BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Punch Up Collective - ECPv6.16.4.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.punchupcollective.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Punch Up Collective
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Toronto
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20240310T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20241103T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20251001T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20251021T170000
DTSTAMP:20250928T190403Z
CREATED:20250928T183953Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250928T190403Z
UID:12433-1759305600-1761066000@www.punchupcollective.org
SUMMARY:October Chain Fast for Palestinian Family Reunification: Issue Visas and Arrange Evacuations NOW
DESCRIPTION:From October 1 to October 21\, please pick a day to fast (according to your own tradition of fasting) to demand the immediate evacuation from Gaza of all remaining 3\,700 Palestinian applicants for Canadian visas and the finalization of all 2\,500+ applications for Palestinian genocide survivors still stranded in Egypt. During your fast day\, we ask you to: \n• Make a selfie with a message (such as Fasting for Palestinian Family Reunification or “Fasting for Urgent Gaza Evacuation”) that you can share with us and on your social media; \n• Write a letter and make a call to your MP and the appropriate government officials (samples below) demanding immediate evacuation of all remaining visa applicants from Gaza; \n• Share on social media the story of one of the families hugely impacted by the negative impacts of this program (we will pair you with a family and provide pictures and text to share). We can also directly connect you with that particular family to stay in touch with them afterwards and continue advocating for their right to be free of the genocide and joined with their loved ones in Canada. \nTo pick a date to fast\, please email a preferred date\, your name and town/city to be shared on our website\, to the Canadian Palestinian Family Reunification Project of the Rural Refugee Rights Network at tasc@web.ca \nEach day of the chain fast will represent one of the 21 months that Canada’s None is Too Many Gaza temporary residence visa (TRV) program has been in effect\, 20 months of deliberate institutional inaction and lethal obstacle creation\, with hundreds of lives lost waiting on Canadian visas. The final week of the chain fast coincides with the return of MPs to Parliament. \nCanada does have the capacity to evacuate visa applicants from Gaza. But it has only directly assisted in the evacuation of fewer than 2% of the 5\,000 applicants\, and in late July evacuated 11 Canadian citizens through the Karem Abu Salem crossing. We engage in this fast to highlight the urgent need to evacuate the remaining 98% of applicants. \nThe punishingly slow pace of visa processing for Gazans – a paltry average of 2 applications completed per day\, with a lethal waiting time for some of over a year – stands in stark contrast to the Canada–Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program. During CUAET’s first year\, Canada welcomed 129\,000 Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion and approved over half a million visas (an average of 1\,400 applications per day)\, usually within a two-week turnaround. Canada waived security screening for those aged up to 17 and over 61\, and dropped a required medical exam despite the Ukrainian population’s much higher risk of carrying tuberculosis\, which Ottawa conceded “posed potential health risks to Canada.” \nSimilarly\, Canada welcomed over 8\,000 Israeli visa holders during 2024. Palestinian Canadians and refugee advocates point to such figures as clear proof of a painful\, discriminatory double standard that fails to adequately respond to what Canadian officials acknowledge are “catastrophic conditions” in Gaza. \nThe Gaza TRV program eerily echoes one of the most shameful periods of Canadian history\, the None is Too Many policies designed to keep Jews fleeing genocide out of Canada during the 1930s and 1940s. Almost 79 years after Canada turned away a boat packed with Jewish refugees (the St. Louis)\, then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an apology\, noting 254 St. Louis passengers were murdered upon their forced return to Europe\, and declaring: “By issuing this apology\, it is my sincere hope that we can shine a light on this painful chapter of our history and ensure that its lessons are never forgotten.” \nSadly\, different lessons were learned by different people. For those in the government who historically and to this day wrongfully treat certain groups of people with suspicion\, the lesson is that they can get away with racist exclusion as long as there is no public outrage. Hence\, we have seen Public Safety Canada agencies like CBSA (Canadian Border Services Agency) and CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) treat every last Palestinian from Gaza as a potential risk instead of viewing them through the humanitarian lens of families escaping the worst horrors imaginable. That is why actions like the Chain Fast are so important: another reminder of the many people across this land who stand in solidarity with and recognize the humanity of these Palestinian families. \nOrganized by the Rural Refugee Rights Network’s Canadian Palestinian Family Reunification Project\nMore info at tasc@web.ca
URL:https://www.punchupcollective.org/reo-calendar/october-chain-fast-for-palestinian-family-reunification-issue-visas-and-arrange-evacuations-now/
LOCATION:Ontario
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.punchupcollective.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/October-chain-fast-image.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20251021T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20251021T203000
DTSTAMP:20251004T220941Z
CREATED:20251004T220941Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251004T220941Z
UID:12791-1761073200-1761078600@www.punchupcollective.org
SUMMARY:Sexual Bereavement - Queer Death Salon
DESCRIPTION:Let’s gather and engage with our questions and feelings about: \n-sex after the death of a loved one.\n-the disenfranchised grief of polyamorous and kinky relational loss.\n-how pleasure and erotic energy can support our mourning.\n-changes in desire as death approaches for ourselves or a loved one.\n-cultural expectations of how a widow should act and our internalized stories about that.\n-anything sex/pleasure and bereavement related. \nNo question is too taboo. \nJess will invite folks to participate in embodiment exercises\, freewrite and consider the ways they want to be in relationship to their sexual expression within their (anticipatory) grief. \nJess DeVries is a queer somatic sex coach and grief worker. She primarily serves the queer/trans community supporting folks in reclaiming body autonomy and to inspire curiosity about pleasure and sexual expression\, guiding folks to define and pursue pleasure on their own terms. She is a grief advocate who regularly facilitates spaces for people to grieve\, inviting the wisdom of the body to guide the grief process. \nWithin the realms of grief\, she has trained with Being Here\, Human – as well as – Shauna Janz of Sacred Grief. Her grief work is held by connections to her ancestors\, mugwort\, hawthorne\, rose\, connection to her pussy\, and many many tears. Within the realms of pleasure and embodiment\, she has trained in Somatic Sex Education and Sexological Bodywork at the ISSSE – as well as – the Somatica Method with the Somatica Institute. Her pleasure work is held by delighting in sights\, smells\, and tastes\, a dirty imagination\, and sharing touch with human and non-human kin. \nJess provides 1:1 sessions online or by phone. She also facilitates workshops\, grief circles\, and rituals online for queer folks\, ex-Christians\, and Covid realist communities.
URL:https://www.punchupcollective.org/reo-calendar/sexual-bereavement-queer-death-salon/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.punchupcollective.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/qdsoct.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Queer Community Deathcare":MAILTO:queercommunitydeathcare@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR