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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21 Feb 20
Twenty years of shareholder research and education. Twenty years of building an organization known world-wide as SHARE, an acronym that communicates a timeless and urgent mission with uncommon simplicity. Twenty years of doing one’s duty -- demonstrating what prudence, loyalty and care look like when investing in a sustainable, inclusive and productive economy. Read more >
20 Feb 20
I’m in Vancouver today to attend the SHARE Investor Summit with my co-worker Jenn Miller. Atkinson has been a SHARE supporter from the start -- 20 years ago. It continues to be a priority to use our investor and shareholder power to help maximize public and private return on investments. Read more >
20 Feb 20
“I wasn’t a failed DJ. I was pre-successful.” This is just one of the flashes of brilliance that made me a true fan of The Good Place, a wildly funny, philosophical sitcom about life, death, good, evil, redemption and frozen yogurt that premiered in 2016. The series finale aired late last month. Read more >
20 Aug 19
I’m Colette Murphy -- the Executive Director of the Atkinson Foundation -- and on behalf of everyone here this evening, I’d like to thank Principal Fortier, Brian, Hassan, and Minister Duclos for joining our “people’s celebration” of the ILO’s centenary. It is good to be here with you -- in Centre-Sud, a neighbourhood with deep activist roots not unlike the places many of us call home. Read more >
3 Jul 19
Is it possible to have a competitive economy that is also fair? This question was on my mind when I moderated a panel on economic democracy at the Progress Summit earlier this year. Economist Rocío Martínez-Sampere, sociologist Julia Posca and workers’ rights organizer Deena Ladd joined me for what turned out to be an inspiring economic myth-busting session. Read more >
30 Apr 19
Growing up, my dad, older brother and sister were amateur astronomers. As the youngest at the time, I naturally wanted to be in on the exploration. Summer holidays at the planetarium. Summer nights with the telescope, star maps, and naming constellations. What fascinated me most was that the night sky, the heavens, were shared -- around the globe and through time -- and I had a lot of questions. Read more >
25 Apr 19
I turned 30 last year. As my birthday approached, my loved ones gently asked “and how are you feeling about it?” Any important date - a birthday, an anniversary, a milestone - is a moment to ask hard existential and practical questions. Read more >
1 Apr 19
This weekend we learned Donna Wood died a couple of weeks ago in Victoria, British Columbia after a long illness. Donna was a private person about her health, but a fiercely public person when it came to the health of Canadian society. That’s why only a few of us had any idea that the paper we published together on Employment Insurance at the end of January would be one of her last. Read more >
18 Mar 19
When I am asked how I first became interested in social justice, I share my memory of being 10 years old and tagging along with my parents to community meetings. Born and raised in Montréal to Afro-Peruvian parents with little family in Canada, I went where they went; to someone’s living room or community centre. Read more >
21 Jan 19
I’ve been thinking about the merits of good insurance ever since the tornado touched down in the Ottawa area in September. Those who paid higher premiums are in a dramatically different position than others today, but everyone benefited from the community rallying to support victims and to avert a disaster that could have been much worse. Read more >