Turning Point
Gatherings: Tuesday Sept 27th – Sunday Oct 2nd, 2011
Day of Action: Monday Oct 3rd, 2011
Gatherings: 
Participants:
Search for a Turning Point Gathering & RSVP
Our Open Invitation
Dear Friends,
This is a moment when we deeply wish we were sitting down with you and talking face to face. This is a moment when we can choose to step up and create a new beginning for Canada.
For us, this moment goes beyond any one party. This is about taking responsibility. The time is calling for us all to be ambitious in our goals, and humble in our recognition that we can only get there by working together.
We feel inspired to step up in a way that is beyond anything that we, as a community, have attempted before. We need your help. We’re writing to ask you to sign up to host or attend a gathering for Turning Point. Turning Point is a week of cross-Canada gatherings that will bring generations of Canadians together to organize for change, and send a message to Ottawa.
Like so many people across this country, we were surprised by the depth of the grief we felt when we heard Jack had passed away.
And then, as we struggled through tears, we were surprised for a second time that day. We read his letter. We witnessed and experienced the collective mourning. We felt the inspiration in his call for action, and saw it spread across the country. We were moved by his parting message of love, hope and optimism:
“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”
We know two things. In our bones, we know that our country is heading in the wrong direction. Our government is becoming less democratic, less caring and less responsible. And, in our hearts, we know that millions of Canadians want to step up for change. (And, let us remember: a majority of voters cast their ballots for change in the last election.)
We believe we can achieve this change by working together to make each other’s voices stronger, by speaking honestly and often with our government and media, and by reaching out to our fellow Canadians about the future we know that we can create together.
This is a time for organizing, and we need your help. Sign up to host or attend a Turning Point gathering. A gathering can include anywhere from two to two-hundred people, and even if you’ve never done this kind of thing before we’ll give you the tools to make it easy to host.
This is not about instant gratification. We are going to need to invest our time, our love, and our resources. The road will be long. Let’s travel it together.
Please pass on this invitation to anyone you think would be interested. Thank you so much.
With hope and respect,
Jamie, Tria, Matthew, Adam, Emma and Ryan on behalf of the Leadnow.ca team
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Turning Point is a week of gatherings and a day of action that will bring Canadians together, from across generations and across political parties, to organize for change in our country. The gatherings are discussions that can be held anywhere, during the day of action we will post messages to our MP’s constituency offices. Click on the GATHERINGS and DAY OF ACTION tabs above for more info. We can change the direction that our country is heading in. We can achieve greater democracy, equality, opportunity, and responsibility for each other and our environment. To get there, we need to organize and we need to be visible. Our goal is to create a turning point for Canada by connecting people through our values, growing our ability to speak out and support each other on key issues, and organizing to reach millions of Canadians over the next four years to achieve progress on major challenges, such as reforming our electoral system. If you want to learn more about the Leadnow community’s shared goals for this country, check out the Declaration for Change. The Declaration was created this past spring by thousands of people who came together in person and online, and it provides a starting point for our work that we will build on over time. |
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Tuesday, Sept 27th to Sunday, Oct 2nd What? – During the gatherings we will build community by sharing our stories about why we want to work together, help create a shared strategy for achieving a turning point in Canadian politics, and get organized by signing up for practical next steps. How? – We’ll help make hosting easy by providing host packages, videos and support. Just you, a few friends and a couple of hours is all it takes, and it’s OK if you’ve never organized something like this before, in fact we’d encourage it. 1. We all have a story about why we want to see change in Canada, and why we're inspired to organize and make it happen. To begin, we will all share that story and write down the reasons why we have joined the gathering onto Turning Point banners that will be used later for the Day of Action. 2. Next, we will talk about how we can organize together, and we’ll give ideas and feedback on a shared strategy for action. A key piece of this conversation will be identifying groups that we can collaborate with. 3. Finally, we’ll go through some options for immediate next steps, and we’ll be able to sign-up to stay engaged and be active in a way that works for each of us. Where? – Turning Point gatherings can take place wherever people can get-together, often with several gatherings in the same city. We will meet in living rooms, coffee shops and offices from coast-to-coast-to-coast. You can make your gathering either public or private, but we would prefer as many gatherings as possible are open to the public. Your event can have anywhere from two to two-hundred people, depending on the space available and your preference. |
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Monday, Oct 3rd – We will make a big, visual, statement that more and more Canadians are stepping up and working together to shape our shared future. We want to show them the answers to this question: “why do you want to organize for change?” We will go to our local Member of Parliament’s constituency office and post notes about why we are organizing for change, including the Turning Point banners we created during the gatherings, onto the walls and windows of their building. Imagine seeing these notes and banners go up all across the country. Imagine how our politicians, and all other Canadians will feel to see so many of us turning out with a shared message that is positive, honest and powerful. They’ll understand that Turning Point is a new beginning. And we want them to be part of it. |
Click "Find a Turning Point Gathering..." under the map to search for events near you. If you can't find an event that is convenient, please consider signing up to host (we will make it easy) or sign up as a participant below and we'll keep you in the loop. |