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Progressive news, views and ideas
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020
EST/ÉTABLI
1980
Founded in 1980, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) is a registered charitable research
institute and Canada’s leading source of progressive policy ideas, with offices in Ottawa, Vancouver, Regina,
Winnipeg, Toronto and Halifax. The CCPA founded the Monitor magazine in 1994 to share and promote its
progressive research and ideas, as well as those of like-minded Canadian and international voices.
The Monitor is mailed to all CCPA supporters who give a minimum of $35 a year to the centre.
Write us at monitor@policyalternatives.ca if you would like to receive the Monitor.
Vol. 27, No. 3 Contributors
ISSN 1198-497X
Canada Post Publication 40009942 Matthew Behrens is a writer Trish Hennessy is Director Katherine Scott is a senior
The Monitor is published six times and community organizer with of the Think Upstream project researcher at the CCPA's national
a year by the Canadian Centre for Homes not Bombs. For years, the and a senior communications office where she directs the
Policy Alternatives. group’s antipoverty organizing was strategist with the CCPA’s centre’s gender equality and public
the subject of intense surveillance national office. She is focused policy work. She has worked in the
The opinions expressed in the by the antiterrorism units of the on social determinants of health, community sector as a researcher,
Monitor are those of the authors RCMP and Toronto Police. sustainable development goals, writer and advocate for 20 years,
and do not necessarily reflect income inequality, decent work, an focused on a range of issues
the views of the CCPA. Robin Browne is an African-
inclusive economy and well-being from social policy to inequality to
Canadian communications
Please send feedback to budgeting. Trish was the founding funding for nonprofits.
professional and the co-lead of the
monitor@policyalternatives.ca. director of the CCPA-Ontario and
613-819 Black Hub, living in Ottawa. Scott Sinclair is a senior
co-founded the Ontario Living
Editor: Stuart Trew His blog is called The "True" North. researcher at the CCPA's national
Wage Network.
Senior Designer: Tim Scarth office where he directs the
Ram Kumar Bhandari is a social
Layout: Susan Purtell Joe Kadi is a teacher and writer centre’s Trade and Investment
justice activist based in Nepal who
Editorial Board: Alyssa O’Dell, living in Calgary, Alberta, within the Research Project (TIRP). TIRP
has over a decade’s experience
Shannon Daub, Katie Raso, Erika traditional territories of the people brings together researchers from
working with marginalized
Shaker, Rick Telfer, Jason Moores of the Treaty 7 region in Southern over 20 Canadian NGOs and
communities, in particular the
Alberta. trade unions and collaborates
Contributing Writers: families of the disappeared,
with international researchers to
Lynne Fernandez, Elaine Hughes, victims and survivors of conflict, Seth Klein served for 22 years
analyze and propose alternatives
Asad Ismi, Cynthia Khoo, Anthony ex-combatant youth, ethnic (1996–2018) as the founding
to corporate-driven globalization.
Morgan. minorities, rural youth, and director of the CCPA's B.C. office
women’s groups. Ram helped and is the author of A Good
CCPA National Office
launch a community radio station War: Mobilizing Canada for the
141 Laurier Avenue W, Suite 1000
in Nepal, the Network of Families Climate Emergency, which is out
Ottawa, ON K1P 5J3
of the Disappeared (NEFAD), from ECW Press this September.
Tel: 613-563-1341
the Committee for Social Seth founded and served for
Fax: 613-233-1458
Justice, and the Conflict Victims eight years as co-chair of the BC
ccpa@policyalternatives.ca
Common Platform, among other Poverty Reduction Coalition and is
www.policyalternatives.ca
organizations. a founder of the Metro Vancouver
CCPA BC Office Living Wage for Families campaign.
520-700 West Pender Street Angelo DiCaro is Director of
Vancouver, BC V6C 1G8 Research at Unifor, Canada’s Richard Sharpe is a member of
Tel: 604-801-5121 largest private sector union and the 613/819 Black Hub and United
Fax: 604-801-5122 the key union representing auto Nations Decade for People of
ccpabc@policyalternatives.ca workers. African Descent Push Coalition
and leads initiatives in support
CCPA Manitoba Office Mihskakwan James Harper is
of Canada’s commitments to the
301-583 Ellice Avenue from Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation
United Nations Decade for People
Winnipeg, MB R3B 1Z7 in Treaty 8, Alberta. He graduated
of African Descent. His work
Tel: 204-927-3200 from the University of Manitoba
regionally, nationally and within the
ccpamb@policyalternatives.ca with a bachelor’s degree in
federal public service is intended
CCPA Nova Scotia Office mechanical engineering and is
to improve the condition of Black
P.O. Box 8355 currently pursuing a master’s in
and African diaspora communities
Halifax, NS B3K 5M1 renewable energy from KTH Royal
in Canada.
Tel: 902-240-0926 Institute of Technology and Ecole
ccpans@policyalternatives.ca Polytechnique.
Michael DeForge lives in
CCPA Ontario Office Toronto, Ontario. His comics
720 Bathurst Street, Room 307 and illustrations have been
Toronto, ON M5S 2R4 featured in Jacobin, The New York
Tel: 416-598-5985 Times, Bloomberg, The Believer,
ccpaon@policyalternatives.ca The Walrus and Maisonneuve.
CCPA Saskatchewan Office He worked as a designer on
2nd Floor, 2138 McIntyre Street Adventure Time for six seasons.
Regina, SK S4P 2R7 His published books include
Tel: 306-924-3372 Very Casual, A Body Beneath,
Fax: 306-586-5177 Ant Colony, First Year Healthy,
ccpasask@sasktel.net Dressing, Big Kids, Sticks Angelica,
Folk Hero and A Western World.
CONTENTS
plotting a
JUST RECOVERY
from COVID-19
12–25
In loving memory of John Loxley, who taught us
that governments, like people, always have choices
(see back cover for the CCPA statement on John’s passing).
