mardi 26 novembre 2019
NCP of Yugoslavia, NKPJ Newsletter No. 1
11/26/19 3:31 PM
Serbia, New Communist Party of Yugoslavia En Europe Communist and workers' parties
STATEMENTS
Statement of the NKPJ: Down with the Coup in Bolivia! All Support and Solidarity to the Bolivian People!
The New Communist Party of Yugoslavia emphatically condemns the coup against Bolivian President Evo Morales.
https://nkpjnewsletter.blogspot.com/2019/11/down-with-coup-in-bolivia-all-support.html
NEWS FROM SERBIA & NKPJ
Young communists gathered in Leningrad
On November 7-10, at the invitation of the Leninist Komsomol (LKSM-RF), the youth organization of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, 11 communist youth organizations gathered in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad).
The League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (SKOJ) was also represented at the visit.
https://nkpjnewsletter.blogspot.com/2019/11/young-communists-gathered-in-leningrad.html
NEW ISSUE OF THE "NOVI KOMUNIST"
https://nkpjnewsletter.blogspot.com/2019/11/new-issue-of-novi-komunist-in-belgrade.html
NKPJ: Solidarity with the progressive forces of Bolivia!
On November 23, in the very heart of Belgrade gathering organized by NKPJ and SKOJ against Otpor-Kanvas and its disastrous production of colour revolutions around the world, like the latest in Bolivia.
https://nkpjnewsletter.blogspot.com/2019/11/solidaryti-with-bolivia-stop-canvas-on.html
ARTICLES
EVENTS IN BOLIVIA FOLLOW SCRIPT OF "COLOR REVOLUTION" – THE ANTITHESIS OF DEMOCRACY
From the claim of a ‘stolen’ election to the opposition burning ballots and the forced resignation of President Evo Morales, the events in Bolivia have followed the script of the overthrow of Slobodan Miloševićoccurred on 5 October 2000.
https://nkpjnewsletter.blogspot.com/2019/11/events-in-bolivia-follow-script-of.html
HISTORY
SMALL IN NUMBER, GREAT IN SACRIFICE: THE WAR IN SPAIN AND THE YUGOSLAVS
The Yugoslav volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, known as Spanish fighters and Yugoslav brigadistas was a contingent of volunteers from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that fought beside the Republican side (in support of the Second Spanish Republic) in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). An estimated 1,664 "Yugoslav brigadistas" fought in the war, out of whom c. 800 were killed in action. According to the Spanish statistics, 148 Yugoslav volunteers received the officer rank during the conflict.
https://nkpjnewsletter.blogspot.com/2019/11/small-in-number-great-in-sacrifice-war.html
AKEL on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 25th November 2019, Nicosia
The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women shouldn’t be a day where empty wishes are made and emotional feelings expressed. It is a day of reflection on the reality that women are experiencing and of highlighting once again demands and assertions. Violence against women will be combated and eliminated by the State and society pursuing broader extensive policies, through institutional interventions, the implementation of comprehensive legislation and infrastructures, by setting measurable goals and continuous evaluations.AKEL demands from the government that it submits the required bills, allocates the necessary resources and funds, and establishes mechanisms for the practical implementation of the Istanbul Convention, which is the most comprehensive and modern legal instrument for combatting violence against women.
In addition, AKEL joins its voice with the Progressive Women’s Movement of POGO demanding the immediate withdrawal of all the reservations/exceptions which were set by the Cypriot government to the Istanbul Convention. As it is well known, the Anastasiades government, at the time of the ratification of the Convention, excluded Cyprus from the implementation of substantive provisions of the Convention for economic reasons. For example, Cyprus has been excluded from the provision which obliges the State to provide adequate state compensation to the victims that have suffered serious bodily injury or harm to their health as there no other financial support is provided to women. If however the state refuses to support women who have become disabled as a result of a violent assault by a man and have no other compensation, one wonders what meaning the welfare state has.
