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July 26, 2012 - No. 42
Oppose Attempts to Eliminate the Right to
Education!
Government Threatens Take Over of School Boards for
Refusal to Impose "Provincial Parameters"
Oppose
Attempts
to
Eliminate
the Right to Education!
• Government Threatens Take Over of School
Boards for Refusal to Impose "Provincial Parameters"
• Powers Put in Place for Ministerial
Takeover of Elected Local Boards of Education - Enver
Villamizar
• Update on College Faculty Negotiations
- Christine Nugent
Opposition to
Ontario's Austerity Budget
• Northerners Demand a Say on Ontario
Northland Decision
All Youth Have
Inherent Right to a Bright Future
• No to the Criminalization of Minority Youth!
- Philip Fernandez
• Fraudulent 2008 Report on Youth Violence
- Frank Chilelli
Justice for Migrant
Workers!
• Vigil Held to Commemorate Hampstead Tragedy
- Jim Nugent
Oppose Attempts to Eliminate the Right to
Education!
Government Threatens Take Over of School Boards for
Refusal to Impose "Provincial Parameters"
On July 24, it was reported that Ontario Assistant
Deputy Minister
of Education Gabriel Sékaly issued a memo to the province's
Boards of Education
directing them to ensure that any collective agreements signed
with education workers' unions are in line with the contract framework
established between the Ontario
government and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association
(OECTA), and should be in place by Monday, September 3, Labour Day.
School boards are the employers of the provinces' teachers and
education workers, while funding for education is allocated by the
provincial government.
 According to the memo,
failure to implement the
provincial dictate
"would raise concerns about a board's ability to meet its financial
obligations, at which point, the Minister could decide to exercise her
powers" (see item below). Government spokesperson Grahame Rivers
stated:
"We're committed to reaching agreements
that meet our fiscal objectives and ensuring that school starts the day
after Labour Day."
The demand that agreements are in line with the
parameters set in the Memorandum of Understanding with OECTA raises the
spectre that the government wanted to impose labour peace from
September 3 to December 31, within which OECTA members are not
permitted to go on strike, in order to ensure it had time to take over
those boards that do not submit, or are not able to implement the
government's dictate to the extent demanded.
Province Moving to Take Over Windsor-Essex Catholic
Board
In
related news, on the same day as the province-wide threat was issued to
school
boards to fall in line with provincial parameters, Minister of
Education
Laurel Broten informed the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School
Board Chair Barb Holland
that an investigator is being sent to look into the Board's finances.
Holland raised concerns in an interview with local
media. "I am
saddened at the fact that as a trustee responsible for representing my
rate payers and the students and this board, I should be able to voice
the concerns of Windsor and Essex County without having something like
this happen," she said. She also
said she did not think the investigation is fair given that the board
has a balanced budget and a financial recovery plan in place to reduce
the structural deficit.
According to reports, Holland indicated that the
Minister expressed
concern about the board's financial condition, and that a large portion
of her phone conversation with the Minister was about the board's
request for a conciliator and concerns over the recent agreement the
Catholic teachers' union signed with the province.
The board has not yet received formal notification of
the appointment
of an investigator.
For weeks before this investigation was announced,
Windsor
West MPP Theresa Perruza had been acting as something of a mediator
between the Board and the Ministry, giving the impression
that she was assisting the two sides to deal with the Board's
structural
deficit in order to prevent a provincial
takeover that had been threatened.
Powers Put in Place for Ministerial Takeover of
Elected Local Boards of Education
- Enver Villamizar -
A review of the amendments to the Ontario Education
Act
since the
regime of Mike Harris reveals step by step preparations to assert
Ministerial control over the affairs of Ontario's publicly funded
school boards under the pretexts of "financial distress" or failure to
meet provincial standards for student
achievement on standardized tests.[1]
Such neoliberal changes to the education system are
already well
underway in the U.S., and are now being rolled out in Ontario using the
Ontario deficit and negotiations with education workers as the pretext.
How they are being used and will be used to undermine local governance
of publicly-funded education
and facilitate private delivery of public education in Ontario is being
revealed. In the case of Michigan, the State Governor and Emergency
Managers are now exercising the power to take over school districts,
fire education workers and impose new public-private arrangements in
public education. (See Ontario Political
Forum,
July 19, 2012 - No. 41)
 Under the Harris
government, measures were implemented which made it
illegal for local boards to run deficits of more than one per cent,
also under the pretext of paying down the provincial deficit. New
arrangements were put in place then to increase the ability of the
Minister and the Ministry of Education
to interfere in the affairs of local boards. Many will remember the
infamous quote from
Harris' first Minister of Education John Snobelen who was caught
stating that the Harris government's massive cuts to education would
create a "useful
crisis."
