CIRCLE UP: Mothers Seek True Justice for Their Murdered Sons - MOVIE NIGHT & DIALOGUE
2024-09-20 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Toronto) | Jules Morin Park Fieldhouse – 400 Clarence Street Ottawa, ON K1N 5R8, 400 Clarence Street, Ottawa, K1N 5R8
Come join us for a powerful evening at the Jules Morin Fieldhouse at 400 Clarence St as we watch a thought-provoking movie and engage in meaningful dialogue.
Come watch “Circle Up: Mothers Seek True Justice for their Murdered Sons” outside the criminal legal system due to failures within our current system. We will have a discussion afterwards about transformative justice and ways we can apply these practices in our communities.
This event organized by the Ottawa Transformative Justice Collective and the Lowertown Community Resource Centre.
Access notes: N95 Masks will be available but are not required. Light refreshments will be provided. This space is accessible to wheelchairs and other mobility devices.
Registration preferred but not required.
Contact @ottawatransformativejustice on IG or email ottawatransformativejustice@gmail.com for more information.

2024 Ottawa-Gatineau Climate March
2024-09-21 11:00 - 13:00 | Ottawa City Hall, 110 Laurier, Ottawa
ABOUT THE 2024 CLIMATE MARCH – Exposing the Climate Culprits
For too long, the oil and gas industry has blamed ordinary Canadians for the causes and effects of climate change. We’ve been told to recycle, carpool, and reduce our carbon footprint – all while they lie and rake in record profits.
Individual action certainly has its place, but it has become absolutely clear: preventing the worst of climate change will require systemic change.
So it’s time to take aim at the root of the problem, the institutions and industries that produce the most emissions and try to prevent meaningful change: Canada’s climate change culprits!
Who are Canada’s Climate Culprits?
These culprits invest in and enable the fossil fuel industry, drag their feet on meaningful change, and try to block a just transition to clean energy.
They drive up the cost of living for ordinary people, cause wildfires across Canada, and worsen extreme weather right here in Ottawa-Gatineau. They put profit over people. Every. Single. Day.
Our 2024 Canadian Climate Culprits are:
❌ The City of Ottawa
❌ Export Development Canada (EDC)
❌ The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP)
❌ The Province of Ontario
❌ Canadian Gas Association
❌ The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
❌ The Conservative Party of Canada
Join Us: https://www.fridaysforfutureottawa.org/get-involved/

Photo exhibition: daughters, mothers, grandmothers, and other sexual outlaws
2024-09-21 14:00 - 2024-10-19 17:00 | Gallery 101, 280 Catherine Street, Ottawa
A new photo exhibit co-curated by Inter Pares and three international social justice organizations documents sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) activism in Bangladesh, El Salvador and the Philippines.
daughters, mothers, grandmothers and other sexual outlaws showcases intergenerational efforts to advance sexual health and rights in contexts that are hostile towards bodily autonomy for girls, women and gender-diverse people. This work is essential—and comes with great risk.
The exhibit will launch in Ottawa on September 21st from 2:00 to 5:00p.m. at Gallery 101 and will be open for public viewing until October 19th. It features the talent of photographers Taslima Akhter (Bangladesh), Jessica Xiomara Orellana Ventura (El Salvador) and Lisa Marie David (the Philippines).
The exhibit aims to deepen understandings of what activism looks like around the world.
daughters, mothers, grandmothers and other sexual outlaws captures strength and creativity in the struggle for sexual health and rights. The exhibit aims to deepen understandings of what activism looks like around the world. We also hope it sparks conversations around longstanding and urgent struggles to access reproductive health services, both globally and in Canada.
Inter Pares, based in Ottawa, is a feminist social justice organization that believes in solidarity, not charity, as an approach to international cooperation. For nearly 50 years, Inter Pares has collaborated with courageous activists and inspiring organizations throughout the world to build peace, advance justice and globalize equality.
Gallery 101 is an artist-run-centre committed to exhibiting self-representations of decolonizing counternarratives.
The exhibit is part of a collaboration between Inter Pares and longstanding counterparts Nijera Kori (Bangladesh), La Colectiva Feminista para el desarrollo local (El Salvador) and Likhaan Center for Women’s Health (the Philippines).
For more information, please contact:
• Nathalia Santos Ocasio, Inter Pares, nsantosocasio@interpares.ca
• Kristina Corre, Gallery 101, office@g101.ca

Queer Death Salon - Advance Planning for End of Life
2024-09-24 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
2SLGBTQIA+ people may face specific challenges in the legal and healthcare systems. You may need extra protections in advance care planning to ensure dignity and avoid conflict or discrimination.
Tuesday, September 24 at 7 p.m. EST
This month we are kicking off a 4-part series where we will discuss Advanced Planning for End Of Life as it relates to us in our communities. Over 4 sessions, we will together go over each section of the LGBTQ+ Advance Care Planning Toolkit published by SAGE (follow the link for the free download).
This month, we will review STEP 1 of the toolkit and discuss:
-health care proxy
-living will
-financial power of attorney
-last will and testament
-funeral pre-planning and disposition rights
There is no need to pre-read the materials. We will discuss the toolkit information together, and help each other work out questions and special considerations around these topics, to better enable us each to make the preparations that work best for us. Each of the 4 sessions is drop-in. There is no requirement to attend all sessions.
Participants are encouraged to bring their own questions, stories, and complexities to share.

