Join us for the People’s Assembly Fair on August 27th, 2011 at Dufferin Grove Park

Since the G20, the Toronto People’s Assembly has formed three times as a space where the climate and social justice community converges. In our first Assembly,  we identified several key components of how climate and environmental justice related to our city. For the second Assembly, we created several People’s Councils to tackle the issue of how to build a stronger movement for climate justice in Toronto. Then, most recently, with our Third Assembly, we gathered to share stories about what inspires us as people involved in the movement for climate justice.

Now as we move into summer, the People’s Assembly will come together once again, but in a different form! Building on the proposal from the Action Discussion at the last Assembly, the General Council has been meeting and laying the groundwork for a People’s Assembly Fair.

The Fair will take place on Saturday August 27^th from12-5pm atDufferinGrovePark, and is intended to be a fun and family-friendly event to revitalize ourselves as a community and engage the public with interactive and creative activities. By allowing a safe space to demonstrate alternative means for education, entertainment, and sustainability the aim of the Fair is to become its own image of a movement we would all like to see.

Unlike other summer attractions, The People’s Assembly Fair will be a participant driven event, meaning there are no mere “attendees,” but rather active participants in every sense of the word.  You will create the Stalls, the interaction, the art, the performance and ultimately the “experience.”

Therefore, we are inviting community groups and individuals to come and set up a Stall. If you do not belong to a group, form an ad-hoc one with some friends!  What you do is only limited by your imagination, but here are some ideas to get you started:

• Interactive or hands-on workshops
• Educational games or role plays
• Skill-shares
• Discussion-based seminars
• Art or banner making
• Skits or other performances.

As a General Organizing Council we will organize a central information tent, a stage with live music, and we have already confirmed that Food Not Bombs will serve a free meal for everyone. The rest is up to you!

Please RSVP to let us know what you would like to do for the Fair and we will reserve a space for your Stall!

Further action:

To join our organizing Google Group, please send an email to toronto-peoples-assembly+subscribe@googlegroups.com
To find out about meeting dates and times please email : peoplesassembly.toronto@gmail.com

Workshops

Here is a full list of the workshops which will be available to choose from in the afternoon at the April 23rd People’s Assembly:

1) Connecting Spirituality and Climate Justice

To mark the significance of Earth Day coinciding with Easter, this workshop is a multi-faith effort to look at the intersection between spirituality and the principles of climate justice.

2) Plan a Collective Action

One of the most consistent feedbacks we have been receiving from members, is that they want the Assembly to be action-oriented. This workshop is a chance to meet with like-minded people and chart a course toward a large collective action for Climate Justice!

3) Rethinking Energy Systems: Nuclear vs Sustainable Solutions

In the wake of the nuclear disaster in Japan, it is clear that the Climate Justice movement must articulate clear alternative solutions. Join panelists Justin Podur of York University, Cory Morningstar of Canadians for Action on Climate Change, and Martina Rowley of Transition Toronto to discuss how to reduce emissions and move into a clean energy future that respects the principles of Climate Justice.

4) Climate Justice Popular Consultation

5) Climate Justice Manifesto (hosted by Council of Canadians Toronto Chapter)

6) Build Your Own Bike Cart (hosted by Food Not Bombs Toronto)

Step-by-step demo of how to build your own bike cart from scavenged materials. Participants who bring their own materials can then build their own cart during the workshop! Email peoplesassembly.toronto(at)gmail.com for list of materials.

7) How To Recycle Old T-shirts

Practical hands on workshop with lots of creative ways to modify and reuse old T-shirts!

 

Share stories of resistance, struggle and victory at the Third Toronto People’s Assembly on Climate Justice on Saturday April 23, 2011!

Share stories of resistance, struggle and victory at the Third Toronto People’s Assembly on Climate Justice on Saturday April 23, 2011!
What: Third Toronto People’s Assembly on Climate Justice
When: Saturday April 23rd, 2011
Where: Ryerson Student Centre, 55 Gould St, Toronto
Time: 10am-5pm
Cost: PWYC (breakfast and lunch provided)
***ASL translation and free child care available***

To mark the 41st annual celebration of International Earth Day, the People’s Assembly on Climate Justice will assemble for its Third Toronto Assembly on Saturday April 23rd, 2011 from 10am-5pm at the Ryerson Student Centre.

To commemorate Earth Day, we will:

• Come together with our fellow community members and share local stories of resistance, struggle, and victory that reflect our ongoing movement to protect Mother Earth and achieve Justice for all people and beings who inhabit Her.
• Plan a large-scale collective action
• Explore the intersection between spirituality and climate justice.
• Participate in hands-on workshops and create art.
• Contribute to the creation of a Climate Justice Popular Consultation.