Unless specific progress is recorded, we cannot expect any tangible improvement on the issue of violence against women. AKEL, together with the Women’s Movement of POGO, will continue to demand and propose specific policies and measures for the prevention and combatting of all forms of violence against women, as well as the implementation of policies to provide support to the victims.
Lastly, we recall that this year has been marked by the murder of six women and two girls, reaching a total of 37 homicides of women since 2000. However, we are in the 7th month waiting for the finding of the investigation to be released into the responsibilities of the state and police.
_
_
Events
- Jul01
Intervention of Georgos Koukoumas, member of the C.C. of AKEL and the International Relations Department, at the Hearing “Palestine: What’s Next?” organized by GUE/NGL
2015-07-1 - Feb26
Hearing “Cyprus and Energy: Peace and prosperity in the region”
2015-02-26 - Nov13
AKEL participates at the 16th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties
2014-11-13
lundi 25 novembre 2019
dimanche 24 novembre 2019
Government rolls back rights of agriculture workers in Alberta even further than they were before Bill 6
Statement from AFL president Gil McGowan on new UCP farm workers bill
EDMONTON - Bill 26 is a giant step backwards for farm, ranch and agriculture workers in Alberta. They are back to no longer having the basic workplace rights enjoyed by their counterparts in every other Canadian province. In fact, this bill goes beyond repealing the workplace protections put in place under the previous government. It takes Alberta even further backwards by adding more exempted workers in new industries such as greenhouses and mushroom farms, which were previously covered by workplace legislation even before Bill 6.Bill 26 will make farm and ranch workplaces less safe. Removing mandatory Workers Compensation coverage sets a horrible precedent. Albertans will no longer be able to track farm and ranch injury rates for the province and farms with private insurance will be at risk for lawsuits.
All workers on farms and ranch workers will be exempt from the Labour Relations Code, stripping away their fundamental right to collectively bargain and form a union. At the same time, all temporary workers will now be exempt from the very basic employment standards protections that other workers in Alberta have. This denial of basic rights is unacceptable.
Ultimately, the debate on this heartless and vengeful piece of legislation should be focused, not on employers or owner-operators, but on the workers themselves. Paid agricultural workers are a group of workers in Alberta who were, until very recently, denied their basic rights. Now, only months after having won them after years of struggle, they are having those rights stripped away again by an anti-worker government.
The Minister responsible for this miserable bill should be singled out for particular criticism. With his enthusiastic cheerleading of stripping rights and protections from some of our most vulnerable and long-suffering fellow citizens, he has proven his many critics right. He is no friend of ordinary working Albertans. Instead, he is nothing more than a Trump-loving, worker-hating, proto-authoritarian servant of employers. This guy is on someone’s side: but if you’re a working person, it’s not yours. All of this is shameful, shameful.
Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour
-30-
MEDIA CONTACT:
Gil McGowan
President, AFL
(780) 218-9888 or gmcgowan@afl.org
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Why this week is a 'major turning point' for America's daily newspapers
By Brian Stelter, CNN Business Nov 20, 2019 Updated 10 min ago
Save
Let's take a close look at what's happening at three of the biggest newspaper owners in the United States.
Because, after all, changes at local newspapers have ramifications for communities big and small, from coast and coast and all the points in between.
"This week marks a major turning point in the already-churning U.S. daily business," news industry analyst Ken Doctor told me on Tuesday night.
"As the year, and woeful decade, close, financial players have taken control of much of the daily press," Doctor wrote in an email. "This week, GateHouse closed on its acquisition of Gannett, creating a single company of 256 dailies, and 18% of the press -- and it is controlled by PE Fortress Investment Group. McClatchy, looking at default on its pension plan funding obligations, faces either financial restructuring, or bankruptcy -- and its primary shareholder and debtholder Chatham Asset Management is in the driver's seat."
And that's not all. On Tuesday afternoon "the industry's bete noire Alden Global Capital shocked the industry by buying out the quarter share of Tribune Publishing owned by (almost equally disdained) Michael Ferro's ownership group," Doctor wrote.
