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Meet the radical Kingston community by getting to know the friends and collaborators of Rad Frosh

Doors will open at 9:30, and this is a 19+ event.
Cover will be $6 before 10:30pm, and $8 thereafter.

…This is Soul Shakedown’s first party in the Wine Cellar, so make sure to come check out this amazing space.

Proceeds of this event will benefit the G20 Legal Defense Fund.

Calling folks with video cameras. I am making a documentary film on the closure of Canada’s Prison Farms and need videographers. You don’t have to be a professional or even have much experience filming, maybe you have your own camera, maybe you don’t but think the cause is good and can make yourself available to film (I can arrange to get a couple loaner cameras I think). Shoot dates:  Likely Sunday (Aug 8th) and/or Monday (Aug. 9th) when the dairy herd from Frontenac is planned to be moved to be auctioned in Kitchener-Waterloo on Aug. 10. The Save Our Prison Farms campaign plans to blockade the cattle trucks but given the size of the site (900 acres) and multiple entrances, it will be impossible for me to be in more than one place at a time to capture the event for my independent film project.

Kingston filmmaker

Shutting down CSC Regional Headquarters for the morning is meant to send a peaceful but assertive democratic message to our government.  The Conservatives cannot ignore the vast majority of Canadians on this lighting rod public safety and local food issue.  We will not give up until they listen.

We will not disrupt traffic on King Street.  Citizens who do not want to block vehicles can participate by standing with signs on the other side of the road.

“Canadians have not given up the fight to save the prison farms,” says Dianne Dowling, a member of the Save Our Prison Farms campaign and president of National Farmers Union Local 316.  “We are peaceful, and will not disrupt any traffic except animal transports, but we will not let one cow or chicken leave our prison farm,” Dowling said.  “The prison farms provide a cost-effective training and rehabilitative program that works, helps inmates feed themselves, and makes our communities safer.”

“The resolve and democratic will of the community will be demonstrated in this blockade,” said Jeff Peters of the Frontenac Cattlemen’s Association and a member of the campaign.  “This action is meant as practice for what may be necessary at Frontenac Institution.  We apologize for any inconvenience it may cause CSC staff not being able to get into work, as we know that the majority of them support the prison farm program.  The goal is not to target individuals, but to allow the citizens of all ages and political stripes involved in the Save Our Prison Farms campaign to show their commitment to the farms and the cows.”

“We are hoping that blockading Frontenac Institution will not be necessary,” said John Williamson of the Frontenac Federation of Agriculture and a member of the campaign.  “The auction house, OLEX (Ontario Livestock Exchange) in Waterloo, has been getting phone calls from all the major farm organizations, recommending that they reconsider doing this auction.  Two other auction houses in Ontario have already turned down the opportunity.”

“Prison is the most brutal direct expression of power, and like any hegemonic power it cannot be abolished through progress. Anyone who thinks that they can work on improving it now in order to try and destroy it later will remain a captive of its logic and achieve nothing but to strengthen the very system they oppose.”

There are two FREE buses, one leaving Friday (June 25th) morning, the other leaving Saturday (June 26th) morning, and one returning Saturday afternoon, and the other returning Sunday (June 27th) evening.

To secure a space on a bus to and from Toronto you must e-mail g20kingstongmailcom by Thursday June 17 with your name and which buses you want to take.

For more information about our G20 Workshop Series, join our facebook group at: http://is.gd/cQvre

Remember to check out the Toronto Community Mobilization Network website (http://g20.torontomobilize.org/) for more information on what actions are happening when.

See you in the streets!

“Sixteen months of public events, letters, petitions, delegations, and parliamentary motions have gathered almost unanimous support across the country for Canada’s prison farms,” said Dianne Dowling, National Farmers Union Local 316 President.  “Yet the federal government is plowing ahead with its wrong-headed plan to shut down the prison farms.”

“Heritage dairy herds, which provide milk for inmates in at least three provinces are slated for dispersal,” added Dowling. “As one of our supporters has said, dispersing the herd is like wiping out an entire extended family.”  The first sale is scheduled for Kingston’s Frontenac Institution during the week of June 21.

“By marching on CSC headquarters on June 6, Canadians will be sending a clear message to our government,” said Andrew McCann, of Urban Agriculture Kingston.       “And that message is — you have to stop ignoring the will of the majority.”

Margaret Atwood, one of Canada’s most articulate and visionary champions of environmental issues, is joining the Save Our Prison Farm Campaign to take it to a new level.

“At a time when world attention is focusing on looming food shortages linked to climate change, and when countries such as England are re-organizing to provide more food self-sufficiency, the government of Canada is making exactly the wrong move,” explained Atwood.

“It is also sending a clear signal to individual farmers all across Canada that it does not respect what they do. These prison farms reflect Canadian values.  Most Canadians would rather have prisons produce skilled inmates than repeat offenders – and they are increasingly supporting a vision of a future in which communities contribute to their own food supply.”

“We should not take away from offenders the very thing citizens are trying to rebuild in communities across Canada,”  Atwood said.

A one-time resident farm owner, Atwood was co-founder of the Meadowlark Organic Farm on Pelee Island in Lake Erie, and, among many other books, authored Alias Grace – a novel set in the 1800s in Kingston Penitentiary.

The June 6 rally will begin at 1:30 pm at Sydenham Street United Church in Kingston.   Other speakers include Sister Pauline Lally, General Superior of the Sisters of Providence, John Leeman, former inmate and prison farm employee, and  farmer Jeff Peters of the National Farmers Union.  The march from the church to CSC headquarters will begin about 3 pm.

All are welcome to participate in this free event.

See www.saveourprisonfarms.ca and www.saveourfarms.ca, sponsored by the Union of Solicitor General Employees (USGE/PSAC) for more details.
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Media inquiries:
Dianne Dowling 613-546-0869 or dowlingkosnet ">dowlingkosnet

Andrew McCann, 613-767-4127 or mccann17yahoocom ">mccann17yahoocom

Bridget Doherty, 613-544-4525, ext 145, bridgetdohertyprovidenceca ">bridgetdohertyprovidenceca

For Sexual Violence Awareness Month, Queen’s University Co-coordinator of Feminist Legal Studies Dr. Kathleen Lahey, Member of Parliament and Federal Critic for the Status of Women Irene Mathyssen, and local activist Zaineb Zimmerman will discuss why the struggle for women’s equality must also include women’s economic equality through their analyses of the federal budget.

Come learn how to “read” government budgets to empower yourself!

This event is free of charge.

The venue is fully accessible.

Light refreshments and childcare will be provided.

This event is co-sponsored by Sexual Assault Centre Kingston and Kingston Interval House.