Hey Everyone,
We hope you are all enjoying yourselves and are able to attend this year’s Anti-Colonial Thanksgiving!
The QPIRG McGill Office will be closed from December 10th, 2011 to January 8th, 2011.
If you need to use the space during that time please get in touch with us to sign an after-hours agreement.
in solidarity and with love,
QPIRG McGill
***************************************
QPIRG McGill
1) Anti-colonial Thanksgiving! Celebrating our cultures of resistance to colonialism. Feast, Film & Speaker. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 5:30pm-8:30pm. Native Friendship Center of Montreal, 2001 boulevard St-Laurent (métro St-Laurent)
2) Endorsement of Open Letter Contesting Legitimacy of the Juntras Investigation.
3) QPIRG McGill Support for Students regarding events on Nov 10th.
4) Road to Justice Delicious Fundraising Dinner by the Coalition for Justice for Adil Charkaoui. Saturday, 10 December 2011, 6pm Maison de l’amitié, 120 Duluth St. East, Montreal (Sherbrooke metro)
5) Study in Action is accepting submission - Deadline: January 12th, 2011
Campus/ Community
1) Film Screening of Wiebo’s War.December 1–4 & 6 at 7 p.m. CinéRobothèque ONF 1564, rue Saint-Denis Montréal
2)CKUT is seeking your feedback about the Ecolibrium Radio Residency!
3) Because our spaces matters! Information on the safer space workshop : Friday, December 2nd At the 2110 Centre, 1500 de Maisonneuve West suite 404. 6pm to 9pm
4) SIX YEARS OF IMPUNITY: VIGIL AND SPEAK OUT TO HONOUR THE MEMORY OF ANAS BENNIS. 4PM, Thursday, December 1st, 2011. Park Kent, corner Kent and Côte-des-Neiges. Métro Côte-des-Neiges, bus #165
5) Support the G20 accused and prisoners! Info session and letter writing night! Sunday December 4th 6PM -QPIRG Concordia 1500 de Maissoneuve West #204
6) December 6th l’École Polytechnique Massacre Memorial. Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 Birks Chapel, 3520 Rue. University 6.30-8pm
*************************************
QPIRG McGill
1) Anti-colonial Thanksgiving! Celebrating our cultures of resistance to colonialism. Feast, Film & Speaker. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 5:30pm-8:30pm. Native Friendship Center of Montreal, 2001 boulevard St-Laurent (métro St-Laurent)
[facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/277292802308002/]
Anti-colonial Thanksgiving!
Celebrating our cultures of resistance to colonialism
Feast, Film & Speaker
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 5:30pm-8:30pm
Native Friendship Center of Montreal
2001 boulevard St-Laurent (métro St-Laurent)
Free! Welcome to all!
Free childcare on-site; bring your kids!
Traduction/Translation/Traduccion: français, English & español
Wheelchair accessible.
Schedule:
5:30pm: Free Dinner: An “Anti-colonial Thanksgiving FEAST” with both meat and non-meat dishes
6pm: Presentation by CLIFTON NICHOLAS, member of the Kanehsatake Mohawk Community, on the uses and misuses of indigenous imagery.
7pm: Film Screening: REEL INJUN
About the film: Hollywood has made over 4000 films about Native people; over 100 years of movies defining how Indians are seen by the world. Reel Injun takes an entertaining and insightful look at the Hollywood Indian, exploring the portrayal of North American Natives through the history of cinema.
Anti-Colonial Thanksgiving is presented by Frigo Vert, with the support of QPIRG Concordia, QPIRG McGill, People’s Potato, Midnight Kitchen, the Indigenous Solidarity Committee, & the First Peoples’ House at McGill
INFO:
514-848-7586 - info@qpirgconcordia.org
www.qpirgconcordia.org - www.lefrigovert.com
2) Endorsement of Open Letter Contesting Legitimacy of the Juntras Investigation.
Signatories from the McGill community are being sought for an open letter contesting the legitimacy of the Jutras investigation into the events of November 10 on campus. McGill students, faculty and staff and their associations and organizations are invited to sign.