• Activist government • Gender equality
• Black empowerment • A Canadian industrial strategy
• Reconciliation and the management of biodiversity
• Fair trade and a new internationalism
Articles by
Trish Hennessy • Katherine Scott • Richard Sharpe
• Angelo DiCaro • Mihskakwan James Harper
• Scott Sinclair and Stuart Trew
on how we can turn the pandemic crisis into
an opportunity for lasting change.
UP FRONT / 5 FEATURES
COLOUR-CODED JUSTICE COVID-19 CONTAINMENT AND
A litany of reports, but little accountability CAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT IN VIETNAM
for police violence against Black Canadians Asad Ismi / 27
Anthony N. Morgan
ACTIVISTS GO BACK TO THE LAND IN NEPAL
WORK-LIFE Ram Kumar Bhandari / 29
Under cover of COVID,
an attack on democracy REVIEWS
Lynne Fernandez MOBILIZE LIKE WE MEAN IT!
An excerpt from Seth Klein’s new book on what
BELOW THE FOLD
Canada’s Second World War response can teach us
Where is the consent of the
about fighting climate change / 31
algorithmically policed?
Cynthia Khoo PRIORITIZING POVERTY ACROSS
TWO GENERATIONS OF TRUDEAUS
CCPA IN PROFILE
Matthew Behrens reviews Paul Weinberg’s book,
Meet Heather Lawson,
When Poverty Mattered: Then and Now / 36
Kate McInturff Fellow in Gender Justice
INSPIRED PERSPECTIVES
COVID-19 tracing apps explained Joe Kadi sees a connection between B.C. wildfires
and the condo development next door / 38
Editorial 2 | Letters 3 | New From the CCPA 4 | Supporter Profile 26 | Good News Page 30
From the Editor
We want a just recovery,
no ifs, ands or Butts
I
DON’T KNOW who first used “build changes that will reduce the likelihood led to preventable suffering and early
back better” as a slogan for the of future shocks and increase deaths.” Moreover, he says, “the old
post-COVID recovery. Today the society’s resilience to them when normal was putting us at much higher
rather awful catchphrase is unavoid- they do occur.” That report, Building risk of natural disasters, and on track
able wherever you look. Joe Biden Back Better: A Sustainable, Resilient to making our planet unliveable.”
promises to “Build Back Better” if he’s Recovery after COVID-19, also urges However, there are fundamental
elected president in November (it’s governments to “focus on well-being differences between the AFB Recov-
the title of his election platform with and inclusiveness” and to align pan- ery Plan and other Canadian calls for
Kamala Harris). Boris Johnson claims demic investments “with long-term building back better. The Task Force
his government is going to “build emission reduction goals, factoring in for a Resilient Recovery, for example,
back better and build back greener” resilience to climate impacts, slowing which includes Trudeau’s former
after the U.K.’s economic drubbing biodiversity loss and increasing chief of staff Gerald Butts (now at
by pandemic job loss. And a new circularity of supply chains.” the business consulting firm Eurasia
Task Force for a Resilient Recovery in Sounds great—sign us up! Not so Group), merely repackages some old
Canada thinks these three words, or fast. Like resilience, sustainability and some newer market-governance
the ideas behind them, are the key and even people’s needs, “build back techniques for the COVID moment.
to uniting and directing private and better” is a loaded, empty and These include “leveraging private
government finance toward “the jobs, contested concept all at once. The capital, targeted tax cuts and
infrastructure and growth that will ambiguity is unavoidable and needn’t incentives, regulatory sandboxes (to
keep Canada competitive in the clean be a bad thing. At least in Canada, the enable innovation), and behavioural
economy of the 21st century.” recovery is still a partly filled in canvas ‘nudges’—to spur jobs and generate
So, what does it mean to build back and progressives hold some of the lasting economic activity.”
better? Beginning around 2004, the brushes. With the lengthy COVID-19 It’s fair to say this response to
term applied to infrastructure recon- pandemic continuing to rupture and COVID-19 would entrench rather than
struction strategies meant to improve transform the global economy, and scale back market relations as the
a community’s physical, social and practices of liberal (or neoliberal) defining feature of the Canadian social
economic conditions following governance in transition, there are economic model. Much as certain
major disasters. According to one possibly better opportunities today ideologues in government might be
backgrounder on the concept, “the than during the Great Recession to happy “nudging” corporations and
theory behind [building back better] reclaim privatized or marketized parts their financiers into new productive
supports the inclusion of the people… of the social economy (e.g., housing, endeavours, we have had a glimpse of
into every stage of reconstruction child care, drug insurance) for the at least one alternative: direct public
planning and implementation. This common good. financing and guidance of basic public
means the psychological, social and At the end of July, the CCPA services and essential manufacturing,
economic impacts of every recon- released an Alternative Federal which have both strained under the
struction and recovery decision made Budget Recovery Plan to convince pandemic demand as a result of a
need careful consideration in order the Canadian public and our elected generation of cost-cutting govern-
to ensure that people’s needs are put governments of the need to think ment austerity.
first” (emphasis added). even bigger than most of the “triple With the right emphasis, and a
Today, governments, banks and B” plans out there. It’s more of a commitment to correcting the many
other big corporations, environmen- build-forward than a build-back plan, inequities in Canadian society, a just
tal organizations and everyone in but there are definite similarities. For recovery could put people’s needs
between have claimed “build back example, in an introductory AFB mac- first, as “build back better” models
better” as a mantra for making sure roeconomic chapter, CCPA economist say it should. But only if we are clear
pandemic recovery policies, in the David Macdonald writes that “the old about what that means. M
words of a recent OECD report, normal was unacceptable because it
“trigger investment and behavioural left far too many people behind. It
2
of which country discovers housing poverty,” Natasha instance, to see an analysis
T the vaccine.
Allan Hansen,
Bulowski, May/June 2020).
