Results tagged “humanrights”

Can a commercial printer invoke religion in order to refuse services?

2009 kicked off with promise in the air, a tonic sense of the future around which Western civilization warmed itself. Despite a snowballing economic catastrophe unseen since the 1930s, the world staggered onward, still high from the incredible euphoria of Barack Obama's ascendancy to the presidency. With the expiration of the Bush Era inevitable, we all held our breath, collectively waiting to exhale.

Photo by roland.

In this occasional feature, two Torontoist staffers face off to debate an issue that is important to our city. We invite our readers to join in the debate in the comments section after the post.

At this time last year, BBC journalist Alan Johnston was being held hostage. For the three years before he was kidnapped by a Palestinian jihadist organization called the Army of Islam, Johnston was the last foreign correspondent brave enough to live and work in the volatile Gaza Strip. He spent four months as a hostage, from March 12 until his release 114 days later on July 4.

China vows to continue the international Olympic torch relay despite lots of protests. The International Olympic Committee suggested that they might do away with the international route in upcoming games, because from now on, all Olympic games will be held in authoritarian dictatorships and they "don't want to look bad" when they award the next few Games to Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan, and the Equatorial Republic of Hate-Land. (The President-For-Eternity of Hate-Land responded by saying, "ooooooh, I hate the International Olympic Committee! And I hate you!")

Hello! Although you probably didn’t notice, this Torontoist writer was away for a week, and as a result we failed to do something very important. Specifically, to congratulate Norm Wilner on becoming NOW’s senior film critic. We're not doing this just because we know Wilner keeps an eye on Torontoist to see if he gets a mention, but because we like his work so much that we can’t think of anyone better to step into John Harkness’s (non-literal) shoes.

TTC promises more buses, new routes, candy. Okay, they're not promising candy, but over the next year there will be gradual extra service along all of the TTC's major routes to lessen the impact of crowding. In 2009: possibly we get candy.

The last time we looked at accessible pedestrian signals (APS), those chirping and cuckooing crossing indicators for the visually-impaired, it was with some surprise at the city's claim that it simply couldn't afford to install APS at more than a handful of intersections each year. Instead of allocating enough money to improve availability of a fairly basic service to visually-impaired residents, the city instead looked for corporate sponsors to pick up some of the considerable slack, resulting in pedestrian signals "funded by IBM" and other organizations dotting the city, a virtual declaration that the city was abdicating its responsibilities.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset.

Today at 2:00 a.m., University of Toronto law graduates received an email from their alma mater, stating that an "unprecedented announcement" would be made at 1:00 p.m. today and inviting them to join the law school "for this special moment" via webcast. Breathless even by U of T law standards, the email left alumni everywhere in suspense. Would it be the launch of a new global declaration on human rights? An announcement that justice had...

Just because you're being indulgent doesn't mean you have to ignore environmental, human rights, and health concerns. That's the philosophy of the Kakayo Chocolate Company, a fantastic new truffle shop that opened last week.

More than a week of protests in Toronto against the violence in Burma culminated last night with the Global March for the People of Burma. The demonstration began at 6:00 p.m. in front of the Chinese consulate on St. George Street before making its way to Queen's Park, where a vigil was led by monks from the city's Buddhist temples. According to the Toronto Star, hundreds heeded the call from Amnesty International and other human rights groups to rally in support of the monks in Burma, many of whom have been detained, murdered, or forced into hiding since the junta's crackdown began late last month.

Before all the fuss over Halo 3 there was the video game greatness of Pong. And before that, there was good ol' fashioned ping pong.

Tired of being bombarded with the bitter bits of business? Want to hear about commerce that strives for a sweet deal for everyone involved? On September 19, Alternative Grounds, one of Toronto's leading purveyors of liquid energy and social justice, will host an awesome event put on by Coburg-based human rights organization Horizons Of Friendship.

The CNE adds "you are here" stickers to its guide maps. No, really. Apparently this is a news story. And you thought journalism was hard and required a degree or something.

On August 22nd, Leonardo Zuniga held a press conference in the Council Chambers of City Hall, where representatives of community organizations including the Toronto Youth Cabinet, No One Is Illegal, and the Metropolitan Community Church urged Minister of Immigration Diane Finley to grant Leo refugee status in Canada, a decision that could potentially save his life.

Proving that New Democrats actually are allowed to have a sense of humour, former provincial cabinet minister and federal candidate Marilyn Churley commented on the dearth of women in the Ontario legislature by suggesting that there were not enough Janes and too many Dicks in provincial politics. You go, girl.

"A drawing of the Canadian Museum of Human Rights to be built at the forks of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in Winnipeg."

March 8th marks International Women's Day each year, though it's sadly not yet a national holiday in Canada, as it is in a few countries. But official holiday or not, there are still a tonne of events happening in Toronto to mark the occasion. Here are some of Torontoist's best bets for celebrating feminism this week:

This week our attention is almost completely owned by Cinematheque Ontario’s offerings, even with the thought of Christina Ricci chained to a radiator in Black Snake Moan grasping at us.

Although they have not yet replaced the members of Local 113 as the operators of our subways, soulless automatons have recently begun speaking on their behalf. If you've ridden on the Yonge-University-Spadina line more than once in the past month, you may have wondered whether your fate and that of one particular subway conductor have become intertwined, as you seem to board her train every single time. More likely, you've realized that the TTC has finally gotten around to fulfilling its obligation under the Ontario Human Rights Code, as determined by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO), to "provide reliable, consistent, audible subway station stop announcements."

Few things are more representative of the holiday season than the bell ringers and familiar red shield of the Salvation Army. Ever-present at malls, street corners and inside TTC property, the London-based organization collects cash for its Christian outreach services benefiting 30 million people in Canada and abroad. The Sally Ann is one of the world's largest, richest and most visible philanthropic agencies, recently providing significant relief for victims of Hurricane Rita and support for workers and families of September 11.

Happy December Torontoist readers!

Guardian columnist Timothy Garton Ash argues in his latest column that he wants Canada to join the European Union and that he came to this conclusion after seeing the multicultural and happy World Cup celebrations here in Toronto.

The Union Pearson Group, a consortium working with the city to reno Union Station, has backed out of the $150 million project. They argued they couldn't meet the city's deadline of May 31st. The city, like a strict university professor won't give any further extensions, citing numerous extensions already given.

The jury deliberating on the Lisa Posluns case was withheld some very gruesome evidence on the history of accused rapist/murderer Nelson DeJesus. The Star has the details here, and the Sun doesn't get left behind either.

The Globe and the Star both report that Michael "The Smartest Prime Minister We Could Have" Ignatieff will be leaving the ivy covered walls of Harvard for the uh, slightly less ivy covered walls of the University of Toronto.

Perhaps it's a bid to curry pre-election favour on the part of the Libs (like that $100 mil given to the Peg's Ayn Randish Human Rights museum a week ago), but the Federal gov is finally coughing up some needed funds for the city's condo strip that calls itself a waterfront. The combined twenty mil will mean a bit of revitalization for Cherry Beach, Leslie Street and Unwin Ave beautification projects. It will also mean that Puffin Premier Paul's latest funds have been delivered before his election promise of $125 million last year have. Oh the vagaries of bureaucracy.

We’ve discussed our concerns about the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Committee in earlier posts: the project’s liability to be stalemated by the presence of foot-dragging bureaucrats including the King of the Hall himself, Mayor Miller, whether the establishment of a ‘design steering committee’ is an unnecessary additional formality, etc.