MAKING PEACE VIGIL Newsletter - December 4, 2025

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MAKING PEACE VIGIL Newsletter - December 4, 2025


CITY OF REGINA AND REGINA POLICE SERVICE BUDGETS
These two budgets will be discussed at City Council December 15 -19. To speak on either or both of these budgets, you must register by noon on Thursday December 11.

To register, go to Regina.ca/Register and submit a completed registration form, together with a written submission before the registration deadline of 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 11, 2025.

The budget document is available here: https://www.regina.ca/city-government/c ... documents/ Click on “Agenda Packet” under “City Council Budget - December 15, 2025 9:00 am.”

The budget is nearly 600 pages long. I’ve found the following articles helpful:

Paul Dechene’s Post
[ https://www.facebook.com/story.php?stor ... 40TZZ85bD# ]

Regina’s 2026 Budget Estimate Forecasts 15.69% Tax Rate Increase For Status Quo Operations, by Larissa Kurz
[ https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstor ... r-AA1QPvCE ]

What You Need To Know About The 2026-27 Regina City Budget
[ https://www.ckom.com/2025/11/20/what-yo ... ty-budget/ ]

City Reveals List Of Options For 2026 Regina Budget Cuts
[ https://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/ ... x-increase ]

What Taxpayers Need To Know As Regina Police Service Requests Hike In City Funding
[ https://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/ ... ty-funding ]

What Stands Out?
Regina Police Service is asking for a $6.5 million increase over its 2025 budget. This brings the RPS operating budget up to $116,189,800. That’s a whopping 17% of the City of Regina’s operating budget, by far the biggest item in the budget.

There is no money for actually ending houselessness—that is for the construction of affordable rental housing units = units where the rent is not more than a third of a renter’s income.

What Can We Do?
A town hall to discuss and develop a Peoples Budget on Saturday December 6, 5 pm, Union Centre, 2709 12th Ave..

Delegation training will also be offered at Sunday Funday, Sunday December 7, 1 -2 pm, Heritage Community Centre, 1770 Halifax St

We need as many people as possible presenting at the budget meetings, making the case for taxes and calling for funding to end houselessness.

3 SPECIAL EVENTS

SATURDAY DECEMBER 6, 1-4 pm: WINTER FAIR FOR PALESTINE, CATHEDRAL COMMUNITY CENTRE, 2900 13TH AVE
Hosted by Palestine Solidarity Regina

SATURDAY DECEMBER 6, 5 pm: PEOPLES BUDGET TOWN HALL, REGINA UNION CENTRE, 2709 12TH AVE
Hope you can come out to the town hall to discuss and develop a Peoples Budget for the City of Regina.

SUNDAY DECEMBER 7, 1-2 pm: DELEGATION TRAINING FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO SPEAK TO CITY COUNCIL ON THE BUDGET, HERITAGE COMMUNITY CENTRE, 1770 HALIFAX ST


GOOD READING & VIEWING & LISTENING

If you’ve been wondering what Regina’s former mayor, Sandra Masters, is up to these days, here’s your answer.
FORMER REGINA MAYOR SANDRA MASTERS HIRED BY SASKATCHEWAN PREMIER'S OFFICE
[ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatch ... -9.6998808 ]


FORMER REGINA MAYOR SANDRA MASTERS APPOINTED TO SUPPORT ROLE WITH SASK. GOVERNMENT
[ https://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/ ... ve-council ]


'WE'RE DEVASTATED': DEWDNEY COMMUNITY FRIDGE DAMAGED BY FIRE—Why would anyone set fire to a community fridge! What’s wrong with us human beings!
[ https://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/ ... ed-by-fire ]


WHAT TAXPAYERS NEED TO KNOW AS REGINA POLICE SERVICE REQUESTS HIKE IN CITY FUNDING
[ https://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/ ... ty-funding ]

CONCERNS RAISED AS CITY CONSIDERS EXPANDING WASCANA PARKWAY
[ https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.7001479 ]


ONE MORE CANADIAN PROVINCE HONOURS PALESTINE AS PALESTINIAN FLAG RAISED IN FREDERICTON—What about Regina raising the Palestinian flag?
[ https://www.muslimnetwork.tv/one-more-c ... palestine/ ]


