The word “hero” is in vogue these days. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the importance in our society of nurses, cleaners, and grocery store workers to millions. Most Canadians are rightly grateful for the labour of these workers, who are doing their best to contain the pandemic and keep the country fed, often at great […]
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On my way to work today, I was standing in a subway alcove, in a nearly deserted car. The scattered patrons were a motley crew of essential workers, some masked, some open faced. I don’t wear a mask while on transit (this was written before wearing masks was clearly good policy) – I am well, […]
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In 1983, The Police, recorded a song called “Synchronicity.” Some of the lyrics: We know you, they know meExtrasensorySynchronicityA star fall, a phone call,It joins all,Synchronicity The word synchronicity generally has positive connotations and is briefly defined as a “meaningful coincidence.” Could it be a coincidence, meaningful or otherwise, that the Ontario Minister of Education […]
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Whether we like it or not, whether it’s safe or not, and whether we’re comfortable with it or not, Canada is beginning to reopen. After roughly two months of comprehensive social and economic shutdown, the provinces are loosening restrictions despite widely varying COVID-19 circumstances. Québec is reopening, including sending children back to school on May […]
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Locusts and Fires Raging fires in Australia and a plague of locusts in east Africa dominated global news at the start of 2020. These rapidly receded in consciousness as the COVID-19 pandemic erupted onto the world, already made dangerously vulnerable by capitalism. The climate devastation was mounting around the world. The world’s economy was […]
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Alexandra L is a member of Alternative Socialiste (ISA in Quebec). Nunavik, which comprises the northern third of Quebec, had 16 cases of COVID-19 by the end of April, of which 13 people have now recovered. Most of the cases, 14, were in the town of Puvirnituq. The northern communities have been concerned since the […]
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Canadian society is beginning to thaw from the COVID-19 induced deep freeze. Questions surrounding the reopening of businesses, schools, communities, and cities have shifted from when we will be able to do so, to how we are going to do it. Any conversation about completely “getting back to normal” depends on developing a vaccine – […]
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Relatively speaking, I have it pretty easy during this pandemic. I am working from home on my laptop, still getting paid, still able to pay rent. Self isolation has thus far been pretty easy, as I rarely need to leave the house. Of course, mental health demands that I do go outside from time to […]
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The path to remote teaching starts with cautious curiosity, goes through enraging frustration and ends with a tired, tenacious and uninspired slog. The Cautious Curiosity COVID-19 has shutdown physical K-12 classrooms across Canada. In BC spring break ended on March 30, not with a return to school but with teachers logging onto their computers to […]
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One of the most blatant examples of capitalism’s relentless pursuit of profits at all costs is being played out in High River, Alberta. Cargill’s meatpacking plant in High River has had the largest single-site outbreak of COVID-19 in Canada. With links to more than 1,200 COVID-19 cases as of April 29, 821 workers have tested […]
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