Colloquium: "The Native and the Refugee" by Matt Peterson
2024-09-26 14:30 - 16:30 | Loeb A720, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S5B6, Canada
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology’s Colloquium Committee is pleased to invite you to the first event of this academic year’s colloquium series, featuring documentary filmmaker and artist Matt Peterson. He will present on his research from the multimedia project, “The Native and the Refugee”, which investigates and juxtaposes the struggles, communities, and spaces of the Palestinian refugee camp and the American Indian reservation.
For more information on the project, please visit: The Native and the Refugee
Bio: Matt Peterson is a filmmaker and organizer at Woodbine, an experimental space in New York City. He directed the documentary Scenes from a Revolt Sustained (2015) and co-edited the books In the Name of the People (2018) and The Reservoir (2022).
Please find the attached event poster for further details. We look forward to seeing you at the colloquium!

Striking Moments of Solidarity in the Chaudière District: Community Support for the Sawmill Match Worker Strikes, 1891 & 1924
2024-09-28 13:00 - 15:00 | Ottawa Public Library – Main Branch Auditorium
This month, the Historical Society of Ottawa and Workers History Museum celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the September 1924 Strike by “Les Allumettières” at Hull’s E.B. Eddy match factory — the first women to stage a labour strike in the province’s history.
To mark this anniversary, two events have been planned for activists and local residents to learn about this landmark strike and another key moment in the early history of the Ottawa-Gatineau labour movement: the 1891 mass strike by 2400 non-unionized saw mill workers in the Chaudière District.
#1: Striking Moments of Solidarity in the Chaudière District: Community Support for the Sawmill & Match Worker Strikes, 1891 & 1924
Public Lecture by Brian McDougall: Saturday, September 28, 1 p.m.
Ottawa Public Library, Main Branch Auditorium)
Sponsored by Historical Society of Ottawa in partnership with the Workers’ History Museum
Admission is free
#2: From Sacred Site to Industrial Wasteland: Colonialism and Class Struggle in the Chaudière District
Walking Tour, led by Brian McDougall – Sunday, September 29, 10 a.m.
Organized by Peoples’ History Walking Tours
Cost: $35 (Pre-registration is required. Send an email to brian.phwt@gmail.com)
The speaker for both events is Brian McDougall, long-time socialist activist and guide with Peoples’ History Walking Tours.

Pique
2024-09-28 17:00 - 2024-09-29 02:00 | Club SAW, 67 Nicholas St, Ottawa, K1N 7B9
The change of season once again brings an exciting music and arts convergence at Pique’s fall edition, happening on September 28, 2024 at the Arts Court. The 14th edition of Ottawa’s signature underground art party, Pique brings together groundbreaking music, visual, and interdisciplinary artists for a building-wide festival at the Arts Court in downtown Ottawa.
Experimental and underground music, media art installation, drag and ballroom performance, and more will be showcased across eight stages and exhibition spaces, indoors and outdoors. Admission is pay-what-you-can and all-ages.
Featuring performances and presentations by international and out-of-town artists including punk-feminist sound artist Evicshen; ethereal soundscapist and harpist for Kelela, Ahya Simone; commanding punk rave duo Pelada; cutting-edge pop vanguard Cecile Believe; spectral noise-pop songwriter LA Timpa; noisemaker and new music subversive Olivia Shortt; avant-garde tropi-pop producer chiquitamagic; cyberpunk pop star 8485; and alt-jazz/R&B siren M.I.BLUE.
Exploring the edges of art and performance, local artists will present new and improvised works, including experimental alt-pop producer Yolande Laroche, radical sound conductors SUBR (صبر), performance artist Matt Miwa, soundscape improviser Kathryn Patricia Cobbler, CRT frequency modulator crhunchy!, and exploratory percussionist Scott Warren.
Plus, the first-ever kiki ball at Pique curated by Yéila Siriano + Legendary OA Mother Maldita Siriano, and a multi-media exhibition exploring decolonized desire curated by Eva Grant, comes to Pique’s fall edition.
Finally, Topique symposium returns to Pique with a series of artist talks and workshops (to be announced).
With more than 30 artists, curators, and speakers, there is so much to experience at Pique!