The investigation mandated by Principal Heather Munroe-Blum and carried out by Dean Jutras gives rise to serious reservations. Due to its perceived lack of independence and its restrictive mandate and scope, this investigation have been irreparably compromised from the outset. When events have been so damaging and continue to be so contentious, trust in the University as a space of free expression and dissent can only be restored through a genuinely independent and external inquiry.
The letter, and instructions on how to sign, can be found at:
http://mflag666.wordpress.com/2011/11/26/jutras-inquiry-letter/
***QPIRG McGill is endorsing this letter and we encourage others groups and individuals to do the same.
3) QPIRG McGill Support for Students regarding events on Nov 10th.
QPIRG McGill would like to offer our services for those affected by the events on McGill Campus on November 10th, please check our website for more information: http://qpirgmcgill.org/nov-10th-support/
- suggested donation of $20: pay what you can – no one turned away
- vegetarian & hallal options – childcare onsite – we regret that Maison de l’Amitié is not wheel-chair accessible -
Programme includes:
* remarks from Adil Charkaoui and his lawyer, Johanne Doyon
* updates on others held under security certificates
* Stefan Christoff on piano
It’s been more than two years since the Federal Court of Canada struck down the so-called security certificate that held the Charkaoui family in a virtual prison for six and a half years. Two years have passed but the struggle for justice is still not won. The government has not been held accountable and Adil Charkaoui still does not have citizenship.
Shortly after winning his case, Adil called on the government to issue an apology, grant him citizenship and provide reasonable reparation. There was no response. Adil was then forced to turn to the courts to seek the apology he needed to begin putting his life back together and hold the government accountable. The lawsuit has now been underway for more than a year and a half. Adil’s lawyers, who have worked with him for eight years, building up considerable trust and knowledge of the case, have reached the point where they absolutely need financial support to continue. They face a much larger, much better resourced team of government lawyers. Court costs alone are significant. Moreover, Adil’s application for citizenship, submitted in 1999, twelve years ago, has not moved forward. Lack of citizenship leaves Adil in a state of vulnerability and uncertainty. Legal action to force the government to respond is possible, but remains out of reach due to legal costs.
December 10th marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations. It is also the day that Mohamed Harkat was arrested in Ottawa under a security certificate, nine years ago. It has been eleven and a half years since Mohamed Mahjoub was arrested and over ten years since Mahmoud Jaballah’s arrest (for the second time). All three men remain under severe forms of house arrest, their lives in limbo and under threat. The certificate against Hassan Almrei was thrown out of court in 2009, after more than eight years of arbitrary detention, and he too is waging a court battle to hold the government accountable for its acts.
Join the Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui on Friday, December 10th to eat together, find out where the struggle against security certificates is at and support Adil on the road to justice.
If you would like to contribute, but are not able to come on December 10th, please consider making a donation:
Make your cheques to: “Coalition Justice pour Adil Charkaoui” and write ”legal appeal” in the memo line.
Mail to: 1984 Le Ber Montreal QC H3K 2A7.
Please sign the Harkat committee’s Statement against Security Certificates and ask everyone you know to do so: www.harkatstatement.com
in solidarity
Coalition for Justice for Adil Charkaoui
***The Coalition for Justice for Adil Charkaoui was a former QPIRG McGill working group.
5) Study in Action is accepting submission - Deadline: January 12th, 2011
[facebook: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=166034636815034]
Undergraduate Students, Community Groups & Artists:
CONTRIBUTE TO STUDY IN ACTION
STUDY IN ACTION is a grassroots research conference on social and environmental justice designed linking students with community activism. One part of Study In Action is ART IN ACTION, which allows artists and designers to contribute to creative expression on social and environment justice issues.
Read more below about how to contribute as a student, community group or artist …
CALLOUT FOR SUBMISSIONS
BY STUDENTS, ARTISTS AND COMMUNITY GROUPS
STUDY IN ACTION 2012:
An undergraduate and community research conference
Study in Action is a grassroots research conference on social and environmental justice designed to link students and community organizing. The conference is a space for students to present their work, develop greater knowledge of social and environmental justice issues, and build ties with community organizations. This year’s conference will take place from March 2 – 4, 2012 on the downtown Concordia campus. Study in Action is a project of QPIRG Concordia and QPIRG McGill.
- Study in Action is seeking VOLUNTEERS to help organize the 2012 conference!