PIPELINE DEAL COULD TRIGGER 'RACE TO THE BOTTOM' ON CANADA’S CLIMATE POLICY: ADVOCATES
[ https://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/ ... 309e6fc6a6 ]


ASSEMBLY OF FIRST NATIONS CALLS FOR WITHDRAWAL OF CANADA-ALBERTA PIPELINE DEAL
[ https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/afn- ... -9.6999182 ]


EDMONTON MOVES AHEAD WITH 10-YEAR-OLD PLAN TO TURN SCHOOL-DESIGNATED SITES INTO AFFORDABLE HOUSING
[ https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/article ... e-housing/ ]


WAB KINEW DOCUMENTED THE HARMS OF COPS IN SCHOOLS—NOW HE’S CALLING FOR MORE OF THEM
[ https://breachmedia.ca/wab-kinew-cops-i ... ted-harms/ ]


IS THE NDP SABOTAGING ITS OWN LEADERSHIP RACE?
[ https://noraloreto.substack.com/p/is-th ... leadership ]


YVES ENGLER CAMPAIGN: LIGHTS AND SHADOWS, by Evelyn Tischer
[ https://www.pressenza.com/2025/12/yves- ... d-shadows/ ]


IS MAYOR OLIVIA CHOW TORONTO’S ZOHRAN MAMDANI? Would this work in Regina?
[ https://www.muslimnetwork.tv/is-mayor-o ... n-mamdani/ ]


IS ZOHRAN MAMDANI’S CAMPAIGN A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS?
[ https://broadbentinstitute.ca/tvo-mamdani-campaign/ ]


‘THIS IS THE NEW SLAVERY’: MIGRANT FARM WORKERS UNDERPAID, ABUSED AND INJURED
[ https://nationalpost.com/feature/tempor ... -in-canada ]


THE PROBLEM WITH CANADA’S QUIET BILLIONAIRES
[ https://www.taxfairness.ca/en/resources ... llionaires ]


CBC BOOKENDS: ANARCHISTS HAVE BIGGER HEARTS THAN YOU THINK
[ https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1- ... arts-think ]


WHY CANADA HAS A STAKE IN HEGSETH’S WAR CRIMES
[ https://charlieangus.substack.com/p/why ... n-hegseths ]

THIS IS WHAT A WHITE SUPREMACIST ADMINISTRATION LOOKS LIKE
[ https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-remigration ]


IN THE GENOCIDE IN SUDAN, CANADA HAS A HAND IN THE VIOLENCE
[ https://breachmedia.ca/in-the-genocide- ... -violence/ ]


MAKE AMAZON PAY FOR ITS ABHORENT LABOUR PRACTICES
[ https://www.readthemaple.com/make-amazo ... practices/ ]


“A WAR CRIME & MURDER”: DAVID COLE ON U.S. KILLING OF SURVIVORS OF BOAT STRIKE IN CARIBBEAN
[ https://www.democracynow.org/2025/12/2/david_cole ]


SECOND US STRIKE ON BOAT ATTACK SURVIVORS WAS ILLEGAL—BUT EXPERTS STRESS THAT THE REST WERE, TOO
[ https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-drug-boat ]


US ATTACK ON VENEZUELA WOULD CAUSE 'CHAOS' IN THE REGION, with Dimitri Lascaris
[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqsG9mIkeaQ&t=4s ]


“IMPERIAL BLOWBACK”: SUSPECT IN D.C. SHOOTING WAS PART OF CIA DEATH SQUAD IN AFGHANISTAN
[ https://www.democracynow.org/2025/12/1/ ... ooting_cia ]


WE’RE CELEBRATING ADVENT BY EXPOSING CHRISTIAN ZIONISM IN CANADA
[ https://www.justpeaceadvocates.ca/were- ... in-canada/ ]


LIBERALS FEAR CLOSING ARMS EXPORT LOOPHOLE WOULD ANGER U.S.
[ https://www.readthemaple.com/liberals-f ... newsletter ]


UN REPORT DETAILS ISRAEL’S ‘DE FACTO STATE POLICY’ OF TORTURING PALESTINIAN PRISONERS
[ https://www.commondreams.org/news/torture-in-israel ]


