Inspiring Canadians: Forty Brilliant Canadians and Their Visions for the Nation

By Mark Bulgutch and Peter Mansbridge

Forty influential and diverse Canadians with expertise in subjects such as Indigenous rights, climate change, social justice and race, gun control, higher education and poetry reflect on everything Canada is getting right—and what still needs to change to make the country even better.

Acclaimed journalist Mark Bulgutch collects inspiring stories and ideas from multifaceted Canadians whose love for Canada compels them to make this country a better place for all—ultimately revealing that equal parts critique and celebration is the key to a thriving nation. These chapters spotlight visions of a more sustainable, equitable, welcoming—and fun!—country from Canadians who believe in the possibility of an even better future.

Including: Perry Bellegarde on upholding the rights of Indigenous people; Adam Fenech on adapting to climate change; Najma Ahmed on ending the contagion of gun violence; Mack Rogers on how literacy solves problems; Laura Tamblyn Watts on securing the future for seniors; Katie Ward on the innovations of Canadian agriculture; Santa Ono on how higher education keeps Canada competitive; Michael Levitt on the value of an MP; Paulette Senior on equal opportunity for women; Kenneth Sherman on poetry and the human spirit; Michael Prince on ensuring dignity for people with disabilities; Donald MacPherson on how drug overdoses can be dramatically reduced; Kwame McKenzie on mental health and happiness; Duff Conacher on improving Canadian democracy; and many more.

This dynamic collection is sure to spark debate and showcase how the fabric of a country is defined by its multiplicity of voices, cultures, stories and ideas. Weaving together these diverse viewpoints, Bulgutch leads us into the future—compelling us to do the most Canadian of things: change the world, and our nation, for the better.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
• Release date: Mar 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781771623360

Mark Bulgutch

Mark Bulgutch is a journalist, educator, speaker, and the author of the instant #1 national bestseller Extraordinary Canadians and three other books. He worked for CBC for forty years, eleven as the senior editor of The National and another ten as senior executive producer of all live news specials. He taught at Toronto Metropolitan University for thirty-five years. A regular contributor of opinion columns to The Toronto Star, he has won fourteen Gemini Awards, four RTDNA Awards, the Canadian Journalism Foundation Award of Excellence, and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Gold Ribbon Award. He lives in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter @MarkBulgutch.

Book preview

Inspiring Canadians

Mark Bulgutch

with a foreword by Peter Mansbridge

Inspiring Canadians

Forty Brilliant Canadians & Their Visions for the Nation

Douglas & McIntyre

Copyright © 2022 Mark Bulgutch

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Edited by Peter Norman

Text design by Libris Simas Ferraz / Onça Design

Printed and bound in Canada

Photographs courtesy the contributors except where otherwise noted

Cover insets of contributors, clockwise from centre top: Santa Ono (photo courtesy of UBC Brand & Marketing); Paulette Senior; Perry Bellegarde; Helen Kennedy; Katie Ward; Natasha Henry (photo by Sandy Nicholson); Ali Ghorbani; Marquis Haines; Najma Ahmed

Printed on 100% recycled paper

Supported by the Government of Canada Supported by the Canada Council of the Arts Supported by the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council

Douglas and McIntyre acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Inspiring Canadians : forty brilliant Canadians and their visions for the nation / Mark Bulgutch ; with a foreword by Peter Mansbridge.

Names: Bulgutch, Mark, author. | Mansbridge, Peter, writer of foreword.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210384948 | Canadiana (ebook) 20220155216 | ISBN 9781771623148 (softcover) | ISBN 9781771623360 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Canada—Forecasting. | LCSH: Social prediction—Canada. | LCSH: Canada—Social conditions—21st century.

Classification: LCC HN108 .B85 2022 | DDC 303.4971—dc23

Dedication

If you were to ask me how to make Canada even better, I would fumble around before stringing together some semi-articulate academic answer. But if you were to ask me how to make every Canadian life even better, I would have an immediate and confident answer. Have a family like mine.