His point: "At a time when local news is needed more than ever, it is the bankers who are deciding what will be defined as news, and who will be employed to report it."
The New Gannett
Kerry Flynn writes: Gannett and GateHouse officially combined on Tuesday. Is the merger going to cause local journalism to suffer? That was my first question when I met with Gannett execs Paul Bascobert and Mike Reed at USA Today's office in Midtown Manhattan on Monday. It was blunt, but it's the real fear media reporters and advocates have been writing about now ever since the deal was announced in August. It's what employees are talking about.
Bascobert's hard-to-believe answer was "no." He elaborated, "At the starting point, there's some economics associated with combining two companies together. There's duplication of expenses." So... Yes?
Reed jumped in to argue that if this merger hadn't gotten through, more journalism jobs could have been lost.
But there WILL be layoffs. Soon. Florida Times-Union reporter Emily Bloch tweeted a bleak TikTok, highlighting that a FAQ sent to employees acknowledged the impending cuts. The full FAQ says "Yes, there will be changes that will involve a reduction in our workforce after thoughtful review."
But it remains to be seen where the cuts might fall. Reed told me he did see some overlapping coverage in reporters' beats but he imagined those journalists could be "redeployed into other things." Here's my full story...
Coming on Wednesday...
Kerry Flynn adds: Changes to Gannett's leadership team are expected to be announced on Wednesday. The execs wouldn't comment on the matter to me, though Bascobert did note, "Paid circulation is another key priority for us. You'll see us consolidating under a strong leader around circulation and pushing that hard." I'll be looking at the diversity of the leadership, especially given the identical gender and ethnicity of Bascobert and Reed...
McClatchy is so "weighed down..."
McClatchy is so "weighed down by pension obligations and debt" that it "could file for bankruptcy within the next year, according to analysts," Bloomberg reported on Monday.
The company's stock, which had been trading between $2 and $3, has fallen off a cliff in the past five days. It closed at 40 cents on Tuesday. Doctor has all the needed context in his much-read piece about McClatchy here...
Tribune staffers are newly on edge
Ferro's sale means that Alden Global Capital -- already the controlling shareholder in Digital First Media and its 200 papers -- is now Tribune Publishing's biggest shareholder. And this is being interpreted as very bad news by staffers at Tribune's papers. "Alden has a well-established history of harming media institutions and journalists," the Chicago Tribune's guild said in a statement.
Nico Savidge of the San Jose Mercury News Guild observed that "reporters at Alden-owned papers in the Bay Area held a protest over the gutting of their newsrooms and dismal pay" just a couple of hours before the Alden-Tribune news hit. This photo is from the protest.
>> Flashback to Joe Nocera's column about Alden last year: "Imagine If Gordon Gekko Bought News Empires..."
What now?
"As part of the purchase, Alden is in discussions to add two seats to Tribune Publishing's six-member board," the Chicago Tribune's Robert Channick reported.
Alden's Digital First Media wanted to gobble up Gannett, but failed. Now it seems a deal with McClatchy is quite possible. Doctor reported last week that "McClatchy and Tribune executives are talking about merging their two companies."
However, given what's happened to McClatchy's stock in recent days, "Tribune seems more likely to wait out McClatchy's drama and see what comes out on the other side," Doctor wrote Tuesday. "The idea: Let McClatchy reorg itself, even via bankruptcy, and tidy up its balance sheet by shedding debt. Then merge..."
Bottom line
"There has been some bad days in journalism, but this day is especially noteworthy," Jon Harris, a business reporter at the Tribune-owned Morning Call, wrote on Twitter. He brought up Knight and Gallup's recent survey that said "greater awareness of the financial struggles of local news organizations can lead to a greater willingness to help them stay solvent." And he asked: "Is there a better time than today to familiarize readers with our struggles?"
