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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

Bringing Marvyn Novick’s Ideas to Life: An Anthology with Commentaries

Marvyn Novick was a leading social policy thinker in Canada, and a colleague and inspiration to many, including members of the Marvyn Novick Legacy...

Recurring Themes and Ideas in Marvyn’s Thinking and Writing

The ideas articulated and championed by Marvyn Novick are as relevant today as they were in his lifetime. They give us both an intellectual...

Time for a Civic Declaration on Decent Work and Basic Incomes for All (2014)

Commentary by: Jamie Swift I first met Marvyn Novick when working with the Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition (ISARC), Ontario’s principal faith based social justice...

Personal Reflections on Marvyn’s Legacy

The full document, Bringing the Ideas of Marvyn Novick to Life: An Anthology with Commentaries can be found here. On Family Reflections of Gillian Novick My family...

“Building a New Canada”, in Meeting the Civic Challenges of Social Inclusion (2005)

Commentary by: Joey Edwardh I watched as Marvyn walked into the room and smiled, acknowledging the mayor, the previous mayor, city councillors, leaders in the...

Epilogue: Final Thoughts and Insights

The anthology of Marvyn’s writings covers the span of neoliberal domination over forty years (1980-2020), a time when market forces were once again allowed...

“Policy Perspectives on Mental Health Promotion”, in Work and Well-Being: The Changing Realities of Employment (1984)

Commentary by: Peter Clutterbuck In the early 1980s, Marvyn Novick chaired the National Committee of the Mental Health and the Workplace Project for the Canadian...

“Civic Alliances for a Mutual Canada”, in Building Inclusive Communities: Cross-Canada Perspectives and Strategies (2003)

It has been almost two decades since Peter Clutterbuck and Marvyn Novick wrotetheir reflections on building inclusive communities in a diversifying Canadian urbancontext. Jointly...

Social Inclusion: The Foundation of a National Policy Agenda (2001)

Commentary by: Ish Theilheimer Citizens as contributors, not just consumers. Why social inclusion matters to me.- thoughts from child development expert and advocate Marvyn Novick As...

Summoned to Stewardship: Make Poverty Reduction a Collective Legacy (2007)

In a discussion about the neoliberal preference for tax reductions in Rosalie Chappell’s (2014: 108) widely read text, Social Welfare in Canadian Society, she...

Crossroads for Canada: A Time to Invest in Children and Families (1996)

Commentary by: Anita Khanna and Laurel Rothman In Crossroads for Canada, Marvyn Novick anticipated the negative effects of the now staggering income inequality that first...

Civic Solidarity: Foundations of Social Development for the 21st Century (1995)

Commentary by: Susan McGrath It was appropriate that Marvyn Novick was asked to give the keynote address at the Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto’s...

Unequal Futures: The Legacies of Child Poverty in Canada (1991)

Commentary by Brigitte Kitchen That the fundamental groundwork for the development of all abilities of individuals is laid in childhood, shaping and forming their future...

Neighbourhoods Under Stress (1983)

Commentary by Mary Lewis Neighbourhoods Under Stress (NUS) is a concise report, but its impact has been considerable.  Produced by the Joint Task Force on...

Paying For Canada: Perspectives on Public Finance and National Programs (1994)

A Joint Statement by Child Poverty Action Group, Citizens for Public Justice, and Social Planning Council of Metro Toronto Commentary by Armine Yalnizyan In any given...

Developing a Covenant of Care for the New Millenium: Keynote Presentation to the Catholic Press Association (1996)

Commentary by: Robert Glossop Close to a quarter of a century ago, Marvyn Novick spoke to journalists and reminded his audience that we are all...

“Is Social Spending Productive?”, in Full Employment: Social Questions for Public Policy (1978)

Commentary by: Leon Muszynski The Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto of the early 1980s was a place of progressive intellectual ferment. It gathered together...

A Fair Chance for All Children: The Declaration on Child Poverty (1986)

Commentary by Brigitte Kitchen With the Declaration of Child Poverty: A Fair Chance of For All Children (1986), the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) issued...