From Sacred Site to Industrial Wasteland: Colonialism and Class Struggle in the Chaudière District
2024-09-29 10:00 - 15:00

Short film serenade: A fundraiser for the Ottawa Trans Library
2024-09-29 17:00 - 22:00 | Hintonburg Public House, 1020 Wellington St W,, Ottawa, Canada
Party for a good cause! Join us for a “FUN”draising evening of:• SHORT FILMS presented by the Transgender Media Portal (5-6pm) • BOOKWORM KARAOKE hosted by Mr. Capital Pride 2024 themself: BJ Stroker!! https://www.instagram.com/bj_stroker/ (7-10pm) ($ tip your favourite performers!)• SILENT AUCTION (until 8pm) with amazing prizes from Victoire Boutique, Maker House, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, Little Jo Berry’s, The Merry Dairy, Asinabka Festival, Two Chicks and A Garden, and more!• HPH drinks and eats (throughout)!
**Pay What You Can at the door**
Proceeds go directly to the OTL. Donations can also be made to the OTL through their website: https://ottawatranslibrary.ca/how-to-help/donations/
Film Program:Odehimin, Kijâtai-Alexandra Veillette-Cheezo, Canada, 2020.Hoverboard, Sydney Freeland, Canada, 2012. Genderize, Chase Joynt, USA, 2016. I Am Me, Jazmine Smith, Canada, 2019. Reviving the Roost, Vivek Shraya, Canada, 2019. Her Story, Ep. 1, Sydney Freeland, 2016. How Not To Date While Trans, Nyala Moon, USA, 2022. https://www.transgendermediaportal.org
Please note: The final three films contain some suggestive content including mild language, sexual themes, non-explicit depictions of sexual behavior, and references to alcohol.
Accessibility: Two steps to enter the building. The washroom has handles and room for a wheelchair to turn around.
Chi-meegwetch/Big thanks go to all of our prize donors, to our host venue Hintonburg Public House (https://www.hintonburgpublichouse.ca/) and to The Asinabka Festival (https://asinabkafestival.org/) for providing equipment and prizes.

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - many events
2024-09-30
There are many events happening in Ottawa and the general region; Inter Pares has assembled a list which includes many that activists in town may find of interest:
https://interpares.ca/news/marking-national-day-truth-and-reconciliation

SGaawaay K’uuna (Edge of The Knife) National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Screening
2024-09-30 10:00 - 2024-10-04 17:00 | DARC Microcinema, 67 Nicholas St, Ottawa, K1N 7B9, Canada
DARC is proud to present SGaawaay K’uuna (Edge of The Knife) for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Set in the 19th century, the film tells the story of Adiits’ii who, following a tragedy, transforms into Gaagiixid – “the Wildman.” SGaawaay K’uuna is the first feature film made in the endangered Haida language.
Watch this beautifully shot film in the DARC Microcinema from September 30th to November 4th. No registration is required for the day-long looping screenings.
DARC’s Microcinema programming is always FREE, donations are welcome.

SUGARCANE - Special Screening on National Truth and Reconciliation Day
2024-09-30 18:30 - 22:00 | Odawa Native Friendship Centre, 815 Saint Laurent Boulevard, Ottawa, ON, K1K 3A7, Canada
Odawa is proud to announce a special screening of the award winning National Geographic documentary SUGARCANE.
A stunning tribute to the resilience of Native People and their way of life, SUGARCANE, the debut feature documentary from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, is an epic cinematic portrait of a community during a moment of international reckoning.
Do not miss out on this historical screening.
LIMITED SEATING – DO NOT DELAY. GET YOUR TICKETS TODAY!
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/sugarcane-special-screening-on-national-truth-and-reconciliation-day-tickets-1020522499267

Pacinthe Mattar: Objectivity, Press Freedom, and the Palestine Exception
2024-09-30 19:00 - 21:00 | Richcraft Hall 2228, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Dr, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S5B6, Canada
Please RSVP at this link
In-person and livestreamed via Youtube.
When Pacinthe Mattar was a producer at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, only one story of hers did not make it to air out of the thousands she produced daily over her ten-year tenure. It was about Palestine, and it changed the trajectory of her journalism career.
The so-called racial reckoning of 2020 forced the journalism industry to–however briefly–listen to its Black, Indigenous and racialized peers as they detailed their experiences with systemic racism in media institutions. Mattar wrote the National Magazine Award-winning article, “Objectivity Is A Privilege Afforded To White Journalists,” now a mainstay in syllabi at journalism schools across North America. But while the journalism industry has learned to name and begin to address anti-Black and anti-Indigenous and other forms of racism, it can barely even name anti-Palestinian racism. Meanwhile in Gaza and the West Bank, over 110 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in the last year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, making it the deadliest period for journalists in recorded history.
In this talk, journalist Pacinthe Mattar will open her reporter’s notebook and share her experiences covering and talking about Palestine – and explain why it’s one of the most urgent and critical press freedom issues of our time.
About the Speaker
Pacinthe Mattar is an Egyptian-Canadian journalist, writer, producer, host and journalism instructor based in Toronto. She spent ten years at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation producing for national TV and radio programmes. Her work focuses on race and racism, Middle East politics and more, and has appeared in publications including The Walrus, Al Jazeera, Chatelaine, Toronto Life, Three Magazine and The New Quarterly. In 2021, she received a National Magazine Award and Canadian Online Publishing Award for her feature essay “Objectivity Is a Privilege Afforded to White Journalists.”
She was selected as a 2022 Fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. In 2023, she was the Asper Fellow in Media at Western University. She is the host of the monthly Don Talks series at the Don Arts Academy in Toronto. She has taught journalism and writing at Western University, Boston University and Harvard University. She earned her undergraduate degree at The University of Toronto at Mississauga in 2008, and completed a master’s degree in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2010.
To learn more about Pacinthe, visit her website.

