Notes from the London Council of Canadians potluck on October 21, 2015 (including a letter to Justin re Protecting the Thames)

London Council of Canadians supporters collect water from the Thames River at the Forks.

Twenty two members celebrated the end of the Stephen Harper era at our October 21 potluck meeting held at the Mary Campbell Common Room. The room has a fresh coat of green paint and all chairs are new! It is a beautiful place to meet and we are indebted to Kathy Kaill for reserving it for us to use. Conversation was intense, and about the election of course. Thank you all for bringing such wonderful food to share. 

After we finished eating, the subject for discussion was “Where do we go from here?” Suggestions considered came from 350.org, the Council of Canadians, and the Green Party as well as others with proportional representation appearing at the top of most people’s lists.

 http://campaign2015.fairvote.ca 

Rod Morley volunteered to head up a group which would collect a bottle of Thames River water to deliver to Justin Trudeau on Nov. 7 as part of a “Climate Welcome” gift. 

http://climatewelcome.ca/water 

Rod wrote, and Meg edited, a letter (see below) from our chapter to Prime Minister Trudeau asking him to protect our river from toxic oil spills. Dimitri Lascaris agreed to accept the bottle of water and deliver it and our letter personally when he goes to Ottawa. 

We had a guest, Jim Joyce, formerly from London, who plans to relocate here from Yellowknife and wants to become active with our chapter. In Yellowknife they are opposing fracking. Jim serves as Treasurer for the Yellowknife chapter. 

Upcoming events: 

 1) The next monthly event will be our annual AGM, November 18, with our business meeting at 6:30 pm and our potluck at 7:30. It will be at the Mary Campbell Co-op common room. 

 2) Climate Rally in solidarity with the Paris Climate Conference - Victoria Park - Nov. 29 - 1 - 4pm 

 3) “This Changes Everything” a film by Avi Lewis and Naomi Kline, will have its London debut on Dec. 7 as part of our Cinema Politica program of monthly documentaries. Venue and details will follow. 

Roberta Cory, Chair 
London Chapter, Council of Canadians 

----------------------------------------- 

October 26, 2015 

Dear Justin, 

We, the Council of Canadians London Chapter, are writing to you today and sending along a water sample from the former Heritage River known as the Antler/Thames River from Southwestern Ontario. We are providing this gift to you to remind you of your pledge to safeguard Canada’s bodies of water. 

We in Southwestern Ontario are deeply concerned about the possible environmental damage that could occur to Antler/Thames River should the Line 9 pipeline rupture where it crosses this once protected waterway. The Line 9 pipeline is over forty years old and was never purposed to transport the heavy and toxic diluted bitumen that it is now authorized to carry. 

Many of us in Southwestern Ontario do not want to see the repeat of tragedy that occurred near Kalamazoo Michigan just over five years ago when the Line 6B pipeline ruptured, spilling diluted bitumen into the Kalamazoo River. The Line 9 pipeline was built at the same time, and was built with the same materials and safeguards as Line 6B. We wouldn’t want to see the same devastating result here in Canada, and would hold your two new London MPs responsible should they not heed our warnings and work to stop this accident waiting to happen. It isn't a matter of if it happens – it's when.  

The good people of Southwestern Ontario would love to open up a dialogue with a representative of your government to see if we could come up with alternatives to seeing the start of diluted bitumen – dilbit - being transported through this pipeline. We would love to see if we could come up with new ways to power Canada’s prosperity, without destroying the environmental treasure that is Southwestern Ontario. 

Yours in hope,

Council of Canadians London Chapter http://www.londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/

Annual General Meeting AND GREEN HOLIDAYS PARTY! Fri. Nov. 28

There is parking available at Catholic Central High School, kitty corner to the AGM site.