However, the first article
of the National Housing
Strategy—its strengths and
Edmonton, AB had me confused. After weaknesses, and how it
a lengthy discussion could be improved.
about the potential for Rena Ginsberg,
Antiracism the nonprofit sector to Toronto, ON
and inequality provide affordable housing,
the author points out the
Editor’s response
Letters I agree with Anthony
N. Morgan that there
weaknesses of nonprofits,
concluding that handing The CCPA’s provincial
will be little progress in housing responsibilities and national offices have
antiracism development to that sector contributes published a number of
Vaccine research in Canada until we reduce to the crisis. That had me analyses and commentaries
should be truly global inequality experienced by scratching my head. Does on the federal government’s
people of colour and other the research indicate that National Housing Strategy.
There was a lot of noise marginalized groups in nonprofit housing is helpful In 2018, for example,
in the media this summer our population (“To make or harmful? CCPA-BC economist Marc
about alleged Russian Black lives matter, make As well, mixed-in- Lee made a submission to a
hacking of Western Black jobs matter too,” July/ come type housing is federal public consultation
research into a COVID-19 August 2020). When we at first described as on the NHS in which he
vaccine. Justin Trudeau look at who suffers most desirable—making for calls on the government to
has stated that countries with the COVID-19 pandem- healthier communities and shore up two core aspects
are co-operating in that ic we find it is marginalized also benefitting middle-in- of the strategy: a much
research, but it appears groups such as Indigenous come families that struggle larger public build-out of
Russia is excluded. It people, immigrants and with affordability—and then non-market housing, and
matters not who discovers Black people in our society. later as undesirable (due a more coherent housing
the vaccine. Co-operate and True, new curricula and to loss of rent-geared-to- and income support system
get it done. education in general may income units). based on Manitoba’s Rent
Just as Donald Trump’s go some way in reducing I was also disappointed Assist program. These
and Jair Bolsonero’s first racism, but without a that the discussion about measures would attack
concern is getting people change in who receives nonprofit housing made the problem of the finan-
back to work to assure a and amasses money we will no mention of housing cialization of housing and
minimum negative impact not notice much change in co-operatives, which are make sure that landlords
on profits, Western nations the presence of racism in numerous in Canada (over cannot appropriate rental
seem preoccupied that the Canada 20 years from now. 92,000 units) and are run subsidies by hiking rents.
vaccine’s discovery should We must listen to Morgan according to democratic The Alternative Federal
be controlled in a fashion when he writes, “I believe control. That responds to Budget Recovery Plan (the
that the pharmaceutical now is the time to revisit, one of the criticisms of focus of this issue of the
industry receives its take. It reform and/or reintroduce nonprofit housing noted in Monitor) also contains a
matters not to these inter- stronger employment the article: lack of transpar- housing chapter (written
ests that, due to not having equity legislation.” Beyond ency and accountability. by Nick Falvo) that rec-
a viable vaccine in Russia, legislation, we need It seems to me that the ommends improvements
there could be a serious economic change for development of nonprofit to the NHS. Readers can
mega-spike in COVID-19 antiracism to rise beyond housing (preferably find everything the CCPA
cases there, which might sentimentalism. co-operatives) and public has produced recently on
spread across our planet Barry Hammond, housing could coexist housing by following this
in a second uncontrollable Winnipeg, MB and contribute together link: https://www.poli-
wave causing an even to alleviating the housing cyalternatives.ca/issues/
higher death toll. crisis—if our governments housing-and-homelessness.
It will be society which Mixed messages on step up to that challenge.
brings into being and pays mixed income housing That’s the other piece Send your letters to monitor@
for a viable vaccine and we need to focus on: policyalternatives.ca.
therefore it should be I was happy to see the impressing on our repre-
society, as a whole, which Monitor feature the sentatives what must be
benefits from it—regardless affordable housing crisis done to address this dire
(“An opportunity to end situation. I would like, for
3
capacity of the government Canada Foundation for from his 77 years of life
to help regular people, Innovation funding has (see the CCPA’s statement
not just the banks and favoured fossil fuels R&D of tribute on the back
corporate Canada, in over other categories of cover of this issue of the
times of crisis,” says CCPA energy research by a ratio Monitor). A professor of
economist David Macdon- of 4:1. And provincial economics at the University
ald, co-ordinator of the agencies have allocated of Manitoba and a Fellow
AFB and this Recovery Plan. about $6.4 billion to fossil of the Royal Society of
New from “We should be using the fuels–related research Canada, John was a dear
the CCPA same approach to ensure
that everyone—especially
since 1997, with almost
two-thirds of this taking the
friend and colleague of the
CCPA and will be sorely
the most disadvantaged form of royalty credits or missed. A founder of the
and marginalized—have grants to corporations. alternative budget concept
COVID-19 support: the supports they need to and long-standing critic of
keep it coming recover.” Care workers need the public-private partner-
a raise, not praise ship model of infrastructure
The federal government’s Research priorities construction and public
role as backstop during skip renewables The COVID-19 pandemic service delivery, John had
the COVID-19 pandemic has made the holes in our recently turned his expert
shouldn’t end with the A new report from the Cor- social safety net painfully attention to social impact
first wave of reopening porate Mapping Project obvious. A horrific example bonds (SIBs), a kind of P3
but ramp up with more and Parkland Institute is the impact of the for government-delivered
investments to ensure a examines the implications pandemic in long-term social services.
