The Dominion Newspaper Cooperative is looking for interns!
Are you:
The Dominion Newspaper Cooperative – http://dominionpaper.ca & http://mediacoop.ca – is a national web & print news outlet that aims to provide accurate, critical coverage that is accountable to its readers and the subjects it tackles. Canada's first national media cooperative, we have local coops in Halifax, Vancouver and Toronto.
Interns with the Cooperative will have a chance to gain experience in all aspects of a print and online news outlet, including editing & writing, blogging, participating in editorial meetings, layout & design, and fundraising & circulation. Specific tasks will be worked out with interns based on interests and actual staffing needs.
To apply, please send us a short email (max. 300 words) explaining why you would like to intern at the Dominion Newspaper Cooperative by December 18th 2009. Internships will begin in early January 2009 in our new office located in Montreal, QC.
While we are currently unable to pay interns, we are willing to structure the internships to meet course-credit needs and make sure the experience is enriching and fun. Internships run a minimum of 3 months.
Please note: Interns must be located in Montreal for the duration of their internship.
Send your emails to info@mediacoop.ca
A quarter million dollars aimed at groups who are victims of hate crimes will flow to ten Jewish groups in Montréal, according to a recent announcement by the federal government.
The funding, which comes from the Ministry of Public Safety, "helps defray the costs of security infrastructure enhancements at not-for-profit community centres, provincially recognized educational institutions, and places of worship linked to a community with a demonstrated history of being victimized by hate-motivated crime."
Funds can be used for:
-security assessments (not to exceed 25% of total project costs)
-security equipment and hardware, such as alarm systems, closed-circuit televisions, digital video recorders, fences, gates, lighting, intercom systems;
-minor construction costs related to the project, such as contractor fees, labour, equipment rental, installation fees; and
-training costs directly related to the new security infrastructure
Ten Jewish organizations in Montréal will split the disbursement of $223,003.
The announcement brings to mind Yves Engler's recent piece, Silencing the Critics. He states:
Media makers in Montréal, take note... The first session of the Alternative Media Open House launched successfully last night at Nelson Mandela Park.
There are two more sessions, one on Friday and the next on Sunday.
"We are hoping to make connections with people in the communities we are doing the open houses in and to recruit a few new volunteers who may not have otherwise known these opportunities were open to them," says Courtney Kirkby, a radio producer at CKUT who's helping to organize the events.
The events offer free food, and are really about people getting to know each other.
"This is a unique chance to actually meet a wide range of media-makers in the city and find out what goes into a story and how independent, alternative journalism and news collectives can work," says Kirkby.
Event details are below... Enjoy!
--français ci-dessous--
Interested in community journalism?
CKUT 90.3FM & the Dominion present ALTERNATIVE MEDIA OPEN HOUSE in Côte-des-Neiges, Point St. Charles and the Plateau
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LOCATION: Saint Columba House
(2365, Grand Trunk @ rue Ropery)
TIME: 3:30pm-7:00pm
DATE: FRIDAY, July 24th
*Free food provided by Midnight Kitchen
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LOCATION: Maison de l'Amitié
(120 avenue Duluth Est, @ ave. Coloniale)
TIME: 1:30pm-4:00pm
DATE: SUNDAY, July 26th
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A chance to meet alternative, independent journalist, producers and editors. Find out how to get involved and how to gain media-making skills.
Contact: Courtney Kirkby, news@ckut.ca or 514.448.4041x6788
++
Le journalisme communautaire vous interesses?
Quick roundup of mainstream news coverage: The Montreal Gazette on the squat and on the police raid, CTV on the evictions, backgrounder in The Hour.
--Reposting ASC Press Release--
4:45 pm, May 30th, 2009 - for immediate release. Riot squads brutally evicted the people occupying a building at the corner of St-Patrick and Atwater this afternoon. Yesterday night, about a hundred people took this building in order to set up the Autonomous social center in a permanent space. At the present time, everyone who was inside has managed to exit the building and to join the support demonstration. The demo, a few hundred people strong, has now taken to the streets.
Towards 3 pm, the police promised they would talk to the Social center's "diplomats" before intervening. At the set meeting time, the police rushed towards the fence that surrounds the building's backyard instead. At the time, a few dozens of people, including a few families with children, were enjoying the sun and playing music, talking and eating. The police broke the fence's locker and rushed towards the building's entrance gate while reading the first eviction notice received by the squatters.
