Do you have an old bike lying around your garage/shed/basement/apartment? We can find a new home for it!

OPIRG is starting an exciting project which will provide a means of transportation for migrant workers in the Niagara Region! Migrant workers live in rural part of our community and without a reliable means of transportation , they have a difficult time not only getting to know their new communities, but more importantly reaching necessities like markets, grocery stores and social services.

Working with the Migrant Workers Support Center in Virgil, we are running a Bike Collection for the next two months! We will take care of fixing up the bikes and making them road safe, all you have to do is bring them to our downtown InfoShop!

If you have any questions or would like to make a donation email Milica at opirgbu@gmail.com

You can also bring your old bike to our downtown InfoShop:
10 Summer St, St Catharines
(It is directly behind the Pizza Pizza on St Paul St)
We are open Mon-Fri 12-5pm

It's that time of the year again.
No! not final projects and essays time! No! not longingly starring out of the library window studying for exam time No! not moving out of your student apartment time/spring cleaning!

It's OPIRG VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION time! and this year it will be celebrated with FREE BOWLING!!!!

OPIRG is a volunteer run not-for-profit. We only exist because of all the time and work that are wonderful, hardworking, creative volunteers give to us. It's time to say THANKS!!!

Please join us at the merritton community centre, 4 park avenue, this wednesday march 31st from 7-10pm for snacks and an activist bowling tournament. We will also be giving out awards to three folks: outstanding community, undergraduate and graduate volunteer - IT COULD BE YOU! so you'd better show up!

also - we will be carpooling folks from campus and downtown. Please let me know if you have a car, or need a ride - opirgbu@gmail.com

Sex work activists are arguing Canada's Criminal Code provisions in relation to
sex work are a form of gender based discrimination.
Do Canada's laws make sex workers' lives more dangerous?

PANEL DISCUSSION FEATURING:

Valerie Scott - Plaintiff in the current constitutional challenge
Kara Gillies - Maggie's Prostitutes' Community Project
Deb Nancen - Terry's Evergreen Addiction services
Lime Jello and River Redwood - Big Susies
Ebru Ustundag - Assistant Professor, Brock University

THURSDAY MARCH 11th
6:00-8:30
Market Square

2009 marked the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre when a gunman shot and killed 14 women, and injured a further 13 people at L'École Polytechnique de Montréal. In recognition of this event OPIRG is joining with the Center for Women’s Studies to sponsor an Art Contest which highlights women’s and men’s resistance to gender based violence.

About the Contest

Your work could be selected to be part of an art event that will engage the community in dialogue on violence against women. Entries will be displayed on March 8 on International Women’s Day, and during the Social Justice and Equity Studies Forum on March 20th 2010.
Submissions should have a visual component and a text accompaniment. All art forms are encouraged including photography, fine art, sculpture and multimedia.

Contest Guidelines

Themes

One in three women worldwide experiences violence in their lifetime, making violence against women one of the gravest human rights violations of our time.

Submission Topics:

This contest aims to showcase and educate people on the multiple forms of violence against women. We hope to raise thought-provoking questions about the roots and means of perpetuation of violence, as well as possible solutions. We seek to show stories of struggle and also stories of empowerment and victory. Forms of violence that artworks might reflect upon include:

•Violence on university campus
•Domestic abuse
•Sexual assault
•Internalized violence such as body image and beauty standards
•Violence against girl children
•Violence against Indigenous women
•Violence against lesbians, gender queer and trans people
•Violence against women in prison
•Racialized gender-based violence
•Reproductive abuse and violence
•Sexual harassment
•Honor killings
•War/occupation and gender-based violence in the context of militarization and military conflict
•Trafficking in women for forced labour or slavery

Additional themes might include:
•Interlocking systems of violence
•Masculinities and men’s role and responsibility in combating violence
•Public tolerance, apathy or sense of inevitability in the face of violence
•Links between cultures of violence against women and other issues such as environmental degradation, animal abuse, economic globalization, neocolonialism

Stories of victories might include:
o Rehabilitation art
o Creative grassroots campaigns
o Legislative victories
o Personal stories of empowerment
You are limited to one entry per person.

Fee

There is no fee to enter.

Entry

1.One entry per person
2.To enter please send an email to opirgbu@brocku.ca with “Attention Milica” as your subject and include the following information in the email with your entry: Name, email address, a high resolution photographic duplication of the image (preferably a .jpg file) or a video file if applicable, and title of artwork. If the text component of the artwork is not easily legible in the image duplication, it should be forwarded in an accompanying text file (.doc or .rtf) as well.

Timeline

1.Entries must be received by February 22nd 2010.
2.Winners will be notified by email and announced on the Ontario Public Interest and Research Groups website by February 26th 2010.

Judging

Judges will select two winners. One winner will be selected from each category: (a) Inspiration, (b) Incisive Social Commentary. Judging will be made based on subject, creativity, and composition. The decision of the judges is final.Judges will be made up of members of OPIRG, the Centre for Women Studies, and the Department of Visual Arts.

Prize

The selected winners will each receive a $ 100 honorarium generously donated from the Center for Women’s Studies and the Ontario Public Interest Research Group.

For more information about this contest email opirgbu@brocku.ca

Come out and join us for FREE documentary screenings every Monday from 5pm-7pm at the OPIRG Downtown Info Shop at 73 St.Paul street!!

JANUARY; Resistance in the Global North

Jan 11th; Pick Axe
Jan 18th; No 2010 and This is What Democracy Looks Like
Jan 25th; Addicted to Plastic

FEBRUARY; Follow the Money

Feb 1; Zeitguist: Addendum
Feb 8th; Capitalism: A Love Story
Feb 15th; Life and Debt
Feb 22nd; The Story of Stuff and A Crude awakening

MARCH; Food Politics

March 1st; Food Inc
March 8th; The World According to Monsanto
March 15th; Behind the Mask
March 22nd; Food Matters
March 29th; Dive! Living off America's Waste

APRIL; Resistance in the Global South

April 5th; Black Gold
April 12th; Bolivia in Transition
April 19th; Zapatista
April 26th; The Dignity of Nobodies



Please come out and brings your friends for an evening of FREE entertainment!!!