Al Etmanski

Quebec's Dying With Dignity hearings attracting unprecedented particpation (1)

There is ferment brewing in Quebec that concerns the future of all Canadians. But it's not about separation or sovereignty association.  It is about euthanasia.  Based on involvement so far, more Quebecois will participate in the hearings of the Quebec Special Select Committee on Dying with Dignity which begin in September, than on any other topic in the history of Quebec public consultation. 

Quebecois are right to be concerned. It is not a simple matter for the state to legalize the killing of another person.  It is a complex moral issue with serious ramifications and significant potential for abuse.  These hearings are of profound importance to all Canadians.

No matter how it is dressed up, dying with dignity advocates want to legalize the killing of another person.  I hope to convince you in this and subsequent blogs that good alternatives already exist to answer the concerns most people have that might lead them to consider asking someone to end their life. 

I believe dying with dignity/right to die/assisted suicide advocates represent an extremely small group of people.  By this I mean a handful of people would use the option they are proposing.  Yet they are asking for the rights of this handful to trump the rights and obligations of not just the majority of us but virtually all of us. They are asking us to trespass on the role of doctor as healer adding killing to their job description.  And ultimately they are giving up on the complexity and mystery of death and dying making it appear as simply a 'technical' matter. 

Yet they raise issues about what makes us human and about person-hood and all its mysteries.  So perhaps it's time we gave our ethical muscles some overdue exercise.

This applies to those of us who: haven't given the issue much thought but are perhaps afraid of dying in pain; are sympathetic to those who might be dying in pain; fear a future where their quality of life changes dramatically; and perhaps paradoxically and most basically, are afraid of dying. 

According to the Globe and Mail the majority of Quebecois support euthanasia. One has to wonder what questions were posed to them.  Nevertheless the pro-euthanasia side is well organized and has tapped into a sympathetic media; a confusion about terminology and perhaps our deepest fears.  However, there are signs things are changing.

For instance, the Quebec college of physicians released a poll last year showing 75 per cent support among its members for legalizing euthanasia, or at least decriminalizing it. The figure was widely reported in the media and became a central argument for the Quebec Government pressing ahead on its own regardless of Canadian criminal law. What went unnoticed - until it was raised by prominent orthopedic surgeon Marc Beauchamp in a bitterly critical letter to Montreal’s largest French-language newspaper – was that only 23 per cent of doctors even responded to the survey from which the 75 per cent number was derived.

“Most of the doctors I know dismissed the survey as embarrassing rubbish,” Beauchamp says. “They didn’t even bother responding. So the so-called 75 per cent support is based on responses from less than a quarter of doctors. It is a completely meaningless number.”

Still, it was a crucial factor in creating the impression that Quebec’s doctors and intelligentsia were supportive of using provincial powers to decriminalize euthanasia.

In mid-August a group of more than 50 McGill University professors, including several from faculties of medicine and pharmacy, openly and directly challenges that assumption.  As reported in the Montreal Gazette they: warned that Quebec risks making doctors "society's executioners" by attempting to decriminalize euthanasia and assisted suicide.  Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Living+with+dignity+group+message/3392380/story.html#ixzz0y7JwrPVX

The source of my information on the Quebec hearings is Linda Couture who I had the pleasure of meeting in June in Montreal.  She established the 'Living with Dignity' coalition as a nonpartisan, nonreligious group focused on end-of-life issues.  Their objectives are straightforward: protection of vulnerable citizens; and compassionate support by improving and expanding palliative care. Here are quotes from Linda in the Montreal Gazette.  "Our biggest concern, and what's at stake here, is that we don't want the practice of euthanasia smuggled into the public health care system under the guise of medical treatment."

"There's a lot of confusion with definition of terms in end-of-life care, for example, between palliative sedation and euthanasia. Few people want to suffer but there's no need to kill the patient to kill the pain."

I admit a bias.  I see this issue through the lens of people with disabilities.  And my direct involvement in one of Canada's most prominent 'right to die' controversies - the situation involving a young teenager, Stephen Dawson.  I have a number of insights which I will post in my next blog. 