Proposed changes to by-laws:
http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/ProposedBylaws.pdf

Current Steering Committee:

     Chair:                          Roberta Cory 

     Secretary:                   Aldous Smith 

     Treasurer:                   Masoud Karimi 

     Media:                         David Heap 

     Membership:               Geoff Crealock 

     Website/Social Media: Robert Cory


Minutes of 2013 AGM:
http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/MinutesAGM2013.pdf

Upcoming Events

It is going to be busy season for events and meetings, both for Council events and events that many of our members that are active in. I will provide you with only of the many events that I know of that are coming. I will be quite willing to create many more updates for our members if anyone has an event they would like promoted. The first one starts later today:

September 24th @ 1:00PM Victoria Park Bandshell: London Rally for support of Tarek Loubani and John Greyson. There is a concurring rally happening in Montreal as well. There are also transportation provided for people providing they can get to University Hospital on Perth Drive and or Victoria Hospital, in front of the B Tower on Base Line Rd. E. by 12:30PM. For more details, check on Facebook or do a web search.

September 25th @ 7:00PM Vitali Student Lounge, Kings University College 266 Epworth Ave: A video and a discussion with its director on Why Professors Can't Tell You The Truth About 9/11. Should make for thought provoking insights into the world. Free admission and free parking. For more information contact Ed Corrigan 519 439-4015 

September 27th @ 11:00 AM 148 Fullarton Street: Tell Fortune Minerals: Get Out of the Sacred Headwaters. Fortune Minerals is a London based resource company that is planning to remove a mountain top in B.C. to exploit the coal reserves there. The B.C. Government did not work with the Tahltan Nation, where this mountain resides. Any mining there has the potential of destroying three rivers and the way of life of the Tahltan Nation. This is not how we want London Companies to do business. 148 Fullarton St. is the head office of Fortune Minerals. 

September 28th @ 10:00 AM Queens Park ( Western Fair Grounds behind the Western Fair Market ): The Local Organized Organic Knowledge or L.O.O.K. Fest. An all day event providing you with new knowledge and just plain good feelings. For details, check Facebook or contact Jennifer Chestnut. 

After the L.O.O.K. Fest, a nice drive might be in order for : September 28th @7:00PM Bayfield Town Hall: Our own Maude Barlow will be speaking. The topic will be The Great Lakes will need Great Friends. This is the same topic that Maude spoke about last year in London but I am sure that there will be new material covered including some discussion of her new book Blue Future and she will be signing copies of her other books Blue Covenant and Blue Gold. Admission $25.00. If there is enough interest we might be able to arrange some car pooling. Contact me at 519 872-0008 or rmorley1@sympatico.ca to see what we can do. 

October 8th @ 7:00PM General Room Tolpuddle CO-OP 380 Adelaide St. N. ( across from the London Police Station ): The London Chapter of the Council of Canadian's first monthly meeting. This is still very much an open meeting with discussions of past and future events. If any member would like to discuss a certain issue or promote an event from one of their other groups, contact me at 519 872-0008 or rmorley1@sympatico.ca to have your information added to the agenda. More information about our AGM in November will be discussed as well. 

November 5th @ 5:00PM Victoria Park: Million Mask March. People from around the world are gathering that day ( Guy Fawkes Day) to remind the world what it has forgotten. That fairness, justice and freedom are more than just words. People are gathering at 5:00PM and a march is happening at 6:00PM. Anonymous masks will be provided for those who attend. This is not a protest because you are not allowed to cover your face anymore in Canada if you are protesting. Search for Million Mask March- London Ontario on Facebook for more information. 

November 15th @ 9:00AM More information to follow. The CoC has been asked to take part in the OPSEU youth day discussing Water is a Human Right. We will be talking for 45mins to a an hour about water issues. I will add more details about this event shortly but I would welcome assistance from some of our more passionate members about water to assist me in preparing our discussion and in having a table for information about water and our initiatives contact me at 519 872-0008 or rmorley1@sympatico.ca 

November 25th @ 7:00PM ( Tentative date): The London Chapter's Annual General Meeting. More details to come very soon about this night. Elections for the Chapter's executives will occur that night. Please see our bylaws (next blog post) for more information and duties of each position. 

