- 2 months ago
A few things to note:
The lady kept repeating the same thing each time one of the speakers finished their speeches. Since this was rather repetitive, I didn't record it again. It was fine the first time.
A high pass filter was used to correct bad audio a few times. Rain shield was used until the rain eventually stopped. It was windy, so things got knocked down a few times, interrupting the speeches. This I cut out.
The camera started turning off abruptly during a few of the speeches, in which I had to pull the battery off briefly, then reinstall it, also stopped recording a few times during the speeches. Can't figure out why this keeps happening, guess it's the record button fault that sony never fixed before the camera was put out in the marketplace.
The lady kept repeating the same thing each time one of the speakers finished their speeches. Since this was rather repetitive, I didn't record it again. It was fine the first time.
A high pass filter was used to correct bad audio a few times. Rain shield was used until the rain eventually stopped. It was windy, so things got knocked down a few times, interrupting the speeches. This I cut out.
The camera started turning off abruptly during a few of the speeches, in which I had to pull the battery off briefly, then reinstall it, also stopped recording a few times during the speeches. Can't figure out why this keeps happening, guess it's the record button fault that sony never fixed before the camera was put out in the marketplace.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00:00Well good afternoon everybody. Thank you so so much for being here and making
00:00:19space to talk about something that deeply affects students, family, and
00:00:24communities in Ontario. Bill 33. My name is Dante Hillen and I'm a proud member
00:00:29of the Student Voices in Action initiative. This is an initiative that
00:00:37brings student perspectives into education policy and decision-making
00:00:40across our province. I'm a grade 12 student leader from Hamilton and I'm
00:00:47someone who deeply believes in the power of student voice even when that voice is
00:00:51challenged, doubted, or dismissed. Because the truth is student voices are already
00:00:57not censored in decision-making. As student trustees we work every day to
00:01:02change that, to bring the perspectives of students into spaces where decisions are
00:01:07made about our education, our well-being, and our futures. We help bridge the gap
00:01:13between students and those in power, ensuring that our lived experiences aren't
00:01:18just heard but are respected. As Indigenous student trustees we also help
00:01:23facilitate the hard conversations about truth, about reconciliation, and what it
00:01:30means to make education a space that reflects and respects all identities.
00:01:35But Bill 33 threatens to silence that work. Shame! It would remove the very people who
00:01:44carry student voice into decision-making spaces. And if that happens, students will
00:01:49be even more alienated from the one structure that allows them to speak up,
00:01:53through us. They're democratically elected and appointed student trustees.
00:01:59This isn't just the policy change, it's a step backwards for democracy, for
00:02:08reconciliation, and for every young person who has ever spoken up and hoping to
00:02:14make a difference across our province. Students and communities have worked
00:02:18tirelessly to rename schools and move away from colonial legacies to create
00:02:23spaces that reflect who we are today, not who we were forced to be. Bill 33 reverses
00:02:30that progress by giving the Minister of Education the power to undo or block
00:02:34those changes. To rewrite history again. So what message does that send to Indigenous
00:02:40students? Shame! Shame! Shame! It is shameful. To any student who's fought to make their school feel
00:02:47like home. When I first became a student trustee, I wanted to be a voice for those
00:02:52who couldn't speak. For students who felt unseen, unheard, or forgotten. And I carry them
00:02:58with me every single day. This bill doesn't just erase names on schools, it erase
00:03:04trust, it erases healing, and it tells young people that their voices don't
00:03:08matter. But I'm here to tell you, we do matter. I have to say, we're not just the
00:03:17future waiting to be invited in the table, we are already present, we're
00:03:21already here, and we're already learning. So I'm asking everyone here to pay
00:03:26attention, to talk about this bill, and share what you've learned. Ask the hard
00:03:31questions, because silence is what allows power to go and check, and our voices are
00:03:35what keeps democracy alive. When systems crack, light finds its way in, and that
00:03:45light, it's all of us. The students, families, and communities who refuse to
00:03:51give up. So I leave you today with the question that I ask myself every single
00:03:55day. Is this what democracy looks like?
00:04:01The same racist logics that once justified, quote, tough-on-crime reforms and still do,
00:04:13now label these students as threats for opposing a genocide and attempt to
00:04:17justify the militarization of our schools. Bill 33 beats that same climate of fear
00:04:23and punishment, and none of this overlap is coincidental.
00:04:29Equity, diversity, and inclusion are here to take deeper cuts, less support, and more
00:04:34control under the Ford government. And now, Bill 33 extends this logic of
00:04:39austerity. Surveillance instead of support, punishment instead of resourcing.
00:04:46Beyond increasing impacts, that will be disproportionately harm for disabled youth, I think about what the
00:04:52centralization of power will mean for access to workforce for youth and families.
00:04:57The Ontario Human Rights Commission reports that while disabled youth make up about 17% of
00:05:02still populations, they represent 47% of suspensions and poor kids.
00:05:08Last year, People for Education reported EA ratios of 1 to 39 in elementary schools and 1 to 85 in secondary schools.
00:05:21We know that disabled youth have been failed time and time again in our schools. And according to the Ontario Autism
00:05:28Coalition's 2025 Special Education Survey, over 100,000 families of disabled children and youth reached out to trustees for advocacy during last school year alone.
00:05:39Trustees are often the last line of defense, if at all, for families navigating exclusion, punitive
00:05:46violence, inaccessible schools, and underfunding. And Bill 33 will take even that away.
00:05:51They isolate families, cut off accountability, and defund supports for disabled youth further, removing the limited means of recourse they had last.
00:06:02I think about the stories shared by youth in Hamilton during my time as a student trustee, about black youth dancing with their friends and being handcuffed and accused of being gang members by police officers,
00:06:14about young girls being harassed by police officers in schools and not being believed, about youth being carded in the hallways, restrained, chemically restrained, and humiliated.
00:06:24This is what policing in schools looks like. And I want folks to remember that policing-free schools has always been a youth-led fight.
00:06:33From the student strikes of the late 1990s and early 2000s against the Harris government's cuts, to the 2019 province-wide walkouts against privatization, to more recent waves of organizing that force multiple school boards, including the TBSB,
00:06:47Peele, Hamilton, Wentworth, and beyond, to end their police in school programs, students have always led the call for care over control.
00:06:56That resistance continues today with groups and support actors across Ontario, like Student Voices in Action Ontario, holding institutions accountable when they fail to defend and protect public education.
00:07:09But this work does come at a cost. For years, young people have been forced to carry the weight of demanding the bare minimum, safety, care, and dignity, from institutions that are silencing them.
00:07:20And I think about how youth are simultaneously adultified and infantilized, depending on what's convenient for adults in power.
00:07:27They're adultified and portrayed as violent in order to justify their penalization, but infantilized, silenced, and deemed incapable of knowing their own realities and circumstances and experiences, when it's time for adults in power to exert control.
00:07:41I'm 23 now, and I've been saying the same thing about policing in schools since I was 16 years old.
00:07:48And I think about all the people who fought against policing in schools before me.
00:07:52The black and brown youth in Hamilton who fought for years before the termination at the HWDSB's police liaison program,
00:07:58and those who continue to fight now, like the amazing youth at Student Voices for Action Ontario.
00:08:03It's been seven years for me, and I'm tired, and I think about the ways in which this government is stealing so many child loans.
00:08:10But I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
00:08:13If we let police return to our schools in this capacity, we are not just bringing back individual officers.
00:08:19We are reforcing a culture of surveillance, of punishment, and of fear.
