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December 30, 2017
2017 Photo Review
For a Modern Canada that
Defends the
Rights of All --
All Out to Build the New!
December
 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.
As December began people from
cities
and
small
towns across Canada and Quebec joined with others
around the world to stand as one with the heroic Palestinian people who
rose in a mighty storm to answer with a resounding No! U.S.
President Donald Trump's December 7 declaration that the U.S. considers
Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Across Palestine courageous men, women
and youth confronted the Israeli Occupation forces while protests were
held outside U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide in support of
Palestinian resistance to Zionist occupation and in opposition to U.S.
attempts to control the affairs of all peoples and nations or destroy
what they cannot control. The Trudeau government showed itself to be in
contempt of Canadians' views and those of the peace-loving peoples of
the world when on December 21 it abstained from a UN General Assembly
vote that opposed and challenged the U.S. declaration. That resolution
was passed by an overwhelming majority of countries -- 128 to 9 with 35
abstentions, including Canada's. Clearly Canada's intention to gain a
seat on the UN Security Council has nothing to do with making a
contribution to world peace.
December 6 marked the
centenary of the Halifax Explosion when a ship
carrying munitions to France was struck by another ship, caught fire
and exploded in Halifax Harbour. This was the most destructive man-made
explosion prior to the criminal U.S. act of the atomic bombing
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Far from being an isolated accident, it
represented in microcosm the unprecedented brutality of the First World
War borne by working people who were sent to slaughter for the
imperialist division of the world, a war in which Canada was embroiled
as part of the British Empire. Some 2,000 people were killed and half
of Halifax was left homeless -- areas where the workers, the poor, the
African-Nova Scotian community and the Mi’kmaq lived were leveled.
Events in Halifax marked this sombre anniversary, which continues to
serve as a warning of the dangers that lie ahead for Canada should it
be drawn into imperialist war.
Maritime workers, organized
in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, along with their
allies, took action to oppose the passage of Bill C-23, An Act respecting the preclearance of
persons and goods in Canada and the United States, which became
law on December 12. The law gives the Canadian government expanded
powers to authorize U.S. security agencies to enforce U.S. authority in
Canada in air and land ports, factories and elsewhere with greater
impunity. The workers vowed to keep up the fight for their rights and
against U.S. jurisdiction over Canadians as the law is implemented
through regulations.
December 10 was the fifth anniversary of Idle No More's first national
day of action under the Harper government, which served as
a converging point for people from all walks of life to demand that
justice be rendered for all the historical crimes against the
Indigenous peoples, and that colonial relations imposed by the Canadian
state be ended and put on a proper nation-to-nation basis. The
anniversary was marked in Toronto on December 21 with a rally, march
and round dance. The rally took place at the Indigenous and Northern
Affairs offices where there had been a vigil for 100 days against the
abuse of Indigenous peoples by the Canadian state being carried out by
the Trudeau government, despite all its promises to end such practices.
Actions took place in several other cities, including Winnipeg.
On December 11 the Ontario
Network of Injured Workers' Groups held actions in cities around the
province as part of its "Workers' Comp is a Right" campaign. This year,
to assist in the mobilizing work, the Christmas demonstration, that for
the last 25 years was held at the Ministry of Labour and Workplace
Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Toronto, was replaced by local
actions. The Christmas theme highlighted the hardships faced by injured
workers and their families during the holidays, as well as their
impoverishment throughout the year.
December 2
Meeting in Montreal commemorates the first anniversary of the death of
Fidel Castro.
 
