Saturday's Toronto Protest

[Kamil]

Hey everyone,

There's a lot of work involved for the preparations on saturday,
materials to have at the rally, to hand out, media to contact, etc.

We had a lot of buttons last time and still have a ton left over that
we could hand out. I'm willing to come down on friday and help out
before the protest, in creating the materials. We'll still need more
picket signs, banners, maybe some small info sheets printed off to
hand out to people. Last time we wanted to have a beachball to toss
into the crowd as well.

Before all that though I think its absolutely critical to get as much
attention from the media as possible, and before when we tried
contacting anyone they often asked for a 'press release'

Does anyone have any ideas of what a press release looks like? Is it
safe to assume it could be as simple as a PDF document with
information on the protest and cause?

We have lots to work with already, I think we could get some more
attention soon.

:)

[Glyn Lewis]

Hey Kamil, 

Thanks for this. We weren't too sure what was going on in Toronto so thanks for reaching out to the Toronto Google group!

Attached are a few documents which should help you immensely. They're geared towards a petition drive, so if that's not what you're doing feel free to change the language. 

I also have loads of Toronto media contacts. Let me know and I'll send it your way. 

You're absolutely right, organizing a rally by Saturday will be a lot of work. One thought is to "rally" at 1pm and give out petitions and clipboards to people and ask them to fan out across the city to collect Stop The Meter CRTC signatures. 

What do you think?

Glyn

For more information: www.openmedia.ca/toolkit

--
Glyn Lewis

National Day of Action Coordinator, Stop The Meter

514-557-4753

http://openmedia.ca

gly...@canadaparticipates.ca

Follow me on Twitter

Friend me on Facebook

[Kamil]

Hey Glyn, just replied to your facebook message.

Our last rally we actually had clipboards (around 8 of them) with
petition papers for people to sign. Unfortunately, this didnt go so
well with us being amateurs and not enough people committing to sign.
Prime time for toronto is friday at 5pm at yonge/dundas square or a
weekend. The current location, Queens Park doesnt have as much
traffic.

If you can get in touch with media, or send me contacts, that would
help GREATLY to gain some attention.

Call me a pessimist, but I have a guy feeling we're not going to have
as much of a turnaround as last time, there seems to be a LOT of lost
momentum, worse yet cities around canada on the 4th didnt seem to have
as much of a turn out as we did.

Calvin mentioned speaking to Dan McTeague (Liberal MP from Scarborough
& Pickering) would help pay for speakers and amplification for the
Queens Park rally and get permits, I have no idea how that turned out
though. But its a free park and permits there arent necessarily needed
as we did have to have one at Dundas Square (private property).

> 514-557-4753http://openmedia.ca
> gly...@canadaparticipates.ca
>
> Follow me on Twitter <http://twtitter.com/galewis44>
> Friend me on Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/galewis44>
>
>  How To Reach Out To The Media.doc
> 179KViewDownload
>
>  Media Event Advisory Template .doc
> 175KViewDownload
>
>  How To Organize A Stop The Meter CRTC Petition Drive.doc
> 187KViewDownload

[Glyn Lewis]

I can send you the media contacts firs thing in the morning. 

What if we met at Dundas Square and went off and collected Stop The Meter petition signatures from there?

It would make things much much easier. 

What do you think?

I can change the meeting location and send the entire group a quick message if you're willing to go that route :)

Glyn

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[Fat Hamburger]

I think in part the lost momentum is because many Canadians think the problem is already "fixed" when the Harper govt said that they would not allow the CRTC to let this pass.

But the other thing is that we have to consider this from both the media and public points of view. It's old news, another protest sounds like exactly the same one that was reported on for the 4th by media outlets. What is needed is a change of approach and also something new for them to report.