00:08:24Their presence can, does, and will exacerbate cultural and militaristic practices, whether that be physical restraints, chemical restraints,
00:08:33seclusion wounds, suspensions, expulsions, or violence.
00:08:36And these are the everyday manifestations of the school-proven nexus.
00:08:41Since my time as a high school student and a student, I've always asked young people one question.
00:08:47What does your dream school look like?
00:08:49And I invite the rest of us to also think about this.
00:08:52Dreaming has always been a radical act, and the personal design of our defunded education system demands that we forget how to do this.
00:09:00It conditions us to abandon imagination, abandon our childhoods, and lose hope that liberatory school and spaces could ever exist.
00:09:08And yet, every time I've asked this question, the responses are clear and unwavering.
00:09:13Youth want schools rooted in restorative practices, schools built with universal access at their core,
00:09:18outdoor classrooms, one-on-one supports, arts programs with real funding, food programs, accessible transit, smaller classrooms,
00:09:26and above all, no police.
00:09:28Because we know that safety does not come from surveillance or punishment, but from being fed, supported, and loved within our schools.
00:09:36We know better, we've dreamed better, and we will not stop fighting because even one young person harmed by police in their school is one too many.
00:09:45Up next, continuing to delve into the connection of Bill 33 and the elimination of elected school board trustees as an attack on democracy is Sabrina Daab.
00:10:04Gender pronouns she, her, is award to trustee for the Hamilton one-fourth district.
00:10:09She has been community organizing and the fight against Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism, and policing in schools.
00:10:18Sabrina is a recent graduate from the Masters of Labor Studies program at McMaster University.
00:10:27Sabrina.
00:10:28Hi, everybody.
00:10:35Thank you for having me.
00:10:37I brought up some of my trustee colleagues at the Toronto District School Board.
00:10:41One of the school boards actively under supervision by this ministry.
00:10:46And they've continued to show up to fight against this bill to protect and fight for students.
00:10:51So I just wanted to make sure that they had the chance to also be here with us.
00:10:57My name is Sabrina Daab and I'm a school board trustee in Hamilton, Ontario.
00:11:05And I'm here echoing the voices of students, of educators, of parents, union leaders across this province who are demanding that we stop Bill 33 and that we keep police out of our schools.
00:11:18I was on the front lines in 2020 after our multiple year long battle against the police liaison program in schools in Hamilton where we successfully advocated for the removal.
00:11:30And there's one story from that evening that always stuck with me.
00:11:34There was one student in one of our schools, a young black student who was arrested from the school, was taken down to a holding cell, only to be told that they had the wrong kid.
00:11:46Shame.
00:11:48Shame.
00:11:50Imagine the trauma of experiencing that and having to walk back into the school after that.
00:11:56That's not safety.
00:11:58And this is not a unique experience but the reality of what policing in schools does.
00:12:03That's an education system facilitating the criminalization of youth and children.
00:12:10There's been a lot of conversations about Bill 33 and what it is and so I'm not going to repeat all of that but what we do know is that Bill 33 is a smokescreen for a system being deliberately defunded.
00:12:22And I know the conversations about policing in schools is charged and at its core I know for some parents it comes from a perception that policing in schools will make us safer.
00:12:33But we have to be very very clear that policing will not get us there.
00:12:38Right now students are walking into schools that are in a state of disrepair.
00:12:43There are massive backlogs on maintenance.
00:12:46Across this province we're seeing aging infrastructure, poor ventilation, leaky roofs, asbestos, accessibility barriers.
00:12:57If you have children or you work in the school you know that classrooms are sweltering in the summer and freezing in the winter.
00:13:04Shame.
00:13:06Shame.
00:13:07And at the same time schools don't have the supports or the resources they truly need to support students.
00:13:12Mental health supports are stretched thin.
00:13:16Some schools don't have a single nurse or social worker.
00:13:20Teachers and education workers are being asked to carry the weight of a system being deliberately broken.
00:13:26These are not conditions conducive to learning.
00:13:29They're not conditions we tolerate in any other public system.
00:13:33Certainly not one we should be tolerating for students and staff.
00:13:38And they don't just affect education, they affect safety.
00:13:42Fixing these things isn't separate from school safety.
00:13:46It is school safety.
00:13:48A warm, well-maintained building with trusted staff and adequate support creates stability.
00:13:55It creates the kind of environment where students and staff feel respected and cared for and protected.
00:14:02That is what real safety looks like.
00:14:05Police in schools will not fix cracked walls or deal with lead in water.
00:14:10Police officers can't provide disabled students with one-on-one supports.
00:14:14They won't replace the need for mental health workers, after-school programs, stable housing or smaller class sizes.
00:14:23In fact, there's ample evidence that suggests that police presence will escalate situations, does criminalize students and will disproportionately harm black and brown students.
00:14:34Now, these conditions are not an accident.
00:14:37They are by design.
00:14:39The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative released a report that says that since 2018, Ontario has underfunded schools by $6.3 billion.
00:14:50Shame!
00:14:52Shame!
00:14:53I want you to imagine what $6.3 billion could do for public education.
00:14:58How many more EAs could we hire?
00:15:00How many more educational supports?
00:15:03How many more math and literacy facilitators?
00:15:06How much better and safer could our system be with $6.3 billion more?
00:15:13These are the conditions that are a result of a deliberate and underfunding of a system and a broader political agenda of privatization.
00:15:23We are witnessing a manufacturing of a crisis where you starve the system, you watch it struggle, then you justify expanding centralized power and policing as a solution.
00:15:35Bill 33 doesn't fix the problems in our schools, it deepens them while also creating the conditions for privatization.
00:15:43We need investment, we need care, we need resources, and we need to protect public education from a government actively trying to dismantle it under the guise of reform.
00:15:55We are going to be highlighting the waste of taxpayer dollars on non-evidence-based, harmful policing and carceral measures, particularly through technological surveillance in schooling spaces.
00:16:15Dr. Behan Farhadi, gender pronouns she, her, is an assistant professor of educational policy and equity at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.
00:16:28Her research focuses on surveillance technology in public schools, online education, and resistance to neoliberal restructuring.
00:16:37Dr. Farhadi draws from extensive experience in teaching in secondary schools and public education advocacy to bridge research and practice.
00:16:49Dr. Farhadi.
00:16:54Everybody, thank you for the invitation to speak today, for the collective work you're doing, the solidarity you're building to demand a policing free future.
00:17:06For Ontario schools.
00:17:07I'm here as a researcher at the University of Toronto, studying surveillance technology in public education, kind of call this the police you can't see, federally funded, and in partnership with policing free schools.
00:17:26I'm also a former classroom teacher, a parent, and a student of underserved communities that raise me.
00:17:34And when I imagine education for my children and for the children in my care, the children I share the world with, it does not include police or the logic of policing marketed as safety.
00:17:49And as many here have already said, Bill 33 is not about safety, it's about surveillance and control.
00:17:56It's a sweeping power grab that expands carceral authority in schools, eliminates democratic oversight, and uses fear.
00:18:06Especially the government's tough on crime rhetoric to justify new tools of discipline and monitoring.
00:18:15More CCTV cameras, student activity reporting, tracking systems, social media monitoring, device monitoring platforms to observe behavior in and outside the classroom, even in the home.
00:18:31They expand these tools through making the public scared, scared of students, scared of children.
00:18:40Fear has always been a powerful political tool.
00:18:46It's a tool of weak government, of a government with short-term vision, a government that wants to distract our focus from their failures.
