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Welcome to SocialCommons.ca

SocialCommons.ca seeks to build engaging conversations and support transformative change. All stories will be framed by our five pillars that provide the foundation for all of our work. Together with our partners, we are committed to creating a future society based on stronger human rights and social protections, revitalized communities, and a more democratic economy. We seek to build an active and engaged civil society, an enlarged social commons with more shared community assets, and systems of production and distribution that ensure a sustainable eco-sphere on which all life depends.

In many ways we are at a crossroads.  The choices we make in the next ten to twenty years will either see us embrace a profoundly different path founded on human needs and ecological sustainability, or continue to founder under the weight of failing global systems based on an endless growth mindset and the ceding of more and more political influence to large multi-national corporations.

Working from within our five pillars, we seek to join with others in mapping out the path forward.  We are all on this journey together.  It involves exposing and recognizing the failures within our current systems that are holding us back. It means articulating needs and expectations, both of ourselves and each other, as we think through what must be protected, what needs to change and what we need to create together.  Finally, it means painting a picture of the future world we wish to inhabit in a way that both reflects the values and aspirations we share, and shows concrete examples of how it is feasible and can be done.  We invite you to join us on the journey.

The Social Commons: Our Five Pillars

The Social Commons: Our Five Pillars

Where We Started From Our journey began with the planning of a fall 2019 symposium exploring the relevance of the...

Inclusive, Equitable Communities: Ensuring Human Rights

As we contend with the ravages of a global pandemic and plan our recovery, Canadians have discovered, as in...

Social Rights and Protections

The foundation laid for social rights and a social contract In the mid-20th century, after fifteen years of the Great...

Sustainable Eco-Systems: Economies Living in Harmony with Nature

How Do We Ensure Sustainable Eco-Systems? Living through the pandemic has exposed how precarious so much of our social and...

Creating a Human Needs Economy

The post-pandemic economy: More of the same? As the disruption of the pandemic nears its end, we begin to imagine...

Deepening Democracy: Strengthening Democracy and Civil Society

What Is Democracy’s Place in the Commons? Living through the pandemic has exposed how precarious so much of our social...

Latest Articles

The Bankers Dilemma: The Decision to Raise or not Raise Interest Rates

The paramount responsibility of the Bank of Canada’s (Boc) is to promote the economic and financial well-being of Canadians. Ensuring inflation at a target...

2024 Federal Budget Must Include Commitment to Livable Incomes, a Jobs Guarantee and an ambitious National Housing Strategy

Summary of Recommendations Recommendation 1:  Establish a transitional benefit program over the next eighteen months, modelled on the CERB experience, and set at 90% of...

The circular economy: Sustainable solutions to solve planetary overshoot?

Click here to view original web page at news.mongabay.com The current linear production and consumption economic model — labeled by critics as “take-make-waste” — is...

Make palliative care a priority in health-care funding negotiations

Click here to view original web page at policyoptions.irpp.org News coverage and personal experiences of lengthy wait times and closed emergency rooms have shaken Canadians’...

No gender justice without climate justice

Click here to view original web page at www.redpepper.org.uk New debt crises are bringing a fresh wave of austerity to the global south, ...

From inflation shock to a sharp distributional conflict

Click here to view original web page at www.socialeurope.eu Wages have fallen behind inflation, while profit-taking has not only fuelled price...

To mitigate the climate crisis, we need to level the energy playing field

Click here to view original web page at rabble.ca It’s becoming increasingly clear that the climate crisis is also a social justice crisis. Much of...

Tenants take back power from landlords through strike action

Click here to view original web page at rabble.ca Individually, tenants have almost no negotiating power. But that could change when they get together with...

The Canada Disability Benefit Act is progress worth celebrating

Click here to view original web page at spon.ca It is worth pausing to acknowledge when we make progress, to stand back and consider the...

UN should be learning from sustainable food producers – not hosting Big Ag

Click here to view original web page at www.resilience.org Small-scale farmers and Indigenous groups say they have again been ...

Taking inequality seriously—and tackling it seriously

Click here to view original web page at www.socialeurope.eu Rising inequality is a challenge for the multilateral system, Jayati Ghosh writes, which must first measure...

The Creeping Pervasiveness of Precarious Employment Is No Accident

Click here to view original web page at jacobin.com A Review of Gigs, Hustles, & Temps by Jason Foster (Lorimer, 2023). In Gigs, Hustles, & Temps,...

Canada’s trains are key to a sustainable future

Click here to view original web page at breachmedia.ca https://youtube.com/watch?v=5MhQI_Mcux4 Imagine this: It’s a hot summer day, and you want to escape Toronto for Georgian Bay. You...

Fifteen Lessons from ‘Bracing for Disasters’

Click here to view original web page at thetyee.ca The drive from Squamish southeast to Abbotsford, which can take around two hours, passes through a...