Measures to take charge of a board for financial reasons
were put in
place in 1997 under the Harris government. However, expanding the
Minister's power to take over local boards -- based merely on
"concerns" about a board's ability to meet financial obligations --
were put in place by the McGuinty
government in 2009 and 2010.
Division C of the Ontario Education Act, added
in 2009 by
the McGuinty government, builds on Harris-era arrangements. It empowers
the Minister of Education to issue a financial recovery plan to a board
if it shows an "in-year deficit" or the Minister has reasonable grounds
to believe a board
will show an "in-year deficit." If a board does not implement the plan,
or does so but unsuccessfully, this is grounds for a board to be placed
under the control and charge of the Minister under Division D of the
Act.
Division D of the Act is entitled, "The Supervision of
Boards'
Financial Affairs." It outlines how the Minister of Education may first
direct an investigation into the financial affairs of a school board
merely on the basis of concerns about a board's ability to meet its
financial obligations. Based on the report
of an investigator, the Minister then has the power to dictate measures
to
be implemented by the board to get out of a deficit or future financial
troubles. If a board does not implement these orders, or does, but not
to the satisfaction of the Minister, this becomes grounds for the
takeover of the board. An
investigator can also directly recommend that a board be taken over by
the Minister of Education based on its financial situation.
When the Minister takes control of a board, they have
complete
"control and charge over the exercise and performance by the board of
its powers, duties and obligations with respect to all matters,"
including "the appointment and dismissal of the board's officers and
employees and their powers, duties,
salaries and remuneration. There is essentially no limit on the powers
of the Minister under the legislation once they have taken over the
board.
When in charge of a board, the Minister also has the
power to
appoint any person to exercise the powers of the Minister and the
person so appointed is paid the salary and allowed the expenses that
the Minister may determine.
"Student Achievement" Being Made Criterion for Board
Takeover
In
2009, the "Purpose of the Education Act" was amended by the McGuinty
government. Section 3 was amended to introduce the term "student
achievement," which is code for standardized test scores or graduation
rates, into
the purpose of the Act. It specifically states:
"Partners in education sector
"(3) All partners in the education sector, including the
Minister,
the Ministry and the boards, have a role to play in enhancing student
achievement and well-being, closing gaps in student achievement and
maintaining confidence in the province's publicly funded education
systems. 2009, c. 25, s. 1."
In 2006, amendments were made to the section entitled,
"Provincial
Interests." These amendments gave the Minister of Education the ability
to regulate outcomes on student achievement for school boards. The
amended portion 11.1 (7) states:
"a regulation may,
"(a) specify outcomes for elementary school pupils
relating to improved literacy and numeracy; and
"(b) specify outcomes for secondary school pupils
relating to improved graduation rates. 2006, c. 10, s. 4."
The inclusion of student achievement in the Act's
purposes and into
the regulatory powers of the Minister of Education opens the door to
ministerial takeover of boards which fail to meet specified outcomes in
"student achievement." The section entitled, "Compliance with Board
Obligations," explicitly states
that the Minister may trigger an investigation, if a board: "(a)
contravenes, indicates an intention to contravene or might result in a
contravention of paragraph 2 or 3 of subsection 8 (1) or of a
regulation made under section 11.1 or 170.1;"
This means school boards could be declared to be failing
based on
students' scores on standardized tests and subsequently restructured by
Ministerial order or takeover. Given the McGuinty government's pursuit
of public-private arrangements, it is not hard to imagine how this will
be used to go after schools
in low income areas for experimentation as charter schools or other
public-private arrangements, rather than increasing funding for
teachers, support staff and other needed resources.
Note
1. The full Education
Act can be found here:
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90e02_e.htm#BK217
Update on College Faculty Negotiations
- Christine Nugent -
Recent struggles of college workers.
Negotiations for a new contract for professors,
instructors,
librarians and counsellors at Ontario's 24 community colleges have been
underway since June 4. Twenty-two face-to-face meetings are scheduled
over the summer. College workers are represented by the Ontario Public
Sector Employees Union
(OPSEU) while the colleges are represented by the College Employer
Council (see Ontario Political Forum, June 11, 2012 - No. 37). The
following review of the negotiations is not exhaustive but highlights
some of the fundamental proposals made to date and serves to develop
discussion as the end of the
current collective agreement, August 31, approaches. Such discussion is
particularly important given the disinformation seen in previous
negotiations regarding each side's proposals. College workers should
inform themselves of these proposals and discuss them so as to not fall
prey to any disinformation.