00:18:56And when governments claim they're protecting children from danger by positioning them as the cause of danger, they can rationalize almost everything.
00:19:05More policing, more cameras, more data collection.
00:19:09But these aren't solutions to violence or disconnection.
00:19:13They're strategies of control, and they embed surveillance of police that are accessed by police in our schools, often without our knowledge.
00:19:22But here's what we know.
00:19:23Classrooms are overcrowded.
00:19:25Liberatory mental health supports are scarce.
00:19:28Buildings are scarce.
00:19:29Buildings are crumbling.
00:19:30And instead of addressing these conditions, instead of investing and strengthening the communities that schools are part of,
00:19:37the Ford government responds with more policing, more cameras, more monitoring.
00:19:42This is a choice.
00:19:43This is not an inevitability.
00:19:45And last year, I wrote about Ontario's $30 million investment in surveillance technology from threat reporting apps to behavior tracking systems.
00:19:54And these are marketed as safety tools, but they operate as technologies of control.
00:20:00They collect data on students' movements and emotions, shaping how teachers manage classrooms, how students learn to govern themselves under constant watch.
00:20:10And Bill 33 extends that logic.
00:20:13It mandates police access and police-run programs.
00:20:16It overrides local decision-making.
00:20:19It expands the architecture of surveillance and education, embedding policing not just through officers, but through policy, technology, and governance structures that enforce obedience through fear.
00:20:33For students who are black, indigenous, racialized, disabled, neurodivergent, undocumented, queer, and trans.
00:20:45For them, surveillance isn't safety.
00:20:47It is scrutiny and punishment.
00:20:50And if we continue down this path, we'll wake up in more schools that look like communities.
00:20:55Less schools that look like communities and more that look like checkpoints.
00:20:58Places where students are scanned, not seen, managed, not mentored.
00:21:04And I don't want us to look at other examples and think this can't happen to us.
00:21:09It can.
00:21:10And it is.
00:21:11But I am hopeful.
00:21:13I'm hopeful to be here with you.
00:21:15I'm hopeful because this government does respond to public pressure.
00:21:18It's not consistent in its decisions.
00:21:21And this inconsistency gives us power.
00:21:25And I think there's so many options to respond, particularly with the calls to action by policing free schools.
00:21:31And make your voice part of the public record.
00:21:34They count those calls.
00:21:35They notice when we organize.
00:21:37And it matters that we take the time.
00:21:39We also need to move with a long-term vision for education.
00:21:43One that doesn't rely on short-term fear-based fixes for complex social problems.
00:21:50Policing is a response to failed social policy.
00:21:55And that failure is not inevitable.
00:21:58It's an outcome of choices made by people every day.
00:22:03And we can make different ones.
00:22:06We're going to move towards looking at the post-secondary systemic issues.
00:22:15And coming back to Bill 33.
00:22:17And then we'll be delving into the social political landscape as to how Bill 33 is connected to multiple additional legislation that is currently right now being proposed.
00:22:32As well as has become legislation.
00:22:35As well as other actions that this government has taken.
00:22:40And so, at this moment, we are going to be presenting, again, the Canadian Federation Students of Ontario.
00:22:50They are going to be speaking on the systemic issues that are impacting young people and folks multi-generationally in post-secondary.
00:23:02Omar Moussa, gender pronouns he, him, is the national executive representative of the CFS Ontario.
00:23:11Omar's advocacy began by organizing student protests against the complicity of the University of Toronto administration and the ongoing apartheid and genocide in Palestine.
00:23:25He continues his work through fighting for a free and accessible education, a free Palestine, and a just world. Omar.
00:23:38Omar, I am the national executive representative of the Canadian Federation of Students Ontario.
00:23:44We represent over 350,000 students across the entire province, spread across 35 different member locals.
00:23:53Omar Moussa said earlier, education across all levels is a vital public good.
00:24:00It is a fundamental human right.
00:24:03Despite this fact, we continue to see deliberate attempts by the government to destabilize education in Ontario.
00:24:11This government continues to chronically underfund our education and instead of recognizing the true issues that we face as students,
00:24:19the government is instead giving us misleading proposals through things such as Bill 33.
00:24:24The state of education will not be fixed with increased security and government oversight.
00:24:31The deteriorating conditions that students and workers are exposed to are unjust.
00:24:36Students are forced to take up multiple jobs just to make a living.
00:24:40Students have to worry about paying for their unreasonably expensive tuition while facing housing precarity and experiencing food insecurity,
00:24:48and then being expected to be able to balance all of that alongside their studies.
00:24:53Shame!
00:24:54Shame!
00:24:55Shame!
00:24:56Shame!
00:24:57International students continue to be scapegoated while simultaneously exploited.
00:25:01They are blamed for the housing crisis and the cost of living crisis while paying outrageous tuition fees that keep institutions alive.
00:25:09Alongside that, we're seeing a rise in campus policing and surveillance from increased police presence to the monitoring of student organizing.
00:25:18This doesn't create safety.
00:25:20This creates fear.
00:25:22The government is attempting to send a message that students expressing their right to protest is a threat to be controlled rather than voices to be heard.
00:25:32Attempting to put a muzzle on academic freedom,
00:25:36discouraging protests,
00:25:38and putting more pressure on the same communities who are already facing the most barriers.
00:25:44Shame!
00:25:45Shame!
00:25:46We are seeing the effects of this government's continuous neglect of post-secondary education.
00:25:53Alongside the struggles of students, the education system in and of itself is also struggling.
00:25:59Programs are being cut, campuses are being shut down, and faculty and staff are being laid off en masse.
00:26:07Shame!
00:26:08Shame!
00:26:09If the government truly cared for education as they claim they do, they would tackle these issues with dedicated funding across education across all levels.
00:26:20Instead, the education doesn't have to look like this.
00:26:26If the government seizes its attempts of privatizing our education further, and instead treats education as a human right, we can see education across Ontario thrive.
00:26:36With a fully funded education system, we would see a more accessible form of education.
00:26:42More people will be able to access education across all levels, especially for marginalized groups and communities who have consistently been underrepresented throughout education.
00:26:53With proper funding for education, we would see higher quality of education.
00:26:58The working conditions of faculty, academic workers and support staff directly equate to the learning conditions of students.
00:27:06When workers are treated fairly, the environment will properly thrive.
00:27:11We could see better facilities and upkeep of our campuses with support of learning environments such as our labs and libraries across our institutions.
00:27:22Students' financial burden would be lessened.
00:27:25By tearing down these financial barriers, it allows it so students wouldn't need to be working longer hours or have to worry about financial strain due to their education.
00:27:34A fully funded education system would eliminate student debt for all.
00:27:41We'd be seeing advancements in research as with more funding, we'll be seeing innovations in many different fields, ranging from medicine to technology to climate solutions and more.
00:27:52All forms of research that are desperate for funding right now that the government continues to funnel out of education and more into private companies.
00:28:01Shame!
00:28:04And this doesn't stop at colleges and universities.
00:28:06The same underfunding that we are seeing and privatization that continues to happen and it continues to erode our primary and secondary schools as well.
00:28:15Elementary and high schools are overcrowded, understaffed and are also severely underfunded.
00:28:22Teachers are overworked, classrooms are falling apart and students continue losing access to essential support services.
00:28:29Services like mental health, services like special education and services like the extracurricular programs that are available to students.
00:28:37Education is a right.
00:28:39A right that applies from kindergarten to post-secondary.
00:28:43Every student deserves to learn in a system that is public, fully funded and free from government control, oversight and carcerality.
