TORONTO—Throughout the pandemic, a larger share of racialized and Indigenous workers have been in jobs that put them in close proximity to others, increasing their risk of COVID-19 infection, says a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
Indigenous issues
The pandemic has once again exposed how unsustainable and inequitable the current food system is. In April of 2020, for example, while millions of Canadians faced financial insecurity and food insecurity, the Dairy Farmers of Ontario—the provincial organization that sets milk production quotas—began ordering farmers to dump their "surplus" milk. News agencies across North America reported the surpluses of dairy, eggs and produce caused by the closures of hotels and restaurants being dumped, crushed and otherwise destroyed.
This report provides the third installment in a series of papers that track the gap between Indigenous children and other children in Canada, using the after-tax Low-Income Measure (LIM-AT). That snapshot provides a disturbing picture of child poverty in Canada: one where First Nations children are far and away the most marginalized and economically disadvantaged. Tracking Indigenous child poverty and non-Indigenous child poverty trends between Census 2006 and Census 2016, it’s clear that these differences have not markedly changed over that 10-year period.
“I felt the need to write my story when Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister released the economic review of Bipole III and Keeyask Hydro projects, prepared by former Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall in November 2020. This report reached an inaccurate conclusion. It claimed there was no compelling evidence of sufficient opposition to force the government of Manitoba to make a decision, in 2005, to scrap Manitoba Hydro's plans to construct Bipole III down the East of Lake Winnipeg. Wall is wrong: there was plenty of opposition.” Don Sullivan
First published in the Winnipeg Free Press March 9, 2021
Vulnerability to COVID-19 is not shared equally. The past year has shown that those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19 are those who live in poverty, in overcrowded housing, or in poorly regulated privately-owned and operated personal care homes. As Damian Barr said about the pandemic last year, “We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm. Some of us are on super-yachts. Some have just the one oar.”
VANCOUVER — The 150th anniversary of British Columbia joining Canada arrives at a time when people and institutions are being asked to reckon with the foundational impacts of racism in our society. Challenging Racist British Columbia: 150 Years and Counting, is a new publication examining the long history of racist policies that have impacted Indigenous, Black and racialized communities in the province over those 150 years, tying those histories to present day anti-racist movements.
In this issue:
The winter/spring 2020 issue focuses on the ways in which the neoliberal education agenda and austerity governments are reshaping education across the country, and the impact of these changes on kids — particularly the most vulnerable — and communities. But it also illustrates the passion with which the public will defend its schools and support their educators and education workers. It includes a cross-country scan of standardized assessment policies.
What have post-pandemic school reopening policies revealed about provincial priorities, and how have public education advocates, parents, students and communities responded? Can we take this moment in time to effectively advocate for a vision of public education that is more responsive to student needs, more reflective of the diverse communities our schools must serve, and more aware of the role schools play as places of learning and places of work, particularly in the context of a global pandemic and a growing mental health crisis?
Maria Rose Sikyea is a young Dené artist living in Yukon with her adorable three-year-old. When I spoke to her in November, she was expecting a second child, whom she hoped would be delivered with the assistance of a midwife. But like many others in her situation, Sikyea faced a considerable roadblock: Yukon is the only Canadian jurisdiction that does not offer access to government-provided and funded midwifery.