This blog is part of the ‘Voices of New Economies’ series within Cities for People – an experiment in advancing the movement toward urban resilience and livability through connecting innovation networks. This Voices series is collectively curated by One Earth and The Canadian CED Network. We are launching Voices of New Economies as part of New Economy Week 2014, hosted by the New Economy Coalition. Throughout this week, a series of 5 questions guide our exploration of what it would take to build the economy we need – one that works for people, place, and planet.

Today’s Voices story responds to the second question in the New Economy Week series: How can we catalyze public conversation about the need for systemic change and the viability of economic alternatives that put people and the planet first?

Finding a name for a nonprofit leads to some serious and playful conversations.  In 2006, four co-founders and I brainstormed until Bill Rees suggested One Earth.  The name resonated – coming home to our incredible living planet.  Re-discovering the wealth in the living systems of which we are a part and revealing our global interdependence.

Our economies shape our relationships with nature and with each other – and we are the designers of these relationships.  Real wealth comes from designing economies to preserve clean air, clean water, healthy food and ecosystems, energy, shelter, love, and purpose for all species now and into the future. It is not about continuing to consume more and more and to produce more and more waste in ways that lack resilience and are unfair, undemocratic and unsustainable. 

The good news is that positive and healthy economic alternatives already exist and are actively being further explored and tested. I am inspired by our endless human imagination in advancing fundamental systemic change.

There are many key elements of new economies and here are three that can spark public conversations:

1. Slowing down and taking the long-view: In new economies we know when short-term and a vibrant pace is appropriate, and when a measured pace and long-term approach guides better decisions.  By slowing down, we can quiet the constant drive for more and listen to each other and to nature as we develop solutions.  We correct our pervasive short-termism in order to recognize that long-run and long-lag problems (as Jamais Cascio rightly notes) require us to lengthen our decision-making perspective and adopt a resilient and adaptive approach.
2. Tracking the numbers: New economies are designed with evidence-based feedback loops. We want to know, and not assume, that our actions are leading to increases in and maintenance of the things we want (e.g., community, resilience, healthy ecosystems) and reductions in the things we don’t want (e.g., inequality, waste, toxins). By tracking the numbers, we can catch undermining effects – such as increasing efficiency in cars and then polluting the same amount by driving more – and focus on implementing transformative long-lasting solutions – such as designing walkable cities.
3. Diverse designers, especially vulnerable peoples: It matters who is at the table in shaping the alternatives to our current economic challenges. Those who have vested interests in maintaining dysfunctional aspects of our current economy are not well-placed to explore other options.  Those who are most vulnerable and marginalized hold critical perspectives and capacities that open up possibilities for just, equitable and restorative economies.  In fact, we need a variety of voices – redesigning new economies is about creating collaborations across unlikely allies including between grassroots movements and the mainstream.

The following are just a few of the many resources that provide further insight into the shape of new economies:

• Bill Rees – http://williamrees.org/in-the-press/
• Janine Benyus, Biomimicry – https://biomimicry.net/
• The Story of Solutions – Annie Leonard – https://storyofstuff.org/movies/the-story-of-solutions/
• One Planet Economy – http://www.oneplaneteconomynetwork.org/eureapa.html

I join others in conserving the structures, behaviors, and values that align with new economies and transforming those that are dysfunctional. This requires us to apply a systems approach, to connect and build bridges across movements in order to amplify our work, and to promote positive visions of better futures to make sustainable livelihoods attractive, and inspire the world to think and act as one Earth.

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Vanessa Timmer is co-founder and Executive Director of One Earth, a nonprofit ‘think and do’ tank based in Vancouver, Canada, whose mission is to transform production and consumption patterns locally, nationally and internationally to be sustainable, healthy and just within the limits of living systems.