Union Proposals
The union's proposals are based on
local and provincial demand setting meetings held throughout the past
year. It emphasizes quality education focusing on the role college
workers play in delivering education and assuring a work environment
that respects, fosters and enhances
these roles. The union reiterates that faculty working conditions are
students' learning conditions.
Workload
The union has proposed greater workload
protections for teachers teaching on-line courses including: "teaching
contact hours shall be deemed to be the same as the credit hours
students receive for that course" and "where the course is delivered
online, every increment of 20 students constitutes
a section."
The union has proposed the removal of "voluntary
agreement" language
in workload assignments and clarification of coordinators' duties.
There are also proposals to eliminate differential treatment of
teachers in non-post-secondary programs.
Compensation
The union has proposed an increase in
salary to ensure that compensation is properly positioned in relation
to the comparator groups -- Ontario High Schools and Ontario
Universities. It has also called for the addition of a new step at the
top and removal of the lowest step on all grids.
Academic Freedom
Union proposals seek to establish
parameters for academic freedom by outlining duties for faculty and
administrators, namely recognizing expertise of faculty including
having teachers "determine course content, materials, teaching
methodology and evaluation subject to external
accrediting body and program outcome requirements."
There is also an amendment to extend to faculty
ownership rights to materials they create.
Job Security/Staffing
The union is seeking preference
for full-time positions for faculty and others (librarians,
counsellors) and protections for part-time faculty, namely for more
partial-load positions -- a particular type of part-time contract that
includes higher rates of pay and some benefits and
bargaining representation. The union is also seeking that current and
former partial-load employees have the right to continue teaching
previously assigned courses when those courses are re-offered. The
union seeks recognition of partial-load faculty for all work: teaching,
preparation, evaluation and feedback, and
greater opportunity for partial load employees to be considered for
full-time work.
The union is also attempting to protect against
contracting out of
teaching assignments and to avoid layoffs. There is also a proposal to
reduce the probationary period from two years to one.
Management Proposals
To date, the College Employer
Council has presented only their non-monetary proposals. The colleges
identify monetary proposals
as those which will either cost or save them money. They have advised
that, when tabled, their monetary
proposals will entail more than salary.
Management's proposals are similar to Premier McGuinty's
plea to
everyone, especially those in the public sector, to "do their share" in
dealing with the economic downturn. The Council's initial proposal
states:
"The government's expressed economic challenges will
influence the
discussions between the colleges and the union just as those challenges
are already impacting on public sector compensation."
Workload
The Council is proposing to introduce "more
flexibility" in scheduling teaching contact time to 1.5 and 2.5 hour
teaching blocks from the current full hour. Initial discussion on this
proposal among faculty raises the concern that managers will have the
ability to impose more weekly teaching
hours, although the Council has indicated this will not be the case.
Job Security/Staffing
The Council is proposing no
improvements for partial-load employees. As well, it wants to create a
new division known as Nursing Clinical Facilitator whose compensation
will not fall under the collective agreement, another concern for
faculty members as this deteriorates
the collective bargaining process and no mention is made about the
future of current nursing staff.
Negotiating Process
The Council seeks to further
limit the time allowed for union officials to meet with members and
prepare for bargaining. This follows the takeaway's in the last round
which moved the beginning of bargaining from January to June, limiting
the negotiating process and increasing
pressure on those involved.
Opposition to Ontario's Austerity Budget
Northerners Demand a Say on
Ontario Northland Decision
 The broad opposition of
workers and other people from the
communities of Northern Ontario continues to fight the irrational plans
of the McGuinty government to crater and sell off the assets of Ontario
Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC). ONTC is the government
owned rail, bus and telecommunications
enterprise that has been providing an essential service linking
communities in Northern Ontario since 1902. In complete contempt for
the people living in the north and with disregard for the
"consultation" process it had established on the future of the ONTC,
the government unilaterally announced a decision to terminate
ONTC on March 23 and included provisions for this in its March 27
austerity budget. Since then ONTC workers have been mobilizing to
defend their livelihoods and to defend this important public service.
They have successfully rallied opposition to the government's
decision among other workers and a broad
strata of people in the North.[1]
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath came face-to-face with this
opposition in
North Bay on July 17. She was attending one of the NDP's quarterly
roundtable discussions with the mayors of northern municipalities.