We’re in an AI hype cycle—can Canada make it a responsible one?

Click here to view original web page at monitormag.ca It’s been difficult, if not downright frustrating, to wade through the confusion that the term artificial...

Wildfire evacuations: How our diverse experiences can strengthen disaster response

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com Wildfire affects us all. Differently. This is the central message from research about the social dimensions...

Closing of Toronto long-COVID rehab program a failure to support patients

Click here to view original web page at rabble.ca "A pillar of healthcare support ends for a community with decreasing options." A Toronto-based Unity Health Rehabilitation...

Why the climate crisis is a care crisis – and how we can avert it

Click here to view original web page at www.resilience.org This article is part of openDemocracy’s new series on the care crisis that explores the roots...

Access to vaccines and medicines—a new public goods paradigm

Click here to view original web page at www.socialeurope.eu "Vaccines and medicines must no longer be thought of as ...

High drug prices in Canada are just one part of a bad equation

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com The Canadian health-care system is under pressure as service levels decline while costs escalate. Drugs are...

Increasing monopoly power poses a threat to Canada’s post-pandemic economic recovery

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com Canada is currently grappling with a significant economic issue: market concentration. A select few corporations dominate...

We only have one planet left to save

Click here to view original web page at www.socialeurope.eu The ecosystem is a global public good. Partisan European divisions ...

Why the Paris financing summit failed

Click here to view original web page at www.socialeurope.eu The June summit promised to catalyse a revolution in climate finance ...

A focus on work opportunity must be part of new Canada disability benefit

Click here to view original web page at policyoptions.irpp.org The real work on the new Canada disability benefit is just beginning. Policymakers now need to...

Summer music festivals do more than entertain, they help us ...

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com Music festival season is finally here. And after multiple summers without large in-person gatherings and reduced...

Building Sustainable Communities: Canada urgently needs a Green Buildings Strategy

Click here to view original web page at www.pembina.org Cities and communities are at the frontlines of climate change and Canadians are feeling the day-to-day...

Socialism Can Contain Humanity’s Worst Impulses and Encourage Our Best

Click here to view original web page at jacobin.com Capitalism leads to tremendous amounts of poverty, economic inequality, and financial stress. It disempowers the vast...

Could Neighborhood Reuse Be the Future of Water?

Click here to view original web page at www.yesmagazine.org In downtown San Francisco, in a cavernous garage that was once a Honda dealership, a gleaming...

Rights of Nature, Self-Owning Land, and Other Hacks on Western Law

Click here to view original web page at www.resilience.org The idea that the Ganges River in India or the Amazon Basin in Brazil should have...

The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Africa

Click here to view original web page at www.resilience.org This article was produced by Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media...

Engage, Educate and Empower: The 3 Es in discussing climate change with children

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com The Canadian wildfires over the last few months serve as a stark reminder of the far-reaching...

Rich Countries Are Exporting Climate Breakdown to the Global South

Click here to view original web page at jacobin.com From waste to deforestation to drastic flooding, wealthy countries of the Global North are outsourcing the...

Austerity in public education financing is fostering growing inequities in Canada

Click here to view original web page at policyoptions.irpp.org In the past month, teachers’ unions in Britain announced they would stage strike action to back...

Copyright exceptions in Canadian education aren’t a loophole, they’re essential to learning

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com Recent op-eds about Canadian copyright law call on the Canadian government to stop allowing uncompensated copying...

The Grand Narrative of Private Finance: Over-Reliance on Attracting Investment is Undermining Change at World Bank

Click here to view original web page at www.ipsnews.net NEW YORK / BRUSSELS, Jul 6 2023 (IPS) - One message that was repeated throughout last...

Stories You May Have Missed

Big business’ windfall profits rocket to “obscene” $1 trillion a year stoking cost-of-living crisis: Oxfam/ActionAid renew call for windfall profit taxes

Click here to view original web page at www.commondreams.org A Windfall Tax of 90% on last year's windfall profits would generate $941 billion —money that...

Who is a prisoner? Is mass detention obsolete?

Click here to view original web page at briarpatchmagazine.com Mass incarceration is the norm in Canada. In 2021/2022, nearly 150,000 people were incarcerated in prisons,...

Canadian oil production more carbon-intensive now than it was in 1990

Click here to view original web page at www.pembina.org Much more to be done to make Canadian oil competitive ...

The Global Rights Index and building a better world

Click here to view original web page at www.socialeurope.eu Attacks on workers’ rights are on the rise—in no region of the world ...

Ten Years after Disaster, Lac-Mégantic Is a Model for a Greener Future

Click here to view original web page at thewalrus.ca Rebuilding from scratch meant the Quebec community ...

