As we grapple with crises like COVID-19, Indigenous reconciliation, racial injustice, the growing wealth gap, ecosystem collapse, the housing crisis, precarious work and the climate emergency in Canada, one thing is becoming clearer: these issues are inextricably linked and have common causes and complementary solutions.
To solve these cascading issues, bold systems change, including widespread policy change, that challenges the foundations of our current economic system is non-negotiable. Changes like wealth taxes, shifting subsidies from carbon-intensive to low-carbon sectors, circular economic solutions, massive investments in all forms of infrastructure, and new consumption regulations are needed.
Social change has always stood in the way of bold systems change; by social change, we mean a shift in collective will to move in a particular direction.
As the pandemic has shown, social change ultimately determines the degree of permission granted to our leaders to take drastic action. Yet, when it comes to the climate crisis, social change is the missing ingredient. To catalyze the degree of change required, we need broad social change to help fundamentally challenge and redefine our economic system in a way that prevents further degradation of our natural environment.
While we’re in an all-hands-on-deck moment, the community sector (charities, non-profits, social enterprises, and foundations) — with deep community connections and awareness of how social issues intersect — has an integral role in supporting a successful societal transition.
Tim Draimin, senior fellow at Community Foundations of Canada, explains philanthropic organizations like endowed foundations “should be the research and development for front-line work around social change.” He adds while there are organizations supporting practical aspects of climate action — like Green Economy Canada, a non-profit that supports organizations with plans to reduce their carbon footprint and get to net-zero — it’s equally important for the community sector to support citizen mobilization and reinforce democratic values.
The importance of people-powered movements to create social change is well documented.
In his analysis of COP26 and the path forward, environmental and political activist George Monbiot referenced the rule of 25 per cent as the magic number of engaged citizens required to change cultural norms and influence government and industry. He argues that “just as the complex natural systems on which our lives depend can flip suddenly from one state to another, so can the systems that humans have created.”
So how to tip the scales? One way is through building partnerships between the community sector and grassroots organizations to support movements required for social change. But it can be challenging to plug in. Many grassroots initiatives don’t have charitable status, so it’s often difficult to secure donations.
Even so, there are opportunities for the community sector to forge new relationships by providing unrestricted funding or incubating grassroots organizations on their journey to become registered charities. For example, Community Foundations of Canada hosts the Indigenous Peoples Resilience Fund, which provides infrastructure support while an all-Indigenous advisory group retains control of governance.
In Québec, the Climate Justice Organizing HUB is one non-profit filling the gap of supporting grassroots organizationsworking towards climate justice. The HUB is a “support structure designed around the needs of grassroots social movement organizers” offering capacity-building resources for youth organizers. The HUB receives support from both micro-funding and working with NGOs and ENGOs that lend expertise and resources.
Among the networks and groups advised by the HUB, the student youth climate movement in Quebec is the largest and most vocal. This tight-knit group of student associations is known for its extensive organizing, most notably turning out 500,000 people to the streets of Montreal during 2019’s global climate strike, inspired by the Fridays For Future movement.
Tom Liacas, founding director of the Climate Justice Organizing HUB, explains all student organizations in Canada are grappling with the same issues as the international movement. Canadian youth are showing up on the front lines for intersecting issues like Black Lives Matter, defund the police, migrant worker rights and Indigenous justice movements such as Land Back.
By turning out for the crises of our times, they are role models for us all.
At COP26, we saw the failure of world leaders trying to advance climate action while maintaining business as usual, proving we can’t rely on the government alone to solve these problems. To pave the way for an equitable transition out of the climate crisis, post-COVID, the real innovation required is to nurture and invest in inclusive, equitable and people-powered networks and movements to instigate social change.
A version of this commentary first appeared in the National Observer.
