Five years after public health insurance was rescinded from international students in Manitoba, and in the aftermath of the most volatile years of the COVID-19 pandemic, this report brings together testimonials shared by international students across a variety of venues to highlight the ongoing challenges they face with respect to healthcare access and the active ways inwhich students themselves have engaged in advocacy around this issue.
Human rights
The Convoy that took over Ottawa for a month last year just met outside Winnipeg this past weekend. While the right to protest is an essential part of our democracy, it is important to look critically at this movement that has harboured white supremacist, libertarian and in some cases even fascist beliefs. These ideas have originated most recently in the USA, but have a long and odious history elsewhere in the world.
Manitoba’s the Disability Support Act establishes a framework for providing financial assistance outside the Employment and Income Assistance (EIA) system to persons with prolonged and severe disabilities. This fall, the government is considering draft regulations for the new program.
Issue highlights:
The pandemic has once again exposed how unsustainable and inequitable the current food system is. In April of 2020, for example, while millions of Canadians faced financial insecurity and food insecurity, the Dairy Farmers of Ontario—the provincial organization that sets milk production quotas—began ordering farmers to dump their "surplus" milk. News agencies across North America reported the surpluses of dairy, eggs and produce caused by the closures of hotels and restaurants being dumped, crushed and otherwise destroyed.
"It is certainly driven by young people,” Martin O’Hanlon, the president of CWA Canada told Kevin Philipupillai for his feature article on the Alphabet Workers' Union. “The new generation that are coming up have a different sense of what’s right, and they’re more sensitive to the fact that if their coworkers aren’t being respected for their diversity and their differences, that they’ve got to stand up and fight for that.”
This letter was sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on March 10, 2021.
Dear Prime Minister,
OTTAWA – As governments around the world prepare for World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings on intellectual property rights March 10-11, civil society groups are urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to support a landmark waiver that would help boost global access to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and PPE.
VANCOUVER — The 150th anniversary of British Columbia joining Canada arrives at a time when people and institutions are being asked to reckon with the foundational impacts of racism in our society. Challenging Racist British Columbia: 150 Years and Counting, is a new publication examining the long history of racist policies that have impacted Indigenous, Black and racialized communities in the province over those 150 years, tying those histories to present day anti-racist movements.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Trade Justice Network host a conversation with global experts on the Indian and South African governments' proposal at the WTO for a waiver from certain intellectual property rights in the TRIPS agreement so that countries can confidently and affordably respond to the COVID-19 emergency. Special attention is paid to Canada's opposition to the TRIPS waiver, shared by the U.S., EU and other rich countries, which is debunked by webinar participants.
Speakers include: