Ontario Political Forum

Teachers and education workers are not backing down after the passing of Bill 115, the Putting Students First Act. On September 14, as part of the province-wide actions called by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF), the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario, teachers and education workers across the province rallied outside of the constituency offices of MPPs who voted to pass the bill. Students, parents and others from the respective communities joined in the rallies. Together they expressed their anger with the passing of the bill in the legislature and the need to stand as one to oppose dictate and the attack on rights.

Rallies took place at many constituency offices in towns and cities throughout the province, including Chesley, London, Mississauga, Brampton, Kingston, Sarnia, Pembroke and at Premier McGuinty's office in Ottawa. Students at Woodbridge High School in Vaughan showed their support for teachers by holding a rally the same day.

At Ontario Minister of Education Laurel Broten's office in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, more than 250 people showed their contempt for the bill. Speakers pointed out that teachers and education workers are on the front line of the attacks on public sector workers and that their fight is not just for the public sector workers but for all workers in both the public and the private sectors. When one speaker asked "Who's next?" the crowd responded "Everybody!" One speaker who fought the attacks of the Harris government said that she has never seen such anti-democratic legislation as the Putting Students First Act. The attack by the McGuinty government is ideologically motivated one speaker noted, and another pointed out that the rights of the teachers and education workers are being trampled.

In Waterdown, near Hamilton, more than 100 teachers, members of Local 1005 USW, firefighters, injured workers representatives and members of the Hamilton and District Labour Council participated in a rally at the office of Liberal MPP Ted McMeekin. The rally was addressed by Lisa Hammond, President of the Hamilton Wentworth Elementary Teachers Local (HWETL), Chantel Mancini, President of OSSTF District 21, Archie Walker, President of CUPE Local, Rolf Gerstenberger, President of Local 1005 USW and Anthony Marco, an executive member of the Hamilton and District Labour Council.

At Kitchener-Centre MPP John Milloy's office, people shared their concerns about the underhanded way that the McGuinty government dealt with contract negotiations. In particular, they talked about their concerns about the deterioration of the collective bargaining process as the government has totally denied teachers and education workers a chance to negotiate. They warned that the move against teachers and education workers sets a precedent for attacks on other workers. The defeat of the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives in the recent Kitchener-Waterloo by-election was described as a reflection that teachers, education workers and others will not accept this type of government.

In Barrie, Education Minister Laurel Broten's visit to announce a new elementary school was met by more than 60 angry teachers and education workers with shouts of Negotiate! Don't Legislate! Minister Broten pursued the government's attempts to pit teachers against students and their families. "I respect if they want to have conflict with me, but I really encourage them to leave our kids out of it," she said. The placards of the protesters told the real story: "We want to bargain with our school board. They understand our situation, the Minister doesn't" and on the question of rights: "You win some and some get stolen. Shame on you! Shame on Bill 115!" and "This is not about our wages, this is about destroying our rights!"

More than 60 teachers and education workers rallied at Simcoe Grey Conservative MPP Jim Wilson's office in Collingwood. Placards stated, "Thanks for stealing our democratic rights, Jim Wilson!" to protest the Conservative Party's role in passing Bill 115. Local teachers, representatives of the local labour council and education workers explained the importance of continuing the campaign against the bill and the loss of collective bargaining rights. A high school teacher stated that this bill's erosion of rights is just the beginning. This is going to happen right across the board -- to nurses and to any public sector worker that comes under the purview of the provincial government, he said.

Paul Elliot, OSSTF provincial vice-president, was in attendance. In an interview with the local media he stated: "It is still not too late to allow us to bargain and negotiate and you [the government] need to find a way in order to give us the ability to do that ... let us bargain, let us negotiate with our employers to come to a fair and reasonable settlement so there is peace and stability."

Collingwood and District Labour Council President Cheryl Nicholls Jones, political action committee chair for District 17 of the OSSTF, said: "Everyone wants to do the best at their work, so this has had such an impact when people have to start questioning the extra work that they do." She said that the question of teachers and education workers deciding about the extra work they do is a matter of conscience for each member.