My wife, Rhonda, my daughters, Melissa and Jessica, and my granddaughter, Reid, love me. And I love them. There’s no stronger foundation for any life.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Peaceful Coexistence and Mutual Respect: Perry Bellegarde on upholding the rights of Indigenous people

Fairness In and Out of the Workplace: Hassan Yussuff on how unions are good for everyone, not just members

The Doctor’s Prescription: Najma Ahmed on ending the contagion of gun violence

The Biggest Success Story We’ve Ever Had: Laura Tamblyn Watts on securing the future for seniors

Keep Your Eyes on the Road: Rob Duttchen on ending distracted driving

An Excellent System: Santa Ono on how higher education keeps Canada competitive

Sunshine, Rain and a Few Inches of Topsoil: Katie Ward on the miracle of Canadian agriculture

There’s Nothing We Cannot Do: Gilles Leclerc on Canada’s exploration of space

Elected to Make a Difference: Michael Levitt on the value of an MP

The Time to Act is Now: Adam Fenech on adapting to climate change

A Country Where Everyone Matters: Paulette Senior on equal opportunity for women

The Unopened Treasure Chest: Kenneth Sherman on poetry and the human spirit

Justice for All: Michael Tulloch on the integrity of the rule of law

Connecting this Huge Country of Ours: Laura Tribe on how Canada must embrace the internet

Standing Up Against Intolerance: Michael Mostyn on fighting the plague of anti-Semitism

A Silver Bullet: Mack Rogers on how literacy solves other problems

We’re All Part of Humanity: Michael Prince on bringing dignity to people with disability

The Past Explains the Present: Elsbeth Heaman on why we should know our history

Projecting Canadian Values to the World: Marquis Hainse on the critical role of the Armed Forces

Feeding People: James McAra on how food banks tackle hunger

The Place Where We All Live: Giovanna Borasi on how architecture builds community

Advantages that Didn’t Exist Before: Christopher Waddell on how journalism creates the marketplace of ideas

Follow the Evidence: Donald MacPherson on how drug overdoses can be dramatically reduced

The Biggest Bang for Our Donation Bucks: Kate Bahen on how to pick your charities

Monumentally Phenomenal Athletes: Anson Henry on Olympic athletes who do the impossible

An Extraordinary Asset: Annie Kidder on the commitment to public education

We Need Big Ideas: Kyle Matthews on Canada’s role in protecting human rights

The Last Public Space: Julie McKenna on the wonders of the library

Building a Resilient Society: Kwame McKenzie on mental health and happiness

In Our National Interest: Colin Robertson on why our foreign policy matters

A Very Young Community: Shireen Salti on welcoming Arabs to Canadian society

We Have Smart People: Reinhart Reithmeier on investing in Canada’s science culture

You’ll Never Feel More Canadian: Randy Ambrosie on why the country needs the CFL

A More Accurate Representation of Canada’s Beginnings: Natasha Henry on Black history in our schools

Ending a Slow-Motion Crisis: Tim Richter on solutions to homelessness

The Gift of Laughter: David Merry on making Canadians laugh

We Have Come a Long Way: Helen Kennedy on shifting the culture on gay rights

Outdoor Communal Living Spaces: Adri Stark on why parks are for everyone

Safe and Secure: Ali Ghorbani on how Canadians can fight computer hackers

A Model for the World: Duff Conacher on improving Canadian democracy

About the Author

Foreword

Journalists see a lot of things. Some they wish they could unsee. But many events open our eyes to the real world around us and leave us knowing that we are so lucky.

Of the many moments I remember, my mind often settles on this one. It was June of 1979 and I was in Hong Kong doing a mini-documentary for the CBC program Newsmagazine on the exodus of the Boat People from Vietnam. These were ethnic Chinese who were fleeing post-war Vietnam because they felt persecuted and they doubted their children could be raised there safely. As a result many paid outrageous sums of money to unscrupulous people who put them on overcrowded boats headed for uncertain futures starting in the South China Sea. Those who survived the horrendous journey wound up in temporary refugee camps hoping some country, somewhere, would take them in.

It was in one of those camps that I had my never-forgotten moment. We were filming and talking to some of the refugees when one woman, holding her months-old son, jumped up from the area in which she had been squatting and tried to thrust her child into my arms. She wanted me to take her son away from this hell. It was a desperate act, but one she felt was the only way she could be sure her son would have a chance in life. She had heard that we were from Canada and for her Canada meant freedom, and hope, and space, and a future. She was in tears. And she was one of many in that state. Of course, I couldn’t do what she had asked but I made sure she knew there was a process that offered hope, and tens of thousands of those refugees did come to Canada, and perhaps she and her family were among them.