→ ICYMI: Knight's Jennifer Preston joined me on Sunday's "Reliable Sources" and hit some optimistic notes... She talked about new structures for local papers, like non-profit status, and a donation program called NewsMatch.org...
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Cnn Imported Alden Global Capital Ken Doctor Commerce Economics Work Reporter Gannett Mike Reed Executive Guild
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samedi 23 novembre 2019
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Québec solidaire condemns the coup in Bolivia
News by Ricochet November 20, 2019
Democracy Now!
While Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government announced its support of Bolivia’s “interim” regime led by self-declared President Jeanine Áñez after the forced ouster of Evo Morales, a number of opposition parties and civil society organizations have publicly opposed the coup.
Québec solidaire, meeting for its annual policy congress over the weekend in Longueuil, passed a motion condemning the overthrow of Morales and the violent repression that has targeted coup opponents, progressive activists and Indigenous communities. Ricochet has translated and published the preamble and motion, which has not been reported on by English-language media in Canada, passed by Québec solidaire on Nov. 17.
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It must be said: what happened last week in Bolivia is a coup d'état that reminds us of the darkest hours in the history of Latin America.
In the early 1970s, the great Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano wrote: “[Latin America] continues to exist at the service of others’ needs, as a source and reserve of oil and iron, of copper and meat, of fruit and coffee, the raw materials and foods destined for rich countries which profit more from consuming them than Latin America does from producing them..the Conquistadors and the jet-setting technocrats, Hernán Cortés and the Marines.”
You can’t be neutral about the racist coup d'état in Bolivia
In 2019, sadly, this observation remains topical. The coup d'état in Bolivia was orchestrated by the country’s economic elite, with the complicity of the Organization of American States (OAS). Let’s remember that the OAS is based in Washington and that it is 44 per cent funded by the United States. It’s nothing less than the diplomatic arm of U.S. imperialism.
By calling into question the election results that gave as winner the president Evo Morales, the OAS paved the way for an illegitimate and profoundly regressive government to take power. Since the forced resignation of Evo Morales, the Whipala — the seven-coloured flag of the country’s Indigenous peoples and Bolivia’s second official flag — was taken down from the palace and burned. This is an overtly racist act.
In order to denounce this dramatic blow to democracy and human rights, the representative for Laurier-Dorion, Andrés Fontecilla, and the delegate from Verdun, Zachary Williams, presented the following urgent motion to the congress of Québec solidaire:
Whereas:
Bolivian President Evo Morales received the most support in Bolivia’s presidential elections; President Morales gave his consent to a second round election, even though, according to Bolivian election law, the results and support he received did not require a second round election; and, whereas the coup d'état put in power an illegitimate government in Bolivia which has promoted violence against progressive Bolivian activists and Indigenous peoples.
It is proposed:
That Québec solidaire formally denounce the coup d'état in Bolivia and the foreign interference through the OAS.
And that Québec solidaire denounce the violence of the extreme right towards President Evo Morales, the popular movements and Indigenous communities of Bolivia.
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Copyright 2019. All rights reserved. vendredi 22 novembre 2019
‘Suppressed unfairly’? John Bolton’s Twitter comeback raises Resistance hopes for Trump impeachment
22 Nov, 2019
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Resistance hopes for Trump impeachment" />Former National Security Advisor John Bolton (file photo) September 30, 2019. © REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
President Donald Trump’s now-former National Security Advisor John Bolton returned to Twitter promising a “backstory” for his two-month absence, sending Trump critics into a frenzy of hope he might testify in impeachment hearings.
“Glad to be back on Twitter after more than two months. For the backstory, stay tuned,” the verified account with over 770,000 followers tweeted on Friday, for the first time since Bolton’s resignation – or firing, depending on who you ask – on September 10.
Another tweet declared that he has “liberated” his personal Twitter account, “suppressed unfairly in the aftermath of my resignation.”