Across our city and around the world, the power of people’s assemblies are leading us towards a new grassroots paradigm that transcends government and corporate inertia. Waves of people-powered uprisings are sweeping across the Middle East. Austerity measures are being met with mass mobilizations in Europe. And hundreds of thousands are resisting the corporate takeover through marches and occupations in the U.S.

Join the People’s Assembly on April 23rd, 2011, and continue the realization of an inclusive, united, and empowered Climate Justice Movement in Toronto.

More info:
http://torontopeoplesassembly.wordpress.com/
peoplesassembly.toronto@gmail.com
647-869-6496

About the Toronto People’s Assembly on Climate Justice:

On June 23rd, 2010, the People’s Assembly on Climate Justice came to life in Toronto as part of the community resistance to the G20. On December 4th, 2010, a second instalment solidified the Assembly as a permanent space for ongoing, community-based, collective dialogue to confront the climate crisis.

Our goal is not just to demand action, it is also to manifest a new form of organizational paradigm to generate positive, radical, participatory solutions within our urban context. Together we can reinvent cycles that positively participate in the health and ecology of the planet, while overcoming our dependence on the industrial system.

2nd Toronto People’s Assembly Videos

Below are the Second Toronto People’s Assembly Videos

Notes from Report Backs Now Online!

First Breakout Report Backs

People’s Council Report Backs

Images of recorded notes from the Breakouts and People’s Council are also available here!

PHOTOS: 2nd People’s Assembly on Climate Justice Toronto, Dec. 4, 2010

 

MORE

1ST People’s Assembly on Climate Justice Toronto: Videos

Dec 4th People’s Assembly Callout

RSVP on Facebook: People’s Assembly on Climate Justice
For PDF of poster click here: People’s Assembly on Climate Justice
For Copy of Assembly Agenda click here: People’s Assembly Agenda

What: People’s Assembly on Climate Justice
When: Saturday, December 4th, 2010, 9:30am-5pm
Where: Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George St, SS2118
Cost: PWYC (breakfast and lunch included)

On June 23rd 2010, in advance of the G20, Toronto held its first People’s Assembly in community response to the climate crisis. Now on December 4th, 2010, activists, groups, community organizers and neighbourhood participants will gather for the second Toronto People’s Assembly on Climate Justice.

Faced with the illegitimate and false solutions promoted through the UN climate talks, La Via Campesina has called for the creation of a thousand Cancuns to counter the next round of negotiations in Mexico from Nov. 29th to Dec. 11th. For Dec. 4th, the Global Climate Campaign has initiated an international day of action, and the national call-out by the Council of Canadians to hold countrywide assemblies on the same day has been answered by communities across Canada. The second Assembly, as a manifestation of these calls to resistance, will serve as the launching point for a series of regular Assemblies in an effort to build a united movement for Climate Justice in Toronto.

The challenge of the climate crisis can only be met with a coordinated response that will bring forth our power in numbers. It also requires that we confront the root causes of the crisis and not just the symptoms. Through a horizontal people’s process, the Assembly will seek to create a space where we can work together to share experience, knowledge, and resources in order to build a local response to a global crisis. The Assembly hopes to work towards this objective through channels of collective dialogue and community empowerment.

Our goal is to generate new possibilities and new hopes in order to bridge the gap from separately operating groups, communities, and individuals, to converge into one diverse, united movement. We must equip ourselves with the tools we need to fulfill our potential as an effective Social and Climate Justice community.

The Toronto People’s Assembly on Climate Justice

TorontoPeoplesAssembly.wordpress.com
peoplesassembly.toronto@gmail.com
RSVP on Facebook: People’s Assembly on Climate Justice
647-869-6496

SPONSORS:

Continuing Education Students’ Association of Ryerson, Council of Canadians, Environmental Justice Toronto, Greenpeace, KAIROS Toronto, Now Magazine, OPIRG-Toronto, Ryerson Student’s Union, Sweets from the Earth, Toronto Climate Campaign, Toronto Bolivia Solidarity, United Church of Canada, UTERN

People’s Assembly to form again on December 4th, 2010

Nov 2010

Invitation to help build, support and participate in the second Toronto People’s Assembly on Climate Justice to be held on December 4th, 2010 as part of a Global Day of Climate Action.

Thanks to the support of over 30 organizations within Toronto, the June 23rd People’s Assembly on Climate Justice was an incredible success, where over 250 social and climate justice activists, representatives from organizations and community groups, and concerned members of the public gathered to discuss community-based responses to the climate crisis.