Rally at constituency office of MPP Chris Bentley in London.

At the constituency office of Windsor Tecumseh MPP and Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan, speakers representing teachers and education workers denounced the McGuinty government's legislation and argued out clearly why it must be opposed as a stand in defence of the rights of all workers in Ontario and Canada. Most also denounced the hooligan threats against autoworkers made by Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne to move production to the United States as the same as those of McGuinty against the teachers and education workers. It was clear the teachers and education workers in the city, many of whom have family in the auto sector, see this as one fight in defence of rights. The spirit which lead to the defeat of the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives in Kitchener-Waterloo reverberated throughout the rally with participants convinced that stopping the government's wrecking is not only necessary but possible. This spirit was reflected in a statement by one of the speakers who, making it clear that teachers and education workers are a force in action, declared that they would make sure that this would be the last election Dwight Duncan won. The statement was met with resounding applause.

Windsor

Students Enthusiastically Stand with Teachers in Defence of Rights

High school students around the province have been holding their own actions in support of their teachers and to denounce the Putting Students First Act. Students in Toronto, Woodbridge, Vaughan, Fenelon Falls, Lindsay, Thunder Bay, Red Rock-Nipigon, Manitouwadge, Marathon, Ottawa and Prince Edward County are among those who held protests and walkouts to support their teachers and oppose the Putting Students' First Act.

Students rally with teachers in Vaughan,
September 14, 2012.

"We believe that teachers are the victims of what the government did and what Dalton McGuinty did," a student from Toronto said. "They're taking the rights of our teachers away... Through fighting for them, hopefully we get what we want."

Another said students were protesting to kill Bill 115 and standing up for their teachers' rights since the teachers cannot. A 15 year-old student said: "The teachers can't talk about it, which is stupid because we can't get information."

Students in Fenelon Falls and Lindsay held a walk out on September 13. One student told reporters: "The province makes a big deal about being healthy, like taking the [junk food] vending machines out of the schools, and now we could lose our sports and clubs. It doesn't make sense."

Another said he was protesting "to show the teachers that we care about them and want their rights back, adding he didn't think it was fair that teachers had no choice in accepting the new contract.

A member of the student council said, "Our teachers support us, and we're showing we support them. We're doing this to change the public's perception of teachers." He added that most people don't understand how much time teachers devote to the kids behind the scenes. "They do it because they care about us. The government is taking away their democratic rights."

Another student said the teachers coach, help with fundraisers and give after school academic help because they want to see the students succeed. "Their contracts don't say they have to stay; they do it for us."

Students at a number of Northern Ontario high schools held protests on September 13. In Thunder Bay students at one school walked out of class and waved signs in support of their teachers in front of the school, calling on passersby to honk in support.

In Manitouwadge, the entire student body left their classes and walked from the local high school through town and back. The next day the students organized a noon-hour discussion on issues related to the legislation and why it was important to show solidarity with their teachers.

"We wanted to raise awareness of the attack on teachers' rights to strike and work-to-rule in the negotiation process" one of the students told a local reporter, adding that students wanted to let everybody know they support the teachers and were not happy about their rights being taken away.

Ottawa high school students walked out of class September 14 to join teachers and education workers protesting in front of Premier Dalton McGuinty's constituency office.

Students at schools in Prince Edward County in Eastern Ontario held a class walk-out on September 17 to show support for their teachers, support staff, and student rights. In the lead up to the action organizers discussed on social media the significance of their action.

"Our goal is to create awareness for the current civil rights battle revolving around the teachers' unions and the government of Ontario, specifically the effect it will have on students and the public sector," wrote one of the organizers. "We aim to uphold the civil rights of all Canadians, by doing what teachers cannot right now: take a stand by striking."

Another wrote: "So let me get this straight. By removing the teacher's right to strike and freezing their salaries, the government is putting us first? Those who help us develop the skills we need to function in this world deserve proper compensation for their work, and removing their right to strike is beyond ridiculous... Europe proved that austerity doesn't work, so why the hell are we still doing this? When something doesn't work, you find a better way. As Einstein said: 'Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.'"

