Social justice fighters restore our faith in humanity

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/12/2016 (3219 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On Dec. 12, housing and anti-poverty advocates gathered to recognize Clark Brownlee, a local activist who retired after a long engagement with social justice and policy advocacy. It was a much-needed reminder there is still good in the world.

It has been difficult not to lose faith in humanity in a world where millions of people recently saw fit to elect Donald Trump as leader of the United States.

Many Canadians are watching in horror as a new political era begins to take shape south of the border. It’s not just the United States that has seemingly gone mad. Racism in politics is rampant in Europe and Kelly Leitch has shown us Canada is not immune. In her bid for leadership of the Conservative party, Leitch has been vocal about her support for Trump and has pitched a number of racist policy proposals. She is currently a frontrunner.

So yes, it is hard to be hopeful at a time when hate and fear of “the other” seems to be inspiring a disturbing number of voters.

There are, however, glimmers of hope. Resistance continues to grow in the U.S. as Americans try to make sense of their new reality. The powerful demonstration of support for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and its resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline shows a growing number of people are deeply concerned about the environment and are fighting back against “big oil.”

There is hope at home, too. Indigenous people are leading the resistance against pipeline expansion in Canada. Young activists such as 12-year old Autumn Pelletier from Wikwemikong First Nation are joining their parents and grandparents as they fight to protect our water.

In Manitoba, there are a growing number of young people engaged in social, environmental and economic justice issues. There are also those, such as Brownlee, who have dedicated their lives to justice and are rarely recognized for their work. Brownlee is a founding member of Manitoba’s Right to Housing Coalition. He retired after volunteering for 15 years as its co-ordinator.

This wasn’t Brownlee’s first retirement. He practised as a social worker in Winnipeg for many years. After retiring in 2003, he chose to dedicate much of his time to advocate for housing for low-income people. His passion for social justice dates back to his early days as a social work student.

In their book, One Hundred Years of Social Work : A History of the Profession in English Canada, 1900-2000, Therese Jennissen and Colleen Lundy identified Brownlee as one of a small minority of social workers taking a public stand to bring about social change in the 1960s. They quoted from a statement Brownlee wrote in 1969, as a member of the Manitoba Association of Social Work Social Action Committee: “Social action is an integral, not an optional, part of our professional responsibility. Aside from the agency efforts at social action, our professional association has a role to play in the total decision-making process of our community.”

More than 45 years later, Brownlee remains committed to social justice. And the “formula” he described in 1969 remains relevant today. Through his work with the Right to Housing Coalition, he has demonstrated policy advocacy can have an impact, but it requires solid research, strategic planning, discipline and effective timing.

Thanks to Brownlee and the Right to Housing Coalition, hundreds more Manitoba families now have safe and affordable housing.

The coalition has been diligent and disciplined in its advocacy efforts to ensure more social housing is built and the existing supply is refurbished and maintained. It successfully lobbied the previous provincial government to focus on some clear social-housing targets and timelines.

To its credit, the NDP government met those targets. In collaboration with Make Poverty History Manitoba, and proponents of the community-driven View From Here: Manitobans Call for a Poverty Reduction Plan, the Right to Housing Coalition lobbied the NDP government to increase income supports for low-income earners renting in the private sector.

The NDP government responded with the Rent Assist program.

None of these changes would have happened if not for the advocacy efforts of social justice policy advocates, including Brownlee. We still don’t have enough housing for everyone who needs it, and far too many people continue to struggle to pay their rent.

We have, however, made small gains as a result of this work.

It is difficult for progressives to be optimistic and, for those of us who enjoy middle-class lives, it would be easy to retreat. Brownlee is an inspiring example of someone who does not retreat — he has remained dedicated to making the world a better place.

People such as Brownlee don’t get a lot of public attention, mainly because they don’t seek it. They are going about the slow and tedious work of policy advocacy quietly and humbly. It’s time-consuming, tedious work and all too often the only gratification comes from knowing you tried your best.

For the many lifelong social-justice advocates such as Brownlee, none of this matters. They do it because they believe it is the right thing to do.

During this Christmas season, at a time of political chaos around the globe, stories about people like Brownlee should be shared. We need them to restore our faith in humanity.

Shauna MacKinnon is associate professor in the department of urban and inner city studies at the University of Winnipeg.