National Seniors for Climate Ottawa event
2024-10-01 13:00 - 16:00 | Knox Presbyterian Church Ottawa, 120 Lisgar, Ottawa, Canada
Join us at Knox Presbyterian for the National Seniors for Climate Ottawa event!

Liberating land from ecocide: “An Island and One Night” (“Une Ile et une nuit”)
2024-10-01 18:30 - 21:00 | Social Innovation Atelier, 95 Clegg St, Ottawa
Social Innovation Atelier, 95 Clegg St.
“ZAD,” or “zone à defender,” has entered the European lexicon as a general term for militant direct collective action against large-scale development projects. First coming into prominence in the collective opposition airport construction in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, France, (still the largest self-organized autonomous zone in Europe) the approach and tactic has spread widely. To be a “zadiste” is defined in the Le Petit Robert dictionary as “a militant occupying a ZAD to oppose a proposed development that would damage the environment.” In the Canadian context, we know relatively little about these concrete fights or the conceptual formation of this idea. Come hear from a visiting European radical who has spent time on many ZADs over the last years and will share insights and an autonomously created film illuminating this tendency.
What does life feel like in zones liberated from ecocidal capitalism? Will its residents – moved together by war and climate change – develop a kind of relation with the land they live on that simply abandons the bureaucratic methods of the last “green capitalists”? Residents of the Quartier Libre des Lentillières in Dijon, one of the most famous occupied zones in France, have produced an auto-fictional cinematic firework in a self-managed and collective manner, which makes the desire for radical-ecological change sensually comprehensible. It gives a magnificent insight into current radical French activist scenes around the strategy of the ZAD and can serve as a generous starting point for a trans-Atlantic discussion on how liberatory strategies of reclaiming territory can look and feel like in a world tainted by settler-colonialism, fascism and other toxic forms of exclusion.
The film An Island and One Night (“Une Ile et une nuit”) has screened widely in the European context, but is normally only shown when one of the activists from Lentillieres is with it. Activist/artist Kilian Jörg will be visiting North America for two months in the Fall of 2024, and was invited by the group who made the film to share it with us. Ottawa is one of the very few screening sites in North America!
About the film: An Island and One Night (“Une Ile et une nuit”) is a fictional film made collectively over the past two years by the residents and users of the Quartier Libre des Lentillères, a self-organized area on the last remaining market garden land in the city of Dijon. These eight hectares have been occupied and recultivated since 2010, in resistance to a concrete “ecocity” project that still threatens them today. In the middle of the city, these fallow spaces and abandoned houses have been transformed into a self-managed, multi-purpose district, where collective housing, market gardening, self-construction, festive and cultural events, etc. intermingle. It’s a place of struggle and solidarity of all kinds, as well as a veritable reserve of biodiversity.
In this film, we use the prism of the imaginary to talk about reality, about what we live here, how we got here, what we’re looking for and what we’re fighting against every day. It’s a musical and danced fiction, without heroes or heroines, with houses that are boats (and vice versa), pirates of all kinds and as many different languages… In short, the Quartier Libre des Lentillères is a treasure island into the eye of cinema!
Self-produced, self-distributed and based on volunteer participation, this film shot on 16mm silver film was built up over the course of the area’s life, in correlation with it, to the rhythm of events and seasons. From writing to filming to editing, each stage of the process was collective and participatory, with everyone sharing their know-how.
The film’s music is made up of original tracks composed during the making of the film, as well as pre-existing tracks from supportive bands who have played at the Quartier in the past.
The distribution of An Island and One Night will initially take the form of itinerant screenings – either free or on donation base, in keeping with this non-mercantile spirit. On the technical side, the film can be screened in digital or 16mm, depending on the location and the motivation.
Beyond the pleasure of sharing this creation with a large and diverse audience, this tour will be an opportunity to pass on through encounters our experience of struggle, self-organization and the invention of forms of collective life geared towards a good life for all, and respectful of all living beings.
www.piratesdeslentilleres.net/en
Space Accessibility:
The Atelier has a barrier-free entry with an automatic front door. The space is all one level, except for a very small lip to get onto the wood floor in the lounge area. There is one accessible washroom, and both washrooms are gender-neutral. There is dim lighting throughout the space. We are also a scent-free space.

