Beirut explosion

The following is from a fellow local PSAC union member.

Please think about helping if you can

You may or may not be aware that on the fourth of August a massive explosion rocked my home town Beirut. The explosion destroyed everything within a 3-5 km radius in a heavily populated part of the city, resulting in 300,000 homeless, and many deaths and injuries, with numbers increasing as the rubble is removed. The silos that usually store the grain and wheat reserves for the whole country were destroyed in the blast, raising concerns of flour shortage in the near future. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Beirut_explosions.   Lebanon was already undergoing an extreme economic crisis, with a currency devalued about 78% in 9 months, and restrictions on cash withdrawals (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/lebanon-currency-economy-crisis/2020/06/26/9e2c62ea-b712-11ea-9a1d-d3db1cbe07ce_story.html).     The above situation is catastrophic, and I am imploring to help if you can. You can donate to the Canadian matching fund or directly to the organizations I listed below.   Government of Canada Lebanon matching fund https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/response_conflict-reponse_conflits/crisis-crises/lebanon-liban.aspx?lang=eng   Impact Lebanon: https://www.impactlebanon.org/initiatives/disaster-relief-after-explosion-in-beirut   Lebanese Food Bank:https://lebanesefoodbank.org/   Lebanese Red Cross:http://www.redcross.org.lb/index.aspx?pageid=907#panel-1 Unicef Canada:  https://secure.unicef.ca/page/65357/donate/1?ea.tracking.id=20DIEM30LBE&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0LCF4KiW6wIVGaSzCh3ltABJEAAYAyAAEgKknvD_BwE   Thank you,  Rima

Environmental Racism Potential Films Inc-1 on Vimeo

ACW, CBTU, and ACLA hosted a webinar and invited union and community activists to take action against environmental racism. In this moment of tremendous social change unions are asking themselves: how best can we act to stop racism in all its forms and ensure that the transition to a “new normal” does not reproduce the inequities of the old normal.

UN International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples: COVID-19 and indigenous peoples’ resilience – UNESCO World Heritage Centre

http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2146

“With the current COVID-19 pandemic, the link between environmental damage and pandemics has again been established. Many indigenous peoples have warned over decades about increasing threats to natural heritage so important for their survival. Through their traditional knowledge and their relationship to nature, they have long known that environmental dilapidation can trigger disease.”

PSAC ONTARIO webinar-“Understanding and Confronting Racism”

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/1002873759889326349

PSAC Ontario will be holding a province-wide webinar on Wednesday, August 10th at 6 p.m. titled: “Understanding and Confronting Racism”.

The webinar will focus on the following topics:

Individual, Institutional, and Systemic racism
The Unique Challenges of Anti-Indigenous Racism in Canada
The Unique Challenges of Anti-Black Racism in Canada
Being Actively Anti-Racist in the Workplace

This webinar is open to all members. Please register here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/1002873759889326349

Should you have any question concerning the registration process, contact OntarioWebinar@psac-afpc.com