News and Views

Rock the Vote

Torontonians took their issues to the candidates, to the forums and to the streets this fall as Ontario prepared for the provincial election on October 10. Ligia Hendry captured some of the issues in the days leading up to the Liberals’ second majority win.

Left photo: A poignant reminder – from begging for change to
demanding change at the Vote Out Poverty Rally,
October 1, 2007 outside Massey Hall. Right photo: George Smitherman, Ontario
Minister of Health and Long
Term Care, reviews his notes
before Stepping Up for
Toronto’s Communities, a
provincial election forum on
issues of concern to Toronto’s
non-profit community sector
on September 25, 2007.

Left photo: At the doors of the Vote Out Poverty; Right photo: Audience members vie for attention

Disability Action Movement Now (DAMN 2025) protesters symbolically
block access to the MacDonald Block, an Ontario Government building
that houses the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Transportation and
Ministry of Community and Social Services among others.

 Left photo:At the Anti-Poverty Rally, September 26, 2007 at
Queen’s Park, a man protests the insufficient allowance
for food on Ontario Works and the indignity of needing a
doctor’s note for the special dietary allowance. Right photo: Backing the Daily Bread Food Bank’s Hungry City
initiative to stop hunger in Toronto, an attendee
waits for the Stepping Up Forum to begin.

 Left photo: Ryerson students and staff fasted for a
day to prove a point. The “Get Hungry for
Change” movement raised funds for the
Daily Bread Food Bank on October 1, 2007
at Ryerson University. Right photo: A woman demonstrates the reality of
inadequate social funding at the DAMN 2025
protest, September 26, 2007.

The youth get involved
by protesting the lack of
affordable housing in Toronto
at the Anti-Poverty Rally. The
average price per square foot
for a condo in Toronto is $371.
At that rate, a person on social
assistance could afford to rent
11 square inches a month. A participant demands immediate action for the
disabled at the Disability Action Movement Now
(DAMN 2025) protest opposing the government
plan to delay a barrier-free Ontario until 2025.

 

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