Horwath was accompanied by NDP northern caucus members, John Vanthof
(Timiskaming-Cochrane),
Gilles Bisson (Timmons-James Bay) and France Gélinas (Nickel
Belt).
At the roundtable, the northern mayors called Horwath
and the NDP to
account for not forcing McGuinty's minority government to reverse its
decision on ONTC during negotiations over NDP support for the budget.
According to a report on the roundtable by the North Bay Nugget
the northern mayors
told Horwath and the NDP MPPs "to stand up and fight for the Ontario
Northland at Queen's Park." It also reported, "[North Bay Mayor Al]
McDonald said he was disappointed the NDP had 'stepped back' their
demand to save the ONTC during budget deliberations with the Premier
Dalton McGuinty."
Horwath's response was, "For weeks ONTC was part of
every discussion
I had with the Premier but he refused to have that conversation. 'We're
just not moving on that', is what he said. It was very frustrating but
I can tell you the ONTC was on the table during every discussion. And
there were three conversations
with the premier." Horwath said the NDP plan now is to try to delay the
decision on the ONTC until the next provincial election.
ONTC workers and people of Northern Ontario though are
not accepting
McGuinty "just not moving" on the ONTC decision and are not waiting for
the next election to settle the matter. The government has an
aggressive schedule for closing down ONTC and the next election might
be too late. According to
press reports, the ONTC rail division, which is the most important
asset of ONTC and represents one of the largest blocks of jobs, is
scheduled to be sold off within six months of the announcement.
The organizations of the 1,000 ONTC workers (Canadian
Auto Workers
Local 103, United Steelworkers TC Local 1976, Teamsters Rail and
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers), the municipal
politicians and business groups plan to continue the mobilization in
Northern Ontario and to extend the
Ontario Northland Not For Sale! campaign in southern Ontario as well.
An organization has been set up to coordinate a province-wide campaign.
A previous attempt to shut down ONTC by the Harris government was
defeated and people from many strata in the north are uniting again to
defend this essential service.
On April 21, the eve of the vote on the budget, ONTC
workers and
others from Northern Ontario were among the thousands of people who
demonstrated at Queen's Park to say NO! to McGuinty's austerity budget.
Since the decision on ONTC was announced, town hall meetings, rallies
and other actions have
been organized continuously in municipalities across the region under
the banner Ontario Northland Not for Sale! On June 23, hundreds of
workers protested in Sudbury at the provincial conference of the
Ontario Liberal Party to demand the decision on ONTC be reversed.
Brian Kelly, President of CAW Local 103 which represents
450 of the
ONTC workers and spokesperson for the association of unions
representing the other 550 ONTC workers, expressed the determination of
the workers and other people of the north to have a say on this
important question affecting the lives
of everyone in the region in a statement to the CAW Local 103
membership, "This battle can be won and will be won."
Note
1. See Ontario Political Forum, April 18, 2012
- No. 32, "Northerners Speak Out to Save Ontario Northland."
All Youth Have Inherent Right to a Bright
Future
No to the Criminalization of Minority Youth!
- Philip Fernandez -
 Prime Minister Stephen
Harper and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford met
Tuesday, July 24 for a meeting behind closed doors at the 43 Division
Police Station in Scarborough, a week after the July 16 shooting at a
community barbecue in the Kingston-Galloway neighbourhood, a
predominantly national minority community
in Scarborough. Tragically, two youth were killed and 23 others were
injured.
Since this incident, two other people have been found shot dead, one in
Eglinton Flats and yet another youth in Lawrence Heights.
Speaking of the meeting with Mayor Ford, Prime Minister
Harper told
the media at GM Canada in Oshawa where he announced $850 million in
funding for the monopoly, "We discussed the range of the criminal
justice measures before Parliament and the necessity of making those
stick," Harper said. "I made
specific suggestions to the mayor, as he did to me, and we are both
going to look at additional measures we can take." Mayor Ford in a
statement released later said "This is the beginning of ongoing work to
make sure we have the tools in place to better prevent gang violence
and protect the public from criminals."
At a meeting on July 23, Mayor Ford, Ontario Premier
Dalton McGuinty
and Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair made a commitment to continue
funding for the Toronto anti-violence intervention strategy (TAVIS).
Chief Blair said that this is a program that works.
According to press releases, McGuinty announced an
additional
$500,000 in funding to improve co-ordination between Toronto police,
other GTA police forces and the Ontario Provincial Police and $500,000
in funding to community groups will be "fast-tracked," in addition to
continued funding for TAVIS.