00:28:54The fight for a free and accessible education isn't just a fight about tuition fees.
00:29:01It is a fight to keep students involved in the decision making regarding their education that they pay for.
00:29:07It is a fight to push back against the privatization and reclaim education for the people.
00:29:13It is a right to demand the government to get their hands off our education.
00:29:21And recognizing again that our public education system is under attack across all levels, not just K-12, including post-secondary as well.
00:29:33That our fight is an interconnected fight and that we are here in solidarity as partners.
00:29:39Up next, we have education union leader who will delve us into the connection of Bill 33 as a land grab.
00:29:49Nigel Bariff, gender pronouns he, him, is the vice president of the Elementary Teachers of Toronto and president of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations.
00:29:59A board member of the Toronto York Labour Council and a singer-songwriter, he champions justice, peace and love through activism, music and community organizing across Toronto and beyond.
00:30:12Nigel.
00:30:13Thank you, Andrea.
00:30:17Great job today for pulling us all together and continuing this fight.
00:30:22Good night.
00:30:23Friends, sibling, community, good afternoon.
00:30:27Doug Ford wants us fighting culture wars.
00:30:30Because if we're fighting each other, then we're not fighting him.
00:30:35They showed Fox News clips at a teacher PD day, trying to convince us that fear equals safety.
00:30:43They cancelled an Islamic Heritage Month calligraphy workshop because a map of Palestine dared to show the truth.
00:30:52They condemned a school for singing O Canada in Arabic as if another language makes us less safe as Canadians.
00:31:03Let's call it what it is, anti-Palestinian racism.
00:31:08That's what it is, and it's just a distraction.
00:31:12While they stir up fear and fear about identity and belonging, they've ripped $6.2 billion out of our schools.
00:31:21Say it with me, $6.2 billion.
00:31:26That's why classrooms are overcrowded.
00:31:29That's why teachers are paying out of pocket.
00:31:32That's why kids don't have what they need in their classrooms.
00:31:37And now they're pushing Bill 33, a law that expands policing in schools, erases local democracy, and sets the stage to sell off public spaces.
00:31:48It's not about safety.
00:31:50It's a power grab.
00:31:52It's a land grab.
00:31:54And it's about control.
00:31:56But here's what they'll never control.
00:31:59It's us.
00:32:02Blue schools lies.
00:32:05We stand for a vision that's rooted in love and care and in justice.
00:32:09Because defending public education means defending democracy itself.
00:32:15We will not let them sell off our school properties.
00:32:18We will not let them privatize the schools and enrich their Bay Street buddies.
00:32:24That's why we're all here together for hours out here.
00:32:29That's why we're here.
00:32:30So say it loud.
00:32:32No to Bill 33.
00:32:33No to Bill 33.
00:32:35No to Bill 33.
00:32:37No.
00:32:38Well you're here.
00:32:39No to Bill 34.
00:32:40No to Bill 39.
00:32:41No.
00:32:42It's called Bill 33.
00:32:43A foreign education union leader.
00:32:44Who amplified the direct connection of policing in schools and a pathway towards privatization.
00:32:48Nadia Ogood.
00:32:49Gender pronouns she, her is an educator, union leader, and fierce advocate for equity and justice.
00:32:552011, she served the Peel District School Board, and since 2017, she's been a driving
00:33:02force in union leadership, now as president of the Peel Elementary Teachers Local.
00:33:10Nadia?
00:33:13Good afternoon, everyone.
00:33:16My name is Nadia Good.
00:33:17I'm the president of the Peel Elementary Teachers Local, and proudly representing nearly 7,000
00:33:25public elementary educators in Peel.
00:33:27I'm also, yeah, I'm also a mother of four, two of which who are still navigating the public
00:33:35school system, and I stand here today with gratitude for the invite and in solidarity
00:33:40with Policing Free Schools Ontario and the National Policing Free Schools Canada Campaign.
00:33:46The message is simple.
00:33:49Yes to fully funded, democratically governed, safe schools.
00:33:53No to police in our schools.
00:33:57Together, we have to cut through the smoke and the mirrors and demand for real solutions for
00:34:03our schools.
00:34:04Since taking office in 2018, you've heard it, Doug Ford has slashed $6.3 billion from Ontario's
00:34:13public education budget.
00:34:15And these cuts, they're not just numbers on a spreadsheet.
00:34:19They've driven class sizes to unsustainable levels.
00:34:22They've left 70,000 children waiting for months, sometimes years, just to get the promised
00:34:29supports, the promised supports that they need.
00:34:32And they have created a crisis where now almost 95% of our schools are in desperate need of mental
00:34:40health supports.
00:34:42What is happening?
00:34:43Our students and our educators have been stretched beyond measure, and the province is sitting
00:34:50there insisting like everything is fine.
00:34:52So shame!
00:34:53Shame!
00:34:54Shame!
00:34:55While schools and boards buckle under this shortfall, the government brings in Bill 33 to strip communities
00:35:03of their elected school trustees and replace them with inexperienced supervisors appointed
00:35:10by the ministry.
00:35:11Shame!
00:35:12Shame!
00:35:13Shame!
00:35:14These supervisors don't know anything about our communities, and they only answer to Queens
00:35:19Park.
00:35:20They don't answer to parents, they don't answer to educators, and they certainly don't answer
00:35:25to students.
00:35:26This power shift is another distraction.
00:35:29Strip local voices away, sow confusion, and then point the finger at educators for failing
00:35:36students.
00:35:37Shame!
00:35:38Shame!
00:35:39Shame!
00:35:40Let's be clear about the damage that is being done.
00:35:43The reports of violence in the workplace are coming in at unprecedented rates.
00:35:48All because schools lack the supports that keep kids engaged and keep them safe.
00:35:54Teachers are exhausted, students are falling behind, and families are losing children.
00:35:59We trust in a system that should uplift every child, regardless of their background.
00:36:05Yes, students are left waiting for critical supports because the province won't fund them.
00:36:12Shame!
00:36:13Shame!
00:36:14This is not what Ontario families deserve.
00:36:17We deserve schools that reflect our values of care, inclusion, and collective responsibility.
00:36:23We deserve classrooms where teachers, support staff, and trustees can work together to lift
00:36:28up our children without the fear of watchful supervision or of police in our hallways.
00:36:37Yes, mandating police in schools isn't about safety.
00:36:41We've heard that message repeated throughout today.
00:36:44It is a deliberate distraction to divert our attention from the real crisis.
00:36:51But if we are able to look past the smoke, we can see what is really happening.
00:36:57Starving the schools of funding, watching the system strain under its weight, and then,
00:37:03and then blaming us for failing children while calling for governance and reform.
00:37:09The reality is that the failure actually lies with the chronic underfunding, with top-down power
00:37:17grabs that were strategically designed to pave the way towards privatization.
00:37:24Shame!
00:37:25Shame!
00:37:26Shame!
00:37:27Shame!
00:37:28Police budgets across this province continue to balloon, even while funding for schools vanishes.
00:37:36It is absolutely outrageous.
00:37:40Rather than support, or sorry, investing in the supports that prevent crisis, this government
00:37:46continues to talk about bringing police back into our schools.
00:37:50But that is not the answer.
00:37:52It can never, they can never replace what caring professionals can do for our children.
00:37:58So today, yes, today we call on Doug Ford and Minister Calandra to back off of Bill 33.
00:38:06No to Bill 33.
00:38:08End your push for policing in our schools.
