From the GoFundMe description:

On December 5th, workers at Democracy found out that our café was unexpectedly closing in less than two weeks.

We were officially laid off on December 21st, four days before Christmas.

The news hit only two months after our first union contract was ratified. As a team, we worked hard to win a contract that protected our job security, our safety, and basic fairness. Even though many of us were unfairly targeted for our union work (we even filed a Labour Board complaint and were compensated for the union-busting we experienced), we kept fighting for fairness.

Now, owner Chris Mindorff is claiming that he can’t operate the café “due to the recent resignations of key management.”

This notice came less than 24 hours after our General Manager announced her resignation. That same week, our Assistant General Manager also resigned. No workers were approached about taking on manager tasks, and to our knowledge there was no search to hire a replacement manager.

The shocking truth? Chris transferred our General Manager and Assistant General Manager to new jobs at his non-unionized cafés. Chris owns five other “small” businesses in the Hamilton area – Mulberry Coffeehouse, Paisley Coffeehouse, Donut Monster, RedChurch Cafe, and Station One.

As workers, we are heartbroken to lose our community at Democracy.

We are gutted to overhear managers misleading customers about their “resignation”.

We are angered that the year we spent building a safer, better workplace is being tossed down the drain.

And we are terrified about unexpectedly losing our jobs so close to the holidays.

The community’s response to Democracy’s closure has been incredibly touching. We have been overwhelmed by the support and encouragement we’ve received.

From the GoFundMe description:

On December 5th, workers at Democracy found out that our café was unexpectedly closing in less than two weeks.

We were officially laid off on December 21st, four days before Christmas.

The news hit only two months after our first union contract was ratified. As a team, we worked hard to win a contract that protected our job security, our safety, and basic fairness. Even though many of us were unfairly targeted for our union work (we even filed a Labour Board complaint and were compensated for the union-busting we experienced), we kept fighting for fairness.

Now, owner Chris Mindorff is claiming that he can’t operate the café “due to the recent resignations of key management.”

This notice came less than 24 hours after our General Manager announced her resignation. That same week, our Assistant General Manager also resigned. No workers were approached about taking on manager tasks, and to our knowledge there was no search to hire a replacement manager.

The shocking truth? Chris transferred our General Manager and Assistant General Manager to new jobs at his non-unionized cafés. Chris owns five other “small” businesses in the Hamilton area – Mulberry Coffeehouse, Paisley Coffeehouse, Donut Monster, RedChurch Cafe, and Station One.

As workers, we are heartbroken to lose our community at Democracy.

We are gutted to overhear managers misleading customers about their “resignation”.

We are angered that the year we spent building a safer, better workplace is being tossed down the drain.

And we are terrified about unexpectedly losing our jobs so close to the holidays.

The community’s response to Democracy’s closure has been incredibly touching. We have been overwhelmed by the support and encouragement we’ve received.

See also: https://www.canadianarchitect.com/ontario-science-centre-opening-interim-location-at-harbourfront-centre-by-summer-2026/

You can also submit comments on a motion to save the original Science Centre building: https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.MM35.4

cross-posted from: https://piefed.ca/c/fairvote/p/390561/when-a-party-can-win-unchecked-power-with-40-of-the-vote-accountability-becomes-optional

Proportional representation would prevent governments from sidelining the legislature and would require cooperation instead of unilateral control.

"Flint And Feather" is a book of poems that I picked up when visiting the author's birthplace and childhood home on the Six Nations Reserve, near Hamilton, Ontario. The house, Chiefswood, still stands as a National Historical Site which gives excellent tours during the summer.

Johnson was born in 1861 to Mohawk Head Chief Onwanonsyshon (G.H.M. Johnson) of the Six Nations, and Emily S. Howells a British woman from an established family.

Her poems reflect this mixing of worlds. She was a prolific author, having published almost 300 poems from 1883 to 1913. She wrote about both her heritages, and about Canada, having travelled extensively across the country. Her writing is fierce about her indigenous roots, and evocative about the lands she visited. Though of course, her language is a product of the time, and her Christian upbringing features in some of her work.

Tekahionwake succumbed to breast cancer in 1913 at the age of 51, in Vancouver. Her public funeral was the largest in Vancouver history at the time. Her ashes were placed in Stanley Park, where a memorial still stands.

The poetry is now in the public domain, and available online: https://pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca/flintandfeather/

Her acrostic "Canada" still rings true.

"Canada" - Tekahionwake
Crown of her, young Vancouver; crest of her, old Quebec;
Atlantic and far Pacific sweeping her, keel to deck.
North of her, ice and arctics; southward a rival's stealth;
Aloft, her Empire's pennant; below, her nation's wealth.
Daughter of men and markets, bearing with her hold,
Appraised at highest value, cargoes of grain and gold.

The new CTO stood out to me. Based on his LinkedIn posts, he sounds like a business guy who's going to shove AI into everything. Not exactly a reassuring change for a bank.