Today is Labour Day. 

This year workers were in our headlines much of the time for their service on the frontlines of the pandemic. To me though, the work they did together to call for safer workplaces with decent wages deserves just as much praise. Two examples come to mind.

Like many Canadians, I was heart-sickened to hear about the discovery of a mass grave of 215 Indigenous children at a former residential school near Kamloops BC.

Some have depicted this as a dark chapter in our history, but unfortunately deep, systematic and life-threatening discrimination against Indigenous peoples is threaded throughout our history as a nation and continues today. The last residential school closed in 1996, and many of the survivors of the 139 schools that existed across Canada are alive today, still dealing with the trauma that was inflicted on them as children.

I’d like to draw your attention to three thoughtful pieces that help put this tragic discovery into the context of the work we need to do together to rectify these great injustices. 

• This opinion piece in the Globe and Mail from Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond (Aki-Kwe). This year’s Ellen Meiskins Wood Award winner, Turpel-Lafond urges us to honour these children’s lives by implementing the rights of Indigenous peoples in tangible ways.
• This tweet thread from Indigenous leader and Squamish nation spokesperson Khelselim, reminding us of the Truth and Reconciliation Report’s calls to action that specifically address the treatment of Indigenous children.
• This piece from APTN on Institute fellow Cindy Blackstock’s ongoing fight to end the human rights tragedy against First Nations kids. It is shameful that our government continues to try to use legal technicalities to try and get out of their obligations towards Indigenous children. 

The Broadbent Institute stands with the Indigenous, First Nations, Inuit and Metis people of this land. We will continue to support them and fight with them to see their rights acknowledged and the Truth and Reconciliation report’s 94 calls to action realized. 

I hope you’ll join us.

Sincerely,

Ed

After more than eight successful years as Executive Director of the Broadbent Institute, the Board of Directors of the Institute today announced that Rick Smith will be stepping down from this role, effective mid-June, to become President of the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices (CICC).

This March 21st will be Ed’s 85th birthday and all of us here at the Institute want to make sure it’s his best one ever!

Greetings Friends,

It’s been a long year.

Well, it's the morning after. Like a great many Canadians, I spent yesterday with my mind restless and my gaze set firmly on voting in the U.S. This election has been a source of great hope and grave concern over the past few months. We’ve seen some of the worst incendiary hate-filled politics in a generation. But, we have also seen a massive upswell of progressive movements and ideas that have taken the country by storm.  Racial justice, climate justice, closing the wealth and income gap aren’t just concepts. They now come with specific, well-documented and widely supported policy solutions that are taking centre stage in the political and popular discourse, both inside and outside of the U.S.

While we can’t celebrate Labour Day with our usual parades and gatherings, I invite you to take a moment today to celebrate what organized labour has helped us achieve.

Hello Everyone, 

Like many of you, I’m at home in self-isolation. My house is comfortable and my garden is coming to life through my window so it’s not so bad. All things considered, I’m pretty fortunate. But many others are having a very difficult time.

Aside from the ascendance of newer political parties at the expense of those more established, one of the most significant aspects of Monday’s election in Quebec is what it may mean for electoral reform across the country.

This Article originally appeared in the Globe & Mail.