Follow the Action Canada Fellows

Action Canada Fellowship 2023/2024 Report on Sustainable Transportation

This paper examines how policy could help low-to-moderate income earners living in urban areas across Canada to access affordable rental housing. This would help them move from financial and psychological anguish to fully participating and thriving in society.

The rise of encampments has led to polarized debates among Canadians. There is a pressing need and an opportunity for greater collaboration, knowledge sharing and national coordination to address this pan-Canadian challenge. This report presents seven recommendations to the three levels of government to find solutions for people in need.

The upcoming decades are likely to have more dangerous heat waves and community housing residents are at a heightened risk for heat-related morbidity and mortality. This report shares four key recommendations for policymakers to improve the livability of community housing units and to tenants’ quality of life.

Newcomers to Canada overwhelmingly settle in urban areas. Why do so few immigrants settle down in small and medium population centres in Canada, and how can we encourage them to do so?

This paper examines the intersection of these two subjects: remote work and immigration. Our recommendations will help attract immigrants to take part in a new Canadian economy that features remote work.

Newcomers need to learn more about Indigenous Peoples’ histories, cultures, and lived experiences. This report features new research and engagement on how to support relationship building and truth telling between newcomers and Indigenous Peoples.

As Canadians look forward to the economic recovery and governments herald a new normal, few signals have been given about its policy landscape, and even fewer about the role of small business and entrepreneurs in the post-COVID strategy. With the horizon now in sight, how can governments move quickly to put a shot in the arm of small businesses and entrepreneurs that are operating in disparate and localized challenges and conditions?

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted fundamental gaps in our agricultural system. For the first time in generations, many Canadians saw empty grocery store shelves and became acutely aware of the challenges facing our domestic food system. What followed were COVID-19 outbreaks on farms and meat processing plants and temporary foreign workers who were delayed and stranded. The pandemic highlights vulnerabilities in Canada’s food supply-chain and the importance of a resilient agricultural sector.

Advances in big data, algorithms and cloud computing over the past decade have contributed to the emergence and widespread use of digital platforms in Canada. Whether it be through Uber, Airbnb, Amazon, Etsy or Shopify, a growing number of Canadian workers and businesses are interacting in these platform-based and controlled markets. This phenomenon, known as the emergence of the Platform Economy, has significant implications for the Future of Work in Canada. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated this trend as more Canadians than ever before turn towards digital platforms to support their livelihoods.

This report examines four interlinked factors that contribute to Indigenous inclusion in the labour force and which are incorporated into a suggested framework for developing a tool to measure how inclusive an organization’s workplace is.

The evolution of the Canadian labour market threatens to aggravate the challenges facing resettled refugees. We propose six recommendations for the Government of Canada to better support GARs to succeed in the labour market.

This report is about the future of work and how building an inclusive, resilient economic future requires a critical look at how we understand and value older workers.

Our Task Force conducted a preliminary study of the feasibility of an Arctic Food Innovation Cluster in Canada. The intent of such a cluster is to advance increased access to affordable, culturally informed, healthy food across northern regions. The cluster’s secondary objective is to foster further innovations within the North’s commercial food production industry via new food production methods (e.g., full utilization of harvested fish), value chains, and/or governance models. This would, in turn, boost local economic development opportunities within these northern communities.

A lack of information about some aspects of food makes it difficult for Canadians to make informed food choices. Our Task Force set out to address this by considering what policy decisions could improve Canadians' ability to make informed food choices.

Action Canada Task Force hears from workers, administrators and farmers that existing programs don't work quite right and they need to for Canada's agricultural sector to thrive.

Action Canada's Kharoll-Ann Souffrant '20 weaves together #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter with her own experience and calls for judicial and cultural change to eliminate this 'persistent global scourge'.

Welcome the 13 Fellows making up the 2020/21 Action Canada cohort. This year’s Fellows will also have an opportunity to work directly on policy solutions for rural and urban dimensions of the future of work in a post-pandemic world.

“So, who are you, and what do you want to learn from me?” Vancouver's City Manager Sadhu Johnston goes off script when meeting with Action Canada Fellows.

The 16 new Fellows from across Canada will be focusing on the Future of Work.

The application period for the 2019/2020 Action Canada Fellowship is now open. Interested individuals have until March 15 at 5 p.m. PST to apply.

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Following tradition, Action Canada is heading to The Maritimes on its third study tour of 2019/20.

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Following tradition, Action Canada is heading North for one its study tours.

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And why are jobs changing? Join the Indigenomics Institute's Carol Ann Hilton and Microsoft's Edoardo de Martin for a dialogue facilitated by SFU's Mark Winston on June 14 in Vancouver.

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The newest Action Canada cohort will start their journey on June 13 in Vancouver. Follow along with them!

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Join us for the final task force report presentations from the 2018-2019 Action Canada cohort. After a 10-month study of the Future of Food that started last June in Ottawa and saw the group travel to from Laird, SK to St-Alexandre, QC and many places in between, the three Task Forces are nearly ready to present their final reports and recommendations.

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Action Canada’s 16 Fellows will gather in Ottawa where our first study tour took place. It’s the fifth and final study tour of the 10-month program and will provide opportunities to meet many of the experts that will inform the three research projects that are taking shape.

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Action Canada’s 16 Fellows will gather again in cosmopolitan Montreal where they’ll attend Resetting the Table, Food Secure Canada's 10th Assembly. It’s the third study tour of the 10-month program and will provide opportunities to meet many of the experts that will inform the three research projects that are taking shape.

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Action Canada's 16 Fellows are headed to Paris of the Prairies, Saskatoon! There, they explored Canada's agricultural innovation hub, heard from experts, visited farms, appreciate local food and took the pulse of reconciliation initiatives. It's the second study tour of the 10-month program and will help inform the three research projects that are taking shape.