The second Toronto People’s Assembly on Climate Justice, to be held on Dec 4th, 2010, is intended to be the launch of a permanent series of Assemblies which will serve as an open forum for ongoing dialogue and movement building within Toronto. By following the horizontal process established in the first Assembly and without imposing the answer it seeks to find, the Assembly will create a space where the discussions necessary to create a strong and unified movement for climate justice in Toronto can take place.

The Dec 4th Assembly will mark the halfway point of the Cancun Climate Talks and will take place alongside actions organized around the world as part of a worldwide day of action called for by the Global Climate Campaign. The Assembly is also in line with the call from La Via Campesina to create ‘1000 Cancuns’ around the globe, and the national callout from the Council of Canadians for People’s Assemblies across the country. With members of Toronto Climate Campaign, Toronto Bolivia Solidarity, Environmental Justice Toronto, and Science for Peace already on the organzing team, the Assembly is shaping up to be the central local response to the UN climate talks in Cancun.

The scope of the challenges that the climate crisis presents to us is beyond the ability of any group or collection of individuals to confront on their own. Our only hope lies in coming together to form a united movement with the determination empower ourselves to build the capacity that will allow us to organize our communities as a collective movement to create effective solutions.

Our future (and future generations) depend on our success. We welcome your endorsement, participation in our bi-weekly planning meetings, any financial contribution you can make, help in promoting and raising awareness, and of course, your eventual participation in the Assembly itself.

For more information:
Peoplesassembly.toronto@gmail.com
647-869-6496

People’s Assembly: Videos

People’s Assembly on Climate Justice to be held Wednesday, June 23rd, in Toronto.

Date/Time: Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 7pm
Location: Ryerson Student Campus Centre (SCC115)
Address: 55 Gould Street, Toronto — See Map
Contact: Brett Rhyno, (647) 869-6496
Contact: Glenn MacIntosh, (416) 861-1303
E-mail: peoplesassembly.toronto(at)gmail.com
Facebook: Event Page

Wondering how climate change and social justice are connected? What could be done address this crisis right here in Toronto? As our government chooses to spend over a billion dollars on a Summit for the world’s wealthiest governments and institutions, while consistently failing to address the real and immediate threat of climate change, it is time for communities to stand up and speak out!

With  the success of the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia in April 2010, social movements from all over the world have begun to cross-pollinate their efforts to forge an urgent movement for Climate Justice that demands governments respect and protect the rights of climate-impacted communities and our planet, Mother Earth.

The Cochabamba Accord calls for indigenous self-determination, economic justice, migrant justice, gender justice, environmental and climate justice, food sovereignty, etc. – everything we are fighting for in Toronto.

To nurture strong, ongoing connections between multiple local struggles and organizers, we call on all those interested in building a broad movement for Climate Justice in Toronto to gather on the evening of Wednesday, June 23 for a peaceful, participatory, indoor assembly to discuss:

• the relationship between climate change and justice and how all of our struggles are connected by the climate crisis

• what happened in Cochabamba, why it matters, and how it can influence  our organizing moving forward

• how we can best support and strengthen the global — and local! — movement for climate justice

Only the collective strength of all our movements can achieve the global response necessary to confront the climate crisis. We need all of our voices – young, old, new, experienced, settler, indigenous – to be there. On June 23^rd it will be YOUR turn to talk! JOIN US!

Endorsing Organizations:

Banyon Youth, Canadian Federation of Students, Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, Community Coalition Against the Mining of Uranium, Continuing Education Student’s Association of Ryerson, Council of Canadians, ecoSanity, Greenspiration, Indigenous Environment Network, KAIROS (Toronto Centre), Mining Watch Canada, No One Is Illegal, Polaris Institute, Public Service Alliance of Canada, Rainforest Action Network Toronto, Science For Peace, Students Against Climate Change, Toronto Bolivia Solidarity, Toronto Climate Campaign, United Church of Canada

Related Cochabamba and Climate Justice events you won’t want to miss!

Toxic Tour of Toronto: Extraction is Exploitation.
Creative march with speakers from impacted communities, floats, costumes, and lots of fun!
Wednesday June 23rd, 11am
Alexandra Park (Dundas and Bathurst)
Facebook: Toxic Tour

Justice For Our Communities!
No to G8/G20! Yes to taking back our city!
Rally. March. Block Party. Tent City.
Friday, June 25th, 
2:30pm
Allan Gardens (Carleton St. and Sherbourne St)
http://25june.wordpress.com/

Shout Out for Global Justice!
with Maude Barlowe, Naomi Klein, Pablo Solon and more
Friday, June 25, 7 p.m.
Massey Hall, 178 Victoria St., Toronto, ON
http://www.canadians.org/g20/event.html