Bill C-18: Google and Meta spark crucial test for Canadian journalism

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com Three events have recently marked a powerful inflection point in Canadian journalism. First, Google and Meta announced...

Blue carbon deserves a green light for the climate fight (commentary)

Click here to view original web page at news.mongabay.com Marine habitats like mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, salt marshes, and kelp forests cover just 0.2% of...

It’s time for a national bus service

Click here to view original web page at rabble.ca In Part One of a new series on building a post-car Canada, Charlotte Dalwood outlines the...

India: The World’s Largest Job Guarantee Is in Jeopardy

Click here to view original web page at jacobin.com Signed into law in 2005, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (or NREGA, for...

How to kill a zombie or the strange persistence of neoliberalism

Click here to view original web page at monitormag.ca Neoliberalism is dead…again. It died the first time in the aftermath of the Great Depression and...

As Canada welcomes historic numbers of immigrants, how can communities be more welcoming?

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com Canada’s population has officially surpassed 40 million people, and immigration has significantly contributed to reaching this...

Heat pumps save money, reduce pollution and help the climate

Click here to view original web page at rabble.ca The fossil fuel industry is putting enormous resources into campaigns to keep people hooked on (mostly...

Canada takes first steps to regulate toxic ‘forever chemicals.’ but is it enough?

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com Canada recently took its first bold step to regulate the production and use of a large...

Well-being of children with disabilities calls for rights-based policies

Click here to view original web page at policyoptions.irpp.org As many as 850,000 children in Canada identify as having a disability. Despite this large number,...

It’s unanimous: Hamilton wants a basic income

Click here to view original web page at rabble.ca Ted McMeekin hopes the current federal government implements a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income before the next...

Building Thriving Communities: Making a Shift toward Relational and Restorative Care

Click here to view original web page at www.resilience.org It was 1973 when Beth Mount visited a state institution for individuals with intellectual disabilities for...

Local Food Initiatives for Rapid Transition

Click here to view original web page at www.resilience.org As a nature-loving child growing up in the 2000s, I was debilitated and depressed by the...

The National Housing Strategy won’t end homelessness without supportive housing

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com Thousands of people across Canada experience homelessness. Between 2020 and 2022 more than 32,000 people across...

To meet U.N. climate, biodiversity goals, 79% of plant cover must be saved, study

Click here to view original web page at news.mongabay.com A study suggests that approximately 79% of Earth’s remaining natural vegetation ...

To Counter AI Risk, We Must Develop a More Integrated Intelligence

Click here to view original web page at www.resilience.org The explosive rise in the power of AI presents humanity with an existential risk. To counter...

What if Fiscal Policy Was Driven by Climate and Social Justice?

Click here to view original web page at www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu The climate movement’s “polluter pays” and “tax the rich” calls have gained traction in recent years,...

Here’s How BC Should Protect Gig Workers

Click here to view original web page at thetyee.ca New business models are exploiting workers and ...

How First Nations Are Asserting Sovereignty Over Their Lands and Waters

Click here to view original web page at thetyee.ca Indigenous Marine Protected and Conserved Areas hold a key to food security and balancing ecological and...

How Indigenous cultural practices can improve waste management in communities

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com Improper municipal solid waste (MSW) management ranks high among environmental issues First Nations communities in Canada...

The Mercury is Off the Charts

Click here to view original web page at www.resilience.org And the Fossil Fuel Industry is Off its Meds We’ve reached the scariest moment yet in the...

We can no longer afford to delay in addressing the climate crisis

Click here to view original web page at rabble.ca We’re running out of time, but we’ve made progress, and we have numerous solutions — more...

140+ Experts to Rich Nations: Redirect Trillions in Public Money to Curb Climate, Inequality Crises

Click here to view original web page at www.resilience.org More than 140 economists and policy experts on Monday published an open letter calling on the...

Court decision in youth climate lawsuit against Ontario government ignites hope

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com In the midst of unprecedented spring wildfires and anticipation of more record-breaking summer heatwaves, climate litigation...

supporting the shift

What’s driving higher living costs? Who loses and benefits from inflation

Click here to view original web page at monitormag.ca Executive summary This report creates a new dataset to better understand what is driving inflation in Canada—workers’...

How We Converted to a Cooperative—and How You Can, Too

Click here to view original web page at www.yesmagazine.org The healthiest and happiest companies in the world are democracies. At Louder Than Ten, the project management...

What Does An Ecological Civilization Look Like?

In this far-reaching and well presented outline, Yes! Magazine gives shape and substance to a groundswell of ideas that could form the foundation of...

Four Views on Basic Income, Job Guarantees, and the Future of Work

This insightful summary includes four short commentaries on basic income, job guarantees, and the future of work by four leading Australian experts. It's a...