December 21, 2019

2019 Photo Review

Speaking and Acting in Our Own Name
to Uphold the Rights of All and
Make Canada a Zone for Peace

June

With this issue of TML Daily, CPC(M-L) continues its month-by-month 2019 photo review, covering the month of June.

As the month began injured workers gathered at Queen's Park for the 36th year to mark Ontario Injured Workers' Day and forcefully put their demand to the government that their right to full compensation when injured or made ill on the job be guaranteed. Once again, the fight of injured workers for their rights and the rights of all put them squarely in the midst of the resistance to the increasingly brutal anti-social offensive under the current government, alongside many other sectors in Ontario. A spirit of determination was palpable at the rally, which brought forward the voices and experiences of the injured workers, presenting both the successes in their organizing and the serious difficulties they face with escalating cuts by the Ford government. The speakers presented their experiences as injured workers within the perspective of how to organize to change the difficult situation faced by so many workers.  

The injured workers' actions were shortly followed by the first anniversary of the election of the Ford government in Ontario on June 7, a year which saw vigorous actions to resist this government's all-sided neo-liberal anti-social offensive. Working people across Ontario held more than 50 actions across the province to ensure that they marked this anniversary boldly, affirming their defence of the rights of all and that their demands must set the agenda for the society, not the Ford government's anti-people mantra of "making Ontario open for business." Teachers, education workers, students, parents, health care and public sector workers and their supporters, as well as those protesting cuts to autism therapy funding were in the front ranks of the actions, as too were those organizing for the rights of the poorest and most precariously employed workers. Together, people from all walks of life made clear that Ontarians did not vote for the pay-the-rich agenda the Ford government is implementing.

On June 3, two-and-a-half years after beginning its work, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls released its 1,071-page final report entitled Reclaiming Power and Place at a ceremony in the Grand Hall of the Museum of History in Gatineau. The report concludes that murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls are part of an overall genocide against Indigenous peoples in Canada. Chief Inquiry Commissioner Marion Buller pointed out that the source of the ongoing violence against Indigenous women and girls is to be found in the Canadian state and its policies, and that the final report’s calls for justice are not mere recommendations but legal imperatives which must be implemented. The fact the inquiry took place was due to the tenacity of the friends and families of the victims, who refused to permit their sisters, daughters, mothers and aunties to be dismissed and forgotten, and to the efforts of all those who are fighting to see that the Canadian state's colonial outlook, and its refusal to uphold nation-to-nation relations and to fulfill all of its responsibilities to the Indigenous peoples is ended.

In Alberta, workers from unions representing some 180,000 public sector workers filled the rotunda of the legislature on June 12 as Bill 9, the Public Sector Wage Arbitration Deferral Act, was introduced and received first reading. Present were teachers and education workers, nurses, provincial employees and their union leaders. Speakers condemned the government's assault on the rights of workers, including the right to collectively negotiate their collective agreements, and made it clear that working people will not accept this. A summer of militant actions across Alberta to say No! to Bill 9 and the government's use of dictate followed, which continued into the fall as working people built their resistance with each new announcement by the Kenney government of attacks on public services and the workers who deliver them.

Indigenous people took action in Vancouver and Ottawa in opposition to the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline, under the banner "No Consent, No Pipeline!" after the Trudeau government announced -- three days before National Indigenous Peoples Day and in blatant violation of the principle of nation-to-nation relations -- that the project will proceed.

June 1
Workers rally at Queen's Park on Injured Workers' Day to demand full compensation when injured or made ill on the job. A large contingent of retired General Electric workers has travelled to the rally from Peterborough, along with workers from Barrie, Hamilton and other areas. Actions also take place in Windsor, London and Thunder Bay.

London

Windsor

Thunder Bay

(Photos: WF, ONIWG, P. Stacho, Occupy WSIB, M. Jee, S. Mantle)   https://cpcml.ca/WF2019/WO0621.HTM#3

June 3
The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls releases its final report, Reclaiming Power and Place, in the Grand Hall of the Museum of History in Gatineau, two-and-a-half years after it began its work in September 2016. The report has concluded that missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls were the victims of a Canadian genocide.

https://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2019/W49021.HTM#1  (MMIWG Inquiry, P. Palmater)

June 4
Brunswick Smelter workers in Belledune, New Brunswick hold a community rally in which over 300 workers and community members participate. The 280 smelter workers have been locked out of their jobs since April 24 by mining/metallurgical giant Glencore, which is trying to extort drastic anti-worker concessions from them.

