Road to Zero Waste
With Shabeeb Hassan
April 23rd, 2019 6-8pm, PARC (1499 Queen St W)
There is a worldwide epidemic of food wastage, and Canada is no exception. Every year, Canadian food waste amounts to $31 billion dollars. Not only are important resources being squandered as a result of this waste, but also it is is environmentally damaging to our planet. When wasted food is thrown into landfill and begins to decompose, methane gas is released into the atmosphere, contributing directly to global warming.
At this two-part workshop, our team of educators will teach you about the reasons for the ongoing food waste epidemic, and offer some tips that will help your household reduce food waste. The workshop concludes with a game, and a prize for the winner!
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Road to Zero Waste is a local non-profit organization that works to address these problems by running workshops about food waste in various neighbourhoods and community spaces. Our goal is to change the way Canadians think about food waste, and to reduce food waste in Canada more quickly and efficiently.
Decolonizing Your Yoga Practice
With Judith Mintz
September 24th, 2018 6:30-8:30pm, PARC (1499 Queen St W)
In this lecture and conversation, Judith will introduce the issues of cultural appropriation and accessibility pervasive in contemporary yoga culture. Together, we will discuss how yoga classes are structured and how we experience them, and consider the ways in which we can decolonize our yoga practice rescue it from commoditization. The goal is to bring our yoga practice into harmony with movements for social justice and spiritual healing.
Judith Mintz is a multidisciplinary researcher of gender, equity, diversity and inclusion policy in workforce and health spaces. She holds a PhD in Women and Gender Studies from York University. She has been a yoga instructor and shiatsu therapist since 1998.
The Radical History of
the Catholic Worker Community In Parkdale
With Jim Loney and Richard Marshal
September 19th 2019 6-8pm, 5 Close Ave.
Join us for a peoples history event recounting the radical story of Parkdale’s Catholic Worker Community. Founded in 1990, the former Toronto Catholic Worker community moved into Parkdale in 1993 where it remained until its dissolution in 2010. At its height, the community included about thirty people living in six households located at the bottom of Close Avenue.
The Catholic Worker is an anarchist pacifist movement inspired by Catholic social teaching that envisions a grass-roots social revolution proceeding from individual and collective action for the common good; a new society built on the shell of the old where it is easier to be good. It began in New York in 1933 and now encompasses some 200 communities, most of them in the United States. The Toronto Catholic Worker was anchored by the Zacchaeus House, a house of hospitalist that welcomed people in need of housing. Over the course of its 20 year history, Zacchaeus House welcomed and supported several hundred people offering both long and short-term family-style community housing. In addition to this the work of hospitalist, the community also ran a bakery, a cooperative sawmill and attempted to establish a land trust. Join us to learn more about this inspiring community.
Right to City: Community Planning
in Barcelona and Bologna
With Elena Ostanel
May 15th, 2019 6-8pm, PARC (1499 Queen St W)
Many cities in Europe are experiencing widening social inequality/ spatial divisions between rich and poor neighbourhoods. These patterns of polarization run directly parallel to the ongoing gentrification of Toronto, which impacts the affordability, equity and diversity of urban communities.
This workshop aims to explore the strengths and weaknesses of two neighborhood planning initiatives in Barcelona, Spain and Bologna, Italy, with the aim of connecting the work of the Parkdale People's Economy to larger movements for community-led planning. Plan De Barris, in Barcelona, is a 150 million-euro neighborhood planning initiative led by the local government in concert with Barcelona en Comù. Laboratorio Spazi, in Bologna, is a community planning initiative (77 million of euro invested) that has led to the activation of community hubs in priority neighborhoods. The workshop also aims to discuss the contemporary meaning of the ‘right to the city’ as related to these city-level experiments.
Elena Ostanel is a Marie Sklowdoska Curie Research Fellow based at Iuav, University of Venice, and currently collaborates with the Neighborhood Change Research Partnership in Toronto. Since February 2018, she has focused her research on Parkdale, and how this community is organizing against the negative effects of neighbourhood change. Elena is a researcher and practitioner of urban planning and community engagement, as well as a former city counsellor in Padua, Italy.