What I propose is that instead of protesting in a central location that is only going to be visible if people are passing by or if people just happen to tune in to a media broadcast of the event from media that may or may not show up on the day, is that on Saturday we split up and we walk the streets holding up BELL IS HELL or NO UBB, ROBBERS signs. We talk to people, explain the issues, but most importantly spread out visibility so that even driver-bys and passer-bys can see it and go "ohhh something's going on here", and we do this *ACROSS* Canada THEN we meet at the end of the day at Queen's Park drumming up extra supporters from the day and THAT"S when we tell the media to show up.  It might be better to postpone this or perhaps create a different event for this approach. 

Why am I suggesting the above? because I was one of the last 4 people left standing at last one, and because I had other meetings and engagements that day, I walked around still carrying the signs, wearing the badges etc for much of the day and continued to be asked by various people whereever I went what it was about, most still didn't know except they had a vague grasp of prices going up. Also I got much more of a response from random people nodding and going "ohhh"as I walked around, to an impromptu pied piper style fist pumping following at Sheppard station ;)  IMO my walking around afterwards (for giggles I even walked into a Bell store with all that stuff on and the employees didn't even know what Bell was doing) had a much better effect on getting public attention than the protest earlier that day. I couldn't help but think if there was at least 400 of me and in other cities, it would really be much bigger news, especially if all managed to blanket each city doing that + collecting petitions ALL OVER the place instead of just people passing by in that one location. There were people interested in talking to me all over about it, well after the protest.

By the way, Munly Leong here and also future Chairman of the World Broadband Foundation (www.worldbroadbandfoundation.org). Will be a small miracle if I eek out enough time to get my site up by Saturday :)

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 1:58 AM, Kamil <vivid...@hotmail.com> wrote:

[Glyn Lewis]

Stop The Meter Petition Drive Explained:

Here is what we are sending out to the other groups. I think this could be a quick and simple action to coordinate in Toronto for this Saturday. 

This Saturday @1pm is the Stop The Meter National Day of Action. Our goal is to hit HALF A MILLION Canadians who have signed the petition calling on the CRTC to Stop The Meter and end Internet caps. Here's what you need to do to get involved this Saturday:

1) Print off five copies of the Stop The Meter CRTC Petition:www.openmedia.ca/meter/toolkit
2) Bring a pen and a clipboard. 
3) Meet local supporters this Saturday at 1pm @ [LOCATION]
4) Join up with one or two more people.
5) Walk around public places (busy streets, bus stations, campuses, coffee shops, mall entrances, etc) asking Canadians to sign the petition calling on Ottawa to "Stop The Meter and end Internet caps."
6) Head back to your original meeting place. 
7) Leave your signed petitions with one person who will then MAIL THEM BACK to OpenMedia.ca's office in Vancouver. Address is on the petition. 

That's IT! 

If you want to get really creative and have fun feel free to get dressed up as a "Meter Maid" and hand out "Data Usage Tickets" to unsuspecting Canadians using the Internet. You can print off the Internet Infraction tickets here:http://openmedia.ca/meter/toolkit. Might help spice things up for the media who we have invited to attend your local petition drive. 

Hope you can join us as well keep up the pressure while the CRTC reviews usage based billing (Internet metering). 

For The Internet,
- OpenMedia.ca

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[Glyn Lewis]

For more "toolkit" information on the Stop The Meter petition drives being coordinated across the country:

http://openmedia.ca/meter/toolkit

[Kamil]

I think at this point its way too late to change the location. An
early run around Toronto is a good idea, that leads TO the queens
park. What could be done is to start at yonge street, walk on bloor
and then head south towards the park. Theres quite a lot of people
there.

I really do think there needs to be protest closer to the deadline of
the delayed ruling. This whole delay really screws things up in terms
of media attention, canadian awareness and public interest. I think
the feb. 26th protest is going to be a bit of a loss. If we did a
protest a few days before the final hearing just before the 60 day
limit, it'd get a lot more attention as it'd be crunchtime, but that
doesnt necessarily mean we have to give up until then, i still think
we need to keep adding more pressure.