00:38:10And reinvest every single dollar into the classroom, into trusted adults, into educators, counselors,
00:38:20special education staff, smaller classrooms, and mental health services.
00:38:25So our kids can grow and learn and thrive in our publicly funded education system.
00:38:34Contest choirs, so let's get loud with them.
00:38:39Back again to the broader sociopolitical landscape, and particularly through recognizing that the
00:38:49dire conditions created for Ontarians are a policy choice, and Doug Ford has a track record
00:38:55and pattern of worsening conditions for us all.
00:39:01Gross negligence grounded in non-evidence-based and harmful measures.
00:39:07We have up next, Patricia Borges, Nigeria, gender pronoun she, her, is a Toronto-based journalist
00:39:14and registered early childhood educator.
00:39:17Patricia has over 15 years of experience working with children and families in various settings,
00:39:23and currently works as communications coordinator at the Association of Early Childhood Educators,
00:39:29Ontario.
00:39:30Patricia?
00:39:31We've had like so many weathers today.
00:39:38Yay.
00:39:39And we stayed through them all.
00:39:41Okay.
00:39:42Like Andrea said, my name is Patricia.
00:39:45I use your pronouns.
00:39:47I'm a registered early child educator.
00:39:49I am a journalist.
00:39:50I'm an immigrant.
00:39:51I'm a former international student, and I currently work as communications coordinator
00:39:57at the Association of Early Childhood Educators, Ontario.
00:40:00But in the 15 years that I've been working with children and with their families, there's
00:40:05no role that brought me greater joy than being an ECE in a preschool room.
00:40:10The last time that I was in that role was in 2021.
00:40:15And I don't know if you remember, but that school year was a mess.
00:40:19We had schools closing, childcare staying open.
00:40:23Schools closing, childcare staying open.
00:40:25No vaccine prioritization.
00:40:27No.
00:40:28It was a chaotic mess.
00:40:30I said the word mess several times.
00:40:32But even though we had all of those chaotic protocols, we had closures, we had all of those things.
00:40:43That school year was one of the best years of my life as an ECE.
00:40:48The best years of my career.
00:40:50Because we had 12 students, we had 12 children, and 4 adults.
00:40:54With a smaller group of children and a consistent team, we were able to be very intentional with our practice.
00:41:01And live our ECE values in ways that we were not able to before.
00:41:06We had time, but most importantly, we had the people to build strong relationships and create spaces where children felt safe, inspired, and curious.
00:41:18Spaces where they felt safe to fully be themselves and have their needs met.
00:41:23That experience showed me that when educators, early child educators, education workers, teachers, when we are given the resources we need, it is possible to create spaces that focus on care.
00:41:37Spaces where punishment and carceral practices are unthinkable.
00:41:42The same could be true for the entire education system.
00:41:46However, currently, neither early learning, primary, secondary, or post-secondary education are getting the resources that they need.
00:41:55Bill 33 moves our systems further away from meeting the needs of students or educators.
00:42:02And further away from the hopeful potential of care.
00:42:06When police programs are placed in schools, it impacts everyone in the community.
00:42:11Including the before and after school programs, school-based childcare, and early on programs, who get no say on police presence in their environment.
00:42:20We know that many ECEs, children, families, communities, especially black, indigenous, and racialized communities, experience violence and systemic oppression from police.
00:42:32The requirement to invite and incorporate police into schools is not only a violent decision, but one that puts educators, students, and their families at risk of harm by passing their human rights.
00:42:45Bill 33 proposes a solution based on cruelty, not on care.
00:42:50Rather than Bill 33, this government needs to make true investment in what works to create exceptional education experiences for all students.
00:43:00Like I said before, when teachers, when early child educators, educational assistants, and everyone who makes learning possible are given the resources they need.
00:43:10Which is small classes, enough staffing, good pay, decent working conditions, planning time.
00:43:17Things that should be standard in our profession.
00:43:20And when we, our environments are intentionally set up for our communities, with well-maintained structures and enough genitorial staff to keep the spaces clean and safe.
00:43:33When those things happen, when our communities are supported, and our work is properly funded, it is possible to create education where all kids are getting the attention, the support, the supportive relationships, and the care that they need.
00:43:47To not just survive the system, but to thrive.
00:43:50To not just survive the system, but to thrive.
00:43:51To not just survive the system, but to thrive.
00:43:52From our schools, from our communities.
00:43:53Not policing schools.
00:43:56Slava Avila Montenegro, gender pronouns she, her, is currently the Executive Director of the Federation of Metro Toronto Tenants Associations.
00:44:10She's the daughter of Mapuche Refugees from Walamacu, currently known as Chile.
00:44:17And organizes on topics of indigenous rights, economic, and social justice.
00:44:22Making the connections between Bill 17 and Bill 33.
00:44:26My name is Yaroslava, I'm with the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations.
00:44:37We've been around since 1974, trying to organize every tenant in this city, and trying to be able to create a tenant movement powerful enough across the province to take these folks on behind us.
00:44:52The fact of the matter is that this government has been attacking working class communities all throughout, not just this city, but all throughout Ontario for the past six years.
00:45:06And they continue to do so.
00:45:08In this past, in the last few months, we have seen legislation after legislation that overcomes democratic processes that are imposing communities.
00:45:21Bill 17, as Andrea mentioned, is something that is specifically targeting municipal governments, specifically when it comes to housing and housing crises.
00:45:34We are living in an affordability crisis. We have been in a housing crisis for over 30 years in this country.
00:45:41We have not seen a single, we haven't seen the, we haven't seen a solution on behalf of Queen's Park.
00:45:50Do you know that if you rent in Ontario that there are so many loopholes where you can legally be evicted?
00:45:58For example, if your landlord lives with you, the RTA doesn't protect you.
00:46:03If you, for example, sublease the landlord, you can get evicted.
00:46:08And these are the things that we have to connect together.
00:46:11The fact of the matter is that they don't care about our communities.
00:46:17They don't care about our kids going to schools.
00:46:20Who are the kids who are going to public schools every single day?
00:46:24It's the, it's the children of working class families who have to go through the public school system in order to be someone in their lives.
00:46:32And if they have housing instability, and if they don't have a place to eat and to sleep at night, where are these kids going to go?
00:46:40This, this legislation is only helping the school to, the school to prison pipeline.
00:46:48And it's being reinforced by a housing crisis where these folks behind us would rather give favors to their billionaire buddies and their landlord and developer friends
00:47:00instead of having to do anything, any semblance of solution to our communities.
00:47:05So I'm standing here today as a renter, as an activist, and as someone who wants to create a solution, not just for this city, but for the entire province.
00:47:15We need to organize our communities. Enough is enough. Enough of a tenant power.
00:47:21We need to connect our communities across the province, across the city, to be able to take up City Hall, not just to take up City Hall,
00:47:30but to take up this Ontario place, the legislature behind us, so that they know that we have the power.
00:47:38We have the power in numbers, and we have popular power.
00:47:42Say it with me. When I say tenant, you say power. Tenant!
00:47:47Up next, we have Andrea Hatala. Gender pronouns she heard, is the recipient co-chair of the Ontario Disability Support Program,
00:47:57ODSP Action Coalition, a group of agencies and recipients that work to improve the ODSP program. Andrea?
00:48:07Hi, everybody. Thank you for holding out for such a long time today. This has been a long haul.
00:48:21But all these speeches are so important, and education is so important, and we don't want to see things going downhill, and they have been.
00:48:35So, the ODSP Action Coalition is like a watchdog for the Ministry of Children and Community and Social Services, and the Ontario Disability Support Program.
00:48:54This, yay, yay. Yeah, can I get a, can I get a yahoo?
00:49:00Yahoo!
00:49:01All right. So, this program provides income support for people with disabilities who can't work for various reasons.
00:49:14And it funds adults, but it also funds their children, and that's where this is important.
00:49:28Legislated poverty is a very, very, very important part of this equation.
00:49:38Because if people are hungry, or if people are feeling, you know, socially abused, like, socially abused because they're more poor than other people,
00:49:56and they can't wear the best clothes, and they can't wear the best clothes to, you know, schools, or the same things that everybody else has,
00:50:03it might be one of the reasons why they act out in school.
00:50:09Um, and, and it's, and legislative, um, poverty is, is, um, can be solved by the government, by just giving us more money.
00:50:22Yay! Yes, thank you.
00:50:26Um, so, and, and the other thing that I, I just wanted to say was that,
00:50:34the amount of money that is going to be spent, um, taking, take, like, to hire police, um, for these schools,
00:50:49it costs 500, over 500 dollars a day, um, to hire police for, for the schools.
00:51:01And every, like, every school that has, you know, a police officer has 500 dollars a day, um, in, in, um, um, that, that, that they're taking away from the budget.
00:51:19And if they add a thousand dollars, or, or double ODSP rates, then, um, then, they can solve problems like homelessness,
00:51:34they can, um, they can, um, reduce the need for community food programs,
00:51:41they can, um, just for a thousand dollars a month, they can, they can fund all this, all these things.
00:51:51And it just makes so much more sense than spending all of this money on hiring police, uh, for, for each school.
00:52:03That's right! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!
00:52:07So, so, so, so it's, so it's, like, really, um, it's really a choice between, um, fascism and oppression and, um, and prosperity for everybody.
00:52:24And, um, I think the choice is clear.
00:52:29Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!
00:52:31Woo! Woo!
00:52:32Woo!
00:52:33Fund affected to the poly crisis.
00:52:36The manufactured crises of this government.
00:52:39And so, we have two more speakers that are looking at the interconnected issues of Bill 33,
00:52:47among other actions by the Ford government and additional bills.
00:52:53Up next, we have Kevin Wilson.
00:52:56Gender pronouns, they, him.
00:52:58As a recovering journalist and activist with harm reduction advocacy collective,
00:53:04which will be making the connections,
00:53:06the punitive, carceral connections of Bill 33,
00:53:11among multiple other bills that this government has.
00:53:15Woo! Woo!
00:53:19Day out here now.
00:53:20I've brought the sunshine along with me,
00:53:22and I've got an audience here that stuck it out for the whole time.
00:53:25Woo! Woo!
00:53:27You rock, both of you.
00:53:28Thank you very much.
00:53:31I, uh, I just wanted to recall that I was asked to, uh, talk to you about how people who use drugs have a lot more in common with educators, students, and, uh, administrators, than you may initially think.
00:53:49And I've got five minutes to do it.
00:53:51Yeah, no.
00:53:53Uh, here's what I gotta do.
00:53:55I gotta talk to you about loss.
00:53:57And how we are impacted by losses.
00:54:00Yeah.
00:54:01And the loss that comes when you lose something because someone took something away from you.
00:54:07Um, and I've got a lot of experience about that in the last couple of years.
00:54:13Um, I won't denounce drug use, but I won't condone it either.
00:54:20I will simply point out that life can be a really difficult and painful experience for a lot of people, and we naturally look for ways to cope with that pain.
00:54:31Um, my own coping mechanism has been methamphetamine for the last couple of years, and, uh, injecting it for about half of that time.
00:54:40I mention this because this government, in its infinite wisdom, took away the one thing that I had that gave me hope during some of the worst and hardest periods of my life.
00:54:57On April 1st, I lost the first supervised consumption site that I had ever stepped foot in.
00:55:07And, I'm sorry, I just lost my place here, but I'll get it back in just one second.
00:55:12Because it's a little windy still.
00:55:14And that's great.
00:55:17That site, another anger night across the province got caught up in a tsunami of the worst of politics in Ontario.
00:55:23Those of us were around when the Premier's little brother was the mayor of Toronto.
00:55:27Do you remember that?
00:55:28Uh, I think in Germany they called him the Krackburger Meister.
00:55:32Uh,
00:55:33You know exactly the sort of politics I'm talking about.
00:55:36It works like this.
00:55:37You're a politician.
00:55:38And you find a group of people that you want to get voting for you.
00:55:43And so, you find out the things that scare them the most and make them the angriest.
00:55:47And a little pandering, a catchy slogan, and, well it doesn't even have to be a slogan.
00:55:55You can just show some random word three times.
00:55:58And, and, and, and it works.
00:56:00You know, it's like, Subway! Subway! Subway! Subway!
00:56:02Do you remember that?
00:56:03Yeah.
00:56:04That was a big thing back in the day.
00:56:06And so the Krackburger found a bunch of people who wanted to vote for him.
00:56:09And they were homeowners who lived near supervised consumption sites.
00:56:13And let me tell you.
00:56:14There are a few things angrier and more scared than a homeowner here at SCS.
00:56:19Uh,
00:56:20You get a couple of catchy slogans.
00:56:22And a couple of that folks who dug no best sort of commentary.
00:56:27And just like that, those five SCS's were gone.
00:56:30In Toronto.
00:56:31And five more across the province.
00:56:34Oh, crap.
00:56:35What just happened?
00:56:37Oh, I dropped my water bottle.
00:56:38That's all.
00:56:39It's nothing.
00:56:40It's not an amplifier or anything.
00:56:41So I'm good.
00:56:42Uh,
00:56:45And, and while someone spoke out about disclosure,
00:56:49Uh, I personally was passed on the building behind me.
00:56:52Uh,
00:56:53It's a building that I've had the honor of working in in the past.
00:56:57And that, you know, for some crazy reason,
00:57:00even now remains a symbol of responsible, responsive and representative government
00:57:06of the people,
00:57:07of the people,
00:57:08by the people,
00:57:09and for the people.
00:57:10I'm a sucker.
00:57:11Obviously.
00:57:12The phone solicitors love me.
00:57:13Uh,
00:57:14But, but yeah,
00:57:15I still believe that in my heart of hearts.
00:57:17This is,
00:57:18This is a,
00:57:19This is a beacon for that place.
00:57:20Even,
00:57:21Even with all that's gone on it.
00:57:22Uh,
00:57:23But my gesture,
00:57:24The voice in many of those,
00:57:26Uh,
00:57:27Was not enough to save our supervised consumption sites.
00:57:30And it's not surprising.
00:57:31It's not as though,
00:57:32Uh,
00:57:33People who use drugs are part of some incredibly well organized and well financed.
00:57:36Uh,
00:57:37And really can't,
00:57:38University of Eared lobbies unfortunately as the addict.
00:57:41Uh,
00:57:42Other voices get a far more sympathetic ear around here.
00:57:47And I'm not for a second going to imply that Doug Ford is in the back pocket of developers.
00:57:52Cause that would be a shameful and scurrilous allegation.
00:57:56Uh,
00:57:57Or that his cabinet or his entire caucus are,
00:58:00Are in the back pocket of developers.
00:58:02Cause that would be a shameful thing to say.
00:58:04I honestly can't think of a more,
00:58:07Appalling.
00:58:09Allegation.
00:58:11Hey,
00:58:12It's about the man who handed one of the keys to Ontario Place and Science Center.
00:58:16Whoa!
