Many are cold… but few are frozen
Those words by the exquisite writer Anne Michaels provide a glimpse into the source of Canada’s ingenuity.
You can’t understand Canada without understanding that you are never very far from winter here.
Our ingenuity comes from snow, ice and a harsh cold climate. Yes, it is warming. But it is still pretty cold in most places for a good portion of the year.
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Summertime (or weekends) are wonderful times to slow down and take life a little easier and catch up on the news and learn a little more about what is going on in the world. This summer it has been hard not to get discouraged with what's filled many of the front pages and home pages of our favourite news sources.
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Graduation Matters Montana (GMM) was fortunate to have Liz Weaver of Tamarack Institute deliver the keynote address at our June 2016 Summer Summit. Liz shared the findings of her recent paper, “Transformational Change is Possible”. Much of her analysis aligns with the GMM framework, and I was pleased that Summit participants connected with her presentation.
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Isn't it curious how we realize the same simple things about ourselves over and over (and over again) but that each time it seems like an ah-ha moment?For example, realizing each time how calm you feel after a walk in the woods, or how happy you are every time you put clean sheets on the bed... I keep learning again and again that I draw to understand. If you know me this must sound ridiculous. You would probably think that drawing to understand would be in the first few lines of my internal dialogue. It is not.
I am a committed doodler and focused note-taker. These skills grew out of simple strategies to capture and control my busy thoughts during long meetings and training sessions. Drawing seemed like a professionally acceptable strategy, rather than knitting, to keep my hands occupied.
International sporting events like the World Cup and the Olympics provide intriguing examples of the complexity and situated-nature of culture and heritage as people from all walks of life reveal, (re) create, adopt and adapt to some form of unique and shared identity, even if temporarily. This situated-ness is what illustrates one of the most substantial challenges for organizations and governments alike as they wrestle with complexity in their mission.
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This article originally appeared on the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives website on July 20, 2016 by David MacDonald and is re-posted here with permission.
In 1989, when the House of Commons voted unanimously to end child poverty by the year 2000, there was much applause.
But as the years started to pass, political inaction fueled a deepening sense that government commitments to reduce poverty were mere words.
It’s 2016 and Canada is a long way from ending poverty, but three promising developments are about to lift almost half a million people above the poverty line.
