Category: Indigenous Affairs
Stress testing Canadian governance
Across Canada, the public sector struggled to put in place pandemic public health measures, provide emergency relief to households and businesses, and continue to deliver a vast array of services to Canadians. These efforts are now going through after-action reviews supported by an extensive array of officers and agents of Parliament.
These practical ideas can help reinvigorate Canada’s public sector
The Canadian public sector is having a moment. Typically, it only draws attention from politicians and pundits in episodes, usually as a response to a specific problem or breakdown. This feedback loop has been an essential driver of change, as governments look to make the pain go away and pledge to fix the problem and…
Letter from Ottawa: The changing of the political seasons – and royal eras
Politics is gearing up again in Canada as summer turns to autumn. Michael Wernick, the former clerk of the privy council and secretary to cabinet, sets out the stakes in months – and years – ahead, and reflects on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II
Confronted with Canada’s grim history, we must strive to do better on inclusion
The discovery of unmarked graves of children near former Indian residential schools has created waves of shock and anger across Canada. Michael Wernick, former deputy minister for Indigenous affairs and clerk of the Privy Council, hopes that out of the pain will come a renewed commitment to reconciliation and social inclusion.
Talk of Scottish Independence sparks memories of Canada’s fight for national unity.
It must strike others as odd that Canadians strongly associate the arrival of warm weather with another comforting rite of spring – the culmination of the ice hockey season. Over the next two months the sport’s core audience will be joined by millions of fair-weather fans who only show up for the Stanley Cup and…
The growing friction between bilingualism and other forms of inclusion in Canada
In mid-April Canada’s attention is fully seized by the race to suppress an alarming third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, fueled by variants, through vaccination and another tapping of “emergency brake” lockdown measures. It will be a close run thing.