Foreword to The Missing Child in Liberal Theory: Towards a Covenant Theory of Family, Community, Welfare and the Civic State (1994)

Commentary by: Nathan Gilbert and Walter Ross Marvyn Novick believed strongly in the link between nationhood and our collective responsibility for children. In his Foreword...

Metro’s Suburbs In Transition: Parts I And II (1979, 1980)

Metro Suburbs in Transition (MSIT), a major three-year social planning assessment of Toronto carried out in the late 1970s was the first to recognize,...

Speech to Provincial/Territorial Social Services Ministers (1991)

Commentary by: Laurie Monsebraaten The optimism and promise of Ontario’s first NDP government in the early 1990s and Marvyn Novick’s speech to provincial-territorial social service...

A Time To Stand Together. A Time For Social Solidarity (1987)

by The Working Committee for Social Solidarity Commentary by Laurell Ritchie In the wake of a deep recession that began in 1981 with unemployment and inflation...

Detaining migrants in prisons violates human rights and risks abuses

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com The Canadian government recently proposed earmarking $325 million in the 2024 federal budget to upgrade federal...

The Haida get their land back

Click here to view original web page at www.nationalobserver.com This story was originally published by Hakai Magazine and appears here as part of the Climate...

AI Policy Can’t Ignore Climate Change: We Need Net Zero AI Emissions

Click here to view original web page at www.ipsnews.net Artificial intelligence provides amazing potential for advancement across fields, from medicine to agriculture to...

U.S. East Coast adopts ‘living shorelines’ approach to keep rising seas at bay

Click here to view original web page at news.mongabay.com Along the U.S. East Coast, communities are grappling with the dual destructive forces of rising...

Affordable Housing: 30 years relying on private sector a failed experiment

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com Politicians of all stripes say that housing affordability is a top priority. But few are saying...

Wealthy Canadians get huge tax breaks, even with budget changes to capital gains

Click here to view original web page at www.thestar.com “The most effective way to tax the wealthy would be a wealth tax — which was...

Green Roofs Are Great. Blue-Green Roofs Are Even Better

Click here to view original web page at www.wired.com You might visit Amsterdam for its famous canals, and who could blame you, really. But the...

Europe has yet to achieve a genuine green industry deal

Click here to view original web page at www.euractiv.com   The EU has clearly set out its aims to lead the world on green growth. Yet...

Putting the eco back in economy

Click here to view original web page at www.nationalobserver.com The language lovers among you will know that economy and ecology are twins, born and raised...

For P.E.I., a model for a guaranteed basic income that is feasible and affordable

Click here to view original web page at policyoptions.irpp.org A guaranteed basic income (GBI) has been discussed for more than half a century in Canada,...

The Summit of the Future Is a Rare Chance to Fix a Broken System: Civil Society Must Be...

Click here to view original web page at www.ipsnews.net NEW YORK, Apr 22 2024 (IPS) - Today, the spectre of a major regional conflict, ...

Progressives must say ‘no’ to austerity

Click here to view original web page at www.socialeurope.eu This week MEPs vote on the revised EU economic-governance framework. ...

The people’s movement that helped force a Liberal shift on Gaza policy

Click here to view original web page at breachmedia.ca A few days before a House of Commons vote on a New Democrat motion about Israel’s...

It is industry, not government, that is getting in the way of a ‘just transition’ for oil and gas workers

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com What comes to mind when you read the slogan “I love Canadian Oil and Gas”? Energy...

Stories You May Have Missed

Passing Sustainable Jobs Act moves Canada closer to clean economy

Click here to view original web page at www.pembina.org The passage of the Sustainable Jobs Act through the House of Commons is good news for...

Federal government goes big on housing—is it enough?

Click here to view original web page at www.policyalternatives.ca The federal government’s 2024 budget includes generational investments on housing affordability and runs a victory lap...

Leaders Need to Break the Chokehold of Debt and Austerity. Our Health Depends on it

Click here to view original web page at www.ipsnews.net As leaders gather for the Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank amid the cherry...

Draining the World of Fresh Water

Click here to view original web page at www.resilience.org “When you drink the water, remember the spring.”— Ancient Chinese proverb The thirst of humans and our...