In the interim I suggest you check out Living With Dignity's website.  Linda and her cohorts have done us a service by raising the funds to translate it into English.   You can also sign their on line petition at: http://www.vivredignite.com/en/manifesto.html  I know they would appreciate your support.

Note: Killing is a stark, cold word.  I have searched for a synonym but was left with bland euphemisms.  Apologies if I have offended anyone.

Ducks and Icebergs(Part Two) - Tips for Solution Based Advocacy (23)

In my last post, Part One of Ducks and Icebergs, I summarized some of the challenges public servants and of course, the rest of us are facing in the next 15 years.  Here are five trends public servants are exploring in response to these challenges:

(1) Co- production and co-creation. This is not a particularly great phrase but it indicates that systems recognize their financial and personnel limitations and are seeking partnerships with the community.   Essentially Government needs to move away from doing things to or for people; to doing things with them.  According to Geoff Mulgan, CEO of the Young Foundation; .. government can succeed better by directly addressing the quality of its relationships with the public, rather than doing so indirectly through promises and their delivery.   Read, Promising Ideas - Public Services and Civil Society Working Together, produced by the Young Foundation in March, 2010.  Download Promising_Ideas                                                                                                                                                Also read, Putting the Public First - Partnering with the Community and Business to Deliver Outcomes an articulate expression of 'co-production' from the Government of Western Australia. Download Eac_summary_report

(2) Self Managed Care.  This terminology comes from systems and is not how individuals and families describe their care for each other.  However, the opportunity for people to customize, control and shape the supports they receive from government is a long time goal of many advocates. One example is the UK's direct payment funding to people with disabilities, seniors and others on government benefits.  This initiative began with family and disability advocates who created In Control and has now been adopted by the UK government.

(3) Relationship based public policy - After 20 years of direct experience at PLAN we know relationships are at the heart of what makes a good life.  And services do a better job when they strengthen natural relationships and leave behind stronger, supportive ties for people to draw upon.  We know that strong social ties mean you get sick less often; heal more quickly; and use less services.  Now government is awakening to these facts and beginning to address social supports and relationships as a key complement to more traditional services and programs. Click here for a brief prepared by our Vancouver based, Better Together coalition on the policy benefits of supporting Belonging.  Download Better Together      See also Charles Leadbeater's article, With.  Download With.  Charles is a leading thinker, writer and practitioner you will read more about in my future blogs.

(4) Authentication.  If systems are going to have a legitimate partnership with communities, families, social networks and individuals they will have to work out who and how to share private, personal, privileged and confidential data.  Tyze (www.tyze.com) was created to fill this gap.  Tyze provides a secure on-line platform to store confidential data; a means to identify and legitimate family and friends trusted to receive confidential data; and a bridge between the formal system and the so called informal natural systems of care.

(5) Incentives and Rewards Government spends considerable sums of money treating the symptoms of social problems but significantly less treating the causes or encouraging creative and innovative responses to tough, resistant to traditional solutions social challenges.  There has been little structural incentive to improve outcomes, either within or outside the system.  In other words, there are no financial rewards for saving money and improving outcomes.  This is changing. The best examples of providing incentives for improved social outcomes is the Social Impact Bond.  See also my previous post on Social Impact Bonds.

These initiatives are not new.  To varying degrees they have been under consideration or are being implemented already.  In fact most of these were driven in the past by advocates seeking to rebuild civic society, to tap into the abundance of community resources, to address isolation and loneliness, to end the dependence on professionalized services and to shift control from the state to the individual and family.  What has changed is the economic and demographic context which I summarized in Part One. 

Government now has its own reasons to move in this direction.  There is of course the possibility that the power of the state will overshadow and undermine genuine partnerships.  And we should not underestimate the need to rebuild trust between community and government.  Nevertheless there is a potential alignment of agendas between policy advocates and public servants.  The potential convergence is too good an opportunity for solution based advocates to pass up.

Ducks, Icebergs and Public Servants (Part One) - Tips for Solution Based Advocacy (22)

Ducks and icebergs have a lot in common.  To get a complete picture you have to look beneath the surface.  Ducks, calmly gliding through the surface of the water, while busily paddling underneath.  Icebergs, massive enough as they float, revealing their true nature (80%) underwater. 