U.S.-BACKED CEASEFIRE IS COVER FOR ETHNIC CLEANSING IN GAZA & WEST BANK
[ https://www.democracynow.org/2025/12/3/ ... _west_bank ]


THE HORROR OF THE UNANIMOUS UN VOTE TO ENSLAVE PALESTINE
[ https://socialistaction.org/2025/12/01/ ... f-mackler/ ]


TRUMP, GAZA, AND OSLO DÉJÀ VU, by Jeremy Scahill
[ https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/trump-ga ... ron-france ]


ISRAEL TO OPEN RAFAH CROSSING FOR EXITS ONLY; RSF HOLDING TRAPPED EL-FASHER RESIDENTS FOR RANSOM; ICE PLANS FOR MEGA WAREHOUSE DETENTION CENTERS
[ https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-g ... site-daily ]


ONE COULD ASK ONESELF ‘WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN EUROPE?’
[ https://www.pressenza.com/2025/11/one-c ... in-europe/ ]


LED BY US, REVENUE OF MAJOR WEAPONS MAKERS HIT ALL-TIME HIGH IN 2024
[ https://www.commondreams.org/news/globa ... sales-2024 ]


‘TRULY BARBARIC’: NUMBER OF PEOPLE KILLED OR MAIMED BY LANDMINES HITS FIVE-YEAR HIGH
[ https://www.commondreams.org/news/landm ... tor-report ]


FLOODING KILLS 1,000+ ACROSS SOUTH ASIA AS CLIMATE CRISIS FUELS MORE EXTREME RAIN
[ https://www.commondreams.org/news/south ... ds-climate ]


IN ‘HISTORIC VICTORY’ FOR OCEANS, NORWAY PAUSES CONTROVERSIAL DEEP-SEA MINING PLANS
[ https://www.commondreams.org/news/norwa ... 2674367383 ]


THE WORLD’S HUNGER. GEOPOLITICS OF FOOD
[ https://www.pressenza.com/2025/10/the-w ... s-of-food/ ]


LET’S AGREE TO STOP ‘KEEPING THE PEACE’ THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
[ https://wagingnonviolence.org/2025/11/l ... ay-season/ ]


EVENTS, WEBINARS, TV PROGRAMS, & FILMS

THURSDAY DECEMBER 4, 10 am – 4 pm: UNIVERSITY OF REGINA CERAMICS SALE, RIDDELL CENTRE HALLWAY
Browse and shop handmade mugs, bowls, and more, all created by U of R students:
Unique, one-of-a-kind pieces ready to gift
Made on campus by our talented student artists
Payment by cash or e-Transfer


THURSDAY DECEMBER 4, 1 pm: HEAR FROM THE CO-DIRECTORS OF THE CIRCLE PROJECT, AN EVOLVING COLLABORATION OF ARTISTS AND PEOPLE WITH LIVED EXPERIENCE OF INCARCERATION DEDICATED TO PRODUCING PROVOCATIVE ART TOGETHER.
[ https://uregina-ca.zoom.us/meeting/regi ... gistration ]


THURSDAY DECEMBER 4, 1 pm: FROM FRAGILE FOOD SYSTEMS TO RESILIENT FOOD WEBS
[ https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/registe ... gistration ]


THURSDAY DECEMBER 4, 2 pm: UNRAVELING CONSPIRACY AND ISLAMOPHOBIA WITH AMIN ASFARI, ARCHER LIBRARY, U OF R
This talk offers a timely and thought-provoking look at how conspiracy theories and prejudice intersect—and what it takes to challenge them.


