259) Day 27 -- Reason #27 to revolt against Predatory Capitalism

Because Predatory Capitalism, and the hierarchy of power that goes along with it, sucks. And is tearing holes in our communities, health, democracies and lives in general. So here are some key resources for getting involved in “the revolution”.

Whether you are interested in getting more directly involved in social change, environmental work, anti-racism, protecting democracy, anti-poverty, or related issues, here are my best suggestions for how to get started.  

First, in general:

Schools — Schools have volunteer opportunities, and work with local organizations for all kinds of things.  Ask a teacher, or start with the front-desk, and go from there.

Libraries — age-old community info hub.  ALL libraries can give you information about local organizations.

Churches — If you are a church-goer, your church will be involved with philanthropic work in some way or another.  And many of the church members will have ties to community organizations.  Ask around!

Women’s shelters, and Men’s shelters although there are much fewer of them — Most larger cities have some kind of organization that helps abused women and kids.  They always need help.  Obviously, a social work or similar skillset is particularly useful, but it can’t hurt to ask them if you don’t have that and still want to make a difference.  

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More specifically, here are some of the best organizations I’ve found after looking through Canadian NGOs and such.  I tried to focus on organizations that either offer direct volunteer opportunities, OR ones that are central hubs for information.  Unfortunately, of the literally hundreds of organizations I looked through, many of them just want donations, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to be personally involved.  And personally, for me, I’m not down with “just send us money and we’ll do stuff with it.”  So I did my best to avoid promoting those organizations.  

I also focused on more general organizations, because they pretty much always have local chapters or grassroots connections.  So even if there’s not a way to get involved with the umbrella organization, they can point you towards opportunities in your local area.  (And I did include a couple of Toronto-specific ones that I happen to know do great work.) 

So if you’re interested in volunteering time to organizations, or you want to broaden your information/news sources, I’d start with these, personally, and see what interests you!!

Fair Vote Canada – fairvote.ca – Citizens’ lobbying and education group to promote the reform of our electoral system, specifically, to get past our utterly stupid “first past the post” system, in favour of some form of proportional representation.  Because right now, many of our votes literally don’t matter and we get ruled by parties that have only minority support in Canada.  This is one of the biggest things holding back Canadian progress in just about everything.  They have direct volunteer opportunities. 

Citizens Climate Lobby — citizensclimatelobby.org — They do a ton of work in the climate change space, educating people, letter-writing campaigns, and other ways of pressuring government to take stronger action to protect the climate and build resilience into communities.  Immediate volunteer opportunities; they are very grass-roots!

Idle No More — idlenomore.ca — This is my first stop for learning more about Indigenous rights, land claims and resistance movements. They are fighting for all of us on Turtle Island, and is one of the more inspiring organizations I’ve been involved with and learned from.

CCLA – Canadian Civil Liberties Association — https://ccla.org — They work primarily at a legal level to protect human rights in Canada and hold governments accountable.  I’m not sure about volunteering if you don’t work in some kind of law-capacity, but they’re connected with much of the Canadian political landscape and would be a good place to start.

Samara Centre for Democracy — https://www.samaracentre.ca — they have a sign-up page for people who seek to be involved at a general citizen’s level, and could engage with social media campaigns.

The Council of Canadians — https://canadians.org/membership-enrolment/?mem=yes — One of Canada’s leading organizations that works at the intersection of politics, the environment and human rights.  GREAT info resource and connector to other groups throughout the country.

Canadian Womens Foundation — https://canadianwomen.org/get-involved/volunteer-canadian-womens-foundation/ — working with women, girls, and gender diverse folks to advance women’s and diversity rights.

Black Lives Matter – Canada — https://www.blacklivesmatter.ca — anti-racism work, intersectionality, education, political lobbying, police violence and reform or defunding, etc.

Woman Act — https://womanact.ca — Working on issues of women’s rights, equality in the workplace, and domestic violence.

Resilient Societies network — https://cooperation.ca/resilient-societies/ — Great info source for issues regarding societies’ vulnerability to their tech systems, and how to make things like electrical grids more resilient. I’m not sure about volunteering with them though. But great info source!

Climate Action Network — https://climateactionnetwork.ca — very active climate change organization!  Lots of opportunities, and lots of connections with other groups.

Amnesty International – Canada chapter — https://www.amnesty.ca —  Human Rights advocacy, national to international

Democracy Watch — https://democracywatch.ca — focused on politics and corporate-pressuring, to ensure our democracy remains a democracy

Egale — egale.ca — LGBTQ+ advocacy organization

Friends of Ruby — friendsofruby.ca — Toronto-based LGBTQ+ organization, focusing on youth.  They advertise volunteer opportunities, and I have personal friends who vouch for their awesomeness

The Stop — (local food organization — Toronto only) — https://www.thestop.org/volunteer/

If local-food is your thing, or community gardening, etc., go to a Farmer’s market in your area, and ask around for how to get involved.  They are ALWAYS a good resource for local organizations, no matter where you live!

Ontario Health Coalition — https://www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca — While I’m not sure if they have direct volunteering opportunities, they are a good hub for connecting to more local, health-based grassroots organizations.  Send them a message and ask them for resources for your own town or region. 

AntiHate — antihate.ca — Again, not direct volunteer opportunities, but if direct anti-racism types of work is an interest, they are a good resource hub and you could ask for local organizations that they affiliate with. 

David Suzuki Foundation – davidsuzuki.org — one of Canada’s most active enviro-organizations.  They frequently work at a petitions and political-pressure level, but also are linked with a gazillion grassroots organizations.  A great hub for sustainability/enviro-info.  

Please add more!! And local groups that are awesome are very welcome!! Just let people know what town/city/region they work in!

Cheers