I think starting at 11:30am would be a good time to walk down to
Queens Park, handing out info, buttons, and signing petitions. If not
before, then after.

[Fat Hamburger]

I agree with Kamil, but I will still coming out on the 26th to show support if this is a goahead, 11:30 AM if that is the time that it is changed to. Only thing is I don't own a printer or much of anything to print tickets or petitions lol. I've saved the badges and signs from the last protest and will be reusing them for as long as I can since I thought it was a shame to throw them away. 

But I have a feeling the delay was specifically done for this purpose, screw up momentum and diffuse anger to make way for the official FUD i.e. macleans, I fear that a fizzled/ineffective protest might have the opposite effect too.

IMO Toronto needs to be blanketed, but there also needs to be a north york team, yorkville, scarbo town center, pacific mall etc if the manpower is there as well as teams to reach people in brampton, sauga, ajax/oshawa etc. Especially the other cities since most of the time those people aren't gonna be making it downtown. The whole thing needs to more wide spread and better coordinated. Postponing and replanning this for better effect and closer to the deadline as Kamil says is imo a better option. 

[Steve Anderson]

Hi all, people in other cities are mostly NOT organizing rallies or
protest - mostly because at this point, engaging people through
petition drives and handing out data usage tickets is easier, more fun
and probably more effective. People can rally of course, but the day
of action is about creative education - that can be a rally, but can
also be anything from collecting video testimonials, to handing out
data usage tickets. It's only limited to your imagination.

My suggestion, don't worry about putting together a big rally. As
others have suggested, you can do that later if it feels right. If you
gather a few people together and hand out tickets/petitions etc...
that will be a success. If you get a bunch of people even better,
split up into squads. Just imagine how many people will be reached by
groups doing this in different cities.

Love the idea of blanketing Toronto and surrounding areas. Maybe see
what you can do this time, and then plan an expanded version later if
this works out. We have time to scale this up - this Saturday is just
a starting point - have fun with it.

Someone mentioned printing costs - if you plan to print
petitions/tickets and/or need clipboards - get in touch with Glyn. He
might be able to help out, or could arrange OpenMedia.ca to reimburse
you for the costs (save your receipts).

I think we can reach half a million signatures, which would be quite a
milestone to say the least.

Don't forget that this is historic and important - when else will we
get a chance to step up against these gouging big telecom giants.

We have them on defense now...

Steve Anderson
OpenMedia.ca

[William Wilson]

I'll be at Sexapalooza on Saturday. If someone gets me flyers or something, I'll hand them out at the International Centre. I won't have time to make my own, I'm working overtime all this week.

[Nolan Haynes]

I'll be working this Saturday but I'll see what I can do about handing out flyers and getting a petition signed.

[Christy Fernando]

Hey everyone, sorry for late response, just wanted to get to work before reading the stack of emails over night.

 

If anyone wants to meet up on Saturday and head out with some petition forms ill be up for doin it. I think atleast 2 people per group would be ideal so you won't get bored if nothing is happening, specially in the area around Queens park.

 

From some reactions of the people that I have talked to when we had the first rally in Yonge and Dundas, there were a few that said they will come out on the 26th, but it seemed like some of them will actually go to Y and D if anything. I believe most people don't really understand the concept of the day of action, because its not necessarily a rally like we had at Y and D.

 

Another thing is that since most of our supportors are students in either university or college most of them are on their midterm exams schedules right now, so there is some difficulty there even if they want to show up and help.

 

But anyways, I can print some petition forms out, but don't have a clipboard, and if anyone wants to meet up and head out let me know. And definitely keep connected, I would like to help anyway I can.

 

Chris

--
K. C. Fernando

[Fat Hamburger]

Yeah i'll definitely be down for Saturday, but some extra petitions + clipboards would be useful for those of us who can't print stuff out. I say we treat this as a dry run, but with close to a half million signatures I think we should take the time to come up with a bigger army, action teams all over Canada and not just major downtown areas or Granville St :P  For a start, let's collect everyone's locations and then form strike teams and groups. For example I'm in North York, but can do downtown Toronto.

