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We can’t go back to business-as-usual after the pandemic.

Before COVID-19 almost half of Canadians were living paycheque to paycheque while wealth soared at the top. Entire Indigenous communities lacked clean drinking water. People in Canada and around the world faced deadly heat waves, record breaking floods and destructive wildfires.

There’s no way we can go back to “normal”, when “normal” was gross inequality and runaway climate change. We have a narrow window of opportunity to shape the government’s plans so we come out the other side of the pandemic better equipped to take care of each other and the planet. 

But if they get it wrong, they’ll deepen the problems we faced before the crisis hit. That’s why as we rebuild after the pandemic — we must: 

• Put our health first, with no exceptions. 
• Strengthen the social security net and ensure relief flows directly to people.
• Prioritize workers and communities — that means no corporate bailouts.
• Tackle the climate crisis and build resilience against future crises.
• Build equity across communities, generations and borders.
• Uphold Indigenous rights and work in partnership with Indigenous peoples.

You can read more about the principles here.

Take action for a Just Recovery: Learn how you can take action.

Watch the recording of the anti-racism webinar from June 11th:

Check out the slide deck for the webinar

Check out some additional resources

In the midst of COVID-19 and the climate crisis, communities across North America are rising up in solidarity with Black Lives Matter to confront racist police violence and white supremacy. In the last few weeks alone in Canada, police have claimed the lives of Black and Indigenous people including Chantel Moore, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Eishia Hudson, Jason Collins, Kevin Andrews, and D’Andre Campbell.

We must grapple with Canada’s long history of state-sanctioned violence and entrenched white supremacy that over-polices, criminalizes, and systematically murders Black and Indigenous people.

That’s why, on June 11th, a few of the organizations that have endorsed the Principles of a Just Recovery are hosting a mass training on Thursday June 11th at 4 PM PT/7 PM ET on how the movement for a Just Recovery can show up for Black and Indigenous Lives.

You can sign up here to attend. 

At its core, a Just Recovery to build back better after the pandemic means reorienting our society to tackle the climate crisis, rising inequality, and systemic racism. This means taking action against systemic racism that disproportionately exposes Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities to COVID-19, the climate crisis, and state violence.

A Just Recovery isn’t just about how we move forwards. It’s also a clear declaration that we won’t return to a fatally dysfunctional business as usual. We all know this business-as-usual is harming our planet but as these past few days have made clear, it’s also brought an urgent, deadly harm to Black communities in particular. As we demand a Just Recovery to build back better after the pandemic, we must reorient our society to tackle the climate crisis, rising inequality, and systemic racism. A Just Recovery is not possible if Black people continue to be targeted and murdered by police and state violence.

We all need to step up to fight racism in all its forms and work to dismantle white supremacy. We are committed to a Just Recovery that will transform our systems to address the climate crisis, rising inequality, and systemic racism. That means defunding harm to our communities, whether it comes from the fossil fuel industries or the police. By making this decision, we know that our municipal, provincial, and federal governments will have billions of dollars in public money to redirect to a Just Recovery. Defunding these harmful institutions means we can put much-needed money and resources towards education, healthcare, housing for all, and other essential community services.

Today, and every day, we must fight the systemic harm and violence towards Black and Indigenous communities, who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, the climate crisis, and the violence of white supremacy. And in this particular moment, it is especially important to center anti-black racism, oppose white supremacy, and stand in solidarity with the demands of the Black Lives Matter movement. Building a movement rooted in the needs of those most oppressed and vulnerable is the only way we can achieve liberation for people and the planet.

Here are some immediate steps we have taken and places to donate in Canada:

• Donate to Justice for Regis Korchinski Paquet Fund
• Listen to Pam Palmater’s Podcast with Desmond Cole on Anti-Black Racism in Canada & US
• Read Sandy Hudson’s op-ed on how “Defunding The Police Will Save Black And Indigenous Lives In Canada”

Here are some additional resources we recommend to begin to understand how the climate justice movement must center anti-black racism, dismantle white supremacy, and defund the police:

• “The Climate Movement’s Silence” by Emily Atkin
• “What we must do to dismantle white supremacy” by Natalia Cardona and Rell Brown of 350.org
• “The Climate Justice Movement Must Oppose White Supremacy Everywhere — By Supporting M4BL” by Mattias Lehman, Sunrise Movement Digital Director
• 8-page foldable zine on why we must defund the police by MPD 150
• “Anti-racism resource for white people” open Google doc by Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein
• Our friends at the Leap compiled a list of ways to support the frontlines in Canada & US here

Photo Credit: PC — Getty via Toronto Star