Peoples' Social Forum in Canada
August 21 - 24, 2014
University of Ottawa
We are proposing a grassroots horizontal approach to organizing a Peoples' Social Forum across Canada as a means of stimulating debate, discussion and further our sense of community and collective action. The process of the social forum seeks to reach out to a plurality of social movements, groups and progressive institutions across Canada, Québec and Indigenous communities. The short term goal being to build on existing struggles by building a united and cohesive front against the Conservative agenda of austerity and privatization but long-term to help transform the current political, economic and social paradigm, by employing creative resistance while proposing alternatives solutions.
So far several organizations and individuals have come together to form Expansion Commissions in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Discussions are going on to form similar commissions in Vancouver, Calgary, St. John’s, etc. The Expansion Commissions will focus on involving as many other organizations and individuals in the process.
What is a Social Forum?
The first social forum was the World Social Forum held in January 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Simply put, it was a response to the growing neoliberal agenda of the ruling parties in many parts of the world. It challenged the TINA ('there is no alternative') syndrome as well as the right-wing theses of “the end of history” and “clash of civilizations.” It also proposed the slogan “Another World is Possible.”The World Social Forum was intended as a regular meeting of activists to move experiences from the individual to the collective.
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Themes
- Climate / Climat
- Communication
- Community / Communauté
- Control / Controle
- Earth / Terre
- Food / Alimentation
- Gender / Genre
- Governance and democracy / Gouvernance et démocratie
- Impoverishment / Appauvrissement
- International
- Knowledge / Savoir et connaissance
- Migration
- Movements / Mouvements
- Spirit / Spiritualité
- Work / Travail
EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS
Join us for the launch of Shadow Economies: Economic Survival Strategies Of Toronto Immigrant Communities. The study, conducted by the Toronto East Local Immigration Partnership looks at how newcomers survive poor labour market access, adverse working conditions and the broader conditions that make them vulnerable to exploitation. It also looks at how newcomers build new economic opportunities for themselves when conventional ones are denied.
The CUMA cooperative is a service that provides its members the means necessary to their operations. It thus provides an opportunity for its members to use farm equipment at the lowest possible price, meeting the needs of each. A cooperative use of agricultural equipment (CUMA) is a group of farmers established under the Law on Cooperatives. The first mission of a CUMA is to enable its members to use farm equipment at the lowest possible cost and the needs of each member. The CUMA is a great way to reduce the capitalization in machinery and equipment, thus reducing production costs. It also allows the use of more efficient machines and free up capital that can be directed towards productive investment.
Carrolyn O'Grady agr.
This webinar will open the dialogue on ethnocultural co-operatives (specifically reflecting on examples across Canada and the US) and the place of these co-ops in the larger society. The two featured speakers are both undertaking research as part of the Measuring the Co-operative Difference Research Network: Jo-Anne Lee of the University of Victoria and Jessica Gordon-Nembhard of John Jay College, affiliated with the City University of New York.