The same is true of our public service.  There is a lot going on beneath the surface, within the federal and provincial public services, that we should pay attention to. 

Public servants must respond to the issues of the day and the priorities of their political masters.  At the same time the good ones keep an eye on the future, doing their best to anticipate changing demographics and economic circumstances and to prepare possible responses.  It is wise to pay attention to what they are paying attention to.  The potential to align our agenda with sympathetic and concerned public servants is huge. 

Here are some of the challenges public servants are paying attention to.

1) Rising health care budgets. Currently health care costs eat up approximately 40% of provincial program spending and these continue to rise annually. Even with constraints, health budgets are rising faster than Gross Domestic Product.

2) Smaller tax base, again because the  'boomers' are retiring.  In 2005 there were 44 children and seniors for every 100 Canadians of working age.  By 2030 it is estimated there will be 61 children and seniors for every 100 Canadians of working age.

3) Increased costs related to the increased number of older people.  In British Columbia there will be more people over 65 than under 15 by 2015.

4) Expected decrease in the size of the public service when the 'boomers' retire.  In British Columbia a 25% reduction has been projected.  One plausible scenario is that these employees won't be replaced.

5) Future overall labour shortages which could mean a smaller social service labour force within 5 - 10 years.

6) The 'X' factor.  There are other potential demands on government resources: debt repayment, environmental cleanup; unfunded pension liability; response to climate change; international responsibilities

Whether any or all these challenges come to fruition one conclusion seems certain - smaller government budgets and multiple demands equals less resources for the social care ministries and departments.   The public servants I know are applying their talents to think through how to maintain supports while responding to emerging needs.  For example, in the disability field people are living longer (fortunately) and may require increased supports as they age.  At the same time a larger number of teenagers with disabilities than previously will be leaving school and looking for adult supports.  This means larger numbers of adults with disabilities requiring support while government budgets and workforces gets smaller.  It is imperative the public service engage individuals, families and communities differently and become more innovative about how we take care of each other and how we finance that care.

In my next post, Part Two of Ducks and Icebergs, I will summarize five trends public servants are exploring to respond to these challenges.

The Fur Trade and Social Finance

The fur trade in Canada provides a distant mirror for Social Finance advocates and practitioners on the complex effects of any new technology.  It makes us mindful that every intervention has side effects, both positive and negative.

Harold Innis was English Canada's first economic historian. He wrote in an era when our history was defined more by the imperial powers of England and the US than by articulating our own experiences.  Innis changed that and paved the way for a line of English Canadian intellectuals who, while developing our authentic voice, thoughtfully critiqued imported social constructs. These include George Grant, Ursula Franklin, Marshall McLuhan, Janice Gross Stein, Mark Kingwell, Margaret Atwood, and John Ralston Saul. (See Note below)

Innis' first book, The Fur Trade in Canada, chronicled the benefit of the fur trade to European capitalists whose industries and economies were developed and strengthened by beaver pelts and access to other staple products while devastating Canada's first nations and aboriginal peoples. 

Innis placed First Nations people at the centre of the growth and success of the fur trade. Further he departed from contemporary thinking by observing,  "We have not realized that the Indian and his culture were fundamental to the growth of Canadian institutions."  John Ralston Saul was to significantly develop this theme in his latest book, A Fair Country where he observed our version of federalism, our approach to inclusion and our belief in dialogue owe much to First Nation influence.

Ironically in the process of getting rich, Europeans destroyed the very culture and way of life that made their wealth possible.  European-made guns led to the rapid extermination of the beaver. European diseases like smallpox decimated whole aboriginal communities; European alcohol introduced centuries of addiction.  All these were introduced in a short period of time rapidly destabilizing, in just a few decades, a natural balance that had evolved over centuries.

The inference of Innis' critique is that all new techniques and technologies have radical and disruptive effects on social organizations and culture.  In later years he specialized in less tangible commodities like media, communications, cultural industries and other knowledge 'products'.  His writings on media and communications and their accompanying influence and erosion of critical thinking went on to influence his disciple and colleague Marshall McLuhan.

The fur trade can be seen as a metaphor for all new techniques, technologies, interventions, practices, methodologies, communication and knowledge distribution systems. 