Vanessa is a social entrepreneur dedicated to positively transforming human and ecological relationships. She weaves together sustainability and systems thinking, and believes that envisioning positive futures is a powerful draw for social change. Vanessa is an Associate at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government researching innovation and sustainability, with graduate degrees from Oxford and the University of British Columbia. She was awarded the 2013 Top Forty under 40

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This blog is the first of the ‘Voices of New Economies’ series within Cities for People – an experiment in advancing the movement toward urban resilience and livability through connecting innovation networks. This Voices series is collectively curated by One Earth and The Canadian CED Network. We are launching Voices of New Economies as part of New Economy Week 2014, hosted by the New Economy Coalition. Throughout this week, a series of 5 questions guide our exploration of what it would take to build the economy we need – one that works for people, place, and planet.

Today’s Voices story celebrates Indigenous People’s Day, with author Carol Anne Hilton responding to the first question in the New Economy Week series: How can we honour and learn from the rich histories of communities building New Economy institutions on the frontlines of fights for racial, economic, environmental justice?

The invisible thread that ties the development of Canada and our current economy plays out daily in the story of the First Nation relationship in the Canadian media. These pivotal moments can support the opportunity for our continued definition of modernity, to right our past relationship, and to define our current relationship.

My work in Indigenomics acts as a vehicle for understanding, creating meaning and expressing our indigenous relationship to economies. First Nations are defining our modern presence and our need to delineate our future through participation in the Canadian economy. With the recent win of the Tsilhqot’in Decision, and numerous other court rulings such as the Nuu chah Nulth case, the re-definition of wealth within the economic system of this country through the First Nation relationship is emerging.  What is directly in front of us is the question “What new thinking is now required of us?”

First Nations consent and insight into the decision-making process of regional and global economies is an essential part of this process.  The legal and economic context is directly related, while never mistaking the role of justice as a pillar of humanity.

This time calls on us to be asking the difficult questions while exploring the discomfort zone of a colonial legacy. In the context of Indigenomics, three essential elements of new economies are:

• Strengthened relationships;
• Deeper purpose and relevance to the future;
• Collaborative shift in measurement of new economies.

Never in the history of humanity has there been this opportunity to redefine economies. What a beautiful opportunity to re-define wealth!  We cannot have a meaningful conversation if all participants do not understand the language and dimension of this economic relationship. The time is now to build a collective toolbox to fill with our deepest questions – to find out why, how, and what is possible in the search for deeper meaning and relevance to new economies.

Toolbox Content

• UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People
• 2008 Canadian Apology to First Nations people
• The 8th Fire Series
• Free, prior informed consent outline- what is it and why does it matter?
• Summary of Tsilhqot’in Decision

These topics are a key starting point of bridging understanding and context.  Whatever you name the new economies – Purpose, Circular, Collaborative, Sharing –  we need to be aware of who is at the table, and who must be included. What is being named here is a value set – an outline of purpose of how we experience economies. This is the shift to connectivity, to local relationships. I recently met a mayor of a small town who told me that since the establishment as a municipality, not one single mayor had ever set foot on the local reserve. He crossed the line equipped with the question- “What can we do together?”

It’s time to cross the fabricated lines and start a new relationship of working together – the heart of our work in New Economies.

The story the Canadian media tells about this economic relationship leaves far too much room for uninformed opinion – the smallest unit of measurement.  The real measurement is the shift towards impact. What is emerging today, people are simply expecting more of our economies.  It is time to move beyond fear.  Lets have the courage to do this together – all my relations.

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Carol Anne Hilton, MBA and CEO of Transformation – is a recognized leading First Nation’s business entrepreneur from the Nuu chah nulth Nation. Carol Anne has a solid understanding and application of First Nation’s economic development best practices and brings extensive knowledge and experience in community development, business management, corporate relations, engagement strategies and project management. Carol Anne works to incorporate an Aboriginal worldview while bringing First Nations, industry and government together to design new approaches for sustainable, inclusive development. Carol Anne was a founding Director of the BC First Nations Health Society/ Interim BC First Nations Health Authority.

Carol Anne currently serves on the Community Social Planning Council, Chairs the Community Micro Lending Society and serves as a Director of the World Fisheries Trust.

