WE’RE GEARING UP for an active year building solidarity, strategy, and skills with the individuals and grassroots groups that are members of The Stand and the progressive activist community as a whole. At our AGM in January, we presented The Stand’s 2022 Priorities from our consultation with grassroots groups.

WE’RE THRILLED to welcome four new board members to help bring our 2022 priorities to life! Nikaela is joining as Member & Volunteer Coordinator; Sarah as Solidarity Coordinator; Sue on Programming; and Ziying on Operations of Member Services! Also at the AGM, Karissa was re-elected as Board Chair, and Bonnie was re-elected in a new role as Communications Coordinator.

WE’RE MOTIVATED to continue our work by the surge of right wing, libertarian organizing that gave rise to the “Freedom Convoy.”

WE FEEL UNSETTLED to hear them take and twist the language of our movements. “My body by choice” from women’s struggle for reproductive rights. “No truckers, no food” from the class struggle for workers rights. Calls for “freedom” and “human rights” that mimic the Civil Rights Movement. “Peace, love, unity” from the anti-war movements (and the rave scene 🥰 ). And the use of Indigenous ceremonies without protocol and without permission from the Algonquin Nation whose territory they are occupying.

WE FEEL HEARTBROKEN & CONFUSED to see some of our friends and family members drawn in by shallow claims of freedom and duped by misinformation and conspiracy theories that are anti-science and anti-journalism. We’ve felt let down when they deny, ignore, and minimize the involvement of white nationalists in their movement.

WE FEEL OUTRAGE towards Scott Moe for using the convoy as cover to dismantle covid protections, pandering to them by echoing their rhetoric of ending “government restrictions on [our] rights and freedoms,” spreading misinformation about vaccines, and ignoring the needs of the most vulnerable members of our communities. And with the Conservative Party of Canada voting to replace their leader at the height of the convoy’s occupation, we feel alarmed knowing how far right politicians, like Trump in the US and Bolsanaro in Brazil, exploit the grievances of the working class to solidify the power of the elite.

“Defeating the growth of the far-right,” Emma Jackson writes for The Breach, “means acknowledging real grievances and countering their narrative with an inclusive, left-wing populism.

HELP BUILD IT by joining in on any one of these events or campaigns below or by joining The Stand as an individual member, a member group, or a sustainer donor.

February Events & Campaigns
Saskatoon, Treaty Six Territory