(Photos: USW District 6)  https://cpcml.ca/WF2019/WO0621.HTM#5

June 7-8
Working people across Ontario hold more than 50 actions to mark the first anniversary of the election of the Ford government as well as the one-year anniversary of their own resistance and defence of the rights of all. Actions include lunch hour educational programs for workers to inform themselves of what the Ford government is up to.

Ottawa


Kingston



Lindsay


Port Hope


Whitby


Scarborough

Toronto



York Region


Woodbridge


Mississauga



Hamilton



Kitchener-Waterloo


Guelph


St. Thomas

Chatham-Kent


Windsor

North Bay



Bracebridge


Sudbury



Sault Ste. Marie; Thunder Bay

(Photos: TML, OFL, L. Elliott, A. Farrow, M. Wiper, J. Harden, CIPP, A. Farrow-Giroux, N. Drolet, Muskoka Power of Many, J. West, M. Vis, L. Jamieson, C. Matthew, Northumberland Labour Council, T. Balducci, S. McMurray, Unite Here 75, CUPE 905, A. Benhaw, F. Hahn, Autism Coalition, S. Wilson, S. Freund, J. Folk-Dawson, London and District Labour Council, J. Kotsis, M. Dunlop, S. Harris)
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2019/W49022.HTM#2

June 8-9
Delegates of 19 Canada-Cuba solidarity and friendship organizations from across the country gather in Toronto for the 9th Biennial Convention of the Canadian Network on Cuba. Delegates meet in the context of escalating U.S. attacks on Cuba and worrying developments in Canada-Cuba relations.

(Cuban Embassy, TMLW)

June 9
Actions demand that Canada reopen consular services at its embassy in Havana. Pickets take place in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto.

Montreal, QC


Ottawa, ON


Toronto, ON

June 9
At a demonstration in Vancouver, one week before the Trudeau government's expected decision to proceed with the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion protesters reiterate that the project does not have the free and informed consent of the Indigenous peoples and cannot go ahead.

June 10
  The United Steelworkers announce at a press conference that the union is filing a complaint with the International Labour Organization against the Quebec government for its role in prolonging the lockout and denying the right of ABI workers, members of USW Local 9700, to negotiate collectively. The Alcoa/Rio Tinto cartel has now locked out the ABI workers for 17 months with the active collusion of the Quebec government.

https://cpcml.ca/WF2019/WO0623.HTM#6  (Metallos)

June 12
Alberta workers rally at the provincial Legislature against the  introduction of Bill 9 which will make it legal for the government to unilaterally dictate changes to public sector workers' collective agreements.

https://cpcml.ca/WF2019/WO0623.HTM#2

June 15
A vibrant and informative public forum, featuring Dr. Kiyul Chung, is held in Toronto to mark the 19th anniversary of the signing of the June 15, 2000 North-South Joint Declaration between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea, a historic occasion that revitalized the Korean people's movement for national reunification.

https://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2019/W49023.HTM#8

June 15
Edmonton action stands with Wet'suwet'en against colonial violence and in support of their sovereignty over their unceded territories.

June 16
Migrant rights activists hold actions across Canada calling for status on arrival for migrant workers, full access to social services for all -- including migrant workers, and an end to employer and time-limited work permits.

Toronto, ON

Kelowna, BC

June 17
Picket held in Montreal against the U.S. blockade of Cuba, as monthly actions continue in Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver.

June 17
ABI smelter workers in Quebec receive support from across Quebec and Canada for their just fight to reach a negotiated settlement. Below, a delegation of Unifor Local 1980 workers from Markham, Ontario visits their picket line.
https://cpcml.ca/WF2019/WO0625.HTM#2   (Metallos)

June 18-19
No Consent, No Pipeline! actions take place in Vancouver and on Parliament Hill following the Trudeau government's announcement that it plans to proceed with the Trans Mountain
pipeline expansion.

Vancouver


Ottawa

June 20
Grassy Narrows First Nation holds it annual River Run march and rally demanding the government take action on its promise to financially compensate and build a care and treatment centre for those in their community affected by mercury poisoning.

June 21
Programs are organized across the country in celebration of National Indigenous Peoples Day. They include actions that bring to the fore the demand for recognition of Indigenous sovereignty and solidarity of the peoples of Canada with the struggle Indigenous peoples are waging for their rights.

Vancouver


Ottawa 

London

June 22
Edmonton picket demands Canada not interfere in the affairs of sovereign nations on the side of U.S. imperialism, affirming that it must instead become a zone for peace.

June 28
Climate strike action in Edmonton.

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