This committee was created in the Fall of 2020 as part of a restructuring to ensure that behind-the-scenes tasks are distributed more evenly among members. They make emergency decisions between meetings, draft and distribute meeting agendas and minutes, coordinate actions and ideas between subgroups, and help guide the organization. It is made up of one member from each active subgroup, as well as a representative from the general membership.
The Welcoming Committee was created along with the Steering Committee as part of our restructuring, in recognition that it is difficult to join a new group and that we can do more to make new members feel welcome. The committee chats with new and re-involved members to match up their skills and interests with subgroups, and checks in to see how they are adjusting.
Our Digital Communication committee supports the following activities:
Website: Establish our presence and principles; summarize the activities of our sub-committees; display recent news and upcoming events; and much more.
Social Media: Amplify our messages and those of our allies through Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Twitter, and YouTube.
Newsletters: Broadcast curated bulletins and announcements to our membership list.
Other: Support our email account, internal messaging app, mailing list and event calendar; perform general IT administration.
These circles are a space to share your feelings and concerns about the climate crisis in a facilitated, supportive and non-confrontational setting. They have proven to be helpful both to climate activists and to others – a good place to invite friends or family – where expertise or detailed knowledge are not required and all views are listened to with respect.
Unfortunately, they have not been run since the Covid pandemic started but we hope to hold one soon. If you are interested in attending or receiving updates and details of future circles, please contact us!
Statement of the Hamilton 350 Committee, endorsed by ACORN Hamilton, Environment Hamilton, the Hamilton and District Labour Council and the Hamilton Council of Canadians
The extreme temperatures Hamilton has already endured and may face again this summer demand immediate relief action for those in our community who lack access to air conditioning. We know that extreme heat can severely damage health and even have fatal consequences.
Fortunately, the city has large mobile air-conditioned units better known as buses. The Hamilton 350 Committee, ACORN and Environment Hamilton propose they be used to provide emergency heat relief.
Specifically, on days when the city declares a heat emergency, we propose that the city supplement its cooling centres by making HSR and DARTS fare optional.
Buses are already available across the entire urban area that is most affected by extreme heat events, and are available for at least 18 hours a day, much longer than other cooling centres.
This temporary relief program would allow residents to minimize their heat exposure when getting to where they need to go, or just to obtain temporary relief from the heat. We would expect that the financial cost of this program would be minimal by encouraging regular transit users to continue to pay fares, and hopefully that the number of heat emergency days are limited.