[Pauli]

if you could somehow remove me from whatever mailing list I'm on, I would greatly appreciate it.

On 2011-02-23 5:58 AM, "Nolan Haynes" <nolan...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'll be working this Saturday but I'll see what I can do about handing out flyers and getting a petition signed.

On 2011-02-23 8:51 AM, "William Wilson" <william....@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'll be at Sexapalo...

[Rishley C.]

Yes me too, these emails are getting annoying.

[Antonio Cangiano]

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 2:36 PM, Pauli <black...@gmail.com> wrote:

if you could somehow remove me from whatever mailing list I'm on, I would greatly appreciate it.

http://groups.google.com/group/digitalactionteam-toronto/subscribe

--
Homepage: http://antoniocangiano.com

High-Quality Programming Screencasts: http://thinkcode.tv

Never miss a great book again: http://anynewbooks.com

[Kayleigh LeBlanc]

Likewise, I am not sure how effective this will be, but if I could be removed from the "all" in the reply all list, that would be great.

--
-Kayleigh

[Rushan]

Could the instructions be mass-messaged to all those who are up as
Attending on the Facebook Event please? I think people need a reminder
of the event as well as how it's all going to go down. Love meeting
up, then fanning out to spread the message before meeting back for a
central rally idea!

[Glyn Lewis]

Hey Rushan,

We're just waiting to hear back from Calvin who had been spearheading the day of action in Toronto. 

But it looks like we will be "flash rallying" at Queen's Park at 1pm and heading out to collect petitions. 

Kamil and I have been reaching out to Calvin to ensure this works with his plans. 

Will let you all know shortly, 

Glyn

--
Glyn Lewis

National Day of Action Coordinator, Stop The Meter

514-557-4753

http://openmedia.ca

gly...@canadaparticipates.ca

Follow me on Twitter

Friend me on Facebook

[Calvin Tennant]

Sorry, I've been on vacation for the past week. Back in Toronto now, I'll talk to Kamil and get him to catch me up on everything.

--
Calvin Tennant
http://calvintennant.com
http://somethingofmuse.com

[Glyn Lewis]

We're about to send out a note to the Stop The Meter - Toronto event page about the "flash rally" at Queen's Park followed by a petition drive. 

See you all Saturday @1pm :)

[Vojtěch Sedlák]

Hey Toronto Stop The Meter supporters!

This Saturday @1pm is the Stop The Meter National Day of Action. Our
goal is to hit HALF A MILLION Canadians who have signed the petition
calling on the CRTC to Stop The Meter and end Internet caps. Here's
what you need to do to get involved this Saturday:

1) Print off five copies of the Stop The Meter CRTC Petition:

www.openmedia.ca/meter/toolkit
2) Bring a pen and a clipboard.

3) Meet local supporters this Saturday at 1pm @ Queen's park for a
flash rally

4) Join up with one or two more people.
5) Walk around public places (busy streets, bus stations, campuses,
coffee shops, mall entrances, etc) asking Canadians to sign the
petition calling on Ottawa to "Stop The Meter and end Internet caps."

6) Head back to your original flash rally place.

7) Leave your signed petitions with one person who will then MAIL THEM
BACK to OpenMedia.ca's office in Vancouver. Address is on the
petition.

That's IT!

If you want to get really creative and have fun feel free to get
dressed up as a "Meter Maid" and hand out "Data Usage Tickets" to
unsuspecting Canadians using the Internet. You can print off the
Internet Infraction tickets here: http://openmedia.ca/meter/toolkit.
Might help spice things up for the media who we have invited to attend
your local petition drive.

Hope you can join us as well keep up the pressure while the CRTC
reviews usage based billing (Internet metering).