What does this mean for our exploration of social finance? 

They suggest there are inevitable and likely unforeseen consequences of the growth of social finance. They encourage a healthy respect for change - to research, study, observe and understand and mitigate where possible, the side effects. They lead to the following questions. 

1. What core aspects of the culture of volunteerism must we preserve as social finance evolves?
   
2. What are the key tangible and intangible elements of charities and non profit organizations that should be maintained?
3. How do we maintain social mission by adopting the techniques of business financing?
4. What are the deleterious aspects of the culture of business we must guard against?
   
5. What are the psychic and social consequences of our social finance innovations?
6. What radical, unintended side effects might be associated with the growth of social finance?

My favourite Innis quote is: "... an obsession with 'present-mindedness' wipes out concerns about past or future."   In our rush, excitement, enthusiasm, focus and concentration to explore the potential of social finance let's also stand back, observe and assess.  Standing still and rushing forward may be paradoxical but not impossible.  That's the nature of complex change.  And the mystery! 

As present day explorers let's not repeat the mistakes of the early fur traders and explorers.

Notes:

There is a robust Quebec intellectual tradition of impressive insight which I am fortunate to gain glimpses of through my friendship with the honoured Quebec intellectual Jacques Dufresne. Jacques, revered as the Socrates of Quebec, presides over one of the most popular French language websites in the world - L'Agora encyclopedia.  Sadly, this rich intellectual tradition is lost to those of us who cannot read French.

For an exceptional book on the  clarity, insight and wisdom of one aboriginal leader's fight against the loss of his culture, I highly recommend the extraordinary Chief Big Bear by Rudy Wiebe. It's part of the Penguin series on Extraordinary Canadians edited by John Ralston Saul.

Is Social Finance the 'Next Big Thing'?

How do you spot the difference between a fad and a trend?

When you've hung around the social sector for decades you learn to be discerning.  At the outset they appear the same, capturing interest, attracting pilot funding, developing constituencies, attracting academic research, even influencing policy.  Inevitably there is a fork in the road. Despite the rhetoric, fads disappear. Nothing changes except perhaps people use new language to describe the same old thing. A shuffling of chairs on the deck but not much more.  Soon to be replaced by something else. 

Trends on the other hand, survive although they often morph, change and evolve. In fact they often take some time to gain traction.  Paradoxically this may be a distinguishing characteristic between fads and trends.  If something is quickly adopted it likely means the tensions, strains and hard grinding work of change isn't happening.  Paradigm shifting trends confront our deeply held beliefs, ingrained habits and the structures we have erected to maintain them.  Neither individuals nor systems surrender easily!

Is social finance a trend or a fad?  In Canada it is too soon to tell.  Elsewhere there is every sign it is becoming a trend.  I wrote recently about a recent European Union report, The Future European Style, that contends innovative approaches to our social challenges is central to improving economic performance in each EU country as well as to confronting the challenges themselves.  Here is further evidence of the durability and impact of social finance which will inform our exploration and adaptation in Canada. 

Recently the UK Telegraph quoted Sir Ronald Cohen, known as the 'father' of the venture capital and private equity industry in the UK, declaring that entrepreneurship should be harnessed as an agent of social change.  Speaking to Harvard business students he advised the next big thing in the business world is social finance.  If I had been leaving Harvard in 2010, this would be the area I would want to be going into, he added.

“I think societies everywhere will come to the conclusion that an important part of the capitalist system is having a powerful social sector to address social issues, because government doesn't have the resources."

Ronald Cohen has already played a major role is the growth and development of a social finance infrastructure in the UK. He seems poised for another great roll forward.

Fortunately Cohen is not alone.  Here are quotes from Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation in her speech: Innovative Philanthropy for the 21st Century: Harnessing the Power of Impact Investing.

At the Foundation, we also see an unfolding tale of two globalizations.  One generates
substantial progress for many.  Another leaves many more by the wayside - families and
populations that fall further behind as the pace of change quickens.     

Although philanthropists can only muster billions of dollars against the trillions of dollars of
social needs, private investors like you in this room manage more than $100 trillion in for-profit capital markets. So we no longer ask ourselves, 'why isn't there enough money to solve social problems?  Instead we ask, How can we tap into these enormous private capital flows to create both financial profit and social return?

