Shares of the Week: The Priviledge of the Catholic Church Edition

The Horror of Canada’s Residential Schools Was Hiding in Plain Sight - Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel, Jacobin (July 4, 2021)
Nothing is going to fundamentally change until the exploitative, imperialistic system that helped inform the decision to strip indigenous people of their culture, and in which we are still living with today, is replaced with something more human-focused and community-driven. Completely owning up to our racist and profiteering actions beyond token gestures will also present a conundrum about the people living in other countries that Canadian companies are exploiting right now.

There Are Growing Calls to Finally Tax the Catholic Church - Anya Zoledziowski, Vice (July 7, 2021)
It is time we put to bed the myth that churches are some special entity deserving of tax exemption status on both income and property, especially when you consider that the Catholic Church is one of the richest institutions and largest landowners in the world. They have gotten away with claiming they are charities, spreading their influence from Africa to South America to Canada, all while accumulating real estate and building grand spectacles of wealth in what is becoming a familiar tale in our still extremely-exploitative world.

It's finally time to dissolve Ontario Catholic schools - Tina Beier, rabble.ca (July 9, 2021)
Catholic school boards are discriminatory in that no other religion gets their own publicly funded schools with teachers that must be part of the religion, and they are inefficient in that they are ran separately from the public school board, unnecessarily duplicating many of their operations. It is a constitutional preference of a religion in a country that claims to be diverse and inclusive. We can do better, no matter how hard it may be.

Jagmeet Singh commits NDP to building 500,000 affordable housing unit - Kevin Rothbauer, Cowichan Valley Citizen (July 8, 2021)
Demand for housing is far out-pacing supply and profiteers are taking advantage, preventing an entire generation of young adults and people hoping to escape poverty from ever having a chance at owning their own home, or at the least, renting something at a reasonable rate (which is considered to be one third of household income or less). Public investment in housing is part of the solution to reverse this worsening crisis but more work needs to be done including disincentivizing housing as an investment tool and fighting nimbyism at the municipal level.

How To Push Canadian Politicians For Real Change Beyond Symbolic Gestures - Andrea Reimer, Press Progress (June 30, 2021)
This article goes over an evidence-based analysis of the life cycle of social movements while outlining the distinction between token promises for reform and bold actions leading to meaningful change.

How a Conservative Radio Host Came to Accept that He is a Settler - Danielle Paradis, Canadaland (July 8, 2021)
As someone who begrudgingly admits they listened to a lot of right-wing radio in his 20s, including Charles Adler, it fills me with hope that the radio host was able to challenge both his own ego, and his audience for that matter, in order to become a better and more honest person, at least when it comes to accepting his place in Canada. It is never too late to find the courage to accept that oneself can do better.

'I do not feel safe at work': Black man says noose drawn on his office locker - Jeremiah Rodriquez, CTV News (July 9, 2021)
This story isn't coming to you from the American South. This is the reality of people of colour in Canada as well, and in this case, in Ontario. We need to do better.

India Walton Is a Sign of What the Socialist Movement Could Become - Gabriel Winant, Jacobin (July 2, 2021)
Buffalo, NY is on their way to electing a socialist mayor, the first for a major American city since the 60s. This is good news for workers (i.e. all of us who are unable to make a living off our own property), and anyone else exploited by the corporate class that typically rules over us. Work still needs to be done to align the interests of the most mostly-white professional working class and the more racialized low-wage earning class in order to make what is happening in Buffalo’s mayoral race more common elsewhere, in an effort to make our communities more about people and less about profits.