» continue reading "Brutal eviction at the Autonomous Social Centre in Montréal"
Canada Domestic Policy can be Problematic.
Manipulation #1- We are not all Metis.
Aboriginal rights are inherent and inalienable. Program and services dollars can be used to lure people away from cultural integrity.
Manipulation #2- Aboriginal rights belong to a certain race of people who can prove they are that race.
Race was never the issue. It is about culture.
On May 2nd, the search for Maisy Odjick and Shannon Alexander continued, on the Kitigan Zibi reserve, 8 months after the two girls went missing. The search was organized by the Odjick family, with the help of Amnesty International, which donated 2 buses to help transport volunteers from Ottawa who wished to help with the search. The two buses were filled, and many more showed up on top of that. All in all, over 240 people came to help scour the woods around the reserve for any clue at all that might lead to answers. Four member of the Missing Justice collective in Montreal attended.
The search was led by Search and Rescue Global 1, a pro-search team run entirely by volunteers. The SAR team was overwhelmed by the number of volunteers, so some people had to wait in the community hall for their turn to join a search team.
We were divided into groups of 15-20 people, with 2 team leaders. Everyone had a stick of some kind to help them push aside some of the thick brush that we would encounter. We lined up for instructions: we were to yell ’stop ‘ along with a number we had been given whenever we saw anything that might be a clue. A clue could be anything at all: a beer bottle, a piece of cloth, strange litter, anything.Then, a team leader would come and find us, look at the clue, and maybe choose to radio it in.
At times distracted by nightmarish visions of what we might find, at times pre-occupied with getting through the insanely thick bush unscathed, we walked through the woods, in as straight a line as possible given the fact that we were supposed to go through all obstacles as opposed to around them. There were a few times when we lost site of the people beside us, but it was never long before someone yelled ’stop.’
For immediate and widespread distribution:
Québec – Canada – Americas
mining, human rights and citizens’ rights
an open-pit mine on the mont-royal?
see : www.royalor.com
citizens’-action
may 11 2009
Mont-Royal 1 :30 -2 :30
(at the gazebo at Duluth & Parc)
Representatives of different communities affected by Canadian open-pit mining projects will stake a claim on the mineral rights of the Mont-Royal. Their aim is to symbolically demonstrate the harms and prejudices faced by their communities whether in Québec, elsewhere in Canada , in Mexico , in Honduras , in Chile or in Papua New-Guinea. The claim will be duly filed with the Ministère des Ressources naturelles du Québec.
Come one, come all to call for :
1. a reform of mining laws
2. the legal accountability of canadian companies operating abroad
3. a public debate free of « slapp » suits
________
In collaboration with Coalition québécoise sur les impacts socio-environnementaux des transnationales en Amérique Latine and many other organizations. For more information : Lazar Konforti 514.827.7486 lazar.konforti@gmail.com, Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert 514.398.4251 daviken.studnicki-gizbert@mcgill.ca. An event organized in conjunction with the Cadre des activités parallèles du 5e Congrès mondial d’éducation relative à l’environnement (www.5weec.uqam.ca), May 10 - 15 Palais des Congrès Montréal.
{{reposting of Ecosociete bulletin}}
INFORMATION BULLETIN
First anniversary of Noir Canada: Pillage, corruption et criminalité en Afrique
Montreal, April 23rd 2009
It was just over a year ago, on April 15th 2008, that Alain Deneault, Deplhine Abadie and William Sacher officially launched Noir Canada: Pillage, corruption et criminalité en Afrique, published by Les Éditions Écosociété, despite legal threats of lawsuits by Canadian multinational Barrick Gold (see demand letter sent by Barrick Gold).
Two defamation lawsuits followed, with Canadian mining companies Barrick Gold and Banro claiming damages amounting to $11 million dollars. The authors and publisher of Noir Canada have since had to deal with amendments to these claims, multiple and cumbersome judicial proceedings (requests for documents, endless interviews conducted by opposing counsel, etc.), the preparation of voluminous defence records for two different jurisdictions, numerous commutes to Toronto, the rejection of a request to transfer Banro’s Ontario lawsuit to Quebec, the appeal of that decision, along with the considerable costs that such proceedings require and the psychological and moral strain that comes with being put under such pressure.
