Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, March/April 2016 You’Ll Want to Hear This

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, March/April 2016 You’ll want to hear this.

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18/ Registering truth, performing reconciliation Perspectives on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report and calls to action, and our shared responsibility to correct historic and current injustices done to Canada’s First Peoples.

32/ The 5,000-km diet Amy Wood on how Canada’s planned trade deal with the European Union (CETA) threatens public support for local food and farmers.

41/ Sizing up Trudeau in the post-Harper era Ed Finn explains why his 2015 anthology with Ralph Nader, the fortuitously named Canada After Harper, is an even better read today than it was before the election.

2 /CONTRIBUTORS 3 /EDITORIAL 4 /LETTERS 6 /NEW FROM THE CCPA 8 /IN THE NEWS 13 /BEHIND THE NUMBERS 16 /INDEX 31 /GOOD NEWS PAGE 41 /BOOKS Contributors

VOL. 22, NO. 6 Jeremy Appel on several HIV and other Drew Hayden Taylor ISSN 1198-497X is a Toronto-based journalist public health awareness Originally from the Curve CANADA POST PUBLICATION 40009942 with a focus on Canadian, campaigns. He previously Lake First Nations in Central U.S. and international politics. managed communications for Ontario, Drew has spent the CCPA MONITOR IS PUBLISHED SIX TIMES He has a master’s degree the B.C. Centre for Excellence last two decades travelling A YEAR BY THE CANADIAN CENTRE in American Studies from in HIV/AIDS. the world and writing about FOR POLICY ALTERNATIVES. Western University. it from the Aboriginal Dennis Howlett perspective. An award- Jobb Arnold is Executive Director of THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THE CCPA winning playwright, author, is Assistant Professor of Canadians for Tax Fairness MONITOR ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS columnist, filmmaker and Conflict Resolution Studies and a co-author of the AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT lecturer, he has managed at Menno Simons College Alternative Federal Budget’s THE VIEWS OF THE CCPA. to bridge the gap between in Winnipeg. He is involved chapter on equitable taxation. cultures by tickling the funny PLEASE SEND FEEDBACK TO in the SSHRC-funded Affect Asad Ismi bone. Project, which explores [email protected]. writes about international the role of public emotion Karen Lok Yi Wong affairs for theMonitor , EDITOR: STUART TREW (affect) on social and is a research assistant and specializing in the destructive SENIOR DESIGNER: TIM SCARTH political mobilization, and is student in the School of impact of U.S. and Canadian LAYOUT: SUSAN PURTELL researching, with scholars Social Work at the University imperialism, and resistance to at the University of Alberta, of British Columbia. EDITORIAL BOARD: BRUCE CAMPBELL, it, in the Global South. the ethical and cultural KERRI-ANNE FINN, SETH KLEIN, KATE MCINTURFF, Amy Wood implications of large-scale Erica Violet Lee ERIKA SHAKER, EMILY TURK is a PhD student in political industrial projects like the tar is an undergraduate science at the University CCPA NATIONAL OFFICE: sands. student at the University of of Toronto. Her research 500-251 BANK ST., OTTAWA, ON K2P 1X3 Saskatchewan in her final Andrea Auger examines the political year of a philosophy and TEL: 613-563-1341 | FAX: 613-233-1458 is Reconciliation and economies of trade and political studies degree. She [email protected] Research Manager at the First climate change, and pathways is an activist and organizer WWW.POLICYALTERNATIVES.CA Nations Child & Family Caring toward decarbonization. with Idle No More and the TWITTER: @CCPA Society of Canada. #ReadTheTRCReport project, Robin Yassin-Kassab FACEBOOK.COM/POLICYALTERNATIVES Frank Bayerl and was part of the Canadian is the author of the novel The CCPA BC OFFICE: writes book reviews for the Youth Delegation to the Road from Damascus and the 1400-207 WEST HASTINGS ST., Monitor and is a volunteer at COP 21 meeting in Paris this co-author, with Leila al-Shami, VANCOUVER, BC V6B 1H7 the CCPA’s national office in December. She writes about of a new book on the Syrian Ottawa. her experiences as a young revolution and war, Burning TEL: 604-801-5121 | FAX: 604-801-5122 Nehiyaw student navigating Country (Pluto, January 2016). Murray Dobbin [email protected] the worlds of academia on her He co-edits www.pulsemedia. is an author, commentator Moontime Warrior blog. org and blogs at www.qunfuz. CCPA MANITOBA OFFICE: and journalist whose writing com. UNIT 205-765 MAIN ST., WINNIPEG, MB R2W 3N5 appears regularly in The Tyee Clare Mian TEL: 204-927-3200 | FAX: 204-927-3201 and The Hill Times. He is a has been a teacher, [email protected] board member of Canadians department head, vice- for Tax Fairness and sits on principal, curriculum CCPA NOVA SCOT IA OFFICE: the advisory council of the consultant and principal at P.O. BOX 8355, HALIFAX, NS B3K 5M1 Rideau Institute. both the elementary and TEL: 902-240-0926 secondary level. She is retired, Ed Finn [email protected] and is a student again at has had a 70-year career in the University of Toronto in CCPA ONTARIO OFFICE: journalism, labour activism the department of Near and Julie Flett and politics. He wrote a 10 DUNDAS STREET EAST, Middle Eastern civilizations. This months cover artist is labour relations column for P.O. BOX 47129, TORONTO, ON, M5B 0A1 an award-winning author, the Toronto Star from 1968 Janice Newson TEL: 416-598-5985 illustrator and artist of Cree- to 1982, and was a founding is Professor Emerita in the [email protected] Métis descent currently editor of the Monitor, which department of sociology at living in Vancouver, B.C. CCPA SASKATCHEWAN OFFICE: he edited from 1996 to 2014. York University and the co- She received the Christie His latest book (co-edited author, with Claire Polster, 2ND FLOOR, 2138 MCINTYRE STREET Harris Illustrated Children’s with Ralph Nader), Canada of the CCPA book A Penny REGINA, SK S4P 2R7 Literature Prize and was After Harper, is available at for Your Thoughts: How TEL: 306-924-3372 | FAX: 306-586-5177 nominated for the Governor any local bookseller. Corporatization Devalues [email protected] General’s Award for Children’s Teaching, Research, and Kevin Hollett Literature for her book Owls Public Service in Canada’s is Communications Director See Clearly at Night (Lii Yiiboo Universities. at Pivot Legal Society, a Nayaapiwak lii Swer): A human rights organization in Michif Alphabet (L’alphabet di Vancouver. He has consulted Michif). Note from the editor

olent victimization and homicide statistics and of Aboriginals generally “A new way of living together” in the prison system, the number of communities under boil-water advi- sories, including Shoal Lake, which HE TREATMENT OF children in jority government passed several provides clean drinking water to the Indian Residential Schools new laws, including the Matrimoni- City of Winnipeg, and the list goes on. is a sad chapter in our histo- al Real Property Act, Safe Drinking Reconciliation will mean different ry,” said former prime min- Water for First Nations Act, and First things to different people; there will ister Stephen Harper in his Nations Elections Act, which under- also be remarkable similarities be- June 2008 apology. On be- mined enshrined Aboriginal and trea- tween otherwise disparate visions. “Thalf of all Canadians he acknowl- ty rights. The First Nations Account- For the TRC it is about mutual respect edged the schooling program, run by ability Act was “clearly designed to and building a framework in which the government and various Chris- embarrass First Nations leadership “Canada’s political and legal systems, tian churches for about a century and fuel allegations of corruption,” educational and religious institutions, beginning in the 1870s, was intend- he wrote. When, in 2012, two budget the corporate sector and civic society ed to “isolate children from the in- implementation bills (C-38 and C-45) function in ways that are consistent fluence of their homes…based on the rolled back land and water protec- with the principles set out in the Unit- assumption Aboriginal cultures and tions and gutted the Canadian Envi- ed Nations Declaration on the Rights spiritual beliefs were inferior and une- ronmental Assessment Act, the pow- of Indigenous Peoples.” For AFN Na- qual.” He blamed the “policy of assim- erful Idle No More movement formed tional Chief Perry Bellegarde (page 25) ilation,” in part, for social problems in to, in the words of founders, “assert reconciliation includes “full participa- many First Nations communities to- Indigenous inherent rights to sov- tion of Indigenous peoples in resource day, and hoped that the implementa- ereignty and reinstitute traditional and development decision-making, tion of the Indian Residential Schools laws and Nation-to-Nation Treaties and in the design of climate change Settlement Agreement, beginning in by protecting the lands and waters strategies and energy strategies.” For 2007, “gives us a new beginning and from corporate destruction.” Erica Lee it can be “recognizing that an opportunity to move forward to- In June 2015, when the TRC released migrant lives are worth more than gether in partnership.” a summary report of its findings and borders,” as well as taking opportu- The Federal Court-ordered settle- 94 “calls to action” for the govern- nities to learn Indigenous languag- ment established the terms under ment, Canadians were on the cusp of es. “Reconciliation is #BlackLivesMat- which residential school survivors a potentially transformative election. ter,” she writes (page 18). (Ted Fontaine prefers the term “vic- The report’s lead paragraph states The Trudeau government has tors”—see page 20) would be compen- the goals of the Indian Residential promised a “renewed, nation-to-na- sated for the abuse—physical, emo- Schools Program were part of a Ca- tion relationship with First Nations tional, sexual—they and their fami- nadian policy to “eliminate Aborigi- peoples.” In December, the prime min- lies suffered. It also mandated the cre- nal governments; ignore Aboriginal ister committed to removing the 2% ation of a Truth and Reconciliation rights; terminate the Treaties; and, annual cap on funding increases for Commission (TRC) whose goal was through a process of assimilation, First Nations programs in the 2016 twofold: to record the experiences of cause Aboriginal peoples to cease to federal budget. Indigenous Affairs Indigenous peoples within the resi- exist as distinct, legal, social, cultural, Minister Carolyn Bennett is consid- dential school system, and the con- religious and ethnic entities in Cana- ering ways to incorporate Aboriginal sequences of this legacy for current da.” This was “cultural genocide,” said law into the planned inquiry on miss- generations; and “to guide and inspire TRC Chair Justice Murray Sinclair. ing and murdered Aboriginal women. Aboriginal peoples and Canadians in a This is more than an unfortunate In this sense, at least, the election may process of reconciliation and renewed episode in Canada’s history. The res- prove truly transformational. relationships that are based on mutu- idential schools are part of a founda- But reconciliation must also live al understanding and respect.” Over tional violence that continues to de- outside politics. In the words of the several years, the TRC accepted writ- fine this country—a genocidal gov- TRC: “Together, Canadians must do ten testimonials, conducted research, erning architecture that must be dis- more than just talk about reconcili- and held public events across Canada mantled for true reconciliation to be ation; we must learn how to practise as it carried out this process. possible. This violence is today quan- reconciliation in our everyday lives— During this time, Harper’s apolo- tifiable in the funding gaps between within ourselves and our families, and gy seemed to melt away as the gov- Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal servic- in our communities, governments, ernment continued to pursue an as- es (education and health care in par- places of worship, schools, and work- similationist policy toward First Na- ticular), the human rights violations places… For Canadians from all walks tions. As Dan Wilson noted in his in the child welfare system (see An- of life, reconciliation offers a new way chapter for The Harper Record 2011– drea Auger on page 27), the overrep- of living together.” (Stuart Trew) 2015, the post-2011 Conservative ma- resentation Aboriginal women in vi- 3 people paying for sex. I’d for example, frame union- and address inequality, Letters also like to know how most busting legislation as the we must democratize men would react if they “right to work,” focusing the workplace through discovered their partners on the workers’ so-called a transition to employee were secretly paying to get rights, but completely ownership. The article it on with someone else. hiding the owners—the provides us with several ones who are actually doing models of how this Barbara Bambiger, the exploiting and who can be done, from co- Victoria, B.C. benefit from a weakened operative enterprises labour movement. like the MONDRAGON he article “When sex Corporation in Spain to the works” in the January- Similarly, “sex work” T worker-shareholder co-op February issue of the rhetoric focuses on approach illustrated by the Monitor was breathtaking the “rights” of women Laiterie de l’Outaouais in in its attempt to minimize to be prostituted while Quebec. the context of gender, class, obscuring the real ethnic and racial oppression exploiters: the johns, the Another important that accompanies the sex pimps and the traffickers. element of a transition to trade industry. The authors Where pimps appear a democratic workplace assert, “While issues of at all in the article, it must be access to local economic insecurity and is only obliquely, using equity capital. The violence are at play in some bland euphemisms like multipurpose co-operative sex workers’ lives, they do “management” or “third structure available in not define who sex workers party.” The term “sex some provinces provides Victims of sex work are or what sex work is worker” is not a neutral for this by allowing co- about.” term. It is strongly rejected ops to include non- by many women who have employee members who iscussions about the Actually, these issues do been in the sex trade as invest in the enterprise sex trade and sex define what sex work is D it completely erases the while still having only workers always send me about for many oppressed violence and coercion that one vote. The success into emotional and mental and exploited women. they experienced and that of renewable energy co- turbulence. I certainly Poverty and violence, the industry is based on. operatives in Europe, don’t condone conditions including histories of Ontario and Nova Scotia where women are abused, childhood sexual abuse, Who benefits from the has shown that, given cheated and degraded. are powerful forces at play decriminalization of sound information and At the same time, I don’t in these women’s lives and pimping and sex-buying the assessment of risks and agree with those who the choices they perceive authors argue for? Certainly benefits, individuals will maintain that when sex to be available to them. not Indigenous and working move their savings from workers are protected Minimizing this reality is class girls and women. The conventional investments there are no victims. another way to silence real beneficiaries are the into locally owned, them and render their “third parties,” the pimps How are wives, partners democratically managed experiences invisible. who profit from the sexual and offspring affected enterprises. Other vehicles exploitation of women and when a husband/father Adrienne Montani, for democratizing the local girls (and, less often, of men secretly purchases the use Vancouver, B.C. economy include “benefit” and boys). of a sex worker’s body? or “community interest” There are the obvious was disappointed to Alison Simpson, corporations—a new matters of money, disease I read the article on Kitchener, Ont. corporate structure that and the possibility of the sex industry in your puts community benefit, arrest. Further, there are last issue (“When sex including employment and the issues of secrecy and works,” January-February Democracy at Work the environment, ahead deceit. Family members are 2016), which paints the of shareholder returns. often deeply scarred when decriminalization of was very pleased to The United Kingdom, one member is secretly pimping and sex-buying I read the article written several U.S. states, B.C. living a life of deception. as a labour issue. Authors by Pierre Ducasse in the and Nova Scotia have Jenn Clamen and Kara January-February issue this type of legislation As an aside, I’d like to see Gillies rely on the classic of the Monitor. If we are in place. In Quebec the an in-depth and balanced neoliberal tactic of using to wrest control of our multi-stakeholder body examination of why males exploitation-hiding economy away from Le Chantier de l’économie represent over 99% of the language. Conservatives, multinational corporations sociale co-ordinates

4 strategic support services guarantees and seed terrorists must be held that can be identified to co-operative and other funding for worker co- accountable for their in advance, is simply community-managed ops, community financed actions. Agreed. Those inadequate. As most of enterprises in the co-operative enterprises terrorists who survive the individuals currently province. and benefit corporations; their violent acts should considered potential and exempting policies be, and are, subject to the terrorists are mostly As the article concludes, that favour co-operative full force of the law in the Muslim, it is also racist. it is surprising that enterprises and benefit jurisdictions where they employee ownership One does not need to look corporations from foreign are tried. and local investment far to see that the number investment protection are not part of current My intent in reviewing two of deaths and casualties, (free trade) agreements. political discussions on recent books containing the extent of the economic recovery and I hope that the Monitor widely differing points of devastation in countries the reversal of inequality. continues to include view on terrorism was to of this region, and the There are many policies articles on this important indicate that the analysis resulting desperate that could be used to topic, and that political that takes into account refugee issue that has support a transition, parties and unions treat past and present political arisen are all connected including the following workplace democracy and and economic actions to foreign policy decisions examples: enacting community ownership in North Africa and the of powerful countries with legislation defining worker- as keys to a fairer and Middle East holds a far interests in the area. It shareholder co-operatives stronger economy. greater degree of truth as is similarly not a stretch and benefit/community- well as explanatory power. to expect that a certain Roger Peters, Ottawa, Ont. interest corporations, It is also a view that is number of individuals – yes which would be supported seldom heard, except in with agency – will decide by tax and other incentives Canada and the “war on a dumbed-down version that only violent action to encourage existing terror”: author’s response of the colonized exacting will draw attention to the corporations to convert revenge on the colonizers. injustice. to these corporate aphael Fischler makes The second view under Clare Mian, Toronto, Ont. structures; support for an important point in discussion, that terrorism training programs in R his letter (“Agency and is the product of an worker and multipurpose terror,” January-February individual psychological Send us your feedback and thoughts: co-op management; loan 2016), reminding us that predisposition to violence [email protected]

— CCPA’S THIRD ANNUAL — YOU’RE INVITED to a lively discussion with CCPA economists David Macdonald and TELEPHONE Armine Yalnizyan, and senior researcher Kate McInturff. You’ll also have the chance to meet TOWN HALL our new Executive Director, Peter Bleyer.

ANSWER THE PHONE when we call on March 22, shortly after 7:00 pm Eastern Time, for the opportunity to ask questions live and share your thoughts on key issues.

If you miss the call, or want to join later, simply call us at 877-201-8667.

MARCH 22 @7PM ET FOR MORE INFO: WWW.POLICYALTERNATIVES.CA/TTH5 New from The case for free codes for teachers; (by Alexandre Malthais, university tuition culturally responsive Institut de recherche en teaching; becoming économie contemporaine), the CCPA n today’s rapidly and remaining an ally to investor rights (by Gus Van changing economy, a Indigenous students; and Harten, Osgoode Hall Law Itruly affordable and the relationship between School), and other areas. accessible post-secondary vocational schools and education system needs to the economy. As always, be a priority. The current you can purchase a copy Underinvesting in system, with its high up- for $15 at the CCPA online Saskatchewan schools front costs and resulting bookstore. unsustainable levels of espite taking in student debt, acts as a record amounts Getting serious about barrier for many people TPP: What’s Dof revenue during poverty and inequality to full participation in the Big Deal? the economic boom the economy. In his new years, Saskatchewan’s uring the 2015 federal CCPA paper, Eliminating wo new CCPA reports government has failed to election, the Liberal Tuition and Compulsory explore the likely maintain K-12 education Dparty campaigned Fees for Post-Secondary Tnegative health funding, writes David vigorously on a promise Education, Glenn Burley of impacts of ratifying the McGrane in the CCPA- to tackle inequality and the Canadian Federation Trans-Pacific Partnership SK report Underinvesting substantially reduce child of Students proposes Trade Agreement (TPP). in Our Future. Since 2007, poverty. Proposals such as using current federal In the first, Involuntary K-12 funding has fallen the Canada Child Benefit funding—from loan-based Medication: The Possible from an average of 3.08% and a 10% increase to financial assistance, Effects of the Trans- of GDP to only 2.6%, the Guaranteed Income education-related tax Pacific Partnership on the lower (as a percentage of Supplement (GIS) for credits and the RESP— Cost and Regulation of the provincial economy) low-income seniors to instead reduce post- Medicine in Canada, York than under any past are steps in the right secondary tuition and University professor Joel government in recent direction, but ultimately other compulsory fees Lexchin explains how the history. Had current inadequate to the task. A to zero. This $3.3-billion TPP would require Canada spending kept up with new technical paper by transfer would ease the to extend patent terms to the last four years of the CCPA economists Armine financial burden on new compensate brand-name Calvert government, Yalnizyan and Seth Klein, graduates, with clear pharmaceutical firms McGrane writes, there Better is Always Possible: spinoff benefits for the for regulatory delays in would have been about A Federal Plan to Tackle wider economy, writes approving drugs, adding $2.4 billion more spent on Poverty and Inequality, Burley. up to $636 million annually K-12 education from 2008 expands on proposals to the price of drugs in to 2014. The report points in the 2016 Alternative Canada. The second study, out that recent changes to Federal Budget that show Oral history Major Complications: Saskatchewan’s education it would be possible to and education The TPP and Canadian property tax regime have reduce poverty by 40% by Health Care, by CCPA exacerbated the chronic he winter 2016 issue of 2020, and by 75% within trade expert Scott Sinclair, underfunding of K-12 Our Schools/Our Selves a decade. Likewise, the finds that TPP investor and should be revisited, Tpresents a thoughtful government could reduce protections would make preferably with a view to and multifaceted the growing income gap in it more difficult and costly increasing funding to 3% collection of articles about Canada (see Power Lunch for Canadian governments of GDP. oral history (the process infographic on opposite to establish new public of recording, preserving page) by enhancing health programs, including and disseminating public services (child pharmacare. Both How good is our understandings of care, housing support, reports are part of a new Housing First? the past through life infrastructure funding), CCPA series, What’s the narratives), education, he Housing First model supporting unionization Big Deal? Unpacking political engagement is an increasingly and a $15 minimum wage, the Trans-Pacific and youth. Along with a Tpopular, and many and making the tax regime Partnership, that will cover special section on oral argue more effective, more progressive, among environmental protection history education, the approach to housing other measures. (by Jacqueline Wilson, issue contains articles homeless Canadians. But Canadian Environmental on poverty, inequality little attention has been Law Association), culture and education; dress paid to the challenges 6 Horizon: Ontario Debt, 1990–2015, CCPA-ON Senior Economist Sheila Block proposes the province should focus on supporting economic stability rather than worrying about debt and the deficit. Ontario’s net debt-to-GDP ratio grew at a slower pace following the 2008 recession than it did after the 1990-91 recession, explains Block. “Ontario is at historically low interest rates and will likely have a federal partner at the table to correct fiscal transfer inequities. Both will help the province’s bottom line, so the real focus in this year’s budget should be on stabilizing the economy.” Despite rising debt, the share of revenue taken up by interest on debt rose marginally from pre- recession levels of 8.6% in 2007-08 to between 9% and 9.2% since that time, Block explains. Interest costs took up a much involved, particularly in a more comprehensive Forces (CAF) now provides larger share of revenue in the Canadian context. A homelessness strategy. less than a quarter the late-1990s and early- new CCPA-MB paper by of the peacekeeping 2000s, peaking at 15.5% of Matthew Stock attempts training activities it did revenue in 1999-2000.“ to fill this research gap. MIA: Canada’s a decade ago, notes the Ending Homelessness? peacekeeping record report. Dorn and Libben A Critical Examination recommend reinstating hile Canada provided of Housing First in and updating the many significant military Canada and Winnipeg training programs and Wcontributions to examines the difficulties exercises that have been global peace operations associated with providing cut in recent years, and over the last half-century, Housing First programs introducing new training very little of it happened to participants with activities to reflect the in the past decade. A unique needs, as well increasing complexity of new study by A. Walter as problems the model modern peace operations. Dorn and Joshua Libben, faces when operating in Unprepared for Peace?, rural communities and published jointly by areas experiencing a Never mind the CCPA and Rideau shortage of affordable the Ontario deficit Institute, shows Canada is and/or social housing. currently far behind other he Ontario government Stock argues that, to be nations in its readiness was expected to effective, Housing First to support the United Tpresent its 2016 budget For more reports, commentary programs need to adapt to Nations and train for in late February or early the unique circumstances and infographics from the CCPA’s modern peacekeeping. March. In her January in which they operate, national and provincial offices, visit The Canadian Armed report, No Crisis on the and be but one part of www.policyalternatives.ca. 7 In the news Jeremy Appel Farm worker rights in Alberta