Students at Bramalea Secondary School in Brampton also walked out of classes on September 17 to protest their extracurricular activities being cut and denounce the provincial government for taking away teachers' rights. Signs they carried included ones that said "Bill 115: Putting Students Last Act" and "We support our teachers, not our government." Walkouts are planned at other schools later in the week and organizers said there would be a broader student rally on Saturday, September 22 at Queen's Park from noon to 1:30 pm.

(With files from: City News, cp24 TV, Kawartha Lakes This Week, County Live, Ontario News North, Thunder Bay News Watch)

Letter to the Editor

McGuinty's Attack on Matters of Conscience

Whether or not teachers withdraw voluntary work is a personal decision which is described as a matter of conscience. In fact, it is an assault on their conscience to have to take such a decision. Teachers, like nurses, doctors and many others, are professionals. As such they take on a duty to fulfil the aim of their profession -- teaching their students to make sure they acquire the knowledge society imparts commensurate to their grade level so that the younger generation is prepared to take society forward.

To say the decision to carry out services for which they are not paid is a personal one is an assault on their conscience when they are deprived of the conditions they require to fulfil the aim of their profession. The work they contribute is crucial to the lives of their students, the parents and the society as a whole. To make this a matter of personal conscience would be like saying that when the government does not provide enough doctors and demands that a few work around the clock, a doctor who refuses to work under such conditions is responsible for the death of a patient. Working under impossible conditions is made a matter of her/his conscience by implying that the refusal to work under untenable conditions is a violation of the Hippocratic Oath.

The point is that people can only do their duty if the conditions are there for it. Governments are duty-bound to make sure the conditions are there for teachers and students alike to teach and learn and flourish. This is why, so long as the government refuses to respect their profession, teachers are justified in withdrawing their voluntary services.
- A parent in Toronto

McGuinty's Arrogance About
Violating Charter of Rights

The McGuinty government's flagrant violation of the rights of teachers and educational workers with its unjust and unnecessary Bill 115 has been denounced as illegal and unconstitutional by many people both inside and outside the Ontario Legislature. As one front in their resistance to the attack on them, teachers and education workers have taken up a legal challenge of Bill 115 under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the Charter) and are prepared to challenge the law through the courts up to the Supreme Court. McGuinty though is strutting arrogantly in the Legislature expressing confidence that the courts, including the Supreme Court, will declare his unjust, unpopular attack on workers' rights is within the law.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the freedom of association guaranteed by Section 2(d) of the Charter includes workers' right to form unions, to collective bargaining and to go on strike. So why is McGuinty so self-assured about the Supreme Court backing up his attack on teachers and educational workers?

McGuinty's swagger comes from his knowledge that, while the courts have made a clear declaration that workers' collective rights are guaranteed by the Charter,[1] in practical terms there are gaping loopholes. McGuinty calculates that the Charter and its interpretation by the Supreme Court make two strategies available to his government for the trampling of workers' rights. This means that those who undertake the Charter challenges have to keep in mind not falling into thess traps.

Fraudulent Collective Bargaining Process

The first strategy is to pretend that no violation of workers' rights occurred, a charade the Supreme Court has shown it is happy to go along with. McGuinty's lawyers will argue that the government engaged teachers and education workers in a meaningful collective bargaining process respectful of their rights. The need to fabricate evidence for this argument lies behind the negotiation farce the government has been playing out at the Provincial Bargaining Table since January.

Toward this end, the provincial "negotiation" team was headed by the infamous anti-worker legal henchman Judge James Farley.[2] They refused to negotiate with teachers and education workers' union representatives even when the unions accepted the government's main demand for a two-year wage freeze. Farley and other lawyers were just going through the motions to prepare for the eventual introduction of Bill 115 and a Charter challenge of it.

