather concerns, and the need to ensure that food production is not disrupted by a strike.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture, a farmers' lobby group that intervened in the case, warned that many family farms could not survive if confronted with union demands.

Defenderes of the Land Gathering

scottn — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:14:19 -0500

The following media release and letter were obtained from an email list.

DEFENDERS OF THE LAND GATHERING

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2008

National Gathering of Indigenous Peoples Challenge Harper Government in Winnipeg

Winnipeg—Grassroots activists, elders, and elected leaders from First Nations fighting for self-determination and protection of land and resource rights presented a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the Conservative Party's national policy conference in Winnipeg today. The Indigenous spokespeople have come to Winnipeg from communities across Canada to form a network dedicated to fighting for recognition of and respect for Indigenous rights, and deliver their message to Prime Minister Harper.

"Canada, along with the United States and New Zealand, is one of three countries that have voted against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We call on Canada to join the vast majority of nations who have adopted this declaration," said Art Manuel, of the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade.

Two Ways to Be a Nation

scottn — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:01:50 -0500

Two Ways to Be a Nation: Struggle for control of the "trillion-dollar Sudbury basin"
by Shailagh Keaney, from The Dominion, November 6, 2008.

ATIKAMEKSHENG ANISHNAWBEK–In May of this year, the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek (Whitefish Lake) First Nation launched a land claim alleging that the Robinson Huron Treaty of 1850 has been violated by the Canadian and Ontario governments.

According to the Treaty, the reserve lands were to be "a tract of land [...] contained between two rivers called Whitefish River and Wanabitaseke seven miles inland."

The boundaries of the original treaty lands extend around almost all of Greater Sudbury up to Wanaitei Lake and past Dowling, halfway between Nairn and Espanola. The line cuts off half of Killarney Provincial Park and slices across territory just above Alban and the French River - 250,000 acres in total. However, when the land was surveyed by Crown officials 35 years later, the reserve was only a fifth of its agreed-upon size.

Since then, settler communities and industry have been set up on the remaining treaty lands. Railroads and mining operations have been established, and have extracted nickel, ore and minerals from the ground over the past 107 years.

Homosexual men have significantly lower personal incomes than heterosexual individuals

scottn — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:23:21 -0400

Homosexual men have significantly lower personal incomes than heterosexual individuals
from e! Science News, October 29, 2008.

A new study in the Canadian Journal of Economics provides the first evidence on sexual orientation and economic outcomes in Canada. The study found that gay men have 12 percent lower personal incomes and lesbians have 15 percent higher personal incomes than heterosexual men and women. Christopher S. Carpenter of The Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California Irvine used data from the Canadian Community Health Survey which includes standard demographic questions as well as self-reports on sexual orientation.

Like previous patterns found in the U.S. and the U.K., results show that gay men have significantly lower personal incomes than similarly situated straight individuals, while lesbians have significantly higher personal incomes than straight women.