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<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">Stumbled across this.... <A
href="http://ontario.sierraclub.ca/ottawa/showevent.php?id=595">http://ontario.sierraclub.ca/ottawa/showevent.php?id=595</A></FONT></DIV>
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<TD align=middle colSpan=2><FONT size=+2>Film Screening and Public
Discussion on Transit</FONT></TD></TR>
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<TD width="40%"><B>Date/Time:</B> 2006, March 17th, 7 PM</TD>
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<TD width="40%"><B>Location:</B> Main Branch, Ottawa Public Library (120
Metcalfe), Ottawa</TD>
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<P>Film Screening and Panel Discussion: Bus Rider's Union <BR><BR>Cost:
FREE! <BR><BR><B>Film</B> <BR>Bus Rider's Union Directed by Haskell Wexler
and Johanna Demetrakas <BR>US 1999, video, color, 87 min.
<BR><BR>Award-winning cinematographer and director Haskell Wexler's (Bound
for Glory, Matewan, Colors) documentary traces three years in the life of
Los Angeles' Bus Rider's Union through its moments of joy, crisis, and
victory. The film depicts the BRU's fight to improve bus service and halt
fare hikes through lawsuits, demonstrations, and sit-ins. <BR><BR>The Bus
Riders Union seeks to promote environmentally sustainable public
transportation for the entire population of Los Angeles, on the premise
that affordable, efficient, and environmentally sound mass transit is a
human right. The organizing and public policy work of the Bus Riders Union
reflects the principle that the needs of low-income people, and oppressed
nationality peoples and communities - Black, Latino, Mexicano/Chicano,
Asian/Pacific Islander and Indigenous peoples must be given priority since
they suffer systematic racial and national oppression in our society.
<BR><BR>Panel Discussion: <BR><BR>Sharmeen Khan - organizer with
Vancouver's Bus Riders Union <BR>Cam Johnstone - President of CUPE 5500
<BR>TBA - organizer with Under Pressure Collective <BR><BR>Ottawa's public
transit system is increasingly becoming unaffordable, unavailable, and
unreliable. In 2005, Ottawa's transit users were subjected to two fare
hikes in a five-month period, resulting in the highest fares in Canada.
Ottawa City Council has announced its intention to raise fares by 7.5%
each year through to 2010. While riders are paying more and more, the
service that they're paying for is being reduced. OC Transpo is a popular
target for councilors looking to ease budget pressures; resulting in
reductions in schedule, cuts to bus routes, and privatization of services.
<BR><BR>The struggle for safe, affordable, and reliable public transit is
picking up momentum in cities and towns throughout Canada and the U.S. One
strategy that has emerged is the formation of "bus riders unions", groups
of transit users who have organized themselves to fight for the services
which they depend on. It is our hope that this panel and film will serve
as a catalyst for a similar public transit movement in Ottawa.
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<TD colSpan=2>For more information, contact .
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