Queen’s Pride Project & Queen’s Native Students’ Association
Presents: SHADES OF GAY!

Dance! Dance! DANCE!
This QCRED-sponsored event is the first queer dance in Kingston that is
geared towards queers of colour! We welcome people of colour, Indigenous
people, and allies to dance without fear, and begin community building!!
This event is 19+, and Pay what you can!

Between the Lines and MayWorks Kingston invite you to meet acclaimed photographer Vincenzo Pietropaolo, and learn about his new book, Harvest Pilgrims: Mexican and Caribbean Migrant Farm Workers in Canada

Thursday, March 11th, 2010
6:30 to 8:30 pm
Delahaye Room
Central Branch of Kingston Frontenac Public Library
130 Johnson Street, Kingston

Harvest Pilgrims tells the little-known story of Canada’s migrant workers. The photographs in the “Harvest Pilgrims” collection have been highly acclaimed internationally through many publications and exhibitions, including a travelling show curated by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography that opened in Mexico City. Vincenzo Pietropaolo will present a slideshow of his work on the subject, and talk about the project, which has been 20 years in the making.

For more information:

Between the Lines
416.535.9914
info@btlbooks.com

MayWorks Kingston
www.opirgkingston.org/mayworks

Soul Shakedown DJs Redfoot and La Gringa return with Latin, Pan African, Brazilian, and Dancehall tunes.

We are also welcoming back DJ Seditious who will be spinning neo-Soul and Hip-hop.

This party will be supporting Mayworks. The Kingston Mayworks Collective is a community collective of workers, students and artists who believe that bridging art and labour can bring powerful social change. The Mayworks Festival will take place May 1st - May 8th in Kingston.

· Free lunch! (Catering by Windmills)
· “Positive” remarks by Gender Studies Professor Scott Morgensen

· OPIRG Positive Space Award

When: Thursday, March 11, 11:30 to 2:00 (food from 11:30 on; “ceremonies” between 12:00 and 1:00)

Where: Robert Sutherland Room at the JDUC

What to Do: Put it on your calendar and RSVP to posspace@queensu.ca

Looking forward to seeing you there,

Jean

Jean Pfleiderer, For Positive Space Committee

Human Rights Advisor/Sexual and Gender Diversity Coordinator

Join us for an evening of music and words to Save Canada’s Prison Farms.

Performers:

Sarah Harmer, Fred Penner, Luther Wright, Open Heart Society featuring Chris Brown and Eric Schenkman, Brian Flynn, Kris and Dee, Maya Thau-Eleff and Special Guests

Tickets:

$15 ($5 for unemployed and underemployed) available at Renaissance Music, Tara Natural Foods, Brian’s Record Option, and Local Family Farms in Verona - cash only please. A small number will be available at the door.

Partners:

Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice, Frontenac Cattlemen’s Association, Frontenac Federation of Agriculture, John Howard Society, National Farmers Union, Local 316, Sisters of Providence Justice and Peace Office, Union of Solicitor Generals Employees, Urban Agriculture Kingston

For more information, or to volunteer for the Save Our Prison Farms Campaign, please contact, 613-767-4127, mccann17@yahoo.com

This pamphlet was written in Kingston Ontario, the city with the largest
concentration of prisons in Canada, and our hometown. We wrote it to
bring people up to speed with what we see as a dangerous agenda at work
within the federal government with respect to the Canadian prison
system. At this very moment, the federal Conservative Party, their
various corporate partners, and their provincial proxy-parties are
pushing hard for a major expansion of the Prison Industrial Complex
(PIC). This is the term we use to refer to the interest groups,
businesses, and government institutions that rely on locking people up
to increase their bottom line. While private contractors are a major
aspect of the PIC ­ one we’ll delve into later in this pamphlet ­ this
issue is about more than privatization. It’s about an ideology of “Law
and Order” driven by fear, racism, and moral panic. It’s about the
extent to which the logic of prison is being extended into society
generally, through increased surveillance and heavier-handed policing in
the name of “public safety.” And it’s about our town, Kingston, Ontario,
where the first Canadian prison was ever built, and what it means to be
a city that experiences economic booms when more people are being put in
prison.

This pamphlet touches on a few specific issues relating to the ongoing
Conservative revolution in prisons and policing, and tries to
strategically show a few points of intervention for people who want to
resist this expansion. Most of our research has focused on the internal
plan to construct new super-prisons, but related issues such as the
closing of the prison farms, the backdoor privatization of the prison
system, and the introduction of draconian amendments to the Criminal
Code are all elements of the Conservative transformation in its
vulnerable and weak introductory phase, which could be resisted
simultaneously in order to disrupt this current process. The strong link
between the ousted Mike Harris regime in Ontario, and the key players in
the Corrections transformation sheds light on what we might expect in
the next year. Drawing on the experiences of the anti-Harris movement
could provide insight into effective tactics and strategies with which
to resist and ultimately defeat the current government and any future
governments determined to implement such policies.

Get in touch with us at epic (at) riseup.net
http://zinelibrary.info/superprisons-canada

October 14-16, 2010

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” (Article 25(1) of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Call For Abstracts:

In the wake of the recent economic crisis, questions about the causes of poverty and propositions regarding its eradication have intensified in Canadian political and cultural discourse—yet so too have the stigmatization and criminalization of the poor. This conference intends to seize this moment of inquiry and crisis by bringing together graduate students across all disciplines, anti-poverty activists, outreach and poverty advocates, front line workers, and those who experience poverty firsthand with three central objectives:

1) Inquiry & Awareness:

To address disconnections between academics, activists, and impoverished communities and to create dialogue across disciplines and social boundaries in order to challenge existing institutions that reproduce inequality and marginalization. To explore the intersections between poverty and racism, public health, criminalization, food security, education, housing, substance abuse, stigmatization, sexuality, etc.

2) Resistance:

Participants in panels, workshops, and artistic media will share information on anti-poverty initiatives, such as cooperatives, education, outreach, legal rights awareness, and direct action.

3) Ongoing Initiatives:

To identify, incorporate, and support other anti-poverty initiatives in Kingston, including the establishment of a networking hub at Queen’s University for activists, advocates, social justice organizations, and academics to share information on poverty issues, research, and anti-poverty initiatives in Kingston Ontario.

Although this conference is particularly interested in addressing issues of poverty in Kingston, its overarching ambition is community-building around poverty issues that can be applied to the Kingston community and communities across Canada. Kingston is a small city of great disparity.It has the distinctive trait of having the highest concentration of academics and federal prisons in all of Canada. It is also the urban centre for a region characterized by rural and Aboriginal poverty. Furthermore, impoverished Kingstonians receive inadequate welfare rate and are forced to live a life of close surveillance by welfare administrators, neighbours, friends, and families. Rural and urban communities nationwide face similar circumstances. How can we envision and share strategies to combat the underlying issues that shape, create, and sustain such disparity and suffering?

Deadline for abstract submissions: March 31, 2010

Submissions:

This conference is committed to providing a safe space for people living in poverty and those committed to combating its root causes and alleviating its attendant social suffering to share ideas, experiences, resources, and strategies. Participants can present in any manner in which they feel most comfortable, whether that be a traditional panel or through workshops, roundtable discussions, artistic media, etc. We want to stress that the conference encourages alternative presentation styles and that participants will share panels with non-academics. We welcome proposals on topics including, but not limited to:

Health, Food Security, Gender & Sexuality, Criminalization, Racialization, History of Anti-Poverty Activism, First Nations & Poverty, Culture & Representation, Labour, Cooperatives, Unions, Housing, Welfare, Environment, Resistance, Education, Stigmatization & Poor-bashing, Surveillance.

Abstracts must be between 200-300 words in length, plus title, author affiliation, and specification of presentation format (with particular comment on accessibility of information to the general public). Please send submissions to povertyconference2010@gmail.com by March 31, 2010.

Conference Format:

October 14: Opening reception and keynote address by Dr. Margaret Little, Department of Women’s Studies and Sociology, Queen’s University; concurrent panels and social justice trade show throughout the day, anti-oppression workshop, and evening poetry slam.

October 15: Community-based workshops: skills sharing, information sessions, walking-tours, social justice radio programming workshop, feast, movie night.

