Women's housing takeover (ETA: SALCO)

Updated with info from Red Jenny, via WOC blog:

The women's housing takeover resulted in four arrests. This is really disturbing on so many levels. Read more here and here.

Check out WAPC's blog itself.

1) I saw some posters and also heard about this from a friend. It looks totally awesome, but unfortunately I have more trivial things to do today, so I can't go.

Do check this out, it is truly awesome, and I wish I was so there right now, this minute.

From their website:

Support this exciting work by women and trans people in Toronto to set up housing for those of us experiencing violence and our children.

Sunday, June 3rd, Noon

Rally: 12 noon at Cawthra Square, Toronto (North of 519 Church Street Community Centre)

March: 1:00 pm- Led by women, trans people and our kids

ALL ARE WELCOME

HOUSING BY WOMEN 4 WOMEN NOW

What is the Women’s Poverty Collective Women’s Housing Takeover?


The Women Against Poverty Collective (WAPC) is a group of women and trans people who have been meeting regularly since March 2006. We are working together to advocate for safe, affordable, and accessible housing for women experiencing violence. Poverty is one of the biggest concerns identified by women living with violence, and coupled with a lack of access to housing, it keeps women stuck in abusive situations.


Women living in poverty have repeatedly identified the important, but often unrecognized, links between poverty and women’s experiences of violence, asking for policy changes such as those that are being advocated for by the current Raise the Rates and the Ontario Needs a Raise Campaigns. The Women Against Poverty Collective is organizing in solidarity with the Step It Up! Campaign, a broadly based effort that aims to address the link between poverty and gendered violence, organized by Ontario’s women’s equality-seeking groups, shelters, rape crisis centres, unions, anti-poverty groups, and community groups.

-----------------------------------------------------------

2) Quick online action - to support SALCO (South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario):

Please take two whole seconds to fill out this letter to the Ontario Provincial Parliament:

Their funding hasn't been renewed and they may end up closing.

From their site:

ACCESS TO JUSTICE!
Funding for the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO) from Legal Aid Ontario comes to an end in September 2007. After September 2007, the fastest growing community in the GTA – the South Asian community – will be denied access to legal services that are affordable and that meet the community’s needs in a linguistically and culturally sensitive manner. The Ontario Government and Legal Aid Ontario refuse to make a commitment to our community in the shape of a fully funded and permanent legal clinic. While the Government and Legal Aid Ontario rightly made such commitments to Aboriginal, Francophone, African Canadian, Chinese and Spanish-speaking Ontarians, they have not extended the same right to South Asian Ontarians.



Sorry, this post is so short, I'm very busy lately.

-AD