McGuinty called for the city and the federal government to contribute
towards fighting gun crime. He is reported to have had his own
discussion on the matter with Prime Minister Harper while at GM in
Oshawa.
Since these incidents of violence, the Harper
government, Premier McGuinty, Toronto Mayor
Ford, Police Chief Blair as well as various city councillors and the
mass media have engaged in inciting racist hysteria against the most
marginalized youth, the vast majority of whom are national minority
citizens and residents of Toronto.
All this racist hysteria and disinformation is to cover up that it is
the anti-social policies of the governments at all levels in the
service of a Canadian state of a rich minority and their narrow
interests which are directly responsibile for these acts of violence.
The anti-social offensive has created the desperate social
conditions where the well-being of youth is ignored, especially that of
minority and poor youth. Unless they come from a background of means,
they are condemned by the state to civil death which often leads to
involvement in activities that are detrimental to themselves and
society. Far from these acts of street
violence being a "random" or "inexplicable" mystery, they are bound to
happen when human beings are denied their most basic rights to food,
shelter, a livelihood and a bright future.
The recent shootings in Kingston-Galloway, Eglinton
Flats and
Lawrence Heights, where the people live in conditions of abject
poverty, are now being used to justify more state-violence against
national minority and poor youth. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford vowed to "run
thugs who use our city as a 'shooting gallery'
out of Toronto and to pressure the Prime Minister to impose stiffer
penalties for anyone convicted of illegal gun possession." He says that
it is not enough to jail people who are convicted for these crimes, but
to banish them from Toronto forever. "I want them out of the city. Go
somewhere else, I don't want them
living in the city anymore," he said. In other words, he is proposing
to "disappear" these youth. His close friend, Immigration Minister
Jason Kenney, went further still and suggested that immigrant gangs are
the cause of these shootings. Kenney said the Faster Removal of
Criminals Act
that he introduced
in Parliament just before the House recessed for the summer, is
precisely to deal with such "immigrant gang members" by deporting them
without recourse to appeal. Interim leader of the federal Liberals Bob
Rae, ever wily, tried to make hay by suggesting that these comments by
Minister Kenney were unbecoming
and over the top, diverting from the fact that it was while he was the
NDP Premier of Ontario from 1990-1995, that the anti-social offensive
against the most vulnerable Ontarians began.
In the last 30 years the rate of poverty in Toronto has
increased
greatly and the gap between the rich and the poor has widened. This is
due directly to the anti-social offensive of the rich and their
governments to drive down the standard of living of the working class
and people while increasing the wealth of
the elites. From time to time, small amounts of money are provided to
"high needs" communities such as Toronto's so-called "Thirteen Priority
Neighbourhoods" where many of Toronto's poor live. But this is never
sustained investment, and typically is a fraction of what is spent in
policing these communities in the name
of law and order.
For example, in 2006, following the so-called "Year of
the Gun" in
2005, the McGuinty Liberals announced with great fanfare the launch of
the Youth Challenge Fund (YCF), a collaboration between the Ontario
government, the United Way of Greater Toronto and various private
donors. Over $40 million was
raised which funded 114 youth-driven projects in the so-called high
priority neighbourhoods. These initiatives have had a positive effect
on the youth living in these communities by providing after school
programs, literacy classes, job-training programs and other supports
that are needed. Fast forward to 2012, only
21 programs remain and these will wind up in 2013. The McGuinty
government has cynically declared that because of the $15 billion
deficit it is facing, there is no more money to keep these programs
going.
In the meantime, the amount of money spent on "law and
order" has
continued to increase. In 2008, the Ontario government indicated that
hundreds of thousands of dollars had been spent in beefing up the
police, hiring more crown prosecutors and building more detention
centres as part of its "Guns and Gangs"
initiatives. The result to date is that more national minority and poor
youth are racially profiled, harassed by "community police," "ticketed"
for simply hanging out with their friends and taken into custody.
National minority youth in particular face the greatest degree of
humiliation day in and day out. Is it not surprising
that some of them lash out violently. The "Guns and Gangs" initiatives
have not solved the problems, but only made them worse, proving once
again that law and order measures cannot solve the social problems
facing the youth or society.
As well, it cannot be the case that funding for social
programs such
the Youth Challenge Fund is done through monopoly-driven
partnerships with government and the not-for profit sector as part of
good "corporate citizenship." This does not provide stable funding as
evidenced by the inability of the Youth
Challenge Fund itself to ensure various programs can operate without
interruption. Torontonians and Canadians must reject this
public-private "partnership" model of delivering social programs on an ad
hoc basis "when the money is there." It is the responsibility of
all levels of government to uphold public
right over monopoly right -- to ensure that the people's basic needs
for a dignified life are met.
