In one of the wealthiest countries in the world, we are relying upon ill-prepared faith and community organizations, staffed by volunteers, to do what the state should be doing—to welcome and to accommodate vulnerable, displaced people who have arrived here, often by a perilous journey, to seek a safe haven and to start a new life.

Wab Kinew signalled early on that his government, if elected, would not raise taxes and balance the provincial budget. This has led some to quip that Manitoba now has a Progressive Conservative Party and a conservative progressive party, as the NDP has become progressive on identity and social issues, and conservative on economic and fiscal policy.

The global ruling class will counter the destabilizing forces of inequality, curtailment of civil liberties, collapsing infrastructure, failing health systems and increasing shortages caused by an accelerating climate crisis, by branding all who resist as “human animals.” As Chris Hedges writes, this new world order began in Gaza. It ends at home.

Canada’s growing food insecurity crisis requires solutions that go beyond asking grocery store CEOs to bring down prices. Policies from windfall profits taxes, to price controls, to city-owned grocery stores would do much more to help with food insecurity, while backing labour’s struggle for wages and working conditions.

There remains a long road to housing justice from the vantage of our own system of exploitative, for-profit rents. With new movements like the Oakwood-Vaughan Tenant Union, however, taking on the financialized landlord class and articulating working class demands for decent housing, it is possible to imagine a better, more equitable Toronto.

Food theft isn’t an indicator of criminality, but of a failing social system that creates the conditions to leave individuals with no alternatives. Police in our grocery stores shouldn’t signal a need to crack down on food theft, but rather inspire questioning about why police are in our grocery stores in the first place, and what can be done to get them out.

Canada recently passed a milestone by announcing the resettlement of more than 40,000 Afghan refugees since the Taliban recaptured Kabul in August 2021. Yet, with many applications still pending, the federal government has a moral responsibility to assist Afghan refugees who continue to flee the oppressive rule of the theocratic regime.

Québec’s police complaint system is about to be severely weakened as third parties are no longer able to submit complaints to the ethics commissioner. As Alexandre Popovic explains, while third-party complaints represent a small fraction of the files submitted, they have a much higher chance of leading to a sanction against police officers.

My greatest wish—as a student and a human being—is to live in a world where all peoples, regardless of race, creed, or faith, can live in peace and dignity. A world where children can grow up free from the horrors of war. We must fight, when all seems dim, so that the world of our dreams can be born. We must fight on, for hope.

How do you tell a student who earnestly feels that they are in danger that you think their fears are unfounded or exaggerated? That was the question that came to me in the classroom, and the one that animated this essay. Maybe it’s unnecessary. A group chat of fellow adjuncts and late-term PhDs who share my politics have advised me to keep my head down.