Tag: Toronto

Keep your Rent, Help Each Other: Roundup of rent refusal and mutual aid organizing

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Across Ontario, many tenants across the region will withhold rent from their landlord. Even though we are constantly told we are all in this together, the social impact of the virus will be hugely uneven and intensify existing inequalities. Whether tenants still have the means to pay this month or not, this movement shows solidarity with those who can’t and recognizes that few people can last long without the income they’re counting on.

Alongside this, people across the region have organized to help out their neighbours autonomously.. We are highlighting mutual aid projects that try to go beyond a social media page to build lasting independent strength in their neighbourhoods. Read More …

Solidarity Ghost Blockades in GTA

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On Wednesday March 11, hours before the student walkout for Wet’suwet’en, fellow supporters continued to disrupt the Canadian economy by holding “Ghost Blockades” at the time of the morning commute. Activists in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en and other Indigenous Land Defenders have planted harmless signals on train tracks in various parts of the GTA, forcing rail traffic to halt while officials investigate. Trains were stopped, but this time there were no visible activists on the tracks for the police to arrest and intimidate. As police forces escalate their responses to peaceful demonstrations on rails, land defenders and allies are finding ways to send their message without risking police aggression. Railway police and other workers will need to investigate each blockade to deem the tracks safe for further traffic. In the mean time, the message is clear: RCMP and CGL must leave Wet’suwet’en territory. Read More …

Three Railway Sabotage Actions Targeting Milton Junction in Solidarity with Land Defenders

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It seems worth sharing that we have managed to shut down, (if only for a few to several hours), different rail lines in Southern Ontario using the ol’ copper wire technique. We did this three separate times targeting a junction in Milton, on lines that connect Kitchener-Waterloo to Toronto and Burlington. Using paper maps to follow where lines go, we had fun finding places to act with most impact. We learned more about how this was done following some of the other informative and inspiring posts here on North Shore. Read More …

Report on Shutdown of Canada’s Second-Largest Rail Yard

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On Saturday February 15 about 400 people showed up in Vaughn, ON to blockade the tracks in and out of MacMillan Yard – Canada’s second-largest rail yard – for 7 hours. This action was just one amongst a wave of solidarity actions in response to Canada’s invasion and violence towards the Wet’suwet’en people on behalf of private industry.

Around 10am 50 trusted folks converged in a parking lot nearby. As the first wave of people to blockade the tracks, they made a phone call to CN rail and had crews 1.5kms east and west to put red flagging on the tracks. Red flags are a univeral indicator for rail crews to stop. After calls and flags were confirmed, folks cut through fencing and threw down large woodens boards so people could easily cross deep ditches filled with icy water and made their way past a (previously) stored train onto the rails. This first wave of people effectively shut down traffic on CN lines headed west out of Macmillan to Kitchener, London, Hamilton, New York and Michigan. Read More …

We won’t stop: Toronto solidarity rail action

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Moved by the momentum of rail blockades and actions across the country, we set out last night to stop some trains. Toronto has seen a couple of well-attended and inspiring one-day blockades over the past week. Sustaining the numbers and energy for these kinds of blockades can be hard, and we want to experiment with ways to keep pressure on the rail system without expending that energy constantly. Luckily, there are many ways to disrupt the rails – see previous callouts! Read More …

#ShutDownCanada: Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Actions Continue Into Weekend

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Following RCMP raids on Wet’suwet’en Territory this week, indigenous people, land defenders and accomplices have been taking up the call to Shut Down Canada with ongoing actions across the country targeting urban centres, highways, ports and railways. Here is an update on some actions across southern Ontario thus far and some notes on what’s to come. Something incomplete or missing? Send us a reportback! Read More …

From Embers: New Content in January 2020

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From Embers is a regular anarchist podcast produced in Kingston, Ontario. We produce a few episodes each month about actions and projects going on in so-called Canada that inspire us, or about topics that we think will be relevant to anarchists living north of the border. We are a proud member of the Channel Zero Anarchist Podcast Network.

After a break in December, we hit the ground running in 2020 and published four episodes in January. Read More …

Toronto: Explorations in rail disruption in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en

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This weekend in Toronto, inspired by the actions of Wet’suwet’en land defenders and a recent callout for rail disruptions, some anarchists took to the rails to add our contribution to the building momentum of demonstrations, blockades, and acts of sabotage taking place across Turtle Island.

We debated writing this because, due to a lack of experience and the location we picked, we really couldn’t be sure that our attempt at sabotage succeeded. Ultimately, we wanted to share our message of solidarity and commitment to this struggle, and our own reflections and knowledge gained in this first attempt. Read More …

Toronto: Hannah Beats Eviction (Round One)!

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Yesterday Hannah beat the eviction! The Landlord and Tenant Board dismissed the eviction because the landlord failed to pay compensation to the tenant before the eviction date.

At the hearing landlord Patrick Anderson was clearly shaken up and feeling the pressure from yesterday’s phone and email zap. We intend to escalate action against Anderson in the likely event he tries to evict Hannah again. Read More …

Tkaronto Solidarity Actions with Wet’suwet’en

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On the one-year anniversary of Canada’s armed invasion of Wet’suwet’en territories, and in response to a call for solidarity with Wet’suwet’en people currently facing threat of another attack, a number of actions were taken in Tkaronto.

This report does not intend to claim responsibility for any of the actions and may not have covered everything. We merely hope to summarize actions we are aware of and state clearly that supporters here have their eyes on Wet’suwet’en and are ready to act. Read More …