00:58:17Holy mackerel!
00:58:22I think someone with a lot of hot air is really mad at me.
00:58:27But I've got a man who handed over the keys to Ontario Place and the Ontario Science Center.
00:58:31So I'm completely above the board.
00:58:34Enterprises in a manner that was totally not sketchy.
00:58:38And,
00:58:39So that our,
00:58:41Two of our children's like,
00:58:43Birthrights,
00:58:44The Science Center,
00:58:46You know,
00:58:47Get Your Hair to Go Up in the Air.
00:58:48And, uh,
00:58:49You know,
00:58:50Are going to be transformed into luxury condos of the playground for the very world.
00:58:54Yay!
00:58:55Yay!
00:58:56Yay!
00:58:57So if you believe in stuff like that,
00:58:59You know,
00:59:00You'll believe any kind of ridiculous thing.
00:59:02Like maybe high ranking elected officials that are trafficked in,
00:59:05You know,
00:59:06Marijuana.
00:59:07Or,
00:59:08The Devil's Lattice.
00:59:09Or,
00:59:10You know,
00:59:11The Hashish.
00:59:12Uh,
00:59:13While they were in high school.
00:59:14I mean,
00:59:15That's a horrible allegation.
00:59:16Uh,
00:59:17But no one's ever going to see it for it.
00:59:19Uh,
00:59:20Which brings you back to the issue we started with.
00:59:22These things that we've lost.
00:59:24Ontario,
00:59:25The Place,
00:59:26The Science Center,
00:59:27The Supervised Consumption Sites.
00:59:29You know,
00:59:31Where the science,
00:59:32Where,
00:59:33Where the SDS were concerned,
00:59:34Those were grounded in evidence based research.
00:59:36It showed that health outcomes are vastly improved for people who use drugs,
00:59:41Uh,
00:59:42In a supervised consumption site setting.
00:59:44In fact,
00:59:45The most,
00:59:46The most powerful determinant of whether a person is going to seek treatment for the substance abuse issue,
00:59:50Is entering through the doors of the supervised consumption site.
00:59:53The very sites that got towards shut down.
00:59:56Uh,
00:59:57Shave!
00:59:58Shave!
00:59:59Shave!
01:00:00Heart reduction in the treatment model that illuminates how we do our work.
01:00:03It saves lives.
01:00:04It creates health outcomes.
01:00:05Dramatically reduces the transmission of sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections like hepatitis and HIV.
01:00:13And it creates the most powerful positive force for people who use drugs to drop on hope.
01:00:18The evidence saved this, but I can share my own anecdotal evidence.
01:00:21I stepped through the doors of the supervised consumption site.
01:00:25About three years ago,
01:00:26And I was in very bad shape in every way.
01:00:28I was homeless.
01:00:29I was emotionally in a very deep pit.
01:00:31Hope was a commodity in an extremely short supply.
01:00:34And I stand before you today to say that I'm no longer a homeless.
01:00:37Woo!
01:00:38I am physically in a far better place.
01:00:40Emotionally in a far better place.
01:00:41I am gainfully employed as a peer outreach worker.
01:00:45And I co-facilitate debriefings and educational workshops for my fellow peers.
01:00:50We didn't just lose those sites.
01:00:52I worried terribly about the people who were in as bad a place as I was.
01:00:55Who won't have those opportunities now.
01:00:57And won't get the support that I received.
01:01:01That's been lost.
01:01:02But those are minor losses compared to the loss of Sabio.
01:01:05A client I supported just three weeks ago.
01:01:08Or Ryan, a fellow peer that I trained with who died on Thanksgiving.
01:01:13Overnoses have skyrocketed and I'm confused because the Premier and the Health Minister told us
01:01:19that nobody would die as a result of the changes that they made, the closures that they did.
01:01:23I wish someone had told that to Fabio and Ryan.
01:01:28It's heartbreaking really.
01:01:31And there's more to come.
01:01:35Which brings us to Bill 33.
01:01:37Amazing.
01:01:38I got there.
01:01:39Finally.
01:01:40We've got a bill that takes away some of the things that we know that are evidence-based,
01:01:46that are good for students and are good for a learning environment.
01:01:50Responsive representatives that are accessible to parents and the community.
01:01:58Bill 33 threats to trample all that and take it all away at the Minister's whim.
01:02:05We have school resource officers.
01:02:10The boards are being mandated that they will be required to engage with school resource officers,
01:02:17which let's call it what it is.
01:02:19Those are police in the schools.
01:02:22And I can tell you as a formerly homeless person that there's a very slippery slope
01:02:31and a very quick drop between feeling protected and served and feeling policed and surveilled.
01:02:38It's a very disturbing experience.
01:02:41And as a cisgendered white male that I can make that distinction,
01:02:45I can imagine it's a far easier distinction for my racialized friends to make.
01:02:50And that is the thing that we're going to lose.
01:02:54We're going to lose responsive representation.
01:02:56We're going to lose a bit of our freedom in our schools.
01:02:59And that's a scary thing.
01:03:01Because when we lose those things, we lose a little bit of what it means to be ourselves.
01:03:07Of what it means to be a community.
01:03:10And all of these things have happened because people spoke out,
01:03:14but they didn't speak out loudly enough, really great enough volume.
01:03:17And not enough people spoke out about these things.
01:03:20And with a guy like the one in the previous show right now,
01:03:25the only thing that they really understand is when you say,
01:03:27that's enough, I won't let you do this anymore.
01:03:31You know, that's enough, sir.
01:03:33If you're in our other official language, that's a pen.
01:03:37Or if you're in North America, ya basta.
01:03:41And if we don't start standing up and not allowing this guy to take stuff away from us.
01:03:49Because he's got his pen for Patsy's and he can take pretty much anything he wants
01:03:52and hand it over to his non, the guy so he's not in his eye pocket out.
01:03:56And I, so just get out there and tell your friends and tell your neighbors
01:04:02and tell everybody that you know that until we say that's enough,
01:04:06you can't take anymore from us.
01:04:08We're not going to let you.
01:04:10He's going to keep on trying to take and take and take.
01:04:13And until he understands that there's a price we've paid,
01:04:16we're going to keep on getting stuff took.
01:04:18So let's not get anything took anymore.
01:04:20Let's get out there and stalk him now.
01:04:32Connected.
01:04:33Last but not least, our next speaker,
01:04:36gender polo she, her, in 2015 was struck by the driver of a 5,000 pound SUV while riding her bike to work.
01:04:46The driver inflicted a broken spine, traumatic brain injury, and extensive soft tissue damage
01:04:53that later caused life-threatening blood clot complications.
01:04:57This violence was not only the result of one reprehensible motorist,
01:05:02but systemic disinvestment in the public realm.
01:05:05The refusal to equitably design our streets for safety instead of speed.
01:05:10She is the spokesperson for friends and families for safe streets,
01:05:17which is made up of people whose loved ones were struck and killed by motorists,
01:05:23and people who have survived being struck with severe life-altering injuries.
01:05:30Jess?
01:05:36Thank you so much for being here, and thank you for sticking around.
01:05:39My name is Jessica Speaker.
01:05:40I'm with Friends and Families for Safe Streets.
01:05:43And as Andrea said, I was struck and almost killed riding my bike to work in 2015.
01:05:49My spine was broken.
01:05:51I had a moderate traumatic brain injury that I still have to live with every day.
01:05:56I live in chronic pain.
01:05:58And I nearly died a second time when a huge blood clot formed on my leg,
01:06:02went through my heart, and obstructed the blood passages on both sides of my lungs.
