Another year has come and gone – and what a year it’s been! Here at rabble.ca, we’re taking stock of the biggest national and international stories that happened this year. Every step of the way, rabble kept you up-to-date on a variety of news and views this year. And we couldn’t have done it without our diverse and thoughtful group of monthly columnists.
Today, we’d like to share with you some of our columnists’ best work of 2022. Let’s dive in!
Cathy Crowe | The war on nurses feels like Groundhog Day
Comparing the struggles of nurses in today’s health care system to the popular 90’s film Groundhog Day, Crowe describes the targeted and strategic war on nursing across the country.
“The same government policies that have diminished the possibilities of caring, that have made it impossible for nurses to do their job, these are the same government policies that reduce or eliminate social programs such as affordable housing, employment insurance, welfare, and disability programs,” Crowe wrote.
In the months after this column was published, the situation intensified. The province of Ontario, where Crowe is based, seems to be intent on creating a hostile environment for nurses. Many are making the hard decision to leave the profession.
However, the overturning of Bill 124 and the successful fight against Bill 28 gives hope that the future for nurses and all public sector workers in Ontario will be brighter and that Doug Ford’s anti-labour agenda can be thwarted.
Charlotte Dalwood | Gender affirmation isn’t just for the able-bodied
In June of this year, Charlotte Dalwood shared the case of Romana Ingram, a disabled trans woman in Ontario who was taking her parents to court.
Earlier this year, Ingram’s parents brought an application in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice under the Substitute Decisions Act to take away Romana’s power to make her own decisions about her life, medical care, and gender expression.
In the hands of transphobic parents, Canada’s guardianship laws have become a weapon for taking away the rights of transgender children and adults to access gender-affirming medical care.
Disability rights are 2SLGBTQ+ rights. Everyone has the right to decide who they are for themselves. But the only way to make sure that’s true is to make Canada’s guardianship laws a thing of the past.
Chuka Ejeckam | Chrystia Freeland thinks Africans should die for democracy
Earlier this year, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said at a talk at the Brookings Institute that Africans should be “prepared to die for their democracy.”
In his October column, Ejeckam explains how these statements ignore Euro-colonial history and perpetuate the exploitation of the Global South.
Freeland eagerly describes a circumstance in which NATO demands that all countries in the world align with them against Russia and China, or be deemed an official enemy. Instead, she argues that African nations developing relationships with China is a threat to world peace, and commands Africans to die in service of Western interests.
Evelyn Lazare | Alice in national healthcare land
In this piece, Evelyn Lazare compares the children’s story Alice in Wonderland to the healthcare crisis in Canada.
With the arrival of COVID-19, many of the cracks in the Canadian healthcare system became serious chasms. Hospitals were overwhelmed, inadequately equipped and frequently unable to provide appropriate services. Long-term care and other congregate care facilities were exposed as the last place to protect the frail elderly. Healthcare staff were stressed to previously unknown levels.
Fast forward two – almost three – years later. And we’ve hardly made any improvements to the system. Surely provincial, territorial and the federal governments must be tiring of the pace of denial of the problems in healthcare.
“…You see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” –Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
Lazare wonders: Isn’t it time to slow down and choose another path?
Jodi Rai | It’s self-preservation and purpose, not quiet-quitting
This year, the term “quiet-quitting” went viral on social media apps like TikTok, Instagram or Facebook. Simply put, quiet-quitting describes the act of employees who put no more effort into their jobs than absolutely necessary. But Jodi Rai says it’s more than that.
Quiet-quitting refers to the mindful and empowered choices employees are making with regards to their life-balance. Employees have the right to do good work and be compensated for this work – full stop.
The expectation to ‘do more’ is a capitalist construct that employees are saying “no” to.
She says, quiet-quitting is about self-preservation. It is a statement to employers to treat their employees well and with respect. Because workers are more than just workers: they’re people too.
Judy Rebick | Class War in Ontario
This past fall 97 per cent of CUPE Ontario’s education workers voted in favour of a province-wide strike should their demands for better wages and funding not be met.
Despite a long week at the bargaining table, the Doug Ford government refused to meaningfully negotiate. Instead, Ford imposed a new contract on educational support workers with a pay increase of 2.5 per cent, well below the rate of inflation.
To make matters worse, Ford chose the ‘nuclear option’ and invoked the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause, which allowed the provincial government to override part of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and bypass the union’s right to bargain and strike. The use of the notwithstanding clause means that Bill 28 could not be challenged in court.
In doing so, Judy Rebick said the Ford government had effectively called a “class war against unions.”
Lois Ross | Who is taking the bread? The bottom line on the rise in food prices
In early 2022, columnist Lois Ross explained how the pandemic is not the cause behind “foodflation.”
By linking information about the steady increase in food prices over the past several years, to the constantly dwindling incomes of family farmers and the shameful rise in CEO pay (among others) in the grocery industry, this column challenges the narrative that the pandemic and scarcity are the cause of rising food prices and growing food inequality in our country.
We’ll continue the conversation of food security, inflation and the cost of living in 2023.
