Globe and Mail

If you’re making a land acknowledgment you should mean it

(abbreviated from February 2020 op-ed)

On Sunday, Maori filmmaker Taika Waititi became the first Indigenous New Zealander to receive an Oscar, winning for best adapted screenplay. He also delivered the ceremony’s first land acknowledgment:

“The Academy would like to acknowledge that tonight we have gathered on the ancestral lands of the Tongva, the Tataviam and the Chumash. We acknowledge them as the first peoples of this land on which our motion-picture community lives and works.”

I am not an Indigenous person, so I can’t offer a perspective on how it feels to hear those words from that personal perspective. But I did find the moment inspiring and instructive. His words gave international prominence to a practice that is becoming more common in Canada.

As land acknowledgments enter the mainstream of government and business communication, they’re coming under closer scrutiny. Questions are being asked about whether they are delivered as a formality that lacks real meaning. If so, does this undermine, rather than advance, true reconciliation?

Hayden King, an Anishinaabe writer and educator who helped write Ryerson University’s land acknowledgment, told the CBC that he felt some regret about the practice: “I started to see how the territorial acknowledgment could become very superficial and also how it sort of fetishizes these actual tangible, concrete treaties.”

As a speechwriter, I see a similar problem with authenticity. When speakers resort to reading formulaic language, rushed through in one breath, it can leave an impression that they have no personal connection to the words they are saying.

A land acknowledgment should challenge the speaker and the audience to think about how our prosperity in Canada was built using space that was already occupied when Europeans began arriving. What is also being acknowledged is that Indigenous people are striving today to share in the land’s prosperity and raise new generations that will co-exist with non-Indigenous communities.

I’ve also counselled speakers against using a solemn tone that suggests an act of remembrance. It should come across as an active desire to work toward respect, reconciliation and partnership with Indigenous people.

A land acknowledgement is not just about opening a speech, it is about following through on commitments long after the applause has ended.

Toronto Star

On the verge of a remarkable comeback, there is one thing the new leader must do

(abbreviated from feature op-ed March 11, 2025)

On a road trip, leaders can rise and fall regularly. This was especially true before mobile phones, when people navigated with their instincts and using paper maps that were sometimes out of date and always difficult to fold back up. Correctly identify the exit for the Apple Route through Northumberland County, you’re in charge. Spot a “short cut” that adds an hour going the wrong way? It’s the back seat for you – and the middle one at that.

Right now, Canadians are on a trip into the unknown. The Trump administration is calling us “not a real country”, abandoning its global leadership and imposing tariffs that could lead to job loss and lasting damage to our economy. We’re in a place we don’t recognize. And we’re looking for a leader who knows the way through it.

This changed scenario has had an upside for the political fortunes of the federal Liberal party, as shown by a series of recent polls. As a result, the new leader they announce on Sunday takes over in a position of strength. But that leader will be challenged immediately to crystallize those polling numbers into sustainable support from a broad spectrum of Canadians.

The tariff war is now on. Whatever comes next, Canada needs to transform itself for a new global reality. There must be meaningful steps that offer Canadians new and improved government. Not only would this win confidence for the Liberal cause, but it could make us a more confident country just when it’s needed most.

Political and business elites are telling Canadians that the threat to the economy and our sovereignty is serious. So, bring seriousness, and your talents, to our politics. Other countries are not coming to our defence. So, show other countries that Canadians are tooling up for the fight of our lives.

To complete their comeback, the Liberals should make their talented team the message and do it with chutzpah, making unconventional but inspired choices for their future cabinet. Give Canadians the confidence that they have a Prime Minister with the gravitas to lead a team of rivals that will steer Canada through the tough times ahead.

Health Care Speech

Excerpts from an Empire Club address …

You know, in front of me, I'm seeing people who have offered me advice.  Others, who have given me tours, showed me new technologies, introduced me to patients and shared valuable knowledge.  Collectively, you might be described as 'representing a system' or 'sector' or perhaps 'institutions'.  But, people don't put their trust in a sector at the most vulnerable moments of their lives.  Institutions don't make them feel heard.  Ontarians cherish their universal public healthcare because of the caring hands, kind faces, warm voices, and big hearts of people throughout the system. Whether you're in the 1% or in the 99%, you are just as entitled to 100% from the Ontario healthcare system.

We built the system where the parts are of high quality; hospitals, primary care and community care, to name a few.  But, the transitions are not seamless so the quality of the patient experience can be lacking.  Ontario’s health care has brilliant resourceful clinicians and care providers, but we're not making enough use of evidence to share the ideas that promote quality across the system to implement evidence-based change.  

We have leaders and administrators across this province who know their organizations and their communities extremely well, but they don't or can't collaborate enough across the system to improve quality for all.  So, there are many things about our systems of care and models of care that need to change. 

How we use health data could be as important to the future of accessible, universal health care as any other investments we make. Data can enable the transparent conversations that encourage consensus on expectations for health care,. Data is the link that allows health care providers in one place to learn from the challenges and the progress in another place.  

Canadians come to the health care system wanting to feel better and live healthier. They worry about their survival, quality of life, and rates of complications after care. They don’t put it in these terms, but they are looking for value. For the system, value means mean fewer re-hospitalizations, addressing social determinants of health and delivering more care in the community.

We share an idea: universal healthcare is the right thing to do. We all see the reality: we haven't gotten everything right.  And we know more is needed. We've done well, but we're not nearly done yet.