ADVISORY: Ontario’s Largest Anti-Poverty Conference to Draw Speakers from U.S. “Fight for $15” and Québec Student Movement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2015

ADVISORY: Ontario’s Largest Anti-Poverty Conference to Draw Speakers from U.S. “Fight for $15” and Québec Student Movement  

(TORONTO, ON) ─ Organizers of the Ontario Common Front Anti-Poverty Assembly are anticipating over 500 people to participate in the two-day conference this weekend in Toronto. Topping the roster of impressive speakers are Chicago “Fight for $15” minimum wage activist Jessica Davis, former Québec student leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and award-winning author Linda McQuaig.

Organized by the Ontario Common Front and the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) under the banner “Solidarity Against Inequality”, the Assembly is designed with one primary purpose: to develop a broad and comprehensive plan for eliminating poverty in Ontario. The Assembly will take place only days before the Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne will release the Ontario Budget.

WHAT:   Ontario Common Front Anti-Poverty Assembly

WHERE: University of Toronto, OISE Building, 252 Bloor St. West

WHEN:   6:30 pm – 8:30 pm on Friday, April 17 and 9:00 am to 5:30 pm on Saturday April 18

FRIDAY PANEL (7:00 pm to 8:30 pm)

• Jessica Davis, Fight for $15 Chicago
• Crystal Sinclair, Idle No More
• Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, Québec Student Movement

SATURDAY PANEL (9:00 am to 10:15 am)

• Melissa Addison-Webster, Disability Activist
• Grace-Edward Galabuzi, Ryerson University Professor & Author
• Linda McQuaig, Journalist & Author
• John Clarke, Anti-Poverty Activist

Separate media interviews can be arranged with individual panelists or event organizers.

Download the full Assembly Agenda from: http://weareontario.ca/wp-content/uploads/APA2015-Agenda.pdf

“This Assembly is shaping up to be the largest anti-poverty conference to be held in Ontario in a generation,” said Carol Baker, the Community Co-Chair for the Ontario Common Front.

“People from every region of the province and from every walk of life are frustrated by the lack of action on Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy, so we are coming together to demand a new plan,” said Ontario Federation of Labour President Sid Ryan.

The Ontario Common Front is a coalition that was founded in 2012 by the OFL and over 90 community and labour groups to build a united opposition to the austerity agenda. For information, visit www.WeAreOntario.ca and follow the discussion on the hashtag #PovertyFreeON.

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For further information: Joel Duff, OFL Communications Director: 416-707-0349 or jduff@ofl.ca