And in a marriage between like minds, Rockefeller funded Investing for Impact: Case Studies Across Asset Classes.  The report was prepared by Bridges Venture an organization founded by Cohen!

And there's more:

Ireland just released a report: Adding Value, Delivering Change: The Role of Social Enterprise in National Recovery.  Its findings and recommendations emphasize the blending of social, environmental and economic goals. Here are a couple of excerpts from the Executive Summary:

• Countries that recognise and value social enterprise as part of the ‘real’ economy have achieved significant growth in employment and output in the sector while addressing genuine social and environmental needs.
• Social enterprise in Ireland has the potential to grow significantly to represent 5% of GDP and to generate at least 65,000 jobs.

Fad or trend? I invite you to join the exploration and discussion and consider for yourself.  One way or the other, those of us in the non profit, community, social, charitable, civil sector need to address our declining resource base. Currently, it's too shaky a foundation to launch durable social environmental and economic justice strategies. Let's profit from the 'social profit-making' struggles and learnings, elsewhere.

NOTE:

I know I have many readers who are only just being introduced to social finance. I define social finance as: Leveraging revenue from 'grants' to attract other sources of capital i.e. loans, and private investment (equity).   Social finance is the intelligent use of all the financial assets of non profits - properties, assets, cash flow, influential connections, purchasing power. It is the necessary financial infrastructure for social entrepreneurs as the Irish report highlights.  See Social Finance: A New Approach , a post I wrote for social finance.ca last December.

Code Yellow

Ahh, the momentum of outmoded approaches.  The horn that still sounds a curfew even though the plant has closed down. Saving pennies. Ashtrays on bicycles. Encyclopedia sellers. Yellow pages delivered to your office or doorstep. 

Yes, yellow pages.  While trolling through my mail one morning I came across the news that if you live in Canada you can opt out of receiving that annual, over sized, heavy, unsolicited, recycled on arrival, yellow pages. That's when I realized I no longer use yellow pages and haven't for years.  That same day I had meetings with Government in Victoria.  Stacked on each floor of their office high-rise were massive bundles of yellow pages which I'm told are not used because of the convenience of the internet.

We could save a lot of trees by letting Yellow Pages know we don't want it delivered.  I wonder how many of us there are? Somebody should do something about it.

Well someone is.  David Eaves.  He has started a Facebook page, 100,000 Canadians who've opted out of yellow pages.  In less than two weeks over 1000 of us have opted out.

Yellow is the color of quarantine in health settings. In lieu of a yellow flag you can quarantine your home or office simply by opting out.  Here's how to do it in a few seconds.

• Follow the links from David or                                                                                                 
  
•  Go directly to the yellow pages website.  You will see the Opt Out button on the left hand side.  It's actually labeled CONTINUE to confuse you.

And if you need further inspiration follow the yellow brick road to David's original post which equates yellow pages with spam.

Next Up for What's Next

Alice laughed, "There's no use trying," she said, "one can't believe impossible things."           "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

When the looking glass gets clouded there is a tendency for an older generation to become scowly, to deplore the work habits of younger people, to criticize their preoccupation with technology and to despair at our future.  On the other hand if, like me, you are fortunate to parent, encounter, and work with emerging, younger leaders you are inclined to deplore the lifestyle of older generations who are spending our global assets at a break neck pace, who seem to be preoccupied with their own comfort and to despair at political leaders who lack the courage to make the tough decisions.

This polarized view betrays a weakness in my thinking which fortunately does not exist among the the younger leaders I know.  One such person is Kevin Millsip

Brian Smith, himself a member of this creative generation, sent the following video link to a short speech given a few days ago by Kevin Millsip.  Have a look and listen - it's exactly 400 seconds.  Kevin's presentation reveals a structure, logic, and emotional maturity that makes one believe in impossible things.  The occasion was a forum to discuss the future of Vancouver as a green city.  Kevin, looking very much like a young William Hurt, is really speaking for the planet, and to all of us. 