LBERTA’S NDP GOVERNMENT has encountered fierce opposition to its efforts to extend basic workplace safety and labour regulations to the province’s farms and ranches. Prior to Athe introduction Bill 6, the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Work- ers Act, Alberta was the only province where farms were not bound by mandatory occupational health and safety standards. As of January 1, Al- berta’s farmers now have the right to refuse unsafe work, receive overtime pay, apply for workers’ compensation in case of injury, and unionize. The bill, passed by the NDP majority in Alberta’s parliament on Decem- ber 10, amends four pieces of previous legislation—the Employment Stand- ards Code, Labour Relations Code, is enough,” wrote Alberta Federation Farmers and ranchers protest Bill 6 at a Occupational Health and Safety Act, of Labour President Gil McGowan in December rally in Medicine Hat. and Workers’ Compensation Regula- November. “Agricultural workers can Photo by CHAT TV tion—to bring farm workers under now expect a minimum wage. Haz- the same regulatory regime as oth- ards in the workplace will have to be er workers. Each of these laws had labelled. Workers will have the right exemptions for farmers and ranch- to refuse unsafe work without penal- As a direct response to this criti- ers. Bill 6 repeals these provisions, ty…. In the event that someone dies at cism, the government amended the applying labour and safety regula- work, there will be an investigation.” bill to preserve family farming. “Al- tions across the board. Opposition critics and some agricul- berta farm and ranch producers with The changes were spurred by the tural associations, on the other hand, paid employees who are not the own- death, last October, of three girls on challenged the government as trying er or related to the owner will be af- a farm in the Central Alberta hamlet to impose unnecessary labour laws fected by Bill 6,” reads a government of Withrow. The three sisters, aged 11 under the guise of protecting pub- statement. “This means that family to 13, suffocated under a truckload of lic safety. The legislation also stoked members can continue to contribute canola they were playing in. Alberta’s outrage from family farmers who felt to farming operations as they always agriculture minister, Oneil Carlier, re- their bucolic work methods were be- have and neighbours can still volun- sponded by calling for measures to ing trampled on by a social democrat- teer to help each other out.” enhance farm safety with the stated ic government few of them voted for. Still, many are calling it a bad com- goal of protecting rural children. In Bill 6 “appeared to disregard the tradi- munications blunder for the govern- late January, Carlier announced the tional community approach to farm- ment. Wildrose party leader Brian creation of six working groups, made ing in Alberta, in which family mem- Jean, who as recently as March 2015 up of a dozen people each, who were bers are active on the farm and neigh- told CBC he supported new farm safe- to begin developing a rollout plan for bours help neighbours with various ty regulations, is using the opportuni- Bill 6 at the end of February. tasks,” wrote Michael Hughes, a law- ty to denounce the NDP as anti-demo- “Years of promises made and prom- yer who advises employers on labour cratic. Generally the right in Alberta is ises broken by Conservative premiers issues, in December. using dissatisfaction with the govern- 8 ment’s handling of the bill to whip up Murray Dobbin wholesale opposition to the NDP’s policies—namely the carbon tax and a recently wrapped-up oil royalty review. Do the Liberals want Though the Alberta Federation of Agriculture (AFA), which represents fair elections or not? the province’s farmers, ranchers and other agricultural workers, supports the broader goal of enhancing farm safety, it, too, has reservations about the way the bill was rolled out. “AFA’s position on Bill 6 is that while RIME MINISTER JUSTIN Trudeau’s Liberals 30%, Conservatives 25%, we welcome some of the changes in election pledge (and subsequent Greens 10%. As the Greens received the proposed legislation, more consul- confirmation) that Canada will the fewest votes, these are redistrib- tation and communication are essen- not have another election un- uted based on the second choices of tial,” reads the organization’s website. der first-past-the-post has mor- the Green voters. Based on our as- “The quick implementation schedule phed into a growing controver- sumption of what these second choic- and unclear communication about the Psy. Trudeau’s evident attraction to one es would be, that might give you: NDP scope of this legislation has meant a option for electoral reform—the so- 40%, Liberals 35%, Conservatives 25%. significant learning curve for farmers.” called preferential ballot, or instant As nobody has reached a majority, Bob Barnetson, professor of la- runoff vote (IRV)—and his stated op- the Conservative votes are then dis- bour studies at Athabasca Universi- position to proportional representa- tributed based on the second choic- ty, staunchly supports the bill, which tion has some analysts and commen- es of the Conservative voters. With 17 he says represents “a long overdue tators smelling a rat. Conservative percentage points going change that brings Alberta employ- That’s because IRV is a system to the Liberals and eight to the NDP ment law for farm workers into the that favours parties who are able to you get NDP 48%, Liberals 52%. So the mainstream.” Barnetson attributes lay claim to the ideological middle Liberals win, whereas under first-past- farmers’ opposition to the legislation ground. That is, with a preferential the-post the NDP would have won. as a desire to squeeze every bit of prof- ballot (where voters’ second choices Applying the same rough formula it out of their employees. determine the outcome in most rid- regarding voters’ likely second choic- “Farmers are no different from any ings) the centrist party can garner es to the October 2015 election, we other business owner,” he says. “They second-choice votes from both the find the Liberals would gain 15 seats typically dislike the additional costs right- and left-wing parties—as the from the Conservatives, seven from associated with paying workers living Liberals clearly did in October’s vote. the NDP, one from the Bloc and lose wages and offering them safe work- Is the fix in? Is Trudeau’s, and more one to the NDP for a total of 206 seats places. They would rather externalize importantly the Liberal brain trust’s, (actual count: 184). The Conservatives those costs onto the workers.” sudden love affair with electoral re- would lose 15 to the Liberals and seven Barneston points out small fami- form just a plan to stay in power per- to the NDP for a total of 77 seats (actu- ly farms are untouched by the legis- manently? Trudeau, as you would ex- al count: 99). The NDP would gain sev- lation, but their plight is being used pect, denied any such nefarious moti- en from the Conservatives, one from as a wedge issue by the two conserv- vation, but more on that later. Let’s first the Liberals, one from the Bloc and ative opposition parties to mask their look at the claim behind the suspicions. lose seven to the Liberals for a total support for big agribusiness. A political junky friend of mine of 46 seats (actual count: 44). The Bloc “Who’s really affected by Bill 6? established the following rules for would lose one seat to the NDP and There’s about 43,000 farm operations... applying IRV to Canada’s federal one to the Liberals for a total of eight in Alberta, but only about 13,000 of scene. “When I did the calculations, seats (actual count: 10). The Greens those have paid workers, so only about I assumed that Bloc Québécois votes would remain unchanged at one seat. 30% of farms are affected by Bill 6, and would split roughly 70% to the NDP So under IRV the Liberals, with those tend to be the biggest farms.” and 30% to the Liberals and that Con- 39.5% of the vote, would be awarded Barnetson concedes the government servative votes would split roughly 61% of seats. That is even more un- failed to convince Albertans that the 70% to the Liberals and 30% to the democratic than the system that IRV legislation is in the public’s interest. NDP. I also assumed that Green votes is supposed to fix. Under first-past- “Much of the opposition to this bill is would split roughly 50-50 between the the-post that 39.5% vote only got the frankly hysterically misinformed,” he NDP and the Liberals, and that Liberal Liberals 54% of the seats. Under first- says. “I would think if the NDP could votes would split roughly 70% to the past-the-post in the October elec- do this again, they would adopt a dif- NDP and 30% to the Conservatives.” tion the Conservatives received pret- ferent communications strategy.... Let’s apply that formula to a hypo- ty much what they deserved: 32% of Even the premier has publicly accepted thetical riding in which first-choice the vote got them 29% of seats. But that the communication was bad.” ballots came in as follows: NDP 35%, under the allegedly more democratic 9 First Past the Post Proportional Representation ing for a system of proportional rep- Actual distribution of seats Distribution using resentation called mixed member in the 2015 election proportional representation proportional (MMP). In a free vote the Liberal caucus was evenly split, with left-wing Liberals generally vot- 135 ing for the motion. Following the vote, Trudeau’s office replied to a letter from the Canadian Electoral Alliance, a group supporting proportional representation, criticizing Trudeau’s “no” vote. It stated, in part, “[Mr. Trudeau] does not support proportional representation, as 68 he very deeply believes that every Member of Parliament must represent actual Canadians...not just the political party that appointed them to the House of Commons.” But this is such an obvious red herring that it cannot sustain 18 months of scrutiny—the timeline for legislation on the issue. Trudeau’s stated ob- jection to proportional representation assumes it involves a system in which voters will not have a local IRV their 32% vote would have given focused almost exclusively on the elected representative; in effect, that them just 23% of the seats. (For the fact that people’s votes are wasted MPs will be appointed by the parties. NDP it was a wash: the party’s 19% under first-past-the-post, that the But MMP, the system contained got them 13% of the seats under both parliamentary seats awarded often in the 2014 NDP resolution, does re- IRV and first-past-the-post.) have little relationship to the total tain the riding system so every vot- Yes, this reflects just one election, number of votes received. Fair Vote er has access to a locally elected MP. but it is easy to see why the Liber- Canada points out one glaring exam- The parties provide lists of region- als would love to have IRV in place. ple: “In 2008, the Bloc Québécois and al candidates who are also voted for In an election where they started off the Green Party achieved almost the and used to top up the final number in third place they ended up winning same number of votes—but Bloc vot- of MPs for each party in line with the by successfully occupying the mid- ers elected 49 MPs and Green Party percentage of votes each received. No dle ground. Of course you have to be voters elected zero.” MP is just “appointed.” smart to do that consistently, but the While the wasted vote phenome- Asking people whether they want NDP and Conservatives would have to non is most obvious with small parties IRV or MMP is about the same as ask- be even smarter given that their politi- like the Greens it can be just as true ing whether they would prefer a wa- cal bases include large numbers of vot- for the mainline parties. The last two termelon or a toaster. The two elec- ers on the left and right respectively. elections were typical in that both the toral reforms address different issues. It is simply a mistake to refer to Conservatives and Liberals achieved IRV seeks to increase the legitimacy of IRV as a form of proportional rep- majorities of 54% of the seats with just the elected member by ensuring the resentation because that is not what it 39.5% of the votes. Justin Trudeau’s winner actually receives 50% or more sets out to achieve. Proportional rep- statements and actions on the issue support based on voters’ preferenc- resentation is just what it suggests: reveal he knows what the problem is, es. But MP legitimacy has not been a party receives seats in Parliament but is loath to do what is necessary to a major cause of concern in Canada. proportional to the percentage of solve it. “I’ve met and heard from far First, MPs in our multi-party sys- votes it receives nationally. In the re- too many Canadians who are frustrat- tem are not freelancers. They are tied cent election, strict proportional rep- ed that they don’t feel like their votes to parties that express a set of values resentation would have seen the Lib- count,” he told iPolitics.ca. and policies, and supporters expect erals awarded 135 seats, the Conserv- That is precisely the complaint that them to vote for those values and atives 108, the NDP 68, the Greens 11 proportional representation is de- policies. Most of the day-to-day “rep- and the Bloc 16, mandating a minor- signed to address. But while Trudeau resentation” done by MPs is related to ity government and some form of in- identifies the problem, he has repeat- help with filling out forms or address- ter-party co-operation. edly rejected the only genuine solu- ing unfair treatment at the hands of The agitation for electoral reform tion. On December 19, 2014, Trudeau some government agency. The desire among civil society groups has been voted against an NDP motion call- for electoral reform is driven not by a 10 passion for better quality representa- we want: “fair results, a representative ballot as a feature of a proportional tion in the riding, but by a desire for Parliament, greater voter engagement, system. Now he just has to do it and a genuine, robust democracy where more collaboration, more accountabil- continue to reject calls for a referen- peoples’ votes actually count. ity, better representation of diversity dum. Sixty-three per cent of electors The evidence in favour of propor- and voter choice, and stability.” voted for parties that want to make tional representation is overwhelming. And if Prime Minister Trudeau gen- every vote count. That is as strong a Eighty-five per cent of our peer coun- uinely wants more legitimate MPs he mandate for any policy that a gov- tries in the OECD have some form of can have that along with proportion- ernment is likely to get.

proportional representation. As Fair al representation. There is nothing THIS ARTICLE IS REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM Vote Canada argues, they get what stopping him from including a ranked THE TYEE.

Robin Yassin-Kassab Peace, not pacification, in Syria

S I WRITE in early February, state sault, which hits courthouses, schools, activism even as it shrinks for jihadism. representatives are attending hospitals and aid convoys. And then a genuine settlement process the theatre in Geneva. In Syr- The clear aim of this campaign is could begin. What might that look like? ia, meanwhile, reality prevails: to annihilate the democratic-nation- The opposition’s High Negotiations in one day a tented camp of alist opposition so that only Assad Committee came out of a meeting in the displaced in the Latakia and the jihadists remain. Then, Pu- Saudi Arabia that brought together Ahills is bombed, barrel bombs rain on tin assumes, the world will have no the National Co-ordination Committee the south and the Damascus suburbs, choice but to assist him in winning (a Damascus-based body semi-tolerat- Russia’s cluster bombs crumple over the whole country back for Assad. ed by the regime), the Istanbul-based the north, and up to 100 people are as- But demographic realities will ensure Coalition, and the leaders of democrat- phyxiated by chlorine gas in Moadam- that a large chunk of Syria remains ic-nationalist (Free Army) and nation- iyah. Let’s hope the seats in the thea- forever out of Assad’s grasp. alist-Islamist militias. The latter in- tre are comfortable. So long as the traumatization of this cluded, at the more extreme end, Jaysh Russia, the prime mover of the pro- scorched territory continues, so too al-Islam, and Ahrar al-Sham, Salafist cess, is inviting its own “opposition” will radicalization. Because it declares Syrian pragmatists who must be in- delegates. It complains (with Assad an end-times war on everyone, ISIS volved in a final settlement, as must and Iran) that the actual opposition will eventually be defeated. But Jabhat regime-loyalist Alawi communities, delegation contains “terrorists.” The al-Nusra (al-Qaida’s Syrian branch), or lest they act as spoilers. thousands of Iranian-backed transna- a successor organization, will inherit. Jaysh al-Islam, the dominant mi- tional Shia jihadists in Syria are not There is no real peace process. “Ge- litia in the eastern Ghouta, is proba- considered terrorists and should not neva 3” is better understood as a paci- bly responsible for the abduction of be discussed at this stage. fication process, as appeasement. We the revolutionary activists known as The United States accepts these should at least speak honestly. Syria’s the Douma Four, including Razan Zai- terms, and instead of the “transition- downward spiral cannot be halted un- touneh, a human rights lawyer and al government” agreed upon as the ul- til the aerial bombardment of civilian founder of the Local Co-ordination timate goal in previous Geneva talks, areas is stopped. This would involve Committees. My book with Leila al- it speaks now of a “national govern- robust (diplomatic, economic) argu- Shami, Burning Country: Syrians in ment.” In other words, Assad, who is ment with the Russians, something Revolution and War, is dedicated to responsible for the overwhelming Obama has avoided over Ukraine as Razan, a woman of fearless principle number of civilian casualties and dis- well as Syria. It would mean either whose fate in some way is emblem- placements, can stay so that all may establishing a no-fly zone, shooting atic of Syria’s. Worse, Jaysh al-Islam’s confront the “greater evil” of jihadism. down whatever planes bomb civil- leaders have sometimes made sectari- Yet 80% of Russian bombs are fall- ians, or allowing the currently de- an threats that wound the revolution ing not on ISIS but on the opposition fenceless opposition access to anti-air- by further alienating minority groups. to both ISIS and Assad; that is, on the craft weapons. Its position on democracy as a desired communities which previously drove Once the bombing stops, and sieg- end is ambiguous at best. ISIS from their areas. A quarter of a es are lifted, the displaced can return For these reasons civil revolution- million more people have been dis- and economic and social life can be re- aries often find themselves oppos- placed as a result of the Russian as- vived. Space will grow for democratic ing Jaysh al-Islam’s authoritarianism 11 while at the same time insisting that needs where the state has either col- is aware of the Syrian people’s self-or- it be recognized as part of the revo- lapsed or deliberately withheld them, ganized experiments in democracy. lution and part of the settlement. De- including water, electricity, waste dis- The western public, failed by journal- spite its abuses, the militia is subject posal and health care. ism, are more likely to question Arabs’ to popular pressure. Its assaults on The idea started with activist Omar capacity for democracy than to mar- activists are exceptions, therefore, Aziz, who wrote an influential paper vel at the Syrian achievement under whereas in Assad or ISIS areas they on self-organization in the revolu- full-scale military assault. are the rule. Free elections have been tion’s eighth month. Aziz was an anar- The councils are not always perfect. held in Jaysh al-Islam territory. And chist who believed that protesting the Sometimes they are rendered dysfunc- Jaysh al-Islam has been the most ef- regime by itself was useless if revolu- tional by factionalism or intimidated fective opponent of ISIS in the Da- tionaries did not build alternatives to by warlords. But they are the closest mascus region. repressive state structures. He advo- thing we have to true representatives Ahrar al-Sham pulled out of the cated forming councils as grassroots of the Syrian people, and they should Saudi meeting complaining that the community forums, and helped set up therefore be strongly present at any conference did not recognize Syr- the councils in Barzeh and Zabadani meeting discussing Syria’s fate. ia’s “Muslim identity” and gave too before his arrest and then death in If world powers are genuinely in- much representation to the Nation- prison in February 2013. terested in moving the region away al Co-ordination Committee, which Council members are appointed from war and jihadism and toward is not really a revolutionary body. Dif- by some form of democratic process, peace and democracy they should ficult though it is, it is important to though the form differs from place to support the councils more powerful- try to bring such groups into the po- place, and is most severely restrict- ly than they are already doing. Finan- litical process and to distance them ed in regime- or ISIS-controlled ar- cial support is not enough; there’s no from Jabhat al-Nusra, Syria’s al-Qai- eas where the councils must oper- point gifting new rubbish-collection da, with whom they sometimes col- ate in secret. trucks if they will be bombed in their laborate on the battlefield. Aziz Asaad, one activist we inter- first week. At the same time, Syrian If Syria is to survive, the fighting viewed for our book, described the oppositional elites and militias should men of the nationalist and Islamist challenges this way: be encouraged to recognize the cen- opposition must merge with whatev- tral democratic achievement of the lo- It was difficult for us— er remains of the post-regime Syrian cal councils, and thereby to develop particularly in the middle of a army to take on ISIS, Nusra and oth- a decentralized vision of the future. revolution calling for pluralism er transnational jihadists (including The myth that a strong central state and democracy—to select the Shia ones). But for this to hap- ensures the strength and dignity of its revolutionary representatives pen, the immediate threat of Assad’s people runs deep in oppositional con- by democratic process.... It was scorched-earth policy must be lifted. sciousness—nationalist, leftist and Is- made worse by the fact that Even as they execute their own op- lamist—despite all the evidence to the we were in a regime-controlled position clerics and endlessly bomb contrary. But decentralization is the area and so constantly feared Yemen, the Saudis should be congrat- best way to deal with Syria’s current- arrest. When we formed the ulated for bringing together a broad ly explosive ethnic and sectarian po- local council in Salamiyah spectrum of the Syrian Arab opposi- larizations. It would mean a recogni- we adopted what you could tion. If current circumstances change tion of autonomy for the Kurds, who call “the democracy of the so that a real peace process becomes have set up their own council system. revolutionary elite.” In secret we viable, the High Negotiations Commit- It would also mean that different ar- chose 11 people from about 55. tee could perhaps form a credible ne- eas could govern themselves accord- gotiating team to sit down with the In the rebel-held “liberated” areas, ing to their social and sectarian com- PYD (the dominant party/militia in however, the councils are selected by position. So alcohol, for instance, may Syria’s Kurdish areas) and represent- democratic ballot—the first free elec- be banned by one council but permit- atives of pro-regime communities. tions in Syria in over four decades. In ted by another. The Saudi recipe, however, misses recent elections in the Ghouta, mili- The alternative to decentralization a vital ingredient—the local coun- tia leaders were not allowed to stand. is partition, which in any case is the cils, sometimes called revolution- Fighters were, but none were elected. natural end to Putin’s bombardment. ary councils, which have been estab- In recent months, provincial elections Partition means greater ethnic cleans- lished throughout the country. These have been held in the Daraa region, ing than yet seen. It means the per- are practical, not ideological organi- too, where the Free Army’s Southern manence of refugee camps. It means zations. Their members are civil ac- Front holds sway. an Assadist rump on the Mediterra- tivists, family and tribal leaders, and It is a sad irony (and one reason why nean coast to be squabbled over by people selected for technical or pro- we wrote our book) that the previous Iran and Russia, and a vengeful, burnt fessional skills. They do their best decade’s invasion of Iraq was suppos- Sunni territory cut off from the sea. in the very worst conditions to pro- edly done for the sake of democracy, It would be a disaster for the Syrian vide humanitarian aid and fulfil basic yet almost nobody in the West today people, and for global security too. 12 Behind the Numbers

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALISHA DAVIDSON ernment’s Neighbourhoods Alive! program), BEEP currently works with 12 government-funded trainees who were previously unemployed and/or collecting federal EI or employment and income assistance (EIA) from the province. Par- ticipants install attic, basement and wall cavity insulation—all highly marketable skills. So far, BEEP has completed energy, water-efficiency and insulation up- grades in over 600 provincial housing units. More recently, Manitoba Hous- ing hired BEEP to complete asbestos and mold remediation on 25 duplexes in Brandon prior to completing exteri- or refreshes. BUILD now works with 50 trainees per year. They tend to be Aboriginal men who live in Winnipeg’s inner city or the North End, but there are also some newcomers and females among LYNNE FERNANDEZ the trainees. Almost all of them are reeling from the effects of racism and colonialism; they are under-educated, lacking stable housing, and have often SOCIAL ENTERPRISES had contact with the justice system. For two months, trainees learn trades-based math for 1.5 hours every CUT CARBON morning in preparation for an essential skills assessment. They then move on to hard skills training in building insulation, taping, mudding, hanging n a new SSHRC-funded report for financing charge, participating First Na- doors and drywalling. Soft skills cov- the CCPA-MB I explain how a com- tion households see relief from day one. er everything from nutrition, parent- bination of governmental policies In its first year, Aki Energy trained 30 ing and budgeting to stress manage- and initiatives in Manitoba allows First Nation workers in geothermal in- ment and work ethics. Those who suc- social enterprises to reduce Mani- stallation and installed 110 residential cessfully work through the training pro- toba’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emis- geothermal systems in Peguis First Na- gram have the opportunity to move Isions while training and employing in- tion and the Fisher River Cree Nation. to the social enterprise side of BUILD ner-city workers. The provincial govern- Families who received the new systems where they work on government pro- ment and Manitoba Hydro are support- will cumulatively save about $44,000 curement jobs through Manitoba Hous- ing social enterprises in two emerging per year in reduced utility costs. Mani- ing and Manitoba Hydro. “green” sectors: building retrofits, and toba Hydro recently announced plans Another social enterprise, Manitoba alternative energy installations. to install $18 million worth of geother- Green Retrofit (MGR), does energy-ef- I examine three social enterprises in mal to about 1,200 homes over the next ficient retrofits for Manitoba Housing, the report. The first, Aboriginal-owned three years, and Aki Energy is current- as well as property management, dem- Aki Energy (Aki is Oji-Cree for Earth), ly expanding this program to a number olition and salvage, “make readies” (re- works with Manitoba Hydro to connect of other First Nations. pairs), and offers an effective bed bug First Nations—the majority of which Building Urban Industry for Local De- treatment, Bug N Scrub, that is free to rely on expensive electric heating— velopment (BUILD), which started up in vulnerable renters or purchasable di- to pay-as-you-save (PAYS) financing. 2006, and the Brandon Energy Efficien- rectly from the company. Many MGR This money pays for the upfront equip- cy Program (BEEP) are Manitoba social employees graduated from the BUILD ment and installation costs of geother- enterprises that train people facing mul- program, demonstrating the success mal systems, which is then recovered tiple barriers in the workforce. Locat- of these enterprises at transitioning on consumer utility bills for 20 years. ed in the city of Brandon, and adminis- people into the labour market. Since the savings are greater than the tered by the Brandon Neighbourhood Of all the government support for Renewal Corporation (part of the gov- these programs in Manitoba, the Ener- 13 gy Savings Act is particularly helpful in its promotion of social enterprises to improve energy efficiency and reduce GHGs. Given their potential to simultaneously train and employ previously unemployable workers, the legislation could go further. For example, we could use some hard targets for building retrofits in more low-income housing units, and the province could be exploiting the social enterprise model in areas outside of housing and hydro. The City of Winnipeg should take note as well. One more element in the model needs to be puzzled out: how to help trainees transition into a tougher private sector where employers are not as supportive. Research by the CCPA-MB suggests it would be helpful in this regard to adopt an Aboriginal-focused La- bour Market Intermediary (LMI), which WAYNE ANTONY the province is currently considering. An LMI is a network of community-based organizations that provide important services (e.g., addictions coun- CANADA’S CULTURAL POLICY selling, child care, resume writing, driv- ers licences) to workers facing multiple barriers to entering the workforce. Ide- NEEDS LOVE ally it would also include educational institutions, interested employers and relevant trade unions, and could, if implemented, help complete the prov- n the 1970s, 98% of book publishers designers, publicists and others) are ince’s social enterprise strategy. were located in Toronto and Montreal. low compared to other workers in Can- Social enterprises have come a long By 2009, there were at least 235 pub- ada, and life is precarious for many in- way in Manitoba over the current gov- lishers in 80 cities. Currently, Canada’s dependent publishers. ernment’s 15 years in office. Using gov- more than 300 independent publish- There are three main public policy ernment procurement to support so- ers issue 10,000+ new titles a year. In challenges to fixing the situation: ero- cial enterprise has great potential for IManitoba, for example, local publish- sion of copyright protection, frozen lowering incarceration and welfare ers put out as many as 120 titles a year, funding that has not kept pace with in- costs, boosting revenue through in- the majority of them authored by Ca- flation, and ineffective foreign owner- creased taxation and meeting Mani- nadian and Manitoba writers. ship policies. The federal government toba’s labour market needs. In addition to enhancing our quality must see books through the lens of cul- With provincial elections in April, of life, writing and publishing are impor- tural policy, as historically was the case, many wonder how the sector will fare tant to the Canadian economy. Domes- rather than purely capitalist economics. if there is a change in government, tic publishers provide more than 9,000 The Copyright Modernization Act whether a different party would see jobs and generate $2 billion in revenue of 2012 has had and will continue to the value in what has been so pains- annually. In Manitoba, locally owned in- have a negative impact on independ- takingly built up. It would be tragic if dependent publishing is a $4-million in- ent Canadian publishers, most nota- the social enterprise framework were dustry. Publisher dollars stay in Manito- bly by adding education to the list of to be dismantled when it clearly proba at a level higher than in most other “fair dealing” exceptions to copyright duces environmental and job-training industries (76%), with 84% of that go- law. Educators in the K-12 (kindergar- results. Much has been gained, but ing to wages and salaries. ten to Grade 12) and post-secondary there is much more left to do. Still, the industry faces serious chal- sectors have broadly interpreted the