Oh, we are so lucky. That’s what was written on her face: You are Canadian. Yes, we are Canadian and sometimes you need to see up close what that means to so many in the rest of the world, to appreciate just how lucky we are.

But our work is not done. We are good but we can be better and that’s the message of this book. My long-time friend, colleague and co-author of our 2020 national bestseller Extraordinary Canadians, Mark Bulgutch, discovers how we could make those improvements by talking to a knowledgeable and forward-thinking group of our fellow citizens. Successful in their very different careers, and all proud of their country, this incredible group of inspiring Canadians shows us how far we’ve come as a nation, while bringing into sharp focus the work still left to be done.

– Peter Mansbridge

Stratford, Ontario

Introduction

If you have chosen to read this book because you are expecting page after page of what is wrong with Canada, amounting to an indictment of the country’s past, present and future, then you will be disappointed.

This book begins with the premise that Canada is a wonderful country, blessed as few others are. You can look it up. There isn’t unanimous agreement on the number of countries in the world—some say 193, some add a few more—but it’s impossible to find any credible statistic that portrays Canada as a terrible place. If you were comparison shopping for a country to be born in, choosing Canada would be the best decision of your life. Of course, we don’t get to choose. Which is why I have never bought a lottery ticket. I don’t have to hit a multi-million-dollar jackpot to make me realize how lucky I am. I was born in Canada, which made me a winner on day one.

The United Nations Human Development Index puts Canada at number sixteen. The OECD Better Life Index says we’re number four. The World Happiness Report says we’re number eleven. A U.S. News & World Report survey, which measures several metrics, says we are the most socially progressive country in the world, have the best quality of life in the world and, overall, Canada is the best country in the world. On the other hand, Canada is nowhere near the top when you look at national rankings of maternal death rates or under-five mortality.

So many people in the world are forced to struggle to overcome the circumstances of their birth. I have tried to live a life worthy of the advantages I was gifted by the circumstances of my birth.

I wasn’t born to luxury. My parents came from immigrant families, didn’t go very far in their schooling, could read only well enough to get through the newspaper, never a novel. They could sign their names on the rent cheque every month, but my sister Linda wrote the cheque. Once Linda married and moved out, my sister Sharron wrote the notes to my school to explain why I had been absent the day before. We were a one-income family; that income derived from my father’s manual labour at the Redpath Sugar refinery. I never had a silver spoon in my mouth. I sometimes wondered why other families had cars and flew away on vacations while we didn’t, but I never really thought I was hard done by. As I grew up and began to follow the news, I came to appreciate that being born in this country was no small thing.

Our proximity to the United States has overwhelmed us with the mythology of the American Dream. We hear so many stories of success that could only happen in America. Well, I’m living proof of the Canadian Dream. This country provided me with security, free primary and secondary education; it made a university education possible, allowed me to work for the most important news service in the country for forty years, meet and marry the woman of my choice, raise a family and live happily ever after. More than a proud Canadian, I am a grateful Canadian.

I am not blind, however, to what other Canadians have experienced. For Indigenous people, other racialized minorities and those who through no fault of their own were not allowed to share the full bounty of opportunity, Canada has failed to live up to its grand promise. I’d like to think we have recognized some of our major shortcomings and are trying to make amends. Several chapters of this book address those issues, but I have chosen to look at subjects farther afield as well.

For more than a decade, when I was the lineup editor of CBC’s nightly newscast, The National, it was my job to help decide which stories to run. Given the relatively short time we had for all the day’s news, it stood to reason that every story had to be important. But that’s an elastic word—important. If we did only capital-I Important stories, the newscast would have been a litany of doom and gloom. There was always plenty of that. But we wanted to reflect a world and a country that wasn’t mired in hopelessness. That was why we did stories on the arts, business, science, education, sports, technological innovation and more. We weren’t trying to pretend that the country didn’t face serious issues. We were just trying to acknowledge that most of us didn’t live in a world that was perpetually bleak.