October 16: Day of Reflection and Action: Roundtable discussion, Anti-poverty festival
Cost and Accommodation:

There is no fee for participation in this conference. Unfortunately, we are not able to offer funding for participants’ costs. We are also happy to provide information about affordable local accommodation and limited billeting options. Inquiries can be sent to povertyconference2010@gmail.com.

Saturday, March 6, 2010
1:00pm - 4:00pm
AKA Autonomous Social Centre
75 Queen Street

Are you looking for a non-judgmental space to confront apprehensions about anti-racism, or to start a dialogue about discrimination in your life and work?

Do you want to help fight racism, but aren’t sure where exactly to start?

This mini ‘How to be an Ally” workshop, hosted by the Queen’s Committee Against Racial and Ethnic Discrimination seeks to provide participants with the knowledge and understanding of tools and strategies that can be used to prevent discrimination and create schools and communities that welcome and value diversity.

We aim to provide a safe space for engagement with anti-oppression and offer suggestions for practical action to combat racism in your social networks.

Please join us to learn how we can all work together to build a more inclusive community!

Free admittance; all welcome!

Snacks will be provided

Slingshot Hip Hop braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and Separation Walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people crossing the borders that separate them.

This event is part of Israeli Apartheid Week.

www.apartheidweek.org

Presented by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights.

Admission is free, though donations are welcome!

CAMPAIGN [ENGAGE] Schedule:

Wednesday, March 3, 2010, 10 am - 4 pm—Trash Talk In Kingston, Queen’s Centre
Wednesday, March 3, 2010, 4pm-7pm – Living Library, Common Ground
Wednesday, March 3, 2010, 9:30 pm - Open forum with the Diversity and Equity Task Force
Thursday, March 4, 2010, 10am-4pm – Trash Talk In Kingston, Queen’s Centre
Friday, March 5, 2010, 6:30pm-10:00pm ‘Good to Know Kingston’ Website Launch at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre

Throughout the week – FREE reusable water bottles and information on water accessibility will be made available at all of these events!

Additionally, don’t forget to “Pay it Forward” this week! We will be handing out FREE tshirts throughout the week, but only if you “pay it forward”! On Monday we will give out 20 T-shirts along with one or two ‘tickets’. Those 20 people who received t-shirts on the first day will have the opportunity to “pay it forward” and ENGAGE more students by giving them the opportunity to go to any CAMPAIGN [ENGAGE] booth and pick up a tshirt of their own AND another ticket!

The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere: Anti-Black Racism Following the 2005 Boxing
Day Shooting
Thursday February 18th @ 7pm: Dunning, Room 11. Contact 6at3@queensu.ca
Valarie Steele speaks about the backlash following the shooting death of
Jane Creba on her family, her community and her life.

Black History Month Films

Sunday February 21st – 7:47pm – 747 presents Tar Angel – AKA (75 Queen St)

http://reelout.com/Reelout11/Docs/Reelout11GuideWeb.pdf

Juno award-winning Jenny Whitely will headline, with other performances by The Wilderness of Manitoba, The Gertrudes, and a spoken word appearance by Kingston author Steven Heighton.

The concert will be held Friday January 29, from 7:30-10pm, at Chalmers United Church, 212 Barrie St, in downtown Kingston. Admission by donation.

The OPIRG Positive Space Award is presented to a full-time Queen’s University undergraduate or graduate student who has demonstrated leadership in the Queen’s and/or Kingston community in promoting the recognition and celebration of sexual and gender diversity.

Any member of the Queen’s community can nominate a student for this award. Submit your nomination by email to possspace@post.queensu.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the subject “Nomination”. Please include the following information:

1. Your name, program/department, and phone number/email address.
2. Your nominee’s name, program/department, and phone number/email address.
3. The name, program/department, and phone number/email address of at least one other person who has agreed to serve as a reference on your nominee’s behalf.
4. A description of why you think your nominee should receive the OPIRG Positive Space Award, including some of the LGBTQ activities in which the person engages and how the person has demonstrated leadership in promoting the recognition and celebration of sexual and gender diversity.

Nominations are due by Friday, February 12th, 2010.

This is the second year that the OPIRG Positive Space Award will be presented. This year’s recipient will be announced at a Positive Space luncheon celebration on March 11th during Queen’s Pride Week.

For more information, visit http://www.queensu.ca/positivespace.htm