Book Launch: From Havana to Hollywood
2024-10-02 18:00 - 20:00 | Wise Town Cafe, 329-A Elgin St, Ottawa
Join us to celebrate the release of Philip Kaisary’s new book, From Havana to Hollywood: Slave Resistance in the Cinematic Imaginary. Philip will be joined in conversation with Adrian Harewood, Stacy Douglas, and Aubrey Anable.
Wednesday, October 2, 6pm – 8pm
Wise Town Cafe, 329-A Elgin St.
Space is limited, please RSVP by email to bridgetrielly@cmail.carleton.ca
From Havana to Hollywood examines the presence or absence of Black resistance to slavery in feature films produced in either Havana or Hollywood–including Gillo Pontecorvo’s Burn!, neglected masterpieces by Cuban auteurs Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Sergio Giral, and Steve McQueen’s Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave.
Kaisary argues that, with rare exceptions, the representation of Black agency in Hollywood has always been, and remains, taboo. Contrastingly, Cuban cinema foregrounds Black agency, challenging the ways in which slavery has been misremembered and misunderstood in North America and Europe. With powerful, richly theorized readings, the book shows how Cuban cinema especially recreates the past to fuel visions of liberation and asks how the medium of film might contribute to a renewal of emancipatory politics today.
Philip Kaisary is the 2023–2025 Ruth and Mark Phillips Professor of Cultural Mediations and Associate Professor in the Department of Law and Legal Studies, the Department of English Language and Literature, and the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art, and Culture at Carleton University. He is the author of The Haitian Revolution in the Literary Imagination: Radical Horizons, Conservative Constraints.
Event made possible with support from ICSLAC and the departments of English, Law and Legal Studies, and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program at Carleton University.
Part of the Authors Unbound Fall 2024 literary event series.

Sisters In Spirit Vigil for MMIWG2S+
2024-10-04 12:00 - 15:00 | Parliament Hill, Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A9, Canada
Join FSIS for the 18th annual SIS Vigil for MMIWG2S+ on Friday, October 4, 2024. We are gathering from noon to 3 pm on Parliament Hill on traditional Algonquin Territory.
This year also marks the 20 anniversary of Amnesty International Canada’s Stolen Sisters Report. There will be fierce Indigenous women speakers including Beverley Jacobs, Melanie Omeniho, Colleen Hele Cardinal, Diane Redsky and more! There will be a braid-cutting ceremony featuring Bridget Tolley and family.
With support from: Women of the Métis Nation, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), and Amnesty International Canada

International Day of Action: One Year of Genocide, One Year of Resistance
2024-10-05 14:00 - 17:00 | Parliament Hill, Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A9, Canada
OTTAWA: JOIN US October 5th on Parliament Hill to answer the global day of action for Palestine to mark one year of genocide against Palestinians and honor the resilience of our people in resisting zionism, occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing as they have for the past 76 years.
This October marks one year of genocide, of indiscriminate bombing, forced displacement, and famine. In the span of one year, the Gaza Health Ministry has released the names of over 40,000 l innocent civilian lives lost, including over 15,000 children, with updated projections estimating 189,000 direct and indirect deaths as a result of Israel’s genocidal war against Palestine. Despite this, people of Gaza remained steadfast in their resistance against these oppressive forces and in demanding their liberation.
As our Canadian government continues to arm and fund the Zionist entity, we will march once again on October 5, a year into the active genocide, demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an end to Canadian complicity, including through the implementation of a two way arms embargo, and an end of the illegal blockade on Gaza.
Join us in sending a clear message across the world: we will not rest, we will continue to resist, until Palestinians are free wherever they live from the river to the sea.

Epistemicide in Gaza: The Targeting and destruction of Knowledge infrastructure
2024-10-10 14:30 - 16:30 | A720 Loeb Building, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6, Canada
As part of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology Colloquium Series, Iyas Salim Abu-hajiar presents: “Epistemicide in Gaza: The Targeting and destruction of Knowledge infrastructure“.
Title: Epistemicide in Gaza: The Targeting and destruction of Knowledge infrastructure
Abstract: Epistemicide refers to the obliteration of knowledge systems, including physical infrastructure, educators, and scholars. In the ongoing war on Gaza, which has raged for a year, Israel has systematically targeted and destroyed nearly all educational facilities, killing thousands of students, teachers, researchers, and lecturers. According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, Israel’s military actions are not random but part of a deliberate strategy to erase education and the future prospects of young Palestinians, even after the war.Before the conflict, Gaza was home to 796 schools and 17 higher education institutions, serving nearly 87,000 students. Many of these facilities have since been bombed, and countless researchers, scholars, and students have been killed or assassinated. One example is Al-Isra University, south of Gaza City, where Israeli forces blew up the campus and destroyed the National Museum, which housed over 3,000 rare artifacts from Islamic, Roman, and Palestinian history. University administrators in Gaza have repeatedly called for the protection of educational institutions, describing these attacks as crimes and violations of international laws, charters, and norms.

Bio: My name is Iyas Salim Abu-hajiar, and I am a Palestinian born in Gaza. I hold a PhD in Global Studies from Kyoto, Japan, along with a Master’s degree from Gaza, Palestine, and a BA from Victoria, B.C., Canada. I taught and researched in both Japan, and Palestine, along with several years work in international development across Gaza, the West Bank, and Jordan. In 2018, I co-founded the Research Center for Human Dignity at Doshisha University in Kyoto, where I served as an Assistant Professor. Currently, I am an Adjunct Professor at the College of Public and Global Affairs at Carleton University.