And so it is with this book. It deals with homelessness, drug abuse, mental illness, climate change and other very serious issues. But you’ll also read about poetry, comedy, football, parks and architecture, which are also part of us. It tries to capture a great but imperfect country. I talked with very smart people who know much more than I do about their fields of expertise. I asked them to tell me what we could do to make things better, and why. Each of these topics has filled entire bookshelves but is covered here in just a couple of thousand words. This is not a master class on what ails us. Instead, I think of it as food for thought. As I spoke to each of the people in these pages, I invariably heard something I hadn’t considered before. Their ideas are still rattling around in my brain.

– Mark Bulgutch

Toronto, Ontario

Peaceful Coexistence and Mutual Respect

Perry Bellegarde on upholding the rights of Indigenous people

Perry Bellegarde was elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. He stepped down in the summer of 2021. He has a wealth of leadership experience, having spent the past three decades putting into practice his strong beliefs in the laws and traditions instilled in him by the many chiefs and Elders he has known over the years. At the community, national and international levels, Chief Bellegarde is recognized for sound fiscal management and skillfully navigating highly complex policy, political and legal matters to achieve meaningful change for First Nations peoples and for Canada.

To build a better future, we have to understand our shared history. Canada was founded on a unique promise of peace and mutual respect among peoples. It’s also true that Canada inflicted terrible and shocking harms on First Nations—more so than most Canadians realize. However, that original unfulfilled promise is still very much alive.

A middle-aged man with medium-light skin tone and short dark hair seen from the shoulders up. His eyes appear to be looking slightly above the camera and his brow is slightly furrowed. He wears a dark shirt with a floral pattern.

Perry Bellegarde

My people, the Nehiyawak (Cree) and the Nakota of the Little Black Bear First Nation, entered into Treaty 4 in 1874, when Canada was in its infancy. We consecrated the treaty under the open sky with all of creation as our witness. Creator was called to witness. All the grandmother and grandfather spirit beings were called to witness. We conducted ceremony—the pipe and the sweat lodge—an indication of how seriously we took this covenant.

The original spirit and intent of Treaty 4—and many of the other numbered treaties—is represented by our treaty medallion. The medallion shows a European man shaking hands with a First Nations man. There was no conquest, no subjugation. This was about a meeting of equals.

At their feet you see a buried hatchet, a symbol of peace. The medallion shows larger tipis and smaller ones, representing the generation that entered into the treaty and the generations still to come. And you can see the sun and the water and the grass. This covenant of peace, mutual respect and reciprocity was meant to last as long as the sun shines, the rivers flow and the grass grows.

Honouring the original treaty relationship is not about trying to live in the past. Our old people have passed along the stories of how the treaty was entered into, of the meaning behind the words written on paper. They call on us to continue to honour that relationship of peaceful coexistence and mutual respect.

The treaties are also part of the laws of Canada. Our Treaty rights are acknowledged in section 35 of Canada’s Constitution: The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed. Those treaties, their spirit and intent, are part of the fabric of Canada.

It’s clear, though, that things have gone very wrong.

The spirit and intent of the treaties have been violated. First Nations have not been consistently treated with respect. Reciprocity? A sustained absence. First Nations have not benefitted from the lands and resource wealth in the same manner as our treaty partner. And when you look at the gap in quality of life between First Nations and the rest of Canada, it’s like we don’t even live in the same country.

That’s not the relationship that we honoured with the pipe ceremony and in the sweat lodge.

And that’s not the only relationship that’s out of balance. The natural world is in a state of decline. The well-being—the very survival—of our children and grandchildren is threatened by the climate crisis. These are things that were never meant to be.

If we’re going to survive this time of crisis, we need to come together. We need to restore our relationships. With one another. And with the world around us.

Growing up, I had the blessing of being able to spend time with the old people. Our Elders are our knowledge keepers, our philosophers and our scientists. They taught me that we humans are all connected. They said, We are all the two-legged tribe. We are all in this together.