Do you have experience or interest in learning about fundraising? Outreach and promotion? Event coordination? The 2012 Study in Action organizing committee is currently looking for students and community members to help put on this year’s conference. We welcome students from all campuses and non-students from across Montreal. Contact studyinaction@qpirgconcordia.org or call 514-848-7585 to find out more. Check out photos from last year’s conference here:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.212941485388249.65421.100000171973013
- STUDENTS: Send us your conference proposals!
The Study in Action conference is currently seeking English and French submissions from undergraduate students in Montreal and beyond! We are looking for submissions in diverse formats on a variety of topics; if you are currently working on, or have completed an essay, a research project, an art piece, or a group presentation on one of the following topics, we encourage you to share it with us.
Please send all submissions to studyinaction@qpirgconcordia.org by JANUARY 12, 2012
We are looking for proposals that address:
* art and alternative media
* economics, austerity, and anti-capitalism
* environmental justice
* food sovereignty
* gender and feminism
* geopolitics and international solidarity
* health, bodily sovereignty and harm reduction
* indigenous sovereignty and de-colonization
* migration
* prisoner justice and policing
* public space, poverty and gentrification
* radical education and pedagogy
* sex and sexuality
Please note you do not have to submit a completed project by our January 12 deadline, but only a proposal (details below) and a brief introduction that explains how your submission relates to Study In Action’s mandate of social and environmental justice. Study In Action not only crosses disciplinary lines, but also transcends the borders between academic and popular knowledge. We invite submissions to interpret our mandate as innovatively as possible.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR STUDENTS:
Please provide a 250-word summary of your submission. If you are submitting a work that is already completed, you are free to include it as well. Your conference presentation may be:
a) a 15-20 minute presentation or your essay or research findings on a panel
b) an hour-long group workshop
c) a work of art to be exhibited as part of the conference
*We encourage submissions from undergraduates at universities in Montreal and elsewhere.
Some papers that were presented at last year’s conference included:
- Precious Metals, Stolen Lands: the colonial roots of the Canadian mining industry
- HIV 101: Education and Prevention as a means of Humanizing HIV
- Solidarity City: Migrant justice and the everyday practice of mutual aid and direct action
- Tepid Dispatches: Newspaper Coverage of Aboriginal Oil Sands Protest
- Colonization, Racialized Violence and the Criminalization of Prostitution in Vancouver: Towards Improved Living Conditions and Less Harm
- Military explosives research at McGill from 1967-2007
- Sites of struggle, development & creation: Contemporary spaces for queer youth in Montreal
Please send all submissions to studyinaction@qpirgconcordia.org by JANUARY 12, 2012
———-
Callout to Montreal-area COMMUNITY GROUPS:
Contribute to STUDY IN ACTION
Montreal-area community groups are encouraged to make a submission to STUDY IN ACTION, an annual conference sharing undergraduate and community research related to social justice.
Study In Action values the contributions to collective knowledge made by the day-to-day organizing and struggles of local community organizations, through public campaigns, local projects, popular education, mobilizations, support work and more.
We encourage submissions that reflect your grassroots research approaches on this year’s STUDY IN ACTION themes:
* art and alternative media
* economics, austerity, and anti-capitalism
* environmental justice
* food sovereignty
* gender and feminism
* geopolitics and international solidarity
* health, bodily sovereignty and harm reduction
* indigenous sovereignty and de-colonization
* migration
* prisoner justice and policing
* public space, poverty and gentrification
* radical education and pedagogy
* sex and sexuality
[don’t hesitate to suggest other topics]
HOW TO SUBMIT AS A COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION:
Please provide a summary of your proposed presentation of workshop, including estimates of how much time will be required, a maximum number of attendees, and any other specifications relating to space or supplies that you will need. Your conference presentation may be:
a) a 1-2 hour interactive workshop (please note: workshop presentations may also be considered as part of panels, in a 15-20 minute format)
b) an audio-visual presentation
c) a speaker or panel event co-presented with the conference
Please send your submission to studyinaction@qpirgconcordia.org. The deadline for submissions is JANUARY 12, 2012.