just, equitable and sustain- of public research funding care homes. In their new In a paper out this June,
able recovery, according to priorities for sustainable CCPA-Ontario paper, Social Impact Bonds and
the Alternative Federal energy development. What Does it Cost to the Financing of Child
Budget (AFB) Recovery In Knowledge for an Care?, Sheila Block and Welfare Revisted, John
Plan, released at the end Ecologically Sustainable Simran Dhunna show updates his research on
of July. The project, like Future?, University of that it would cost about three SIB case studies he
the annual AFB, was a Alberta political economist $1.8 billion to increase care wrote about in 2017—the
collaboration between Laurie Adkin traces funding levels and equalize wage Sweet Dreams Supportive
many organizations and from multiple governmental rates across the long-term Living project in Saskatoon,
researchers from a variety and corporate sources care sector in this fiscal Canada, and the Newpin
of sectors, populations and over a period of 20 years to year. That’s just over 1% Social Benefit Bond and
areas of expertise. document which areas of of total provincial program Benevolent Society Social
Among the priorities energy and environmental spending in Ontario, and Benefit Bond in New South
in the AFB Recovery Plan research have been prior- less than half what the Wales, Australia—and
requiring immediate action itized in Alberta’s leading government has given up discusses a relatively new
are universal public child research universities. Adkin ($4 billion) in tax cuts. Australian SIB, the Newpin
care (so people can get confirms the heavy weight- “The premier has heaped Social Benefit Bond of
back to work), reforming ing of this investment in praise on frontline health Queensland. The paper
employment insurance (to fossil fuels–related research care workers for their work finds that SIBs, with
be at least as sufficient as and technology develop- during the pandemic, and their accompanying high
the Canada Emergency ment centred in faculties of rightly so,” says Block. transaction costs and
Response Benefit, or engineering. “Now is the time to go exorbitant returns to
CERB), strengthening Renewable energies, beyond words and support investors, are not needed
safeguards for public health, energy efficiency, conser- them in a very real way, and and should be replaced by
decarbonizing the economy vation, social planning and that means better jobs and normal government funding
and tackling the gender, sustainable agriculture, on more co-workers.” arrangements.
racial and income inequality the other hand, have been
that COVID-19 has further comparatively underfund- Loxley’s last words For more reports, briefing notes,
exposed (see pages 12 ed. For example, 63% of on social impact bonds blogs, videos and infographics
to 25 of this issue of the Natural Sciences and Engi- from the CCPA’s national and
Monitor for more on the neering Research Council The irreplaceable John provincial offices, please visit
AFB and a just recovery). (NSERC) funding went to Loxley sadly passed away www.policyalternatives.ca.
“COVID-19 has opened fossil fuels R&D compared on July 28, surrounded by
the public eye to the to 11% for renewables. family and listening to songs
4
Up front pervades policing. While our policing and justice systems
need to do much better to institutionalize the collection
and public reporting of race-based disaggregated data,
since at least the late 1980s there have been several
Colour-coded significant reports highlighting systemic anti-Black racism
in Canadian police services.
Justice After Toronto police shot and killed Lester Donaldson
in his rooming house in 1988, the Black Action Defence
ANTHONY N. MORGAN Committee (BADC) mobilized Toronto’s Black communi-
ties in protest. These actions were equally a response to
the lack of accountability for the Toronto police killings of
A litany of reports, but Buddy Evans in 1978 and Albert Johnson in 1979, as well
as the generalized violent mistreatment of Black Toronto-
little accountability nians by Toronto police over the course of a decade.
The public agitations ultimately led to the 1988
for police violence establishment of the Toronto Race Relations and Policing
Task Force. In 1989, a report of the task force included
against Black recommendations for increasing accountability, transpar-
ency and equity in policing, all in response to concerns
Canadians of racism experienced by Black Torontonians. This was
a watershed moment, as it ultimately led to the passage
of the Police Services Act, which established the Special
Investigations Unit as a civilian oversight body.
W
HEN IT COMES to anti-Black racism in Canadian Despite these reforms, Black civilians in Ontario con-
policing, we don’t have an information gap, we tinued to be subjected to high rates of police use of lethal
have a police accountability gap. I’m reminded force. As such, the Commission on Systemic Racism in the
of this as I review some of the findings of two Ontario Criminal Justice System was established in 1992,
significant reports released jointly in August by this time in response to the police killing of Raymond
the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Lawrence, a 22-year-old Black man. The commission’s
A Disparate Impact is the second interim report to final report in 1995 provided further evidence of systemic
come out of the commission’s inquiry into racial profiling anti-Black racism in policing and made recommendations
and racial discrimination of Black persons by the Toronto similar to those from the earlier task force.
Police (the first report, A Collective Impact, was released More recently there was the 2017 report of the
in 2018). It includes two expert reports from criminolo- Independent Police Oversight Review by Justice Michael
gist Scot Wortley, who analyzed police data from 2013 to Tulloch. Some of the important recommendations from
2017 to uncover systemic racial disparity in arrests and this report were reflected in the Ontario government’s
charges and in the use of police violence on Black people. latest policing legislation, the Comprehensive Ontario
The reports note that while Black people only make Police Services Act, though the most progressive
up 8.8% of Toronto’s population, they account for about recommendations, such as a complete overhaul of police
one-third (32%) of all the charges in the charge dataset oversight structures, were ignored.
while White people and other racialized groups were Despite these and several other critical reports on
underrepresented. Black people also made up 38% of police violence, including a damning CBC expose on the
cannabis charges despite conviction rates and many issue in 2017, Black Torontonians and Black Canadians
studies showing that Black people use cannabis at similar
rates to White people.
Wortley further found that Black people were involved
in a quarter (25%) of all Special Investigations Unit cases Since the late 1970s,
resulting in death, serious injury or allegations of sexual
assault—an overrepresentation that cannot be explained no police officer in
by factors such as patrol zones in low-crime and high-
crime neighbourhoods, violent crime rates and/or average Canada has ever
income. And Black people were more likely to be involved
in use-of-force cases where police stopped and questioned served time in jail
someone (“proactive” policing) than in cases where police
responded to a call for assistance (“reactive” policing). for killing a Black
For Black communities and their allies, these findings
confirm what we’ve known for decades: anti-Blackness civilian. 5
remain disproportionately impacted in incidents of racial
profiling, police contact (carding, arrests, detentions,
searches) and police use of force, especially lethal force. Below
It’s important to note that, since the late 1970s, no police the Fold
officer in Canada has ever served time in jail for killing a
Black civilian.