This strategy for gaming the Charter is what McGuinty was talking about when he told the Legislature, "The Supreme Court of Canada has set out some basic rules that you have to follow to ensure that ultimately we can hit the pause button on public sector pay. So we started back in January..." The McGuinty government is applying to teachers and education workers the experience with this strategy it gained during its involvement in the Supreme Court's 2008 Fraser decision.

The Fraser decision validated the Agricultural Employees Protection Act 2002 a piece of Harris Conservative legislation that assigned second class worker rights to farm workers. This law is a cruel hoax on migrant farm workers which allows them to form associations but not to bargain collectively with employers. When this law was ruled unconstitutional by a lower court, the McGuinty government appealed to the Supreme Court to have it upheld. To its eternal shame, the Supreme Court blessed this cynical McGuinty-Harris mockery of workers' rights as legitimate and constitutional.

In the courts McGuinty is expecting a similar outcome to the Charter challenge of the teachers and education workers as in the Fraser decision. He is expecting that the Supreme Court will find that the dictate, blackmail and stonewalling of the government lawyer/negotiators at the Provincial Bargaining Table will be ruled to be a legitimate collective bargaining process that respects the workers' rights provisions in the Charter.

Reasonable Limits to Rights

Information about McGuinty's second strategy was blurted out by Minister of Education Laurel Broten in the Legislature when an opposition member was speaking against Bill 115. Broten heckled the speaker with shouts of "Reasonable limits! Reasonable limits!" What Broten was referring to is the Charter's Section 1 which says: "The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."

This is the Charter's "reasonable limits" clause. It is one of the provisions in the Charter that provides constitutional means for governments to suppress the exercise of any rights recognized by the Charter. The freedoms the Charter gives in Section 2 are taken away in Section 1. "Reasonable limits" is an escape clause for government built into the Charter.[3]

If McGuinty's government was unsuccessful in presenting the fraudulent Provincial Bargaining Table negotiations as a legitimate collective bargaining process, then the reasonable limits clause would kick in. If the teachers and education workers were able to show in court that Bill 115 violates their fundamental democratic rights, the courts would then provide the government with an opportunity to demonstrate that this violation was a reasonable limitation on workers' rights.

The courts have set out criteria for determining reasonableness of limits on rights, known as the Oakes Test.[4] The prime element in this test is that the legislation or action of a government limiting rights, is seeking an "objective of sufficient importance to warrant overriding a right or freedom."

What constitutes an "objective of sufficient importance" of course could mean anything. It is a political decision to be made by judges. The judges' decision is informed by their class position in society, the class struggle taking place in society and by the judges' roles as pillars of the existing political arrangements in which a rich, privileged minority rules over the majority.

What this political decision about limiting rights is not informed by is the thinking of workers and the working class outlook. The court decision on migrant workers' rights demonstrates this. There is hardly a worker in the country who would agree with the grandees of the Supreme Court that hardworking and vulnerable migrant farm workers should have only second class workers' rights. It is this lack of working class influence over the political decisions of the courts that McGuinty will be relying on when he faces the teachers' and education workers' Charter challenge.

Their lack of influence over decision-making is a problem for workers in the courts and protection of rights as it is in every area of political and economic affairs of the country. Working class influence and leadership is required for renewal of all the institutions of society, so rights and freedoms aren't empty declarations, so self-serving politicians like McGuinty can't trample on rights with impunity and so the rights of all are defended.

1. Judge D.P. Ball at the Court of Queen's Bench for Saskatchewan in February, 2012 made a ruling on the Saskatchewan government's Public Service Essential Services Act. The ruling provides an up-to-date summary of what the courts now say about workers' rights:

"...the Supreme Court of Canada has treated associational activity by employees for the purpose of achieving collective bargaining goals (as distinct from political, social or other goals), including the rights to organize, to bargain collectively and to strike, as part of freedom of association guaranteed by s. 2(d) of the Charter." The court's description of workers' rights is completely detached from the reality of the courts allowing governments to attack workers' collective rights with impunity.