Here are some community group workshops that were presented at Study In Action 2011:
- Parole Sans Parole: An Interactive Experience (Termite Collective)
- Making Your Research (More) Relevant: How to turn an academic paper into a news story (Montreal Media Coop)
- Queers Made This: reflections on the queer archive zine & archiving community organizing (QTeam)
- La morale conservatrice VS les Sites d’Injection Supervisés (Association pour la Défense des Droits et l’Inclusion des personnes qui Consomment des drogues du Québec)
- A Freeschool in Montreal! / Pour une école libre à Montréal! (Rad School)
- Solidarity City: Migrant justice and the everyday practice of mutual aid and direct action (Solidarity Across Borders)
- People’s Potato: Reclaiming students’ autonomy (People’s Potato)
- Anti-terrorisme au Chili: la criminalisation des mouvements sociaux (Le Comité d’Appui au Peuple Mapuche)
———-
ART IN ACTION!
Part of STUDY IN ACTION at Concordia University
CALLOUT FOR SUBMISSIONS
-> Contribute art work to the ART IN ACTION exhibition!
deadline for submissions: January 12, 2012
ART IN ACTION is part of the Study In Action Undergraduate and Community Research Conference.
Study in Action is an undergraduate student & community conference on social and environmental justice designed to link students and community activism. The conference is a space for students to present research and develop greater knowledge of social and environmental issues and build ties with community organizations. This year’s conference will take place from March 2-4, 2012 on the downtown Concordia campus.
One relatively new part of Study In Action is ART IN ACTION, which allows artists and designers to contribute to creative expression on social and environment justice issues, via drawings, sculpture, performance, video, photography, paintings and other creative forms.
This year’s ART IN ACTION will include an exhibition at the STUDY IN ACTION conference itself, and will also aim to showcase exhibitions at other spaces on campus and in the community.
This year’s STUDY IN ACTION themes include:
* art and alternative media
* economics, austerity, and anti-capitalism
* environmental justice
* food sovereignty
* gender and feminism
* geopolitics and international solidarity
* health, bodily sovereignty and harm reduction
* indigenous sovereignty and de-colonization
* migration
* prisoner justice and policing
* public space, poverty and gentrification
* radical education and pedagogy
* sex and sexuality
[don’t hesitate to suggest other topics]
Study In Action/Art In Action not only crosses disciplinary lines, but also transcends the borders between academic and popular knowledge. We invite submissions to interpret our mandate as innovatively as possible.
HOW TO SUBMIT AS AN ARTIST TO ART IN ACTION:
Please provide a 250-word description of the artwork being submitted, including how it relates to the mandate, as well as size and installation parameters. Please provide pictures or samples if possible.
Please send all submissions to studyinaction@qpirgconcordia.org before JANUARY 12, 2012.
Some examples of displayed submissions at last year’s Art In Action (2011) are linked here: http://qpirgconcordia.org/studyinaction/art.
You can see artwork from Study In Action 2010 at this link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.114893451859720.19587.100000171973013&l=8d3663a7ea
VOLUNTEER FOR ART IN ACTION:
The Art in Action crew will need the support of volunteers to help curate the art exhibits. Please get in touch if you can help: studyinaction@qpirgconcordia.org
INFO:
STUDY IN ACTION 2012 / ÉTUDES EN ACTION 2012
http://qpirgconcordia.org/studyinaction
studyinaction@qpirgconcordia.org
Contact: 438-875-7243 or nooneisillegal@gmail.com
Montreal, November 29, 2011 — Yesterday morning, at Montreal’s Municipal Court, criminal charges of assault and intimidation were withdrawn against Montreal anarchist & community organizer Jaggi Singh. A key Conservative party witness against Singh refused to attend court and testify under oath.
Montreal police laid the criminal charges several months after a disruption of a speech by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney at McGill University in October 2009. Protesters and students supporting migrant justice groups No One Is Illegal and Solidarity Across Borders surrounded Jason Kenney during the protest. When confronted about pandering to racist attitudes by targeting migrants from Mexico for removal, Kenney blurted out sarcastically “I plead guilty, I’m a racist.”
Other young Conservative McGill members laughed when protesters tried to explain the case of a Mexican refugee claimant who was murdered after removal from Canada.