LYNNE FERNANDEZ HOLDS THE ERROL BLACK CHAIR lenges. Writers’ incomes decreased by act’s fair dealing provisions by stop- IN LABOUR ISSUES AT THE CCPA-MB AND IS THE 27% between 1998 and 2015, and 80% ping or drastically reducing payment AUTHOR OF THE NEW REPORT, HOW GOVERNMENT SUPPORT TO SOCIAL ENTERPRISE CAN REDUCE POVERTY of writers earn writing incomes below for copyrighted work. AND GREEN HOUSE GASES, AVAILABLE AT WWW. the poverty line, averaging $12,879 per The financial impact of these inter- POLICYALTERNATIVES.CA. year. Wages in publishing (for editors, pretations has been significant for 14 publishers and writers. According to a costs are taken into account. A very Since 2011, there have been numer- 2015 study by PricewaterhouseCoop- modest part of that money ($100,000 ous exceptions to the policy that have ers, publisher revenues related to cop- annually), which publishers match dol- no benefit for Canadian publishing and yright decreased by 12% between 2010 lar for dollar, went toward a professional which eroded capacity of the Cana- and 2014. Because this revenue repre- development travel subsidy, but this pro- dian-owned sector. For example, the sents 16% of earnings, its loss can be gram will be terminated in 2016. Without government allowed Amazon to set the difference between staying in busi- this support, Canadian publishers, espe- up a Canadian warehouse, let Simon ness or not for small and mid-sized Ca- cially those outside of major cities, will and Shuster establish in Canada, and nadian publishers. find participating in professional train- green-lighted the sale of McClelland As these revenues continue to erode, ing opportunities virtually impossible. and Stewart (M&S) to Random House. many small firms will be forced out of To achieve cultural goals, funding for Amazon was allowed to create Am- the industry, which will lead to more Canadian book publishing needs to be azon.ca on the rationale that without consolidation and domination by mul- stable, and at least keep up with infla- a domestic workforce or physical pres- tinational publishers. This, in turn, will tion and industry needs. The govern- ence in Canada it was exempt from own- result in less content diversity, less Ca- ment should increase CBF funding to ership rules. The government then bent nadian cultural and political content, $48 million and reinstate the profes- (or ignored) the rules again by allowing higher prices and fewer works by Ca- sional development subsidy. Amazon, with its new Canadian foot- nadian writers. About 4% of publishers in Canada print, to establish a warehouse. M&S Litigation over fair dealing is unnec- are foreign-owned, but they account was sold to Random House (owned essarily costly—one of several good for 44% of total sales and 67% of sales by German publishing behemoth Ber- reasons to address these concerns in educational books from kindergar- telsmann) with very few conditions. before the 2017 mandatory review of ten to Grade 12. Canadian-owned pub- Long-term investment by the Canadi- the Copyright Modernization Act. An lishers account for 56% of publishing an government was lost, staffing levels immediate review would help clarify industry revenue, but produce 80% of dropped, and all sales, marketing and the fair dealing provisions and facili- new Canadian-authored books. production have been consolidated into tate negotiations on fair dealing be- In distribution and retailing, of Can- Random House. Fewer books are being tween educational institutions, pro- ada’s 3,000 bookstores Chapters ac- published by M&S, while its backlist of ducers and creators. counts for 44% of sales, Walmart and classic Canadian titles is now owned by Governments in Canada do invest Costco take 10% each, and independ- a non-Canadian corporation. in independent publishing. The federal ents account for 20%. The four larg- When the playing field is level, Cana- government does this mainly through est distributors are foreign-owned. In dian publishers can enrich us cultur- the Canada Book Fund (CBF) and the Quebec, the publishing and distribu- ally and economically whereas multi- Canada Council for the Arts, both ad- tion landscape is completely differ- nationals use their power to enhance ministered by the Department of Cul- ent: there are no foreign-owned pub- profits and market share. At a mini- ture and Heritage (DCH). lishers, and distribution and retailing, mum the federal government needs The CBF provides eligible publishers while concentrated, are dominated to abide by the ownership conditions with operating support and special pro- by Quebec- or Canadian-owned firms. that were instrumental in fostering an ject grants. Provincial culture depart- In 1992, the federal government re- independent Canadian publishing in- ments also invest in operating support, vised the rules governing foreign infrastructure. It could easily go much marketing assistance, special projects vestment in publishing and distribu- further to enhance cultural develop- and, in some provinces, tax credits. Pro- tion through changes to the Invest- ment by implementing recommenda- vincial funding varies from province to ment Canada Act. The new rules have tions from the 2010 foreign investment province, with Ontario and British Co- two key elements: new firms or acqui- policy review and expanding ownership lumbia at the high end and the Atlantic sitions by foreign firms must be Cana- restrictions in publishing. provinces nearer the bottom. This sit- dian-controlled, otherwise there must The federal government has failed uation tends to lead to consolidation be a “net benefit” to Canada from the Canadian culture at every critical junc- on a national level—a disproportionate sale or new firm. Between 1999 and ture over the past decade. The effect of number of books published about ur- 2010, 99% of all foreign investments its actions or inactions has been to sup- ban and Central Canada and B.C. issues. in cultural industries were approved; port a central capitalist economic ten- There is a significant return on gov- only two of 46 foreign book-publish- dency toward ever-increasing concen- ernment investment in publishing. For ing applications were declined. tration and centralization, which is in example, the $30 million invested in the In a 2010 review of the policy, most the interest of big corporations, but not CBF’s Support to Publishers Program Canadian publishers advocated at least the public. Without significant chang- helps generate $413 million in sales. In maintaining ownership restrictions in es, we risk a situation where there is Manitoba, government investment is both publishing and distribution (in- no one to preserve our diverse stories returned dollar for dollar. cluding retail). Some publishers advo- and histories, and nothing but import- The total CBF budget of $39 million cated expanding the Canadian owner- ed books to read. has not changed in over 15 years; in fact, ship restriction. No policy changes re- WAYNE ANTONY IS A CO-PUBLISHER AT FERNWOOD it has gone down when inflation and sulted from the review. PUBLISHING AND A MEMBER OF THE CCPA-MB STEERING COMMITTEE. 15 The Index $14.8 billion amounting to 4.5% of total The amount Saudi Arabia military spending globally. will pay General Dynamics The spending is expected for an undisclosed number to increase despite the low of LAV III vehicles to be price of oil, as Saudi Arabia built at its plant in London, flexes its muscle in the Ontario. The deal was region. LAV at first sight negotiated by a Crown corporation, the Canadian 89% Canada’s arms deal Commercial Corp., in 2014. Amount by which military with Saudi Arabia exports to countries $12.6 billion other than the United Estimated annual revenues States shot up between from Canadian defence 2006 and 2013 under the industries, half of that from Harper government. Nearly exports. The arms sector a quarter of Canada’s employs about 109,000 exports in 2013 were to people, according to the Saudi Arabia. Canadian Association of Defence and Security 2,100 Industries. Jobs at General Dynamics’ Edmonton and London $80.8 billion operations. The company Saudi Arabia’s defence recently posted a job purchases in 2014, more opening for a business than 10% of its GDP, development officer to making it the fourth help expand opportunities biggest spender, dollar for in Saudi Arabia and dollar, in the world, and “selected countries in the Middle East” as western defence spending declines.

Canada War SALES, ARMOURED Inc.VEHICLE DIVISION

Poor human rights record? No problem!

16 1,400 100,000 cases of civilians fleeing 250 Number of LAV-type Fine in Saudi riyals residential bombings and The target number of vehicles, with various (US$70,800) handed to a being chased and shot at demilitarized LAV IIIs that weapons systems, that Saudi man in 2015 for using by helicopters.” Satellite will be repurposed by General Dynamics Canada social media “in order to imagery taken before and Militex Coating Inc. and has sold to Saudi Arabia practice homosexuality.” after bombing campaigns Fanshaw College students over the last 20 years. “revealed extensive to sit as monuments to 15 years damage to residential Canada’s Afghanistan war areas and civilian objects 58% Sentence handed to veterans in applicant cities as a result of internal Percentage of people in activist Waleed Abu al- across Canada. fighting and coalition Canada who believe a Khair in 2014 for criticizing airstrikes.” The UN panel country’s human rights the Saudi Arabian human 1 recorded 10 airstrikes on record is more important rights record in the media. Fredericton, New transportation routes, than domestic jobs when Brunswick is the only city four supply roads and five deciding where to sell 1,000 to house a LAV monument storage facilities for food arms. so far, with interest from Number of lashes assigned aid, “along with airstrikes Aurora and Sarnia, both in to blogger Raif Badawi on an Oxfam warehouse 2011 Ontario. who was sent to prison in for storing equipment for Last year the federal 2014 for allegedly insulting a water project funded nd 1 government issued a Saudi clerics. Badawi’s 32 by the European Union in report on human rights in birthday was celebrated Sana’a.” Class action lawsuit Saudi Arabia. in Montreal on January against the Saudi arms 16, while his wife, Ensaf 2,800 deal filed in February 152 Haidar, continues to push by a professor and Estimated civilian deaths the Canadian government students at the University Number of executions in Yemen as a result to call for his release. of Montreal on the in Saudi Arabia in 2015, of Saudi-led bombing including 62 for minor grounds it is illegal. 119 using military equipment drug-related charges, purchased from the U.S., according to Human Number of coalition air U.K., France and other Rights Watch. strikes in Yemen that have western allies. involved violations of 47 human rights, according to Number of people a UN study. Saudi Arabia beheaded on January 2, is the lead player in the 2016, including an Iranian coalition and responsible cleric. for about 70% of air sorties. The UN panel noted “three alleged

Canada War SALES, ARMOURED Inc.VEHICLE DIVISION

Poor human rights record? SOURCES Employment opportunities from General Dynamics Canada website; David Pugliese, “After Saudi Executions, New Canadian Leaders Still Back $15B Vehicle Sale,” Defense News; LAV III Monument Program No problem! website; Awad Mustafa, “Saudi Defense Spending Rises Despite Budget Challenges,” Defense News; Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI database); Ewan MacAskill, “UN report into Saudi- led strikes in Yemen raises questions over UK role,” Guardian U.K.; Adam Kerlin, “Saudi Arabia’s Enemies Are No Longer Just Knocking at Its Gate,” Vice News; Elizabeth Thompson, “Canada’s weapons exports grew more than 89% under Harper,” Ipolitics; Steven Chase, “Majority rank human rights above job cration in Saudi arms deal: poll,” Globe and Mail; Human Rights Watch (Saudi Arabia). 17 A special feature on reconciliation

ILLUSTRATION BY JULIE FLETT Erica Lee Reconciling in the Apocalypse

iscussions about reconciliation are often ex- But it seems that with any idea of reconciliation D hausting, because it’s not my story or the sto- I’ve heard, there is an unspoken requirement of ry of my people. Indigenous forgiveness and Indigenous consent I am writing this from Kisiskâciwan (Saskatch- to continued occupation. Even within our own ewan), which became the centre of national at- communities, the onus is on women, Two-Spirit tention in January 2016 for the school shooting people, and children to forgive those who have at La Loche, a northern Métis and Dene commu- harmed us. Healing, we are told, cannot begin to nity of about 2,600 people. happen until we forgive colonial sins of the past. With the release last year of the Truth and The real task of reconciliation, however, is not Reconciliation Commission report on residen- in Canada waiting around to be forgiven for colo- tial schools, the idea of “reconciliation” is still nialism so business can carry on as usual; it is for fresh on the tips of Canadian tongues, though Canadians to end the ongoing colonial violence it seems few have an understanding of what it that still suffocates Indigenous lives. means to practice reconciliation in the face of ongoing colonialism. Indigenous futures As each decade passes, the number of peo- At a gathering this summer at historic Gabriel’s ple who will advocate for outright genocide of Crossing, Métis elder Maria Campbell told us the Indigenous peoples decreases. However, we job of writers and artists is to be mirrors for the aren’t past the stage where Canada’s biggest people; that “we build what could’ve been, what magazines will still pay for regurgitated ideas should’ve been.” In knowing the histories of our of reserves and Northern communities like La relations and of this land, we find the knowledge Loche as “doomed,” and of Indigenous peoples to recreate all that our worlds would’ve been if as inherently “tragic,” disregarding the theft and not for the interruption of colonization. dispossession preceding these labels. By some Far from being tragic or doomed, as Indigenous of the nation’s most progressive, we are looked communities we are working toward our futures down upon with a sense of pity, as if reconcilia- daily; we are working toward futures that Canada tion means it is the duty of Canadians to learn tried endlessly to curtail, control and eliminate to be kind to Indigenous people. entirely. Thanks to the work of generations, In- digenous futures have never been so What is reconciliation? visions as vital to the survival of our clear and bright. Indigenous futures Reconciliation includes the land. Rec- worlds. After all: this is how Indige- look like the resurgence of our lan- onciliation includes not only humans, nous communities operated for cen- guages, our knowledges, our govern- but “more-than-human” creatures. turies before colonization. ance systems, and journeys home to If we follow the Native Youth Sexu- A living example of reconciliation our traditional territories. al Health Network’s philosophy of is Idle No More’s One House, Many A key requirement for any of these “Connected to Body, Connected to Nations project. In collaboration with futures to exist is a healthy world ca- Land,” reconciliation has a lot to do Mini Homes of Manitoba, Idle No pable of sustaining our futures. When with consent. Just as we follow rules More volunteers (Indigenous and set- the idea of traditional Indigenous of consent with intimate partners, In- tlers alike) are building fully self-sus- knowledges is raised, Canadian po- digenous people reserve the right to tainable mini homes as a hands-on re- litical theorists will roll their eyes as choose which settlers with whom we sponse to deplorable housing condi- if the idea of “living in harmony with are willing to reconcile. tions imposed on First Nations com- nature” is something cliché, stereo- This can seem an abstract idea un- munities. The very first Idle No More typical and naive. On the contrary, to til we break it down to its core: recon- mini home was placed in Big River return to the lands of our ancestors ciliation as the restoration of good re- First Nation this January. With tens is the most radical and revolutionary lations. Restoring good relations re- of thousands needing safe housing practice of all. quires fundamentally breaking with in this country, the reality is we don’t Unfortunately, Indigenous people a vastly unjust world to a focus on have time to wait for the duty or kind- are no longer the only ones responsi- how we relate to each other and the ness of politicians while our people ble for the well-being of this land. This world around us. If we move forward are homeless. is where reconciliation really matters. on the principles of good relations Home by home, we are rebuild- Canada on the world stage and consent, what would reconcili- ing nations. ation look like? Do you know how many Indigenous I was part of the Canadian Youth Del- Reconciliation is no more Indige- languages have been nearly extinct? Erica Lee egation to Paris for the COP 21 cli- nous kids dropping out of university Word by word, we speak languag- mate conference. This conference because they can’t afford it. It is Ca- es back into existence. was touted as a significant moment nadian courts ceasing to prosecute Do you know how many times Indig- Reconciling in the Apocalypse for climate justice and a turning point Indigenous land defenders for shut- enous worlds have been “doomed”? for an unsustainable system on the ting down pipelines on our own ter- Relation by relation, we dream verge of collapse. ritories. It is all missing Indigenous worlds back into existence. While in Paris, the Canadian Youth women and girls returned home. Anishinaabe scholar Lawrence Delegation met with Environment Reconciliation is recognizing that Gross writes about “Post Apoca- Minister Catherine McKenna in De- migrant lives are worth more than lypse Stress Syndrome,” acknowledg- cember 2015. We were told the fed- borders. It is opportunities to learn ing that Indigenous people have al- eral government’s responsibility was Indigenous languages. ready lived through multiple attempts to welcome Enbridge, Suncor and Reconciliation is #IdleNoMore. at our mass destruction. As Gross other mining companies to the ta- Reconciliation is #BlackLivesMatter. writes, “the Anishinaabe have seen ble with Canadians and Indigenous Reconciliation is funding that re- the end of our world,” and we have people, to discuss a climate solution flects the amount of reparations owed lived through it, returning stronger that would work for us all. To appeal by governments, and the abolition than ever. to the youth, there was even a Twitter of colonial systems of policing. It is If duty or kindness alone aren’t hashtag: #AllInThisTogether. mining corporations shutting their enough to propel you to care about A classic case of worldviews col- doors and paying every last cent of the necessity of reparations to Indig- liding: as Indigenous people, we will their worth into rebuilding devastat- enous people, consider at the very never be able to sit at a table with ed habitats. least that you will need a friend who mining companies and reconcile. No Reconciliation is the end of queer knows how to skin a porcupine, build person can sit at a table and claim and trans Indigenous youth driven to a house, and navigate by the stars to give consent to fracking, mines suicide by a colonial state that can- when the end of your world comes. or pipelines on behalf of the lands, not contain their multitudes. It is the After the shooting in La Loche, Ca- waters and more-than-human lives end of poverty, homelessness and nadian flags are flown at half-mast as that make up Indigenous territories. hunger, the end of sexual violence, a sign of mourning for lives lost to the Reconciliation is about Indigenous the end of colonial violence. ongoing violence of colonialism. Per- liberation, and it is about the libera- Reconciliation is the realization of haps a move to reconciliation, then, tion of the earth. We are never “all in worlds that should have been. requires lowering the flag entirely. this together” while Indigenous com- Sitting in a boardroom, these things munities are stripped to the bone for might seem irrational or impossible, the fat to maintain Canada. but on the land, we recognize these

19 Theodore Fontaine Stolen lives A survivor of Canada’s residential schools program welcomes a new education resource 20 ILL YOU EVER be happy?” A Dark Legacy of Indian Residential out is part of my reconciliation, but Grade 5 student asked Schools, A Memoir. at times the guilt, blame, and shame me that question fol- Before residential school, I lived a that was pounded into me rises in- lowing a presentation blissful and joyous life with my fam- side, a black tide of depression, frus- of my Indian Residen- ily, mi-shoom and kookum (grandfa- tration, and anger. Sometimes I just tial School experienc- ther and grandmother) and extended feel sorry for the perpetrators who “Wes in her classroom. Although I have family of aunts, uncles, and cousins. I abused me. More often, I think about told my story to more than 300 audi- spoke only Ojibway and contributed the loss of so many young lives, those ences across Canada and the Unit- to the well-being of our households who didn’t survive and those who did ed States—and responded to a wide by bringing water, wood, and the oc- but whose tremendous potential to range of questions—no one had ever casional snared little meal into our contribute to our people and Cana- asked me that, and I wasn’t sure I homes. For the next 12 years, I was da was never nurtured or realized. knew the answer. locked up, punished for speaking Ojib- People don’t know about the heal- For more than 100 years, First Na- way, shamed for being Indian. It was ing and reconciliation survivors go tions and Inuit children were removed pounded into me that our people were through. We are plagued by the alle- from their homes and communities no good, that Ojibway was a language gations of people who try to refute to be locked up in residential schools, of savages, that we were less than our and belittle our true experiences. It operated across Canada as a matter keepers. I experienced every type of is hard to listen to those voices who of federal policy decided in the Par- abuse: physical, sexual, mental, and say, “Why can’t they just get over it?” liament of Canada. The Indian Resi- spiritual. Through my many years of My voice is fuelled by other residen- dential Schools policy and era were healing and reconciliation, I have con- tial school survivors who say, “Thank not intended to support or educate fronted these damages and abuses to you for writing your book. Those our people, but to get us out of the the best of my ability. In writing Bro- things happened to me too. They re- way of settler development and access ken Circle, some of these abuses were ally did happen.” to the wealth of Canada’s natural re- too difficult to include, but I attempt- In June 2015, the Truth and Recon- sources. Implementation of the pol- ed to reveal at least examples of each ciliation Commission issued its find- icy, primarily carried out by church- type. Those were mild in comparison ings, including a summary of its final es acting for the Canadian govern- to some of the worst I experienced. report and 94 recommendations de- ment, aimed to destroy our cultural The most insidious bombardment scribed in its Calls to Action. It is im- and linguistic heritage, legal and re- and teaching at residential schools portant to understand that the work ligious freedoms, governmental and instilled in our young minds hate of the commission was not brought societal structures, and the very iden- for who we were, that we were not about by the good intentions of gov- tities of Canada’s Indigenous peoples. smart enough or good enough to do ernment, but by court order of the Canada’s policy targeted children to what the rest of Canadians can do or Indian Residential Schools Settle- ensure continuous destruction from become. Those perceptions pervade ment Agreement. This agreement one generation to the next. I was one our lives even today—insinuations was a negotiated settlement to legal of those children, incarcerated in In- that an Indian couldn’t be a quali- action taken by residential school dian Residential Schools for 12 years, fied doctor, lawyer, teacher, nurse, survivors to rectify the wrongs and taken in just days after my seventh author, or achieve other profession- damages done by the genocidal pol- birthday. al designations. icy of forcing Indigenous children People often ask what happened I am always apprehensive to speak into residential schools. The Truth to me in those schools. Why did my about what happened to me at resi- parents leave me there? Did I tell dential schools. Sometimes I get flash- someone about the abuses I en- backs, soul-crushing relivings of trau- dured? Adults ask why they didn’t matic experiences from my young already know about this. Did I try to years. I have so often been told that run away? Do I forgive the abusers? these abuses could not be true, that I have so often been Children ask why I couldn’t go home I must be lying, that representatives to sleep and what I got to eat. of God could never have been perpe- told that these abuses Did I tell the principal? Did we have trators of child abuse. These denials could not be true, that a TV? I tried to answer these ques- fill me with guilt for what happened tions and more when writing about to me and that I have spoken about it I must be lying, that my experiences in Broken Circle: The and implicated perpetrators, though, ironically, I protect their identities. representatives of God Survivors of abuse are often hesi- Theodore Fontaine visits the former tant to speak up. We know the truth could never have been Assiniboia Residential School in Winnipeg of what happened to us, and that perpetrators of child he attended in the late 1950s. some will try to deny or minimize or Ruth Bonneville/Winnipeg Free Press refute our truth. For me, speaking abuse. 21 and Reconciliation Commission was creat- that educators using this guide will invite ed as an element of this agreement, and its survivors into their classrooms for students findings and recommendations emanated to meet them, see their faces, and hear their from thousands of survivor disclosures and voices, that their hearts may be touched so testimonies brought to light by the work of deeply as to never forget. the commission. Canadians must embrace the reality and The Truth and Reconciliation Commission promise of its First Peoples as we rediscover calls Canadians in all walks of life to take ac- the pride and resolve to revive and uphold tion, with multiple recommendations specif- our unique characteristics. I have relearned ic to education of youth, newcomers to Can- my Ojibway language and much of our cul- ada, and both public and private sectors. I be- ture, and nothing gives me such joy as to be lieve that educators are those who will make able to sling my language through conver- the most difference, helping generations of sations with family and friends and to teach youth to build relationships among Indig- a few words here and there to non-Indige- enous and non-Indigenous peoples based nous people who express interest in hearing About Facing on our seven sacred teachings of knowl- this soaring, descriptive language. I imagine edge, love, honour, courage, honesty, humil- with horror, had the residential schools poli- History and ity, and truth. cy been successful, how many beautiful lan- The words facing history and ourselves guages would have disappeared. We cannot Ourselves form a strong descriptor of the hard work retrieve what we have lost, or might lose, of residential school survivors in talking from anywhere else in the world. If we lose “Facing History and Ourselves about their experience of this Canadian his- it here, it disappears forever. was founded in 1976 by tory so long denied and concealed. Shining In my visits to all parts of this great land to educators who believed that a bright light on it, Stolen Lives is a critical speak on what happened to us, I try to urge instilling intellectual vigour resource to guide teachers and students in survivors and elders to delve into their memo- and curiosity goes hand-in- finding their individual and collective op- ries and talk together about our shared histo- hand with teaching facts and portunities to walk this road of reconcilia- ry. We did survive and will never be the “van- figures. From the disturbing tion. The guide enables learning by explor- ishing Indian” or the conquered people. We lessons of the Holocaust ing the truth of our lived residential school will always proudly be Canada’s First Peoples, and other genocides to experiences, hearing our voices, understand- we the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island. struggles for civil rights from ing our context. After more than 100 years I write this with hope and humility as a Birmingham to South Africa, of this genocidal policy, educators now have participant in the tradition of our ancestors: we trust students to wrestle access to information to teach our children the passing of our true knowledge to the fu- with complex moments in about residential schools. Our children have ture knowledge keepers and leaders of our human history, and work to the right to know and to create a better fu- wonderful homeland. help them understand the ture for themselves and future generations. Kitchi miigwetch, a big thank you, to Facing range of human behaviour. Prior to the research and documentation History and Ourselves for helping to bring These students learn to initiatives of the Truth and Reconciliation the true history of Canada’s Indian Residen- connect the dots between Commission, information about the Indian tial Schools into the present and into the fu- the ethical choices they’ll Residential Schools had been produced by ture, and to all the educators who use this face in life and the positive governments and various non-Indigenous guide to show children and youth what truth outcomes they can create organizations and individuals, presenting and reconciliation mean and what it will take in their community and their own perspectives as factual accounts. to walk the miles to get there. the world. The Canadian It is critical to understand the Indigenous Will I ever be happy? Perhaps not in the offices of Facing History traditions of oral history, by which the her- sense that the young student meant it, but opened in 2008. Stolen Lives: itage of our people has been preserved and each day as I take another step toward rec- The Indigenous Peoples handed down through the centuries. The im- onciliation, I take a step toward finding my of Canada and the Indian portance of capturing this oral history and way back to the joyous, effervescent, mis- Residential Schools is the hearing first-person testimony is critical to chievous Ojibway child that the Creator in- first resource developed by success in the classroom, particularly now tended me to be.