CYNTHIA KHOO
It’s time Canada held a commission of inquiry into the
policing of Black and Indigenous people, as called for
by lawyer Julian Falconer following the outcome of the
trial of off-duty police officer Michael Theriault and his Where is the consent
brother, Christian. While Christian was acquitted of all
charges, Michael was found guilty this year of assaulting a of the algorithmically
Black youth named Dafonte Miller. Perhaps a commission
may finally usher in the sweeping and overdue police
reforms we desperately need to help close the police
policed?
accountability gap that has claimed far too many Black
I
lives in our country. M N HER 2012 BOOK, Consent of the Networked, Rebecca
Anthony N. Morgan is a Toronto-based human rights lawyer, policy MacKinnon noted that the companies and governments
consultant and community educator. He wishes to disclose that he “that build, operate, and govern cyberspace are not
used to work for Julian Falconer and previously represented Dafonte being held sufficiently accountable for their exercise of
Miller in a legal capacity.
power over the lives and identities of people who use
digital networks.” MacKinnon’s observation, that both
public and private sector actors are “sovereigns operating
without the consent of the networked,” is even more
apparent today, not least in the context of policing and
law enforcement in the criminal justice system.
Law enforcement agencies across Canada have been
Worth Repeating deploying various algorithmic policing technologies on
the public without any advanced notice, let alone prior
informed consent. This lack of due process and democrat-
Anticapitalism and antiracism ic engagement is disturbing given the high risk that these
To love capitalism is to end up loving racism. technologies may result in a range of constitutional and
To love racism is to end up loving capitalism. human rights violations, as new research (in which I was
The conjoined twins are two sides of the same involved) by the Citizen Lab and the International Human
destructive body. The idea that capitalism is Rights Program at the University of Toronto details.
merely free markets, competition, free trade, For example, police services in Calgary, Edmonton,
supplying and demanding, and private owner- Toronto, Peel, Halton, Ottawa, Durham, Niagara and
ship of the means of production operating for Hamilton, as well as the RCMP, all admitted in early 2020 to
a profit is as whimsical and ahistorical as the having used or tested a controversial facial recognition tool
White-supremacist idea that calling something built by Clearview AI. But they only did so in response to
racist is the primary form of racism. Popular media inquiries following a New York Times feature on the
definitions of capitalism, like popular racist company, which mentioned its technology was being used
ideas, do not live in historical or material by Canadian law enforcement authorities. Similarly, we
reality. Capitalism is essentially racist; racism only found out the Toronto Police Service had been using
is essentially capitalist. They were birthed another facial recognition technology for more than a year
together from the same unnatural causes, after the Toronto Star reported the fact in May 2019.
and they shall one day die together from These are high-stakes matters that should not be left
unnatural causes. Or racial capitalism will live up to the discretion of individual police forces. Facial
into another epoch of theft and rapacious recognition technology poses a significant threat to the
inequality, especially if activists naïvely fight right to privacy, by potentially putting an end to the ability
the conjoined twins independently, as if they to maintain anonymity in public. It also allows police to
are not the same. repurpose data previously collected in a different context
—Ibram X. Kendi, excerpted from his 2019 (such as using mugshot databases) without any built-in
book, How to be an Antiracist. mechanism to ensure that constitutional safeguards
against unreasonable search and seizure are appropriately
calibrated to account for algorithmically enhanced police
capabilities.
6
On another front, the RCMP has repeatedly engaged
in social media surveillance targeting sociopolitical
The criminal justice
movements for Indigenous rights and racial justice,
including Idle No More and Black Lives Matter. Again, the
system is exactly the
public tends not to hear about it until years later, and
only through news media revelations. Additionally, in
wrong place for the
March 2019, The Tyee exposed that the RCMP had been
engaging in never-reported “proactive” and “ongoing
entrepreneurial
wide-scale monitoring” of individuals’ Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and other social media activity “for at least two
recklessness and techno-
years.” The initiative, known as Project Wide Awake, used
software from a Washington, D.C. contractor that also
solutionism glorified by
works with U.S. intelligence and defence.
This April, the RCMP issued a public tender seeking ex-
Silicon Valley.
pansive and intricate algorithmic social media surveillance
capabilities, exacerbating pre-existing concerns with police
surveillance chilling freedom of expression. Studies have
shown that those who know or merely suspect their online
activities are being monitored by government are prone
to engage in self-censorship. Further, the right to equality The Canadian public, including its most disproportion-
is violated when historically marginalized groups who face ately policed members, have not consented and do not
systemic discrimination are targeted for disproportionate consent to the use of secretive facial recognition tech-
and particularly invasive scrutiny by law enforcement, nologies, or to indiscriminate social media surveillance of
especially if they are targeted for surveillance due to the social movements, or to algorithm-boosted police stops,
very act of advocating for their equality and civil rights. or (by definition) to any advanced policing technologies
The criminal justice system is exactly the wrong place we have not been informed of. Relevant questions must
for the kind of entrepreneurial recklessness, techno-solu- be asked before use, not after the fact. To that end,
tionism and “ask for forgiveness, not permission” attitude the public is owed immediate public disclosures of all
that Silicon Valley encourages. Yet relying on the coerced algorithmic policing technologies under use, development
“forgiveness” of a surveilled population is exactly what or consideration by law enforcement agencies across
law enforcement agencies do every time they roll out Canada. It does not take an algorithm to know that this is
another new technology for use on the public without any the right thing to do. M
notice, public dialogue, consultation, or a meaningful and Cynthia Khoo is a technology and human rights lawyer, and a research
consequential way for the networked, the governed, and fellow at the Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public
the policed to simply say “No.” Policy, University of Toronto.
Leave a legacy that reflects
your lifelong convictions.
Include the CCPA in your will and help bring to life
the kind of world you’d like to see for future
generations.
By contributing to the future financial stability
of the CCPA you will enable us to continue
to champion the values and issues that you
care so deeply about.
If you’d like to learn more about including
the CCPA in your will, call Katie Loftus
at 1-844-563-1341 or 613-563-1341 extension 318,
or send an email to katie@policyalternatives.ca. 7
Forum. “Other right-wing governments, including those in
Work Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, are paying
close attention.”
Life Soon after taking office, the Pallister government in
Manitoba also eliminated card check in favour of manda-
LYNNE FERNANDEZ tory voting, and its antagonistic treatment of public sector
workers during the pandemic has been stark. The pre-
mier’s overwhelming concern, greater than the pandemic
Under cover of itself, is eliminating Manitoba’s deficit, even though most
economists say it is perfectly manageable.
