“Mourn for the Dead and Fight for the Living” : International Day of Mourning to remember workers killed, injured, and made ill on the job

On April 28, trade unionists and labour activists came for the Day of Mourning ceremony held in London’s Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) hall.  This year’s London ceremony highlighted the recent death of a worker who was killed while working at the Maple Leaf Foods poultry processing plant on Wilton Grove Road on April 9. The investigation into the workplace death is ongoing and further details haven’t been released at this time. “We are all sharing in grief,” said Mike Mattioli, the regional union representative from the Union of Commercial and Food Workers (UFCW), which represents workers at the…

Read More“Mourn for the Dead and Fight for the Living” : International Day of Mourning to remember workers killed, injured, and made ill on the job

PERSPECTIVES: It’s About Time We Take Our City Back From Corporate Interests 

On March 28, I had the pleasure of participating in the province-wide Fight Ford protests right here in London, Ontario at Victoria Park. I was incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to speak to an issue that Londoners across this city know all too well— our city being an increasingly unaffordable rental market with working-class Londoners priced out of housing by corporate developers and predatory landlords.   Now, with the news that our city has officially earned the unfortunate distinction of having the highest unemployment rate in the country at 9.1%, this housing emergency has become all the more dire.   As…

Read MorePERSPECTIVES: It’s About Time We Take Our City Back From Corporate Interests 

Insights from animate blankets: Artist Andrew Maize’s ‘fan dancers’ spin in McIntosh Gallery 

“There’s this animacy that you get from the wind. The wind fills the sails, livens a tree. I think it’s that sense of animacy we get from these blankets which otherwise are just inert material. It’s seeing that surprise on people’s faces when they first get up. It’s so exciting. There’s a sense of wonder,” says artist Andrew Maize, whose exhibit *(s)twerH is open to the public in Western University’s McIntosh Gallery until May 16.  A key feature of the windowless exhibit is a collection of gleaming silver and gold emergency blankets draped over hangers. First created in 1964 by…

Read MoreInsights from animate blankets: Artist Andrew Maize’s ‘fan dancers’ spin in McIntosh Gallery 

London to Ford: NO MORE!

Neither the threat of rain or cold weather would stop the population of London from making their voices heard. On Saturday, April 25, over 100 people gathered at Victoria Park to continue to protest the Ford administration and its negative impact on the city. Drumming circles, flyers, handmade posters, chants, and drivers honking in support of anti-Ford signs along the Richmond and Central streets showed in clear and uncertain terms that the people of London are not satisfied with the actions of the administration. The provincial government’s recent closures of safe consumption sites in the city, gutting of healthcare and…

Read MoreLondon to Ford: NO MORE!

¡Estamos Con Cuba!: A Fundraiser for the Cuban People

This Friday, Casa Latina will hold a fundraiser, ¡Estamos Con Cuba!: A Fundraiser for the Cuban People, at 7pm. It will be filled with live music, silent auctions, video-recorded greetings from Cuba solidarity groups and Cubans living under the intensified blockade, and a dance party that may stretch late into the night.  Performances will feature London-based Chilean duo SUYAI, made of folk musicians Viviana and Mauricio, and local choir Accento Latino. Journalist and writer Ruth Taylor will read an excerpt from her debut novel Even the Birds – which chronicles three generations of Guatemalan women seeking peace and purpose. The…

Read More¡Estamos Con Cuba!: A Fundraiser for the Cuban People

“Two Nations. One Voice”: Palestine and Lebanon rally grips Victoria Park

“I was born in Haifa. I am older than Israel,” said Lilian Mattar-Patey, a Windsor-based United Church minister. She addressed crowds gathered beneath a grey sky at Victoria Park in London on April 19 for a Palestine and Lebanon rally; a social media post about the protest read Two Nations. One Voice. Together, we rise. “In 1948, the first day of the Nakba or ‘catastrophe’, my brother was carrying me. I was less than two years old then, and he said that the Israeli soldiers were shooting at us, and one bullet came beside my ear and he said if…

Read More“Two Nations. One Voice”: Palestine and Lebanon rally grips Victoria Park