Category: Equality

Second Harvest

Second Harvest
In the spirit of the holiday season, it seemed appropriate to highlight a charitible organization that is making a difference to many in the Toronto area on a year-round basis. Second Harvest was founded in 1986, and is dedicated to ensuring that fresh food from GTA grocery stores and restaurants does not go to waste. Using six refrigerated trucks, the organization picks up high-quality fresh food and produce on a daily basis and delivers it within hours to over 230 community centres, shelters, breakfast programs, and drop-in centres across the city.

Second Harvest distinguishes itself from food banks in that it collects perishable foods, such as meat, milk, and vegetables. Its efforts help provide 13,000 meals each day to children, the elderly, women who are fleeing abuse, and the homeless.

In addition to its main program, Second Harvest undertook two other initiatives that are making a difference in Toronto. The Feeding Our Future program began in 1999, supplying lunches to inner-city children who were otherwise unable to attend free summer camps because their families could not afford to send a lunch along with them. Harvest Kitchens was launced in 2001 in four Toronto facilities, where unemployed individuals were trained in food preparation with the aim of giving them valuable skills to help them find jobs. The refrigerated trucks deliver raw food from donors to the kitchens, where folks are trained under the supervision of food service professionals.

Right Livelihood Award

Right Livelihood Award
Congratulations to Maude Barlow, National Chair of the Council of Canadians, and Tony Clarke, Director of the Polaris Insititute, for winning the Right Livelihood Award (RLA). The RLA was created in 1980, and is awarded by the Swedish Parliament. It is known around the world as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.”

The RLA is presented to those who embody “the principle that each person should follow an honest occupation which fully respects other people and the natural world. It means being responsible for the consequences of our actions and taking only a fair share of the earth’s resources.” The award acknowledges the personal sacrifices of its recipients, and also recognizes that the work of those recipients is often accomplished despite powerful opposing forces.

Barlow and Clarke, two of four recipients of the award this year, were chosen because of their work promoting the “fundamental right to water.” They published a book called Blue Gold in 2002, which explores the privatization of water around the world. The book has been published in 12 languages and is sold in 40 countries.

Barlow and Clarke will be presented with the RLA on December 9, and will receive a share of the $300 000 (Cdn) prize with the other winners.

You can read the Council of Canadians press release here.

White Ribbon Campaign

White Ribbon Campaign

December 6th marks the end of White Ribbon Days. Not coincidentally, the day is also the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, a tragedy that occurred in 1989 when 14 women were murdered at the city’s L’Ecole Polytechnique. Vigils were held across Canada today to mark this sombre anniversary.

White Ribbon Days are sponsored by the White Ribbon Campaign. The WRC is the largest movement of its kind in the world, and is organized by men in an effort to eradicate male violence against women. However, the WRC does not make any public statements on December 6 because it believes that men should “step back and listen to the voices of women.”

While certainly not good news, these statistics are worth repeating: Girls are four times more likely than boys to be victims of sexual assault by family members. 12 per cent of girls in grade nine are pressured to have sex. Adolescent wives are three times more likely to be murdered. (Stats courtesy of The Toronto Star)

P.S. (9:55 pm) Just came across this great website created by the National Film Board and the Global Women’s Memorial Society. “The Global Women’s Memorial Website project is dedicated to remembering women who have been murdered & promoting women’s memorials as an act of resistance to violence against women.” It’s worth checking out.