The D12 Human Rights Committee invites members to participate in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights campaign on December 9, 2019 (the day before International Human Rights Day), in a write-athon to be held at A Different Booklist.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens from around the world participate in Write for Rights, to pen letters of support to human rights and social justice dissidents and activists who are persecuted and oppressed for their work. Past Write for Rights campaigns have helped to convince governments to release incarcerated dissidents, commute sentences, and end torture.

Information on the broader Amnesty International campaign can be viewed here. This year’s campaign will support ten human rights defenders, with a focus on Jianne Turtle, a member of the Indigenous Anishinaabe community of Grassy Narrows, right here in Ontario. All the cases we seek to support are explained in the .pdf below.

• D12’s event, hosted by the Human Rights Committee, will be held at A Different Booklist Cultural Centre, at 777-779 Bathurst Street, from 5 to 7 PM.
• Refreshments will be served.
• Writing materials will be provided, and postage paid by OSSTF.
• The event is planned for 40 members, and is open to all D12 Bargaining Units.
• Please RSVP to Chris Chandler, at cchandler@osstftoronto.ca, by November 26, 2019, using the subject line “D12 Write for Rights on International Human Rights Day”.

Members are encouraged, where it fits their curriculum, to use the attachments to talk to your students about the issues faced by the population of Grassy Narrows, and to have them write letters of their own.  Letters written by your students can be sent to the OSSTF Toronto office c/o Chris Chandler, or brought to our December 9 event at a Different Booklist, and we will make sure they arrive at their intended destination.