the organization specifically as the number of survivors of residential THEODORE (TED) FONTAINE IS A MEMBER OF THE SAGKEENG AN- for Canadian classrooms.” schools is fast diminishing. Although our ISHINAABE FIRST NATION IN CANADA AND THE AUTHOR OF A NA- TIONAL BESTSELLER, BROKEN CIRCLE: THE DARK LEGACY OF INDI- stories may be taken up by our children and For more information: AN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS, A MEMOIR. HE IS A REGULAR SPEAKER grandchildren, the real effects and hidden AND MEDIA COMMENTATOR ON INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS. www.facinghistory.org/ HE HAS BEEN CALLED A SURVIVOR BUT SEES HIMSELF MORE AS A memories known only to survivors realisti- stolen-lives VICTOR. THE MONITOR THANKS FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES cally may be lost forever. Although it is most FOR ALLOWING US TO EXCERPT THIS INTRODUCTION FROM STO- LEN LIVES (SEE SIDEBAR). difficult to touch the innermost hurts and scars of our past, survivors have the right to speak about their own experiences. I hope 22 Reconciliation Drew Hayden Taylor Political by birth, not by choice

HEN RESIDENTIAL schools are mentioned, the term “genocide” is used so often it risks becoming a buzzword. Some say what happened in those big, Wdark, brick buildings was genocide, others say technically it was not. Un- fortunately, there are lots of examples to match it up against. This is possibly a discussion for far more learned men than I. For a living, I make things up, tell funny stories, and I never actually attended a residential school as a student. Still, like practically all Aboriginal people, I have been adversely touched by what happened in those institutions. Picture the Indian Residential School policy as a large and bitter pond. One by one, young children are brought to its edge and thrown in. They splash about or swim as des- unfit to survive. The list is longer than Children and a nun at Cross Lake Indian perately as they can, and eventually the time I am given here. Residential School in Manitoba, 1940. some make it back to shore. An esti- But there is also another definition Department of Indian and Northern Affairs/ mated 4,000 do not. The rest of us, of genocide, one slightly broader and Library and Archives Canada who were never forced into the pond, more technical. It says the act need still get damp to varying degrees. not imply the immediate physical de- That is why I, and many of my fel- struction of a nation, but could take low writers, write so often about this place where, through co-ordinated ac- dedicated to each of the points list- slice of Canadiana. But I digress— tions, one group has sought to destroy ed above. Detailing the abuse forced back to the topic at hand. the foundations of life of another in upon Canada’s Native people has For those who are fond of proce- an effort to annihilate what it means almost become a cottage industry. dural correctness, genocide is defined to be part of that group. (Thank God there’s something out as the deliberate killing of a large Genocide, in this case, occurs there to help feed the families of all group of people, especially those of through the disintegration of politi- those impoverished academics and a particular ethnic group or nation. cal and social institutions, culture, lan- lawyers.) Which is why, for me, this Charming. guage, national feelings, religion, and definition fundamentally describes We Canadians are familiar with the economic existence of a group, what residential schools attempted some of its repercussions. This coun- and the destruction of the personal to orchestrate. try, the settler part anyway, is con- security, liberty, health, dignity and It has been convincingly argued stantly being refreshed by welcoming even the lives of the individuals be- that the end result of this institu- those fleeing genocide abroad, wheth- longing to it. It is so complicated, yet tion was cultural genocide aimed at er they be Jews, Rwandans, Cambodi- so simple. destroying the Aboriginal population ans, Armenians, and so on and so on… Does the experience of Canada’s of Canada through one of the most in- World history is long and lush with First Nations fit this definition? There sidious manners possible—the abuse names, peoples and cultures deemed are entire libraries and databases and brainwashing of its children. 23 Now I am a fan of history. All his- In Canada, many threatened Indige- ginning. But it is not over. What hap- tory. History makes us ask questions. nous traditions and languages went pens now? A population of 150,000 One of them—What makes some peo- underground—under the ground, abused people can’t just move out of ple feel the need to change other peo- that metaphor again, so frequent in their homes into a Motel 6 and call ple into themselves?—has kept me up Native cultures—until it was time to the cops. at night on a few occasions. We can return and grow. One side has apologized, but let’s ask it another way: What kind of per- You see, for something as beautiful, face it: Canadians are internation- son wipes aside thousands of years of as essential, as important as our cul- ally known for saying “I’m sorry.” So social and cultural development with ture and people, it would take more the question is asked: Will the abuse the sweep of a pen, and with scarce- than 100 years of residential schools finally stop? Will the acknowledge- ly a backward glance, so confident to kill these Indians. They—we—are ment and apology begin the healing? as they are in their own superiority? a people of the ages. A people of time There is a quote in the introduc- It’s puzzling, tragically puzzling. (I immemorial. And time immemorial tion to Tomson Highway’s play The thought variety was the spice of life?) doesn’t recognize genocide, in what- Rez Sisters: “Before the healing can Maybe someday I, or we, will under- ever its form. It laughs at it. take place, the poison must be ex- stand this contradiction. Maybe I So here we are in 2015. No more res- posed.” I believe that is what the Truth should have gone to university, I’m idential schools. Post–prime ministe- and Reconciliation Commission was sure there’s a course on it somewhere. rial apology. Post-TRC. Now Canadi- charged with—exposing the poison. If there was a memorial T-shirt an society is exploring the heart of It’s a good beginning. Too many times, for residential school survivors and a six-syllable word: reconciliation. the immediate and intergenerational those taking up the cause, I would Amidst the doom and gloom, a pos- survivors of this genocide have heard suggest the once-endorsed, but now sible ray of hope. the words (which I think should also ironic, mantra of “In order to save the But how do you accomplish that— be on a T-shirt), “Why can’t you guys child, we must destroy the Indian.” reconciliation—whether it is one na- just get over it and move on?” What a diabolically great phrase— tion mistreating another, or a man Oy vey! That question can nev- right up there with “One Jew is too abusing his wife? One side says they er help anybody. It is a closed room many,” or “Segregation now, segrega- are sorry. That is good. That is a be- barred by a locked door. tion tomorrow, segregation forever.” So here we are tonight at the Royal Rather pithy, these people. And hard- Ontario Museum, an institution (like working: a lot of time and effort went many of its kind) famous for display- into fulfilling these misguided man- ing dead Indians and their artifacts.* dates, with limited results. I am going to presume all the Native What these people of god and gov- people here in the audience are very ernment didn’t understand was that much alive (feel free to argue with what they were trying to do is just me). I think the irony still holds, as we not possible. Destroying a people Now Canadian are here to serve both the museum’s and its ways is supremely difficult. mandate and commemorate the sur- The Romans tried to crush Christi- vival of Canada’s Indigenous people. anity with about just as much zeal… society is We, as the next generation, have and effectiveness. I don’t know about an obligation not to forget. We have you, but whenever I travel I run into exploring the an obligation to remember and pass a few Christians the Romans must on to the next generation all that has have missed. It’s a pity they never happened to our elders, both good and learned from their history. That in heart of a six- bad. Like going to the dentist, it may this case (and others) the oppressed not be pleasant, but it is necessary. became the oppressor. syllable word: That which does not destroy us Metaphorically speaking, even in makes us stronger. the most bombed-out environment, Those who do not remember the on the most scorched earth, in land reconciliation. past are condemned to repeat it. that has been salted practically out of Native people are political by birth, existence, you can and will frequent- Amidst the doom not by choice. (That one’s mine.) ly find at least one small plant cling- Thank you all for coming tonight. ing to the ground, unwilling to pass Or, in the language of my people, a out of existence, refusing to be de- and gloom, a language they tried to stamp out, stroyed. Given time and the proper miigwetch.

atmosphere, the plant will grow and * THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM A SPEECH DREW possible ray of HAYDEN TAYLOR GAVE IN TORONTO ON NOVEMBER make the earth lush again. 26, 2015 AT THE LAUNCH OF THE STOLEN LIVES PRO- Like that plant, Native people have JECT (SEE PAGE 22). always taken strength from the land. hope. 24 Reconciliation Making reconciliation work AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde talks to the Monitor about the political opportunities and priorities in the TRC’s 94 calls to action

N MID-DECEMBER, YOU participated in review of key federal laws and poli- and the benefits of a shared future. a meeting with the prime minister, cies. For example, federal “land claims” It’s about restoring the nation-to-na- several cabinet ministers and other and “self-government” policies are tion relationship with the Crown, to Indigenous leaders to discuss how not consistent with our rights as peo- address our shared challenges head- to implement the calls to action of ples. There are key aspects of envi- on as true partners. the Truth and Reconciliation Com- ronmental assessment and protec- We must all do our part to edu- Imission (TRC). Can you tell us how tion laws that do not respect our in- cate ourselves about our shared his- this process has unfolded since? herent and treaty rights. Implemen- tory and our shared future. We are tation of the TRC’s calls to action is a all in this together. It means the full Perry Bellegarde: At the meeting in big job but these are some clear first participation of Indigenous peoples December, we exchanged preliminary steps to get started. We must act now in resource and development deci- views on how to work together to re- to close the unacceptable gap in the sion-making, and in the design of new the relationship between Cana- quality of life between First Nations climate change strategies and ener- da and First Nations. The TRC rightly people and Canadians. gy strategies. It means schools and points to the UN Declaration on the homes for our children and fami- You frequently refer to “real reconcil- Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN- lies. And it means Canadians freeing iation.” What does this mean for you? DRIP) as a framework to guide our their minds of stereotypes, and cre- work on reconciliation. Both Cana- Real reconciliation is about First Na- ating the space to see our people as da and the Assembly of First Nations tions people being accepted and hav- have agreed with that approach and ing First Nations decisions respected AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde that is a very good start. That means in matters affecting our lives, our com- (centre) with Prime Minister we must work together to ensure that munities, our children and our future. Justin Trudeau and Tapiriit Kanatami First Nations lead the way on matters It’s about rebuilding a broken rela- leader Natan Obed at a press conference such as First Nations education, re- tionship by improving understanding on Parliament Hill in December. vitalization of Indigenous languag- and awareness of our shared history Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press es, and ending discrimination in the child welfare system. Over the past month, the AFN executive and I met with Minister of Finance Bill Morneau about the opportunity for action in Budget 2016. I have also met with many of his cabinet colleagues. Budget 2016 is the first opportunity to remove the 2% cap on funding of essential services for First Nations, such as education, health, social services and infrastructure. Canada and First Nations have a great deal of lost time to make up for, and that means catch-up funding also is needed in First Nations education, languages, housing and infrastructure. There is other action we can take together. I have emphasized the need for Canada and First Nations to establish, as soon as possible, a joint 25 healthy, valuable people with much government relations, federal and look like when it comes to develop- to contribute. provincial, will receive the attention ing resources in Canada? Real reconciliation will mean First it demands? Are there risks recon- Reconciliation will happen when a Nations will walk proud. We will ciliation will fade away as a nation- respectful relationship has been re- speak our languages and be healthy al priority, as it did in Australia and stored between First Nations and Can- and thriving in our chosen profes- many Latin American nations where ada. That requires working together sions, both on our lands or wherev- TRCs were carried out? to bring about the changes in law and er we choose to reside. There is unprecedented attention on policy that are needed to respect First The 94 calls to action in the TRC cov- First Nations priorities, and these are Nations rights under the Constitution er a mind-boggling range of inequi- Canada’s priorities. Clearly, the time and UNDRIP. To achieve reconcilia- ties in government–First Nations re- for action is now and the world is tion in the area of lands and resourc- lations, and between First Nations, watching Canada. Every few months, es we need a joint law and policy re- Métis and Inuit communities and there is a new report documenting view and a joint review of Canada’s the rest of Canada. In your view, are the gap in well-being and the human approach to litigation. We need to do there any priority areas that can or rights crisis it represents. We must this to realize the approach set out by must be addressed first? For exam- do more than measure the gap—we the prime minister and by the speech ple, is it most important to estab- must act now to close it. We cannot from the throne—an approach based lish the broad framework for ongo- let another generation of First Na- on respect, rights recognition and re- ing conversations, to receive imme- tions children down. The TRC’s calls newed nation-to-nation relationships. diate new funding for neglected so- to action and the UN declaration are Reconciliation will be achieved cial services, or to legislate change our road map. We will be relentless in when First Nation communities are (e.g., to the legal system, education, our efforts and will not waste this op- thriving and successful, reaping en- etc.), or can it all progress simulta- portunity for fundamental change. vironmentally responsible and bal- neously? anced benefits from our lands and re- The Liberal government has said it sources. It will mean First Nations at We are prioritizing the calls to action will review recent cases of federal the table sharing knowledge and de- as directed by Chiefs-in-Assembly. But lawyers trying to pass the buck to cision-making at all stages of the de- yes, we can make progress across all avoid paying settlements in cases of velopment process. It will mean our areas simultaneously and we must. abuse at Canada’s residential schools. rights and title are upheld and our There is a broad framework that will How confident are you that this legal participation will be a priority, not an fulfil the meaning behind the TRC’s tactic was a political directive from afterthought. It will mean First Na- work—and that is closing the socio- the last government and not simply tions are no longer poor in our own economic gap and bringing Canada’s standard operating procedure? homelands. laws and policies in line with the UN- The AFN fully supports all former stu- DRIP. We can only achieve true recon- How can Canada’s settler peoples ac- dents of residential schools and will ciliation when we close the gap in the tively participate in the reconcilia- continue to work to ensure they and quality of life between First Nations tion process? their families achieve the justice and people and Canada. The gap holds all healing they deserve. I’m confident we Everyone has a role in reconciliation. of us back from reaching the full po- have a new relationship with the fed- It’s difficult to script a to-do list, but tential of this country. Maintaining eral government and we will achieve Canadians can do all they can to open the gap costs all of us. change. A joint review of Canada’s ap- their hearts and minds to an accu- Our plan points the way to real proach to litigation in this and other rate understanding and perception change for all of us. It includes dedi- areas affecting First Nations rights is a of First Nations people. We are lead- cated, strategic investments and con- critically important task, one that we ers, doctors, mothers, sons, hunters, crete action in priority areas, includ- have identified as a pressing priority. teachers. Our goals are very similar— ing First Nations control of First Na- to achieve the very best for our fam- tions education, the development of In early February, you said one of the ilies and communities. Once we can a co-ordinated national action plan biggest reasons why there is such a all get behind the concept of embrac- to address and end violence against gap between First Nations and oth- ing the traditions and contributions Indigenous women and girls, invest- er Canadians is the historic misman- of everyone in this country, we will ments in First Nations housing and agement of First Nations resources. achieve real reconciliation. It starts child and family services, the imple- This was in a statement of support with the heart and the mind. mentation of rights, respect for the for the Poundmaker Cree and Onion environment and revitalizing Indig- Lake First Nations’ lawsuit claiming enous languages. mismanagement of oil and gas revenues by the government agency In- What is your hope that this time dian Oil and Gas Canada. Broadly things will be different—that the speaking, what does reconciliation goal of reconciling First Nations–

26 Reconciliation Andrea Auger The kids won—what now?

ANUARY 26, 2016 was a heartfelt, AANDC (Aboriginal Affairs federal funding through Directive 20- emotional day as First Nations and Northern Development 1, the Enhanced Prevention Focused children won a much anticipat- Canada) is involved in the Approach (EPFA), and other agree- ed human rights tribunal ruling provision of child and family ments established to help deliver cul- on culturally based equity in child services to First Nations on turally relevant services to First Na- welfare. reserves and in the Yukon; that tions children and families. JIn 2007, the First Nations Child and First Nations are adversely Directive 20-1, first implemented Family Caring Society of Canada (the impacted by the provision of in 1989, was examined in a 2000 re- Caring Society) and the Assembly of those services by AANDC, and, port coming out of a national policy First Nations (AFN) filed a complaint in some cases, denied those review, and then again in the 2005 pursuant to the Canadian Human services as a result of AANDC’s Wen:de report. Both reports found Rights Act. The groups alleged the involvement, and; that race the directive’s approach to be inequi- federal government had improperly and/or national or ethnic origin table (First Nations children received implemented Jordan’s Principle, and are a factor in those adverse much poorer services than other chil- that the inequitable provision of child impacts or denial. dren in Canada), particularly in terms welfare services to 163,000 First Na- of family support services. They also tions children is discriminatory un- The federal government controls and both outlined detailed solutions to der section 5 of the act. funds First Nations child and family improve the funding formulas and Named after Jordan River Anderson service agencies in the provinces and policies to better reflect the needs of (1999–2005), who spent two unneces- Yukon. With the exception of Ontar- First Nations. sary years in hospital while the fed- io, which is funded according to the eral and Manitoba governments ar- 1965 Indian Child Welfare Agreement, gued over who should pay for his com- the provinces and territories receive Photo courtesy the Caring Society plex medical needs, Jordan’s Principle states the government of first contact is responsible for child services and should seek compensation only after these services have been delivered. The human rights complaint was filed as a last resort after the federal government failed to implement reforms to correct inequities that had been documented as far back as 2000. In September 2008, the Canadi- an Human Rights Commission referred the case to the Canadian Hu- man Rights Tribunal for a full hearing on the facts. The federal government brought a series of unsuccessful motions to dismiss the case, which de- layed hearings until February 2013. The hearings went on for 72 days, con- cluding in October 2014. Then this Jan- uary, nine years after the complaint was filed, the tribunal delivered its long awaited ruling. It found:

27 As the tribunal pointed out in its ter outcomes for Indigenous children forefront of media and public debate ruling in January, the government and youth. Recognizing that Indige- this past year, touching the minds, failed to act on these warnings, which nous peoples are in the best position hearts and spirits of people in Can- resulted in children continuing to be to make decisions about Indigenous ada who knew about the impacts of removed from their homes: children and youth, the framework residential schools and of those who outlines a process (truth telling, ac- are learning about them for the first Despite being aware of these knowledging, restoring and relating) time. With the tribunal ruling in Jan- shortcomings in Directive 20-1 and principles (culture and language, uary, Canada is faced with a choice: based on numerous reports, non-discrimination, self-determina- we can continue to implement a sys- AANDC has not followed the tion, structural interventions to re- tem that has been detrimental to recommendations in those move systemic barriers like pover- children, or we can take a chance on reports and has perpetuated ty, and a holistic approach) for those a proven alternative like the Touch- the main shortcoming of involved in child welfare activities. stones of Hope. the [First Nations Child and The Touchstones of Hope move- The Canadian Human Rights Tri- Family Services] Program: the ment has existed for more than a dec- bunal found that inequitable funding incentive to take children into ade in Canada and the United States, for child welfare on reserves amounts care—to remove them from its principles established by those to discrimination. If we look hard their families. working in Indigenous child welfare enough, we can see prejudice deeply Although AANDC (now Indigenous in both countries. The framework was engrained within the veins of Cana- and Northern Affairs Canada, or piloted in British Columbia between dian society. For generations, Indige- INAC) provided the rollout of the 2008 and 2012 for five First Nations nous peoples have been treated differ- EPFA in 2007, with added funding for child and family service agencies. entially because of their race. Many prevention services, agencies were Researchers at the University of To- people in Canada have been tremen- still underfunded and had waited long ronto subsequently found the move- dous allies, standing together with enough to provide adequate services ment shifted the worldviews of par- Indigenous communities and cham- to children and their families. The Ca- ticipants, changed policies and prac- pioning equity, fairness and self-de- nadian Human Rights Tribunal looked tice, and that it had great potential termination. However, there will still at inequities across the four formu- for creating change in child welfare. be those who, in thinking or speaking las mentioned above and found the In a recent editorial, several draft- about Indigenous issues, will resort government was falling “far short of ers of the original Touchstones frame- to stereotypes—either because they its objective” in making sure agencies work argued it is still the best guide lack knowledge or because prejudice were properly equipped to deliver cul- for Indigenous child welfare, but that lies within them. turally relevant services on reserve in its potential could be lost if we lose Today, we have an opportunity to line with provincial legislation. sight of this progress. “As relevant as change Canada’s story of its relation- In 2015, the Truth and Reconcili- the Touchstones were in 2005, they ship with Indigenous peoples. Let us ation Commission of Canada (TRC) are even more relevant today giv- become more interested in learning released its 94 “calls to action” along en the building reconciliation move- not only about the loss, heartache with a seven-volume final report doc- ment,” it read. “Canadian child wel- and suffering of Indigenous com- umenting the lived experiences of fare must embed them quickly while munities in Canada, but also about First Nations, Métis and Inuit peo- the public spotlight remains because their strength, resilience and signifi- ples who attended Canada’s residen- once it dissipates, and it will, it will cant contributions to society. Let us tial schools. The TRC’s very first rec- be much more difficult to move the respond to the TRC’s calls to action ommendation deals with child wel- mainstream child welfare mountain.” to improve the lives of First Nations, fare (e.g., reducing the number of Although momentum for the Métis and Inuit peoples. Let us sup- children in care) and improving the Touchstones movement has been port January’s tribunal ruling by hold- system for Indigenous communities. slow, reconciliation has come to the ing the government accountable for It seems serendipitous that the tri- its treatment of generations of chil- bunal ruling was released on the heels dren and putting an end to discrim- of the TRC’s final report late last year. ination in the provision of all public We have a unique opportunity in Can- services for First Nations children ada to engage in reconciliation with and families. Indigenous communities and create For generations, Let us become a Canada that cele- a country everyone can be proud of. brates and lives by reconciliation—a Reconciliation has many meanings. Indigenous peoples Canada where every child, no matter In child welfare, the Touchstones of what their race or ethnic origin, has Hope framework guides a movement have been treated a fair and equal chance to achieve to put reconciliation into practice so differentially because of their dreams and be proud of who that we are moving forward togeth- they are. er in a respectful way to achieve bet- their race. 28 Reconciliation Jobb Arnold Three sovereignties and an election

