Niagara Animal Defense League

The first big print run in ADL History goes to Niagara Vegan. We put these together just in time for Niagara VegFest this upcoming Saturday. Huge thank you to Jo-Anne McArthur (We Animals) for allowing photo use and to Farm Sanctuary and Cedar Row Farm Sanctuary for being awesome in general.

We think it is extremely important to do our own branding and to create entry level working groups like Niagara Vegan which can use the power of social media to connect people locally and make veganism more accessible in our community. We can’t wait to see people reading them and to hopefully get them into the hands of the curious.

*Should also add the leaflets are printed on recycled paper and were printed in a unionized print shop.

Hey all,

It’s your Sunday night run down 2012 / #3 


Niagara ADL Sanctuary Tour 2012 - The Sanctuary Tour rolled on this weekend with a stop at Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland, On. Hannah, Ally, Steve and Karen went up for a working visit and dropped off a $200 donation from the ADL - most of which was raised by our working group the Niagara Vegan Baking Militia during the World Week for Animals in Laboratories. We hope to have pictures from our two recent visits soon. In less than three months we have been to Cedar Row Farm Sanctuary, Snooters Farm Animal Sanctuary, Ruby Ranch Pig Sanctuary and now Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary and we’ve dropped off around $800 in donations between them! We hope to keep this up throughout the summer and encourage members to join in - “like” the social media pages of local sanctuaries, share them with friends, donate and, if you can, sign up for one of our working visits.

Niagara ADL Formal - The Niagara ADL Formal happened yesterday night at Brooklyn’s Restaurant in Thorold, On (223 Richmond St.). We dressed up, danced like goofs and filled our bellies with delicious vegan food (and cake from Rise Above). We have a lot of people to thank - Brooklyn’s for the food and venue, Rise Above for the cake, the formal committee for the great organizing and amazing decorations, Tim Fowler for lending the PA and Tyler Adair for dj’ing. It was a really special night and a great cap off to 2 months of steady fundraising.

Strooband Resign  - We took a week off from Strooband Resign demonstrations, however, we didn’t take the night off as members spoke to a Brock University Labour Studies class about strikes in the area, solidarity, intersectionality and the role Niagara ADL plays in supporting the labour movement in Niagara. More updates about Strooband Resign below.

Donations - Since we officially finished our fundraising campaign it was important for us to cycle some funds to campaigns and friends that are currently in need. This week, with Coalition for Circus Animal Freedom, we donated $100 to Friends of Captive Animals in London, On who put a call out this week for funds in order to run Anti-Circus ads on buses in the city. We followed that with Friends of Kanonhstaton (a Live Free Collective working group) making a $100 donation to River Run Rally - a grassroots initiative bringing issues of environmental degredation in First Nations communities in Northern Ontario to Toronto. We encourage members to follow up with individual donations to these two important campaigns.

UPCOMING

NIAGARA ADL OPEN HOUSE - MONDAY 6PM (RISE ABOVE) - Niagara ADL is hosting an open house tomorrow night Rise Above (120 St. Paul St. - St. Catharines). There will be no meeting this Monday, however, the space will be open to write letters to prisoners, brain storm, chat, make signs, etc. The sky is the limit.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE QUEBEC STUDENT STRIKE (LIVE FREE COLLECTIVE) - WEDNESDAY 7:30PM - The Live Free Collective is urging ADL members to join the call for a “Pots and Pans” demo at City Hall on Wednesday night at 7:30pm. We need to collectively fight austerity in our own communities and also show solidarity for those who are facing Government repression in Quebec. Bring your rage and joy. Poster attached. Any help with promotion - sharing or inviting friends to the event page - is appreciated!

STROOBAND RESIGN #5 (LCHS) - THURSDAY 7PM - 9PM -  We return to the LCHS this week to call for the resignation of Director Kevin Strooband. Please note the date change - we have moved our demonstrations to Thursday nights. Any help with promotion - sharing or inviting friends to the event page - is appreciated!

NIAGARA ACTION FOR ANIMALS POTLUCK SERIES - SIX NATIONS LAND DEFENDERS - (UNITARIAN CONGREGATION OF NIAGARA) - FRIDAY 7PM - Come out for the last NAFA potluck of the year! This potluck will feature a talk from Six Nations Solidarity Organizers as well as Land Defenders from Kanonhstaton - a land reclamation site in Southern Ontario. They will take about environmental protection, as well as, criminalization and repression of Six Nations Land Defenders. Event poster is attached. Please help promote the event page/share the photo, etc. This potluck will also be sponsored by Friends of Kanonhstaton. More information about the event can be found on the event page.

1ST EVER NIAGARA VEGFEST - (FOLK ARTS CENTRE) - SATURDAY 10AM - 5PM - Potentially the single largest vegetarian/vegan event in the History of the Niagara Region is upon us! Next Saturday is the first ever Niagara VegFest. Niagara ADL will be there and we encourage everyone to use this event as an entry point for friends and family. Festivities start at 10am. Don’t miss out!

MARINELAND ANIMAL DEFENSE DEMONSTRATION - SUNDAY - 12PM - 2PM - Next Sunday we head back to Marineland for a Demonstration from 12pm - 2pm. For all those who can’t make it out on Saturdays - this one is for you! Marineland Animal Defense just released their demo schedule for the entire summer as well (attached) so you can find the rest of the seasons dates there. If you would like to leaflet anytime in between those dates and need resources (leaflets, safety vests, etc.) please let us know!

INTO THE FUTURE

Shrine Circus/TZ Productions - The Shrine Circus hits Niagara Falls for one show on July 24th. Mark it down on your calendars and stay tuned to the Coalition for Circus Animal Freedom for updates!