Calling for solidarity with kanien'kehá:ka kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers)
2024-10-15 12:00 - 17:00 | Supreme Court of Canada, 301 Wellington Street, Ottawa, K1A 0J1
On Tuesday, October 10th the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) will submit both conventional legal documents and traditional Kanien’kehá:ka legal documents to the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa for the first time in history. The submission of these documents represents the next step in the Mothers’ investigation into unmarked graves and clandestine mass burials of Indigenous women and girls on McGill campus at the former Royal Victoria Hospital and Allan Memorial Psychiatric Institute, in so-called Montreal.
At this historic moment, traditional Kanien’kehá:ka legal documents will be submitted and Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera protocols adhered to in the form of presenting wampum belts. Come and show your solidarity with the Kahnistensera in their pursuit of justice for their missing relatives at this press conference with independent special interlocutor Kimberley Murray.
Tuesday, Oct. 15, 12pm
Supreme Court of Canada
301 Wellington Street, Ottawa
K1A 0J1

Raise the Rates! Rally
2024-10-17 16:00 - 18:00 | Ottawa City Hall, 110 Laurier, Ottawa
Join the ODSP Action Coalition, the Disability Justice Network of Ontario, and the Raise the Rates coalition for a rally to demand doubling ODSP, and finally indexing Ontario Works to cost of living. Show up in support of your disabled comrades, kin, neighbours, friends, and enemies, and fight back against state austerity!
Social assistance recipients deserve dignity but under current policies struggle to afford rent and food.
Double ODSP! Index Ontario Works! No more deaths by disability poverty!

Cinema for Palestine: Artist Talk and Screening with Nada El-Omari
2024-10-17 18:00 - 20:00 | DARC Microcinema, 67 Nicholas St, Ottawa, K1N 7B9, Canada
DARC is proud to present “(re)collections of imagination,” a screening and artist talk featuring Palestinian – Egyptian filmmaker Nada El-Omari.
Constantly exploring new ways of self-narration, the Montreal-based artist will present and discuss her recent experimental short films, which are deeply informed by intergenerational memories, displacement and belonging.
Don’t miss this opportunity to experience Nada’s inventive and exploratory filmmaking.

Support Abousfian Abdelrazik as Canadian Complicity in Torture Goes on Trial (Online and in Ottawa)
2024-10-21 06:00 - 2024-11-01 14:00
Join us in court beginning October 21 in Ottawa or online as the six week trial proceeds.
To register online to observe proceedings, visit: https://cas-satj.zoom.us/…/WN_fSbwmniiRZ2f7_T7xFLkGg
To receive court location details for Ottawa, contact tasc@web.ca
Abousfian Abdelrazik is “the victim of a series of gross injustices attributable directly or indirectly to Canadian state actors, including arbitrary and illegal detention, prolonged solitary confinement, torture, and forced exile and separation from his home and young children. These breaches of the Plaintiff’s fundamental human rights were flagrant, extreme and continuous over a period of six years. Most egregiously, many senior Canadian officials were fully aware that Canada could have ended the Plaintiff’s cruel and unjust ordeal at any moment by simply securing a flight home to Montreal. In this action, he seeks redress and compensation that vindicates his Charter rights and is proportionate to the unprecedented seriousness of this wrongful state conduct.” (from his lawsuit)
Canada has a loathsome history of rendering Muslim citizens to torture abroad and being complicit in their torture. The case of Abousfian Abdlerazik is the first time such a case is scheduled for a trial.
When a combination of civic action and a court action successfully brought him home in 2009, Abdelrazik told the Globe and Mail a “ chilling account of six years of imprisonment and forced exile abroad… Mr. Abdelrazik recounted stories of interrogation and alleged torture. He told of Canadian Security and Intelligence Service agents laughingly saying “Sudan will be your Guantanamo” when he begged to be allowed to return home.
His ordeal – described as Kafkaesque by the federal court judge who ordered him repatriated – is far from ended. But the Harper government made it clear that Mr. Abdelrazik couldn’t expect any support in his efforts to remove his name from the UN list.
Mr. Abdelrazik said one of the two CSIS interrogators was the same agent who questioned him at his home two days before he flew to Khartoum in March of 2003. Mr. Abdelrazik said he had called the Montreal police to get the CSIS agents to leave.
“One of them, he turned and said to me, ‘You will see…’ ” he said.
Although CSIS denies it arranged for Mr. Abdelrazik to be imprisoned in Sudan, heavily redacted government documents say he was arrested “at our request,” meaning Canada’s.After months in solitary with little food and occasional torture, Mr. Abdelrazik said one day his Sudanese jailers told him the “Canadian muhabarat want to talk to me,” using the feared Arabic term for secret police.
Mr. Abdelrazik says he was taken to a room with a table laden “with cakes and fruits and juice and bottles of water,” but before he could say anything, one of the CSIS agents said, “Remember I told you in Montreal that ‘You will see,’ … and now, you will see.”
Mr. Abdelrazik said he begged to be allowed to go home and offered to face any charges the agents wanted to press.
“I am not going to help a terrorist,” the CSIS agent replied, according to Mr. Abdelrazik. The agent added that Mr. Abdelrazik was “Sudanese, not a Canadian, and should stay in Sudan forever.”
“My country doesn’t need you,” the CSIS agent said. After the two left, Mr. Abdelrazik said the worst period of torture and abuse began.
Stay in touch at Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture, tasc@web.ca

Queer Death Salon - Advance Planning for End of Life
2024-10-22 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
We are continuing our 4-part series where we will discuss Advanced Planning for End Of Life as it relates to us in our communities. Over 3 remaining sessions, we will together go over each section of the LGBTQ+ Advance Care Planning Toolkit published by SAGE
https://lgbtagingcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SAGE-Advanced-Care-Planning-Toolkit-Final.pdf
Tuesday, October 22 at 7 p.m. EST
We will review STEP 2 of the toolkit and discuss:
-caregiver resources
-your healthcare team
-palliative care for serious illness
-in case of emergency folder
There is no need to pre-read the materials. The material will be read aloud. We will discuss the toolkit information together, and help each other work out questions and special considerations around these topics. Each of the sessions is drop-in. There is no requirement to attend all sessions.work best for us. Each of the 4 sessions is drop-in. There is no requirement to attend all sessions. Go to our website for additional info on all sessions.

Centering Disability Justice in Non-Profits: Possibilities and Pitfalls
2024-10-24 09:00 - 17:00 | Social Innovation Atelier, 95 Clegg St, Ottawa
This event is designed for scholars, graduate students, disability community organizations, and individuals interested in supporting and integrating disability justice into non-profit work. It will be a unique opportunity to hear about emerging research, engage in discussions, and network.
Accessibility details:
– Wheelchair-accessible and scent-free venue
– Gender-neutral and wheelchair-accessible restrooms
– Para Transpo drop-off at the main entrance & close to OC Transpo bus stops
– Quiet space available
– We kindly ask that you wear a mask to help keep our community safe
To register, click here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc6F548_ZaW_sk8FcojRbP_QrNNVUXOPPvGBz74-qhY6rMb8Q/viewform .
For any questions, feel free to contact us at disabilityjustice.workshop@gmail.com.

Music to Movement Build
2024-10-25 19:00 - 23:00 | Bronson Centre, 211 Bronson Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Horizon Ottawa presents…
MUSIC TO MOVEMENT BUILD: NitroTurtle (and NuGruven)
Come join us for a night of incredible Funk / Jazz music at the Bronson Centre (Mac Hall)!
TICKETS ARE LIMITED! (Eventbrite $10-20):
Whether you’re someone who loves groovy live music featuring some of Ottawa’s top local talent, and/or you’re someone who wants to learn more about progressive organizing work in this city, this event is for you!
We’ll be raising money for Horizon Ottawa to be able to continue and expand its grassroots activism. The event will feature live band performances and short speeches by local activists.
This is a licensed event and drinks will be sold on site. A local Indian restaurant will also be selling food at the venue.
Venue is wheelchair accessible.
——————————-
LA MUSIQUE POUR CONSTRUIRE LE MOUVEMENT
Horizon Ottawa présente : NitroTurtle (et NuGruven)
Venez nous rejoindre pour une soirée de musique Funk/Jazz incroyable au Bronson Center (Mac Hall)!
LES BILLETS SONT LIMITÉS! (Eventbrite $10-20)
Que vous soyez quelqu’un qui aime la musique live groovy mettant en vedette certains des meilleurs talents locaux d’Ottawa, et/ou quelqu’un qui souhaite en savoir plus sur l’activisme progressiste dans cette ville, cet événement est pour vous !
Nous collecterons des fonds pour qu’Horizon Ottawa puisse poursuivre et étendre son militantisme populaire. L’événement comprendra des performances de groupe live et de courts discours d’activistes locaux.
Il s’agit d’un événement sous licence et les boissons seront vendues sur place. Un restaurant Indien local vendra également de la nourriture sur place.
Le lieu est accessible aux fauteuils roulants.

Remote Work to Reimagine the City Panel Discussion
2024-10-29 15:30 - 20:00 | Ottawa Art Gallery, 50 Mackenzie King Bridge, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Imagine if… … our downtown was a more appealing place to live, work and play … we reduced congestion on our roads … our neighbourhoods had everything we needed within walking distance … there were more hours in the day to take care of all the things that matter most … we could turn the corner on the housing crisis We can achieve all of this and more.
Remote work can help us transform not only where and how we work, but the places we live.
Come join members of the labour movement and community sector for a panel discussion and celebration of the opportunities of converting Ottawa’s office spaces into better uses and transforming our downtown. Together, we believe that remote work is a powerful tool for building more efficient, healthier, and dynamic cities.
Panel discussion: 6:30 pm to 8 pmDance party ft DJ Trinidaddy: 8 pm to 11 pm
Cash bar will be available
Please RSVP: https://acepcape.wufoo.com/forms/z1rmjtaz1lzoetg/
***Imaginez si… … notre centre-ville était un lieu plus attrayant pour vivre, travailler et se divertir? … nos routes étaient moins congestionnées? …nos quartiers offraient tout ce dont nous avons besoin à distance de marche? … nous avions plus d’heures dans la journée pour nous occuper des choses qui comptent le plus? … nous pouvions mettre fin à la crise du logement? Nous pouvons réaliser tout cela et bien plus encore.
Le télétravail peut nous aider à transformer non seulement nos lieux de travail et notre façon de travailler, mais aussi les lieux où nous vivons.
Joignez-vous aux membres du mouvement syndical et du secteur communautaire pour assister à un débat de spécialistes et célébrer les possibilités de convertir au mieux les espaces de bureaux d’Ottawa et de transformer notre centre-ville. Ensemble, nous croyons que le télétravail est un moyen formidable de rendre les villes plus efficientes, plus saines et plus dynamiques.
Débat de spécialistes de 18 h 30 à 20 hSoirée dansante avec la DJ Trinidaddy de 20 h à 23 h
Il y aura un bar payant
R.S.V.P. : https://acepcape.wufoo.com/forms/zqft2vj03ewiyp/

