Two weekends ago members of Occupy Toronto gathered on the campus of Ryerson University for an 80 hour (dodgy) fundraiser, hoping to collect money to pay for the costs of operating their wireless data connection. Their event quickly degraded into a violent, racist and anti-Semitic hate fest. Later, after their fiasco became a national news story, they regathered at Ryerson and threatened journalists who covered their misdeeds.
Unfortunately for the Livestreamers, they were only able to raise $250- partially as a result of the lack of interest (very few people were watching), but also because they made a very stupid mistake. This wasn’t enough money to cover the cost of their $700 debt- so it was a surprise to see that the Livestream was back up and working today. Who put them back online?
Today’s event was a “shadow summit” run by the Ontario Health Coalition protesting the Council of the Federation- a semi-annual gathering of Canada’s provincial premiers. Occupy Toronto’s Dee Shanger (a.k.a. Captain Yarr, or Giovanni Sampogna) showed-up with his Livestream equipment, capturing the speeches and presentations. There were some pretty high-profile people present, including CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn, and Maude Barlow- the chairperson of the Council of Canadians, an organization known to this site’s readers as a leading enabler of political violence.
At the beginning of Shanger’s broadcast he was inside of a building and it looked likely that he was using their wireless network. But, soon after, he took the Livestream outside. This confused some of the three people who were watching (including your humble narrator). So, one of them asked him what was going on:
Why would an organization like the Ontario Health Coalition allow a man who promotes racialised violence to use their equipment? After a quick search, it didn’t take very long to understand:
The first organization that sticks out in this list is the National Action Committee on the Status of Women- this organization has a close relationship with Judy Rebick (who was slated to appear at Occupy Toronto’s fundraiser at Ryerson). Next there’s the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), an organization that’s probably most famous for leading the hoards during the Queen’s Park Riot. OCAP’s Sigrid Kneve was present during the violent, racist broadcast at Ryerson.
The Ontario Health Coalition bills itself as a “network of grassroots organizations”. But, if you look a little deeper into who they are, it becomes obvious that they’re just another brand name used to distract us from the fact that the province’s unions have a stranglehold over activist causes. Checking out their address at 15 Gervais Street makes it clear that they’re not as grassroots as they tell us:
It is, indeed, a small world after all…
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