Toronto350 stands against the murder and brutalization of Black, Indigenous, and racialized people, and honours the memory of all Black, Indigenous, racialized, and other marginalized/targeted victims of police violence across Turtle Island. We unequivocally support the demands of Black Lives Matter-Canada (BLM-Canada) to defund, demilitarize, disarm and dismantle the police.

Organizations all across the country, including Toronto350, want to prompt changes coming out of the pandemic that confront inequality and systemic racism, to ensure safety and health, and to seize the window of opportunity we have now, to turn the corner away from harmful practices that destroy our climate and the living world around us.

Toronto350’s Just Recovery teachin presents a way that we can win this safer, greener and healthier future. Here is a recording! Toronto350 Teach-in. There are also some things listed near the end of the blog, that we can do now.

We at Toronto350 are appalled but not surprised by this latest upsurge in Racist police violence against Black People.

We strongly condemn the actions of Police forces across Turtle Island, with particular emphasis on the lynching of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department. In Toronto we have seen that we are in no way immune from these Racist Police actions. The death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet is horrifying and alarming. She, her family and community deserve better than a cursory investigation by the SIU. They deserve justice. The police can not be left to police themselves.

As COVID-19 chases us inside and shuts the door behind us, it also shines a bright light on the cracks in our society. People struggle to meet their families’ needs and care for loved ones who are ill, immunocompromised or disabled. They face isolation and uncertainty. Groups of people, including migrant workers and precarious workers, the homeless and low-income renters are especially vulnerable. Health care workers raise the alarm about inadequate supplies and resources. 

Photo by Porapak Apichodilok from Pexels

For the other event hosts, see the Facebook Event. 

On March 1st, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) held the world's biggest mining convention at Toronto's Metro Convention Centre. Attendees represented many of the most destructive resource extraction companies. These companies violate human and Indigenous rights, perpetuate climate and environmental crisis and create huge gaps in economic equality. 

Toronto350 condemns the actions of the RCMP, the Canadian government and Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. with regard to the Wet'suwet'en First Nation and their territory. We fully support the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in their determination to prevent what amounts to an invasion of their unceded hereditary lands and sacred sites.

It is with horror and outrage that we watch the RCMP raids on Wet'suwet'en territory unfold in BC. These actions violate Indigenous, provincial and international laws and human rights. They make a mockery of the government's purported commitment to reconciliation. All in the name of industry and at the behest of government, to protect the interests of a fossil fuel pipeline! Shame. Deep and unpardonable shame. Keep reading to the end of this article for ways to act in solidarity and speak out.

Follow and share updates from the sources below:

• On Twitter: @UnistotenCamp @Gidimten @M_Tol @ricochet_en @harshawalia @Terrilltf
• On Facebook: Unist’ot’en Camp @unistoten Wet’suwet’en Access Point on Gidim’ten Territory @wetsuwetenstrong
• Website: http://unistoten.camp/category/blog/ 

Tags: #WetsuwetenStrong #DefendtheYintah #alleyesonWetsuweten #unistoten

On December 31st, the BC supreme court granted an injunction in favour of Coastal Gaslink (CGL) and against the Wet’suwet’en people who have been peacefully protecting their traditional territories from CGL’s destructive fracked gas pipeline project. The project is intended to transport natural gas to a liquefied natural gas facility on the BC coast. The supreme court ruling criminalizes Anuk ‘nu’at’en (Wet’suwet’en law) and is in direct contradiction to BC’s adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.¹ The hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en clans have not given their consent for CGL to enter and work on their territory and now, have rejected the supreme court decision.²