In the Cree way, we also acknowledge our four-legged relatives as well as the ones that fly, the ones that swim and the ones that crawl. We acknowledge and give thanks to the male plants and the female plants. We give thanks to the four grandmother spirits that look after the waters—rainwater, fresh water, salt water and the power of women, whose water breaks when life comes. We acknowledge our kind, loving Creator or God. Then we acknowledge Mother Earth, our mother who gives us everything. Father Sky. Grandmother Moon. Grandfather Sun. Our relatives, the Star People. We acknowledge and give thanks to the ones who sit in the east, the south, the west and the north.

We say, All my relations.

These are things that make us Nehiyawak and Nakota people. These are things that we want our young people to take pride in. We have our languages. We have our lands. And we have an understanding of the world that calls on us to respect and honour all our relations.

That’s how I see things. I believe that First Nations can benefit from engaging with all the cultures and peoples around us. And we have a lot to offer in return. It’s why I think of myself as a dual citizen. I will always belong to Treaty 4, the Cree Nation and the Little Black Bear First Nation. And I am also a Canadian.

In 1984 I became the first Treaty Indian to graduate from the University of Regina with a bachelor of administration degree. I worked in private industry for a couple of years, and then the Elders and the people of the Touchwood File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council said to me, Perry, you have your education now. Come home and help us.

I couldn’t say no.

For thirty-five years, I have worked to improve the lives of Treaty 4 Indians and all other First Nations. And I have worked to improve the relationship between Indigenous peoples and all Canadians. I have tried to restore respect for the spirit and intent of the original treaty relationship with the Crown.

There’s a Cree word, oskâpêwis, that describes the role I have tried to play for my people and all my relations. Oskâpêwis is the one who helps build the sun dance lodge. Oskâpêwis is the one who helps the Elders with the pipe ceremony. Oskâpêwis is the one who hauls rocks for the sweat-lodge ceremony. Oskâpêwis is a helper or servant. That’s what a leader is—a helper and servant of the people.

When I look around me today, I see an opportunity for First Nations and non-Indigenous people to build something together. We can build a lodge together. We can tend the fire together. We can build a more just and more prosperous country together. Many aspects of the Constitution, international law, and our shared history demonstrate over and over that Canada represents a commitment by English, French and Indigenous nations to live together peaceably and still welcome newcomers as part of our sacred Treaty covenant.

First Nations continue to extend our hand of friendship. We are still waiting for our treaty partner to act in accordance with the true spirit and intent of a treaty that is founded in the equality of nations and our mutual obligations to each other. That spirit resonates today in modern international law, affirming our equality as peoples, our inherent right to self-determination and our right to enforcement of our treaties. The report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission shows how our history compels a renewal of the true spirit of Treaty.

In the early days of our Treaty, my people welcomed a lot of Ukrainian immigrants to our territory. I went to school with several Ukrainian kids. I learned to speak some Ukrainian. I’m proud of that. I feel richer for it. But I have to ask, why don’t more Canadians come to Treaty 4 territory and learn about who we are and even learn to speak some Cree or Nakota?

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission showed us how powerful it can be when the truth of our history is known and acknowledged. Over the years there have been a number of reports that have educated Canadians. One goes back to the 1960s—the Hawthorn Report. In the early 1980s the Penner Report on Indian Self-Government in Canada reshaped our thinking. In the mid-1990s the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples released its very informative five-volume report. More recently we read the report of the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). Maybe the most important one was the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015) and its ninety-four Calls to Action. I heard people saying, I didn’t know about the residential schools in Canada. I had no clue there was a genocide of your people. So the Truth and Reconciliation Commission educated Canadians, which has been so very revolutionary.

We need to do more to teach this history in our classrooms. That’s the way your children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren will know about the Treaty relationships. Young people learn about the Treaty of Ghent, the Treaty of Paris, the Treaty of Versailles. What about treaties that were entered into with Indigenous Peoples? In Saskatchewan, teaching treaties is now law. What about Alberta? Manitoba? Quebec? Ontario? All the rest of them?

And Canada must repudiate the racist doctrines that have been used to rationalize various colonial legal concepts and techniques used to ignore and deny our pre-existing inherent rights, title and jurisdiction. These include the Doctrine of Discovery and the doctrine that land not held by Christians was terra nullius (unoccupied land). Europeans came here, planted a flag and suddenly the land was theirs. I say with great respect that the lands weren’t vacant in Canada.

Everybody in Canada has to