What Freedom Means

We don’t have a line in our national anthem such as “the land of the free and the home of the brave” as our neighbors to the south have. But it is certainly causing more problems in America than in Canada over the right to be free from vaccinations. After a slow start, Canadians are now ahead with nearly 60% fully vaccinated and 71% with one dose according to Covid-19 Tracker Canada. 26,601 have died since the beginning of the pandemic as opposed to 613,000 in the US. Ours is roughly a tenth of the US population.

Yes, we have unvaccinated people - some who oppose for supposedly religious reasons, some with difficulty of access. But generally people have been supportive and appreciative of the opportunity to contribute to their own health and that of others. When restrictions are lifted quickly, some are quick to object to the speed of it.

Contrast that with Florida where 10,000 are currently in the hospital. Its governor insists that “the left are coming for your freedom” if anyone thinks that regulations should be tighter. Freedom is about personal choice.

Sometimes of course we are highly selective about personal choice. The Canadian government more than a hundred years ago thought that it could convert its first nations population to its own cultural values and exerted its privilege. It’s taken us a long time to realize that was wrong. We can argue about the size of government, but in some circumstances we recognize a responsibility to introduce policies that protect the majority of people. As Paul Krugman observes in a column in the New York Times this morning:

“Well, driving drunk is also a personal choice. But almost everyone understands that it’s a personal choice that endangers others; 97 percent of the public considers driving while impaired by alcohol a serious problem. Why don’t we have the same kind of unanimity on refusing to get vaccinated, a choice that helps perpetuate the pandemic and puts others at risk?”

It appears that carrots - like $100 for laggards - are not working - and the previous compliant ones don’t see why their tax dollars should support such practice. What does seem to have an effect are sticks like consequences. You can be as unvaccinated as you want, but expect that to affect your ability to come to work, to enter a theatre, bar or arena, or avoid being tested a couple of times a week with an unpleasant procedure. It’s not only freedom lovers who get to make the rules.

Krugman goes on to say that “freedom” often just means “privilege” for people who are also white, male and sometimes Christian. Freedom can never be divorced from responsibility or consequence.

Changing Places

One of the people we need to learn from is recently retired Senator Murray Sinclair. He appeared a few months ago to speak to the law students at UWO but the address that I found stunning was this one he gave as recipient of the Tom Symons Medal lecture series at Confederation Centre in Prince Edward Island.

Unless you like lengthy introductions, you will want to skip forward to the lecture itself entitled, Confederation - We could have done better. Indeed he is right. We could have - and we must - all of us.

Sinclair knows the power of story and tells his own brilliantly. He notes that in legal training, one of the lessons is to lose your imagination and focus solely on facts. He then moves to facts with the audience. He invites them to take out their cell phones and find their favourite picture of a child. He stops the lecture and suggests that the audience share a story about that child with the person seated next to them - and the audience does so with great enthusiasm. He calls them back.

He then says “Delete that picture - after all it’s only a picture”. The room falls silent. He encourages them to do so even more - “Go ahead -You still have the real child after all”. He then asks to have a picture of his own samll granddaughter mounted on a large screen behind him. “I can’t either” - he admits. But Canada did that to our children.”

The point hits home. In this lecture and in so many others he outlines the damage of cultural genocide. In his book, coauthored with the other tribunal leaders, What We have Learned: Principles of the Truth and Reconciliation. he elaborates on the definition:

“Physical genocide is the mass killing of the members of a targeted group and biological genocide is the destruction of a group’s reproductive capacity. Cultural genocide is the destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group. States that engage in cultural genocide set out to destroy the political and social institutions of the targeted group. Land is seized. and populations are forcibly transferred and their movement in restricted. Languages are banned. Spiritual leaders are persecuted, spiritual practices are forbidden, and objects of spiritual value are confiscated or destroyed. And, most significantly to the issue at hand, families are disrupted to prevent the transmissions of cultural values and identity from one generation to the next.

In dealing with Aboriginal people, Canada did all these things”. The stories relating to the schools follow and they tell the stories of the actions of all the schools. There is no excuse. All the religious traditions are implicated in the words of the survivors.