- A description of the Kenney encounter is linked here: http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com/2009/10/i-plead-guilty-im-racist-jason-kenney.html#!/2009/10/i-plead-guilty-im-racist-jason-kenney.html
- The case of murdered Mexican refugee Grise is described here: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/714781–mexican-woman-deported-to-her-death
The charges against Singh were made on the basis of signed complaints and statements by members of Conservative McGill, including Jess Weiser, the primary complainant. Weiser is active with the Ville Marie-Westmount Conservative party riding association.
Several Conservative party aides were due to testify at the scheduled trial yesterday, in front of Judge Bessette. Jason Kenney himself was not to testify, because he conveniently claims not to remember what happened during the disruption.
Importantly, Jess Weiser, who made the original false complaint of assault, refused to show up to court and testify under oath. For that reason, Jaggi Singh was acquitted of the untrue accusations made against him.
The same Conservative McGill members behind the Kenney event and the false charges have been active in attacking progressive campus causes at McGill, including the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG). QPIRG McGill’s status on campus was overwhelmingly re-affirmed during a recent student referendum, where 66% of students voted to support QPIRG, despite previous smears by Conservative McGill.
The Conservative McGill police complaint stems from their anger at having the Jason Kenney speech effectively disrupted. According to documents disclosed before trial, Kenney’s talk could not be heard by participants, and Conservative McGill members were “shaken up and distraught by the whole episode.” They were particularly upset that a Conservative McGill banner was allegedly stolen by protesters.
This isn’t the first time that Singh has had to deal with Conservative party officials at Montreal’s Municipal Court. In December 2007, he was prosecuted for disrupting a speech by Prime Minister Stephen Harper by Crown lawyer Dennis Galiatsatos. Galiatsatos, who still works as a Crown lawyer, was a Conservative Party candidate during the 2008 federal election.
For comments/information:
Jaggi Singh: 438-875-7243, nooneisillegal@gmail.com
Jared Will, counsel for Jaggi Singh: 514-439-0799, jared@jwavocat.ca
Anna Malla/Andrea Figueroa, co-coordinators at QPIRG McGill: 514-398-7432, qpirg@ssmu.mcgill.ca
Campus/ Community
La guerre de Wiebo
VO anglaise avec sous-titres français – OV English with French subtiles
Un film de / A film by David York
La guerre de Wiebo relate la lutte acharnée que mène un homme contre l’industrie gazière et pétrolière.
Il soulève une question troublante : jusqu’où iriez-vous pour défendre votre famille et votre terre?
Wiebo’s War tells the story of a community at war with the oil and gas industry, and asks: How far would you go to defend what you value the most?
1, 2, 3, 4 et 6 décembre à 19 h
December 1–4 & 6 at 7 p.m.
CinéRobothèque ONF
1564, rue Saint-Denis
Montréal
Le réalisateur sera présent à la séance du 1er décembre.
The filmmaker will be in attendance on December 1.
WATCH THE TRAILER!
2) CKUT is seeking your feedback about the Ecolibrium Radio Residency!
Please listen to past editions of our podcast and fill out our survey for your chance to win a book or CD!
Past editions of Ecolibrium produced by Climate Justice Montreal and The Flat Bike Collective are streaming online, and downloadable at http://ecolibriumfm.wordpress.com/.
You can fill out the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q62TY8S.
Lovely listeners – you are invited to complete this survey anonymously – but to win a PRIZE you must provide us with contact info!
To motivate one and all to listen to the ECOLIBRIUM RADIO RESIDENCY and send us feedback, CKUT is offering a prize to three randomly selected respondents!
The winners will have their choice of either a book or CD!
Our gift CDs are many and diverse in style and artist!
The books are published by, and come courtesy of, the lovely Drawn and Quarterly Books<http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/>. They include:
A full-cover collection of cartoon shorts entitled Jamilti and Other Stories by Rutu Modan AND Prayer Requested, a “narrative of illustrations and collages, each one accompanied by a found or scavenged prayer,” by Christian Northeast
About the project: The Ecolibrium Radio Residency aims to use radio and podcasts to raise awareness about environmental initiatives based out of McGill University (Montreal, Canada). To this end, CKUT is offering a series of training workshops in basic radio production and podcasting to environmental groups, students and professors at McGill.
To get involved, email us at ecolibriumfm@gmail.com
Thanks to the McGill Sustainability Projects Fund for supporting this effort!