Under the current economic and political arrangements in
Toronto,
Ontario and Canada, political power is wielded by the rich and their
governments. Minority youth are an after-thought. This situation must
changed by the working class, whose children are the vast majority of
the national minority youth. These
youth must be mobilized as part and parcel of those fighting for the
renewal of society so that the working class becomes the decision-maker
in Toronto, Ontario and Canada, and builds a society fit for human
beings, where the rights of the people are put in first place. This
will end the social problems that marginalized
youth face by guaranteeing them and everyone else a bright future.
Fraudulent 2008 Report on Youth Violence
- Frank Chilelli -
 In November 2008, the Ontario
government released its Roots of
Youth Violence
Report written by former Chief Justice of
Ontario Roy McMurtry and former Liberal MPP and Speaker of the Ontario
Legislature Alvin Curling. It purports to investigate "youth violence"
in the aftermath of the killing of Jordan
Manners, a black youth, at a Toronto high school in May 2007. The
report cost $2 million and is 1,700 pages long.
The report begins by praising the government for its
foresight in commissioning the inquiry. It proposes more funding for
psychologists, social workers, child and youth workers and guidance
counsellors in schools, implying that the problem is in the 'minds' of
some of the youth. In other words, the objective
condition, i.e., the system, is not the problem.
Instead, the starting point of the report is further
disinformation that escalating youth violence is a danger to all
Ontarians. The report goes to great lengths to stress that schools are
becoming more unsafe, that there are gangs, that many youth suffer from
"mental illness" and are desensitized to violence, and how
violence has become the norm to settle scores. It points out that
"danger arises from the impulsiveness of youth and the lack of
foresight with which they often act."[1]
Mentioning the word
'impulsiveness' leaves a mystery as to the cause of impulsiveness which
is youth itself, and why it should lead to violence.
The authors have worked themselves into a panic about the level of
violence, and furthermore, blame the youth as the cause of social
violence.
The report suggests that youth involved in gun violence
and social crime within their neighbourhoods are victims themselves.
However, it does not elaborate or provide any answers as to whom or
what these youth are victims of. It then concludes that there cannot be
an assumption or hypothesis that violence
is connected to poverty. It states that if it was, "we would be a far
more violent society than we are now given the extent of these
conditions and circumstances."[2]
This, however, contradicts the
studies pertaining to shootings in Toronto, which corroborate the
connection between poverty and social violence. More
than half of the killings involving shootings in Toronto have been in
poor working class neighbourhoods such as Jamestown and Jane/Finch
region where the majority of residents are oppressed blacks and other
national minorities.
The report asserts "immediate risk factors" that
allegedly predispose youth to serious violence. Two of the points made
are that 1) the youth, "believe that they are oppressed, held down,
unfairly treated and neither belong to nor have a stake in the broader
society" and 2) "believe that they have no way to be heard
through other channels." The authors have invoked the word "believe" in
their report, suggesting that the youth have a "perception" rather than
knowledge based on their own direct experience regarding their
oppression and marginalization by the racist Canadian state in which
the anti-social offensive and the law
and order agenda are used to negate the rights and claims of these
black youth and others. In other words the use of the word "believe" is
carefully added to dismiss the direct experience of these youth and the
oppression they face in the system on a daily basis.
The report by McMurtry and Curling, accommodated
defenders of the racist Canadian state, does not raise the issue of
poverty within the context of the brutal anti-social offensive waged by
successive governments against the people of Ontario. Instead, the
inquiry points to the symptoms as the root cause and
in doing so blames the youth themselves as being the cause of "youth
violence." Thus, the report will do nothing to alleviate the problem of
"youth violence," but provides a "safety valve" for the Canadian state
to once again show Ontarians and Canadians that "something is being
done" about youth violence. Such
reports serve to disinform Ontarians, isolate youth and black and
national minority youth in particular, in order to divert attention
from the violence of the state whose primary aim is to serve the
interests of the monopolies.
It is interesting to note that while McMurtry and
Curling were conducting their inquiry, the McGuinty Liberals found the
money to hire more police and began putting police in the schools, but
could find no money for the very social programs that the youth need.
