Injustice defines Western societies. America long ago spurned rule of law principles. Canada marches in lock-step.

It’s mid-July 2012, and each month of the year so far has broken the record for heat and dryness. In Southern Ontario, climate change is increasingly a present reality. It is the context in which we act, and its effects will only get more pronounced as time passes.

Back in the Spring of 2011, we shifted our focus from writing to holding workshops, and since then, we’ve done more than two dozen in cities and towns across Southern Ontario. We are almost too excited to share with you the culmination of this work, the Learning from the Land guide.

Tuesday, June 26 2012 - The Star

Alex Hundert, a pre-eminent member of the so-called “G20 ringleaders,” was sentenced to 13 ½ months in prison Tuesday...Hundert is the last to be sentenced out of a group of six who struck a deal with the Crown last November...Hundert said it was “ridiculous” to think his prosecution wasn’t politically motivated...“I think every time someone behind the bench or Crown suggests it’s not, it puts the whole system in disrepute...”

June 21, 2012 - Ontario Coalition Against Poverty

The ugliness of the austerity agenda is becoming clearer in Toronto. In this year’s Provincial budget we saw cuts to Social Assistance benefits...It is a measure that can only worsen the crisis of homelessness in Toronto and across Ontario. Last week, the Provincial Housing Minister caved into pressure from the Ford Administration and approved the sale of 65 units of public housing in this City. Hundreds more are in danger of going the same way and, indeed, the destruction of public housing is the logical end result of this political direction.

By Gwalgen Geordie Dent - June 17, 2012

Did senior police officers lie to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD)?...Was there a coordinated attempt to deny information to the OIPRD by Toronto Police Services?...These and other questions have been raised by the report issued last month by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director in relation to police actions during the G20. The report was a scathing review of police conduct and planning and lead to charges against 45 officers under the Police Services Act.

June 9th, 2012 - No One Is Illegal-Vancouver

The Law Union of Ontario...is dismayed by recent attacks by the Conservative Government’s Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, aimed at the grassroots migrant rights group No One Is Illegal. No One Is Illegal has a proven track record of working alongside migrant communities and individuals on issues relating to human rights and broader social justice...No One Is Illegal is an important and crucial voice of dissent.

By Geordie Gwalgen Dent - June 2, 2012

A grim picture has emerged from the G20 police report released by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD). It shows regional police forces at loggerheads both in the run-up to, and during, the G20. It also shows rampant internal fighting in the Toronto Police Services (TPS) between officers and management...For those who envisioned a mass, well-crafted, police-machine protecting G20 leaders, what comes across instead is a total gong-show.

By Enid Godtree - Toronto Media Co-op

Police violence was likely more prevalent than protester violence during the G20 according to a report recently released by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD)...While media reports on the G20 protests have focused heavily on protester violence and vandalism, the OIPRD report shows that there were more complaints that police used excessive force, than reports that police were injured during the G20.

By Krystalline Kraus - May 22, 2012

...[T]his report does nothing but in essence defend the state and the police from any wrong doing by not providing any real points of accountability or condemn any police or state tactics..."The OIPRD report is proof that Toronto police will when given the chance systematically do everything they can to hurt, harass and humiliate people..."

On May 28, Kelly Pflug-Back will stand in front of a Toronto courtroom to be sentenced...I first met Kelly when she was a 16 yr old traveler kid who had just arrived in Victoria...Over the years Kelly became quite the well known community organizer and activist. So it was a surprise when her picture went out across the internet, TV news, and newspapers last year following the G20 as police released pictures of their most wanted suspects in their sweep of 1100 activists who were arrested, most of which would be released with no charges.

By Krystalline Kraus - May 18, 2012

...[I]nstead of shedding new light on police tactical and organizational failures...the report instead essentially defends the government and the police from accountability by ensuring the unequal power relationship between citizen and the state remains intact...While the report does acknowledge numerous times that the police "overstepped their authority," it does not question the essential authority of the police itself, or the role the police play in the criminalization of dissent.

By Michael Laxer - May 17, 2012

There is a class war going on in Ontario, but it may not be the one that most of us, even on the Left, would like to believe. It is a war by all of our political representatives and a large proportion of our middle and upper classes on the poor and working poor in the province. A war whose great hallmark is to have created and maintained terrible poverty and suffering in the midst of tremendous social productivity and wealth so as to subsidize nearly 17 years of relentless personal and corporate tax cuts.

By Andy Crosby - May 11, 2012

Occupied Ottawa (formerly Occupy Ottawa) is set to re-take public space as the spring season heats up in the nation’s capital...[Ottawa] Mayor Jim Watson has already warned the local movement that if they occupy a public park the city will use police force to carry out an immediate eviction.

By Eric Mark Do - Toronto Media Co-op

After a peaceful demonstration at Parliament Hill on May 5th, one of the protest's organizers...was arrested after taking to the streets. Derek Soberal, of Toronto, was detained overnight by Ottawa Police and released on $500 bail the next day. He faces charges of obstructing a police officer, being a member of an unlawful assembly, causing a disturbance, mischief, and breaching the peace. All five charges are criminal code offences.