December 17, 2017

2017 Photo Review

For a Modern Canada that
Defends the Rights of All --
All Out to Build the New!

February

TML Daily is posting a month-by-month photo review of the stands taken by the working people of Canada and Quebec and Indigenous peoples in 2017.

In February, actions were taken to defend the rights of all and to oppose the Trudeau Liberals' program to respond to the demands of the people for empowerment by expanding the police powers of state security agencies, carrying out black ops against the people and violating the right to conscience in the name of "national security."

Steelworkers in Quebec at Samuel et Fils and CEZinc went on strike to defend the pensions they have and oppose two-tier pensions. Their stand was aimed at reversing the deterioration of living and working conditions and defending their organizations and the unity of workers of all ages.

While 2017 marked the 150th anniversary of Confederation, the ongoing struggles of Indigenous peoples against colonial injustice dominated people's consciousness despite attempts by the state to obfuscate them with empty celebrations of Canada 150. February 14 saw the annual memorial marches across the country for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, an outpouring of social love in stark contrast to the Trudeau government's callous refusal to see justice rendered for the victims and families.

Nova Scotia teachers and education workers began mass actions, including their first province-wide strike in response to the McNeil Liberal government's refusal to negotiate and passage of draconian legislation to dictate wages and working conditions -- students' learning conditions. Those who provide education in Nova Scotia refused to back down on their demand to resolve key matters relating to class sizes and composition, and salaries. They were joined by parents and students rallying together to stand as one in affirming workers' right to say No!

The negation of teachers' right to decide their working conditions laid bare the McNeil government's illegitimate neo-liberal agenda to attack public services and the workers who provide them that it carried on throughout 2017, when what is needed is a pro-social alternative that stops paying the rich, increases investments in social programs and public services and defends the rights of all.

February 1-3
Vigils and actions continue across Canada as people pay respects and offer
condolences to the victims of the January 29 shootings in Quebec City, their
families and the Muslim community as well as solidify Canadians' determination
to affirm the rights of all as the basis for the security of the individual.

Windsor, February 1

Fort McMurray, February 1

St. John's, February 3

http://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2017/W47003.HTM#3

February 2
Carleton University students protest outside a Board of Governors meeting to call
for a shutdown of the Infrastructure Resilience Research Group which is involved in working out how state police and spy agencies should use Bill C-51 to criminalize dissent. They denounce the university president for statements attacking students'
right to freedom of speech and to have a say over such important matters.

http://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2017/W47004.HTM#4

February 3
Rally at Points West Living Alberta's corporate office in Edmonton demands the company lift the lockout of its employees in Cold Lake and stop attacking their wages and working conditions, and the living conditions of the seniors in their care.

http://cpcml.ca/WF2017/WO0405.HTM#4

February 4
Thousands of people in cities across the country participate in actions alongside those in the United States and around the world to oppose the racist travel ban declared by the Trump administration. Actions call on the government of Canada to respond, not with empty rhetoric about diversity, but by taking concrete action to uphold the rights of all in Canada and at the borders. The actions show the consciousness of the people that they must take their own independent action to resist state-organized racist attacks
and Islamophobia.

Charlottetown

Montreal

Ottawa

Toronto

London

Owen Sound

Calgary

Vancouver

http://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2017/W47003.HTM#5

February 8
Carleton University students and professors develop their work in defence of rights, launching a petition opposing the university's role in the Canadian state's
promotion of police powers to criminalize dissent and suppress
the right to conscience.

February 9
Toronto picket disrupts the Conference of American Armies on "Domestic Operations" denouncing its member militaries, including Canada's, which are involved in the repression of Indigenous peoples and other collectives fighting for their rights.

http://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2017/W47004.HTM#8

February 12
Quebec steelworkers resist attacks on their pension plans, taking strike action at Samuel et Fils in Laval and CEZinc in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.

Samuel et Fils, Laval

CEZinc, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield

http://cpcml.ca/WF2017/WO0407.HTM#1

February 14
Memorial marches across Canada reaffirm the demand for justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and denounce the paternalism of the
Trudeau government's treatment of Indigenous peoples' hereditary,
treaty and constitutional rights.

Vancouver

Prince George

Edmonton

University of Alberta, Edmonton

Calgary

Winnipeg

Thunder Bay

#RedDress Campaign, Laurentian University, Sudbury

Toronto

Montreal

February 14-15
Nova Scotia teachers and education workers and their allies rally against
legislation introduced by the provincial government to impose a contract on
9,300 public school teachers.

http://cpcml.ca/WF2017/WO0406.HTM#1

February 17
Monthly pickets keep up the demand for an immediate end to the U.S. criminal blockade of Cuba.

Ottawa

Vancouver

Teachers and education workers in Nova Scotia hold the first ever province-wide strike to affirm their right to say No! to unacceptable wages and working conditions and the ongoing degradation of the quality of education in the face of the Liberal McNeil government's decision to pass Bill 75 to legislate contracts and criminalize dissent.

Halifax, Province House

Amherst

Richmond

Falls River

Iona

http://cpcml.ca/WF2017/WO0407.HTM#5

February 20
Rally in Halifax against the passage of Bill 75 imposing a contract on
Nova Scotia teachers.

http://cpcml.ca/WF2017/WO0407.HTM#5

February 21
Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) activists hold a spirited picket
outside the "Strategies for a New North America" symposium organized by the
Canadian Council for the Americas. The picket takes place shortly after the meeting between Prime Minister Trudeau and U.S. President Trump and expresses the
sentiment of Canadians against the attacks on Canadian sovereignty
engendered in NAFTA and the Canada European-Union Comprehensive
Economic and Trade Agreement.

http://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2017/W47006.HTM#3

February 23
Transportation workers in Vancouver rally to oppose the federal government's plans to privatize sea ports and airports and to dismantle cabotage. They denounce the Trudeau government's endorsement of the Canada Transportation Act Review Report which advocates deregulation and privatization and handing control of maritime, air, rail and truck transport systems to the global oligopolies.

Vancouver

http://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2017/W47007.HTM#9

February 27
Steelworker locals from U.S. Steel (now Stelco) in Hamilton and Essar Steel Algoma
in Sault Ste. Marie hold a joint press conference in Sault Ste. Marie where they
express their determination to resist the unjust and dictatorial Wild West of the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. Both were being ordered by the courts
under CCAA to open their contracts for changes which serve the oligarchs that
seized control of the two Canadian steelmakers. The workers expressed their determination to defend the rights of their active and retired members
and their communities.

http://cpcml.ca/WF2017/WO0408.HTM#1

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