HE CONCEPT OF nation-state sover- power (a.k.a. the bread and butter of OceanaGold recently sued the na- eignty has a lot to do with what sovereign control). tion of El Salvador for lost future the public perceives to be the Under Stephen Harper’s reign, as- profits because elected politicians re- legitimate use of violent force pects of Canadian sovereignty con- voked the firm’s license due to the fact (e.g., Canadian borders, army, tinued to be handed over to large cor- the mine was causing extreme harm police, etc.). The reality of sov- porations. International free trade to the natural environment and the Tereign violence in our society is that agreements like the Comprehensive local people. In Canada, U.S. firm Bil- it impacts the lives of different groups Economic and Trade Agreement con secured an ISDS victory last year of people in very different ways. (CETA), completed in 2014, and the when a NAFTA tribunal found a gov- The potential for violence makes massive Trans-Pacific Partnership ernment environmental assessment some people feel more secure because (TPP), signed this February but not process had violated the mining com- they think it will only be used to pro- yet ratified, shift the balance of Ca- pany’s investment rights. Bilcon now tect their rights and privileges. For nadian sovereignty in favour of un- wants Canada to pay US$300 million others, sovereign violence is a threat- elected corporate profiteers. in compensation. ening force that is central to the on- Corporations want greater access to International trade lawyer Luis going process of colonization through valuable natural resources and few- Prado puts the situation this way: the forcible displacement of Indige- er government regulations slowing “The ultimate question in the case nous people from ancestral lands, and down their money-making activities. [of ISDS] is whether a foreign inves- the aggressive pursuit of destructive These same corporations also want tor can force a government to change natural resource extraction. the state to use its sovereign force (the its laws to please the investor as op- Governments get scared when peo- police, border guards and the army) to posed to the investor complying with ple resist the smooth functioning of remove any barriers standing in the the laws they find in the country.” Our profitable colonial processes, and this way of their extractive activities and generation will be increasingly con- fear can be used as a propaganda tool their ability to get resource products fronted with the reality of corporate to label people as extremists, enemies to markets. sovereignty using its force to bend na- or even terrorists. In reality, this sim- International trade deals have es- tional legal systems to suit greedy, de- ply demonstrates that the balance of tablished corporate legal systems that structive interests. sovereign power is actually always trump Canadian sovereignty, specifi- A lot of what corporations are will- in a state of constant flux: sovereign cally through what are called inves- ing to do to make profits is twisted. force can be redistributed, its violent tor–state dispute settlement (ISDS) A new prime minister in Ottawa isn’t impacts shifted away from vulnera- tribunals. These tribunals are made going to fix this. We need to recog- ble lands and people. up of corporate lawyers given the nize the 500-year history of sover- The Canadian federal election on power to decide what is a fair bal- eign Indigenous struggle against the October 19 was an opportunity to be- ance between the interests of coun- ways that state sovereignty creates gin actively reformulating what sov- tries and corporations. and maintains colonial boundaries ereignty means in our day-to-day lives. For example, if Canadian environ- that serve the interests of selfish ex- Voting is not enough, though. Elec- mental protection laws were to pre- ploiters. tions feature a lot of hype and prop- vent a large-scale mining project from Indigenous sovereignty is unlike ei- aganda, but in “stable” countries like going ahead (because it would cause ther Canadian sovereignty or corpo- Canada they largely reproduce the too much ecological damage), an ISDS rate sovereignty. Even within the Eu- status quo in the form of a purely tribunal could rule that these laws rocentric Canadian legal system, In- “nation-state” sovereignty. But poli- “unfairly” hurt the corporation’s indigenous connectedness to the land tics does not end at the polls. Other vestment treaty right to make money. is recognized as a basis for sovereign less visible forms of politics are criti- The mining company could then sue claims and functional self-determina- cally important in the struggle for so- Canadian taxpayers for lost profits. tion. Just this past year, the Supreme cial legitimacy and decision-making This is not an abstract example. Court of Canada ruled that the Tsilh- The Canadian mining company qot’in people’s relationship with tradi- 29 tional lands constitutes a long-stand- lands of these same people. The sta- change and popular social unrest is ing and legitimate legal system. tus quo is not acceptable. bad news for colonial-capitalism and There are many Indigenous nations Sovereignty, whichever way you good news for the people who are be- on Turtle Island, each with different cut it, is still largely a matter of what ing hurt by these old systems. laws, customs and perspectives. How- “we the people” feel we are able to do, There are ever-increasing opportu- ever, many of their shared priorities, and our willingness and determina- nities to intervene against exploita- such as honouring human interde- tion to do it. Together we have the tion and violence, to create new spaces pendence with the natural world, are collective strength to push for real that are healthy and life-giving. A de- fundamentally opposed to the eco- transformation. gree of practical creativity is needed nomic-bottom-line thinking that is In Winnipeg, and all around Can- to identify the cracks that exist with- both the force and structuring logic ada, an Indigenous-led resurgence in the current exploitative systems, behind colonial-capitalism. is shaping local, national and inter- and then to begin creating healthy, Everyone in Canada—not just eli- national politics. Young leaders are sustainable communities. gible voters, but all people willing to breathing life into the fires of old By following the lead of Indigenous put their values and beliefs into ac- teachings, realizing that the world land-defenders and nurturing relation—has the capacity to exert their we experience is and always has been tionship-based alliances, those of us influence in order to create the type our responsibility, our legacy, our in- who refuse to let Turtle Island con- of country we want to live in, not to spiration. Legitimacy and power are tinue to be a corporate colony can be- mention the social and ecological an open game, as much as career poli- gin to exert new sovereignties based conditions that we leave for coming ticians and big businesses hate to ad- on sustainable, inclusive and posi- generations. To do this, we must rec- mit it. The balance of sovereign power tive values. At the very least these ognize the direction things are cur- can be altered in particular moments. efforts will facilitate diverse collec- rently going. The October 2015 federal election tive actions and help generate cre- There is a growing gulf between was one chance to push for such a ative ways of jamming the gears of rich and poor. Climate change caused change. But the future realities that the destructive systems that threat- by industrial activities like the tar will prevail in Canada will depend en us all.

sands is destroying global ecosys- on what we do now. By building rela- THIS ARTICLE RAN IN RED RISING (REDRISINGMAGAZINE. tems and causing extreme weather tionships and communities based on CA), A NEW INDIGENOUS MAGAZINE FROM WINNIPEG, IN OCTOBER 2015. such as droughts, wildfires and hur- values of respect for people and the ricanes—crises that disproportion- land, we can resist the spread of cor- ately impact the already marginal- porate and colonial-state sovereignty. ized. Refugees are forced to flee their If corporations and governments homes because of food scarcity and make it seem like their power is un- wars over oil. Tens of thousands con- shakable, they’re faking it. We live in a tinue to be left to die at the borders time when economic markets are col- of the very countries that have ben- lapsing and the need for new ways of efitted from wealth stolen from the life is obvious. This period of chaotic

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Send mail to 500-251 Bank St, Ottawa, ON K2P 1X3. 30 FURTHER For more information, contact Jennie at 1-613-563-1341 ext. 305 or [email protected]. for the Exploitation of has been found to both communities, government, The Good Meteorological Satellites— kill cancer cells and, in environmentalists and News Page from a California air base. the process, trigger the forestry companies—on Using its radar altimeter immune system to help conservation measures Compiled by 830 miles (1,336 km) fight off tumours. “We have that will preserve three Elaine Hughes above Earth, Jason-3 some evidence from our million hectares of will monitor 95% of the mice work that we can B.C.’s iconic Great Bear world’s ice-free oceans actually vaccinate against Rainforest. The deal will every 10 days for the next cancer,” said Dr. Guy protect the forest against five years. The satellite Ungerechts, involved with industrial logging, securing will measure sea level rise the project, which recently wildlife habitat for rare and ocean temperatures, received funding from spirit bears, coastal track hurricanes, watch for the Terry Fox Research wolves and salmon. It Einstein was right harmful algal blooms or oil Institute, the Ontario also gives First Nations about gravity spills, and contribute data Institute for Cancer greater control over their toward other scientific and Research, and the Ottawa territory. The forestry cientists announced commercial indicators. The Hospital Foundation. / BBC, industry retains the right in early February project is one of two sea- Ottawa Community News to log on 550,000 hectares S they had heard and gazing exercises at NASA of forest under the deal. / seen the collision of two this year—the other being Mother Canada Greenpeace Canada, CBC black holes, proving the the space agency’s Coral statue shelved existence of gravity waves Reef Airborne Laboratory Campbell Soup will as predicted by Einstein (CORAL), which will arks Canada has killed label GMOs a century ago. Professor measure coral reef health a proposed 24-metre Karsten Danzmann of in Florida, Hawaii, the P statue, called Mother grochemical the Max Planck Institute Mariana Islands, Palau Canada and slated for companies are for Gravitational Physics and Australia. / Orlando construction on the A spending millions to and Leibniz University in Sentinel, National Atlantic coast in Cape combat GMO labelling Hannover, Germany, said Environmental Satellite Breton Highlands National regimes proposed in the discovery—a product Data and Information Park, citing too many several U.S. states. of the U.S.-based Ligo Service, Tech Times unknowns, including Bucking this trend, and Collaboration, which spans the eventual cost of the in response to growing several labs around the New cancer therapies project. “Today’s decision public pressure, Campbell world—was on par with proving effective sends an important Soup has announced it determining the structure signal from the federal will voluntarily label all of DNA. “It is the first esearchers in the government that our parks U.S. products derived ever direct detection of U.S. and Canada are are to be protected, for the from GMOs. The decision gravitational waves; it’s the R treating cancer with benefit of Canadians, now follows a July 2015 first ever direct detection proton beams and viruses, and for the future,” said announcement from of black holes and it is a with promising results. A Éric Hébert-Daly, executive Campbell’s that it would confirmation of General Massachusetts General director of the Canadian stop adding monosodium Relativity because the Hospital study found Parks and Wilderness glutamate (MSG), and property of these black that firing highly charged Society (CPAWS), which use non-GMO ingredients holes agrees exactly with particles (a proton beam) was part of a two-year in its soup for kids. The what Einstein predicted directly at malignant brain campaign opposed to how company also says it will almost exactly 100 years tumours in children will Mother Canada would remove artificial colours ago.” / BBC have success rates similar have privatized space and flavours from “nearly to conventional photon inside the national park. / all of its North American NASA goes seagazing X-ray treatment, but with CPAWS, Toronto Star products by July 2018.” / less damage to surrounding Reuters n January 17, the tissue and fewer side Agreement reached company SpaceX effects to the patient. In on Great Bear Rainforest O launched the US$180- Canada, a research team at million ($250-million) the University of Ottawa is ollowing 20 years Jason-3 satellite—a looking at treating cancer of conflict and joint effort of NASA, the by injecting a measles- F then collaboration, Centre national d’études Maraba virus hybrid agreement has been spatiales (France) and the directly into cancerous reached by all parties— European Organization cells. The measles virus including Indigenous 31 Trade policy Amy Wood Will CETA trade away Canada’s local food systems?

RIME MINISTER JUSTIN Trudeau has Support for local food in Canada ly with the support of the LFF. Local his hands full when it comes to has never been stronger, with prov- food procurement is endorsed by the free trade. As his government inces such as Ontario, Quebec, Brit- 60+ Food Policy Councils across Can- scrambles to understand the ish Columbia and Nova Scotia lead- ada, as well as by an extensive net- implications of the Trans-Pa- ing the policy charge. The govern- work of non-government and busi- cific Partnership Trade Agree- ment of Ontario’s Local Food Fund ness partners. Pment (TPP), another deal, the Compre- (LFF) has provided $22 million to sup- In addition to municipalities, aca- hensive Economic and Trade Agree- port 163 local food projects, for exam- demic institutions, school boards and ment (CETA) with the European Un- ple. To date, the fund has leveraged hospitals (collectively referred to as ion, raises many of the same, and some $102 million in investment to expand the MASH sector) provide a signifi- uniquely troubling, issues. local food markets. cant market for local food produc- Both CETA and the TPP include a Cities and municipalities are also ers. The broader public sector spends highly problematic investor–state dis- pioneering strategies to support the around $745 million on food annual- pute settlement process, for example, public procurement of local food. The ly in Ontario. MASH institutions are which will multiply the number of City of Vancouver has a food strate- increasingly developing new strat- corporate lawsuits challenging pub- gy that promotes local procurement egies to boost local food content in lic policy that Canada already faces as a key driver of its sustainable food their procurement contracts. There under NAFTA. But only one of these system. In 2011, the City of Toronto are dozens of examples but leaders new deals (CETA) encroaches worry- passed a local food procurement poli- in Ontario include the University of ingly on the ability of provinces, mu- cy that inserts language into requests Toronto, University of Guelph, and nicipalities and other public institu- for proposals designed to increase the health care facilities including St. tions to favour domestic food and amount of food grown locally. Mary’s Hospital in Kitchener and St. support national farmers in public Elsewhere in Ontario, the cities of Joseph’s Health System. procurement contracts. Thunder Bay and Markham allocate The Canada–EU CETA could under- Given widespread food insecurity 10% and 25% of their respective food mine such initiatives through its new in Canada, and the absence of a na- budgets to locally grown food. Doz- restrictions on public procurement at tional food policy, municipal and pro- ens of other cities in Ontario have the provincial, municipal and MASH vincial initiatives are essential for en- projects to support local food, large- sector levels—all previously exclud- suring sustainable, local agricultural production. Public procurement of local food—food grown and consumed Average Spending on Local Food Annually by Sector in Canada within a province, territory or other specified geographic area—is recognized as a key pillar of food securi- Campuses ty because it addresses both supply- $1,274,520 Health Care and demand-side issues. Facilities On the supply side, procurement offers market access for small-scale pro- $1,135,420 ducers and cushions them from market shocks. On the demand side, the avail- ability of local food not only increases consumer choice, but generates local economic activity as well. There are also well-recognized environmental, social and health benefits associated Schools with the production and consumption $15,930 of fresh, in-season local food. 32 ed from international free trade and and urgent relief, not day-to-day local procurement for limited addi- procurement agreements. The re- food contracts. tional market access for goods and strictions in CETA prohibit covered Although there is no national data service exports to the EU. institutions from giving purchas- on the food spending patterns of pub- If all goes according to plan, CETA ing preference to goods or services lic institutions, a survey by Farm to could enter into force next year. How- from local companies or individuals Cafeteria Canada represents the most ever, the ratifying process in Europe if the contract exceeds 200,000 Spe- comprehensive attempt to do so. The may prove complicated. EU member cial Drawing Rights (SDRs), which is graph on the opposite page shows aver- states, including France and Germa- about $315,500 in approximate 2012– age spending on local food by schools, ny, not to mention much of the Euro- 13 Canadian dollars. This “uncondi- campuses and health care facilities in pean Parliament, have cold feet about tional access” to Canada’s procure- Canada through existing Farm to Caf- the investor–state dispute settlement ment markets is unparalleled and eteria activities. Any funding above process, which offers multinational was seen by European trade negoti- the red line would be restricted by the investors a means to settle disputes ators as a significant win. CETA procurement rules. with government outside the regular What does 200,000 SDRs in local The impacts will be felt most by hos- court system, before a panel of trade food procurement look like? Take, for pitals and university and college cam- lawyers with corporate interests at example, the average family in Cana- puses, which spend a significant por- heart. Public opposition in Europe to da, which spends $7,980 on food per tion of their large budgets on local investor “rights” in CETA and a simi- year, according to Statistics Canada. food—3.5 to four times as much as the lar transatlantic agreement with the If an institution procured enough lo- CETA threshold respectively. Although U.S. continues to grow. cal food to feed 40 families for a year, hospitals currently spend the most on Even if CETA is ratified, loopholes it would put that spending above the local food, post-secondary institutions exist to promote local food through CETA thresholds. While smaller pro- are a more promising growth sector labels that educate consumers about curement initiatives such as staff caf- for local food procurement. social or environmental criteria (like eterias, vending machines in public Before CETA was concluded, over carbon emission labels) but do not spaces, and child care services may 50 communities had voiced their dis- refer to political boundaries. These have contracts under the 200,000 content about the agreement’s pro- technical specifications, however, SDR threshold, local food preferences curement provisions. Although the represent relatively weak opportu- on larger contracts, which represent Federation of Canadian Municipali- nities for the local food movement the vast majority, will be vulnerable ties (FCM) was consulted during the to navigate the constraints placed to trade disputes from European and negotiations, CETA appears to vio- on it by CETA. Canadian food suppliers. late principles the federation said it The Liberal government claims to Take Sunnyside Home, for example. needed the government to meet be- have consulted hundreds of people The live-in care facility, owned by the fore it would support the deal. The on the TPP since the October election Region of Waterloo, has a $1-million provinces and territories had the abil- and promises a thorough public de- annual contract with Sysco, a food ity to negotiate their respective pro- bate on whether Canada should rat- preparation and marketing multi- curement commitments, but large- ify the agreement. At the same time, national, to provide local food for its ly chose to trade away protection of Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland says residents. With CETA in place, Sysco the government will ratify CETA as could dispute local food quotas as a soon as possible. Yet, when it comes prohibited “offset,” described in the to public procurement and other ar- agreement as “any condition or un- eas, the Harper-era EU deal is even dertaking that encourages local de- more problematic—and lopsided— velopment…such as the use of do- than the TPP, and clearly in need of mestic content.” its own reassessment. Many other institutions in the With respect to local food in Cana- MASH sector have made recent com- da, CETA represents a significant bar- mitments to increase their local food rier to the future of sustainable pro- content requirements, which would Before CETA was curement policies. Municipalities and become similarly vulnerable to chal- concluded, over 50 public sector institutions in the pro- lenge under CETA if, over the course cess of scaling up their commitments of a year, a contract’s value exceeds communities had to local food purchasing will be most the SDR threshold. The Harper gov- affected. CETA contradicts provincial ernment frequently claimed food voiced their discontent commitments to increase local food purchases would be exempt, but the provision and threatens the ability of CETA text is far from clear on this. about the agreement’s municipalities, provinces and public The exemption appears to apply procurement institutions to prioritize local food, only to “human feeding programs,” food services and farmers when ten- such as those related to food aid provisions. dering public contracts. 33 HIV, health policy and human rights Kevin Hollett Fighting the disease

NE OF THE great and yet stag- hardly surprising that the United Na- sumption sites for injecting drug us- geringly little-known medical tions modelled its strategy to fight ers. The government did this despite achievements of the 20th cen- HIV and AIDS on TasP. Canada, on the reams of evidence showing such tury was the transformation the other hand, has yet to develop a facilities, like Vancouver’s Insite, pre- of HIV to a treatable disease. national HIV/AIDS prevention strat- vent deaths by overdose and disease At the peak of the HIV/AIDS egy of its own. transmission associated with injec- Oepidemic in the 1980s and early 1990s, We can speculate why this might tion drug use. a positive HIV diagnosis was akin to be the case. Those most impacted Compounding this harmful legis- a death sentence. Without a known by HIV also happen to be among the lation, Canada has some of the most treatment to impede it, HIV rapidly most stigmatized and discriminated stringent HIV non-disclosure laws in progressed to AIDS. Physicians relate against in our society: men who have the world, and we are second only to a common story from those days: tell- sex with men, sex workers, people the U.S. in prosecutions of people who ing patients to begin getting their af- who use drugs, and Aboriginal peo- fail to disclose their status to part- fairs in order because their time was ple have HIV rates that are dispropor- ners. The non-disclosure law comes so short. Communities were devastat- tionately higher than in other popu- from a 1998 Supreme Court decision ed—an estimated 36 million lives have lations. This might also explain why and only punishes those who know- been lost to the epidemic. so few people are aware of the huge ingly put partners at risk. Many be- Twenty years ago, however, Canadi- medical achievement of developing lieve it encourages people to remain an researchers introduced highly ac- anti-HIV treatment. intentionally ignorant about their tive antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, But access to this treatment and HIV status. This criminalization of a cocktail of medicines that suppress- care remains limited. Rather than HIV increases the stigma associated es the virus to undetectable levels, follow B.C.’s lead, the previous fed- with the disease and creates a barri- delaying the onset of symptoms and eral government legislated policies er to HIV testing. eventual progression of HIV to AIDS. that eschew evidence and human Not all the blame should go to the HAART is now the standard of care rights in favour of ideology, thereby Conservatives, as previous Liberal and those living with HIV receiving creating more barriers to treatment governments did no favours for peo- the treatment have life expectancies and other prevention interventions. ple living with HIV or for those most approaching the general population. In 2013, for example, the Supreme at risk of infection. The new feder- It is a modern medical miracle. Court of Canada struck down provi- al Liberal government, however, can One of those researchers, Vancou- sions in the country’s sex-work laws, do better by unwinding the laws and ver’s Dr. Julio Montaner, has since citing health and safety risks asso- policies that promote the spread of developed and advocated for treat- ciated with the sex trade. The court the virus. ment as prevention (TasP), a strate- was presented with evidence show- The government has started in this gy that calls for diagnosing HIV and ing that criminalizing sex work ex- direction by approving the country’s delivering the treatment immediate- posed workers to violence and higher second supervised injection site (also ly. British Columbia has adopted the rates of infectious disease transmis- in Vancouver). The Liberals voted strategy provincially. Along with sav- sion. The Conservative government against the PCEPA at the time and ing lives, the method is impressively responded by enacting the Protection have promised to review those laws. cost-effective, more than covering of Communities and Exploited Per- The government can and should go the price of medicine through avert- sons Act (PCEPA), which introduced further by repealing these laws entire- ed cases, since the chances of trans- new criminal laws that continue to ly and enacting a national HIV strat- mission are cut by nearly 96%. marginalize sex workers and expose egy that expands access to life-saving In combination with other health them to harm. HIV treatment and interventions. interventions, the rate of HIV infec- The Conservatives also brought tion in the province has dropped be- into law the Respect for Communi- low the Canadian average and con- ties Act, which introduced stringent tinues to fall. Given this success, it’s barriers to opening supervised con- 34 Supporter Profile Jim Stanford

I have been associated in a research capacity with the CCPA for a quarter-century, ever since I was a graduate student in economics. Believe it or not, one of my first CCPA publications (in 1991), “Going South: Cheap La- bour as an Unfair Subsidy in North American Free Trade,” was based on a project I completed for my PhD econo- metrics course at the New School for Social Research in New York. It argued that U.S. anti-union laws (in the “right-to-work” states of the deep south) actively dis- torted relative costs in the economy, and hence should be considered an unfair trade practice. Since then, I have written two dozen more reports, two books, and many commentaries and blogs for dissem- ination through the CCPA’s powerful and effective platforms. For me, the centre has been an incredibly important outlet for injecting progressive economic ideas into mainstream policy debates. The CCPA is recognized as a credible, relevant voice, and that allows a researcher to communicate their ideas and findings far beyond the typically small audience that follow academic or technical journals. That’s why I also became personally involved in the CCPA’s Members’ Council (including recently serving a term as Treasurer). Through most of this period, I have been a financial sup- I have worked in all the major English-speaking coun- porter of the CCPA, as well as a researcher and writer. tries of the world. I can personally attest that Canada is Of course, when I was a grad student, money was rather the only place with a think-tank like the CCPA. Of course, tight! So my donations in those early years were small. there are many committed progressives doing policy re- But after embarking on my paid career, I could step up search in the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand. But my financial support of the centre. I am now a monthly Canada is the only one of those countries where pro- donor to the national CCPA and also make annual do- gressive activists are supported by an organization with nations to support the new Ontario office. the CCPA’s effectiveness, unity of purpose and reach. I recently joined the CCPA’s legacy donor program. I That precious value is why I remain a very active CCPA have amended my will to direct a significant portion of supporter, even though I am currently living outside of my estate to supporting the centre’s continuing work. Canada. My legacy commitment to the centre is one Naturally I hope that won’t happen for many years! But important part of that ongoing support. And I encour- it makes sense for me to express this commitment to- age all CCPA supporters to consider joining the lega- day, for several reasons. It concretely demonstrates my cy program as well! strong, long-running commitment to the centre. It makes clear my wishes in the event of unexpected illness or Jim Stanford is former economist for Unifor (and the Ca- accident. And it provides the CCPA with the confidence nadian Auto Workers before that), and currently lives in of knowing that its donors are there, including through Sydney, Australia. He remains a member of the CCPA’s this most personal of contributions. Members’ Council.

