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Photo credit: National Cancer Institute
On Sunday, June 6, 2021, this day marks the 34th annual National Cancer Survivors Day. People around the world will globally recognize cancer survivors while raising awareness of the continuing challenges that they have to face. Most importantly, they will celebrate their lives.
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Residents and activists gathered for the virtual town hall. Photo credit: Jane Finch Action Against Poverty
On Wednesday May 5, 2021, Jane Finch Action Against Poverty in conjunction with Black Creek Food Justice Network, Jane Finch Education Action Group and Jane Finch Housing Coalition hosted a virtual public event speaking out against various injustices they feel have been wrought against the community.
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Sign the petition against hybrid learning:
“School boards are using terms like the “Community Learning Model”, but the reality is that hybrid means there is one teacher for one class made up of online AND in-person students. It will not matter if your preference is that your child attend school in person or online - all students will be forced into some version of a virtual class and some version of an in-person environment.”
Flashback to early 2020 and the Ford government was staring down the gun barrel of teacher strikes all over Ontario. Unrest with parents was tangible and his public support in polls was sinking. At issue were class sizes and the quality of education. Then COVID-19 pandemic started, and those issues were put aside as students were sent home after the March break. A long, grinding year of on-and-off homeschooling started. Now, once again, education is creating controversy and parents and teachers are re-organizing.
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Jeremiah Ranger
November 20, 2015. You may remember that day because it was an eventful day in world news. Ten gunmen with grenades stormed a five-star Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, Mali. They took 170 hostages. 27 people were killed.
News on that day was less tragic back home in Toronto. On that day, the Toronto Christmas Market officially opened for the season in the Distillery District. For the first time, they would charge an admission fee on weekends to help reduce the size of the crowds.
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Photo of Toronto’s city line. Photo credit: @thruherlens_
Eager to get out into the world, Downsview is full of people in search of ways to reconnect with their personal source(s) of happiness, joy and catharsis. Prior to the whirlwind of the COVID-19 virus, having fun and going out was an aspect of life taken for granted. Each day the summer sun gets closer and closer, the anxiety of how to balance life and fun respective to safety guidelines rises with the temperature. Having a long weekend around the corner certainly does not help.
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A message of hope for Jane and Finch, carried by a child. Photo courtesy of Jane Finch Community and Family Centre Staff
When the WHO declared the COVID pandemic on March 13, 2020, the lives of billions of people were impacted. The lives of most Canadians changed forever, plunging many people into crisis. For some Canadians there has been a silver lining – no more hours spent commuting, deeper connections with family, increased savings, and for many white collar professionals, they saw their business revenues and salaries increase.
Yet for the residents of Jane and Finch, like those in Malvern, or Agincourt, or Brampton East, the COVID-19 pandemic has been the culmination of 40 years of crisis.
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Jeremiah Ranger, who tragically lost his life to gun violence.
The difficult cases are the ones that need us the most. Jeremiah Ranger was a difficult case. I remember reading these words at his funeral, written by his Child Youth Worker from Oakdale Park Middle School: “Jeremiah was adorable and shy. He had eyes that showed pain and hope at the same time…He was kind, loving, fragile, protective, and family oriented…Through his anxiety was a loving boy.” Most of those who knew him the best would say the same thing. He had a big heart and a big smile. But he also had a darker side. Jeremiah Ranger was a difficult case.
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A community design for the hub, made by the Community Action Planning Group (Photo credit: CAPG - York West Chapter)
The Jane and Finch community Hub and Centre for the Arts, a dream of so many in this community has just taken one important step closer to becoming a reality. On Monday April 26, the City of Toronto’s Government and Licensing Committee ratified a report ensuring that the city of Toronto will take possession of a parcel of land on Finch and Norfinch drive where the Jane and Finch Community Hub and Center for the Arts will be built.
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People line up at 15 Tobermory for a vaccination pop-up clinic organized by local groups like Black Creek Community Health Centre. (Photo credit: Matias de Dovitiis)
Earthquakes are beyond human control and so are hurricanes - but the third COVID-19 wave was not that. A series of self-inflicted choices caused the third wave of COVID-19 cases in Ontario. Ontario’s government opened in-person classes too soon and did not consider paid sick leave until it was too late for many. Doctors lined up to warn us in February that a wall of sick patients would hit us in ICUs if we did that, and the government chose not to listen.
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Alieka Charley has five kids and is trying to work out how to get ready for e-learning starting Monday. (Photo credit: Janelle Brady)
Only a few days before the March break, which is actually happening in April this year, the Minister of Education was saying schools were safe, only to find out a few hours later that Public Health officials at the City level were pulling the plug on schools because they were indeed not safe. Now, all schools are closed for in person learning indefinitely and we do not know if there will be in person classes again this school year.
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