Ottawa-Outaouais GMB

This is the news page for our Ottowa-Outaouais General Membership Branch. To get an overview about our contact info, news and events, please visit our home page.

OFFICIAL NOTICE: K.C.C.S raided by police

Posted Mon, 06/27/2011 - 10:14pm by x344543

The Kingston Compassion Club Society was shut down by the Kingston Police on Sunday June 19th. They seized the location and product without a warrant. The Kingston Police served a search warrant for the K.C.C.S on Tuesday June 21st, for our computer system and records and patient files.     This was brought on by a former worker of the K.C.C.S, who made false allegations to the police, at the police station, about the K.C.C.S, on Sunday June 19th.
 
Currently all workers of the K.C.C.S face charges of trafficking. The members of the K.C.C.S, who all have a legal need and doctor supervised use of cannabis therapy, are now forced back to street  dealers until the K.C.C.S re-opens. Their Section 7 Rights have been violated. Our landlords still support the K.C.C.S and its purpose, as do  all of our local community agencies allies.

Our union, the Industrial Workers of the World, has set up a K.C.C.S Legal Defense Fund. we are accepting donations via Interact E-Transfer. Please send to:

iww [at] kingstoncompassion.org

If you wish to send a emails of support to K.C.C.S, please email - iww [at] kingstoncompassion.org

Ottawa Busker Appeals Conviction

Posted Sun, 10/10/2010 - 12:31pm by x344543

When the City of Ottawa installed speakers and started broadcasting muzak in busker Raymond Loomer's favourite underpass, he cut the speaker wires one day in May 2009. He then taped the wire on the door of the office door of the Downtown Rideau Business Improvement Area, a business lobby group that has waged a campaign to remove street people and performers from the city centre.

As a tin flute player, he was one of several buskers who relied on the unique acoustics of the downtown Ottawa underpass near the Rideau Centre shopping centre to make a living. Loomer is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He did not take kindly to having his live music replaced by a machine.

"They were playing music to interfere with our industry," he said.

City police arrested Loomer and charged him with two counts of mischief under $5,000. He was convicted on May 25, 2010 with a sentence of 12 months probation and 20 hours community service. Loomer represented himself and has appealed, saying the city failed to provide bylaw information he could have used in his defense and that he has rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to make a living and freedom of expression. He objected to the community service as "the slave style practices of government" for appropriating his labour power.

Loomer's appeal will be heard on November 12, 2010 at the city courthouse.

Ottawa had introduced restrictive bylaws requiring street performers to get a license and perform in designated spots chosen by the city. Ontario's Safe Streets Act, brought in to target squeegee kids, buskers and other street people making a living on the province's streets, has set the stage for tighter controls on informal workers.

For more information, visit www.ottawaiww.org

Panhandlers Claim Victory

Posted Thu, 02/04/2010 - 5:49pm by x344543

Originally posted here

Andrew Nellis of the Ottawa Pandhandlers Union said the group has reached a settlement after filing a $1-million lawsuit against the city last year.

The lawsuit accused the city of violating panhandlers' constitutional rights by putting up a fence at the underpass across from Chateau Laurier. Nellis ended up being charged after he snipped a lock off the fence.

On Tuesday, Nellis said the panhandlers and city reached a deal but an agreement on confidentiality prevented him from going into details. Sounded like the settlement might involve allowing the panhandlers to use some property for a street art gallery.

Nellis is claiming victory.

"It won't be the first victory we have, either," he said.

In the same breath, Nellis said the panhandlers group plans to sue the city again if an updated nuisance bylaw comes into force for roads and sidewalks. The bylaw passed the transportation committee meeting Wednesday.

 

GDC Local 6 Rallies for Professor Rancourt's Reinstatement

Posted Mon, 04/13/2009 - 10:58pm by x348328

The University of Ottawa fired Denis Rancourt, a physics professor, renowned researcher, and IWW member on March 31, 2009, while he was speaking at an academic freedom conference in New York City.

The university sought to dismiss him on the basis that he had awarded high grades to a graduate level physics class, which Rancourt says he did in order to remove competition and performance as they are obstacles to learning. The university claimed that Rancourt’s marking damaged the institution’s credibility as an academic institution.

Rancourt has said that the university’s board fired him before an April 1 deadline to submit a legal brief in his defense and that it ignored his submission of his students’ exams as proof that he was evaluating students properly. The university disregarded the union’s collective agreement and the grievance procedure by firing Rancourt without allowing him due process in his defense.

The Association of Professors (APUO), a registered trade union that represents university faculty, has announced it will launch an inquiry and it will likely appeal the firing in court.

IWW Defense Committee Rallies to Defense of Dissident Professor Denis Rancourt

Posted Tue, 03/31/2009 - 9:03pm by x348328

The University of Ottawa in Canada is planning to fire Denis Rancourt, physics professor, IWW member, and renowned researcher, today, March 31, 2009 .

The university claims it is firing Denis because he announced that all of his students would get A+ grades on the first day of the physics class so that they could get on with learning, rather than compete and perform for grades. The university claims this educational approach damages its reputation and credibility as well as that of its students. In short, grades equal credibility.

The IWW General Defense Committee Local 6 (GDC Local 6) rejects this pretext as an exaggeration that does not justify the university’s repressive approach, which is a threat against academic freedom and education workers’ rights.

More information about Denis’ case is online at the Academic Freedom and Governance at the University of Ottawa weblog http://www.academicfreedom.ca/