If there is one word in the English language that I’ve become sick and tired of over the last four months of the COVID pandemic, it is unprecedented.
Sometimes it’s used several times in the same sentence (written and spoken).
By now, we all know that the year 2020 has been a very different year for almost everybody living on this earth. But do we have to always use unprecedented to describe it – how about extraordinary, unparalleled, exceptional, unmatched, unheard of?
And if we have to use it, why not use it for the positive. After all, this year of 2020 is giving us some unprecedented opportunities for positive change. Here are some things we can all do to make a difference.
Keep the air clean
During COVID with more people staying at home, fewer cars on the roads, factories closed, or operating in a reduced capacity there has been a drop in air pollution in Canada’s major cities by more than one third. Less air pollution means fewer heart attacks and less serious asthma episodes.
Keep it going. Drive your car less, use less energy (use cold water for the laundry, turn off the lights and the computer, etc. when not using, turn your thermostat down one degree C in winter and up one degree in summer), write to your MPP and your MP, encourage them to support and change policies to cut air pollution permanently.
Buy Canadian
COVID has taught us a bit about the downsides of being dependent on other countries like China and even the United States for essential items like personal protection equipment. Many manufacturers have retooled to produce this equipment here in Canada.
Whenever possible, buy products made in Canada. It helps us all. If we support Canadian manufacturing jobs then this means more workers paying more taxes and spending more money on other goods and services – and round and round it goes in a positive circle.
Fight for changes in long-term care homes and in the conditions for temporary foreign workers
COVID-19 has opened our eyes to the horrors of life for residents in long-term-care homes. In a rich country like Canada we should be ashamed of ourselves for the way we’re treating our frail and elderly.
Likewise with the temporary foreign workers who come here to help grow our food. Their employers, our farmers need to be accountable for the conditions these people are forced to live under.
Learn more about these situations; keep an eye on what governments are doing to make permanent changes. Write letters to your federal and provincial members of parliament(s).
Get with the movement
There’s a movement afoot, an opportunity to wipe out systemic racism in Canada. While it’s not always as blatant as it is in the United States, it is here, swept deeper under the carpet. It needs to come to the surface and be dealt with. If you’re white, like I am, listen and learn about what it is like to be Black or Indigenous or a person of colour in this country.
And while on the subject of a social movement, let’s do what we can to fix what’s broken in our policing systems. Move some money to community supports, don’t send cops to deal with people with a mental health condition, address the roots of crime like poverty and lack of opportunity, and insist on body cameras.
Not since the 60s (and I was there) has there been such an opportunity for change. Unprecedented, I think!
