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Mid-Week Round Up: November 5

November 5th, 2014     by Ronak Ghorbani     Comments

Illustration: Erin McPhee

TRIGGER WARNING: Part of this round-up deals with the unfolding story surrounding Jian Ghomeshi and sexual assault more broadly.

The United Nations has released a report outlining the risks of climate change and how it could “reverse generations of progress against poverty and hunger if greenhouse emissions continue at a runaway pace.”

As Bitch magazine reports, this season of the NBA we’ll find more women in positions of power from Spurs’ coach Becky Hammon in the midst of the action to Michele Roberts as head of the National Basketball Players Association.

This December 6 marks the 25 anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. Generation Action, a Montreal-based organization dedicated to putting an end to gun violence is hosting a poster competition for secondary and post-secondary students. While entries to the competition are now closed, you can vote for a poster here.

In the wake of CBC radio personality Jian Ghomeshi’s firing many articles with graphic details about alleged non-consensual violence on dates with Ghomeshi have circulated the web and been published in various national newspapers. The stories have launched a discussion about sexual assault, how it is reported in the media, and why many women do not report to police when they are assaulted. The Toronto Rape Crisis Centre Multi Cultural Women Against Rape has released a statement which highlights the importance of needing ongoing discussions and actions around sexual assault:

  • “We appreciate and support the majority of survivor positive mainstream media attention that these survivors are receiving right now. We work with survivors every day and even though their experiences aren’t as public they are just as traumatic to our community. We hope that the pressure the public is putting on our legal system does not fade with the headlines. Canada has a long history of sexual violence and we want the outrage Canadians feel right now to be extended to all survivors. Sexual violence has always existed. That fact alone demands that all of us challenge the systems that perpetuate it, whatever is being said in the media.” (Full statement can be found here).

Farrah Khan, a counsellor working on gender-based violence through art and education, spoke on CBC’s The National earlier this week about believing survivors of sexual assault and the need for institutions to become survivor-centric.

Health for All, a grassroots organization comprised of migrants, healthcare professionals, students, activists and allies fighting , and Income Security Advocacy Centre along with other advocacy groups have brought to light that the federal government has included a provision in their budget bill which would deny refugee claimants access to social assistance. Read more about it here.

Land defenders protecting Burnaby Mountain in Coast Salish territories in British Columbia have been served with a $5.6 million lawsuit by energy company Kinder Morgan. In 2013 Kinder Morgan applied for a Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to run between Strathcona Country near Edmonton, Alberta, and Burnaby, British Columbia. A GoFundMe has been set up to crowd source the land defenders’ legal costs.

In Shameless news, we are hiring a reviews editor (applications are due Friday November 14), our tech issue is on newsstands and Shameless’ 10th Anniversary Gala and Launch of the Shamie Awards is on November 14th. Tickets can be bought onlineor at the door.

And finally, Sesame Street turns 45 on November 10!

Tags: activist report, body politics, gender, news flash, recommended reading, sporting goods

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