About the station: CKUT is a non-profit, campus-community radio station that provides alternative music, news and spoken word programming to the city of Montreal and surrounding areas, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Hear us at 90.3 MHz on the FM dial, 91.7 by cable, or listen online<http://ckut.ca/listen.php> at http://ckut.ca
When: Friday, December 2nd
Where : At the 2110 Centre, 1500 de Maisonneuve West suite 404
Time : 6pm to 9pm
Note : The workshop will be bilingual and whisper translation will be available towards English and French. Also, the space is wheelchair accessible.
For more information : saferspacezine@googlegroups.com
Because our spaces matters !
The concept of safer space is present in different activist groups and in the way in which they organize. Would it be by a chosen non-mixity, reflexion committees or concrete actions to navigate the different power relation, each and everyone privileges and oppressions, to create a space where relations are more equal and where one tries to not reproduce the different system of oppression present in our society.
Many observers of the occupy movement voiced the different problems and issues that arise in an activist and political space where different system of oppression (hierarchization of oppression, sexism, racism, colonialism, etc.) silenced people or certain groups of people.
The Radical Queer Semaine, a 10 day event filled with conferences, workshops parties and artistic performance, who’s 4th edition will be taking place from February 24 to March 4, has, since its beginning put in place different strategies to create and maintain a safer space during these 10 days of activities. Would it be with anti-oppression messages on posters, active listeners during all of the events independent of the type of event (party, workshop, conference, etc.), the welcoming of people into the space by explaining to them the different elements of our safer space. Thus, before starting this 4th edition, the question arises, are these strategies working ? What could be done better ?
Thus, this workshop has two goals:
The first one being to permit to people interested by the question of safer spaces, power relations and of privilege and oppression in activist space to meet, discuss and identify the different strategies used in their groups and communities to create or maintain safer spaces.
The second one being of using this workshop as a starting point for a reflexion on the question of safer spaces for the creation of a zine on the question of safer spaces and activism.
If you can’t make it to the workshop but are interested in the question of safer spaces or if you want to participate in the creation of a zine on this, contact us at saferspacezine@googlegroups.com
[please forward widely]
https://www.facebook.com/events/189602587791891/#!/events/189602587791891/
SIX YEARS OF IMPUNITY:
VIGIL AND SPEAK OUT TO HONOUR THE MEMORY OF ANAS BENNIS
Come out to support the Bennis family in their struggle for truth, justice and dignity
=============================================
4PM, Thursday, December 1st, 2011
Park Kent, corner Kent and Côte-des-Neiges
Métro Côte-des-Neiges, bus #165
=============================================
On December 1st, 2005, Mohamed Anas Bennis was returning home after morning prayers at a neighborhood mosque in Côte-des-Neiges when he was shot twice by Montreal police officer Yannick Bernier. Anas was pronounced dead on arrival to the hospital.
Since Anas’ death, the Bennis family, along with the Justice for Anas Coalition, has waged an epic battle to find out what happened to their loved one, who was described as a mild-mannered and sensitive person. In June 2008, Quebec’s chief coroner ordered a coroner’s inquiry into Anas’ death, doubtless a result of the public pressure brought to bear by the Justice for Anas Coalition and others. However, in August 2008, the Montreal Police Brotherhood filed a motion to have the coroner’s inquiry canceled. Two years later, in September 2010, the Superior Court issued a clear judgment unequivocally calling for the coroner’s inquiry surrounding the death of Anas Bennis to proceed. This judgment came on the heels of a scathing Quebec Court of Appeal decision rejecting the Brotherhood’s motion to cancel the coroner’s inquiry into the death of Michel Berniquez (who was killed by police in Montreal-North in 2003). The inquiry into Anas’ death finally took place on April 27th and 28th, 2011, at the courthouse in Laval.
Like so many so-called independent inquiries before this one, the truth was never allowed to surface. Coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier unquestionably accepted the police version of Anas’ death and maintained the status quo of police impunity. The only lessons to draw from this inquiry are that the Coroner’s office cannot be relied upon to expose the inherent injustice of police investigating other police and that it cannot be counted on to shed light on what happens when people are killed under nebulous circumstances by the police.