Unsurprisingly, among the 20,000-plus responses were heartfelt pleas from online Resistance luminaries for Bolton to “do the right thing” and testify before the House Intelligence Committee in the impeachment inquiry of Trump – just like some of his NSC underlings.
“If [Bolton] loves this country, he has to tell the truth in impeachment hearings. Fiona Hill did it yesterday. He can too!” declared podcaster and activist Amy Siskind.
“We need you to speak up and quickly. Heroes are in short supply and attacked quickly by Trumpist partisans who think that the public is too stupid to know what has happened,” tweeted Yale professor Howard Forman.
“No games Mr Bolton. Do what’s right. That’s all,” said ex-congressman Joe Walsh, a Trump critic hoping to primary the president in 2020.
There were plenty of skeptics among the Resistance, however – such as President Bill Clinton’s former spokesman turned podcaster Joe Lockhart and Lawfare’s Susan Hennessey, who suspected Bolton was trying to market his book rather than help Congress impeach his former boss.
“Patriots testify. Grifters don’t,” Lockhart declared.
Bolton’s two follow-up tweets made no suggestion he might testify, however. Though he speculated the tweeting ban might have been “out of fear of what I may say,” as of 3 pm on Friday he hasn’t followed that up by saying anything one way or the other.
It is no secret that Bolton left the White House not on the best terms with the president, fueling hopes among Trump’s critics that the disgruntled hawk might seek to get back at Trump by spilling all the NSC secrets to House Democrats.
The only trouble with that scenario is that the hearings have ended for the foreseeable future, with the House on Thanksgiving recess through December 3. Trump has already declared he would just love to have a trial in the Senate – where, unlike the House, Republicans have the majority and can set the rules.Also on rt.com‘I want a Senate impeachment trial’, Trump says in live TV phone call
Eventually, Bolton did say that the White House "never returned access" to his account, effectively holding it hostage, and praised Twitter for "standing by their community standards" and taking a hand in its restoration.
Whether that gets characterized as Trump's newest impeachable offense, it remains to be seen.
mercredi 20 novembre 2019
About CBC News
news'It's literally life or death': Students say University of Toronto dragging feet on mental health services
Toronto
'It's literally life or death': Students say University of Toronto dragging feet on mental health services
Despite several deaths, the administration at the University of Toronto won't say how long its waiting list is for therapy when students reach out for help with mental health issues.
Despite several deaths, U of T won't say how long waiting list for therapy is
Melissa Mancini & Ioanna Roumeliotis · CBC News · Posted: Nov 20, 2019 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: November 20
University of Toronto students protest demanding more resources for mental health services at the university, following three suicides in one of the school’s buildings. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)It's the beginning of the semester at the University of Toronto's downtown St. George Campus, and there are about three dozen students sitting on the floor of the school's computer science building, making signs that say things like: "Again?" and "Policies must change."
It's just days after a fourth student in less than two years died by suicide at U of T — the third death in the Bahen Centre for Information Technology, a very busy public building on the University of Toronto's downtown campus.
Students are preparing to show up uninvited to an academic council meeting to send a message: the administration isn't doing enough.
"It's literally life or death, what is at stake here," says fifth year computer science student Shahin Imtiaz. "The university has turned into a pressure-cooker of intense demands, without the resources to meet the student needs to back it up."
Shahin Imtiaz speaks at a rally for more mental health services at University of Toronto. Imtiaz is a fifth year student in University of Toronto’s computer science faculty. The school’s computer science building, the Bahen Centre, is where three students died by suicide. She says her program is very demanding and there aren’t mental health supports for students who are struggling. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)After the third death, the administration put up temporary barriers in the Bahen Centre for Information Technology to try to prevent any other deaths. But students of Canada's largest university — also one of the country's wealthiest — say other needed changes aren't happening fast enough.
"Infuriating," said Aloysius Wong, a third-year student at the downtown campus. "It's disappointing. I mean, I don't think I can say one or two words that will really express, like, all the multitude of emotions that each and every one of us are feeling right now."