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Originally published in the Winnipeg Free Press on October 2, 2014

The minimum-wage hike, to $10.70 per hour, that kicked in this week means full-time workers would earn just over $20,800 annually. This leaves a family of four, with both parents working, with an income more than $1,500 below the poverty line.

Single-parent families are worse off, at more than $8,000 short of the poverty line.

It is widely agreed a job can be the best pathway out of poverty. But this is only true if wages meet basic needs.

Approximately 38,600 Manitobans work for minimum wage, and they are not just teenagers looking to earn extra cash. Most are older than 20, and nearly half work for companies with more than 500 employees. Given so many minimum-wage-earners are adults, we need to ask why our minimum wage does not provide a sufficient income to raise a family.

A living wage is just over $14 per hour in Winnipeg, based on the costs of living here. This enables a family of four, with two working parents, to meet its basic needs. The living wage for a single-parent family is even higher, and there are 2,300 single parents working for minimum wage in Manitoba.

The living wage is based on a bare-bones budget without the extras many of us take for granted. Costs considered include food, clothing, rent, transportation, child care, health care, adult education, some household expenses and a small emergency fund. It does not include interest payments, retirement savings, home ownership, savings for children’s education, or the costs of caring for a disabled, ill or elderly family member.

The province should be recognized for making regular incremental increases to the minimum wage. There is, however, a long way to go before all minimum-wage families can live above the poverty line. But poverty-line wages do not build healthy communities or stimulate the economy. The province should take more aggressive action to close the gap between the minimum wage and the living wage.

Stronger government social policies and programs that benefit single-parent families with low incomes can help fill the gap by shifting certain costs off families’ shoulders — a universal provincial child-care program would substantially lower the wage single-parent families need to meet their needs.

In addition, the province and city should adopt a living-wage policy that ensures their own employees, and those of the businesses they contract with, are paid the living wage. Jurisdictions across the world have begun to implement living-wage policies, and New Westminster, B.C., is the first in Canada.

Employers can also demonstrate leadership by paying the living wage now. This can be achieved through wages or a combination of wages and non-mandatory benefits. Living-wage employers, such as KPMG, Deloitte, and Vancity Credit Union, can benefit from decreases in absenteeism, higher worker productivity and better worker retention.

Substantive minimum-wage increases and living-wage policies are much more effective at decreasing poverty than increasing the personal income tax exemption, an approach perennially advocated by business.

For example, Manitoba Federation of Labour calculations show a $1,000 increase in the basic personal tax exemption would save minimum-wage workers $108, whereas a 50-cent increase to the wage would improve the workers’ annual income by $1,040 per year.

Furthermore, the increase in the basic personal income tax exemption would apply to all Manitobans rich or poor. This and other ‘fixes’ to our tax system proposed by business would remove millions of dollars from revenues needed to pay for social programs and income transfers that help low-income Manitobans.

Our tax system does not need to be fixed — the net income of Manitoba’s lowest income-earners increases as a result of our tax and transfer system.

Business will always resist minimum-wage increases, arguing they lead to job loss. But the most robust economic studies show the net benefits to low-income people and the economy are far greater than any temporary job loss that might result from increasing the minimum wage.

Closing the gap between the minimum wage and the living wage is a win-win strategy that provides income security for Manitoba families while stimulating our economy.

Kirsten Bernas is Research and Policy Manager with CCEDNet in Manitoba. She received a BA (Honours) in Economics from the University of Manitoba as well as an MA from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa. Kirsten represents CCEDNet on the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives‘ Alternative Federal Budget Steering Committee, Make Poverty History Canada’s Steering Committee, Make Poverty History Manitoba‘s Executive Committee, and on the Winnipeg Food Policy Working Group

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Lynne Fernandez is Research Associate and Project Coordinator with the the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in Manitoba. She has a Master’s in economics from the University of Manitoba, where she discovered that the so-called “dreary science” could actually be very interesting. She has a particular fondness for labour and environmental issues, as well as community economic development, government policy and economic history. Lynne works as the Errol Black Chair in Labour Issues.

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