For all of their concerns about Rob Ford and his approach to governance, many on the progressive side of Toronto do credit the mayor with one thing: he’s sparked a wave of activism and community engagement this city hasn’t seen in years. Helping to lead the charge against some of Ford’s more headline-grabbing plans last [...]

WHERE: Yonge and Dundas WHEN: Saturday, 3:24 p.m. WHAT: “We have to say enough is enough in Congo.” Drumming, chanting, and dancing protesters shut down Yonge and Dundas at 3 p.m. today. At press time the group of about 200 protesters was south on Yonge with a large police escort including bike and mounted officers. [...]

Dave Vasey is what one might call a seasoned protester; he was arrested twice during the G20 protests (“I was the G20 fence guy,” he explains with a low chuckle), and had been camping at the Occupy Toronto protest site at St. James Park from the camp’s mid-October setup until last week’s eviction. While the [...]

Despite fears that police would move aggressively against the Occupy Toronto camp in St. James Park, today’s early morning move by officers to begin clearing out the tents has been markedly slow, measured, and calm. “The most polite assertion of fascism I’ve ever seen,” cracked one protester—and indeed officers have been saying “please” a lot [...]

5:03 PM: City statement about today’s events, issued at 4:45 p.m.: Just before 7 this morning, City staff entered St. James Park supported by the Toronto Police Service, who asked that protesters cooperate peacefully and remove all tents and structures. They were also asked to refrain from gathering in the park overnight from 12:01 a.m. [...]

Yesterday was full of fraught moments for Occupy Toronto, beginning at 9 a.m. when Ontario Superior Court Justice David Brown released his decision on the camp, finding that the City of Toronto could proceed with removing the camp if it chose. The mayor gave a press conference, as did church officials, and bylaw officers paid [...]

“The Occupiers are the immediate menace, never mind what they denounce. Not only should they be obliged to dismantle the tents, yurts, barbecues and portable bathrooms they’ve set up in a Toronto park, and leave between the hours of midnight and 5:30, as ordered by a judge—they should be told to get out altogether.” —But [...]

In a decision delivered a few minutes ago, Ontario Superior Court Justice David Brown has ruled that the eviction notice the City of Toronto issued last week is valid, and will stand. In other words: the City is within its rights to enforce the eviction, and if they do so Occupy Toronto must leave the [...]

WHERE: St. James Park, Nathan Phillips Square, and points in between WHEN: Saturday, 2–5 p.m. WHAT: After a roller-coaster week in which Occupy Toronto received an eviction notice, then a temporary injunction to halt that eviction, and finally went to court to fight for a permanent stay of that eviction, approximately 1,500 protesters rallied to [...]

Dear old Auntie Nuke would have been busy in 1980. Public concern about the nuclear industry was heightened by the accident at Three Mile Island a year earlier. This, we suspect, would in turn have increased support for Greenpeace and other anti-nuclear groups campaigning against Ontario Hydro’s plan to build four reactors near Bowmanville. As [...]

Tuesday was a busy night for social justice in the city. Ryerson was hosting a discussion as part of their Social Justice Week. Over at Church of the Redeemer there was a panel discussion of Bill C-10, the federal government’s omnibus “tough on crime” bill. Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis were out for Michele Landsberg’s [...]

As would-be occupiers camp out in Toronto’s St. James Park—part of a worldwide movement to protest, among other things, the growing income disparity between rich and poor—last night the Hart House library received a visit by someone who could be considered an innovator in the realm of protesting by staying put. Julia “Butterfly” Hill, who [...]