December 6
Vigils in Montreal and Toronto as well as in other cities across the
country
commemorate the fourteen young women engineering students killed in the
Montreal Massacre in 1989. Participants recommit to ending the
situation where
women face violence simply because they are born female.
Picket in Toronto supports the Honduran people who are
protesting
fraudulent elections.
  
http://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2017/W47040.HTM#13 (Photos: G.
Monteiro, L.G. Caja)
Picket in Montreal against U.S. war preparations on the
Korean Peninsula.
December 7-10
In actions across the country the people of Canada and Quebec stand
with the heroic Palestinian people to vigorously repudiate the
U.S. President's declaration that the
U.S. considers Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
Montreal
 
Ottawa
Toronto
 
London
Windsor
Edmonton
 
Calgary
Vancouver
 
http://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2017/W47040.HTM#2
(Photos: TML, BDS
Vancouver, A. Foote, Hussaini Assn of Calgary, K. Jones)
December 8
Parliament Hill action marks the 15th anniversary of Mohamed Harkat's
security certificate arrest on International Human Rights Day in 2002
and opposes the
Canadian government's ongoing attempts to criminalize
and deport him on the
basis of secret trials and evidence.
High school students in Port McNeill on Vancouver Island walk out of
class to join protests to end open net-pen fish farms, to protect wild
salmon and the communities
that depend on them.
December 9
Elementary teachers and other education professionals organized into
the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) launch a social
media
campaign
to commemorate the beginning of their province-wide strikes
five years ago on
December 10. The campaign coincides with another
round of mediated talks with the government over a remedy after the
courts affirmed that the government violated fundamental freedoms in
the 2012 round of negotiations.
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Slideshow produced by Greater Essex EFTO celebrates five years of
resistance to dictate and defending workers' rights.
Click on image to view video.
|
 |
http://cpcml.ca/WF2017/WO0445.HTM#8
December 10
Human Rights Day is marked in Toronto and Vancouver with actions
denouncing the human rights violations and state-sanctioned killings
being carried out in the
Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte came to power.
Toronto
Vancouver
December 11
Injured workers in communities around Ontario, including Toronto,
Hamilton,
Barrie, London, Windsor, Chatham and Thunder Bay hold
pickets, rallies and
outreach actions demanding that the right to
full compensation of all workers
injured and made ill at work be met.
December 12
Paramedics from many Ontario cities converge on Queen's Park to oppose
changes to the Ambulance Act
that undermine regulations in their sector with the passage of omnibus
Bill 160 that day. They point out that these changes endanger patient
care and that what is required is increased funding for public health
care.
December 13
Weekly pickets and the gathering of signatures on the Canada for Peace
petition continue in Montreal, as well as in Toronto and Vancouver.
Montreal
December 16
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, along with the BC
Federation of Labour and the BC Civil Liberties Association, rally in
Vancouver against anti-national Bill C-23, An Act respecting the preclearance of
persons and goods in Canada and the United States. The bill
authorizes U.S. agents to carry weapons and detain, search and use
force against Canadians at preclearance facilities on Canadian soil.
 
http://cpcml.ca/WF2017/WO0446.HTM#3
Vancouver picket opposes the construction of the Kinder
Morgan pipeline and demands TD Bank divest from the project.
 
(Photos: CCMV, 350)
Actions continue to repudiate President Trump's
declaration recognizing Jerusalem
as the capital of
Israel.
Montreal
 
Chatham-Kent
December 17
Dedicated activists complete a year of monthly pickets in defence of
the Cuban people and their right to sovereignty, free from the criminal
U.S. economic blockade.
Montreal
Ottawa
Vancouver
December 18
The National Organization of Retired Postal Workers continues its
monthly pickets outside Finance Minister Bill Morneau's Toronto
constituency office demanding anti-pension Bill C-27 be withdrawn.
December 20
Weekly picket in Toronto against U.S. war
preparations on the Korean Peninsula and collection of signatures for
the
Canada for Peace petition.
December 21
A rally at the
Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada office in Toronto, followed by a
march and round-dance, mark the fifth anniversary of the founding of
Idle No More in December 2012. Youth from Northern Ontario communities
participate and highlight the large number of Indigenous youth in
detention centres and foster care, that as part of the ongoing colonial
displacement of Indigenous peoples, contributes to the suicide crisis
their northern communities face.
 
December 23
Fifth anniversary of
Idle No More is celebrated in Winnipeg with a round dance
at Portage and Main.
(Photos: Red Power
Media)
December 27-28
Speakers at seminar in
Toronto on "Public Opinion and How the National Interest Is Used to
Trump the Public Interest."
 
 
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