Thanks to everyone who came out to our supporter week open house on Thursday. The open house at the Social Enterprise Centre had some some great conversation as well as a taste of some wood fired pizza, made onsite in Gretel’s hand-crafted mobile oven. You can still download the video of the inspiring discussion between Lynne Fernandez and Jim Stanford on Economics for Everyone. Jim’s take away message for young activists fighting austerity and neoliberalism: “Educate, organize, mobilize”.
Meanwhile, CCPA continues to need your support. If you did not have a chance to sign up or renew your membership, I encourage you to do so today. CCPA’s progressive policy research plays an essential role in catalysing change and advancing social justice.
The best way to ensure progressive research continues to be published in Manitoba is by supporting the CCPA-MB. Help us continue to do community-based research and commentary on issues of social justice and environmental sustainability. To find out how you can support the CCPA go to our website:
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/join-or-renew
or call our office 204-927-3200.
Evidence-based policy research can exert a powerful force for social change, especially when it stands with the community in its actions and organising. The role of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Manitoba is to inform social movements and to provide them the arguments they need to advocate for a progressive future. In a world where mainstream media too often takes its newsfeed from corporate spin and government news releases, the work CCPA-MB does in providing non-partisan, community-based research is essential for stemming the neoliberal assault on workers, the environment and on our communities.
Lynne Fernandez holds the Errol Black Chair in Labour Issues at CCPA MB
Many of us have, like John Lennon, imagined a world without war, greed, hunger or possessions. There are those rare individuals who insist that we should settle for nothing less, that human kind’s true heart is to live in communities guided by understanding, compassion and social justice. This year May Works is dedicated to those individuals and organizations that have fought and continue to struggle for this ideal. They refuse to accept that social exclusion is inevitable. They name, and clearly understand the obstacles that keep society from realizing its full potential, and they challenge those boundaries and restrictions relentlessly.
By Lynne Fernandez, Errol Black Chair in Labour Issues
As Winnipeggers come out of an unusually punishing winter, the sun seems to be stimulating more than the usual spring activities. There is a feeling air that our city is poised to embrace a change; that politicians will be forced to finally adopt some rational policies to move Winnipeg into the rank of a modern city. Maybe the frozen pipes, water main breaks, a bus system that struggled to meet the needs of passengers and the worst potholes ever will serve to finally hold decision makers responsible for our infrastructure problems.
It’s time to take back our city.
“Indians Wear Red”: Colonialism, Resistance and Aboriginal Street Gangs won in the non-fiction category last night at the Manitoba Book Awards! Elizabeth Comack, Lawrence Deane, Larry Morrisette and Jim Silver wrote this book based on research done through the Manitoba Research Alliance. Congratulations to the authors for receiving the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction!
From the cover: Drawing on extensive interviews with Aboriginal street gang members, as well as with Aboriginal women and elders, “Indians Wear Red” locates Aboriginal Street gangs as a form of resistance to colonialism… Solutions lie not in the search for “quick fixes” but in decolonization: re-connecting Aboriginal people with their culture and building communities in which they can thrive, aware of and proud of their identity.
Read this fast facts summary of the book. For more information on “Indians Wear Red” visit Fernwood Publishing. Notably all royalties from sales of the book are donated back to CCPA MB for future research.
By Lynne Fernandez, Errol Black Chair in Labour Issues
The Day of Mourning, more than any other day in the labour movement’s calendar, brings home why we must remain vigilant in the area of workers’ rights. As reported by the Canadian Labour Congress, more than 1,000 workers are killed on the job or die as a result of workplace conditions. As we commemorate another National Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job, we are reminded of some of the issues that played a role in workers’ health and safety in 2013 -14. The release of two independent reviews of claims suppression and the passage of Bill 31 – the Workplace Safety and health Amendment Act – in October, shed light on how and why many workers are forced to put their health and lives on the line just because they go to work.
Please join us for the official launch of Taking Back the City: Winnipeg 2014 Alternative Municipal Budget. The Alternative Municipal budget outlines what the City of Winnipeg could do if it were truly committed to social justice, environmental sustainability and sustained economic growth.
Tuesday April 29th
11 am
Millennium Library
Carol Shields Auditorium
Join the event on Facebook and invite friends!
https://www.facebook.com/events/1374815936136137/
Twitter hashtag: #AMB2014
By Dean Harder
A banner 2013 crop year and some rail delays due to cold weather doesn’t account for all our grain transportation woes. Coordination of rail to ships is out of synch: a study by Quorum Corporation found that rail shipments to the West Coast are down 2 per cent from last year, but there are excess ships waiting in port. In the east, grain shipments were down 20 per cent at Thunder Bay as of March with some ships turning away empty.
There is a direct correlation between the loss of the farmer-elected Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) and the current rail transportation boondoggle which will cost prairie farmers over $5 billion in sales.
By Josh Brandon
The Provincial government has released an impressive record of its commitment to build affordable housing across Manitoba. Housing and Community Development Minister Peter Bjornson announced the fulfillment of the Manitoba NDP’s 2009 promise to complete 1,500 units of affordable housing at the opening of a new housing project for people with mental health challenges in Winnipeg last Thursday.
By Zoё St-Aubin and Jill Bucklaschuk
Manitoba has embarked on aggressive immigration strategies to attract newcomers to settle in a variety of communities in the province with the purpose of meeting local labour force demands. In response to these trends, it is necessary to have appropriate and effective support systems to assist in the long-term settlement and integration of the increasing number of newcomers. Prior to the federal government’s changes to the delivery model of settlement services in 2012, these services were a provincial responsibility in Manitoba, Quebec, and British Columbia. As a result of federal and provincial agreements, the settlement service framework gave these provinces considerable discretion over how services were implemented, funded, and delivered, with the purposes of addressing region-specific needs. There was an acknowledgement that individual regions had unique settlement needs and that service delivery should be tailored rather than implemented in one-size-fits-all fashion. However this has all changed.
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