THURSDAY DECEMBER 4, 3 pm: THE SUZUKI SESSIONS—THE CLEAN POWER OPPORTUNITY
[ https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/registe ... 1fSq3nHQPw ]


THURSDAY DECEMBER 4, 6 pm: RESILIENCE FOR SUSTAINABLE ACTIVISM
Many of us entered movement work out of urgency and many of us are exhausted by it. The Resilience Toolkit offers an embodied, justice-aligned framework for sustaining activism over the long arc of the struggle. Rather than treating burnout, reactivity and conflict as personal failures, The Toolkit helps us understand them as predictable stress and trauma responses - and equips us with real-time regulation skills that expand our capacity to stay engaged without collapse or numbness.
[ https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/862622/ ]


THURSDAY DECEMBER 4, 5-7 pm: LET’S TALKE ABOUT THE 2026 CITY BUDGET AND OUR COMMUNITY, WITH WARD 6 COUNCILLOR VICTORIA FLORES, ROOM 207, LUTHER COLLEGE, U OF R
[ https://forms.office.com/pages/response ... e=shorturl ]


SATURDAY DECEMBER 6, 12:30 pm: FROM BELÉM TO CANADA: COP30, PROMISES AND REALITIES
[ https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/registe ... gistration ]


SATURDAY DECEMBER 6, 1-4 pm: WINTER FAIR FOR PALESTINE, CATHEDRAL COMMUNITY CENTRE, 2900 13TH AVE
Hosted by Palestine Solidarity Regina


SATURDAY DECEMBER 6, 5 pm: PEOPLES BUDGET TOWN HALL, REGINA UNION CENTRE, 2709 12TH AVE
Hope you can come out to the town hall to discuss and develop a Peoples Budget for the City of Regina.


SUNDAY DECEMBER 7, 1-2 pm: DELEGATION TRAINING FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO SPEAK TO CITY COUNCIL ON REGINA’S POLICE AND CITY BUDGETS, HERITAGE COMMUNITY CENTRE, 1770 HALIFAX ST


SUNDAY DECEMBER 7, 2 – 4 pm: BOOKCLUB DISCUSSION OF PERFECT VICTIMS AND THE POLITICS OF APPEAL, BY MOHAMMED EL- KURD, ABSTRACTIONS CAFÉ, 2161 ROSE ST
Hosted by Palestine Solidarity Regina


MONDAY DECEMBER 8, 11 am: FIGHTING FOR PUBLIC HEALTHCARE TO WIN
Join public health care advocates to find out how to protect and expand public health care while also opposing health care privatization.
[ https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/registe ... gistration ]


TUESDAY DECEMBER 9, 6 pm: EMERGENCY CLIMATE RESISTANCE CALL
[ https://act.350.org/signup/dec9-call/ ]


TUESDAY DECEMBER 9, 6 pm: PART II OF SURJ TORONTO'S ANTI-RACIST WEBINAR SERIES: A CONVERSATION ON MIGRANT JUSTICE FROM COAST TO COAST, with Harsha Walia and others
[ https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/registe ... bOYZXLtanQ ]


MONDAY DECEMBER 15, 6 pm: UBI WORKS + COMMONWEALTH CANADA
[ https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/registe ... gistration ]


WEDNESDAY JANUARY 7, 7 pm: QUEEN CITY URBANIST BOOK CLUB, CATHEDRAL COMMUNITY CENTRE, 2900 13TH AVE
The book that will be discussed is Places of the Heart, by Colin Ellard


NEW PETITIONS & OTHER ACTIONS


TELL MARK CARNEY TO UPHOLD THE TANKER BAN AND PROTECT THE BC COAST
[ https://act.stand.earth/page/91384/petition/1 ]


DEMAND A ROYAL COMMISSION INTO CAPITALISM
[ https://actionnetwork.org/letters/deman ... apitalism/ ]


TELL THE RCMP TO ISSUE ARREST WARRANTS FOR FORMER ISRAELI OFFICIALS VISITING TORONTO
[ https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell- ... ng-toronto ]


SEND THIS REPORT TO YOUR MP AND DEMAND THEY VOTE YES ON THE NO MORE LOOPHOLES BILL AND CUT OFF THE FLOW OF WEAPONS TO ISRAEL.
[ https://armsembargonow.ca/nomoreloopholes/ ]


TUNISIA: DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER SONIA DAHMANI
[ https://takeaction.amnesty.ca/page/178194/petition/1 ]


MICROSOFT: CUT ALL TIES WITH ISRAELI MILITARY & STOP ENABLING THE GENOCIDE IN GAZA
[ https://action.eko.org/a/microsoft-stop ... military-1 ]


- Making Peace Vigil