For The Internet,
- OpenMedia.ca

On Feb 23, 9:42 pm, Glyn Lewis <gly...@canadaparticipates.ca> wrote:
> We're about to send out a note to the Stop The Meter - Toronto event page
> about the "flash rally" at Queen's Park followed by a petition drive.
>
> See you all Saturday @1pm :)
>

> On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 12:02 AM, Calvin Tennant <calvintenn...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Sorry, I've been on vacation for the past week. Back in Toronto now, I'll
> > talk to Kamil and get him to catch me up on everything.
>
> > On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 11:21 PM, Glyn Lewis <gly...@canadaparticipates.ca
> > > wrote:
>
> >> Hey Rushan,
>
> >> We're just waiting to hear back from Calvin who had been spearheading the
> >> day of action in Toronto.
>
> >> But it looks like we will be "flash rallying" at Queen's Park at 1pm and
> >> heading out to collect petitions.
>
> >> Kamil and I have been reaching out to Calvin to ensure this works with his
> >> plans.
>
> >> Will let you all know shortly,
>
> >> Glyn
>

> >> On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 11:09 PM, Rushan <rushanshe...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>> Could the instructions be mass-messaged to all those who are up as
> >>> Attending on the Facebook Event please? I think people need a reminder
> >>> of the event as well as how it's all going to go down. Love meeting
> >>> up, then fanning out to spread the message before meeting back for a
> >>> central rally idea!
>
> >> --
> >> Glyn Lewis
>
> >> National Day of Action Coordinator, Stop The Meter
> >> 514-557-4753
> >>http://openmedia.ca
> >> gly...@canadaparticipates.ca
>

> >> Follow me on Twitter <http://twtitter.com/galewis44>
> >> Friend me on Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/galewis44>
>

> > --
> > Calvin Tennant
> >http://calvintennant.com
> >http://somethingofmuse.com
>
> --
> Glyn Lewis
>
> National Day of Action Coordinator, Stop The Meter

> 514-557-4753http://openmedia.ca
> gly...@canadaparticipates.ca
>

[Calvin Tennant]

Sounds good to me everyone, I just talked to Kamil on the phone and we went over this i think its a great idea.

[Calvin Tennant]

I'm going to do some printing and maybe make some buttons tomorrow night.

[Alan]

Can you provide me with some buttons.

Thanks.

Sent from my iPhone

[Glyn Lewis]

Hey everyone, 

There are some really good materials you can print (Data Usage Tickets, Petitions, etc) from: www.openmedia.ca/meter/toolkit

Also, feel free to purchase 10 - 15 clipboards. Send OpenMedia the receipts (up to $100) and we can reimburse you. 

Receipts should be sent to:

OpenMedia.ca

1424 Commercial Dr.

PO Box #21674

Vancouver, BC, V5L 5G3

Friend me on Facebook

[Glyn Lewis]

Hey Jessica, 

Please contact one of the two following local organizers:

Kamil Mytnik: vivid...@hotmail.com

Calvin Tennant: calvin...@gmail.com

thanks!

Glyn

On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 4:12 PM, Jessica Rayes <jray...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Everyone,
 
My name is Jessica Rayes and I co-host a show on Rogers Channel 10, Tech-ER, and was wondering who I would need to speak to regarding interview requests and any further information regarding the rally.

Many thanks,

Jessica Rayes.

[Jessica Rayes]

Will do.

Thank you Glyn.

Jess.

[Jessica Rayes]

Hello Everyone,
 
My name is Jessica Rayes and I co-host a show on Rogers Channel 10, Tech-ER, and was wondering who I would need to speak to regarding interview requests and any further information regarding the rally.

Many thanks,

Jessica Rayes.

[S Khon]

Is anyone aware of any events happening outside of Toronto (ie, Peel region)?

[Glyn Lewis]

Hamilton, London, Ottawa, & Toronto are the four Day of Action events being coordinated in Ontario. 

Feel free to print off a few petitions, get some friends, and collect Stop The Meter petitions in your area! 

Just make sure to mail them all in once your done to OpenMedia.ca's office in Vancouver once you're done. 