Counter Institution:
Activist Estates on NYC's Lower East Side
With Nandini Bagchee
December 3rd, 2019, 6-8pm, PARC (1499 Queen St W)
Join architect Nandini Bagchee for a conversation on her book, Counter Institution and the politics of resistance in the context of a gentrifying city.
In "Counter Institution", Bagchee examines three re-purposed buildings on the Lower East Side that have been used by activists to launch actions over the past forty years. In a captivating discussion of buildings and urban settings as important components of progressive struggles in New York City over more than a century, Bagchee reveals how these collectively organized spaces have provided a venue for political participation while existing as a vital part of the city’s civic infrastructure.
Nandini Bagchee is an Associate Professor at the Spitzer School of Architecture at CCNY (CUNY) and principal of Bagchee Architects. Her research focuses on activism in architecture and the ways in which ground-up collaborative building practices provide an alternative medium for the creation of public space. Her built-work and writing has been published in the New York Times, Interiors Now, Urban Omnibus and the Journal of Architectural Education.
Diabetes 101
With Laura Lesseer
January 19th, 2021 6-8pm, PARC (1499 Queen St W)
Diabetes is a disease which impairs the body's ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin, resulting in abnormal levels of sugar in the body. Join Laura Lesser, of SugarHype, to learn more about Diabetes and how to treat it effectively. At SugarHype, the main goal is to educate diabetics so that they can feel more comfortable living a productive lifestyle while paying attention to the the care that they must provide for themselves to be healthy.
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Laura’s focus has been on nursing and working with marginalized people. She had 11 years experience as a Registered Nurse working in areas where there were people diagnosed with diabetes. Laura, herself, is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes which is well under control. She decided to open up SugarHype so she can work with people who were fearful of their diabetes and thought that they could not live a “normal, healthy life”. She thought that education was the key to helping people diagnosed with diabetes feel more comfortable. Presently Laura is Caucus co-chair with the Board of Directors at Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre. Her goal for the future is to see as many people who are diagnosed with diabetes feel comfortable with their diagnosis, and to live normal, healthy lifestyles.
Inclusionary Zoning Now!
With Scott Leon
May 7th, 2019 6-8pm, PARC (1499 Queen St W)
Help realize the potential of a powerful new tool to build a more affordable Toronto!
In 2019, Toronto city councillors will vote on whether to mandate that new condo developments in Toronto must include an agreed-upon number of affordable housing units. This policy — Inclusionary Zoning — has been used in hundreds of cities and towns across the US and Canada to expand housing options for low and middle income renters . After years of pressure from housing activists and community groups, the Inclusionary zoning policy will be debated at City Hall. Activists across the city are getting ready to make the case that Toronto must establish strong policy standards that include both high numbers of housing units and a strong mix of affordability. Inclusionary zoning has the potential to build many affordable homes and create more mixed-income communities – and this is an area where the details matter a lot.
In this action-oriented seminar, Scott Leon (a housing researcher and Parkdale resident) will explain how IZ has proven successful in other cities, and facilitate a discussion on how it should be implemented in Toronto. We will conclude by brainstorming how to build a Toronto-wide campaign to increase awareness of the true potential of IZ to build a more affordable city.
Know Your Government:
a Parkdale Democracy Workshop
August 29th 2019 6-8:30pm, PARC (1499 Queen St W)
Concerned about issues affecting you and your community? Want the government to pay attention? Join us for 'Getting to Know Your Government,' an introductory workshop to learn about the roles of government in Canada; how we elect representatives; and how we can impact policies. We’ll share stories of the many ways Parkdale residents participate in our local democracy, from voting to direct action. You’ll leave with your own plan to start engaging with the government about an issue you care about.
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This event is organized by Parkdale People’s Economy members, and co-hosted with West Active Living and Learning Centre. It is funded by a Neighbourhood Grant from the City of Toronto.
