Updated With Video of the Entire Event! WE ARE TAKING TO THE STREETS TO DEMAND ACTION! March 20 marks one year since the first prisoner in Canada contracted COVID-19 at the Toronto South Detention Centre. In the last year, more than 6,700 COVID-19 cases were linked to prisons and jails – including 4,971 prisoners.
We know that the numbers are much worse than reported because of a lack of testing and inconsistent reporting practices. Despite persistent calls to take immediate action to avoid preventable deaths, our government is failing prisoners. The virus has spread like wildfire, and the conditions inside have only worsened. Prisoners, their loved ones, frontline workers, and community members have continued to demand immediate action to avoid preventable deaths.
Link to the Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/344534966872563
Full Press Release: Media-Advisory_Ottawa-National-Day-of-Action-Event_20-March-2021_to-media.pdf
We demand:
✊🏾 Divest from Prisons and Build Communities
✊🏾 Immediate releases with adequate support to ensure housing, food, and income support;
✊🏾 Immediate Public Health measures implemented to improve conditions inside and address prisoners well-documented concerns;
✊🏾 Equitable access to healthcare for all prisoners;
✊🏾 Immediate action to address and respond to the numerous accounts of human rights abuses (i.e. punishment tests, excessive lockdowns); and
✊🏾 Immediate action to address the overdose crisis.
When: (full schedule will be communicated during event for safety reasons)
2:30 PM – 4:00 PM: Meet at the Courthouse at 161 Elgin Street.
WHO: Prisoner rights activists, former prisoners, the loved ones of incarcerated people, frontline workers, and community members from the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project and allied groups
WHAT: A march in downtown Ottawa
LIVESTREAM: Criminalization and Punishment Education Project Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CPEPgroup/
Know Your Rights During The Event Document and Info Here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQX7lQQJ1fXYZVBBOAL40E5jQhca8szNSlq5o2QfZbCfCd774eCo9vCbvkRxyKmMCsPJ0Sb9-Xhrx-t/pub
We encourage communities to organize actions at prisons and jails, youth detention centres, migrant detention centres, and psychiatric detention centres. For support organizing your action, please connect with us via email at freethemall2021@gmail.com.
This rally is in part of the #FreeThemAll National Day of Action, which is organized by the Abolition Coalition. Organizations and individuals will contribute in a multitude of ways. Here is a list of confirmed and potential events and activities:
Confirmed
– Tkaronto: Toronto Prisoners Rights Project: https://fb.me/e/E38HNDjm
– Tiohtià:ke (Montreal): Solidarity Across Borders TBA
Potential:
– So-called Hamilton, Kingston, London, St John’s, and Vancouver.
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Photo by Krisna Saravanamuttu
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