Announcement

A Requiem for Black Lives.

In Search of Rainbows or Fix the Goddamn Systems Already!

OCASI invites you to the May 2020 OCASI Virtual Town Hall Meetings for frontline staff at OCASI member agencies.

These sessions are organized in response to popular demand from the virtual townhall meetings OCASI organized in April 2020.

The meetings are hosted by Debbie Douglas, Executive Director of OCASI.

They will feature Shalini Konanur, Executive Director of South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (May 12) and Avvy Go, Clinic Director of Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic (May 15) as content experts to answer questions from participants.

Debbie Douglas’ April blog is her inaugural vlog (video blog)! She sends a shout-out to OCASI member agencies across the province, and calls for real structural and systemic change.

On the same day that the provincial budget watchdog reported that the province had underspent by $2B, three quarters into the fiscal year, the Attorney General informed Ontario’s network of sexual assault centres that the $1M in additional funding they received this fiscal year would not be coming for the 2020 fiscal year.

Novel Coronavirus/COVID-19

The novel coronavirus outbreak - now named as COVID-19 - has us all worried for our own health and the health and safety of our loved ones.

We are not there yet. Not yet Uhuru. Uhuru meaning freedom. We see it every day with our children in school. The trials and tribulations that they go through. We are not there yet. My work is for that. My work is for us to reach that promised land”.

On the first day of January as I waited for glimpses of a dawning day through a south facing window, I was struck by feelings of anticipation that I was having that is highly unusual for me at the start of a new year. In the past it was more about remembering to change the year when writing the date and otherwise it was just another day, albeit without the hangovers of my younger years.

As we wind down the year, it is time to take a step back and reflect on what has been accomplished, what positive change or impact we have had, and how we will appreciate our accomplishments through self-care and organizational care. We do not do enough of this as advocates and practitioners in the public benefit sector. This is as good a time as any to start.

During this time of year, I remember and hold space for all those who are affected by war and political upheaval and persecution. Today I remember the peoples of the global south from South Sudan to Congo. From Bolivia to Haiti. From Hong Kong to West Papua. And I also remember the people here in Canada – First Peoples fighting for clean drinking water and to maintain their rights as keepers of these lands. My thoughts today as I write this are with Human Rights Defenders all over the globe.