Harmony Circle for Palestine with Albert Dumont and Friends
2024-10-30 18:30 - 20:00
For this Harmony Circle, Spiritual Advisor Albert Dumont will be joined by Aisling Quinn and Yipeng Ge. Aisling is a member of Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine – a collective set up to advocate for the protection of Healthcare Workers, infrastructure, humanitarian workers and all civilians. Yipeng is a primary care doctor and public health practitioner in Ottawa. In November 2023, Dr. Ge was suspended from his medical residency at the University of Ottawa for pro-Palestinian social media remarks critical of Israel. A petition demanding his reinstatement received over 65,000 signatures, indicating widespread support for Dr. Ge and raising concerns about free speech and the right to criticize government policy without risking professional repercussions.
We will talk about solidarity with Palestine among Healthcare Workers – the efforts being taken in Ireland and Canada, and the differences in approach. After the formal conversation, we will open up the meeting for a Sharing Circle where all participants are invited to ask questions or share what is on their heart in the chat. We will end the Harmony Circle with concrete social justice actions we can take to help. This is an invitation to do something in a time of great suffering, devastation and emotional turmoil.

Here are the important links for sharing …
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/8385325838217622/
Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/harmonycircleswithalbert/posts/122118762014513446
Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBRJLhRxoJi/
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/harmonycircleswithalbert
Registration form: https://forms.gle/PBSPWbQbmaUWfLgTA

Please let me know if you need any other info or if you want it in a different format.

Sincerely,
The Harmony Circles Team – Albert, Evneeki, Nadia, Lindsey, Lisa and Sylvia

Film Screening: Gaza Fights for Freedom
2024-11-04 18:30 - 21:00 | Arts Court Theatre, 10 daly ave, Ottawa, K1N 7B9, Canada
Join us Monday, November 4th for a fundraiser film screening to watch “Gaza Fights For Freedom” (2019). Filmed during the height of the Great March of Return (2018-2019) the documentary tells the story of Palestinians who peacefully marched to the edges of their prison and stood in defiance of the unlawful “authority” that sequestered them there. How did the occupying forces respond? Chemical warfare, snipers firing live rounds, and the murder of 195 men, women, and children, with 29’000 injured. This film is a reminder that the genocide we are witnessing today where the Zionist regime has murdered upwards of 186’000 Palestinians, is not new. This film is a testament to the steadfastness of Palestinian’s and their heroic resistance and resilience in the face of the occupier.
The screening will be followed by discussion highlighting themes in the film. Tickets linked in bio. Snacks will be sold and all proceeds will go to the People Stand with Gaza Fundraiser Campaign.
We look forward to seeing you there!
🗓️ Monday, November 4th
⏰ Doors open at 6:30PM, Film starts at 7:00PM
📍Arts Court Theatre 2 Daly Ave Ottawa, ON
🎟️ $10 RSVP Click here to RSVP

Leveller Story Meeting
2024-11-04 19:00 - 21:00 | Online
Hey Levellers, it’s a new publication year and we’re in need of people for Mighty Volume Sixteen of The Leveller! This is also a good time to remind everyone of our increased honorariums:

$85 per written article
$35 for editing, photojournalism and illustrations per article.
$115 for features over 300 words with original reporting.

Join us for our next story meeting on Monday, 4 November 7PM. While we’re working on in-person/hybrid meetings, we’re still online here: meet.jit.si/LevellerNovember2024StoryMeeting

Story Meetings are where you can pitch article ideas, help brainstorm content, or be assigned a story. They’re also a way to learn about the Leveller and introduce yourself.
Can’t make it? That’s not a problem. Email operations@leveller.ca to pitch us a story any time. We’re following a schedule listed at the bottom of this email.

Unfortunately, we’re blocked on Meta’s Facebook, Instagram and Threads (hah), so we can’t promote there. Please forward this email to your friends and colleagues, as well as follow and share our posts:
Mastodon: @leveller_ottawa@mastodon.online
BlueSky: @theleveller.bsky.social
Lemmy: /u/leveller_ottawa
Twitter/X: @leveller_ottawa
Our Production Cycle is monthly. The due date for the next batch of articles will be 18 November with a publication date on 25 November. During the week before publishing, editors and proofreaders will be assigned to work with writers on their articles.
Our Guides will help you understand expectations for contributing. Please take a look at our Submission Guidelines if you would like to get published. Our Leveller News & Analysis Writing Guide provides the framework for our stories. Please read the Honourarium Policy for information on being paid.
Check out other ways to get involved with The Leveller – including joining the Editorial Board.
