Local, living economies for a Just Transition

In 2021 some of the most powerful voices in our economy — oil executives, corporate bankers, and politicians across the divide — are calling for decisive action against climate change. Is this the end of climate change denial?  As we navigate this changing landscape, the Climate Justice Alliance warns us to be wary of “false solutions” to the crisis. These are approaches that “extract and further concentrate wealth and political power; continue to poison, displace, and imprison communities; [and] reduce the climate crisis to a crisis of carbon.” According to Hoodwinked in the Hothouse, a “solution” is false if it avoids “the very underlying drivers that got us into this mess in the first place: economies of greed and hoarding; endless growth; corporate enclosure of land; erosion of biodiversity and the exploitation of life.”  Real solutions, according to Eriel Tchekwie Deranger of Indigenous Climate Action (ICA), require “a transformative economic, social, and political shift.” Hoodwinked describes this as “a transition from global extractive economies to local, living economies rooted in shared values of reciprocity, care, dignity, mutuality, solidarity and the respect for the territorial integrity, sacred creative principles and natural laws of Mother Earth and Father Sky.”  Many of these values are woven into the heart of the Community Economic Development (CED) movement. The foundational Neechi principles, for example, advocate for localized procurement, production, and employment structures that are grounded in “human dignity [and] Aboriginal pride.” Meanwhile, Indigenous CED leaders like Carol Anne Hilton are building bridges across local economies to catalyze the $100 billion Indigenous economy.  The CED movement is thus well positioned to help enable a Just Transition, but only if we commit to actively and consistently affirming Indigenous sovereignty. As ICA attests, “To effectively address climate change, policies and solutions need to… center the voices, needs and leadership of the people most impacted by the crisis.” Not only are Indigenous peoples disproportionately threatened by the climate crisis, they are also often sources of the wisdom and courage required to transform it.  How can we weave the principles of anti-colonialism and Indigenous sovereignty into the CED movement? How can we ensure that Indigenous voices, worldviews, and lifeways are guiding the struggle — not only for climate justice, but in everything our movement does?In solidarity and gratitude,The CCEDNet team Ben Losman | Canadian CED Network <ben@ccednet-rcdec.ca>   We welcome our new and returning guests across Canada:

• Organizations
• Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada
• Alterna Savings
• Bilal Community and Family Centre
• Common Good Solutions CIC
• Factor 5 Group
• Groupe Convex Prescott-Russell
• Guelph Black Heritage Society
• Healthy Muslim Families Inc.
• Inclusion Powell River Society
• Institute for Community Prosperity, Mount Royal University
• Klinic Community Health
• Manitoba Association of Newcomer Serving Organizations (MANSO)
• Manitoba Council for International Cooperation (MCIC)
• Manitoba Green Retrofit
• Momentum
• Mosaic Newcomer Family Resources Network
• NorWest Co-op Community Food Centre
• Nova Networks Inc
• Saskatchewan Economic Development Alliance
• Summit Search Group
• The Round Table Cooperative La Table Ronde Ltd
• Tobique Youth Centre
• Wolastokewi Uhkomossok Society
• Wolseley Family Place

Community Economic Development News

• CBC National: New federal budget needs to deliver on government’s social finance and innovation commitments by Victor Beausoleil, Marie J. Bouchard, Carol Anne Hilton 
• iPolitics: Ottawa must deliver on its promise to remove profit from long-term care by Cathy Taylor and Andre Beaudry
• CCEDNet blog: Momentum building around a federal social innovation and social finance strategy by Raissa Marks
• Toronto Star: Women have been hit the hardest by the pandemic — and are also the key to our economic recovery by Rosalind Lockyer
• The Hill Times: Food insecurity remains a serious challenge during the pandemic by Nancy Neamtan 

Buy Social Canada Announces 2021 Social Procurement Champion Award Winners
The Champions are a municipality, a community advocacy group and a group of social enterprises who have successfully endeavoured to advance social procurement in their communities.

CCEDNet Events

May 6: Working with the Media — Easier Said Than Done! 
Have you had successful experiences with mainstream media in your advocacy work?  What about ones that went wrong?  What did you take away from those experiences? 

Hosted by CCEDNet’s government director Raissa Marks, this campfire chat will provide CCEDNet members with an opportunity to share your own experience in working with the media in your advocacy campaigns, and learn from others’ stories in an informal peer-to-peer learning environment.

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June 11: CCEDNet’s 2021 AGM
Join us for CCEDNet’s 22nd Annual General Meeting on June 11, 2021! Come connect, celebrate, and envision our collective path forward. 

Ahead of the AGM, members can join us for a session on CCEDNet’s expanded Theory of Change on May 25th. 

Also, at the AGM, we’ll be presenting the Stronger Together Awards to members who have made exceptional contributions to the field. Submit your nominations by May 7!

Featured Resource

Just Transitions, Power and Politics

In this final session of the Just Transition Research Collaborative webinar series, the focus is on power and politics and unpacking what has happened to Just Transitions in the five years since the Paris Agreement was adopted. The session explores whether and how narratives of Just Transition have changed in that time, in terms of their ambitions, inclusiveness and the issues they address.

Looking at more recent developments such as the Covid-19 pandemic, panelists reflect on emerging discussions around the value of different kinds of work and the potential for using moments of crisis and change as an opportunity to put economies on a different, fairer, low-carbon path.

CED Events

Communities Building Youth Futures
May 6 to May 7 | Tamarack Institute

Procurement for Social Value Suppliers
May 6 | Buy Social Canada

The End of Poverty
May 6 to May 7 | Tamarack Institute

Theory of Change Engagement Session for CCEDNet Members
May 25 | The Canadian CED Network 

Social Enterprise World Forum Rural Forum
June 8 to June 9 | The Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF)

Indigenous Economics: Reclaiming the Sacred
June 10 to June 12 | Indigenous Climate Action and Canadian Society of Ecological Economics

CCEDNet’s 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM)
June 11 | Canadian CED Network

International Co-operative Governance Symposium
June 17 to June 19 | International Centre for Co-operative Management, Saint Mary’s University

National Indigenomics Design Conference
June 23 to June 25 | Indigenomics Institute

View all events

CED Jobs

Program Manager, Climate Action Team
Green Action Centre | Winnipeg, MB
Deadline: Monday, May 3, 2021

Assistant Farmers’ Market Coordinator
Fireweed Food Coop | Winnipeg, MB
Deadline: Friday, May 14, 2021

Program and Outreach Coordinator
Variety Manitoba | Winnipeg, MB
Deadline: Friday, May 21, 2021

Communications Lead
Common Approach to Impact Measurement | Remote (anywhere in Canada)
Deadline: Monday, May 31, 2021

Strategy and Operations Lead
Common Approach to Impact Measurement | Remote (anywhere in Canada) 
Deadline: Monday, May 31, 2021

View all jobs

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