Dear community,
Today is Personal Support Worker Day, and I invite you to join me in saying a huge THANK YOU to PSWs across our community & province.
This is a thanks we could repeat a million times over and frankly, it would still fall short. Because the thanks they really deserve isn't spoken. It's shown. Through fair wages, dignified working conditions, permanent, full-time placements; to name only a few improvements this government can, and should be, acting on right now. Improvements that reflect their immense value & care they show US day in and day out.
Your Ontario NDP is honoring today by continuing to call for an immediate $5/hour increase to PSW wages from pre-pandemic levels, in addition to ensuring PSWs have secure, full-time job placements with benefits (including paid sick leave), rather than many of their current realities that has them juggling shifts & jobs all across the city.
PSWs continue to do the heavy-lifting, HEARTwork to care for our loved ones at their most vulnerable. It's long time we show them the same care in return.
School boards across Ontario, including the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), continue to grapple with deficits after taking on pandemic-related expenses that the government refused to, in order to keep students, teachers and families safe. A few weeks ago, your Ontario NDP put forth an Opposition Day motion demanding the government pay boards back; effectively wiping their deficits clean to avoid harmful cuts to staff & programming.
Unsurprisingly, our demands for investment in our students was met with a unanimous no from the government's side. Now, students & families in our community are seeing its result unfold firsthand as programs are being scaled back due to staffing cuts, including school aquatics.
Well, if Ford thought Toronto-St. Paul's would sit back and take his harmful cuts with ease, he thought wrong. A group of incredible community activists are working to resist him and I couldn't be prouder to see it!
Join them in their calls to save student swim programs by signing your name here.
From May 25-27, the incredible Ballet Jorgen is hosting a Celebration of Black Canadian Choreographers. Anchored by the choreography of Katlyn Addison, Jose Angel Carret, and Mafa Makhubalo, this showcase represents the first time since the start of the pandemic their talent will be on full display.
Learn more about the program and be sure to get your tickets while you still can!
Our friends at the Frankel Lambert Outreach Committee (FLOC) are hosting a "yard sale" fundraiser on May 27th! See below for more details!
With the spring sunshine well upon us, I am in awe of the abundance of gardens here in our community of St. Paul's! I'd love to share this joy with folks across the neighbourhood and celebrate your hard work stewarding a place of beauty and (sometimes) sustenance!
With that in mind, please reply to this email with a photo of your garden (from a container garden on your windowsill to a full vegetable pasture in your yard - all gardens are welcome) to have it featured in our community newsletter AND have the chance to win a small prize!
Want to give your kid a front row seat to all that goes down at Queen's Park? Well, now's your chance through the Legislative Page Program, with applications open now until June 15, 2023.
Each year, grade 7 & 8 students are selected to take part in the coveted program, acting as aides to MPPs in the chambers, while also getting to see and learn of Ontario's parliamentary process, meet members from both sides of the aisle, and make friends from all across Ontario, Having seen many students of St. Paul's take on the important role over the years, and hear the joy and lifelong memories they & their families made, I highly encourage your child's application.
Learn more of the program and how to apply here. If you have any questions, reach out via email at [email protected] or by phone at (416) 325-7457.
Each year across Ontario, thousands of lives are lost to overdoses. We need every level of government to prioritize implementing harm reduction strategies to combat these senseless deaths, and you can help.
As many of you know, Naloxone is a medication that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, and these kits are FREE with training at participating pharmacies across the city. Together, we can prevent unnecessary deaths and work toward a more compassionate society that is safe safe for everyone.
Find a pharmacy with Naloxone kits near you, and make sure you can recognize the signs of an overdose.
On May 27, St. Michael & All Angels Church will be hosting their Community Buzz Day!
In Solidarity, 
Jill Andrew
Toronto-St. Paul's