2. Judge James Farley is infamous among workers in Ontario for his anti-worker rulings. Steelworkers Local 1005 battled Farley when he presided over the bankruptcy fraud of Stelco and its handover to US Steel. Farley also had an important role in the landmark anti-worker Fraser decision by the Supreme Court.

It was Farley who made the original ruling against migrant farm workers on their Charter challenge of the Harris government's Agricultural Employees Protection Act 2002 by declaring it constitutionally valid. The Appeal Court reversed Farley's decision. When the McGuinty government took the Appeal Court decision to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court's shameful Fraser decision was a reinstatement of Farley's original decision. It is no accident that Farley showed up at the Provincial Bargaining Table as head legal henchman in McGuinty's negotiations fraud.

3. Section 33 of the Charter is another more powerful clause for governments to negate rights, the "notwithstanding clause." This section gives the federal parliament and the provincial legislatures the power to declare rights under Sections 2, 7 and 15 inoperable with regard to a specific piece of legislation. When a reporter asked McGuinty if he would use Section 33 against the teachers and education workers, he refused to comment.

4. If a plaintiff has proven to a court that legislation violates Charter rights, the government responsible for the legislation must prove that the limitation of rights is reasonable. These conditions are known as the Oakes Test or the proportionality test. In an article published in the Ottawa Law Review, Gerald Beaudoin, a former University of Ottawa law professor and former Conservative Senator, outlines conditions legislation has to pass in the Oakes Test:

- an objective of sufficient importance to warrant overriding a right or freedom exists
- the concerns of the government responsible for the legislation are urgent and real
- the means used to achieve that objective are reasonable (that is, the measures are not arbitrary, inequitable or irrational)
- the means used impair the rights and freedoms of the individual as little as possible
- there is proportionality between the effects of the measures implemented and the objective that has been identified as of sufficient importance.

Beaudoin admits that at the end of the day, what is reasonable is really a political decision by a judge:

"This test, even though it is exacting, is not fixed or rigid. Section 1 confers on judges a power to assess competing interests and authorizes them to make value judgments."

Hands Off Public Sector Workers!

As teachers and education workers step up their organizing to defend their rights, other workers across Ontario's broad public sector are also preparing to confront the neo-liberal offensive being led by he McGuinty Liberals and the Hudak Conservatives.

Immediately after the rejection of his party by the voters in the Kitchener-Waterloo by-election McGuinty indicated he would disregard this popular expression against his attacks on workers' rights. McGuinty told the media his government would push through the legislation against teachers and education workers. He also said he would bring in legislation against other public sector workers in the fall. McGuinty's minority government will count on the Hudak Conservatives for support.

Several large units of public sector workers are preparing for this confrontation. The 30,000 members of the Ontario Public Service (OPS) unit of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) have a contract that expires on December 31. Health care workers number more than 200,000 in Ontario. Most are in the public sector with contracts that are expiring or have already expired.

In their current round of negotiations, health care workers expect to be targeted by the McGuinty government in much the same way as teachers and educational workers have been. Some units of health care workers are already under a wage freeze. The government has said it intends to freeze wages across the board in the sector. As well, health care workers point out, overall spending restraint by the government in the health sector means the wage freeze will be accompanied by employers demanding other concessions. Several large units are in negotiations or preparing for them and are gearing up for a fight.

One of these is the 60,000 members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in health care. These workers from hundreds of locals are organized in bargaining groups under the umbrella of the Health Care Workers' Coordinating Committee (HCWCC). Thirty thousand HCWCC workers are in hospitals and 20,000 are in long-term care homes. Many of these workers are entering the last year of a four-year contract and are preparing for central bargaining to begin in March.

A large unit of health care workers is already in negotiations. The 16,000 members of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) working in nursing homes began bargaining in mid-August. In a SEIU press release, bargaining committee members reported that the employers were refusing wage increases and negotiations on other issues were difficult. Unresolved wage issues were scheduled for arbitration on September 13-14.