COVID, an attack on Nonetheless, the deficit was the justification Pallister
needed to try and force hundreds of public sector
democracy, workers workers to accept wage cuts totalling $500–900 million.
My colleague Jesse Hajer and I found that such a cut, had
and public assets it gone through, would have had a devastating effect on
labour income, tax revenue and provincial GDP.
An outcry from local economists and business leaders
caused the government to back off somewhat. Still,
W
E HEAR A LOT these days how you should “never 200 Manitoba Hydro workers have been laid off for four
let a good crisis go to waste.” True to their months—despite the fact that any moneys saved by the
ideological stripes, governments in Alberta Crown corporation will not help provincial coffers, and
and Manitoba have taken this advice to heart. there’s no shortage of work at the utility.
They are using the COVID-19 crisis to go Fortunately, governments don’t always get their way. The
after workers, unions and public institutions, and other Pallister government’s obsession with debt reduction led to
right-leaning governments are paying attention. legislation, in 2018, that set public sector wage increases
The Kenney government struck quickly in March, to 0% for two years, no more than 0.75% in year three
laying off up to 20,000 educational assistants and school and 1% for year four. The Manitoba Federation of Labour
custodians. CUPE Alberta President Rory Gill lamented contested the bill and, in some rare good news, won. In
that these workers were callously cut loose and told to get June, Manitoba Justice Joan McKelvey ruled the legislation
help from federal government programs. prevents workers’ right to collective bargaining and violates
The federal government should be doing the heavy freedom of association as guaranteed by the Charter.
lifting, of course. But some provinces have too eagerly A union coalition headed by the Ontario Federation of
thrown off their public sector workers instead of finding Labour is fighting a similar Ontario law passed in 2019.
work for them or using the federal wage replacement Steven Barett, the coalition’s lead counsel, told the
program to keep them on the books. Will they be be Canadian HR Reporter the Manitoba court “also found
called back once the crisis is over? that it is unfair to require public sector employees to
On July 7, Alberta advanced its reputation as Canada’s shoulder the burden of the government’s own revenue
pre-eminent anti-worker province with the introduction reduction decisions.” The ruling is even more relevant
of the omnibus Bill 32, the “Restoring Balance in Alberta’s in a recession when public sector salaries are needed to
Workplace Act.” York University’s David Doorey says support consumer demand.
the law builds on previous UCP legislation that replaced Not deterred, and perhaps emboldened by Alberta’s
card check with mandatory voting when workers want to pandemic-shielded anti-worker efforts, the Pallister
organize. government tried to pass Bill 44, the “Public Utilities
“[Bill 32] goes much further in undermining the Ratepayer Protection and Regulatory Reform Act,” during
traditional Canadian model of collective bargaining in an an emergency sitting of the legislature on April 15. If
effort to drag Canadian labour law downwards to the U.S. passed (the opposition NDP temporarily had it taken off
model,” he wrote in a post for the Canadian Law of Work the agenda), the bill will strip the Public Utility Board, a
hundred-year-old consumer watchdog, of its ability to
influence things like hydro rates, while putting Manitoba
Hydro on its first steps toward privatization.
Alberta advanced its COVID-19 is providing cover for all kinds of nefarious
reputation as Canada’s moves by government. Campaigns for a just recovery will
need to take these tactics seriously if we are to turn this
pre-eminent anti-worker crisis into a legitimate opportunity to rebuild a better
province with the omnibus world. M
Bill 32. Lynne Fernandez is the Errol Black Chair in Labour Issues at the
CCPA-Manitoba.
8THE CCPA IN PROFILE
HEATHER LAWSON
MCINTURFF FELLOW IN GENDER JUSTICE
Heather Lawson is the CCPA’s first Kate McInturff Fellow in Gender Justice. A recent
McGill University graduate in economics and philosophy, Heather will start a law degree
at Dalhousie University this fall. She spent the summer with the CCPA helping to research
and design our new gender budgeting portal. The Monitor caught up with Heather in
Vancouver.
What did you hope to achieve What are your plans next year?
this summer at the CCPA? In the fall I will be attending the
Prior to my work at the CCPA, I was Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie
splitting my time between a sexual University. Although I have always in-
assault centre, an Indigenous edu- tended to focus on criminal law, I am
cation nonprofit and a unionization going in with an openness to other
drive. In these roles I felt I was doing fields of study. Working with survivors
important “ground level” work, but of sexual violence, I grew increasingly
I was missing the ability to challenge frustrated with the failures of the
larger systems at play. As a McInturff legal system. I hope to get involved
Fellow, I could do just that. I got a with the anti-violence community at
chance to use my knowledge and Dalhousie and continue to advocate
experience in anti-violence, anti-colo- for survivors. I also hope to engage
nialism and labour rights to research able to meaningfully engage with with movements newer to me such
police budgets, prisons and the state anti-oppression work. Right now, as prison abolition, environmental
of intimate-partner violence during mass movements are demanding the justice and Indigenous law.
the pandemic. Getting the chance to dismantling of systemic racism, and
build on my theoretical knowledge of many independent studies are filling What does a feminist researcher
economics and incorporating feminist in important data gaps and educating do in their spare time, given the
research was extremely valuable the public about the ways in which circumstances?
to me. I was also grateful to gain expe- budgeting upholds white supremacy. I was lucky this summer to get to
rience in public policy work before This grassroots cultural shift is an explore a new city (in a socially dis-
attending law school in the fall. opportunity for feminist researchers tanced way, of course!). That meant
to critically examine the work they are hiking, camping and lots of beaches.
