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Paul Born

Paul Born
Paul is a large-scale community change facilitator. He is the author of four books including, Deepening Community and Community Conversations, two Canadian best sellers. He is the Co-founder of Tamarack and for 20 years was the CEO/Co-CEO. Paul continues at Tamarack as a coach and trainer providing coaching and training to communities interested in achieving population level change. On Sabbatical until October 2022.

Recent Posts

Remembering Joe Schaeffer

Posted by Paul Born on March 26, 2019

Joe…that’s what we all call him, even though he is a wildly successful academic with a PhD, Joe is my friend, as he is to the many people he impacted in the field of community development and change. Joe is kind with a gentle spirit. He gave tirelessly to his students and treated us as real people. I know Joe had difficulties in relationships (we talked about this), but I and his students seldom saw that side of Joe. He was always one of us, and he made us feel special.

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Celebrating the Lights – Life!

Posted by Paul Born on December 12, 2018

How might we contest the darkness of night where fear and sorrow reside and bring the light of expectation and accomplishment?
Around the world this is a time of year when we celebrate light as victory over the forces which destroy life. Beautiful celebrations known as Hanukkah, Diwali and Christmas, to name but a few fill us with hope and joy. For Canadians these celebrations bring special meaning as we enter a season with some of the shortest days of the year.

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Opioids! We need a Reconstruction of Community

Posted by Paul Born on September 26, 2018

Two words we most often hear together in the negative, “people are dying in our community from opioids or we have a “community opioid crisis.”

But today, in the Globe and Mail, I, for the first time, heard the call that to fight the opioid crisis we need not a war on drugs but a reconstruction of community. In her column on September 24,  Margaret Wente shares, “the writer Andrew Sullivan talks about pain and trauma too.

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Welcoming the Stranger

Posted by Paul Born on September 12, 2018

In the next 25 years, if things go as planned, Canada will accept some 7.5 million immigrants and will receive nearly 1.5 million refugees. But, how many of us think things will go as planned in the next 25 years?

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Embracing Migration by Ending Poverty and Deepening Community

Posted by Paul Born on June 15, 2018

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of attending the annual conference for our partners, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and presenting as part of their closing plenary. I was asked to share my vision for Canada in 2040. This gave me the chance to reflect on what Canada could look like if we steer our collective capacity toward eradicating poverty and deepening community as we embrace newcomers to Canada.

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Caring is About More than "Care"

Posted by Paul Born on April 13, 2018

Ask any Canadian what “care” means and you will get rapid-fire answers that include words like kindness, love, concern, compassion and attentiveness. We know with inner certainty what it feels like to be cared for. But ask if these qualities come to mind when thinking about experiences in the health care system and you might get a blank stare or even a smirk”. - Vickie Cammack and Donna Thomson.

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