Category: Canada

Anything related to Canada or Canadians

Palmater on a basic Canadian injustice

The creation of Canada was only possible through the negotiation of treaties between the Crown and indigenous nations. While the wording of the treaties varies from the peace and friendship treaties in the east to the numbered treaties in the west, most are based on the core treaty promise that we would all live together peacefully and share the wealth of the land. The problem is that only one treaty partner has seen any prosperity.

The failure of Canada to share the lands and resources as promised in the treaties has placed First Nations at the bottom of all socio-economic indicators – health, lifespan, education levels and employment opportunities. While indigenous lands and resources are used to subsidize the wealth and prosperity of Canada as a state and the high-quality programs and services enjoyed by Canadians, First Nations have been subjected to purposeful, chronic underfunding of all their basic human services like water, sanitation, housing, and education. This has led to the many First Nations being subjected to multiple, overlapping crises like the housing crisis in Attawapiskat, the water crisis in Kashechewan, and the suicide crisis in Pikangikum.

Palmater, Pamela. “Why are we Idle No More?” in The Kino-nda-niimi Collective. The Winter We Danced: Voices from the Past, the Future, and the Idle No More Movement. Arbeiter Ring Publishing; Winnipeg. 2014. p. 37-8 (paperback)

Jacobs’ four top requirements for cities

To generate exuberant diversity in a city’s streets and districts, four conditions are indispensable:

  1. The district, and indeed as many of its internal parts as possible, must serve more than one primary function; preferably more than two. These must insure the presence of people who go outdoors on different schedules and are in the place for different purposes, but who are able to use many facilities in common.
  2. Most blocks must be short; that is, streets and opportunities to turn corners must be frequent.
  3. The district must mingle buildings that vary in age and condition, including a good proportion of old ones so that they vary in the economic yield they must produce. This mingling must be fairly close-grained.
  4. There must be a sufficiently dense concentration of people, for whatever purposes they may be there. This includes dense concentration in the case of people who are there because of residence.

The necessity of these four conditions is the most important point this book has to make.

Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. 1961. p. 150-1 (hardcover)

John Cook and Andrew Heintzman on fossil fuel divestment

Yesterday, The Globe and Mail published an encouraging article on fossil fuel divestment:

As University of Toronto student Ben Donato-Woodger recently said, “It is a structural injustice against young people to have people who won’t be paying the price make judgments that will harm the next generation. Failing to divest would be a clear act of not caring about their students.”

The article also points out how: “In the past five years, the TSX with all its oil and gas constituents has significantly underperformed the TSX 60 excluding fossil companies” and “Over the past 10 years, the performance is almost identical with or without oil and gas in the index”.

A Burnaby Mountain arrestee

[S]itting in that jail cell, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders. One that I was only partially aware that I have been carrying for years now. I am ashamed by Canada’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Treaty and our increasingly contemptible position on climate change. If these are the values of our society then I want to be an outlaw in that society.

Quoted in: Solnit, Rebecca. “Let’s leave behind the age of fossil fuel. Welcome to Year One of the climate revolution“. The Guardian. 23 December 2014.

Elected to the Toronto350 board

Tonight I was elected to the first board of Toronto350.org, which is in the process of incorporating as a non-profit.

Does anyone have experience being on the boards of non-profit organizations? I would be grateful if people could direct me toward some useful sources of information on how boards work and the responsibilities of directors. We also need to finalize our bylaws, so guidance along those lines would also be appreciated.

P.S. Toronto350.org has an ongoing donation drive. Donations will go toward our campaign work, which is all volunteer-driven.