Saron Gebresellassi

https://www.thestar.com//premier-ford-ignoring-heroes-in-c

"We believe in a post-pandemic vision for public transit that transforms our transit systems into free, expanded, and just public services. We believe free transit is a public good, essential to a vibrant society no different from schools, libraries, hospitals, fire halls. We believe free transit must be pro-worker, fully accessible, and a vehicle to tackling systemic racism and poverty. And we see free and just public transit as essential to national public health and climate justice strategies. A just rebuilding of our economy and communities will only be possible with a bold vision for public transit."

We talk to eyewitnesses to the tensions in Kenosha, Wis. Two people were shot and killed there Tuesday, at a protest against Sunday night's police shooting of Jacob Blake. Then, the Ontario Special Investigations Unit has cleared Toronto Police of wrongdoing in the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, who fell from her 24th-floor balcony in May. Trial lawyer Saron Gebresellassi discusses what this means for ongoing calls for reform. Plus, season 2 of CBC podcast Seat At The Tabl...e is out today, we talk to hosts and longtime friends Isabelle Racicot and Martine St-Victor about what's next in the Black Lives Matter movement. In a conversation first aired in June, Matt Galloway talks to Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri about the fight against systemic racism, and why the protests after the death of George Floyd make him think "there seems to be something different in the air this time." And after the devastating explosion in Beirut, filmmaker Mahmoud Kaabour dropped everything and flew back to the city where he grew up. He tells us what he saw. See more

Meanwhile, trial lawyer Saron Gebresellassi believes that Strickland’s case doesn’t hold much water in the court of law now that the body-cam footage has been released. We saw the video, said Gebresellassi. In the altercation, It clearly demonstrates who is the aggressor in that interaction and in my opinion, what I saw was an assault and so I have no doubt Masai Ujiri will be victorious in this legal battle.

According to Saron Gebresellassi, lawyer for one of the individuals charged, the last detainee did not get released until after 2 a.m. She called the incident an embarrassment to Toronto in light of the growing global movements for police accountability and transparency. The international community is monitoring Toronto and so this is not the Toronto that we want to show the world, she added. She also said that she is calling on the Canadian legal community to advocate fo...r dropping all charges against the three individuals. Ms. Gebresellassi said police did not allow her to speak to her client on the phone until approximately 3 p.m on Saturday, which was only a brief conversation. She said that she had to wait hours to receive information from the arresting officer, and then waited until midnight to speak to her client again about conditions of their release, which she calls unconstitutional and a violation of charter rights. However, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said in a statement Sunday evening that the lack of access to counsel was a false narrative, and that the detainees were given access to counsel by mid-afternoon but chose to remain in custody into the early morning. We record these processes, and the moment that counsel was selected, access was provided, Chief Saunders said in the statement. It is unfortunate that a narrative has been manufactured that does not further the very real issues we are facing with anti-Black systemic racism, and the dialogue around the police and the community. Several MPPs who were on the scene in front of police headquarters backed Ms. Gebresellassi’s assertions on social media and to The Globe and Mail that she was prevented from speaking to her client. Rima Berns-McGown, MPP and Official Opposition critic for poverty and homelessness, said she arrived at the scene in the early evening. She is also calling for the charges to be dropped, arguing that the statues are a monument to past injustice and need to be part of a larger conversation about how society celebrates historical wrongs. The issue here is that you have these statues of people who have committed colonial violence and, and racist violence, frankly, and who still stand for those things at a time when in theory, we are trying to turn Canada around and to make amends for centuries of that violence, and yet the statues still stand, Ms. Berns-McGown said. On Sunday morning, the Toronto chapter of Black Lives Matter held a press conference demanding the charges be dropped.

