To get involved with any of the working groups described below - contact Aruna (volunteer coordinator) at aruna@opirgyork.ca or come by the OPIRG office
Environmental Justice Project York:
This working group critically examines social and environmental justice issues related to the tar sands development in Alberta and connect these struggles to both local and international contexts. This working group focuses on three companies involved in the tar sands development: Suncor Energy, Imperial Oil Ltd., and Shell Oil. These companies have a local connection to environmental and social justice issues because of their Keele and Finch terminals which pollute the local environment with toxic chemicals. We want to hold York University accountable since it invests in all three of these companies. Come join us if you want to raise awareness of local environmental justice issues and how they relate to a wider national and global context.
Progressive Filipino Canadians for Community Empowerment and Development (PFCCED):
PFCCED is a working group which aims to bring about a progressive analysis of genuine community empowerment and development of marginalized and racialised communities from the working class perspective.
Our goals: To address and deepen our understanding of various issues within marginalized and racialised communities such as poverty, unemployment, racism, and other intersecting forms of oppression and exploitation concerning women, workers and youth. To build alliances with other progressive individuals, organizations and/or communities along anti-imperialist, anti-racist, feminist and anti-oppressive lines.
ART FOR JUSTICE:
Art For Justice aims to bring a radical and progressive approach to art-making within student and community organizing. We utilize different sorts of art not only to provide materials for movement, but also as a movement itself.
Our goals:
(1) Share skills and resources by organizing accessible arts-based workshops for students and community members;
(2) Work in collaboration with other OPIRG working groups and student/community organizations that mobilize for social and environmental justice.
Congo Research Group:
CRG is dedicated to exposing and holding accountable some of the forces fuelling the conflict in D.R. Congo: imperialism, foreign occupation and racism. Join us while we advocate for justice and peace in D.R. Congo via film screenings, fundraising for Friends of Congo, partnering with H2oCongo, and organizing a Congo Week on York campus.
STOP York Animal Research:
STOP York Animal Research is an advocacy group which aims to raise awareness about the cruelty involved in animal research, to educate students about alternatives to animal research, and to assist students who wish to opt-out of coursework involving animal research due to conscientious objection.
One central goal of this group is to inform York students about the nature and extent of animal research being conducted on the York University campus and in campuses across Canada. We also want to promote more education about the many existing alternatives to animal research and to encourage York University to direct research to developing more alternatives. We intend to invite three guest speakers throughout the course of the year, Dr. Ray Greek, author of Sacred Cows and Golden Geese (Continuum, 2000), Olivier Berreville, representative of the Canadian chapter of InterNICHE, and Nick Wright from Lawyers for Animal Welfare. We also intend to develop an Animal Awareness Day on campus. Our work fits well under the rubric of OPIRG as animal liberation is a social justice issue. Many students do not speak out against animal research on campus and/or are forced to participate in experiments on animals to meet course or degree requirements out of fear of academic reprisal. Many do not know that it is their human right to opt out of experiments. We intend to inform students about this right and to help them assert it should they so choose.
