Judy Rebick
Encyclopedia
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
at age 9, and is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
journalist, political activist, and feminist.
Career
In 1983, a man attacked Henry MorgentalerHenry Morgentaler
Henry Morgentaler, CM is a Canadian physician and prominent pro-choice advocate who has fought numerous legal battles for that cause.-Early life:...
with garden shears outside of his Toronto abortion clinic. Judy blocked the attack, and Morgentaler remained unharmed. Augusto Dantas was charged with assault and with possession of a weapon dangerous to the public good.
Judy Rebick first gained national prominence as president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women
National Action Committee on the Status of Women
The National Action Committee on the Status of Women is a Canadian feminist activist organization. NAC was founded in 1971 as a pressure group to lobby for the implementation of the 167 recommendations made in the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada's 1970 report on matters such as...
from 1990 to 1993. She was the co-host of a prime time debate show called Face Off on CBC Newsworld
CBC Newsworld
CBC News Network is a Canadian English language Category C specialty news channel owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. It is the world's third-oldest television service of this nature, after CNN in the United States and...
from 1994–1998 and then a women's discussion show Straight From the Hip, until 2000. She was a regular commentator on CBC TV's Sunday Report and CBC Radio
CBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
. She was during that time also a columnist with Elm Street Magazine, London Free Press
London Free Press
The London Free Press is a daily newspaper based in London, Ontario, Canada.The London Free Press began as the Canadian Free Press, founded by William Sutherland in 1847. It first began printing as a weekly newspaper in 1849. In 1852, it was purchased for $500 by Josiah Blackburn, who renamed it...
, and on CBC Online.
In 2001 she helped launch rabble.ca http://www.rabble.ca, a multi-media independent news and discussion site, with Mark Surman and Judy MacDonald, and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Rebick was publisher of rabble.ca from 2001 until 2005.
With Jim Stanford
Jim Stanford
Jim Stanford, a Canadian economist, is economist for the Canadian Auto Workers and founder of the Progressive Economics Forum. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and a Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research...
, Svend Robinson
Svend Robinson
Svend Robinson is a former Canadian politician. He was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons from 1979 to 2004, representing the suburban Vancouver-area constituency of Burnaby for the New Democratic Party...
and Libby Davies
Libby Davies
Libby Davies is a Canadian Member of Parliament for the New Democratic Party , representing the riding of Vancouver East in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2007, she was named Deputy Leader of the federal NDP, jointly with Thomas Mulcair.-Background:Davies was born in Aldershot, England and...
, she helped lead the New Politics Initiative
New Politics Initiative
New Politics InitiativeFounded:2001Dissolved:2004Political ideology:social democracy,democratic socialismThe New Politics Initiative was a faction of Canada's New Democratic Party...
, a movement that worked both inside and outside the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
to refocus it as an activist party. The NPI's platform was rejected at the 2001 NDP convention in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
. She initiated the wind down the NPI in 2003, claiming that many of its ideals had been embraced by new party leader Jack Layton
Jack Layton
John Gilbert "Jack" Layton, PC was a Canadian social democratic politician and the Leader of the Official Opposition. He was the leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011, and previously sat on Toronto City Council, serving at times during that period as acting mayor and deputy mayor of...
.
She first became active with the Ontario New Democratic Party in the mid-1980s, in an internal group called the "Campaign for an Activist Party". Though the CAP generated a significant degree of grassroots support, it was opposed by the party establishment (including party leader Bob Rae
Bob Rae
Robert Keith "Bob" Rae, PC, OC, OOnt, QC, MP is a Canadian politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
) and failed. Rebick lost her bid to become party president, losing to Gillian Sandeman
Gillian Sandeman
Gillian Ann Sandeman is a former Canadian politician, who represented the riding of Peterborough in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1975 to 1977...
, 818 votes to 361. Rebick also worked for the Canadian Hearing Society during the 1970s and 1980s as special projects director.
Her latest book is 'Transforming Power: From the Personal to the Political' (2009) ISBN 0143169467 published by Penguin. She is currently the Canadian Auto Workers–Sam Gindin
Sam Gindin
Sam Gindin is a Canadian academic and intellectual who served as research director of the Canadian region of the United Auto Workers union and later as chief economist and Assistant to the President of the Canadian Auto Workers union after the latter became independent from its American parent...
Chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Ryerson University
Ryerson University
Ryerson University is a public research university located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its urban campus is adjacent to Yonge-Dundas Square located at the busiest intersection in Downtown Toronto. The majority of its buildings are in the blocks northeast of the square in Toronto's Garden...
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
Rebick, who is Jewish, took part in protests against the State of Israel's military actions in the 2009 Gaza conflict.
After the conclusion of the G20 summit
2010 G-20 Toronto summit
The 2010 G-20 Toronto summit was the fourth meeting of the G-20 heads of government, in discussion of the global financial system and the world economy, which took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, during June 26–27, 2010...
in Toronto in June, 2010, Rebick suggested that police did not adequately address the problem of Black Bloc
Black bloc
A black bloc is a tactic for protests and marches, whereby individuals wear black clothing, scarves, ski masks, motorcycle helmets with padding, or other face-concealing items...
protestors, who caused property damage: "What they could have done is arrest the Black Bloc at the beginning before they had a chance to be part of the bigger crowd, and that's what they didn't do."
External links
- transformingpower.ca Official website for "Transforming Power: From the Personal to the Political"
- auntie.com
- Ten Thousand Roses Penguin Canada page featuring Rebick's latest book.
- video recorded Oct. 21, 2008 After the Election: Neoliberal Crisis or Neo-Conservative Advance? Strategies for the Left
- Goodreads.com