Saron Gebresellassi, who is negotiating the release of all three individuals, said the crowd will remain outside the station until all three are released. "This is a disappointing turn of events. It did not have to be this way, and I am looking forward to the release of all the arrestees," said Gebresellassi. "Police at 52 division have made a few missteps have refused to communicate with elected officials, with lawyers, legal counsel, with members of the press. We need leade...rship. This is not reconciliation, and Canadians are tired of escalating tensions." Gebresellassi noted that she has spoken to all three after she said they were not given access to a lawyer for hours. Police disputed her claim, saying all three have had access to counsel. "I've had many clients face all kinds of criminal charges for far more serious affairs who have been released within an hour," she said. "It seems (they) are being detained almost as pawns in a larger political scenario."

If you have the means, please support this community initiative in these difficult times: "We are a group of young Eritrean and Ethiopian young people from the Greater Toronto Area, who have lived, studied, and been held down by our community in this city for many years. Many of us have been involved in Eritrean and Ethiopian community building, and are directly affected by the very needs we are highlighting for support."

"You can't do the work of equity and racial justice without centering public transit."

The 35 Jane is the busiest bus route in Toronto. Working class communities such as Weston and Jane-Finch have covid infection rates FIVE TIMES the city average. Low income workers have little choice but to crowd onto transit to get to their jobs.

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP IN CRISES

Selon Saron Gebresellassi, "[La police devrait] jouer un rôle non violent, jouer un rôle plus communautaire, devrait s’intégrer dans la communauté."

#TBT talking #racialinjustice and #policebrutality at the @NABJ convention in Detroit with my Eritrean-Canadian sister, Saron Gebresellassi Check out our conversation with her on the #podcast! Link in bio, full conversation to come on our PREMIUM CHANNEL next week.

Stronger Together. Photography Credit: Jon Blak

A resident of the community where I grew up, Leonard Rodrigues showed up for those in need in the midst of a pandemic and is leaving a family behind. Honouring his memory is recognizing the contributions of frontline healthcare workers and protecting them at all costs.

I welcome this community demand that calls for re-allocating $276 million from the Toronto Police Service budget to invest in housing, mental health services and other human needs. A community letter to our city councillors.

Parts 1 and 2 will drop TODAY! We talk with Saron Gebresellassi about Toronto #BlackLivesMatter and #policebrutality as well as her hopes to make her city a better place as Toronto's next mayor!

https://www.theglobeandmail.com//article-ontario-coroner-/

Please support the work of Beryl-Ann, Ana Teresa and Mercedes and Mutual Aid Parkdale in this difficult time.

"Governments at all levels must act decisively to protect tenants. It is within the power of governments to implement a rent freeze."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isHVbksmh14

"Saron Gebresellassi, a Toronto lawyer who ran for mayor in 2018 on a platform that included making the TTC free to ride, said losing $6 can really hurt. For newcomer families working minimum wage, for example, losing or breaking a card can be a huge deal. 'It is such a hit,' she told CBC Toronto. Gebresellassi calls the fees a 'penalty.' It's a small one that flies under the radar, maybe, but it's still a penalty that counts.... 'You really have to save up your pennies literally every dollar counts.' Presto cards have eliminated the risk of losing a $100-plus monthly TTC pass, which is good, Gebresellassi said, but she regularly hears from low-income clients who are unhappy with the new system's fees."

Ontario's AOC? Look no further than the political powerhouse that is Saron Gebresellassi! We covered her mayoral campaign for CIUT 89.5 FM!

https://www.435mag.com/kansas-city-becomes-first-major-ame/

"Last year, outsider mayoral candidate Saron Gebresellassi ran in the municipal election on a promise to eliminate TTC fares, arguing transit should be a right akin to health care or education."

https://www.thestar.com//liberal-leadership-candidate-mich

https://ici.radio-canada.ca//saron-gebresellassi-course-no

https://nowtoronto.com//canada-election-ndp-parkdale-high/

A letter from Parkdale People's Economy to the riding associations in Parkdale-High Park: The Parkdale People’s Economy is a network of over 30 community-based organizations and hundreds of residents collaborating towards decent work, shared wealth, and equitable development in the neighbourhood. As a network that is committed to the values of equity and practices of participatory democracy, we have concerns about the registration and verification process for new voters in el...Continue reading

My client attorney Saron Gebresellassi updates media with a statement after her coroner meeting advocating for an inquest into the death of teenager Samuel Brown at an Ontario School for the Blind.