For protesters like Wong and Imtiaz, the fact the deaths have continued feels personal. This is Imtiaz's faculty's building, she spends much of her day here. For her, there is outrage and profound grief. She watched friends go through difficult times with mental health years ago, and nothing has changed, she says.
"All that suffering was meaningless, no-one learned anything from it, no-one did anything about it. It's still happening. It's really tough to reconcile, all this suffering is so needless."
The group walks briskly with their new signs to stand outside Simcoe Hall, a historical building that flies the university's flag. They are directly underneath the window where the meeting is taking place. The group is told they are not allowed to attend, so they chant louder.
"How many lives will it take before you fix your mistakes," they yell.
U of T students demand change in wake of suicide on campus
U of T president says safety barriers should have been set up earlier to prevent suicide
Eventually, some of the students are allowed to sign in and go upstairs. They make pleas, in front of the administration and board members, asking them to put more money into mental health at the school and reconsider a controversial mandatory leave policy that can force an academic leave on students deemed to be a danger to themselves and others. Outside the cheers, chants and boos of their compatriots who weren't allowed upstairs can be heard.
It's the first time the student group has "stormed" (as they say) an academic meeting. But in the weeks to come it won't be the last. And even as midterms loom and their numbers dwindle, the die-hards among them say they won't stop until they feel like the university is listening.
"The cost of not doing anything, or not doing anything fast enough, is far too great," Imtiaz says.
Accessibility of mental health services called into question
Victoria Liao, a recent graduate of University of Toronto's University of St. Michael's College, tried to reach out for help while she was a student four years ago. She waited several weeks to get into group therapy on campus.
She was two weeks into group therapy, when after a night of drinking, she attempted to take her own life.
"Because it had been an impulse thing I scared myself, and that's why I went in for help instead of just trying again or doing it while sober or something," she says. "I went in for help because I didn't want that."
Victoria Liao graduated in June 2019. When she was a student she struggled with suicidal thoughts and attempted to take her own life. After the attempt, she sought help but had to wait about a month for an appointment with a therapist through the school’s counselling services. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)Liao went back to campus counselling and was put on a priority list for one-on-one therapy.
"I had no clue exactly how long that list was," she said. "I had been told you'll hear within two weeks for a call, which then scheduled an appointment another two, three, however many weeks later. That was frustrating. I didn't really know what else to do."
Overwhelmed by the state of her mental health and the pressures of life, she thought the help was coming, so she didn't try to seek help elsewhere.
In the end, she waited another four weeks for one-on-one therapy.
Eventually, she did get help from the school, but Liao says she feels the road was longer and bumpier than it should have been.
"I got very lucky. Not everyone gets that lucky. But it shouldn't be about luck," Liao says.
"It's clear this isn't an isolated incident or an isolated couple of situations. This is a crisis that's ongoing because of a system that's failing us."
Victoria Liao waited a month for a counselling appointment at the University of Toronto after a suicide attempt four years ago.
Now, four years later and with some very public deaths on campus, it's still not clear what kind of wait time Liao would experience if she was in the same situation today.
Mental health and the ability of students to thrive on campus is a priority, says Sandy Welsh, the vice-provost of students at the University of Toronto. Welsh oversees the health and wellness centres that deliver counselling support on campus. However, Welsh would not say how long the current waiting list for therapy is.
"The range of waiting really varies by individual students and individual cases," says Welsh.
"We would prefer that there is absolutely no wait list, [that] there's absolutely no waiting for students to get into see services. And we're doing our best to see students as quickly as possible."
The University of Toronto is not alone in dealing with increasing demand for mental health services on campus. Academic institutions across the country are facing skyrocketing mental health needs, forcing academic institutions to grapple with the complexities of providing more support.