Appreciate his ability to bridge the divide between those who care about increasing economic inequality in the world and those worried about our multiple ecological crises.  Marvel at his insights about complex challenges and his ability to speak about them simply, not simplistically.  Listen for the way he creates space for young and old to work together.  Admire his emotional presence - no malice, no righteousness - instead open and engaging. Ponder the three possible futures he outlines: Eco - Apocalypse; Eco- Apartheid; Eco-Equity.

And invest in the work he and his generation are pursuing.  There is depth behind the I-pods, twittering and apps that will turn your frowns to smiles  Besides is there a better strategy for the future than investing in the resilience of our next generations, their creativity and problem solving adaptive capacity?

Kevin co - founded Check Your Head with Lyndsay Poaps, over ten years ago as an alternative to the heavy emphasis on passive learning in high school.  'Check' has stimulated discussion, debate and action among 40,000 young people on issues such as democracy, corporate power, globalization, and climate change.  Their work is motivated by a belief that a healthy, democratic and sustainable future depends on a generation of informed, empowered and active young people. 

During that period he and other colleagues also started Get your Vote On  which registered 20,000 new voters in advance of the 2005 British Columbia provincial election and developed similar campaigns for subsequent municipal, provincial and federal elections.  Their motto: the world is run by those who show up.

Kevin is currently Sustainability Coordinator for the Vancouver School Board and along with Brian Smith and a few others has created Next Up which invests in the leaderships skills of young social change leaders in British Columbia and Alberta.

Paradoxically Kevin presents a style of leadership which departs from the lone man at the front of the room model and reconstructs leadership as something everyone can and must do. Leaders like Kevin inspire trust and make me want to follow them.  Oops, I'm trapped in my either/or thinking again!  Best you check out Kevin and his colleagues to learn how to embrace both/and thinking and how young and old are figuring it out together.

Note:The format of Kevin's speech is known as 'petcha kucha' - a Japanese design invention.  Each speaker has 20 slides which display for only 20 seconds (20X20=400 seconds).  When the slides are over, the speaker is done - a format that makes presentations concise, lively and fun.

Eating Alone

Food is the common denominator.  It gives us life. It delights and satisfies the senses. It provides an opportunity to share and enjoy with others. It is both pleasurable and good for you.  At least it used to be. 

There is a lot to be concerned about when thinking about food today: fast food; artificial and unhealthy ingredients; obesity and other eating diseases; lack of support for local farmers; the growth of agri-business; the extent of fossil fuels used to produce and deliver food to markets; the expectation of having seasonal food available to us year long; junk food in schools; the continued growth of food banks; and the erosion of prime agricultural land to build houses.     

After years of traveling Vickie and I can tell instantly whether the food we are eating has been made with love.  We fondly recall one of the best 'on the road' meals we have ever had - bottled moose (yes moose not mousse), pickled beets, home made biscuits, cloudberry jam and clotted cream in a remote windy Newfoundland outport.  We lingered over tea  with our hosts for hours.  There was no comparison with the high priced meal in one of the trendiest restaurants in Manhattan, we had been treated to a few days before. 

Thankfully 'food' is now on the agenda of many groups, individuals and families.  One of the major contributors to this increasing awareness is the 'slow food' movement created by Carlo Petrini in 1986.  The slow food movement started as a reaction to fast food restaurants in Italy but evolved into fighting the industrialization and commodification of food.  Leave it to the Italians - the slow food logo, an escargot, reflects their emphasis on enjoying good food, with each other, around the table, for hours!   Smartly just beneath the surface of a slow food cook book is a compelling manifesto and call to arms to protect the century old traditions of food preparation and preservation as well as a way of being with each other.  Today they have 100,000 members in 132 countries.

Robert Putnam made the expression 'Bowling Alone' famous a decade ago.  His worry: the decline of neighbourliness, associational and family life in North America - he called these connections, social capital.  His contention: more and more of us are doing things on our own. The result: less bowling leagues but more people bowling.  Thus the title bowling alone.

An even greater concern is the fact more and more of us are eating alone. Indeed eating too much 'fast food' alone.   Fast food is an ugly companion to our fast paced lifestyles and the damages it has caused to belonging, and to good times with family and friends.

There are a number of hopeful initiatives when thinking about food these days. These include: not taking food for granted; farmer's markets; organic farming; the 100 mile diet; the growth of perma-culture; and city gardens.