Glyn

[Alan]

I would be more then glad to meet anyone.

Sent from my iPhone

[Glyn Lewis]

How about this. 

How about we meet at Queen's Park for a flash rally, then encourage people to fan out with the petitions and collect as many Stop The Meter signatures as possible. We can then meet back at Queen's Park to drop off the petitions. 

What do you think?

I can help communicate this game plan far and wide. 

Glyn

--
Glyn Lewis

National Day of Action Coordinator, Stop The Meter

514-557-4753

http://openmedia.ca

gly...@canadaparticipates.ca

Follow me on Twitter

Friend me on Facebook

[Toni Kay-Howlett]

Hi guys,

We didn't attend the last event, but myself, my husband and a couple of our friends will be there this Saturday.

Can you let me know the time and place where we are meeting and if you need me to bring anything I can certainly print some petition forms etc.

Also, can we see if openmedia will do a facebook push of the event to see if we can get more people interested.

Thanks in advance,

Toni

[Andy McIlwain]

Hi all,

I won't be able to participate in any protests or demonstrations (prior obligations), but I wanted to get my two cents in here.

((TL;DR = Demonstrations are great for getting attention, but we need to distill all the arguments against UBB into something educational/informational that's suitable for mass consumption.))

I agree with the comment made earlier that media coverage will be (likely) be moot. With the Conservative government stepping in a few weeks back, debate around the issue died down significantly.

Likewise -- and maybe this is just me being a curmudgeon here -- I think most Toronotonians turn a blind eye to demonstrations like this. There's always somebody protesting something, and in downtown Toronto, the number of handouts/people trying to get your attention is massive. Lots of competition for attention.

But I digress...

For the everyday user, I think there needs to be a greater focus on educating them: Why is it bad for Canadians on an individual basis, why is it bad for Canada as a nation, and why is it bad for our businesses? The issue has to hit a pain point for them personally.

Regarding the PR campaign from the big 3: I'm predicting that the big telcos will be doing some mudslinging over the next few months about "greedy Internet gluttons ruining the experience for Canadians".

If Robelus wants to spin the issue, let's spin back, grassroots style.

My biggest concern about the Stop the Meter campaign (and Open Media's website in general) is that it's a lot of noise. Take action, donate, spread the word, etc. But there's nothing that really breaks down the issue at hand, the key players, and the talking points of each side.

If we could get something simple in the hands of Canadians that broke everything down into a simple, one-page document -- something we could distribute by hand, pin up as a poster, leave behind on the bus or subway, insert into community newspapers -- it could have much greater reach than a group of people demonstrating in downtown Toronto.

< / two cents >

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 10:54 AM, Christy Fernando <cfe...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Steve Anderson]

Andy, FYI, I don't think people are doing a demo - but rather a petition drive, flash rally thing. 

There are resources that can be handed out here: http://openmedia.ca/meter/resources

There's also alot of great stuff on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/openmedia.ca?sk=photos

Here's  a FAQ: http://openmedia.ca/meter/faq

Great idea on talking points etc... we have stuff in the works and welcome input/ideas

Excited!

chrs,

--

Steve Anderson
National Coordinator, OpenMedia.ca
604-837-5730
http://openmedia.ca
st...@openmedia.ca

Follow me on Twitter

Friend me on Facebook

Read my Blog

[Fat Hamburger]

I'm now completely unsure of my plans on Saturday sadly but I also agree with Andy,the infraction tickets are good for a laugh but fact sheets and education would be better. I am up to get together for any future brain storming and organizing sessions in actually drumming up the strike teams required to "blanket Canada", but first Steve maybe do an official call for volunteers and their location and contact information so we could start putting it together.  Personally I've had to explain "What's going on" at least 10 times over and over again, it would be better if we had a fact sheet plus a concise enough "why you should care" elevator pitch to open things up with on the street before we handed out said fact sheet. 

I'll do my best to come out on Saturday, if not.. def roll me in on the next one.