Why Should I Care?

Mining Injustice: Donate an old cell phone

Post Date May 09, 2017

Comments 0 Comments

Author admin

We were so moved by our special guest, Evelyn, that we want to help in what small ways we can.

The Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN) is heading a campaign to gather cell phones and cameras so that Joycelyn and Everlyn can distribute these documentation tools to women in the villages surrounding the Porgera Mine. As they both noted during their visit here, there is a lot of stigma around being raped in their culture, so women are easier to approach than men when it comes …

Food Waste: A $31 Billion Problem

Post Date May 05, 2017

Comments 0 Comments

Author admin

Category Economy, Environment

By Anastasia Gal

In Indonesia, there is a legend about crying rice. A rice farmer was harvesting her crop and heard someone crying. She looked around and saw no one. She then realized that the crying noises were coming from a handful of rice she left behind in the field. This story, says Tammara Soma, a Ph.D Candidate at Food Systems Lab, is about the importance of not to wasting farmers’ labour and the natural resources. “As a kid, I was told that I must eat …

A Change of Heart on having Municipal Political Parties. (Credit Adam Smith)

Post Date March 23, 2017

Comments 0 Comments

Author admin

Category Cities, Civic Engagement, Government

Adam Smith was kind enough to share his thoughts from WSIC’s talk on adding parties to municipal politics. Like many of us, he was staunchly opposed to the idea at first.

Thank you Adam for showing us why we do these talks. If we are willing to discuss ideas, we can change minds and (hopefully) have better governance.

***************************************************************************************

I have to say, I came into this event staunchly opposed to bringing partisanship into a municipal system, I gotta say, those guys were patient with my outbursts and …

Canadian Content is worth saving

Post Date November 28, 2016

Comments 0 Comments

Author admin

Category Uncategorized

The Minister of Canadian Heritage recently launched consultations on Canadian Content in a Digital World to explore how we can strengthen the creation, discovery and export of Canadian content in the 21st century. On November 15, we gathered some experts to explore the state of the industry and the potential impact of policy changes. We were joined by Kevin McMahon, writer, director and producer; Dave Sparrow, president of ACTRA Toronto (Alliance of Cinema, Television and Radio Artists); and Erin Lowers, writer, publicist, and digital strategist …

Support local farmers every meal

Post Date October 14, 2016

Comments 0 Comments

Author admin

Category Civic Engagement, Economy, Environment, Rural Communities

Why is local food so expensive? On September 19th we had a discussion about the Economics of Local Food, featuring special guests Cookie Roscoe, Wychwood Barns farmers’ market manager, and Carolyn Young, lead consultant at Organic Council of Ontario.

Roscoe started by recalling that when she was a kid in the 1960s, her father would drive around town every Saturday morning with the grocery flyers, looking for bargains and buying loss leader products. While it used up gas to drive from store to store, savvy shoppers …

Legalizing Marijuana

Post Date June 15, 2016

Comments 0 Comments

Author admin

Category Healthcare

May 16, 2016

Deirdre Leowinata

The new Liberal leadership has a lot of people talking. And it’s not just about our beautiful new Prime Minister, but what he’s doing to do about a little green leaf. Mary Jane, ganja, reefer, weed. It has many names but to the law it has always been one thing: Illegal. At least since 1923 during an apparent “opiate” wipe by the government, when it was criminalized without any studies or debate. The decriminalization of marijuana has already changed things, and in …

Preserving Local Heritage

Post Date June 15, 2016

Comments 0 Comments

Author admin

Category Cities

May 11, 2016

Deirdre Leowinata

“Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.” – John Ruskin, art critic and social thinker

Our “heritage” is a term that gets tossed around a lot, even in a young country like Canada. But what exactly is heritage? How will the Torontonians of the future remember the Torontonians of 2016, or of the 21st century? It seems from the construction in the downtown core that it’s going to be condos: the unimaginative sky-high concrete boxes that seem …

Black Lives Matter. Period.

Post Date April 04, 2016

Comments 0 Comments

Author admin

Category Cities, Civic Engagement

On March 9, Why Should I Care hosted an event about the Black Lives Matter movement to explore why it’s important to us in Toronto. We brought in an expert panel including activists Akio Maroon and Andray Domise and lawyer Gordon Cudjoe.

Akio Maroon started off the panel. Earlier that day she had been given acknowledgment at Queen’s Park for her work on Bill 132, Sexual Violence and Harassment Action Plan Act.

Akio gave a rousing speech, asserting that we should care about the Black Lives Matter …

Canadian NGOs are back!

Post Date March 05, 2016

Comments 0 Comments

Author admin

Category Foreign Affairs, Government

WSIC teamed up with the Toronto Branch of the Canadian International Council for our February event on the State of International Development. With a new government in Ottawa and a more NGO friendly climate, WSIC and CIC looked at what’s next for Canadian NGOs.

Luke Stocking, the Central Ontario Animator for Development and Peace, Melissa Matlow, Legislative and Public Affairs Manager at World Animal Protection, and Nikki Whaites, Deputy Director of International Programs for War Child Canada joined the panel.

Luke Stocking started the evening by highlighting …

Innovation needs government support, not red tape

Post Date February 08, 2016

Comments 0 Comments

Author admin

Category Civic Engagement, Economy, Financial, Government, Science

Continuing our technology-inspired series at our Uptown branch, our January focus was why we should care about investing in innovation. We were joined by guest speakers Tim Hudak, MPP for Niagara West—Glanbrook and former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, Rachel Zimmer, co-founder and Partner of 5Crowd, Sonia Strimban, Manager of Venture Operations at MaRS, and Kelsey Spitz, Senior Associate at Social Innovation Generation.

Taking centre stage was the elephant in the room; Uber. Disruptive technologies tend to illicit strong opinions. Tim Hudak shared his …

Mining Injustice: Donate an old cell phone

Food Waste: A $31 Billion Problem

A Change of Heart on having Municipal Political Parties. (Credit Adam Smith)

Canadian Content is worth saving

Support local farmers every meal

Legalizing Marijuana

Preserving Local Heritage

Black Lives Matter. Period.

Canadian NGOs are back!

Innovation needs government support, not red tape

Event Mailing List

Categories

Archives

SiteMeter

Get Informed. Get Engaged. Make a Difference

DONATE to WSIC