What are the challenges and doing and how they are doing it. I celebrated Pride and returned to
opportunities for doing feminist its roots by reading Leslie Feinberg’s
research at this moment? What exciting progressive policy Stone Butch Blues. I am also trying
Feminist research should be foun- or community work are following some more creative activities, like
dationally intersectional. Gender or involved with? painting, before I really hit the books
budgeting arose from the recognition The community work that I am most again in law school.
that policies are not neutral in how proud of was at the sexual assault The CCPA created the Kate McInturff
they affect individuals. One major centre where I worked in Montreal. It Fellowship in Gender Justice to honour the
challenge I have encountered is was my job to create partnerships with legacy of senior researcher Kate McInturff,
the quality and transparency of community organizations representing who passed away in July 2018. Kate was
government data. Much of the data marginalized groups and I was involved a feminist trailblazer in public policy
and gender-based analysis and achieved
in Canadian reports is not disaggre- in policy work to more meaningfully national acclaim for her research, writing
gated by race. Without the ability to address sexual violence on university and advocacy. The fellowship supports a
examine how policies affect people campuses. From my current home in paid internship at the CCPA for a student
as a result of important identifying Vancouver, I have organized a book committed to fighting for gender equality
factors, feminist researchers are less club for survivors of sexual violence. through policy research.
9Inspired
Tracking the virus,
not you
A
CCORDING TO HER BIO, Nicky Case mostly
make games and interactives “that help
folks learn through play,” but also comics,
videos and longform essays. “These ‘playful
things’,” she writes, “have been about game
theory, mental health, being a queer person of
colour, epidemiology, complex systems theory,
cognitive science, math, voting systems, and one
time I made a webcam toy that turned you into
anime.”
In April, in response to news that various
countries had developed or were developing
COVID-19 contact tracing apps, Case published
an illustrated guide to pro-privacy technology
that “can foil both COVID-19 and Big Brother.”
That guide is published here in light of the release
this summer of Canada’s official virus tracking
app, COVID Alert, which is available for iOS and
Android phones.
COVID Alert got the thumbs up from Canada’s
federal and provincial privacy commissioners. “Ca-
nadians can opt to use this technology knowing it
includes very significant privacy protections,” said
Daniel Therrien, Privacy Commissioner of Canada,
at the end of July. Michael Geist, a University of
Ottawa expert on internet and e-commerce law
and regulation, also congratulated the govern-
ment on the app on his blog.
“The Canadian COVID Alert app is ultimately
as notable for what it doesn’t do as for what it
does,” Geist wrote in early August. “The voluntary
app does not collect personal information nor
provide the government (or anyone else) with
location information. The app merely runs in the
background on an Apple or Android phone using
bluetooth technology to identify other devices
that come within two metres for a period of 15
minutes or more.”
In other words, as many people pointed out on
social media following the release of COVID Alert,
the government app is multiple times less intrusive
than literally everything else on your phone,
including virtually all apps and the operating
system itself.
—Stuart Trew, Monitor Editor
1011
a
just
recovery
By Trish Hennessy
The pandemic is a
call for personal
and collective
change
B
Y NOW WE are long past the shock of shutdown, millions of Canadians would have been
COVID-19, the virus that shut down the desperate. The $2,000 monthly CERB cheque
world, the economy, the relative predict- saved lives, reminding us of how governments can
ability of life. You and I are just one virus place public health and safety above all else when
exchange from illness and potential death. they choose to. Public servants, and politicians
Millions of Canadians have lost their ability to working across partisan lines, created this safety
earn a living. They risk eviction, mortgage default, net in the middle of a cold spring, working from
food insecurity, homelessness and mental health their homes, with children underfoot. They moved
struggles. Those who still have a job either find mountains. Doing so allowed people to shelter
themselves on the frontlines risking exposure to down: service, retail and accommodation workers,
the virus or they work from home, perhaps iso- artists, hair stylists, massage therapists and many
lated, maybe also caring for young or aged family others could get by, if for a time.
members, or both. Canada is a stable country as a result of the
Without the Canada Emergency Response CERB and other federal and provincial support
Benefit (CERB), that overnight replacement measures. Canada is not the United States. So far,
for employment insurance during the economic we have managed to keep COVID-19 outbreaks
12relatively in check. For the most part, we are not • food security;
turning on each other. But the virus is still among us • affordable universal public child care;
and we will continue to face a great amount of uncer-
tainty for a long time to come. Will I get the virus? • pathways into higher education, skills training and
Will someone I love get it? There is so much we cannot jobs;
know, including when or whether a vaccine can pull us • expanded access to the Canada Child Benefit and EI
out of this. (post-CERB);
But some things we do know. We know the social
• employment and pay equity;
determinants of health reveal the interconnections
between racial, income and health inequities. COVID- • labour protection for all workers, particularly
19 has compounded those inequities. People in migrant and temporary foreign workers who are
racialized and low-income communities in Toronto and vulnerable to exploitation;
Montreal, for instance, have been harder hit by COVID- • the right to organize a union; and
19. In July, the Toronto Public Health Unit released
data showing 83% of COVID-19 reported cases in • a strategy to address anti-Asian, anti-Black and
Toronto identified with a racialized group. In Montreal, anti-Indigenous racism and discrimination.
racially diverse neighbourhoods have a higher rate of These solutions, and many more, are laid out in detail
COVID-19 cases. in the CCPA’s Alternative Federal Budget Recovery Plan
We know that women are disproportionately impact- released during the summer. They require heightened
ed by COVID-19, as they tend to work the frontlines and sustained federal, provincial and municipal govern-
of hospitals, public health units, long-term care homes ment leadership and even more funding commitments
and grocery stores. Women risked and continue to risk than we’ve already seen in the COVID-19 crisis.
their lives to keep us safe, often on low salaries or no History will judge the CERB—and the federal govern-
salary at all. ment’s decision to protect people’s lives by delivering
Women are also overrepresented in sectors like this basic income during a pandemic—as the right thing
retail, tourism and accommodation that have not yet to do. History will also judge provincial governments
recovered and may not for some time. And for many that did little or nothing to protect people, or those
women, the only path back into paid labour is through that cut funding and laid off public service workers in
the availability of child care. So we know that universal, the middle of a global crisis.
publicly funded, affordable child care is a necessary part Future generations will judge us, too, if we do not
of Canada’s just recovery. demand our governments prepare for the next wave of
We know that CERB guaranteed everyone out of COVID-19 and a protracted economic downturn.