Two important new Canadian initiatives are worth highlighting.

On June 15th the progressive Metcalf Foundation released five new reports (Metcalf Food Solutions) that together represent a vision of how we think about, produce and consume food.  Click this link to download all five reports.  Metcalf President, Sandy Houston is to be commended for his leadership in addressing: the financial crisis of farmers; the disappearance of farm land; the increasing use of food banks and the overall decline in health due to lack of access to nutritional food.  I refer you in particular to Menu 2020:  Download Metcalf_Food_Solutions_Menu_2020(2), prepared by Sustain Ontario.

And last week the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, and her husband Mr. Jean-Daniel Lafond launched the Governor General’s Award in Celebration of the Nation’s Table to celebrate: outstanding efforts in improving the quality, variety and sustainability of all elements and ingredients of our nation's table.  Check out the winners.  You will be inspired by their creativity, inventiveness, stewardship, leadership, research, production and vision related to the food to table connection.  It is no coincidence both their Excellencies hail from Quebec.  Quebec has been alive and alert to the pleasures, flavours, tastes and conviviality of food and drink for so long.

Bon Appetit!

Notes: 

For a reflective and highly readable overview of the growth of the Food Movement I recommend Michal Pollan's recent article, The Food Movement Rising in a recent edition of the New York Review of Books.  

Links to the Canadian Slow Food Movement are here.

If you enjoy these blogs please circulate to others and encourage them to subscribe. Simply click the link just below my picture.                                                                                                 

The Sacred Headwaters of Belonging

In Wade Davis' The Wayfinders - Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World, he describes a wonder of British Columbia geography - the headwaters of Canada's most important salmon rivers, the Stikine, Skeena and Nass as well as the origins of Canada's greatest river, the Mackenzie.  Davis, National Geographic's Explorer in Residence, compares these Sacred Headwaters to Mount Kailash in Tibet, the source of the Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra Rivers, vital arteries that bring life to a billion people downstream.

The thought of despoiling and polluting the sources of these two unique geographical river systems would upset and horrify most of us.  Water is such a source of life, of culture, of resilience, of livelihood, of pleasure - a natural asset that should not be made into a commodity to be exploited purely for selfish short term commercial reasons. As Davis observes to do so leaves you vulnerable to penalties either in this life or the next!

There is another source of life that is just as sacred, just as majestic, just as life giving as these rivers.  It is called belonging.  Belonging is that invisible but indispensable force that connect us to each other, to our families, our communities, our country, our beliefs, our earth, our universe.  It is about all forms of life.  We call it, 'living ties'.  Belonging is a state of being, not an act or an activity. We belong to our families, our homes, our religions, the way an organ belongs to an organism, our heart to our body.

Unlike a river it is not as easy to discern, observe or detect when we violate the sources of belonging.  As Joni Mitchell sings, ' You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone.'  Then one day we wake up and realize more Canadian seniors live alone than ever before or that loneliness is creeping through our culture leaving more and more of us isolated, alone and bereft of meaning.

Belonging like the source of mighty rivers cannot be taken for granted.  We ignore the sources of belonging at our peril.

That is why a number of thinkers and colleagues, Jacques Dufresne from L'Encyclopédie de L'Agora ; Nathan Ball from  L'Arche ;  and myself from PLAN have come together to create a different type of website - one devoted exclusively to exploring all facets and aspects of belonging.  We call, www.Appartenance-Belonging.org a 'slow' site. It will be of particular interest for those wiling to take a few minutes to read and reflect, digest, muse, daydream, ponder.......

The sources of belonging we are exploring include: Places of Belonging; Values of Belonging, which draw on the wisdom of poets and philosophers; Actions that nurture and nourish Belonging; Metaphors of Belonging gleaning insights from blades of grass, canaries in machines and grafting; and the Elements of Belonging - fire, earth, air and water.  The confluence of all these categories make up what we consider the Sacred Headwaters of Belonging. 

We have designed Appartenance-Belonging to reflect our roots in the French and English cultures of Canada.  That is why the web address won't roll easily off your tongue.  However it is easy to bookmark and we are confident the content will satisfy all your senses.

