2023 At A Glance!
Action!
What a year of meaningful action! This year SURJ members mobilized and showcased the importance of coming together in solidarity, and gathering others into transformative action. We kicked off the year strong with the Strawberry Ceremony and Defund the Police Rally. The rally spread the word of “another Toronto” by demanding the police budget be decreased and reallocated to social services, to begin redressing an over-policed and under-resourced city. In February we joined No More Silence in their annual ceremony, fighting for justice for the thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans and Two-Spirit people in Canada. By engaging in coordinating, postering and sign-making, and marshaling by some of our members, we were able to amplify the turnout and reach for these crucial events.
Image Description: Jan 24 Report Back — Another Toronto Is Possible.
Image Description: 18th Annual Strawberry Ceremony, Toronto Police Service, February 14 2023
From there we just kept going! We continued to stand in solidarity in March as we supported ONA March for Better Care, the MRN #Statusforall March, and the RBC Fossil Fools Day of Action in April. In February a few of our members stickered QR codes in restaurants…. YES I said QR codes! These QR codes link you to a secret menu revealing the hidden human costs of the food on your table, exposing the exploitation of farm workers, followed by a petition for equal rights and power to protection.
Image Description: Support Nurses for Better Care Sign at ONA March for Better Care
Image Description: Defund the Police Rally
Our momentum only increased as the summer came. We showed up in support for the Abolitionist Pride in June, recentering Pride’s origins as a protest and reclaiming Pride as a space of resistance, as well as the Toronto Disability Pride March. In July, we organized a Zap Action that totaled 365 emails and 114 calls in support for refugees and asylum-seekers in Toronto.
Most recently we joined the Land Defence Alliance, five First Nations communities from Northern Ontario, as they called on Premier Ford to end unwanted mining activity on their Territories and fought for Indigenous sovereignty rights. The March for Land in September was in big part a result of months of commitment and dedication from our members! We phone banked, we postered, we organized webinars, WE MARCHED!! This one was so powerful and had such a huge turnout. #LANDBACK
Photo. Image Description: Land Defence Alliance March
Image Description: Free Grassy » Land Alliance Rally – September 27th -12 PM, Grange Park, Toronto
Education & Moving Money!
As important as physically taking to the streets is, moving money also plays a huge role in our efforts. We organized an Anti-Oppression & Anti-Racism 101 Webinar in April where we were able to move $1,165 to Toronto Indigenous Harm Reduction. In May we hosted an external webinar about calling people into justice work led by Karen B.K. Chan where we raised and moved $1,555 for Sistering. We also were a part of Care not Cops: A Webinar on Defunding the Police, and Racism at Laurier Presentation.
PALESTINIAN LIBERATION!
As SURJ members we stand for collective liberation of everyone in the world. As such, we were devastated and heartbroken to witness the atrocities committed by Israel, following the colonization and segregation of Palestine that has been ongoing for over multiple decades. In a very short amount of time SURJ banded together against the occupation of Palestine, and engaged with so many other enraged community members.
On October 16th, Jewish members of SURJ Toronto wrote and put out a hugely impactful statement calling for the ending of deadly violence and Palestine occupation
On October 2nd, SURJ organized a phone zap for Palestine in support of their liberation totalling 344 calls and 1,086 emails
On October 24th, SURJ along with some of our co-organizing groups organized an online learning and action webinar totalling 600 participants and raising $120,000 to be moved to Palestinian Youth Movement Gaza aid fund and Islamic Relief Canada
As of October 26th SURJ members have started postering around the city of Toronto with signs of Palestinian liberation
On November 23rd, SURJ partnered with other groups to organize Ceasefire & Beyond, a webinar to educate and move money in support of Palestinian liberation. Our 300+ participants moved $38,000 towards Palestinian Youth Movement, Independent Jewish Voices, and Gaza relief campaigns by Islamic Relief Canada and Grassroots International
Image Description: Take Action for Palestine! Online Learning & Action!
Image Description: Online Phone Zap for Palestine!
