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Roxham Road and the Canadian unconscious – Canadian Dimension
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Rima Berns-McGown
@beyrima
writer, intuitive, fighter of isms and schisms. curating healing conversations. 
Tkaronto/Mi’kma’kiJoined January 2018
Rima Berns-McGown’s Tweets
IJV Canada statement on 's stunning victory in #HamiltonCentre last night. Try as they may, no one will silence our movement for Palestinian freedom and racial justice. Onwards! #onpoli
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. trounced this election, despite the concerted smear campaign & / ’s uncritical take on it
Pls stop conflating an increasingly problematic nation-state with the community & recognize the state lobby as just that
Shabbat shalom, everyone 💜
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Congratulations, ! So proud of you. You are going to be a brilliant MPP, bringing honesty & integrity with you every day at QP. I know you’ll shine a light on a bold way forward, with love & light always. You are the future 💜💫
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Hey #HamOnt #HamiltonCentre, get out there & vote!
is one of the most inspiring, honest, caring, trustworthy, loyal, welcoming, people I have ever met. Also, the most compassionate, rise above, community organizers I have ever known->By a long shot.
Go get it Jama!
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With encouragement from my students, I want note that our CRT course is in solidarity with & Palestine. As we read in class, "coalition-building is the ability to see the connection between multiple kinds of struggle" (Jama 188). She does that coalition work well🔥
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B'nai Brith attacked because she supports #BDS.
All 3 demands of BDS (end the occupation, equality inside Israel, and justice for the Palestinian refugees) are existing 🇨🇦 govt policy.
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There are so many Jews who support Sarah Jama. I am also one of them. But the media doesn’t talk to us. Instead they repeat baseless accusations from right wing voices attached to undemocratic legacy organizations that do not accurately represent our communities.
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Proud Jews supporting @SarahJama_ . I’m honoured to be one of them 
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The smears of and the way they are being parroted by are shameful. One day this will be a case study in journalism school on how not to do journalism
Sarah will prevail and she will be an extraordinary, powerful, integrity-filled MPP 💜💜
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look how they're coming for our sis when they know exactly wtf she's talking about
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I will not repost that article, but the headline put in print the word "charges", implying a hate crime or many where there are factually none at all-misinfo to impact an election. The must respond to this, not to mention every journalist there & beyond who agrees.
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Join us for a conversation about the dangers of police involvement in mental health crises, and what community safety can look like without police.
Speakers: Desmond Cole, Jane Finch Action Against Poverty (JFAAP), and The Family of Taresh Bobby Ramroop
tinyurl.com/carenotcops2023
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Ontario Jewish Support for Sarah Jama
We are members of the Jewish community in Ontario.
We wholeheartedly, unreservedly support Sarah Jama in the upcoming Ontario provincial bi-election for Member of Provincial Parliament for Hamilton Centre.
#ONpoli @SarahJama_
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Omg enough already. The NDP nominating a candidate in 2022 who named a street after a Nazi was 100% antisemitism, but for to be critical of the state, as are so many Jews, is completely legitimate
Learn to distinguish Israel lobbyism from antisemitism, please
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NEW: @bnaibrithcanada calls on Ontario NDP to drop candidate in Hamilton Centre for “radical anti-Israel views.” Leader @maritstiles stands by @SarahJama_ and says party doesn’t support anti-Semitism. Libs accuse NDP of “long history of anti-semitic rhetoric,” also want her gone.
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This is who most of your councillors are, Toronto. People who wouldn’t redirect even 0.07% of the police budget to keep unhoused people from freezing to death
Where are their hearts?! Why are you electing them?
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Yesterday, a group of Toronto city councillors tried to redirect just 0.07% of the police budget to establishing 24/7 warming centres for homeless people so they’re less likely to freeze to death. The motion was overwhelmingly voted down. We have a truly depraved political system
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If you betray the public's trust, and actively acknowledge that you've betrayed the public's trust by stating that you'll resign, you should not have the power to push through your 'Strong Mayor' agenda by maintaining control of the budget.
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John Tory will stay on as Mayor for this Wednesday’s budget meeting, according to Councillor James Pasternak on the way into meet him to talk budget #TOpoli
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BREAKING: of has confirmed that grant applicants will be required to sign an attestation stating that they will not undermine Canada’s anti-racism strategy, which includes the discredited and divisive IHRA definition of antisemitism. #NoIHRA 🧵1/11
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When Ford said he wanted to clean house at QP what he meant was he wanted his own pigs at the trough
This is the real story, #onpoli
This corrupt politician needs to go: he is enriching his friends at your expense, destroying precious ecosystems, & trying to cover it all up
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It’s been a tense few days in #OnPoli since developers’ involvement in Premier Doug Ford’s daughter’s stag and doe, on Aug. 11, was reported.
Now feels as appropriate a time as any to remind people of what transpired hours later on Aug. 12.
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There is a video circulating that was taken at an engagement party in Premier Doug Ford’s backyard this past summer. Ron Taverner is in it, popping a champagne bottle.
