Atkinson Field Notes
Learning in Action
News, presentations and reflections from Atkinson’s Chief Executive Officer Colette Murphy and the rest of the Atkinson team.
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by Category: Decent Work
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by Media:
21 Dec 22
The Atkinson Foundation turned 80 this year. We arrived at the threshold of a new decade quietly, in stark contrast to the boisterous celebration of our 75th anniversary at 1 Yonge Street, in the space that once housed the Toronto Star’s printing presses. In October, Atkinson’s Board and staff members raised their glasses to Joseph Atkinson and Elmina Elliott... Read more >
21 Oct 22
The exorbitant price we pay for inequality is rising faster than the current rate of inflation these days. When I first heard the logic of inflation many years ago, it sounded like a naturally occurring phenomenon like gravity and tides. I soon discovered that the cost of essential goods and services, and the cost of borrowing money... Read more >
5 Jul 22
“Musicians are the original gig workers. Same as Uber drivers and food delivery workers. I realized we’re in the same fight.” Rollie Pemberton (aka Cadence Weapon) said this in response to a question about artists as workers at a public reading of his new book, Bedroom Rapper. Read more >
27 May 22
My life feels suspended in a whirlwind of change, opportunity, and unlimited possibilities. Now more than ever, I’m convinced of our ability to garner collective power for good. Growing up in east Scarborough, I’ve always found myself drawn to examining overarching systems of oppression and their long-lasting effects on various communities. Read more >
11 Feb 22
This week, we heard that the Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers, Armine Yalnizyan, was named to Maclean’s 2022 Power List as “the caring person’s economist.” When I went to take a look at the list, I was so pleased that Bilal Baig, the creator and star of CBC’s Sort Of, also made the list. In the show, Baig’s character Sabi navigates their work as a nanny and bartender... Read more >
23 Dec 21
This latest variant of COVID arrived like a sudden blizzard: disorienting, frightening and all-too-familiar. Since then, we’ve been madly pumping our brakes, keeping a cautious distance, and rapidly recalculating routes. Some of us are, once again, getting organized to wait this one out from the safety of home – fully vaccinated, boosted, and compensated. Read more >
6 Sep 21
I’m standing on the shore of the great lake once known as Niigaani-gichigami at Point Petre, looking toward Soup Harbour where friends live. Their barn’s blue roof is barely visible against the summer sky. A flat limestone shelf stretches across the bay and suggests a footpath from one point to another. But things are not as they seem. Read more >
6 May 21
Documentaries take us into each other’s lives and workplaces, to learn and inspire action. Here is what Nora Cole, Atkinson’s Manager of Policy and Communications, is taking away about work today from her Hot Docs queue so far. Read more >
1 May 21
This pandemic continues to distort our sense of time. Scientists call it “temporal disintegration”. A feeling of living in the moment, day to day, unmoored from the past and unable to imagine the future. But also a feeling of living large, emboldened to act with moral purpose in the here and now. Read more >
18 Dec 20
2020 has been a year like no other in memory. Decent work activists and advocates have taken centre stage with hard-hitting campaigns for paid sick days, child care, employment insurance, and other income supports for essential workers and their families. Migrant workers Luis Gabriel Flores Flores, Blanca Islas Perez and many others have said: “This is enough... Read more >
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