Judy Haiven’s speech on the occasion of Sunday’s Solidarity Vigil for the victims of the terrorist attack in London, Ontario, that took away the lives of four Muslims and left a little boy severely injured and orphaned.
Judy Haiven: We are at the point that Jewish Canadians have to decide whether or not to be on the right side of history – the side that supports human and civil rights for Palestinians.
“What’s going on in the military,” Judy Haiven asks as we find out that there were 581 sexual assaults in the five years after the Canadian Armed Forces Operation Honour. That’s one assault every three days!
The good news is that the the Victoria Day weekend, is coming up. The bad news is, unless you are covered by a collective agreement at your workplace, you will not get the Monday off with pay. More bad news — if you do work that day, you earn only straight time: there is no holiday pay. Judy Haiven explains.
Halifax Police chief Dan Kinsella owes an apology to the pro-Palestine drivers and their passengers at the Free Palestine COVID Safe Car Rally which gathered at the Saint Mary’s University parking lots on Saturday. The thousands of dollars of tickets (fines of up to $2,000 per person) that police issued must be shredded. And the one man (at least) who was handcuffed and arrested has suffered humiliation, injury to his self-worth, and a profound violation to his personal freedom. He deserves much more than a “sorry”.
“Ten years ago, my family and I stood shoulder to shoulder with Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. We saw the Orthodox Jewish settlers invading the area and doing what they could to evict Palestinians from their homes.” Judy Haiven at yesterday’s webinar on the Nakba and the current attacks on Gaza.
Judy Haiven takes a close look at the human rights tribunal that found Halifax police discriminated against a Black man who was ticketed for jaywalking on Gottingen Street. “We cannot treat the police force in Halifax as though it has a few bad apples. We cannot assume that racism within the police — or any institution — is the exception,” she writes.
Knee on the neck, the move used to murder George Floyd, is a frequently used policing technique in Canada as well, writes Judy Haiven. In the first three months of 2021, RCMP officers used the knee-to-neck hold (officially) 26 times!
Across Canada 70% of workers have no paid sick leave. Judy Haiven points to the terrible mess in Ontario to make the case that it’s time for doctors to be seen to support paid sick days.
Supporters of Equity Watch rallied outside of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission to urge the Commission to do its job. You read that right – what the demonstrators demanded was that the Commission do its job. Judy Haiven explains.