It shows that their report is but a public relations
exercise, no different from past reports such as the Lewis Report or
the Falconer Report or many other reports that are conducted at the
expense of the public, that purport to deal with the issue of "youth
violence" but blame the youth for the violence in order to justify
after the fact inflated police budgets and jails.
The problems being faced by the youth are indicative of
a degenerating society based on oppression and exploitation which does
not recognize their needs as youth. Unemployment, humiliation and
marginalization of their concerns, culture and language engender acts
of desperation. It is these anti-social conditions
in society which are being reflected in acts of desperation. What is
termed the youth being "attitude problems" is their rejection of these
conditions and the clash between conditions and the authority of the
state which refuses to recognize their rights.
The McMurtry and Curling report and its recommendations
are not going to make any progress to address "youth violence" or any
of the myriad problems facing black and other minority youth. This is
because as Ontarians, Canadians, blacks, national minorities and the
working people of Canada, there is no
mechanism to discuss the issues confronting them so that they can
decide upon and initiate actions that would serve their interests and
the interests of all. The Canadian state has no interest to solve the
problems of the most vulnerable and to provide rights to all.
Recalling
the historic liberation and emancipation struggles of the past in the
context of the present, a question facing the entire polity is how to
take these struggles further so as to become the decision-makers in all
matters which affect us. To think that the political
parties in the Parliament and the Legislature who have contributed to
no end of problems for the workers and people of Ontario will defend
the interests of the black and minority communities or anyone else
simply negates our direct experience. This is why it is crucial that
the black youth, national minorities and
working class people build their own committees for renewal in their
neighbourhoods so that they are able to discuss their concerns and
select individuals to represent their interests.
Notes
1. Curling, Alvin and McMurtry
Roy, The Review of the
Roots of Violence, Executive Summary Report
2. Ibid.
Justice for Migrant Workers!
Vigil Held to Commemorate Hampstead Tragedy
- Jim Nugent -
At least 150 migrant farm workers and supporters from
across
southern Ontario gathered in the hamlet of Hampstead on July 22 to take
a stand for the dignity of labour and to demand workers' rights and
justice for migrant workers. Hampstead is the site of the accident in
February in which nine Peruvian migrant agricultural workers and two
other workers were killed.
The vigil was organized by Justice for Migrant Farm
Workers (J4MW)
to mark the six-month anniversary of the tragedy under the
banner, "Remembering the Dead, Standing up for the Living." In his
remarks to welcome everyone, J4MW organizer Chris Ramsaroop noted that
many more migrant workers were prevented
from coming, either by threat of reprisal from their employers, or
because they were scheduled to work at the last minute.
As J4MW organizer Tzana Miranda Leal stated, "We hold
vigils such as
this because we refuse to forget the migrant workers who have been
killed on the job. It is political -- we refuse to let these workers
die without anyone paying any attention."
One migrant farm worker after the other spoke out
boldly, with
anger and with great dignity to denounce the modern form of slavery
imposed on them when they come to Canada to work. They especially spoke
out about the collaboration of governments in Canada, Ontario's
Workplace Safety Insurance Board,
employers and the governments of the sending country to deny workers
compensation and medical treatment when they are injured on the job or
to deny compensation for families when workers are killed. The speakers
came that day from farms in Niagara, Leamington and Essex-Kent and
other places in South
Western Ontario and have come to Canada from Mexico, Jamaica and other
countries of
Central America and the Caribbean.
The migrant farm workers were warmly and
enthusiastically supported
by all those at the vigil. These included a large contingent of active
and retired steelworkers from Local 1005 USW, members of other trade
unions, delegations of injured
workers from several organizations in the Ontario Network of Injured
Workers' Groups (ONIWG), a bus-load of migrant rights activists from
Toronto
organized
by No One Is Illegal, representatives of Kairos and other church social
justice groups and youth from Kitchener and Hamilton. There was a large
delegation
from the Workers' Centre of CPC(M-L), including cultural workers who
joined in the music that was
part of the vigil. The first issue of ONIWG's newspaper, Justice for Injured Workers, which
featured several items on the situation of migrant workers, was widely
distributed and well-received at the event.
 The first speaker was a
woman from Peru now living in Canada who is a
relative of one of the men killed in the Hampstead accident. She
conveyed the gratitude
of the families of the men who died for all that had been done for them
by supporters in Canada. The
families, she said, told her about
the terrible conditions under which these men lived and worked
while in Canada -- long hours, backbreaking work and no freedom to do
anything. Employers told workers not to go to the hospital when they
were sick because they did not want their insurance rates to go up. She
said it is unacceptable that such
conditions exist in this century in a modern country.