Many health care workers are classified as essential workers and are prohibited from exercising their right to strike. Thus, most health care sector contract disputes are settled through a system of interest arbitration. This presents another problem for McGuinty in imposing his public sector wage freeze since this would require the overthrow the interest arbitrations system.

McGuinty is already working on this issue by trying to connect interest arbitration to the relatively high salaries of police officers and fire fighters. In fact, some of the lowest paid workers in the province are health care workers classified as essential workers in nursing homes and home care.

Conservative leader Tim Hudak is tag-teaming with McGuinty on interest arbitration with his calls for radical reorientation of the arbitration system. Upsetting the equilibrium of the arbitration system will bring thousands more public sector workers into the confrontation with the anti-worker offensive led by McGuinty and Hudak.

More McGuinty-Hudak Collusion to
Attack Public Sector Workers

More collusion is taking place in the Legislature between the McGuinty Liberal government and the opposition Hudak Progressive Conservatives to unleash further attacks, this time on public sector workers. The tone set in the first three weeks of the fall session of the Legislature continues to be one of contention between the governing Liberals and opposition Progressive Conservatives that is in fact part of a joint plan to implement more austerity. Their self-serving discussions continue making deficit financing the agenda so that all workers and people in Ontario will be forced to pay the rich through wage freezes and other attacks on their livelihoods and rights.

"We found out that the deficit between 2010-11 went from $14 billion to $13 billion, in public accounts. That's only $1 billion. Surely it's not going to take us 15 more years to get back in balance. That's not progress. That's digging the hole even deeper."

"Certainly, on a day where public accounts is released -- and we make it very clear that the deficit for 2011-12 is $13 billion. It is $3.3 billion ahead of the 2011 budget projections, 47% lower than forecast in 2009. At the same time, program spending growth was held below 1%, lower again than the 2011 budget target. We've been able to accomplish that, despite challenging fiscal times because we have made difficult choices. One of those choices, which we believe is fair and responsible, is to freeze public sector wages, and that is allowing us to ensure that we create jobs and grow the economy."

The day before on September 12, the Premier himself said as much when NDP Leader Andrea Horwath asked McGuinty if more legislation against public sector workers would be implemented. McGuinty responded in his infamous patronizing way to dismiss the question while clearly suggesting that in fact this would take place:

"I appreciate my honourable colleague's interest in the next initiative we'd like to move ahead with, but I would encourage her to wait for the details before she attacks it. That will allow her to come to understand exactly what we want to do and how we want to do it. But I can say at the highest level that, in keeping with the pronouncements that we made in our budget some six months ago, we think it's important to understand that we're all in this together. I speak to the broader public sector, all of us who have the privilege of working for Ontarians through the public sector, and we all have to find a way to be part of the solution. We want to do that in a way that is respectful of our collective agreements and the collective bargaining process, but we also want to be respectful of the taxpayers and their demands of us that we find a way to continue to protect health care and education as priority services."

Also noteworthy is the Progressive Conservatives' return to their 2011 election "promise" to revamp a "broken" arbitration system. The Progressive Conservatives have introduced Bill 121, the Ability to Pay Act, 2012, an Act to deal with arbitration in the public sector. It amends or repeals more than one Act and has already passed first reading. A Toronto Star report indicates that the legislation, introduced by Simcoe-Grey MPP Jim Wilson, will be debated October 4 and in part would force arbitrators to consider whether an employer, such as a municipality, can afford a settlement. The Liberals have confirmed their intention of revamping the arbitration system which they tabled in the budget but the Progressive Conservatives felt it did not go far enough. (Read more about Hudak's scheme to "fix the broken arbitration system" in Ontario Political Forum, September 26, 2011 - No. 1.) Ontario Political Forum will continue to report on this legislation.

Migrant Farm Worker Killed in Belleville Orchard

On September 10 a farm worker was killed on the job while working in an orchard operation near Belleville, Ontario. Fausto Martinez-Izazaga, 38, died when an industrial water tank at the agriculture complex fell and crushed him. Fausto was a Mexican national working in Canada as a farm worker under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program. Thirteen migrant farm workers have died on the job in Ontario this year.

