One of the Green Resilience Project’s goals is to share news, information and resources related to the ideas explored in our community conversations: climate change, income security, community resilience and the transition to a low-carbon economy. With that in mind, we’ve pulled together a (non-exhaustive) list of resources for anyone looking to learn more about these topics, their Canadian contexts and the links between them. If you have a suggestion to add to this list, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Basic Income and Income Security
BOOKS
The Case for a Basic Income by Jamie Swift and Elaine Power. This book looks at the history of the basic income movement, shares experiences from participants in the 2017-19 Ontario Basic Income Pilot and responds to common criticisms to paint a picture of a democratic society built on basic income.
Basic Income for Canadians: From the COVID-19 emergency to financial security for all by Evelyn L. Forget. A great primer on the case for a basic income in Canada, examining how emergency COVID measures could chart the course for a permanent basic income.
Bootstraps Need Boots: One Tory’s lonely fight to end poverty in Canada by Hugh Segal. Conservative Senator Hugh Segal’s memoir, which tells the story of how he came to be a major voice for basic income in Canada.
PODCASTS
Appointed: A Canadian Senator Bringing Margins to the Centre. Hosted by independent Canadian Senator Kim Pate, this podcast deals with issues affecting people on the margins of Canadian society, from food security to guaranteed liveable income.
Climate
BOOKS
A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the climate emergency by Seth Klein. Using lessons from the Second World War, this book explores how Canada can respond to the current climate crisis on an economic and political level.
The Big Stall: How big oil and think tanks are blocking action on climate change in Canada by Donald Gutstein. A good backgrounder on the major players in Canada’s energy sector and their attempts to control climate change narratives to prevent serious change.
More Powerful Together: Conversations With Climate Activists and Indigenous Land Defenders by Jen Gobby. This book explores how social movements like the climate justice movement can achieve large-scale societal change.
Life in the City of Dirty Water by Clayton Thomas-Muller. Cree activist Clayton Thomas-Muller’s memoir “braids together the urgent issues of Indigenous rights and environmental policy” drawing on his career as a frontline activist focused on environmental injustice.
FILMS
There’s Something in the Water, directed by Elliot Page and Ian Daniel and based on the book by Ingrid R. G. Waldron. This film explores the effects of environmental destruction on Black and First Nations communities in Nova Scotia.
This Changes Everything, directed by Avi Lewis and based on the book by Naomi Klein. A Canadian documentary that profiles environmental activists around the world.
PUBLICATIONS
The Narwhal. Independent investigative journalism about Canada’s natural world
Canada’s National Observer. Daily online news site focused on energy, climate, politics and social issues.
Ricochet. Independent investigative journalism on Canadian cultural and political issues. Features two editions: one national and one Québec-focussed.
PODCASTS
Race Against Climate Change by Canada’s National Observer. A six-part podcast about what we need to do by 2030 to cut emissions and avoid total climate disaster.
Disruption. A CBC Calgary podcast about the effects of the energy transition.
World on Fire. A CBC Edmonton podcast that “takes us to the front lines of out of control wildfires in Canada, Australia and the United States.”
Indigenous Rights and Resistance
BOOKS
Unsettling Canada: A national wake-up call by Arthur Manuel and Grand Chief Ronald M. Derrickson. A collaboration between two First Nations leaders, this book takes a close look at Canada’s systemic oppression of Indigenous peoples and draws a roadmap for a sustainable Indigenous economy.
Warrior Life: Indigenous resistance and resurgence by Pamela Palmater. From Mi’kmaw lawyer, professor, author and activist, an account of Canada’s colonial past and present, and a call for Indigenous peoples and allies to work toward a decolonial future.
Living in Indigenous Sovereignty by Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara with Gladys Rowe. Drawing on the wisdom of Indigenous scholars, activists and knowledge keepers, this book deals with the question of what non-Indigenous allies who want to live in solidarity with Indigenous peoples can do.
FILMS
Beans, directed by Tracey Deer. A drama about the 1990 Oka Crisis through the eyes of a young Mohawk girl.
PODCASTS
Media Indigena. Weekly Indigenous current affairs podcast.
Stories from the Land. A collection of Indigenous community-sourced stories that “connect Indigenous Peoples to place with the aim of reinforcing worldview, philosophies & teachings through storytelling” by Anishinaabe comedian, podcaster and writer Ryan McMahon.
Poverty
BOOKS
Fight to Win: Inside Poor People’s Organizing by A.J. Withers. A detailed account of the activism of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.
The Age of Increasing Inequality: The astonishing rise of Canada’s 1% by Lars Osberg. A close look at the causes of (and potential solutions to) Canada’s rising income inequality struggle.
PODCASTS
Hard to Stomach. A CBC Podcast that tells the stories of people facing food insecurity in Ontario.
Resilience
BOOKS
Shift Change: Scenes from a Post-industrial Revolution by Stephen Dale. Using the city of Hamilton as a living case study, this book paints a picture of communities coming together to create inclusive, liveable cities that push back against gentrification.
Work and Labour
BOOKS
The Canadian Labour Movement: A short history by Craig Heron with Charles Smith. An in-depth overview of Canada’s labour history from the mid-nineteenth century to today.
Winnipeg 1919: The Strikers’ Own History of the General Strike by the Winnipeg Defence Committee. This book collects firsthand accounts of the largest strike in Canadian history, with by supporting essays that explain its relevance today.
PUBLICATIONS
CCPA Monitor. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ bimonthly magazine covering issues related to economic, social and environmental justice.
Our Times. A pro-union, independent magazine focused on workers’ rights and social justice.
Rank and File. A Canadian labour news site dedicated to building worker solidarity.
PODCASTS
Work in the West. A series focused on the state of work and employment in Western Canada.