Later in the lecture he made reference to his personal story - which relates well to the announcement yesterday that Cowessess First Nation within the province of Saskatchewan becomes the first to control its child welfare system under Bill C-92; it empowers indigenous communities to reclaim jurisdiction. 83% of children in the province were from first nations as of last fall. The Eagle Woman tribunal there will help settle disputes,

Senator Sinclair’s father was a residential school survivor who suffered trauma from the experience which was increased when his wife died leaving him with four young children. He transferred the responsibility for them - including one year old Murray - to his parents in their sixties. “My grandmother connected every one of us with an auntie, with whom I went everywhere and learned from her. On the basis of long term results my grandmother proved to be an excellent child-welfare administrator.”

He also talked about his own lack of fellunderstanding of indigenous spirituality and the role it must play in his life, until he was counselled by an elder. That part of the video above is also moving and revealing. He told us of the importance of a name - and how his in his own language has prophetically given him direction as to how to live his life. His granddaughter has her own name story and we understand how fearless and true to that spirituality that is forming her. When asked to describe her grandfather’s occupation by a nine year old classmate when he visited her school - Senator Murray was not sure she actually knew - but she still had an answer - “He Sentaizes”

Thank the universe for Senator Sinclair - and even in retirement we hope he continues to Sentatize.

The Ecological Age

This quotation from Thomas Berry’s The Dream of the Earth is of the utmost importance:

“Presently we are entering another historical period. one that might be designated as the ecological age. I use the term ecological in its primary meaning as the relationship of an organism to its environment, but also as an indication of the interdependence of all the living and nonliving systems of Earth. This vision of a planet integral with itself throughout its spatial extent and its evolutionary sequence is of primary importance if we are to have the psychic importance to undergo the psychic and social transformations that are being demanded of us. These transformations require the assistance of the entire planet, not merely the forces available to the human. It is not simply adaptation to a reduced supply of fuels or to some modification of our systems of social or economic controls. Nor is it some slight change in our education system. What is happening is something of a far greater magnitude. It is a radical change in our mode of consciousness. Our challenge is to create a new language, even a new sense of what it is to be human. It is to transcend. not only national limitations, but even our species isolation, to enter into the larger community of living species. This brings about a completely new sense of reality and value.

Trades transitioning

Here’s an encouraging story published by Fast Company.

“Danish renewable energy giant Ørsted reached an agreement with North America’s Building Trades Unions: The company would hire union members for a series of upcoming U.S. projects. NABTU represents 3 million workers in 14 unions, including electrical, bricklaying, cement, masonry, and more—a group historically skeptical of renewable energy because of its potential to disrupt members’ jobs. “

It deals with three matters that are frequently stumbling blocks. The workers are more than capable of bullding things. They just have to learn how to build something different and have the training provided to do so with proper earnings as they make the transition. The wages that they earn in the new jobs will be comparable to the ones they earned in previous occupations. And to sweeten the deal they will also have added benefits. These transitions are apparently common in Europe. It is time for North American companies to imitate these elements which seem obvious.

Working together

This past week was the 10th anniversary of the release of the film, Journey of the Universe. More on that later. The universe consists of a good deal more than the G7 countries - soon to meet later this year. Nevertheless Canada’s academic researchers have recently joined others to encourage the countries of the G7 to work together on key issues. We live on a planet that includes many more countries, but these have some common ground.

The researchers have stressed the need for working together on both health and environmental issues. The latter includes three priorities - climate change, biodiversity and better sharing of health data in emergencies like the current pandemic. Usually such information is provided before meetings, but the recent ones strongly stress the need for collective action. No country can work alone.

Climate change and loss of biodiversity have clear connections. When weather affects the food chain, a global reaction follows and affects health everywhere. The recommendations include better sharing of data and principles of common responses. Reversing biodiversity loss is key. We have to value nature, not exploit it. The effects of doing so affect the health and safety of the most disadvantaged both within and beyond our shores. Proposals need to be concrete.

Talking about net zero emissions from coal, oil and natural gas is not the same thing as implementing the necessary changes. We have learned that putting the economy ahead of global health has consequences that affect us all. But it is not just governments that have to take action on their own. Politicians are elected to lead - but they have to follow the wishes of an informed public committed to the changes that create a better world for all.