work what is essentially a basic income. We know that To ensure a just recovery, we must make clear that
people who are on social assistance and people with government austerity is not the answer; it will do more
disabilities also face constraints and added costs as a harm than good. For months now, conservative govern-
result of the pandemic, but provincial income support ments and think-tanks in Canada have been making the
programs remain inadequate to the task. The time to case for government cuts. Time-worn tropes have been
address the punitive, intrusive, inadequate aspects of hauled out, including: We can’t leave this debt to future
social and disability assistance is long past due. We have generations.
a social responsibility to ensure that everyone has the Yes, the federal government has incurred a tremen-
tools they need to live a life of dignity. dous deficit and will be required to continue to do
We know all of this. And yet still we tolerate so because the government has the duty to protect
government policies that perpetuate poverty among us. We also know that the government has the ability
women, families, single adults, people with disabilities, to continue borrowing from the Bank of Canada at
immigrants, and Indigenous and racialized peoples. We historically low interest rates while also addressing the
need to move from complacency to action to ensure a revenue side of the equation.
just recovery. And here I present to you the elephant in the room:
25 years of tax cut politics forces governments to go
T
here are myriad ways to break the cycle of poverty into deficit in any crisis, be it an economic recession, a
and this is our moment. The toolkit includes but is climate emergency or, in this case, a pandemic. As we
not limited to: adjust our expectations of each other, of our lives and
• basic income standards for people who are not in the of our governments, the time has come to reckon with
paid labour market; the politics of tax cuts. To kill the beast.
When Canada faced crises of similar proportions
• a minimum wage that’s a living wage; in the past—world wars, the Great Depression of the
• affordable and adequate housing; 1930s, the Great Recession of 2008-09—governments
spent our hard-earned tax dollars to provide us with the
13support we needed. Because that is what governments Benefits Coalition, and Inclusive Economy London and
are supposed to do in times of crisis. In every case but Region, to name a few.
the Great Recession, governments eventually raised These projects also attempt to draw on the power of
taxes, particularly on the rich and on corporations, to public anchor institutions to direct their procurement
ensure that those who had the most contributed to and contract funds toward local social enterprises,
recovery and to societal well-being. which is good for workers and for the local economy.
We don’t know yet what will come of small, inde- COVID-19 has disrupted supply chains and strained the
pendently owned restaurants and retail businesses old economic model. We are in a period of transition
working with razor-thin margins during a pandemic, and must be open to new, more inclusive ways of
but we do know that some major corporations saw organizing an economy.
COVID-19 as a licence to print money. Grocery And as we rethink our economy, we can draw
empires, we are looking at you. Two major chains, inspiration from New Zealand, where the government
Loblaws and Metro, reportedly saw a huge surge in has committed to well-being budgeting. Yes, economic
first quarter profits this year compared to last, yet growth is still included as a measure of success—but it
they both scrapped bonus pandemic pay for workers is not the only measure. These budgets also take into
prematurely in June. There is clearly room for the account ecology, Indigenous inclusion, public health
government to raise taxes on major corporations that and mental health. That New Zealand is a model of how
made money over a pandemic. The government has a to handle a global pandemic is a testament to a strategy
social responsibility to do so and corporations have a that puts well-being above all else. It works.
social responsibility to contribute more, to be a part of One could argue that the federal measures enacted
the collective solution rather than simply cashing in. in the response phase of COVID-19 this spring and
Of course the most assured path to a just economic summer were part of a well-being budgeting approach,
recovery is sustainable, decent work for all. We know albeit ad hoc and considered temporary. They exposed
this too: the old model of economic growth has failed how dependent the economy is on public health, not
us. The global, just-in-time economy rewarded some the other way around. We must remember this lesson
businesses and workers while forcing a growing number for future generations, because if we do not, the biggest
of workers into precarious, low-paying jobs. In fact, debt we saddle them with will not be financial—it will
the pandemic threatens to expedite the growth of be social and ecological.
precarious work. We already see it with the rise of
L
delivery services through online platforms that gouge et’s face it: before COVID-19, Canada grew compla-
restaurants and the workers who use their own vehicles cent. Canada is one of the richest countries in the
to deliver the food. world. There was never an excuse to ignore child
I’m most interested in jurisdictions that are seri- poverty, family poverty, adult poverty, seniors’ poverty
ously implementing inclusive economy tools to create or feminized and racialized poverty. There was never an
more stable jobs for people who are marginalized, excuse to ignore an increasingly unaffordable housing
disadvantaged and sidelined from the labour market. In market, growing homelessness, an opioid crisis, racism,
Cleveland, for instance, The Democracy Collaborative xenophobia, climate change.
is creating social enterprise opportunities for margin- There was never an excuse to ignore child care costs
alized and racialized workers who otherwise have no that have grown into the size of a mortgage, university
foothold into the labour force. and college fees that saddle youth with greater debt
We can create similar opportunities here in Canada, than previous generations, growing household debt
leveraging government procurement and infrastructure with exorbitant interest rates that trap people. This all
dollars to create a more inclusive economy. For in- happened on our watch.
stance, turning a government infrastructure investment It is time to press the reset button. COVID-19 gives
into a community benefit agreement that employs us that opportunity. It’s not like we don’t have the
marginalized workers and trains them to work their answers. This year’s AFB Recovery Plan provides the
way into the skilled trades—the future middle class— blueprint for change that we need.
benefits everyone. Many Canadians will not be able to return to their
In Toronto, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT became job anytime soon due to the impact of the pandemic.
the first large-scale infrastructure community benefit The AFB proposes major reforms to expand eligibility
agreement project in Ontario. Its goal has been to give for income supports and ensure greater income ade-
historically disadvantaged communities and equi- quacy once the federal government transitions CERB
ty-seeking groups apprenticeship and journeyperson recipients to the EI system. These reforms have long
opportunities. Similar initiatives are underway for been needed; COVID-19 renders them urgent.
other government-funded infrastructure projects, For those who do return to the labour market, the
powered by groups like the Toronto Community availability of affordable child care is key. The AFB
Benefits Network, the Windsor/Essex Community lays out a plan for a fully publicly funded, accessible
14You can also read