Do dive in, take a refreshing dip into the marvels and wonders of  'slow thinking' . There you will discover the surprising links and connections between, taking care of our environment and taking care of each other.  Click here if you would like to subscribe to our monthly newsletter, Belonging Living Ties.

I'll leave you with two quotes the first from Jean Vanier one of the inspirations behind this website:

The longer we journey on the road to inner healing and wholeness, the more the sense of belonging grows and deepens. The sense is not just one of belonging to others and to a community. It is a sense of belonging to the universe, to the earth, to the air, to the water, to everything that lives, to all humanity. - Jean Vanier

During the Renaissance and well into the Enlightenment, in our quest for personal freedom, we in the European tradition liberated the human mind from the tyranny of absolute faith, even as we freed the individual from the collective, which was the sociological equivalent of splitting the atom.  And, in doing so, we also abandoned many of our intuitions for myth, magic, mysticism, and, perhaps most importantly, metaphor.  - Wade Davis, The Wayfinders

NOTES:

Wade Davis' book is also available for free in audio form as part of the Massey Lectures.

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Ian Brown's 'The Boy in the Moon' - A Book for Dads

Here's a book for Dad's - The Boy in the Moon - by award winning Globe and Mail journalist, Ian Brown. It's the story of a father who, while searching for the meaning of his 13 year old son's life, discovers the meaning of his own - as a father, husband, man.  For his efforts Ian has won the two biggest literary prizes for non- fiction in Canada: The BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction book prize and the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non Fiction.

Discovering ourselves through our children is not uncommon.  Who better to burst our preconceived notions and perfect construction of reality?  From vulnerable, dependent infants whose lives revolve around ours, or is it vice versa, to magnificent persons with unimagined gifts, powerful wills and a yearning for freedom. It is a journey all fathers are on whether we know it or not.  Ian Brown's talent as a writer reveals that journey with utter candor, and an eye for detail.  He is relentless in his search for the truth of his son Walker's purpose.  Fathers who have read, The Boy in the Moon are unanimous - this is a book they can relate to.

While Walker's vulnerabilities are more extreme than many of our children - he has a rare genetic disorder that delivered a combination of physical and intellectual limitations - it would be a mistake to see this as a disability book about hard pressed, long suffering parents.  Brown encounters all the steps in the complex dance between fathers and their children.  The main difference Brown suggests, since Walker doesn't speak, they don't compound their confusion with words.  Perhaps this makes it slightly easier for them to understand each other or at least to notice what words don't portray.

There are aspects of Cormac McCarthy's, The Road in The Boy in the Moon.  There the father sees goodness and God embodied in his son - and the father's warrant is to protect that goodness.  That's about as deep as a man can go to love his child, writes McCarthy. He (Walker) is one of the pools where hope resides, writes Brown.

Brown goes deep in his love for Walker revealing his imperfections, his doubts, his grace, his tenacity, his weaknesses.  Not all of these are pleasant.  His is a harsh judgment about science, about God, about human service ideology, about government, about disability. In fact, some parent leaders have castigated him for glorifying his own pain, overshadowing his son's condition and for perpetuating negative stereotypes about people with disabilities.  They miss the point.  Brown is a searcher and a skeptic.  He accepts nothing as a given.  His doubt leads him down many paths including to France where he spends time with Jean Vanier, the founder of L'Arche communities. Subsequently they carried on a public correspondence in the Globe and Mail.  Vanier blesses Brown with equal candor.  Vanier sees Brown's purity and impurity as resembling his own, as should we.  Vanier offers no advice just a simple suggestion, they must continue to help each other become more human.

Ian Brown's book will help you become more human and perhaps slightly envious as he arrives at this tender conclusion:

I was already as close as I could be to him: there was no space between my son and me, no gap or air, no expectation or disapointment, no failure or success: only what he was, a swooned boy, my silent sometimes laughing companion and my son.  I knew I loved him, and I knew he knew it.  I held that sweetness in my arms, and waited for whatever was going to happen next.  We did that together.

This is as pure as love gets - father style.  Happy Father's Day.

To read an interview with Ian Brown along with a list of references in L'Arche's magazine, A Human Future click here.