The threat of reprisals from employers including being
deported for
reporting injuries or illness to employers was something all the
workers spoke about. They talked about how workers are sought after and
re-called to Canada by employers when they are healthy and strong, but
when anything happens to them
they are simply discarded to fend for themselves without anyone taking
responsibility for their injuries and sickness.
 A worker from Jamaica
described his experience. As a pesticide sprayer, he had to work with
carcinogenic materials without proper protection. When he broke his leg
at work, the WSIB declared that the break in his leg was caused by his
leg being weakened by a tumour and on this basis cut off his
compensation and treatment. He was given a couple of thousand dollars
and sent back to Jamaica. The delays and lack of proper treatment
resulted in the amputation of his leg.
"Many more workers are going to die," he said, "because
of the
chemicals that are being used and the way that they are being used.
Workers are working with chemicals dripping off of them and when they
get sick they are sent home to Jamaica where they can't make any
trouble for the owners or the government."
He explained that inspectors call ahead before
inspections and
greenhouse operators hide the chemicals they aren't supposed to be
using until after the inspection. Workers can't speak out or they will
be sent home. The same applies to living conditions, which are also
supposed to be inspected, "Eight workers
jammed in a trailer with no heat or air conditioning. A dog has a good
life compared to migrant workers. How is the system going to get
better? The inspections have to change."
 He pointed out the
significance of migrant farm workers' contribution to the Canadian
economy, saying, "We are the ones, the farm workers, who make sure
[Canadians] get clean food to eat," he said. "So we should be taken
care of. We are the ones who put food on their tables."
A worker from the Caribbean who this year began work in
Canada said
that he used to think Canada was a modern democratic country where
there was prosperity for everyone and where everyone had rights.
Working as a migrant farm worker "has opened my eyes to the dark side
of Canada," he said, adding
that tying workers to an employer and not having workers' rights is a
form of slavery. Years ago, he said, on the island he comes from, the
British brought indentured workers from India as slave labour and
Canada has a modern version of that system.
A young worker from Central America said he was speaking
out
for all of those who weren't able to come to the vigil. He spoke
forcefully for the dignity of labour: "We are remembering today our compañeros
who came here with a dream of a better life for their
families. We are working here for the
development of Canada but we need support and justice so that we do
well in Canada. Like every other worker, we demand our dignity and to
have our rights respected here."
 One Canadian worker who
participated in the vigil pointed out to Ontario Political Forum
that, "Remembering the dead is important to do as part of opposing
attempts by governments to avoid their responsibility for the deaths
and injuries to
migrant farm workers. The federal and provincial governments justify
their irresponsibility with the pretence that these workers are not
part of the Canadian working class and people even though migrant
workers are the main workforce of a key economic sector and have worked
in Canada for many years." Standing up for the living means opposing
the
seasonal agricultural workers
program as a modern form of slavery based on depriving migrant farm
workers of civic and workers' rights, he stated. "Every manner of
humiliation and
indignity can be perpetrated against migrant farm workers by employers
which is an offence and injury to all workers."
Yet another told Ontario
Political
Forum that, "The Ontario government tries
to quietly
sweep migrant farm worker deaths under the rug -- there have been many
deaths in the most horrific circumstances but a coroner's inquiry has
never been called into any of these deaths. Even in the case of the
Hampstead accident, the government
has refused demands for an inquiry. It is absolutely unacceptable how
when migrant workers are injured or become sick from pesticides and
other causes, the government simply sends them home and forgets about
them. This has to stop!"
The determination to oppose
these attacks on migrant workers was
eloquently conveyed by Local 1005's resident poet Bill Mahoney, who
delivered a poem composed especially for the occasion, entitled,
"Rights
and Justice." It read in part:
 Far too
many workers
Are being forced to fight,
Just to get the dignity,
That ought to be their right,
The way
Canada treats migrant workers,
Is a bloody shame;
Steelworkers share their anger,
And we feel their pain.
You can
be damn sure
They didn't die in vain!
The vigil concluded with the planting of flowers at the
site. The
migrant workers stated that these were to literally heal scar in the
land left by the accident, heal the hearts of those who lost loved ones
and at the same time serve as reminder to ensure that the 11 men who
lost
their lives will not be forgotten.
The vigil was followed by a reception and lunch at the
Working
Centre in downtown Kitchener where the participants engaged in animated
discussion that highlighted their resolve to organize to demand that
governments ensure full rights for migrant workers, including the right
to health care, a living wage and
to landed status upon arrival.
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