In the meantime, the authors of Noir Canada remind us that “the Canadian pillage of Africa continues”, while “the Canadian government has just consecrated Canada as being a judicial haven for extraction corporations worldwide” (see the communiqué by the Collectif Ressources d’Afrique below).
» continue reading "Canada in Africa: an anniversary news bulletin about Noir Canada"
Canadian government plays divide and conquer with Algonquin indigenous peoples over logging
Video Description: The indigenous Algonquin community of Barriere Lake has been fighting with the provincial government of Quebec and the federal government of Canada for nearly twenty years over their land. Blockades they have set up in the late 1980s stopped illegal logging on their land and led them to sign a Trilateral Agreement with the two governments. Today, the community claims the agreement and all others that followed have not been honored, while logging companies plan to resume operations. In an effort to exert pressure on the government and the logging industry, the community has set up several blockades in protest. In response, the community's spokespeople and leaders have been arrested. Benjamin Nottoway, Barriere Lake's customary chief has been arrested at the last blockade and sentenced to two months in jail.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Kitiganik/Rapid Lake, Algonquin Territory / - The Barriere Lake Algonquins have blocked highway 117 by gathering in the middle of the road, after Quebec police dismantled their log blockades earlier in the day, and have now been put on notice that the Riot Police will arrive momentarily.
Community spokesperson Marylynn Poucachiche has been arrested for obstruction and mischief and is currently detained.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Barriere Lake Algonquins peacefully blockade highway 117 in Northern Quebec a second time: despite fears of more police violence, community wants Quebec and Canada to respect agreements and Canada to end interference in leadership selection
Kitiganik/Rapid Lake, Algonquin Territory / - This morning at 7:30am, Barriere Lake community members of all ages and their supporters once again peacefully blockaded highway 117 outside their reserve, demanding that Quebec and Canada send in negotiators rather than resort to police violence. During the Algonquin's first blockade on October 6th, 2008, Quebec police used tear gas and "pain compliance" techniques against a peaceful crowd that included Elders, youth, and children, arrested nine people, and hospitalized a Customary Councillor after hitting him in the chest with a tear-gas canister, drawing criticism from international human rights groups, the Chiefs of Ontario, and the Christian Peacemakers Team. [ http://blip.tv/file/1391794 ]
Election signs get defaced and destroyed at an unparalleled rate in Montreal... but this is the first time I've heard of city officials taking part.
The Communist Party had some election signs up, with slogans like "Canada out of Afghanistan" and "End Canadian Support for Israeli Apartheid". Apparently, Westmount officials took them down.
If this is true, then Westmount has really stepped in it. Defacing or removing election signs is a criminal offense.
--
The press release:
Westmount on warpath against Communist candidate’s election posters
On September 28 & 29 2008, Westmount Public Security removed election posters of Communist Party of Canada candidate BILL SLOAN from public poles in the riding of WESTMOUNT-VILLE-MARIE.
The recently posted signs, duly Authorized by the registered agent of the Party, put forward his positions on Canadian policy concerning Afghanistan and Israel. In one case, "CANADA OUT OF AFGHANISTAN" and the other, "END CANADIAN SUPPORT TO APARTHEID ISRAEL".
The signs were removed by the Westmount administration without giving either the candidate or the Party notice, either before or after the removal. Bill Sloan learned of the City’s actions when the Westmount Independent published a note in its October 7-8, 2008 issue, mentioning that "Offensive" posters had been taken down by Westmont public security
" I called their public security on October 9 and spoke to the Director, Mr. Richard Blondin. He confirmed that his service had indeed removed my posters on September 28 and 29, but did not tell me what they had done with them. He declined to explain for what reasons or under what authority they had acted."
» continue reading "Westmount security removes candidate's election signs during election"
The Dominion is a monthly paper published by an incipient network of independent journalists in Canada. It aims to provide accurate, critical coverage that is accountable to its readers and the subjects it tackles. Taking its name from Canada's official status as both a colony and a colonial force, the Dominion examines politics, culture and daily life with a view to understanding the exercise of power.