OCAP | Speaking Series

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty is a direct action anti-poverty organization that fights for more shelter beds, social housing, and a raise in social assistance rates.

poverty, homelessness, housing, social assistance, ontario works, odsp, anti-poverty. ocap. ontario coalition against poverty, shelters,

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July 16, 2018 In Events, Speaking Series

Speakers Series Resumes in September

The monthly Speakers Series is taking a break for the month’s of July and August, and will resume again in September.

For newer visitors to the website, the Speakers Series is an event we organize in Regent Park on the third Thursday of every month. There is a community meal and a talk on issues that are critical to the success of poor people’s movements. The Speakers Series is where we build our capacity to fight to win.

It’s a bit spotty, but you can access the audio archive of some of our past events here.

June 5, 2018 In Events, Speaking Series

Speakers Series: Policing Black Lives

Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present
Thursday, June 21 | 6pm – 8pm | CRC, 40 Oak St.
[Free event with meal, childcare, wheelchair access and tokens]
Facebook event | Speakers Series Audio Archive

Delving behind Canada’s veneer of multiculturalism and tolerance, this talk will trace the violent realities of anti-Black racism from the slave ships to prisons, classrooms and beyond, providing a comprehensive account of nearly four hundred years of state-sanctioned surveillance, criminalization and punishment off Black lives in Canada.

Speaker: Robyn Maynard

Robyn is a Black feminist writer, grassroots community organizer and intellectual based in Montreal. Her work has appeared in the Toronto Star, the Montreal Gazette, World Policy Journal and Canadian Women Studies Journal.

The monthly Speakers Series is where we gather to discuss issues that are critical to the success of poor people’s movements. It’s where we build our capacity to fight to win.

April 25, 2018 In Defeat Ford, Events, Ontario, Speaking Series

Speakers Series: Defeating Doug Ford

Defeating Doug Ford
Thursday, May 17 | 6pm – 8pm | CRC, 40 Oak St.
[Free event with meal, childcare, wheelchair access and tokens]
Facebook event | Speakers Series Audio Archive

The upcoming provincial election in June could put Doug Ford in power. If that happens, attacks on poor and working class people will escalate sharply. Defeating his aggression is possible with planning, appropriate actions, and by drawing lessons from our past.

There are obvious comparisons to be made to the Mike Harris Tory regime that held power from 1995 to 2003. When they first took power, there was a stunned demobilization that lost us time and momentum and, when the Days of Action strikes and mass protests got underway, as impressive as they were, there were serious limitations in how they were conducted.

Let’s talk now so we are prepared to #FightToWin, no matter who takes power. Join us!

Speakers: John Clarke and Megan Whitfield

John Clarke is an organizer with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and has been active in poor people’s movements since 1983.

Megan Whitfield is the president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers’ (CUPW) Toronto local. CUPW played a pivotal role in the resistance to the Mike Harris Tories in the 90s.

Read OCAP’s full statement on the implications of a Doug Ford victory here.

The monthly Speakers Series is where we gather to discuss issues that are critical to the success of poor people’s movements. It’s where we build our capacity to fight to win.

April 3, 2018 In Events, Fighting Patriarchy, Speaking Series

Speakers Series: Beyond #MeToo: Ending Violence Against Poor Women

Beyond #MeToo: Ending Violence Against Poor Women
Thursday, April 19 | 6pm – 8pm | CRC, 40 Oak St.
[Free event with meal, childcare, wheelchair access and tokens]
Facebook event | Speakers Series Audio Archive | Download Flyer

Speakers: Azeezah Kanji and Anna Willats

Azeezah Kanji is a legal analyst and writer based in Toronto. She is the director of programming at Noor Cultural Centre and a regular opinion writer for the Toronto Star, focusing on issues related to race, law, national security, and human rights.

Anna Willats has been an activist working on social justice issues, particularly violence against women and transgender folks, since 1982 in Toronto. She is currently a professor in the Assaulted Women’s and Children’s counsellor/Advocate Program at George Brown College.

Over the past few months, the #MeToo movement has brought down several prominent men accused of sexual harassment and violence against women. The movement has been successful in exposing the pervasiveness of this violence in our society, and has been rapidly endorsed by celebrities and politicians.

But does #MeToo address the concerns of poor women? Is its scope limited to exposing the harassment and violence perpetrated by famous men, or to the violence experienced by rich women? How does the movement respond to systemic violence against Indigenous and racialized women? What does the history of movements fighting violence against women teach us about similar struggles today? How have poor women fought back?

Join us for this important conversation to better understand the forces shaping #MeToo, and the history of poor women’s resistance to violence.

The monthly Speakers Series is where we gather to discuss issues that are critical to the success of poor people’s movements. It’s where we build our capacity to fight to win.