Matthew Behrens | Islamophobia preventing Jack Letts from returning home to Canada
In April, Matthew Behrens shared the story of Canadian Jack Letts. Letts is one of over 40 Canadians – men, women, and mostly children – illegally detained for years under conditions akin to torture in Syria. They are the latest group of Canadians abandoned to torture by the federal government.
These Canadians are pleading to come home but Ottawa is refusing to provide them any assistance.
As the year draws to a close, a court battle seeking their repatriation is ongoing in the court system.
Maya Bhullar | Understanding the dynamics of the protests in Iran
In October, international columnist Maya Bhullar interviewed Canadian lawyer and human rights activist Kaveh Shahrooz about ongoing protests in Iran.
This year, protests broke out in Iran – and, indeed, across the world – after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was killed in police custody on September 16 for allegedly not wearing a headscarf.
Shahrooz explained that the current protests go beyond wom
Monia Mazigh | It’s time for Muslim communities to join the circle
In June, Monia Mazigh reflected on Muslim-Indigenous solidarity after attending a pow-wow in the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, a First Nations reserve in Ontario.
“It is unfortunate and frankly incomprehensible to me that many Muslims immigrants to Canada (with few exceptions, of course) have not been exposed to Indigenous communities despite sharing many spiritual beliefs and social habits,” Mazigh writes.
Mazigh says her visit to the reserve “was a reminder that immigrant and Indigenous communities alike suffered from colonialism and the intergenerational trauma that ensues.”
Natasha Darling | Sex worker movement grows as constitutional challenge goes to court
In this November column, Natasha Darling outlines the importance of decriminalizing sex work. In the piece, she highlighted the work the Alliance of Sex Work Law Reform is doing to strike the provisions that criminalize sex work from Canada’s criminal code.
Darling interviewed Jenn Clamen, spokesperson for the Alliance. The two discussed the differences in approach between the Alliance’s legal arguments –which include lived experience from sex workers and their mainstream feminist allies– and the government’s approach, which relied heavily on testimony from law enforcement and religious right.
Ole Hendrickson | Pull the plug on nuclear subsidies
In November, Ole Hendrickson shared a piece on the nuclear power industry in reaction to the Canada Infrastructure Bank approving its largest amount of funding ever for an energy infrastructure project.
An industry rooted in hyper-consumption and waste, nuclear power subsidies for crown corporations and their private sector corporate allies are crowding out investments in energy conservation and renewable technologies, fuelling inflation, and making electricity less affordable.
Despite the enthusiasm of Liberal and Conservative politicians for small modular reactor technology, it represents a costly and dangerous distraction from the real action required to address the climate crisis. It’s time to pull the plug on corporate welfare for the nuclear industry.
Pro Bono | Harnessing the power of community for live music
The live music industry was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In Canada, one in four arts, entertainment and recreation workers lost their job in 2020. And over 85 live music venues in Canada were forced to close up shop for good.
As part of the Pro Bono column, Brian Iler illustrated how a group in Toronto came together to save Hugh’s Room.
“Artists don’t play Massey’s stage without first building their career in smaller venues with supportive audiences,” Iler wrote. Small venues like Hugh’s Room are crucial in providing that first-show opportunity for emerging artists.
Thanks to grants and donations from the community, Hugh’s Room was saved. They purchased a new venue: a historic church in downtown Toronto.
Rachel Snow | First Nation Indigenous truths before reconciliation talk
Before we can talk about reconciliation, Canadians need to learn the truth about Indigenous history, Rachel Snow wrote in September. But that’s not what the federal government wants to do.
The truth is, the federal government has been performative rather than sincere about meaningful change.
“We are not on a path of reconciliation. We are watching the theatrics of a system that doesn’t want to change. A system that thinks it doesn’t have to change,” Snow wrote.
Snow encourages us all to take a deeper look into how politicians act, rather than believing the words they say. For Canada to truly enter into reconciliation, Snow says fundamental changes need to happen. Including Indigenous governance on collective or whole First Nations community terms.
Shreya Kalra | How watching Gilmore Girls can improve local politics
As Canada consistently reports low voter turnout rates, modern politics is thirsty for counseling to improve the relationship between elected officials and the public, rabble columnist and contributing editor Shreya Kalra wrote in September.
To encourage more citizen participation in politics, contemporary politicians need to do more to appeal to younger voters. Perhaps this means taking a page out of the town hall meetings from the fictional village of Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls.
“With each rewatching of the show, I am convinced that modern politics is yearning for some kind of revival of town halls to deepen the relationship between the public and elected officials, beyond door knocking during an election cycle,” Kalra writes.
Thomas Sandborn | Heroes to hostage takers; what we talk about when we talk about strikes
This year, rabble.ca was excited to invite labour analyst Thomas Sandborn as part of our growing groups of columnists. Welcome, Tom!
In this piece, Sandborn makes the case for unions, collective bargaining and strikes as ways workers can defend themselves, improve their conditions and extend human rights protections. Sadly, this case needs to be reiterated every year, as anti-worker propaganda provides an incessant drum beat of insult and falsehood about what unions mean.
What a year! If you’d like to review more top stories of 2022, watch our latest Off the Hill panel. You can also read our “Year in Review.” Then, listen to ‘Best of rabble radio 2022’.
Did we miss a favourite column of yours from 2022? Let us know in the comments below!
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