Announcement. Please Share.

"The fundamental value of fare abolition lies in simplifying the way public transport is used: it can be taken by anybody, at any time, according to any needs they may have. Public transport is thus imagined not as a commodity, but as a common good similar to many other public services such as health care, education, parks, roads, sidewalks, cycling paths, streetlights and lampposts, libraries, schools, kindergartens, or playgrounds. Just as in the case of these services, we could imagine public transport being continuously provided free of charge, regardless of whether it’s needed in a given moment or not. After all, you don’t have to insert coins to light an individual lamp posts on your way home at night, or pay for every minute spent in a park or library."

Update from Burnaby South BC: Our campaign team has brought the matter of the Parkdale-High Park nomination to the attention of Jagmeet Singh, leader of the federal NDP. Thank you Jagmeet for taking our concerns about discrimination against African Canadians, low income tenants and TCHC residents seriously. We trust you will look into this matter.

https://29secrets.com//whats-her-secret-lawyer-and-activ/

Statement from Matt Fodor, manager of Saron Gebresellassi's nomination campaign: In her response to my account of the June 23 Parkdale-High Park NDP nomination meeting (NOW Magazine, "The Party Line," July 18-24), Mélanie Richer maintains that [e]very effort was made to get people on the voters list. Yet it is very difficult to believe that the federal office lacked the organizational capacity to add 400 names to a list well in advance of the nomination meeting. Making su...Continue reading

https://nowtoronto.com//ndp-parkdale-high-park-federal-el/

Thank you to the staff at Clove Apple Cafe for hosting the debate!

Waiting for the debate to begin. Paul Taylor, we saved a seat for you!

Let me get straight to the point: in order to beat the Liberal incumbent in Parkdale-High Park, we have to step out of our comfort zones. This is one of the most diverse ridings in the country and we need to expand our base to include non-English speaking communities. We have been on the ground in Parkdale-High Park every day. Growing our party has been at the heart of the campaign. We have camped out round-the-clock in laundromats and TCHC apartment buildings to sign up... hundreds of immigrant women and their families to join the NDP. In a time where many working class people have given up on electoral politics, one of the great successes of our campaign has been converting non-voters to voters. Non-voters are our key to success. And the key to non-voters is the ability to speak their vocabulary. An English-only candidate and campaign won’t cut it. I speak seven languages and I am best positioned to appeal to the many diverse communities of Parkdale-High Park. I have never backed down in the fight for justice. In my work as a human rights lawyer, I have taken on big corporations and institutional giants and won. Last year, I decided to take my fight from the courtroom to the political arena, and ran for Mayor of Toronto. You may remember the mayoral debates where I challenged the status quo and called for the right to housing, free public transit and real police accountability. Please check out my platform voteforsaron.ca. If you like what you see, please donate $5. Join me this Sunday at Lithuania House and let’s radically transform politics in this country together. In solidarity, Saron Gebresellassi

https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/1141018452263604224

Status for all is in our platform. See you there.

Today in Hamilton we announced our New Deal for People our roadmap to building a Canada that puts people first and a vision we can be hopeful for and achiev...e together. Learn more: https://www.ndp.ca/commitments Je suis à Hamilton pour présenter la vision du NPD en vue de la prochaine élection. Nous avons un plan pour un gouvernement qui est d’abord au service des gens, une vision inspirante pour l’avenir que nous réaliserons ensemble : https://www.npd.ca/vision

"Legal clinics are often involved in community organizing for things like tenant's rights and advocating for low-income people, he said. The province's directiv...e comes at a time when surging rents, tenants' rights and "renovictions" are top of mind for many in Hamilton. "This is a government that does not want its agenda challenged they're looking for less opposition in relation to the implementation of that agenda." See more

Eid Mubarak. On the campaign trail at an apartment building in Parkdale.