Niagara ADL/CUPE Football Fundraiser July 28th - In the spirit of the North Animal Liberation League vs. Miners football match in the 1980’s we are organizing a football (soccer for the North Americans) on Saturday July 28th. It will be a full day fundraiser set to raise funds for CUPE and also bridge the labour and animal liberation communities in Niagara. Old poster of that event is attached (courtesy of the Conflict Gypsy archive) 

Hey all,

Happy long weekend! I hope you are far away from idiots with fireworks!

Quick run down before we get into the week ahead.

Strooband Resign - Kevin Strooband is yet to resign, after four straight weeks of demonstrations out front of the LCHS, however, the second best possible news came through this week - CUPE 1287 is heading back to work! After 80+ on strike CUPE 1287 worked out an agreement last week and head back to work this upcoming week. This is good news for animals in the area and the changes that have come about as a result of their 80+ stand have changed the LCHS forever. With that said, we are continuing with our call for Kevin Strooband’s resignation as his incompetency still needs to be answered for. Our demonstrations will continue on Wednesday nights from 7-9pm.  With the strike over it’s imperative we continue to bring bodies out and make pro-active steps in recommending the remaining changes we would like to see at the LCHS. The Strooband Resign #5 facebook event page needs invites and shares as does the Strooband Resign group on facebook. For a good laugh check out the St. Catharines Standard article about the end of the strike where the Niagara ADL is the “Niagara based animal rights group” that shall not be named.

Marineland Animal Defense - We had two demo’s this week at Marineland - one on Thursday for Opening Day and one on Saturday. In total we have had three demonstrations so far this season! We’ve already handed out hundreds of leaflets this year and so far have won Signgate 2012! We have some important updates coming later in the week about new tactics as well as a reveal of the summer demo schedule. Stayed tuned to the Marineland Animal Defense website/tumblr,
facebook, and twitter. Our next scheduled demonstration is Sunday June 3rd - 12pm to 2pm. Attached is a nice picture from yesterday of Ayden explaining poster design concepts to Jill.

Niagara ADL Sanctuary Tour 2012 - ADL members Lisa, Hannah and Ayden went up to Ruby Ranch today (north of Guelph) for a working visit and dropped of a $70 donation - raised by the Niagara Vegan Baking Militia! This was a last minute stop, so in following up we are urging everyone to “like” and share the Ruby Ranch Pig Sanctuary facebook page in order to help them extend their social media reach. In two months we have traveled to three Sanctuaries in Ontario and donated a total over $600.

Fundraising - The best update of all - WE HAVE HIT OUR FUNDRAISING GOAL! Launched two months ago, we managed to hit our $4500 fundraising goal with 3 days to spare. Individual thank yous will be going out very soon. All we can say is wow. We still have three more days left on our campaign - so any further donations are icing on the vegan cupcake.

Niagara Flying Squad - The Live Free Collective began rolling out their new working group this week - the Niagara Flying Squad. The Niagara Flying Squad is building off of community support for the CUPE 4207 Unit 3 strike as well as the CUPE 1287 strike and strives to be a hub for worker/picket line support in the Niagara Region. Like, share the page and smash capitalism.


UPCOMING


STROOBAND RESIGN #5 - WEDNESDAY 7PM (LINCOLN COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY) - As mentioned above, we are holding weekly demonstrations out front of the LCHS (corner of Fourth Ave. and Martindale) calling for the resignation of Kevin Strooband. Demonstrations run from 7pm - 9pm. Bring friends and invite friends to the group/facebook event page!

NIAGARA ADL OPEN MEETING - MONDAY 6PM/7PM (RISE ABOVE) -  Our next open meeting is tomorrow night at Rise Above (120 St. Paul. St). All of our meetings are open meetings and the structure remains the same for all of them, first timers come at 6pm to get introduced to the group, others who have been to previous meetings come at 7pm. Anyone can add an agenda item and/or speak to any issue and everyone walks away with action items. As with the new structure to our mail outs, we are now committed to being at Rise Above every Monday from 6pm on. If there is no scheduled open meeting that night we will do prisoner support, sign making, brainstorming, etc. In the case that the space is booked, we will ensure everyone gets the notice.

NIAGARA ANIMAL DEFENSE LEAGUE FORMAL - Saturday May 25th - WE HAVE HIT OUR FUNDRAISING GOAL - COME CELEBRATE! Our two month long launch will come to an end with our Niagara Animal Defense League Formal at Brooklyn’s Restaurant (223 Richmond St. Thorold, On). The event begins at 7:00pm and will feature food, prizes, music, dancing and a lot of nice fancy clothes! Tickets are $20-$30 sliding scale and can be grabbed from Rise Above, Brooklyn’s, Dylan Powell, Karen Kelly, Crista Murphy, Lisa Mooney, Brittney Szucs, Ally Brinsmead Lachnit or Hannah Lachnit. Facebook Event page is linked above. We appreciate people sharing that page and inviting their friends!

INTO THE FUTURE

Niagara Action for Animals Potluck Series Friday June 1st. 7 PM. Niagara Unitarian Congregation Church (223 Church St. - St. Catharines, On). NAFA Potlucks are legendary in Niagara - come out and share (vegan) food with members of the community!

Niagara VegFest - Saturday June 2nd - Niagara’s very first VegFest is less than a month away! We wrote about our excitement last week and appreciate people lending a hand to promote the event. It is going to be an amazing day!

M.A.D. Demonstration Sunday June 3rd - 12pm - 2pm. Marineland (Niagara Falls, On).

becausewemustdotorg:

PDX, OR. The vegan mini mall is going to be donating 10% of their sales on June 11th to long-term anarchist prisoners Marie Mason and Eric McDavid. Get cool shit and support awesome folks at the same time! For more info, visit June11.org

Portland - this is what’s hot!