Deaths on U of O campus prompt call for better mental health resources
More UNB students than ever disclose suicidal thoughts, psychologist says
U of A's mental health vodcasts aimed at those on campus who feel isolated or alone
CBC News surveyed 30 of Canada's universities from coast to coast, asking each school nine wide-ranging questions — about suicide on campus, mental health services, the budgets for the services, and how long it takes students to access them — to try to get a national picture of what is happening with campus support systems.
Many schools, like U of T, declined to answer how long their waiting lists are or how many students are on those lists.
Some universities detailed programs and measures they are taking to support students. McGill, for example, has recently created a "Wellness Hub," calling it a "one-stop shop" for all student health issues. But even this new initiative has not been without controversy, with students at McGill protesting the new centre on Tuesday, according to the school's student paper, citing issues including an "absence of long-term counselling services."
Other schools said they have programs to train faculty and staff to spot and help students in distress.
Students say action isn't fast enough
U of T has made recent efforts, including adding $3 million to its mental health services budget to boost the number of counsellors. That brings the number of counsellors up to 90, in a school with a population of 90,000 students.
The university won't divulge how long students are waiting now, but activists like Imtiaz say they still hear frequently from people who tell them they have faced long delays to get mental health support.
The student group she belongs to — the one behind the protests at the University of Toronto, the Mental Health Policy Council — says it has consulted with hundreds of students who report waiting weeks and even months for help.
One of the other issues around which students are asking for change is the university's mandatory leave policy, which allows the school to put a student on leave, without academic consequences, if they are deemed a danger to themselves or others. The school has used the policy eight times in the past year.
First-year student Youssef Metwally is from Virginia. He says he has been reluctant to seek mental health services on campus at U of T because of what it might mean for his academic career. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)Students say the policy is a barrier to students who may want to reach out for help. International students like American Youssef Metwally pay steep tuition. He struggles with depression and anxiety. He says he's afraid of being kicked out of school and out of the country if he seeks help, since he's on a student visa.
"If I do get kicked out of school, I'm going to have immigration knocking on my door saying I cannot be here," he said. "And that made my mental health a lot worse. I don't see how that policy in any way would help anyone. And it actually pushed me away from reaching out and going to get help."
How a student seeking mental-health treatment got handcuffed by U of T police
The policy was criticized by the Ontario Human Rights Commission for not requiring the school to assist students when they needed the help the most.
Since that criticism, the university has revised the policy to address many of the issues raised, but the commission "remains concerned that in urgent situations the Policy allows the University to withdraw essential services from students who pose a serious risk of harm to themselves without considering the impact on the particular individual or explicitly referencing the University's duty to accommodate before the leave is initiated."
Welsh, the vice-provost of students, says the school understands there is a perception problem when it comes to the mandatory leave policy.
"The policy is a process," she says. "In those rare cases that we're concerned about a student, the very first thing that we do is we review all of the supports and accommodations that are available to the student. That's written in the policy, that we're required to do that. And the first question that I'm asking is, can we do more? Is there more that we can do … before we even consider any kind of leave."
Welsh also says she acknowledges the frustration of students who are demanding change on campus in very public ways.
"I think students are angry and they want us to do more," she said.
"I understand that. I want us to do more as well. That is a big priority for me, and for all of the people who are working with me on the mental health issues on campus. So I understand why they're doing what they're doing."
Meanwhile, Imtiaz and members of her group say they will keep putting pressure on their school to do more, and do it fast.
"Not much has happened, really," Imtiaz says. "We're still getting the same responses. So at some point it starts feeling like is anyone really listening?"
Watch The National's story about University of Toronto students demand more mental health services after recent suicides on campus:
U of T students demand more mental health services after recent suicides on campus
After four recent suicides on the University of Toronto campus, student activists are protesting to draw attention to what they call a mental health crisis. The National’s Ioanna Roumeliotis spoke to students who struggled accessing mental health services on campus about the changes they want to see. 10:46
Related Stories
How a student seeking mental-health treatment got handcuffed by U of T police
U of T president says safety barriers should have been set up earlier to prevent suicide
Deaths on U of O campus prompt call for better mental health resources
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