Meanwhile, the role that racial profiling plays in police interventions was ignored altogether. This despite the fact that, in June 2010, the Police Ethics Committee found officer Jonathan Roy — who was Yannick Bernier’s partner and involved with the scene when Anas was shot and killed — guilty of five infractions of the Police Ethics Code in an incident of racial profiling and brutality in Côte-des-Neiges that occurred in 2008, for which Roy subsequently received a cumulative suspension of 23 days.
The farce of a public inquiry compelled the Justice For Anas Coalition to file a complaint against the Coroner Rudel-Tessier, submitted on November 3rd, 2011.
Police impunity can only be challenged when communities affected by police violence stand up and fight back. Just a few weeks ago, the Bennis family, along with the families and friends of several other people killed by police, did just this. They came together, once again, to hold a vigil and a march (October 22) in the second annual event that sought to commemorate the victims of police killings while uniting their struggles for truth, justice and dignity.
Since December 2006, there has been an annual event to commemorate the death of Anas Bennis. This year, to mark the six-year anniversary of Anas’ death, the Justice for Anas Coalition is calling for a vigil and speak out at Park Kent, near where Anas was killed, in the neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges. We are inviting all of our supporters, and all those who oppose police violence and impunity, to come out in solidarity with the Bennis family.
In solidarity,
The Justice for Anas Coalition
514.342.2111
www.justicepouranas.org
justicepouranas@gmail.com
Open Door Books and Certain Days Freedom For Political Prisoners Calendar present an evening of discussion and letter writing in solidarity with the 17 G20 conspiracy defendants.
Following in the wake of the G20 conspiracy trials, this night will be a chance to hear directly from two of the 17 alleged co-conspirators. The charges were recently settled with a plea bargain, seeing 6 people facing prison time and 11 people’s charges being dropped. In a recent statement condemning the conspiracy charges while emphasizing that “there is no victory in the courts”, the 17 explained their decision to take the plea. Pat and Bill will talk about this decision, their experiences of state repression, and the conspiracy trial. They will also reflect on the responses and failures of anarchist communities to address state repression and infiltration over the past two years. This will lead into a broader discussion of ways to continue and advance movements against colonialism, capitalism, borders, patriarchy, white supremacy, ableism, hetero/cis-normativity, and environmental destruction, and to organize effective prisoner support that encourages the continued involvement of prisoners in these movements. This night will also be a chance to write letters of support to Leah, Mandy, Alex, Peter, Adam and Erik, who are facing prison time from these trials. Oh, and there will be snacks!
Translation to and from French will be available, the space is wheelchair accessible and there will be childcare available with 48 hours notice. For these or other accessibility concerns or event questions, please contact bookstoprisoners@gmail.com QPIRG at (514) 848 – 7585.
“This system targets many groups of people including racialized, impoverished and Indigenous communities, those with precarious immigration status, and those dealing with mental health and addiction. The kinds of violence that we have experienced, such as the pre-dawn raids, the strip-searches, the surveillance, and pre-sentence incarceration happen all the time. The seventeen of us have moved through the legal system with a lot of privilege and support. This includes greater access to “acceptable” sureties, and the financial means to support ourselves and our case. While the use of conspiracy charges against such a large group of political organizers is noteworthy, these tactics of repression are used against other targeted communities every day.
There is no victory in the courts. The legal system is and always has been a political tool used against groups deemed undesirable or who refuse to co-operate with the state. It exists to protect Canada’s colonial and capitalist social structure. It is also deeply individualistic and expensive. This system is designed to break up communities and turn friends against each other. “
—collective statement of the 17 conspiracy defendants http://conspiretoresist.wordpress.com/.
The Sexual Assault Centre of McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS) is organizing the December 6th l’École Polytechnique Massacre Memorial where we remember the 14 women killed in the École Polytechnique Massacre of December 6th, 1989. Please join us for an evening of guest speakers and performances, as well as a moment of silence to honour the 14 women who were killed, simply because they were women.
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
Birks Chapel, 3520 Rue. University
6.30-8pm
Please join us for a reception after the ceremony, catered by Midnight Kitchen food collective
The space is wheelchair accessible
The ceremony will be held in English. English to French whisper translation will be available
Contact: main@sacomss.org