December 21, 2017

2017 Photo Review

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

June

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.

June opened with Ontario's 34th Annual Injured Workers' Day actions across the province and at the Ontario Legislature to hold the provincial government and employers to account. The important work of the injured workers' organizations is based on the uncompromising stand that safe and healthy workplaces are a right and that workers' compensation is a right -- all workers must be guaranteed just compensation that ensures dignity and a livelihood when injured or made sick on the job.

Filipino Canadians and others protested the declaration of martial law by the government of President Rodrigo Duterte on May 23 in the Mindanao region in the southern Philippines, allegedly to contain a terrorist threat. Shortly after, the government ended peace talks with the New People's Army.

Also in June, the Canadian Network on Cuba held its 8th Biennial Convention in Toronto to set its priorities within the new circumstances of the Trump presidency's renewal of the U.S. hostile policy toward Cuba. Work was set to mobilize public opinion against U.S. aggression towards Cuba, to organize activities commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, and to strengthen the work with members of parliament and legislatures.

Ontario public sector workers took action to block the privatization of the public utility Hydro One, including a lawsuit accusing the Wynne government of malfeasance for acting to undermine the public interest in favour of private interests. The workers affirmed that the public utilities belong to the people and the Wynne Liberals have no mandate for this scheme, which is part of their overall neo-liberal agenda of paying the rich, and a continuation of the activities of Ontario governments going back to the Harris Conservatives, to dismantle and privatize Ontario's public electricity generation and distribution infrastructure.

The demand of ongoing pickets in Toronto for U.S. troops to get out of Korea was reiterated at a public meeting in Toronto on the anniversary of the historic June 15, 2000 North-South agreement. The removal of U.S. troops is necessary to peacefully and independently reunite Korea and end the danger of war. While in June the Trudeau government released its new "defence policy," what is meant by "defence" is illustrated by the fact that in the same month Canada had warships participating in U.S. war exercises in Asia, docking, in south Korea. Koreans there demanded the removal of Canadian and U.S. warships from the Korean peninsula.

June ended with militant actions led by Indigenous peoples to affirm their nationhood, sovereignty and rights, and to reject the ahistorical and empty celebrations of "Canada 150," that cover up Confederation's dispossession of the Indigenous nations, as well as the suppression of the Quebec nation, and that justify the status quo arrangements that negate rights and block the peoples from being able to exercise control over their lives. A major convergence point was Parliament Hill, right in the middle of the Canadian state's "official celebrations," where activists affirmed that Canada is built on stolen Indigenous land and that the Canadian state must provide immediate redress for its crimes against Indigenous peoples.

June 1
Injured workers and their allies mark the 34th Ontario Injured Workers' Day with
spirited actions affirming that they will not give up their fight for full and just compensation for all workers who are injured or made ill at work, and for
safe and healthy working conditions. Actions take place in Toronto and in other
Ontario cities.

Queen's Park Rally and March

Panel Discussion: Fighting Back Against Toxic and Unsafe Work
http://cpcml.ca/WF2017/WO0422.HTM#5

Injured Workers' Day rally in Windsor

Local 1005 USW holds information meeting for its retirees, part of a week of
discussions with its members on whether to accept a new tentative agreement. The meetings take place amidst the difficult situation caused by the Canadian state's subordination to the U.S. imperialist demand to hand over Stelco steelworks
to another gang of U.S. oligarchs.

http://cpcml.ca/WF2017/WO0422.HTM#1

June 2
Picket in Toronto supports the Bolivarian republic of Venezuela as the Canadian government steps up its interference in Venezuela's internal affairs.

http://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2017/W47021.HTM#11

Picket in Toronto opposes declaration of martial law in the Philippines

A public lecture "Fidel! Cuba! Africa! Africa's Children Return!" takes place on the eve of the Canadian Network on Cuba convention in Toronto. Historian and Cuba specialist Isaac Saney explores the history and impressive dimensions of the
Cuban Revolution's solidarity with Africa.

June 3-4
Canada-Cuba solidarity and friendship organizations from across the country hold
a very successful 8th Biennial Convention of the Canadian Network
on Cuba in Toronto.

Luis Morlote Rivas, Vice-President, Cuban Union of Writers and Artists and a
member of the Cuban National Assembly, speaks at June 3 evening event, "Cuba
Moving Forward in 2017."

http://cpcml.ca/Tmld2017/D47004.HTM#1

June 4
Afghani youth and their supporters hold vigil in Toronto for victims of terror attack in Kabul and oppose the attacks by Canadian and other western media.

June 10
Liquor Control Board of Ontario workers organize information pickets to inform people of their just demands to reduce the number of part-time workers and for other changes to improve their working conditions.


http://cpcml.ca/WF2017/WO0424.HTM#4

June 12
Workers hold a militant demonstration to denounce the privatization of Ontario Hydro One, Ontario's public electricity distribution and transmission utility. They rally and march in support of CUPE's lawsuit against Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and her Ministers of Finance and Energy.

http://cpcml.ca/WF2017/WO0423.HTM#4

June 17
Public meeting in Toronto, marking the anniversary of the historic North-South declaration, calls for the peaceful and independent reunification of Korea.

June 20
120th weekly picket against Bill C-51 in Vancouver. On this day, the Trudeau Liberals introduce Bill C-59 which, like Bill C-51, increases police powers of the
state security agencies to carry out state terrorism against the people in the name
of "national security."
http://cpcml.ca/Tmld2017/D47002.HTM

June 28-30
Indigenous youth from Sault Ste. Marie, including the Bawating Water Protectors, succeed in establishing a gathering place on Parliament Hill, despite being
assaulted by police. Four days of ceremony and fasting begin, led by the youth,
to affirm the sovereignty and rights of Indigenous peoples and to reject the
glorification of the Canadian state and its colonial relations with Indigenous
peoples embodied in the $500 million Canada 150 commemorations
taking place July 1.

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