The CCPA is grateful to those who have arranged a legacy gift or are considering this in the future. We would appreciate the chance to thank you or provide information—please contact Katie Loftus, Development Officer, at 1-613-563-1341 ext. 318 or [email protected]. 35 International affairs Asad Ismi Can the Paris climate agreement save Bangladesh?

ONSIDERED THE GROUND zero of campaign to stop the opening of the Not all of the agreement is legally bind- climate change and the most Phulbari coal mine, which, as a result, ing, so future governments of the sig- vulnerable country to extreme has not been able to operate for the natory countries could yet renege on weather, Bangladesh is literally last 10 years. their commitments.” sinking due to rapidly increas- “The World Bank and the Interna- As protesters outside the UN con- ing sea levels. With 162 million tional Monetary Fund (IMF), backed ference called for “system change,” Cpeople packed into an area the size of by the U.S., are still financing projects Muhammad pointed out the capitalist Iowa, Bangladesh is one of the most harmful to Bangladesh’s ecology,” Mu- and corporate development model got densely populated countries in the hammad told me. “The neoliberal de- an easy ride in Paris. Without chang- world and one of the poorest. Ac- velopment model has been showing ing this paradigm, “these expensive cording to a report released in Octo- high GDP growth at the cost of riv- conferences, goals and agreements ber 2014 by global risk analytics com- ers, forests and peoples’ livelihoods. will only result in failure.” pany Maplecroft, on climate change Western countries and their finan- Saleemul Huq, director of the Inter- and environmental risk Bangladesh cial institutions should stop financ- national Centre for Climate Change tops the list of 32 countries identified ing projects of mass destruction, es- and Development (ICCCAD) in Dhaka, as being at “extreme risk.” pecially coal-fired power plants, nu- essentially agrees with Muhammad. Even without global warming, 20% clear power plants, highly polluting An expert on climate change and sus- of Bangladesh is flooded yearly due to industries and open-pit coal mining. tainable development, Huq was the its location in the centre of Asia’s big- Moreover, they should compensate lead author of the chapter on adap- gest river delta, which also makes the my country so we can build an envi- tation and sustainable development country prone to deadly cyclones. The ronmentally friendly economy.” in the third assessment report of the three largest rivers in the world flow The United Nations climate change United Nations’ Intergovernmental through Bangladesh. Add to this ris- conference, held in Paris last December, Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). ing sea levels caused by global warm- saw 196 countries agree to limit carbon “Unfortunately, the Paris agreement ing and the Bangladeshi people are in dioxide emissions so that global tem- is totally inadequate in terms of what grave danger. With a two degree Celsi- peratures do not rise above two degrees needs to be done to deal with global us rise in average global temperatures, Celsius, with an aspiration that this warming,” Huq told me. “This is also half the country will be flooded, dis- could be limited to 1.5 degrees. Funds the view of the strong climate justice placing an estimated 50 million people. were promised to poor nations to help movement in Bangladesh. All coun- The luxurious lifestyle of the West them reduce emissions and deal with tries made pledges—they are called is commonly blamed by Bangladesh- the impacts of extreme weather. Coun- INDCs (Intended Nationally Deter- is for the disaster facing their countries facing climate disasters are to get mined Contributions) of how much try due to global warming. Per capita urgent aid, with Canada committing to they can reduce their emissions, but carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. $2.65 billion over the next five years. if you add up all these pledges, it only are 16.8 tonnes and in Canada they However, as Fiona Harvey cautioned reduces the temperature rise to 2.7 de- are 14.1 tonnes, while those of Bang- in her column for The Guardian (U.K.), grees centigrade. ladesh are a miniscule 0.4 tonnes, ac- “the caps on emissions are still too “The countries that need to do the cording to UN stats. loose, likely to lead to warming of 2.7 to most to reduce emissions are the U.S., Professor Anu Muhammad, who 3C above pre-industrial levels, breach- Canada and Australia because theirs teaches economics at Jahangirnagar ing the 2C threshold that scientists say are the highest,” he continued. “Bang- University in the Bangladeshi capital is the limit of safety, beyond which ladesh is in danger of drowning pre- of Dhaka, is renowned for leading the the effects—droughts, floods, heat- cisely because of this kind of attitude protest movement against the corpo- waves and sea level rises—are likely from rich countries.” In contrast, “Eu- rate plundering of Bangladesh’s min- to become catastrophic and irreversi- rope and Japan have high standards eral resources in which U.S. and Brit- ble. Poor countries are also concerned of living, but they don’t have such a ish mining companies play prominent that the money provided to them will polluting lifestyle. They have a lot of roles. He spearheaded the successful not be nearly enough to protect them. public transport and smaller houses. 36 Americans, Canadians and Australi- ans need transport policies that em- phasize public transportation and discourage car usage because they must get off fossil fuels. In Canada, there is the particularly abysmal investment in tar sands oil.” In spite of its very low carbon emissions, Bangladesh is making efforts to do even more on climate change. Pro- fessor Ainun Nishat of the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research at BRAC University in Dha- ka told me the government has come up with both a national adaptation plan for climate change and a mitiga- tion plan that should reduce its carbon footprint further. Among the adaptation policies implemented so far are foundational platforms for houses in flood-prone areas, raising land height with the new money announced after Cyclone Aila devastated Bangladesh by channelling sediment from rivers to Paris. Alauddin Vuian, first secretary in May 2009, a sign of how vulnerable fields, investing in solar irrigation, de- for political affairs at Bangladesh’s em- the country is to climate change. veloping rice and wheat varieties resist- bassy in Ottawa, has some ideas for Oxfam ant to salinity, drought, submergence what more targeted aid could look like. and heat, and practising a new irriga- “Canada definitely can support tion method that requires less water. Bangladesh for capacity building and “Bangladesh...has put $500 million development of adaptive technolo- lion to finance adaptation through the of its own funds into its adaptation gies,” he told me. “Adaptation and deal- Least Developed Countries Fund. Re- plans,” said Huq. “In terms of mitiga- ing with loss and damage are crucial sponding to Vuian’s comments, Harvey tion, Bangladesh has the fastest grow- for sustainable development and may invited the Bangladeshi government ing solar home systems in the world. include life-saving technologies, suffi- to “initiate a dialogue with Canada to We have more than four million solar cient investment in research on resist- discuss how and where both countries homes all over the country.” ant varieties for different crops, cli- could work together.” The Paris agreement stipulates that mate-proof cropping patterns, and in- The consequences of not doing more rich nations will provide $100 billion a surance for agriculture and livestock now to fight climate change are well year for climate adaptation and miti- to help climate-vulnerable people.” known but perhaps distant for many gation starting in 2020. Some money is Vuian added that infrastructure de- people living in Canada. For Bangla- already flowing to Bangladesh, but it velopment is “critically important” for deshis the crisis has already begun. is not enough for the immediate term, Bangladesh in order to fight climate “Climate change is not a linear mat- according to Huq and Nishat, amount- change. He said Canada could sup- ter but a curvilinear one [a steepen- ing to a few hundred million dollars. port his country’s efforts to dredge ing curve],” said Nishat. “We are now “The rich countries first offered rivers, and construct, maintain and at the flat part of the curve. Soon it is grants and then switched this to World repair embankments, dykes, barrag- going to change and the temperature Bank-type loans with new condition- es, flood and cyclone shelters, and will increase very fast from now on. alities, which are difficult for devel- flood-proof housing. It will go up to more than three de- oping countries to fulfil,” explained Barbara Harvey, spokesperson for grees centigrade, which will create Nishat. “The financial mechanism in- Canada’s Department of Environment havoc. There will be food shortages, itially proposed by wealthy countries and Climate Change, told me “Canada large-scale migrations, new diseas- was simple: preference would be given recognizes the vulnerability of least de- es, spreading of old ones, increasing to least developed countries [such as veloped countries like Bangladesh,” cit- floods, droughts, cyclones and con- Bangladesh]. But this is not happen- ing the federal government’s $2.65-bil- flicts between countries over water. ing. The rich countries were supposed lion contribution for countering climate This will happen all over the world and to give $30 billion between 2011 and change. This package includes $300 mil- Bangladesh will be the worst victim 2013, but did not do so. The funds are lion for the Green Climate Fund, which of the policies of rich countries.” not moving as fast as needed.” has approved $40 million to help cli- The Canadian government current- mate-proofing infrastructure, $50 mil- ly has no climate-related projects in lion to support climate risk insurance Bangladesh, but this might change in developing countries, and $30 mil- 37 Resource management Evelyn Pinkerton, Kim Olsen, Joy Thorkelson, Henry Clifton and Art Davidson Who controls Canada’s fisheries? How the feds let fishing privileges be sucked up by big money

ILD FISHERIES ARE human- system was built on good intentions, B.C.’s halibut catch was being taken kind’s greatest single but it ended up backfiring. by fishermen who had to lease ITQs source of protein. They An ITQ is not a fishing licence that from the “armchair fishermen” and are fully renewable, we can be controlled by government, al- “investors” who now owned the trans- don’t have to till soil, plant though the two are linked. And fish- ferable quota. That cut deeply into seeds, apply fertilizer or ing licences can only be held by Cana- the profits of those doing the work. Wpesticide, water them or feed them; dian citizens or permanent residents. In fact, the cost of leasing ITQs rose we just have to manage the harvest. However, companies that own fish- from 0% in 1992 (when leasing was As global populations continue to ing licences may be partially owned not allowed) to 78% of the landed grow, much is at stake as we deter- or controlled by foreign entities. And price in 2008. mine who benefits from this impor- ITQ owners can sell or lease their quo- This put the leasing fishermen in tant food resource. ta to anyone—without the govern- a severe cost-price squeeze. By 2008, In British Columbia you would ment intervening or even knowing at least 30% of active fishing opera- think those who call the west coast about it. The fishing licence issued by tions were leasing 70% or more of the home and who fish for a living are government gets temporarily trans- quota they fished, which meant they in the best position to prosper. You’d ferred, sometimes through a holding were barely financially viable. In ad- be wrong. company, to the ITQ lessee. dition to paying high lease fees, they B.C.’s halibut fishery is run in such The economists who invented the also had to deliver all their fish to les- a perverse way that most fishermen ITQ system predicted that free trans- sor companies with which they had have seen their rewards so whittled ferability was the very thing that little bargaining power. They were down that it barely makes financial would make these fishing permits therefore taking greater risks in fish- sense to leave the wharf. New fisher- gravitate to the most efficient fisher- ing, such as postponing equipment men are scarcer than blue whales, and men (who would then make the big- maintenance, and fishing under more the bulk of the benefits flow to “inves- gest profits). That’s not what hap- dangerous weather conditions, to fill tors,” big processing companies, even pened. Instead, many ITQs got into the markets when prices were higher. foreign corporations. Now, Fisheries hands of “investors,” who then leased In contrast, the owners of ITQs and Oceans Canada (DFO) wants to them to fishermen or the processing were doing so well—earning a 10% do the same harm to B.C.’s emblem- companies, who in turn leased to the return on investment by 2010—that atic salmon fishery. people actually doing the fishing. new investors kept entering the spec- To understand how we got here, and The economists anticipated that, ulative market. what needs to change, requires a brief with catch amounts almost guaran- explanation of something called the teed, fishermen would be able to low- Point of no returns individual transferable quota system. er fishing costs. They would not need nfortunately for active fishermen, Stay with us. This won’t take long. the biggest boat to race to catch the these trends have continued. A 2011 fish first; they would increase profits U report out of the DFO found that leas- A crash course in ITQs by getting fish to market over a longer ing costs averaged 72% of catch value. time period. However, the actual ex- n ITQ is a share or quota of fish. A 2013 report commissioned by wor- perience in ITQed fisheries was that This quota is transferable: owners ried fish processors found that “quo- A the overall costs of fishing rose dra- can either fish it themselves or make ta lease costs are killing payments to matically. Though some fisheries have money by leasing or selling their quo- crew,” and ITQ owners “are having ex- seen market benefits, most working ta to others. Over time, people find treme difficulty in filling deckhand fishermen are not the beneficiaries. Es- they can make more money by leas- [crew] positions.... Some owners are calating ITQ leasing costs siphon off ing out their quota. And in the long- searching outside Canada for skilled most of any increase in market prices. term, it can make sense to sell quota fishermen.” The ITQ system was introduced to companies that can out-compete In 2015, it got worse: halibut ITQs into B.C.’s halibut fishery in the ear- fishermen for the price of an ITQ. The leased for $7 to $9 a pound when the ly 1990s. By 2006, more than half of 38 landed price was between $8.25 and Sinking a generation $9.50 a pound. That meant quota own- Why are we allowing ownloading at the DFO is depriv- ers took over 85% of the landed val- ing a new generation of aspiring ue, leaving fishermen razor-thin mar- ITQs to be leased, D B.C. fishermen from achieving their gins to pay crew, vessel operation and bought and sold freely dreams. That first generation of ITQ monitoring costs. owners, who received their quotas Foreign control of ITQs is also in- in an unregulated, over- for free, each inherited a public good creasing. It became serious when U.S.- that could usually be sold for $1 mil- based Pacific Seafood, one of the larg- the-counter market? lion. With a windfall like that, they est seafood companies in North Amer- were more willing to agree that mon- ica, purchased much of JS McMillan’s itoring and other management costs former groundfish trawl fleet and its could be taken on by active fishermen. ITQs. (Groundfish trawl includes spe- But no one is handing out ITQs for cies such as cod, flounder, red snap- ly a quarter-century ago. To gain ac- free anymore. And the cost of fishing per, sole and other rockfish that swim ceptance of the changeover, DFO gave for halibut is so high it’s almost im- along the bottom of the ocean and are away ITQs to the first generation that possible for younger fishermen to get taken by “dragging” or trawling; these happened to own halibut commercial into the industry—except, in essence, species were ITQed as a group in 1997). fishing licences in the three qualifying as minimally paid day-labourers. More recently, Chinese companies years when the system began. Why then, would we ever escalate a have begun acquiring groundfish ves- The system has worked beautiful- system that has worsened the strip- sels and their ITQs, and have a long- ly, as well, for investors with the cap- ping of B.C. coastal communities of the term lease on a plant in Bella Bella, for ital to buy up ITQs and lease them majority of their fishing licences, put which they are seeking ITQs. Food se- out. As leasing became more wide- many formerly self-supporting com- curity concerns in China suggest this spread, even most of those who still munities on welfare and transferred trend will continue. fished their own quota began paying the costs to Canadian taxpayers? The Jim Pattison Group’s Canadi- themselves a lease fee, then deducting It’s time for the DFO to evaluate al- an Fishing Company just announced it from the profits that were shared ternatives using a “triple bottom line” the pending closure of the last B.C. with the crew. Both lessee skippers analysis that asks: What are the eco- cannery, in Prince Rupert, meaning it and crew characterize their situation nomic benefits of any policy? What will likely send the fish and these 500 with this public resource as “share- are its social and ecological benefits? jobs offshore where labour is cheap- cropper” or “feudal.” And does it really work for more than er. The company controls some 80% The same miseries have been visited a few people? There are many docu- of the supply of salmon and herring upon fisheries in Iceland and New Zea- mented alternatives to ITQs in salm- taken from B.C. waters. That makes land, which have had the longest-es- on from other jurisdictions. Canadi- it very difficult for another fish -pro tablished ITQ systems. Researchers re- an researchers and fishermen’s or- cessor to set up a viable operation on port how quota lease fees account for ganizations can share this informa- the North Coast. about 70% of the value of the catch, that small boats are being forced out tion with the DFO and collaborate to Sharecropping on the seas of the fishery by monitoring costs (e.g., explore how they might work in B.C. expensive on-board cameras that re- Fifteen years ago, DFO believed hy are we allowing ITQs to be cord every fish caught, and dockside economists who mistakenly argued W leased, bought and sold freely in monitors recording every fish unload- that B.C.’s halibut fishery would an unregulated, over-the-counter ed). B.C. fishermen now have to bear reap wonderful results by shifting market? Why are we allowing our fish- those costs as well. to the ITQ system. There is now am- ermen and rural coastal communities Why is DFO pushing ITQs on the ple evidence to show that ITQs do to lose their fishing access and way province’s salmon fishery now, in- not achieve the DFO goals of fleet of life? And why is DFO now pushing stead of trying to fix the mess they stability, viability, safety, efficiency for ITQs in major parts of the salm- are causing with halibut? Many an- and greatest net benefits to society. on fishery, over the opposition of 92% alysts point to how Canada’s feder- Instead, this system maximizes prof- of active salmon fishermen in every al government has slashed the DFO its for a small group of quota owners area of the B.C. coast? budget over the past two decades. and facilitates the migration of bene- Part of the answer is that the econ- Civil servants inevitably have been fits and control to foreign owners. omists who designed the ITQ system forced to look for ways to download EVELYN PINKERTON IS A PROFESSOR OF RESOURCE AND believed it was the ideal way to ensure ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AT SIMON FRASER UNI- costs onto fishermen. ITQs are the VERSITY, KIM OLSEN IS A FISHERMAN AND PRESIDENT OF halibut fleet stability, viability, safety, simplest way to lower the depart- THE UNITED FISHERMEN AND ALLIED WORKERS UNION, efficiency and greatest net benefits to JOY THORKELSON IS NORTHERN REPRESENTATIVE FOR ment’s management costs, since the UFAWU, HENRY CLIFTON IS A FISHERMAN AND PRESIDENT society—all DFO policy goals. The sys- system treats ITQ fishing vessels as OF THE NATIVE BROTHERHOOD OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, tem has proved extremely beneficial AND ART DAVIDSON IS A FISHERMAN AND PRESIDENT self-managing businesses requiring OF THE B.C. LONGLINE FISHERMEN’S ASSOCIATION. THIS for those who were gifted quota near- minimal oversight. ARTICLE RAN IN THE TYEE IN JANUARY.

39 Social policy Karen Lok Yi Wong Elder care in B.C. Shifting to a proactive home and community care approach

HE POPULATION OF British Colum- A second approach involves keeping by the B.C. Integrated Care Advoca- bia is rapidly aging. According seniors at home where possible, but cy Group and B.C. Health Coalition. to a 2013 CCPA-BC report, “[t]he with only limited public support and One argument against proactive number of seniors over age 75 a reliance on family caregivers. This home and community care is that it increased by 28% between 2001 creates its own problems, with fami- creates immediate new costs. How- and 2010.” Longer life expec- ly members describing it, in academ- ever, public money is also saved by Ttancy due to medical advancement ic and media interviews, as “emotion- decreased demand for acute hospi- is driving this trend, which coincides ally demanding,” leaving “not enough tal care, which is far more expensive with the post-war baby boom gener- time for selves or family,” or causing than elder care would be. According ation entering old age. While the way undue “stress” and “fatigue.” Stressed to Kary, for 1% of the amount B.C. we care for seniors is of most imme- and burdened caregivers may not be now spends on acute hospital care diate concern to this group, elder care able to provide quality care, in which you could purchase an estimated five clearly affects everyone, since we will cases seniors frequently end up ad- years’ worth of home and communi- all eventually get old, take care of old- mitting themselves to acute care at ty care. Also, a home- and communi- er family members, and pay taxes to- the hospital. According to a 2011 re- ty-based care model allows many fam- ward social services for seniors. port by Dr. Martha Donnelly, Dr. Ja- ily caregivers to return to the labour The need for better elder care in net McElhaney and Marcia Carr of market, with the emotional and eco- Canada cannot be avoided, and B.C. Fraser Health, this is especially true nomic benefits this brings. is currently debating three policy op- for seniors with dementia. Should the B.C. government decide tions. The first is the reactive acute The third and I would argue pre- to implement the proactive home and hospital care approach—the status ferred approach for B.C. is proac- community care approach to elder quo in the province. Under this policy, tive home and community care with care, there are ways to further op- seniors receive acute care at the hos- strong public support. This policy in- timize results. First, support should pital at their worst or emergent stage cludes such things as home care visits be provided not only to seniors but of poor health. This crowds hospital by health care professionals, and res- also family members who look after beds at a significant cost to the pub- idential care. It is proactive because them (e.g., respite care to family car- lic. According to Michael Kary of the its goal is to keep seniors as healthy egivers). Second, the policy reform B.C. Care Providers Association (BC- as possible in their community and process should involve participation CPA), the average daily cost of a hos- at home. It frees up hospital beds, re- beyond health professionals; seniors pital bed is $1,200. More important- lieves the stress of family caregivers, and their family should be invited ly, reactive acute hospital care caus- and improves quality of life, notably to participate in committee deliber- es seniors unnecessary suffering and by giving seniors more self-determi- ations, town halls, etc. Third, a shift stress that could be avoided if care nation than they experience in a hos- to proactive care will require that were provided earlier. pital context, according to research new resources be devoted to training professionals so they can provide home and community care. Fi- nally, hospital-community collaboration and communication should be strengthened. The population of B.C., and Canada generally, is aging and there is a need of better elder care. A shift from the current reactive acute hospital care policy to a proactive home and community care approach would be cost-effective and improve the quality of life for seniors and their families. 40 Books

Ed Finn Building a better country The editor of the anthology Canada After Harper assesses our new federal government