01:06:07That was the worst thing that has ever happened to me,
01:06:10and it blew up my future and what I was trying to build for myself.
01:06:14And as bad as it was, it is nothing in the face of what my friends and colleagues in this group have endured
01:06:23when their loved one was struck and killed by a motorist.
01:06:27I want to make it really clear that speed kills with what's been happening lately with the speed camera program.
01:06:35When someone is struck at 30 kilometers an hour, they have a 90% chance of surviving being hit.
01:06:43When somebody is hit at 50 kilometers an hour, they have an 85% chance of dying.
01:06:50And above that, once you get to 60, death is virtually assured.
01:06:55And that's why speed matters so much.
01:06:59And that's why we're fighting to save the speed camera program.
01:07:03What happens when a loved one is killed is you have a police officer knocking on your door with maybe a paper bag of your loved one's possessions
01:07:14and delivering the news to you that breaks your life and your heart into uncountable pieces.
01:07:20You then have to go to the hospital and identify your loved one's remains in whatever horrifically injured state they're in.
01:07:31You get back your loved one's bloodied clothing and have to figure out what to do with it.
01:07:37Think about that for a second.
01:07:39What would you do with it?
01:07:41Do you wash it?
01:07:43Do you put it in the basement?
01:07:44Do you throw it out?
01:07:45What do you do?
01:07:48My friends live with empty bedrooms in their homes, empty seats around their tables.
01:07:53All of those spaces silently screaming at them that their loved one is gone forever.
01:08:00But all of this death and all of this violence is completely preventable.
01:08:05We've ended together what's left of us to fight for change to make sure that what happened to us never happened to us ever happens to anyone else ever again.
01:08:18And especially we are beyond disturbed at the thought of what happened to us being inflicted on children on their way to school in school zones.
01:08:28To have a premier and a seat of power in this province who is knowingly, intentionally taking away a safety measure in school zones and replacing it with one that doesn't work, which is signs and flashing lights which we already have and already don't work, that is going to get somebody killed.
01:08:47That might get a child killed or several.
01:08:52Something that really stuck with me once I started doing this advocacy work in about 2018 was there was a young boy named Duncan Shue who was killed in front of his school.
01:09:02He left a crosswalk, crossed the street on his way home and an adult in a minivan who was speeding hit him and killed him right in front of his school.
01:09:14A speed camera could have slowed that driver down, so they might have been looking, they might not have hit him at all, or he might have been able to survive.
01:09:24But instead of doing anything about speeding, any single thing, what happened was that crosswalk beside the school was shut down.
01:09:33So the kids were punished, made it harder to get to school instead of making it harder for adults to speed in front of that school and put kids' lives in danger.
01:09:43So this attack on road safety that's happening right now is jaw-droppingly reckless, it's not based in any kind of evidence, and it's grossly negligent.
01:09:53Our speed safety camera program is very effective at slowing drivers down, especially the very worst speeders.
01:10:00They're the ones that slow down the most.
01:10:05The supposed alternatives that Doug Ford has mentioned, like speed bumps and roundabouts, I just also want to make it very clear, those are not going to happen.
01:10:13Where the speed cameras are, they're on main roads. Municipalities do not put speed bumps on those because of the need for emergency responders to drive on them.
01:10:21And anywhere there's a bus route, buses do not like to drive on them.
01:10:26Roundabouts are going to get into an unbelievably expensive and drawn out legal process of land expropriation because you can't build one where there's a four-way intersection because they're bigger.
01:10:37So you have to take land all around the corners to build that. It'll never happen.
01:10:40So all of those things, like it's true that roundabouts and speed bumps do slow drivers down, but they're not a substitute for speed safety cameras.
01:10:49And so what our fight for road safety and what your fight for investment in policing free schools have in common is at its core real safety for our community members and our kids.
01:11:01Real measures that are based in evidence that actually work. But that's not what this government is about.
01:11:08Doug Ford has made it perfectly clear. He does not care about real safety for people in this province.
01:11:15His government is mandating policing in schools. When research is clear, student voices are clear, that that creates harm.
01:11:24At the same time, he's banning speed cameras, which is the exact same thing. It doesn't work and it does harm.
01:11:33All these government decisions are not protecting children's best interests. They're not protecting students. They're not protecting our communities.
01:11:40They both ultimately lead to grave harm and, in some cases, predictable, preventable death.
01:11:48So our interconnected fight, we're all connected. People who use drugs, schools, nursing, it's all the same fight against a government that fundamentally does not care about people who aren't rich and people who aren't cronies.
01:12:07And what they're telling us is that our safety, our health, our lives don't matter to them.
01:12:14But we matter. We do matter. And there's more of us than there are of them. Power to the people, not the people in power. Thank you.
01:12:23Stay and connect and learn ways to get involved. Check out our learning booth. Again, sign our two provincial campaign paper petitions.
01:12:35Christine Wong Tam with the NDP has retabled both petitions with new signatures. Former MVP had tabled them last year.
01:12:46Check out our calls to action. You're able to find them on our website policingfreeschools.ca by clicking on the Ontario Take Action Now tab.
01:12:57And if you haven't already, please make sure to pick up a Know Your Rights Police and Schools pocketbook at our booth.
01:13:05It was intentionally created as a national resource guide and is provided by one of our national campaign partners,
01:13:12the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, who have a national mandate to preserve, defend, maintain, and extend civil liberties and human rights across so-called Canada.
01:13:27Information in the pocketbook applies across the country, including right here in Ontario.
01:13:35Read the solidarity statements as well that have been provided by our international organizational partners.
01:13:43They can be found also at the Learning Booth.
01:13:46International partners are in solidarity with us, opposing Bill 33, including those across the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa.
01:13:58And also solidarity statements from our supporters, scholars and advocates based in Australia and New Zealand.
01:14:06And grab a lush gift set, a community donation as there is a limited supply.
01:14:12And so we collectively, in ending today's teaching and rally, send a clear message from across the province to the forward government.
01:14:23No to Bill 33, no to power grabs, no to taking over school boards, no to the elimination of democratically elected school board trustees,
01:14:35no to privatization, no to policing in schools, and yes, yes to properly funded, supported, resourced public education.
01:14:47Thank you, thank you to all of the speakers and the media who participated, and thank you to all of you who've joined us today in solidarity.
01:14:57And let us continue to mobilize, organize against Bill 33, and be in solidarity with each other because our struggles are interconnected.
01:15:06And let us demand the government fund our schools, fund our communities, not policing in schools.
01:15:13Sending thank yous as well to the Peel Elementary teachers local for providing support to be able to complete the provincial tour local campaign stops across the province.
01:15:26Thank you to all of you for providing today's beverages and snacks.
01:15:32Thank you to the Ontario Federation of Labour for your usable handheld posters across all our campaign stops and campaign swore.
01:15:42Thank you to LUSH for the community donated gift sets.
01:15:45Thank you to British Columbia Civil Liberties Association for the police and schools pocketbooks.
01:15:51And thank you to all our partners across the province and across the country.
01:15:57Closing us off will be DJ Curate, who's the music curator of the provincial campaign for Policing Free Schools Ontario,
01:16:06and our provincial campaign tour, who will continue to be on the ones and twos.
01:16:12Today's Policing Free Schools provincial campaign tour finale, teaching and rallying out Queens Park on the first day that the provincial legislature resumed, has concluded.
01:16:24And stay tuned for more actions.
01:16:26Whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop
Be the first to comment