A global legal precedent on climate change

Click here to view original web page at www.socialeurope.eu Older Swiss women have set a global legal precedent for challenging their nation’s climate-change policy. The European...

Basic Income for a New Model of Canadian Social Democracy

Click here to view original web page at spon.ca Now is the time for the democratic left in Canada to develop a workable and comprehensive...

EU court ruling shows that a safe climate is a human right: former UN rights chief says

Click here to view original web page at www.nationalobserver.com Having a safe climate is becoming more of a human right globally with this week's European...

In highly urbanized Japan, city farmers are key to achieving organic goal

Click here to view original web page at news.mongabay.com The Japanese government aims to convert at least 25% of all its farmland to organic by...

Budget needs to set an accelerated course for a low-carbon future

Click here to view original web page at policyoptions.irpp.org Budget 2024 will be pivotal in building a low-carbon future in ways that need to go...

Protecting public health care from private equity investors

Click here to view original web page at www.thestar.com Private equity ownership of the places where we seek care risks undermining cost, quality, access, efficiency,...

Rethinking universalism and social rights

Click here to view original web page at www.socialeurope.eu Social rights in Europe today require marrying 20th-century universalism with the meeting of diverse, complex...

Preparing for the next health crisis: COVID-19 showed the importance of community-engaged research

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com Community-engaged research involves the active and meaningful involvement of people directly affected by a research problem....

As a child psychiatrist, I know it’s critical for kindergartens to embrace playful learning

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com Think back to one of your fondest memories of play. Where were you, who were you...

New FPIC guide designed to help protect Indigenous rights as mineral mining booms

Click here to view original web page at news.mongabay.com In the face of growing demand for critical minerals, Indigenous organizations developed a guide to help...

Prefabricated housing offers one solution to the supply crisis

Click here to view original web page at policyoptions.irpp.org Canada is in a housing crisis, but we’re not giving ourselves a fighting chance to fix...

To solve the housing crisis, we must get government building housing again

Click here to view original web page at spon.ca To solve today’s housing crisis, we should look at how Canada successfully solved the housing crises...

4 school food program considerations based on insights from Newfoundland and Labrador

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com This could be a shifting moment for Canada as the federal government moves to offer children...

Carbon pricing is good for the climate and affordability

Click here to view original web page at rabble.ca This is no time to get rid of effective policies, or even water them down. Putting a...

How agroecology can be part of a ‘just transition’ for Canada’s food system

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com Problems in Canada’s food system are being felt from field to fork — and they are...

Seven Hard Truths about the Climate Crisis

Click here to view original web page at thewalrus.ca The consensus is in: cooling the planet will be impossible without direct human intervention. How can...

Person-centred health care means ensuring that affected communities are leaders and partners in research

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com Studies show that people often do not have opportunities to engage in health-related decision-making with their...

Canada needs a national strategy for homeless refugee claimants

Click here to view original web page at theconversation.com One year after the federal government closed Roxham Road, refugee claims in Canada continue to increase:...

Why Farmers in India and Pakistan Are Shifting to Natural or Regenerative Farming

Click here to view original web page at www.ipsnews.net Regenerative farming is seen as a climate solution, with advocates saying that it is the most...

Ending stealth subsidies to banks is vital — but so is scrapping our borrowing rules

Click here to view original web page at neweconomics.org Gordon Brown has said the UK needs to get out of its ​“doom loop of poverty”....

The Global Laws That Help Corporations Block Climate Action

Click here to view original web page at jacobin.com However much the British government plays fast and loose with our future by treating climate change...

Canada deporting highest level of migrants in a decade, despite promises to let more stay

Click here to view original web page at breachmedia.ca Despite pledging a pathway to status for more migrants, Canada spent ...

Global Governance: Time for Reform

Click here to view original web page at www.ipsnews.net At last the UN Security Council has passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in...

Is starving Ontario’s hospitals and schools really something to brag about?

Click here to view original web page at spon.ca The root cause of Ontario’s low spending on public services is our strong aversion to raising...
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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...

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