That is all for now but more information will be coming soon about the future dates. If you have an event that you would like to promote to the Chapter's members, please feel free to contact me. I still want top hear from members on ways that we can improve the Chapter. This is your Chapter. Help me to help all of us in making this a more relevant force across the region. 

Sincerely 

Rod Morley, Facilitator

Proposed Amended By-laws for London Chapter to be Voted on at November AGM

Proposed amended bylaws for the London Chapter of the Council of Canadians are now available online. Those who attend our AGM here in London in November will have a chance to vote on them. Amendments are shown in red.

http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/ProposedAmendedBylaws2013.pdf

The current bylaws can be found here:

http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/Bylaws.pdf

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

London Chapter Council of Canadians
London, Ontario, Canada
Date: Monday, November 12, 2012
Place: Lamplighter Best Western, 591 Wellington Road South 
Time: 5:00 PM registration & verification of member credentials
5:30 PM AGM
6:30 PM Reception
7:00PM Dinner

8:00PM Speaker is Briana Blencowe “Human Trafficking”
Followed by a Question and Answer Period
9:30PM Adjourn

Agenda:
http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/LondonChapterAGMAgenda2012.pdf

(NOTE: "Verification of member credentials" refers to VERBAL verification that you are a member. You may have to sign a sheet stating that you are a member, but you will not show any card or any other piece of paper.)

Poster:

http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/LondonChapterAGMposter2012.pdf

Human Trafficking Speaker Nov 12

For Immediate Release
October 30, 2012
Human Trafficking
Right here in London Ontario

November 12, 8 pm, come learn more from Briana Blencowe and her associate, a victim of the crime, when the London Chapter of the Council of Canadians present “Human Trafficking”.

As Briana explains, “I was thrilled when asked to speak at the London Council of Canadians Chapter Annual General meeting as their views for Canadian independence; promotion of policies on fair trade and action for justice is something I support. The fact that Council of Canadians attempts to place social issues in the spotlight is just what is needed when it comes to the problem of Human Trafficking in Canada.”

Human trafficking effects upwards of 25 million and is viewed as an international problem, still it lives right here in London Ontario. The United Nations reported in 2006 that an estimated global annual profit of 3.1billions dollars US making human trafficking the second most profitable organized crime.

Join us on November 12 at the Lamplighter Inn to learn more about this seemingly invisible crime right before our very eyes.

You are invited to join us for any or all portions of the evening. Please RSVP to Louise Hollingsworth (519) 679-0765. Tickets are also available at the East Village Coffeehouse, 785 Dundas St. Dinner tickets include a complimentary copy of Maude Barlow’s book "The Great Lakes Commons".

London Chapter of the Council of Canadians Annual General Meeting
Lamplighter Best Western, 591 Wellington Road
Monday November 12, 2012

5:30 pm ►Meeting
7 pm ►Dinner and Speaker— $40 includes book
8 pm ►Speaker only—free will donation

For more information on the Council of Canadians you can visit their website at: http://www.canadians.org/

For more information on the event contact Louise Hollingsworth 519-679-0765
Council of Canadians, London Chapter

London Chapter AGM November 14, 2011

Poster: click here.
Monday November 14, 5:00pm London Chapter AGM
Lamplighter Best Western – 591 Wellington Road (519) 7151
Glen Pearson – Executive Director London Food Bank
Keynote presenter talking on poverty in London & Canada
PLUS: Why we need the Council of Canadians as a voice for all.
... London Chapter AGM – 4:30pm registration, 5:00pm AGM
Members must register to vote
Reception & Dinner: $40 per person
Speaker Event only: $10 per person or as you can donation
Please Contact Events Director to register in advance for all events:
Louise Hollingsworth (519) 679-0795 louhollingsworth@yahoo.ca

Glen Pearson to Speak at Our AGM in November!

http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/GlenPearsonAGMNov142011Poster.pdf