HILE CLEANING OUT my desk af- ing my mind, he phoned me a few I had underestimated the enthu- ter retiring as editor of the months later to suggest we collabo- siasm the anthology concept would CCPA Monitor a few years rate in undertaking this very same generate. After I converted Ralph’s ago, I found a copy of a lec- project. He envisioned it as a short speech into an essay and circulat- ture Ralph Nader had de- book in which I would research and ed it to a wide range of prospective livered in April 2011 to the input the details needed to “Canadian- contributors, the response was over- WCanada–U.S. Institute at the Universi- ize” his lecture and make it more po- whelming. They were inspired. They ty of Western in London, Ontario. The litically forceful. He thought a com- saw it as a literary springboard from lecture described how uncontrolled pact 30,000-word tome would suffice. which they could launch their own corporate power had transformed the But I had been thinking more am- critiques and ideas. United States into the world’s most in- bitiously of using Ralph’s speech as We wound up with 20 co-authors equitable and socially backward coun- an inspiration for progressive Cana- in addition to Ralph and me, all well- try. Nader was concerned the Harp- dian writers, researchers and analysts. known and knowledgeable in their er government’s relentless pursuit I was confident many of them would respective fields. They were eager to of closer integration with the United be excited about contributing to an get involved in a publishing venture States was dragging Canada down the anthology of that sort, which could that had been initiated by such a re- same calamitous slope. run to well over 100,000 words. nowned U.S. author, consumer advo- In re-reading this speech, I was “How many Canadian writers do cate, political activist and four-time amazed to find it as relevant as ever. you think will want to participate?” candidate for the presidency. With a federal election looming, I won- Ralph asked. All of us who contributed to the an- dered if I could persuade Ralph to up- “If our anthology is to cover the thology, published in late summer of date and expand it for publication in major social, economic, political and 2015 by James Lorimer & Company, are some form before the fall of 2015. For- environmental issues, we’ll need at proud of our joint accomplishment. tuitously, as if Ralph had been read- least a dozen, ideally more,” I told him. We had agreed at the outset that it 41 would not be a collective harangue The new government cannot be ex- $813 while the roughly 1.6 million fam- against the Harper government or pected to implement all the necessary ilies making about $48,000 to $62,000 an attempt to persuade people how to reforms immediately. It’s going to take will have their taxes cut on average vote. The 21 Canadians and one Ameri- the full length of the Liberals’ four- by a meager $51. can who contributed were much more year mandate, or longer—assuming As for the millions of families with concerned about the country’s future they will be able to, and want to, stick even lower incomes, their taxes re- than its past. to their word. I have been asked to as- main at the same level. So much for Yes, we denounced the ruinous tac- sess the government’s decisions and reducing inequality. tics of the Harper government, but tendencies so far, and compare them we knew that Canada had been in de- to some of the priorities in Canada Health care cline as a nation—socially, politically After Harper, which is what I will at- n the health care front, it’s far too and environmentally—for a long time, tempt to do here. early to rank the new Liberal gov- under a succession of both Liberal O ernment’s approach. It can safely be and Conservative governments. We Poverty and inequality predicted, I hope, that Trudeau will were aware it would take more than uring the election campaign, the cancel the Harper government’s new turfing one government to halt this Liberals, like the Conservatives funding formula, which reduced the degradation—to break the neoliber- D and the NDP, were fixated on helping annual top-up on health transfers to al grip on our national ideology. Sure- the middle class, with lower-income the provinces from 6% to 3.9%. The ly our more fundamental goal should families almost completely ignored. new prime minister can also be expect- be to permanently replace plutocracy, Trudeau and other Liberal candidates ed to scrap Harper’s switch from equal- the rule of a wealthy elite, with some seemed unconcerned that four mil- ization payments to per capita trans- form of genuine democracy. lion Canadians are living in poverty, fers—a move that threatened equal ac- The prescient title of our anthology, with close to a million so bereft they cess to health care across the country. Canada After Harper, was therefore depend on food banks and other char- Healing these and other nasty cuts reflective of a vision shared by all in- ities to avoid starvation. Since taking to medicare inflicted by the last gov- volved. Contributors were motivated power, the Liberals have continued to ernment, though welcome, will not be by a deep concern that, should trends disregard domestic poverty, though I enough to fix serious underfunding continue, their children, grandchil- am writing this before Trudeau’s first and operational problems in the sys- dren and future generations would budget has been tabled, and I am will- tem. They include a shortage of doc- grow up in a kind of dystopian au- ing (and hoping) it will contradict me. tors and nurses, long waiting times, tocracy. And so to their critiques they To his credit, Trudeau has wel- delays in treatment, rising user fees, added detailed and viable alternative comed many more immigrants from the proliferation of private clinics, policies that a new government— Syria, and provided them with sus- and the failure of some provinces to if it meant to be a truly progressive tenance and temporary housing. He uphold and enforce the fundamental one—would gladly embrace and put should be just as concerned about the principles of the Canada Health Act. into practice. poverty-stricken citizens of this coun- By far the worst defect in our health They wrote of strengthening our try. I’m not implying a zero-sum game care system is that, unlike in most social programs, seriously tackling or an either-or situation: we have the other advanced countries, it does climate change, switching to a safe capacity to be both nationally and in- not cover pharmaceutical products, (and sane) economic system, elimi- ternationally generous. dental services and vision care. These nating poverty and reducing inequal- Trudeau moved toward addressing large gaps in our health coverage im- ity—ideas that transcend last year’s Canada’s appalling rate of inequality pose intolerable financial burdens on election campaign, but which clear- by raising taxes on the rich and low- millions of low-income families. Most ly shaped its outcome. Canada After ering taxes on the middle class. “You’ll provinces do provide basic coverage Harper is therefore more readable see more money on your paycheques for children and seniors, but the lack today and more applicable to cur- right away,” he said in October, claim- of universal programs often results rent issues than it was before Justin ing it would amount to an estimated in many thousands going without Trudeau took office as prime minister. $670 per person, per year, or $1,340 per medicines, eyeglasses and trips to The new government continues to year for many two-income families. the dentist. enjoy strong public support, if only It was only after the election, when Studies by the CCPA and other from the euphoria created by the ter- the tax reform was implemented, that groups have debunked the claim that mination of a decade of ultraconser- we learned “Trudeau’s plan takes from expanding medicare to cover addition- vative mis-government. But this “hon- the rich and gives to the almost-as- al health needs would be unafforda- eymoon” clearly cannot last. The chal- rich,” as Maclean’s columnist John ble. In fact, the investment in provid- lenge now is to reverse and repair a Geddes put it. CCPA economist Da- ing these extra services would even- decade’s worth of damage, and put vid Macdonald calculates that afflu- tually be more than offset by huge re- Canada back on the path to true na- ent families making between $166,000 ductions in the cost of treating people tional well-being. and $211,000 will get a tax reduction of

42 sickened by the failure of inadequate tally damaging and can even help the timately our survival. We can’t stop coverage to keep them well. environment. the ravages of climate change on our This kind of benign growth would own, but we must do a far better job The economy include providing more child care, ed- of helping the rest of the world mit- ucation, elder care and other human igate them and adapt. rudeau showed some signs of inde- services; improving the quality rath- The task has been almost entirely pendence during the election cam- T er than quantity of manufactured disregarded by political and corporate paign. He was not afraid, for example, goods; improving and expanding pub- leaders for the past quarter-century. to admit he would run deficits to in- lic transport; investing in clean ener- Environmental activists have been do- vest in infrastructure and other pub- gy generation; cleaning up industri- ing their best to press governments to lic job-creating projects. When lam- al waste sites; repairing roads, bridg- take remedial action, but apart from basted by the Conservatives, he even es, water and sewage pipes, and other a series of ineffectual global summits argued at one point that the deficit crumbling infrastructure; and con- the heat beat goes on. will pay for itself, a remark for which structing new parks and other rec- There is some hope the accord he was scorned by his opponents and reational facilities. reached at the most recent interna- media pundits, but which is basical- Investing in environmental pro- tional climate gathering in Paris will ly correct. Stimulus spending that in- tection is itself a form of economic have a much better outcome. Will it curs deficits is usually recouped from growth that clearly benefits the en- actually result in our collectively low- the subsequent rise in tax revenue. vironment, he argued, since trillions ering greenhouse gases in the atmos- Since taking office, Trudeau has ap- of dollars could be invested in this phere enough to avert a catastroph- peared less confident about incurring way, generating vast numbers of jobs ic global temperature rise of two de- deficits, even dodging questions about and other gains for workers and their grees Celsius above pre-industrial amounts and duration. Again, here, I communities. levels? The fate of humanity hinges stand to be corrected by the March What Jim was describing was not on the answer. budget, which could announce more much different from the methods for In the meantime, we should focus than the $10 billion in deficit spend- fighting climate change proposed by on the role Canada can play in this ing that was promised in the Liber- environmentalists. If an environmen- momentous global struggle, which al election platform. The fact is, we tal catastrophe is to be prevented, it should supersede all other endeav- should be prepared to spend much can only be achieved by converting ours. I can’t say I have been impressed more than this—five times as much greenhouse gas–emitting industri- by the Trudeau government’s atti- if necessary—without fretting need- al activities to the kind of clean and tude so far. Yes, Trudeau has voiced lessly about Ottawa’s finances. constructive public activities that his concern about Canada’s backslid- During the Second World War, and Jim listed. That also calls for a simi- ing on the environment and pledged through the 1950s and ‘60s, Canada sus- lar transformation of jobs, with work- to do better. We await the specifics. tained huge debts and deficits to fight ers moving from smokestack indus- Recommitting to the Kyoto Accord? the war and then build the Trans-Can- tries to take on the monumental task A national carbon tax? Strong curbs ada Highway, the St. Lawrence Seaway, of expanding and enhancing public on emissions? Heavy fines for dump- airports, seaports and other public facilities and services. ing chemicals and toxins into our wa- facilities. It was during this time the Such a transformation in the way terways? government also launched the Can- the economy now operates is bound Early in the new Trudeau regime, ada Pension Plan, medicare, Old Age to meet stiff corporate resistance. But one of his cabinet ministers, John Security and other major social pro- since it would not constitute a fron- McCallum, speaking on behalf of the grams. Despite all these high-cost ex- tal attack on capitalism, and since it prime minister, rebuked U.S. Presi- penditures, our national debt by 1960 would still allow for a sizeable amount dent Barack Obama for scuttling the was less than $40 billion. of profit-making, a government de- planned Keystone XL pipeline that I was once challenged for my skepti- termined to begin such a beneficial would move tar sands oil from Alberta cism of economic growth by Jim Stan- economic makeover should reasona- to refineries in Texas. He implied the ford, an economist with the CAW (now bly be able to fight off the naysayers. Trudeau government was in favour of UNIFOR) and a CCPA board mem- building this pipeline, as well as the ber. He readily admitted that, under The environment proposed Energy East pipeline. A few capitalism, the hunger for growing weeks later, Trudeau’s environment profits drives a system that relies on nder previous governments, to our and climate change minister, Cathe- constant growth, exploits natural re- great embarrassment internation- U rine McKenna, gave Montreal Mayor sources, consumes more fossil fuels, ally, Canada lagged far behind other Denis Coderre the go-ahead to dump emits more pollution and consequent- comparable (and many developing) five billion litres of raw sewage into ly increases global warming. But he countries with respect to protecting the St. Lawrence River. contended that, even under capital- the environment and tackling green- Is favouring more dirty fossil fuel ism, growth, if properly defined and house gas emissions. It’s not just our production the sign of an environ- managed, need not be environmen- global image that’s at stake, but ul- mentally protective government? Is 43 approving the massive pollution of Reviewed by Clare Mian one of our largest rivers reflective of a government that is any more concerned about the environment than Multicultural but stratified: the Harper government was? (Harp- er’s environment minister, Leona Canada’s Vertical Mosaic, Aglukkaq, had actually put a ban on the proposed St. Lawrence dump—a ban McKenna promptly lifted after 50 years later the election.) It is perhaps unfair of me to judge Trudeau’s environmental agenda on these two early decisions, but I did find them unsettling. I still have hope ian, and championing education as the new government’s ongoing poli- the main vehicle through which the cies and actions in this vitally impor- democratic goal of equality could be tant field will more positively adhere achieved. “I attach great importance to to the Liberals’ campaign promises. equality of opportunity on both eth- The environment and the economy ical and practical grounds,” he wrote are so closely interlinked. Perhaps in in his preface to the original edition. “greening” the economy, in some of the Porter addressed the theoretical ways I just mentioned, Trudeau will construct of class, analyzed historical achieve his goal of becoming Cana- immigration and emigration patterns da’s “Mr. Clean.” in Canada, and documented the place occupied by Canada’s ethnic groups in Canada after Harper its class structure. Influenced by so- ciologies from Europe (mainly Max uring the year I spent compiling Weber) and the United States (main- and editing Canada After Harper D ly Daniel Bell), he developed a theory with Ralph Nader, whose superb in- of Canadian class structure he consid- troduction alone is worth the pur- THE VERTICAL MOSAIC ered “post-capitalist.” Porter believed chase price, I was privileged to work Marx’s two-class construct—capital- closely with 20 of Canada’s most bril- JOHN PORTER ists who owned the “means of produc- liant writers and researchers. Their Publisher (2015), 688 pages, $39.95 tion” and workers who owned only names, in alphabetic order, are Maude their “labour power”—had been su- Barlow, Duff Conacher, Murray Dob- HE CONVERSATION ABOUT class and perseded in the 20th century. His view bin, Lynne Fernandez, Colleen Full- equality in Canadian society of classes or stratification, as sociolo- er, Trish Hennessy, Alex Himelfarb, has changed substantially since gists sometimes called the phenome- Andrew Jackson, Larry Kuehn, Nora the 1965 publication of John non, was still based on “economic pro- Loreto, Arthur Manuel, Kate McIn- Porter’s seminal work, The Ver- cesses and economic differences,” but turff, Linda McQuaig, Joyce Nelson, tical Mosaic: An Analysis of So- involved a greater variety of profes- Kevin Page, Peter Robinson, Scott Sin- Tcial Class and Power in Canada. The sional, industrial and service occupa- clair, David Suzuki, Stuart Trew and appearance of the 50th anniversary tions, with accompanying skills, edu- James Turk. Their insightful critiques edition of Porter’s book coincided cation levels and “lifestyles.” of Canada’s checkered past and po- with the 2015 electoral campaign in Porter used five variables to define tentially brighter future comprise a which the Liberal party pledged to class: income and wealth (distinguish- veritable treasure trove of enlight- restore economic ease to the Cana- ing between the two, as wealth can re- enment. dian middle class. sult from inheritance or investments In this essay, I could only scratch In 1965, sociology was a relatively unrelated to income), lifestyle, occu- the surface of the collective wisdom new social science, and Porter, a pro- pational stratification, educational at- they brought to the project. To ful- fessor at Carleton University, was one tainment, and educational opportu- ly appreciate the value of this an- of its stars. The Vertical Mosaic creat- nity. Applying these variables to the thology, it has to be read in its en- ed an enormous buzz not only in ac- Canadian population, he found that, tirety. (Most new cabinet members ademic circles, but also among the of the two “charter groups,” the pro- have been sent complimentary cop- reading public. Combining exhaus- portion of British-heritage Canadians ies, and I can only hope that at least tive original research with rigour- increased from the lowest to the high- a few of them will take the time to ous analysis, Porter held a mirror up est class, while the reverse pattern read it.) Fortunately, there is still am- to Canadian society, disproving the held for those of French heritage. ple time to do that. prevailing image that it was egalitar- 44 The hierarchy was headed by those ings needed refining, especially with new immigration has decreased, they of British origin along with Jewish regard to gender differences, their es- are now in the second or third genera- Canadians, followed by northern Eu- sence was sound. Canada was still an tion, which makes it correspondingly ropeans, eastern and southern Euro- unequal society and heading toward easier to negotiate Canadian society. peans, with Asians and Native Cana- even wider inequalities. According to Jedwab and Sazte- dians at the bottom. He regretfully The 50th anniversary edition of The wich, social inequality persists and, concluded that the proportional as- Vertical Mosaic has an ambitious in- “while the old ethnic vertical mosa- similation of all ethnic groups into all troductory essay by Jack Jedwab and ic might be disappearing, race is now social strata had not taken place. A Vic Satzewich, who commendably a fundamental basis of income ine- “reciprocal relationship” still existed bring some of Porter’s notable con- quality in Canada.” Two 1984 royal between “ethnicity and social class,” clusions up to date. Changes in col- commission reports, one on equali- and from this he derived the title of lecting and reporting data partly ac- ty in employment and the other on his book: Canada was indeed an eth- count for the almost insurmounta- the participation of visible minori- nic mosaic, but placement within it ble difficulty of updating the entire- ties in Canadian society, when cou- was unequal, or vertical. ty of Porter’s analysis. pled with census data, indicate the pat- In each social class, Porter identi- Jedwab and Satzewich report that tern of second and third generation fied “elites” within “institutional sub- between the 1961 and 2011 censuses, advancement is unlikely to be repli- systems,” which he labelled economic, the population of Canada almost dou- cated by visible minority immigrants. political, bureaucratic/administrative bled (from 18.5 million to 34 million); Those least likely to hold manageri- and ideological. He defined elite power the Aboriginal population increased al positions are Jamaican, Vietnam- as “the recognized right to make effec- by 734% (from 220,000 to 1,836,000); ese and Filipino, whether native-born tive decisions on behalf of a group of the proportion of immigrants from or immigrant. Aboriginal Canadians, people.” While Porter considered the Asia and the Middle East grew from for whom immigration is not an is- study of elites to be a critical compo- 8.5% to 57% of foreign-born Canadi- sue, are also hugely underrepresent- nent of his analysis of class, it does ans; the percentage of foreign-born ed in managerial positions. Univer- not seem to have endured, with the Canadians was 20%; one in five Ca- sity graduates from Asia—especial- exception of studies of the Canadi- nadians self-identified as “visible mi- ly Korea, Iran, Pakistan, West and an corporate elite in global capital- nority”; and 42% of the population re- Southeast Asia—are at the bottom ism, an elite in which visible minori- ported “multiple ethnic or racial ori- of mean and median incomes for Ca- ty Canadians are significantly under- gins.” European immigration shrank nadians. However, patterns of racial represented. to 15% over this time, while Canadi- inequality are now recognized to be While Porter’s book was generally ans of European descent moved up different for men and women, with recognized as an admirable contribu- the class ladder, in part because, as native-born visible minority women tion to Canadian scholarship, it also sometimes achieving higher occupa- drew criticism from the right and left. tional status and income than white Conservatives found his analysis did or immigrant women. not take into account the historical As we move into 2016, the discussion depth and breadth of an evolving so- about inequality and democracy has ciety. Marxists thought it lacked the- become less lofty. Neither the academ- oretical utility, reducing class identi- ic nor the political world seems willing ty to a “statistical aggregate” or “tax- or able to paint the “big picture.” Por- onomy,” with no explanatory power. The function of classes ter’s cluster of variables, with its rich There were also two major gaps for is no longer discussed explanatory scope, has been replaced which Porter was faulted even in 1965: by the minutiae of earnings and tax the exclusion of the Aboriginal pop- in any theoretical brackets, while class is euphemisti- ulation from his data, and the fail- cally called “socio-economic status.” ure to separate categories by gender. framework, least of all Connections to power, race and eth- In 1995, on the 30th anniversary of nicity, which were the heart of Por- the book, a group of prominent Ca- in terms of justice and ter’s analysis, are seldom attempted; nadian sociologists and Porter ad- well-being. Twenty- when they are, it is on a small scale. mirers, led by his biographer Rick The function of classes is no longer Helmes-Hayes, held a conference at first century global discussed in any theoretical frame- the University of Waterloo and sub- work, least of all in terms of justice sequently published a series of pa- capitalism seems and well-being. Twenty-first century pers that critically and respectfully global capitalism seems to have be- connected Porter’s analysis to Cana- to have become an come an unquestioned and unques- da on the eve of the 21st century. The unquestioned and tionable dogma. papers were unanimous in conclud- However, the term “middle class” ing that, while some of Porter’s find- unquestionable dogma. made a major reappearance in the re- 45 cent electoral campaign as all parties, its and education programs, none of REVIEWED BY FRANK BAYERL in one way or another, championed its which figure in the new Liberal plan. reinstatement in terms almost remi- Until this is recognized, Cross and niscent of what Porter called the “im- Sheikh write, “they (politicians) can Assad, ally? age” or “myth” of Canadian egalitari- only end up misdirecting resources anism. This was especially true of the by enriching those who are already Liberal campaign. Without mention- doing reasonably well, rather than fo- ing the obscene excesses of wealth cusing on those working-class Cana- and the tragic deepening of poverty, dians who truly are not.” Justin Trudeau said “we” could and The current state of Canada’s “ver- should all be “average.” tical mosaic” would probably sadden The Liberal promise to the middle John Porter. In his writings leading class has materialized as a “tax brack- up to an untimely death in 1979, his et trade.” The middle class is simplis- faith in educational reform as a vehi- tically defined as the 60% of the pop- cle for achieving equality had dimin- ulation between the 20% of high-in- ished somewhat. As Helmes-Hayes come earners and the 20% of low-in- writes in the most complete analy- come earners. The plan essentially sis of Porter, the man and the schol- elevates the highest-earning 2% of the ar, “Unless a meaningful and success- middle class into a higher tax bracket, ful attempt was made to reduceine - with the ostensible intention of us- quality of condition, any ‘tinkering’ ing these new tax revenues to reduce with the educational system would the load of those in the lower-earning be for naught” (italics added). sections of the middle class. Porter belonged to the category DON’T PANIC: ISIS, TERROR AND In his clear analysis, Real Change of academics who see no contradic- TODAY’S MIDDLE EAST for the Middle Class (November 2015), tion between the obligation to con- GWYNNE DYER the CCPA’s David Macdonald points duct scholarly work of the highest out how much of this tax relief actu- standards and the possibility of con- Random House Canada, 2015, 233 pages, $22.00 ally goes to the highest earners within tributing to the betterment of soci- that 60% earnings span. He suggests ety. In fact, he believed the raison ANADIAN JOURNALIST GWYNNE Dyer, four alternatives to the Liberal plan d’être of rigourous academic research once a frequent commentator that would ensure the new tax rev- was “maximizing human welfare.” He on the CBC and now a Lon- enues would actually go to the low- thought sociologists, whose area of don-based freelance writer, can est earners in the form of tax cred- study was the workings of contem- usually be counted on for an in- its or higher rates of tax exemptions. porary human society, had a more im- sightful take on world events. In March 2015, the University of mediate responsibility to point gov- CThough the title of his latest book, Calgary’s School of Public Policy pub- ernments, academics and the public Don’t Panic, which appeared in the lished a research paper by Philip Cross “in the direction of the social good.” immediate aftermath of last Novem- and Munir A. Sheikh titled Caught in “I believe strongly too in the cre- ber’s terrorist attacks in Paris, might the Middle: Some in Canada’s Middle ative role of politics, and in the im- have been judged ill chosen at the Class Are Doing Well; Others Have portance of political institutions as time, it makes up for this in content. Good Reason to Worry. The report the means through which the major Dyer sets three goals for himself: to confirms that those at the top of the goals of society can be achieved,” he explain why the Muslim world has be- middle class, with high levels of edu- wrote in the 1965 preface to The Ver- come a kind of global capital for terror- cation and high-earning profession- tical Mosaic. Although he was not a ism; to explain what objectives terror- al jobs, enjoy considerable job secu- Marxist, he would not have disagreed ism is meant to achieve; and to trace rity with all the benefits this brings. with Marx’s famous “thesis” that “Phi- the evolution of terrorist strategies and On the other hand, those with rel- losophers (scholars) have hitherto organizations in the Arab world. At the atively low levels of education, who only interpreted the world in various end of it all, he offers some thoughts on temporarily enjoyed high incomes in ways; the point, however, is to change how to deal with the phenomenon of the now-dying manufacturing sec- it” (italics in original). terrorism, in particular in Syria. tor (and therefore numerical mem- To begin with, Dyer notes it is specif- bership in the middle class), are now ically Arab Muslims, and not those in rapidly sliding toward what should Turkey, Indonesia or elsewhere, who more accurately be called the working usually engage in terrorist attacks. class. For this group, the proposed tax He attributes this, in part, to the long bracket trade will do very little. They decline of Arab civilization—from its need support in the form of lower tax peak in the Middle Ages through the and higher exemption rates, tax cred- expulsion of Arabs from Spain, the 46 Crusades, the Mongol destruction of Everyone has heard about the Abu to offer western air support and in- Baghdad in 1258, the conquest of the Graib prison, but Dyer singles out Camp telligence sharing to the Syrian army, Levant by the Seljuk Turks and the Bucca as a fateful breeding ground for though he worries this may be too absorption of Arabs into the Turk- terrorism—a meeting point for Iraqis much for western governments to bear. ish-speaking Ottoman Empire. outraged by the invasion. The upshot There is much else worth reading This last event, coming at the end of was the founding of ISI with its goal of in Dyer’s book, including his analysis the Second World War, did not lead to establishing an Islamic caliphate, and of Saudi Arabia’s and Turkey’s roles in the self-government many Arabs had its spread to Syria as ISIS upon the out- this complicated Syrian chess game. been led to expect, but to the creation, break of civil war there. One thing that is missing is a reaction by the Sykes-Picot Agreement, of the It is Syria that is the real focus of to Russia’s active entry into the con- states of Iraq, Jordan and Palestine, this book, though Dyer takes his time flict, since that occurred afterDon’t which were awarded to Great Britain, getting there. Just as the heavy-hand- Panic was written. But, in an appear- and of Syria and Lebanon, which went ed, Shia-favouring sectarianism of ance in Ottawa last fall, Dyer did ex- to France. To simplify the argument, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Ma- press some degree of thankfulness grievances and humiliation from this liki led to Sunni resistance and an for Russia’s presence as it strength- partition led to a movement (the Mus- opening for al-Qaeda there, the Syr- ens Assad’s position, potentially hold- lim Brotherhood) that promised to ian civil war (now five years old) al- ing off an Islamist victory. restore the former glory of the Arab lowed ISIS to take advantage of the world and end foreign domination. splintered opposition to President Dyer covers a lot of recent history, Bashar al-Assad and make territori- REVIEWED BY DENNIS HOWLETT including the invasions of Afghani- al gains in that country. The unpal- stan and Iraq, explaining, in the pro- atable choices among the many fac- cess, the myriad sectarian divisions in tions in this war pose the central di- Underestimating the Muslim world. He points out that lemma for western governments try- the initial phase of the Afghanistan oping to devise a workable strategy to the scourge of tax eration was a remarkable success: af- counter ISIS and account for Pres- ter just two months of bombing, with ident Obama’s apparent indecisive- havens very few ground troops involved, the ness and hesitation in adopting one. Taliban were in full retreat, and Ka- Dyer thinks Obama’s minimalist ap- bul and Kandahar had been liberated. proach is probably the right one. ISIS But instead of installing an Afghan would like nothing better than to see regime with a democratic veneer western countries bogged down in and organizing a Western withdraw- another ineffective, long-term cam- al, George W. Bush announced, in his paign in the Middle East. This, after 2002 State of the Union address, that all, is one of the main goals of terror- an “axis of evil” (Iraq, Iran and North ist attacks against the West, the cor- Korea) existed, and that something rect response to which, Dyer claims, should be done about it. That some- is usually to do as little as possible. thing would turn out to be the disas- “ISIS, over the past couple of years, trous invasion of Iraq, which played has acquitted a vastly overblown rep- right into Osama bin Laden’s hands, utation as the ultimate ‘terrorist’ jug- bogged down U.S. Forces for years and, gernaut, sprung from nowhere and thanks to some spectacularly bad U.S. led by an evil genius,” he writes. “It decisions, led to the sectarian uprising is nothing of the sort.” pitting Shias and Sunnis against one Dyer estimates that ISIS may have another in a country where previously around 50,000 fighters, making it a they had always managed to get along. serious army, but not an invincible THE HIDDEN WEALTH OF NATIONS: The author does a fine job of ex- force. It cannot, he says, be defeated THE SCOURGE OF TAX HAVENS plaining the ins and outs of Sunni vs. by air power alone, but for the West GABRIEL ZUCMAN Shia sectarianism in Iraq and other to commit ground forces would be Middle Eastern countries, tracing the folly. Helping the Syrian regime to University of Chicago Press (2015), 200 pages, $27.95 evolution of the resistance to the U.S. survive, as abhorrent as that might invasion. One of its many unintend- seem at first, is the least bad option ABRIEL ZUCMAN EXPLAINS the ed consequences was the founding in the author’s opinion. scourge of tax havens in a sur- of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the radicali- One strategy for achieving this prisingly accessible and lucid zation of figures like Abu Bakr al-Bag- would be to extend long-term, low-in- prose in his new book, The Hid- dhadi, who would go on to found Is- terest credit to buy arms, food and den Wealth of Nations. How- lamic State in Iraq (ISI). supplies, and to lift sanctions against ever, he underestimates the the Assad regime. Another would be Gscope of the problem by relying on 47 only one of several methods required Zucman arrives at these numbers billion (Statistics Canada says it is to find how much wealth is hidden. by comparing national balance sheets $199 billion), and says the share of fi- As Zucman reminds us, the tax ha- to identify the difference between the nancial wealth held offshore by Ca- ven came about following the Sec- assets and liabilities between nations. nadians is 9% of total wealth. This is ond World War, as European govern- It is an elegant and simple solution much higher than what it is in the U.S. ments were forced to raise taxes on to estimating what is hidden in tax (at 4%), but comparable with Europe the wealthy to pay for debt and re- havens, but even Zucman admits his (10%). Zucman estimates Canadian tax construction. When marginal income estimate “excludes a certain amount revenue losses at $6 billion, which is a tax rates rose from 4–5% to over 50%, of wealth.” According to James Hen- bit lower than my own estimate of $7.8 Swiss bankers saw an opportunity to ry, in a more detailed 2012 study for billion, but his global estimate of hid- help the wealthy in Europe and the U.S. the Tax Justice Network, The Price den wealth is on the low side as well. evade taxes. This process was aided by of Offshore Revisited, the amount is Zucman proposes three measures financial securities overtaking real es- more like US$21–32 trillion. to deal with the problem of tax ha- tate as the main form of wealth: de- Zucman vastly underestimates the vens: impose financial and commer- posits increased more than tenfold be- role of developing countries and klep- cial sanctions (e.g., withholding tax- tween 1920 and 1938, the eve of the war. tocracy, Henry told me recently, and es on interest and dividends, tariffs) The Swiss thwarted several post- leaves out offshore currency hoards against tax-haven countries that re- war attempts by American and Brit- that account for $1.8 trillion in hid- fuse to end their facilitation of tax eva- ish governments to collect taxes owed den wealth. He also claimed Zucman sion; establish a Global Financial Reg- by their wealthy citizens by falsify- ignores estimates of private bank as- ister that would record who owns all ing ownership through use of trusts sets under management (AUM)— financial securities, including stocks, fronted by Swiss banks and shell com- as high as $13 trillion—and entire- bonds and shares of mutual funds; panies registered in Panama. As a rely leaves out offshore nonfinancial and impose a tax on capital, levied at sult of this prowess, Swiss banks en- assets like real estate, gold, precious the source, that could count as cred- joyed a very profitable virtual monop- metals, art, and ships, which are all it toward any other taxes required to oly on the tax haven business until worth at least $10 trillion. be paid, encouraging tax compliance. the end of the 1970s. Zucman also acknowledges in his To curb corporate tax avoidance, But in the 1980s, new centres of book that his figure does not include Zucman proposes taxing corporations wealth management emerged in Hong legal corporate tax avoidance made on their global profits, disregarding Kong, Singapore, Jersey, Luxembourg possible by taking advantage of loop- their artificial structure of subsidi- and the Bahamas. Although Switzer- holes and weak national tax laws. aries, and apportioning the funds to land managed to hang on to the 6% or However, he estimates corporations governments according to the por- so of all global wealth deposited in its are depriving governments of a third tion of sales, staff and capital assets banks, almost all the growth (which of corporate tax revenues by employ- in each country where they operate. has increased, today, to almost 10%) ing tax haven–based subsidiaries to Canada and the U.S. already do this has been captured by the new tax ha- shift profits and lower their tax bills. for provincial and state taxes. While I vens, which offer secrecy as well as Zucman’s book does have a few sur- believe there are several other policy low taxes. While the Swiss have intro- prises regarding Canada. He estimates solutions that also need to be imple- duced some reforms (e.g., anonymous Canada’s offshore wealth to be $300 mented, like a public register of bene- numbered accounts are no longer al- ficial owners and automatic tax infor- lowed) this has been undermined by mation exchange, Zucman’s proposals their allowing trusts, shell compa- are complementary and appropriate. nies and foundations registered in In his forward to the book, Piketty other tax havens to open accounts in notes how a Global Financial Register, Swiss banks. in particular, would not only help to Zucman, a student of Thomas Piket- curb tax havens, it could facilitate tax- ty (who provides a forward to this Zucman acknowledges ing wealth, which could help to reverse book), dissects the several failed at- the frightening worldwide growth in tempts to reign in tax havens, in- his figure does not inequality he warned was undermin- cluding the G20/OECD on-demand include legal corporate ing our global economy in Capital in exchange of information, the Ameri- the Twenty-First Century. I agree. The can Foreign Account Tax Compliance tax avoidance made growth of tax havens is a problem not Act (FACTA) legislation, and the Eu- just because of lost public revenues, ropean Union’s Savings Tax Directive. possible by taking but because it facilitates growing in- He estimates that globally about 8% equality, which undermines our eco- of households’ financial wealth is in advantage of loopholes nomic health and threatens democra- tax havens. That works out to about and weak national tax cy as well. Zucman’s book helps us un- $7.6 trillion dollars, or about $200 bil- derstand the problem better, so that lion a year in lost revenue. laws. we can see how to fix it. 48 REVIEWED BY ASAD ISMI about the true nature of the Canadi- development is severely constrained an ruling class. by these investment treaties. “Much of the capital used to estab- The looting of a continent’s resourc- The world might lish the Canadian Imperial Bank of es requires not just economic mus- Commerce came from supplying the cle but military power as well, and need less Canada Caribbean slave colonies [during the here, too, Canada’s role is extensive, 18th and 19th centuries],” writes Engler. if less well known. Canada’s military Since then, Canada has behaved as a has trained hundreds of African sol- sub-imperialist power in Africa, play- diers, its naval vessels patrol Africa’s ing a junior but important role first coast (as part of NATO), and Ottawa in British then U.S. imperial policy to- has spent hundreds of millions of ward the continent. dollars building the military capaci- Part of the significance of Cana- ty of the African Union (made up of da’s role is its dominance in Africa’s 54 countries) and “developing a re- mining sector. According to Engler, gional military structure to police Canada is the leading international the continent.” Canada is also trying resource investor in the continent. to get military bases in Kenya, Sene- Half of all foreign mining companies gal and Tanzania. in Africa are Canadian, operating 700 Canadian military involvement last mineral projects, worth over $31 bil- century proved useful for removing lion, in 35 countries. Protection and popular, progressive and nationalis- expansion of these corporate invest- tic African leaders who wanted to use ments is what primarily motivates their country’s resources for the ben- Canadian policy toward Africa, says efit of their people. Kwame Nkrumah, the author. Ghana’s first elected president, was CANADA IN AFRICA: Contrary to Canadian government overthrown in a U.S.-backed military 300 YEARS OF AID AND EXPLOITATION assurances, mineral development is coup in 1966. The Ghanaian military at YVES ENGLER not enriching those parts of Africa the time was being trained by Canadi- where it occurs. Dependence on sell- an Forces, and Canada later lavished Red Publishing/Fernwood Publishing, 2015, 326 pages, $24.95 ing raw minerals has deindustrialized aid on the dictatorship. Nkrumah was parts of Africa, and low royalty rates hated by Washington for his independ- AINSTREAM ACADEMICS AND jour- and taxes ensure there is little capital ent streak and had called Canada “just nalists like to portray Cana- returned to state finances, while cor- another imperialist country.” The coup da as a positive force on the porate profits are returned to western ensured that Canadian mining com- international stage, but Yves banks. Ottawa has actually shaped the panies would be given open access to Engler’s new book, Canada in mining codes of eight African coun- Ghana’s mineral wealth. Africa, shows how frequent- tries, resulting in lower royalties. Similarly, Canada helped eliminate Mly Canadian governments and corpo- The World Bank and Internation- Patrice Lumumba, elected prime min- rations play a destructive role abroad. al Monetary Fund’s (IMF) neoliber- ister of the mineral-rich Congo (now In Africa, Canada’s government and al structural adjustment programs known as the DRC) in 1960. Lumum- mining companies have together or (SAPs) imposed on African countries ba’s killing was plotted by the U.S. and separately aided genocide in Rwanda (with Canada’s strong backing) also Belgium, which used the prime minis- and the Democratic Republic of the emphasized increasing raw materi- ter’s Congolese rivals to execute him in Congo (DRC), been complicit in over- al exports, privatization, and cutting 1961 with the connivance of the Cana- throwing and killing elected leaders, health and education budgets in ex- dian-dominated United Nations Mis- helped increase poverty, destroyed change for international loans. Cana- sion (sent, ostensibly, to help Lumum- many communities and the environ- dian “aid” to African countries is fre- ba). Engler provides a chilling account ment, and spread corruption. Engler’s quently conditional on carrying out of the critical role played by Colonel well-researched text explains how SAPs, and sometimes linked to work- Jean Berthiaume (deceased), the top the Canadian elite profited from the ing with Canadian mining companies. Canadian in the UN Mission, “in di- transatlantic trade in African slaves, To insure against changes in na- rectly enabling” Lumumba’s murder. and details Canada’s significant sup- tional policy down the road, Ottawa Engler concludes that through ac- port for British colonialism in Afri- has ratified, signed or is negotiating tivism Canadians can be convinced to ca, before presenting a damning por- more than a dozen Foreign Invest- pay attention to their government’s trait of Canadian neocolonialism on ment Protection Agreements (FIPAs) sordid role in Africa—as a first step the continent today. This historical that grant mining firms the right to toward changing things for the bet- perspective is useful for discovering sue African countries for reduced prof- ter. However, a few pages on how important facts about Canada-Africa its. The space for democratic govern- such activism could be organized or relations, as well as for learning more ance and non-resource-based forms of spread would have been very useful. 49 Review essay by Janice Newson What you really need to know about corporatization in our schools