Alternative to 911 Community Skill-Building Workshop Series:
SURJ is all about disrupting the current world order- and the systems that have been set in place for decades but desperately need changing. That’s why we spent a good chunk of this year creating an “Alternatives to 911 Community Skill-Building Workshop Series” that we launched in July. We recognize the historical and contemporary implications of police intervention on racialized and other minority groups in society that more often than not reflect violence, punitive and carceral responses. Inspired by AWARE Los Angeles’ Alternatives to Policing Project, our Alternatives to 911 series promotes the learning of skills that would assist community members in crisis intervention, without relying on the police. Topics include transformative justice, de-escalation skills, harm reduction, cop-watching, and Indigenous Approaches to Collective Care.
Image Description: Alternatives to 911 Community Skill-Building Series. Text styled in a circle decorated with colourful flowers.
Image Description: Upcoming Sessions Poster with info for each. Transformative Justice Podmapping. Indigenous Approaches to Collective Care. Mental Health 211: Supporting Youth in Crisis.
Spreading the Word!
Thanks to the wonderful initiative of our placement students from last year, SURJ Toronto has started to show up at Farmers Markets to spread the word of SURJ and our movement partners, and invite new people into the community and movement! We’ve gone to Evergreen Brickworks Market, Junction Farmers Market, and East Lynn Park Farmers Market to chat with the Toronto community about some of the work both SURJ and our partners have been involved in.
Image Description: SURJ Toronto Tabling!
Image Description: SURJ Toronto Tabling!
An Appreciation to All Our Different Teams!
Action
The action team has been focusing on ways of supporting and training new folks to get out to direct actions, while continuing the crucial organizing actions of postering for various causes. The team has also supported a boycott RBC action, as well as the September Grassy Narrows action this year!
Base Building
The basebuilding team received more than 120 individual requests to join SURJ Toronto this year! The team primarily connects existing SURJ members with interested individuals through a 1:1 buddy system; this small and mighty team supported dozens of new members to get connected in Slack and with the team. Due to a huge influx of interest in the fall, the team also hosted a public onboarding and action meeting.
Campaigns
The Campaigns Team has done such crucial work around the Defund campaign that launched in 2021. A year filled with massive movement and public support, they engaged in community engagements, counselors, postering, projection actions, and tabling around defunding the police. Since then, they have been restructuring their internal structure striving to create a sustainable community that continues to work with city and movement partners. In the meanwhile they worked with TTC riders, volunteering in February at their town hall safety meeting. Stay tuned as this team is committed to keeping it going!
Comms
The comms team has done an exceptional job this year working on the “public face of SURJ” with regular external newsletters going out every 2 weeks to over 6000 registered recipients! A few of their members have dedicated time to a SURJ website REVAMP this year, as well as the creation of a new logo! The SURJ twitter account has recently surpassed 5K followers, with the instagram page rapidly approaching 12K followers!
Coordinating
The coordinating team is SURJ’s non-hierarchical internal leadership, which provides organizational guidance and oversight in areas related to strategic direction, finance, Black, Indigenous and People of Colour movement partners, internal culture, security, and accountability. This year, the coordinating team welcomed several new members (hi Jen, Jenny, Erin, Ollie, and Maggie!), and “retired” several long-time members (big shout outs to Johanna, Tom, Molly, Renee, and Dan!). This year, the team invited an external facilitator to support internal conversations about class and disability justice. The team also hosted several all-members’ meetings and a summer social, moved many thousands of dollars to movement partners, and managed lots of tricky administrative tasks including a Slack re-org!
Disability & Access
The Disability Justice and Access Team is one of the newest teams in SURJ Toronto. This year, the team hosted several drop-in spaces for SURJ Toronto members to talk about the intersections of disability and organizing. The group also drafted an incredible internal document to support SURJ Toronto’s culture of access and care. Members of the DJ&A team hosted several internal eds about DJ, and about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Kids & Fam
Our Kids & Fam Team is so important in reflecting the need for community youth to get involved in the conversation and the movement! This year in May this team facilitated a virtual workshop for youth in Toronto, Imagining a World Without Police, inviting kids and youth grades 4 and up to engage in a facilitated arts workshop where their creativity takes them to imagine what THEY would spend the police budget on! This workshop was able to donate to Policing free Schools.
LaRRe
The LaRRe team has been doing such meaningful and transformative community work this year around the creation and facilitation of skill and knowledge building workshops. Some of these awesome workshops include: Ethical Money and Investing, Marshalling 101, Abolitions of Prisons, and Disability Justice, and Racial Capitalism. There’s some more great things in the works currently from LaRRe… like a three part Anti-Racism Fall Series! Stay tuned!
