These groups were granted Groundswell funding in April 2014.
Community Action for Families
We are a brilliant, unapologetic, grassroots movement for social transformation. We are a community of people who are mothers, people who use drugs, survivors/fighters, sex workers, and allies. We are connected through similar harmful experiences of intrusion into the lives of our families, from systems of oppression especially as they relate to the child “welfare” industrial complex. We recognize that internalized oppression creates harm in our communities and in our families. We are working to build nurturing and thriving communities and stronger supportive networks for our families and children to live, learn, and grow.
Vision
We envision communities which foster networks that support and strengthen families through the fair and equal creation, distribution and provision of resources, services and opportunities for all; and through the implementation of feminist, human rights, harm reduction, anti-oppressive and transformative justice principles into all aspects and at every stage of life.
Mission
We are working to develop a voice that is collective and strong, which challenges the belief that separating and controlling families fosters healthy communities. We can do this by providing safe and adequate access to food, shelter, opportunity and freedom; through provision of services which are respectful, strengths based, women/mother-centered, culturally safe, violence and trauma informed, and harm reduction oriented; by reducing isolation and stigma of mothers involved in the child “welfare” system, thereby reclaiming our right to mother and parent in ways that are right for our families, thus providing the structures which create truly safe, healthy, and thriving families.
Contact
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlliesSupportingMoms
Email: communityactionforfamilies [at] gmail.com
Grassy Narrows Youth Group
The Grassy Narrows Youth Group views Anishinabe cultural resurgence and land protections as a single, inseparable process. Amongst other projects, this spring/summer, the Group will be setting up a permanent Trapper's camp on a pristine lake that is threatened by clearcuts which are part of the Province's long term Forestry Management Plan for Grassy Narrows' Traditional Land Use Area.
The camp is to serve as a strategic site of resistance and as a space to share traditional skills and knowledge with Anishinabe youth, as well as to enable the Group to participate in the revival of traditional economic activity in their Territory. We thank people in Southern Ontario for their continued support for our struggles to protect the land and our People--Miigwetch.
Website: http://freegrassy.net/
Email: riverrun2010 [at] gmail.com
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change
Migrant workers are forced to pay thousands of dollars to work in Ontario. Entire families have to go into debt to pay these monies. When workers arrive in Ontario, they often find that the the job was not what they were promised. With their families under financial pressure, these workers are unwilling to complain about bad bosses because of fear of deportation.
Make It Right
For too long migrant workers in Ontario have been treated differently than other Ontarians. Ontario’s laws exclude migrant workers from minimum wage, housing regulations, protection from recruiters and strong protections. Migrant workers do not have the same access to health and safety as other workers in the province. This isn’t fair. It’s time to make it right!
If one group of Ontarians are excluded by law, the impact is on everyone. Wages, work conditions and justice across the province suffer. Migrant workers live and work in Ontario, they should be treated like everyone else. We are all in it together.
Website: www.migrantworkersalliance.org
Email: coordinator [at] migrantworkersalliance.org
Community Database Honouring Indigenous Women
No More Silence is creating a community run database documenting violent deaths of Indigenous women/Two-Spirit and Trans in collaboration with Families of Sisters In Spirit and with the assistance Dr. Janet Smylie of the Well Living House at the Keenan Research Centre.
It's time for community to build our own structures independent of government and institutional funding. The purpose of the database is to our honour our women and provide family members with a way to document their loved ones passing. If you would like a loved one's information included please get in touch via nomoresilenceorg [at] gmail.com
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
OCAP fights for the rights of poor people using direct action. We have been organizing in Toronto and Ontario for over 22 years. Our aim is to bring together the poor, unemployed, workers and homeless to defend one another and organize to fight back against the powers that attack the poor whether it be landlords, bosses, the police or government institutions. We are critical of symbolic gestures and protests, or negotiating without action. In the day-to-day we do casework, meaning that we support and work with people to get benefits or wages they are entitled to.
Website: www.ocap.ca
Email: ocap@tao.ca
The Palestinian Association of Hamilton
The Palestinian Association of Hamilton has existed continuously since the 1980s as an anti-racist, non-profit, community-based organization of Palestinians and allies.
We are mandated to foster a vibrant and united Palestinian community in Hamilton that contributes to the well-being of all, and enriches the cultural diversity of Canadian society, by:
- Working towards greater understanding of, and support for, the Palestinian people’s just liberation struggle;
- Dismantling barriers to the full participation of newcomers;
- Providing essential and meaningful services;
- Fostering inter-generational learning and exchange; and
- Educating the broader society about the Palestinian community.
Email: palestinehamilton [at] hotmail.com