vourable to its business. Critics ar- nancial support and opportunities gued the proposed deal would com- to cultivate future client/donor re- promise the autonomy of the univer- lationships with other high-profile sity and the academic freedom of its corporations. Only in relatively few researchers. cases has a mobilized opposition led The story came to the public’s atten- to a deal being rejected or to arrange- tion when the CBC responded to re- ments associated with it being requests from a few faculty members considered. A well-publicized excep- at UCalgary claiming managers were tion is the law faculty’s rejection of a ignoring their concerns about dam- $60-million funding partnership be- age to the university’s integrity and tween York University’s Osgoode Hall independence. Through freedom of Law School and Jim Balsillie, the for- information requests, the CBC se- mer co-CEO of Research In Motion cured access to emails between and (RIM) Technologies. among university managers and En- Media attention of the kind the bridge executives, which supported UCalgary-Enbridge partnership re- CLASS WAR the concerns raised by critics. Along ceived can be useful for educating the with Global News, the CBC kept the broader public about corporatization MEGAN ERICKSON story alive for several weeks in reg- on Canadian campuses, but it has its ular news reporting, in-depth inter- downsides, too. For one thing, media Verso Books (2015), 240 pages, $17.95 views on such programs as The Cur- stories generally disappear from pub- rent and The 180, and by posting cop- lic view after a short period of intense FEW MONTHS BACK, a story hit ies of the available emails so the pub- attention, leaving longer-term institu- the news about a controver- lic could judge for themselves. tional conflicts (e.g., between faculty sial deal between the Univer- Partnerships like the one between and management) intact. Media cov- sity of Calgary and the Cana- the University of Calgary and Enbridge erage tends to focus on particular cas- dian oil company Enbridge, a are not new. For at least three dec- es, especially those characterized by high profile player in oil pipe- ades, similar partnerships have been internal struggle, and “newsworthy” Aline struggles. Various media outlets negotiated at universities across the details and drama as defined by re- reported that administrators at the country. Nor are the concerns raised porters, editors and the at-the-scene university had been attempting for about the UCalgary-Enbridge partner- witnesses they choose to interview. at least two years to nail down an ar- ship unique. Because the contracts are It is less likely to address underlying rangement by which Enbridge would deemed to be proprietary, details of patterns related to corporate dona- donate upwards of $2.5 million over 10 partnership arrangements are typical- tions to public universities. years to help establish a new Enbridge ly not made public, and they are rarely Equally important, these cases are Centre for Sustainability in the uni- openly debated or decided upon with- often narrated as a pitched battle be- versity’s business school, with intima- in the university community. Instead, tween a handful of concerned faculty tions of more money down the road. they are negotiated under the cloak of members and/or students and an as- The reports claimed Enbridge was confidentiality by high-level universi- sertive university administration, or using this deal to counter negative ty officials, corporate executives and a between a “whistleblower” and secre- fallout from a 2010 break in the Mich- team of lawyers on each side. tive, possibly corrupt, university offi- igan portion of one of its pipelines. Although faculty members and stu- cials. What typically surfaces as “bad” By making a (relatively modest) do- dents may loudly criticize these kinds is the incompetence or failed integrity nation toward this “sustainability of partnerships (sometimes joined by of university managers, or the lack of project,” not only would Enbridge en- concerned members of the public) as transparency in the decision-making hance its public image, it would also a threat to the public mission of the process. The implicit, if not explicit, be able to shape the work of the cen- university, managers have often dis- conclusion is that university-corpo- tre and encourage relationships with missed or ignored their arguments, rate partnerships would not be objec- other institutions that would be fa- their eyes locked on the prize of fi- tionable if the incompetent or corrupt 50 managers were removed, or the process of decision-making opened up. Unequal partners o my knowledge, no media cover- T age has unequivocally supported the view that the public interest would be best served and protected if universities did not enter into these partnerships under any conditions. Two recent books, however, make this case precisely based on the Canadi- an and U.S. experiences with corporatization in their respective education systems. The first is my own book with Claire Polster, A Penny for Your Thoughts: How Corporatization Undervalues Re- search, Teaching, and Public Service in Canada’s Universities, published by the CCPA last year. The second is Megan Erickson’s Class War: The Pri- vatization of Childhood (Verso Books), which focuses on kindergarten to Grade 12 (K-12) education in the U.S. Both books situate corporate partnerships as but one aspect of corpo- Moreover, partnering with cor- Screen capture from the ratization, a multi-dimensional poli- porations is not, as is often claimed, Chevron website. cy-driven process that has been re- simply a pragmatic move for cash- shaping public education since at strapped university administrators least the early 1980s. Together they and researchers to make up for gov- show how corporatization has distort- ernment underfunding. Rather, it is Institutes for Health Research (former- ed and displaced the public mission a funding methodology embedded ly the Medical Research Council)—as of universities, colleges and schools, in wide-ranging social relations that well as other bodies created to manage and they urgently call on the wider link governments to funding bodies and distribute public research dollars. public to become engaged in a con- to funding partners to universities Public monies distributed by certed political struggle to reinstate to individual researchers. In other these bodies are channeled through the public-serving focus of public ed- words, the partnership deals profiled matched funding programs of var- ucation. In the process, these books in the media, and many others that ious kinds that require researchers challenge misunderstandings and go unnoticed, are manifestations of or their universities to obtain funds misperceptions of the issue that are social relationships that are system- to match the public grant from part- often conveyed in media coverage. atically tilted in the direction of pro- ners who could benefit from the re- A Penny for Your Thoughts con- moting corporate innovation, ensur- search. In exchange for their dona- fronts the perception that partnering ing corporate advantage and growing tions, these partners receive a range with corporations is a one-off devia- corporate profits. of benefits including exercising influ- tion from normal ways of functioning Since the mid-1980s, university-cor- ence, if not control, over the research in contemporary Canadian universi- porate partnering has been the policy design and objectives, and, perhaps ties. It shows instead that corporate of choice of successive Conservative most importantly, retaining intellec- partnering has become the standard and Liberal federal governments for tual property rights to the findings. operating procedure not only for uni- enrolling academic research and re- Knowledge created by publicly fund- versity managers, who seek out and searchers in the service of economic ed researchers in public facilities is oversee such arrangements, but also growth and technological innovation. thus shaped to serve corporate objec- for faculty members who are encour- They have leveraged this policy direc- tives and the knowledge itself is trans- aged, if not pressured, to hitch up tion through funding relationships ferred from public to private hands. their curricular ideas and research in- with the three national research coun- The benefits to donors outweigh the terests with clients—primarily from cils—the Social Sciences and Humani- size of their donations, and the latter the corporate sector—who will pro- ties Research Council, Natural Sciences by no means matches the full cost of vide funds to support them. and Engineering Council, and Canada the resources used to carry out the 51 research. Public resources, in other quality at the hands of reform-ori- lies. Reformers have not only failed to words, subsidize private benefits. ented tinkerers more interested in address the factors that systematical- The partnership approach has been how to grade teachers, students and ly widen or narrow parental choices, adopted by a multitude of new re- institutions than improving a broader they have worsened inequalities and search funding programs at provin- range of services—lunch programmes, placed even more limitations on the cial and federal levels. These pro- child care, affordable access to health ability of low-income parents to sup- grams relate to universities as knowl- care, and minimum wage standards port their children’s success. edge businesses competing with each for jobs typically held by parents of Two chapters, one on the policy other for limited resources, requiring these children—that are necessary landscape of public education and them to invest energy and funds in for achieving educational success, the other on reformers’ efforts to an extensive legal and administra- especially of children from disadvan- fix public education, resonate with tive infrastructure that cultivates taged families. themes discussed in A Penny for Your and supports relationships with po- Erickson’s damning assessment of Thoughts. They show how donations tential corporate donors. the accomplishments of the reform from philanthropic organizations To be sure, university managers, movement is not simply a rhetorical such as the Bill Gates Foundation are many of them appointed for their ex- exaggeration designed to spur pub- being used to apply simplified solu- tensive connections with the corpo- lic outrage and reaction. Rather, she tions to much more complex problems rate world, have been key players in aims to enlighten a wide swathe of the and enable corporate leaders to insert pursuing and overseeing these rela- American public that is confused and business-think into the redesign and tionships. However, constraining the concerned about the state of public reconceptualization of what it means actions of overreaching managers education and anxious to make de- to educate. Much in these chapters through conflict-of-interest guide- cisions that will serve the best inter- reminds me of David Noble’s Ameri- lines and transparent decision-mak- ests of their children. ca By Design, about a similar period ing requirements, or even removing To do this, she has brilliantly craft- in U.S. history—the turn of the 20th them from office, will not automati- ed a wide-ranging, detailed analysis century—when business magnates, cally serve the public interest. Such of educational reforms promoted as through philanthropic foundations, interventions do not disassemble the “solutions” to the public schooling were able to set higher education in edifice of social relationships that sys- “problem.” Many of these reforms be- a corporate-serving direction. temically tilts universities in an in- gan under Reagan’s presidency in the Erickson concludes with an oppos- creasingly corporate direction. 1980s and were picked up by subse- ing vision for public education that quent administrations. They include places children and their experience The illusion of parental choice hybrid (public-private) institutions of childhood at the centre. We need such as charter schools, student test- to imagine schools “as places where he consequences of these partnering regimes aimed at improving stu- children and adults play and learn to- ships do not fall only on institu- T dent performance, school and teach- gether,” she writes. If you are able to tions of higher education, as Erick- er ratings systems, Reagan’s “Nation read nothing else in this book, read son makes abundantly clear in her re- at Risk” and the Obama administra- the short chapter called “A Caring cent book, Class War. She shows how, tion’s “Race to the Top” campaigns, Society.” over the past three or four decades, and many others. A Penny for your Thoughts and corporate interests and corporate in- Erickson argues media coverage Class Wars offer many good reasons fluence have deeply penetrated K-12 has too often accepted the reformers’ for wresting education from its in- education in the U.S. Drawing on ev- point of view on both the necessity creasingly narrow focus on promot- idence from her extensive classroom and the promise of these proposed re- ing corporate growth and fitting stu- experience and wide knowledge of forms. In fact, depending on wheth- dents into their allotted places in the research reports and policy debates, er they have a more conservative or economic order. A British civil serv- she describes how a revived corpo- more liberal take, media reports typ- ant of the post-war era, Richard Tit- rate-directed education reform move- ically construct parental choice and mus, makes an important addition to ment, guided by neoliberal thinking, students’ natural ability as the keys the list. Titmus’s work, as described has fundamentally reshaped school- to educational success, evaluating re- by British writer Stefan Collini, was ing in America. form proposals in terms of how well governed for 30 years or more by a As a result, Erickson argues, the re- they address these factors. preoccupation with “the need for so- peated claim that educational success Erickson deconstructs and chal- cieties to give effective institutional provides the route to social equality lenges this viewpoint. Parental choice expression to non-economic values is farther and farther from being re- and student abilities need to be ana- in the face of the tirelessly corrosive alized, especially by children from lyzed in the much wider context of power of the profit motive.” Public poor and working class families. In how schools are differentially re- education is an important place for fact, children and parents from these sourced and how social services nec- such expression. families face insurmountable obsta- essary for educational success are dis- cles and experience deepening ine- tributed unequally to American fami- 52 You’ll want to hear this.

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