This video was posted originally in July, meaning it’s not from the Aug. 11 stag and doe.
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It’s possible to hold 2 truths at once: BOTH John Tory and Doug Ford are problematic leaders.
Don’t chose one scandal over the other.
Time for compassionate leaders in these positions. Ones that will fight to save Mother Earth AND ensure the unhoused are safe. #LeadWithLove
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Good riddance to the mayor who was willing to let people die for being unhoused
This is a time to choose a mayor who is compassionate & kind, who chooses human life over violence, who is illuminated by love & who leads that way
We can do so much better, Toronto 💜
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Blanchet’s call to eliminate Ottawa’s new anti-Islamophobia position kinda says everything that needs to be said. Today’s self-own.
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Trudeau must drop Elghawaby and get rid of anti-Islamophobia position, says BQ Leader Blanchet theglobeandmail.com/politics/artic
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Amira Elghawaby has already won. The tell is the QC gov wanting the job gone, not just her. This was never about her
And what a demonstration of the Islamophobia they insist is not there
Also, can we note her grace in the face of this witchhunt?
Canada, this is embarrassing
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Exactly this.
Amira Elghawaby is beyond reproach. What actually frightens Quebec politicians, whose aim is to protect Bill 21, is how very good she is.
Throwing her into the line of fire is reprehensible.
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wrote about how Trudeau avoids talking about Bill 21 himself but decided to throw the excellent Amira Elghawaby directly into the line of fire. in today's @TorontoStar thestar.com/opinion/contri
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Hey look: Toronto just got the six-month report from the non-police Community Crisis Support Team pilot and 78% of calls were diverted without involving police. Imagine if we gave that a $50 million raise. Instead, it's an increase of maybe $3 million*.
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Thank you for this thread and for your heart, . It brought me to tears. This is why I love you so much 🙏🏽💜
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A few years ago, I helped bring some community members together and a really prominent and successful Jewish woman made a comment that struck me very deeply. She roughly said, ‘for me to truly have trust, I would need to believe that you would hide me’. thread 1/10
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Violence in our communities can only be addressed by a meaningful investment in our communities. Policing not only fails to prevent violence but extends its reach and scope against Black, Indigenous, racialized and poor communities.
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Make no mistake: The violence we're seeing on the TTC won't be addressed by having more police present.
We need more housing. More mental healthcare. More harm reduction services. More public washrooms. More warming centres.
We need a City of Toronto that's more compassionate.
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112 spaces, in a winter City where we have significant, growing homelessness in the tens of thousands. This is a guarantee that warming centres will be full by tomorrow morning, and others will fight for their survival sleeping on the #TTC, in hospitals, and in 24/7 coffee shops. twitter.com/cityoftoronto/…
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The PC govt's biggest attempt to sway public opinion in years outside of an election is underway. The Ford govt is engaged in a large-scale campaign to sell the monetization of essential healthcare procedures.
The fingerprints of a firm like Navigator are all over this. 1/16
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If you are lucky enough to have an MPP who’s pushing for real legislative change to allow single parents to step up to do the hard work of politics, maybe listen to them next time
Thank you for being the light ✨💜✊🏽
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Laura Mae, you've never let politics 'do you'...you did politics and with such intergrity and HONESTY 100% loyal to community and your values.
The way you led with equity at your center gave me hope this work could be done differently...
Thank you my friend...for real
With love❤
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Dear Kitchener Centre,
Please see my statement below.
I will be forever grateful for your support.
With love,
Laura Mae.
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So grateful to have worked alongside you at Queen’s Park, . I love & admire you for many reasons, including for always having integrity, for bringing equity into everything you do (& always insisting on tangible action) & for putting community first, always 💜
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Dear Kitchener Centre,
Please see my statement below.
I will be forever grateful for your support.
With love,
Laura Mae.
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Lapd killing the Black english teacher is another example of why there's absolutely no reason most traffic violations, but especially traffic accidents, need to be respond to by armed cops.
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Every study ever done — plus history — has shown that the only solution to gun violence is to solve the roots — poverty & deprivation. You should all be asking what con Tory & Ford are pulling to use this moment to put $$ into policing instead
You are being conned, #onpoli
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Mayor before you further balloon Toronto Police Budget by nearly $50mill please consult outside your 4 walls. You may wish to begin with families of Taresh Bobby Ramroop, Regis Korchinski Paquet, D'Andre Campbell and COUNTLESS others. Address ROOT causes.
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John Tory is announcing a $48 million increase to the police budget. He rewards his friends in uniform, while neglecting the basic services we need to live. Investments in people, not policing, will keep us safe
A statement from
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“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. The reason: The country applies the Housing First concept. Those affected by homelessness receive a small apartment and counselling – without any preconditions. And: All this is cheaper than accepting homelessness.”
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Horrible news: As co-keeper of Toronto Homeless Memorial names with , we will be adding initials A.R. (they/them) at the next Memorial
A.R. was found frozen, dead on Christmas while camping outside, having failed to find indoor space in spite of endless effort 1/2
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