March 1, 2018 In Events, Homelessness, Shelter Crisis, Speaking Series

Speakers Series: One of Us – Why Toronto’s Poor Should Welcome Refugees

One Of Us: Why Toronto’s Poor Should Welcome Refugees
Thursday, March 15 | 6pm – 8pm | CRC, 40 Oak St.
[Free event with meal, childcare, wheelchair access and tokens]
Facebook event | Speakers Series Audio Archive

Speakers: Speakers from No One Is Illegal-Toronto and OCAP to be announced soon

There is a pervasive sense that refugees and poor immigrants, particularly those without full immigration status, take resources away from the poor who were born in Canada. Many politicians exploit this sentiment to sow division among the poor for personal gain. Even those politicians who may not be overtly racist, still imply that their failure (and in reality, refusal) to address poverty and homelessness is a result of a “refugee influx.”

Do these claims are any merit? Has the rise in refugees seeking asylum triggered the shelter crisis in Toronto? Does government support for refugees mean less support for poor citizens?

Join us to discuss and other important questions at this month’s Speakers Series. The Speakers will make the case for why we should welcome refugees and toss out our rulers. Join us for a meal at 6pm, and stay for the discussion.

Speakers: Maya Menezes, Emily Green and Yogi Acharya

Maya Menezes is an organizer with No One Is Illegal-Toronto. She works on issues from justice for non-status folks, to environmental protection and poverty reduction.

Emily Green is a kitchen relief worker in a shelter for refugee families, a position she has held for almost four years. In her front-line work, she has witnessed the crisis in Toronto’s shelters system, as well as some of the other challenges that newcomers to Toronto experience.

Yogi Acharya is an organizer with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.

The monthly Speakers Series is where we gather to discuss issues that are critical to the success of poor people’s movements. It’s where we build our capacity to fight to win.

February 13, 2018 In Events, Speaking Series

Speakers Series: The Overdose Crisis & the War on Drugs

The Overdose Crisis & the War on Drugs
Thursday, February 15 | 6pm-8pm | CRC, 40 Oak St.
[Free event with meal, childcare, wheelchair access and tokens]
Facebook event

Speakers: Zoe Dodd and Matt Johnson

Zoe Dodd is a harm-reduction worker and an organizer with the Toronto Overdose Prevention site.

Matt Johnson is a long time injection drug user and harm reduction worker. He is one of the organizers of the Overdose Prevention Site in Moss Park and continues to fight for an end to criminalization of people who use drugs.

In 2017, an estimated average of 333 people died every month from opioid related overdoses across Canada. In response to government inaction in the face of this lethal crisis, people involved in the Toronto Overdose Prevention Society setup an unsanctioned supervised injection site in Moss Park in August. Now, six months later, they still remain there, having saved hundreds of lives. Their defiant actions brought to into public focus this crisis of drug overdoses, which hits poor and homeless communities particularly hard. They forced the reluctant City administration to fast-track the opening of at-least 3 supervised injection sites.

Join us at the February Speakers to learn more about the underlying causes of the opioid crisis, its link to the so-called “war on drugs,” and the measures that still need to be won.

January 8, 2018 In Events, Speaking Series

January Speakers Series: The Fight for Housing & Shelter

The Fight for Housing & Shelter
Thursday, January 18 | 6pm-8pm | CRC, 40 Oak St.
[Free event with meal, childcare, wheelchair access and tokens]
Facebook Event

Speakers: David Hulchanski & Gaetan Heroux
David Hulchanski is a professor of housing and community development at the University of Toronto. He was a co-founder of the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee. He leads a national research team examining the impact of Canada’s growing income and wealth inequality on urban neighbourhoods, housing, and homelessness. www.NeighbourhoodChange.ca

Gaetan Heroux is a long-time member of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, a front-line worker who has worked in the downtown east neighbourhood for three decades, and author of Toronto’s Poor: A Rebellious History

Toronto is in the midst of a deadly crisis of homelessness. We know all three levels of government are responsible for creating the housing crisis and then refusing to deal with the consequences. But how exactly have they done this? What precisely is wrong with the Canadian housing policies? How to we make sense of the claims of “historic investments” in housing that the Liberals made when they announced the National Housing strategy last November? Will the strategy help poor and low-income people?

Over the past month we’ve won the opening of the armouries to provide immediate respite to the homeless but the fight for shelter is far from over. How do we build on the gains made to win adequate shelter in the coming months and housing for all?

Join us as discuss these and other important questions to understand the current crisis and strengthen the fight for shelter & housing

December 8, 2017 In Events, Speaking Series

Speakers Series Resumes in January

Our monthly Social Justice Speakers Series will be taking a break in December and resuming on Thursday, January 18. The Speakers Series happens on the third Thursday of every month from 6pm to 8pm at the CRC, located at 40 Oak Street. It’s where we gather to discuss issues that are critical to the success of poor people’s movement. It’s where we build our capacity to fight to win.

We’ll have information about the January session up on the website by the end of this month.