The United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) which has established defence and support organizations for migrant farm workers across Canada issued a press release regarding the death of Fausto Martinez-Izazaga . UFCW condemned the Ontario and Canadian government for their failure to ensure safe and healthy working conditions for migrant farm workers: "It has been a devastating year in Ontario. We are saddened by this terrible news and deeply concerned that another worker in Ontario agriculture has been killed. We have seen casualty rates continue to climb with little or no response from the federal or Ontario governments.

"Safety enforcement as well as educational programs specific to the needs of the workers and the industry have failed to materialize. The number of workers not returning to their families will continue to grow if the rights and the risks to agriculture workers in Ontario continue to be ignored,"

Ontario Political Forum extends heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and co-workers of Fausto. We join UFCW in condemning the Ontario and Canadian government for continuing to allow the workplace deaths of migrant workers on Ontario farms.

Toronto Women Hold Spirited Rally and March

More than a thousand women took part in a spirited Take Back the Night rally and march in Toronto on September 15. Take Back the Night! has been organized annually in Toronto since 1980 as part of the work to end violence against women. The vast majority of those participating in this year's event were young women, some of them high school youth. They filled the streets with their chants: "Yes Means Yes, No Means No!"; "However We Dress, Wherever We Go, Women, Unite Take Back the Night -- Stop Rape Now!"; "Whose Streets? Our Streets!"; "Whose Bodies? Our Bodies!" and many more. The march was warmly received by residents of the Parkdale neighbourhood where it took place, who came out onto the streets, or waved from their balconies.

Each year the march is organized by the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multi-cultural Women Against Rape working with women and their organizations in a particular neighbourhood and a theme is chosen which relates to the organizing work women are doing there. This year's theme was "Un-occupying our minds -- healing ourselves." At the rally prior to the march, organizers explained the theme's significance. They pointed out that many women who are diagnosed as having mental illnesses are victims of violence. They have a right to speak about their experiences and sort out what they need to heal themselves. They have a right not to be medicalized or psychiatrized. The diagnosis of mental illness is used to stigmatize them and dis-empower them, the speakers said.

A number of the women who spoke pointed out that while social programs such as peer-based counselling and treatment are being de-funded and many programs have been shut down, money is still being poured into paying for drugs and psychiatrists. This is not about lack of funds but about social control and criminalizing the poor by incarcerating them in mental institutions speakers said. Some speakers addressed the dangerous effects of electro-shock treatments and anti-psychotic drugs. A theatre group active in defending the rights of those who have been psychiatrized spoke of the history of those in mental hospitals.

Many other speakers and cultural performers participated in the rally and brought to the fore women's experiences with violence and how they are organizing to change the situation.

Actions Across the Province Defend the Rights of All

Actions Across the Province Defend the Rights of All

Students Enthusiastically Stand with Teachers in Defence of Rights

Letter to the Editor

McGuinty's Attack on Matters of Conscience

McGuinty's Arrogance About
Violating Charter of Rights

Fraudulent Collective Bargaining Process

Reasonable Limits to Rights

Hands Off Public Sector Workers!

More McGuinty-Hudak Collusion to
Attack Public Sector Workers

Migrant Farm Worker Killed in Belleville Orchard

Toronto Women Hold Spirited Rally and March

Actions Across the Province Defend the Rights of All

Actions Across the Province Defend the Rights of All

Students Enthusiastically Stand with Teachers in Defence of Rights

Letter to the Editor

McGuinty's Attack on Matters of Conscience

McGuinty's Arrogance About Violating Charter of Rights

Fraudulent Collective Bargaining Process

Reasonable Limits to Rights

Hands Off Public Sector Workers!

More McGuinty-Hudak Collusion to Attack Public Sector Workers

Migrant Farm Worker Killed in Belleville Orchard

Toronto Women Hold Spirited Rally and March

McGuinty's Arrogance About
Violating Charter of Rights

More McGuinty-Hudak Collusion to
Attack Public Sector Workers