Bright Future

Environmental sustainability is one of the most pressing concerns of our time. And while this is something most of us can agree on, turning that consensus into action is more difficult. If we want to make progress on our climate targets, we need to work smarter. One tool policy-makers and organizations are turning to is psychology. If we know how people come to their decisions, we can design policies that help them make good decisions on their own. 

Our guest this episode felt compelled to put psychology to use in sustainability; she sees it as a behavioural problem as much as an environmental problem. Dr. Jiaying Zhao, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Sustainability, talks with us about how to nudge people to better decisions.

See more of Dr. Zhao’s research at lab: https://zhaolab.psych.ubc.ca.

Find her on Twitter @jiayingzhao.

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Using data to make decisions—either by a person or by a machine—has become a big part of our lives over the past couple of decades. Our lawmakers have tried to keep up, but innovation will likely always outpace bureaucracy. And, in a world where most of us have clicked “I have read the terms and conditions” even when we haven’t, the implications of out-of-date privacy laws could become serious.

In November, the federal government introduced the Digital Charter Implementation Act to try to better protect Canadians and their privacy. This update to Canada’s privacy laws is overdue, but will it do what it sets out to? Shaun Brown, lawyer and privacy expert, helps us understand the proposed new laws and what they might mean to you.

Find Shaun on LinkedIn, or through the nNovation LLP website, nnovation.com, or on Twitter @nNovationllp.

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November 11 is a time of reflection. A time to remember the struggles and sacrifice that have gone into building this country. Margaret MacMillan, bestselling author and professor of history, reminds us in her new book, War: How Conflict Shaped Us, that we are all shaped by war. 

They say we can either learn from our history or be doomed to repeat it. And while history never really repeats itself, according to Margaret, it does echo.  Understanding history helps us to spot the parallels today—and avoid the pitfalls of the past. 

For Margaret, Remembrance Day is a moment to consider how we think about war itself, and the ways in which it has changed us as nations and as individuals. 

Learn more about Margaret MacMillan by visiting: www.margaretmacmillan.com  

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As a journalist in the ‘90s, John Stackhouse spent many years living overseas meeting and interviewing interesting people. Many of them were his fellow Canadians. He discovered that expats are keen to help their home country. When he returned, however, he found people were concerned over the number of people leaving the country—the perceived “brain drain.” 

John says that’s the wrong way to think about it. Canada’s diaspora is not a brain drain, it’s brain circulation. As people wear their maple leaves around the world, they’re building networks of insight and goodwill for Canada. But Canada doesn’t seem ready to take advantage of that network. There’s no system for connecting with that network; no way for organizations here to ask their foreign compatriots what’s happening in their local market.  

John recognizes the importance of networks and points out some prominent ones that are reshaping our society for the 21st Century. He says the global experience our expats are gaining will be critical in the coming decades. We just need a strategy for Canada’s “11th province” to join the Confederation.  

Find John on LinkedIn @John Stackhouse and Twitter @StackhouseJohn.  

Listen to John’s take on the pandemic on his podcast, RBC Disruptors. 

Find John’s new book, Planet Canada, at Penguin Random House Canada. 

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How can we keep the second wave from turning into a second lockdown?  

Viruses spread when people spend time in close quarters, so lockdowns are good at slowing their transmission. But they come with a cost—a reality we know well, and don’t want to repeat. 

Dr. Susy Hota is an infectious disease physician and medical director of infection prevention and control at University Health Network. She joins us this episode to talk about what we’ve learned since the outbreak began. She’s concerned that our pandemic fatigue may be contributing to the disease’s resurgence.  

The mental and physical health consequences of the pandemic and efforts to curb it are very real. As is the economic damage. Dr. Hota says we need to remain vigilant and focused on controlling the pandemic to tame the second wave. To avoid a second lockdown, we need to make better use of the tools we already have: distance, hygiene, and masks.  

We talk about how the pandemic has taught us what is important, as well as how it exposed areas that need attention. She says that we should focus on our common goal to get through the coming winter: short-term pain for long-term gain.   

Find Dr. Hota on Twitter @HotaSusy and LinkedIn @Susy-Hota. 

Follow Infection Prevention and Control Department at University Health Network on Twitter @ipacuhn 

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Technology has been affecting how we make a living since we first started using tools. Never before, though, has technology changed as quickly as it does today. As artificial intelligence becomes more common in our everyday tasks, we can expect even more disruption: No longer will a human be the smartest entity in the room.  

This disruption goes beyond just how we work. According to this episode’s guest, the traditional “learn, work, retire” career path is dead.  

Futurist, writer, and entrepreneur, Sinead Bovell founded WAYE—Weekly Advice for Young Entrepreneurs—in 2018 to help youth prepare for the digital world they are coming of age in. Already, there is a gap in the skills people have and those organizations need. As technology advances, that gap will only increase. Sinead says the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that our digital infrastructure in not sustainable. We need people with diverse skill sets to tackle our wicked problems, and systems that allow us to continue learning new skills.  

She’s brought this up at the UN and to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and has written about it for The Globe and Mail, Vogue, and WIRED. In this episode of Bright Future, she talks to us about how people can prepare for artificial intelligence in their own jobs, the importance of diversity in technology, how governments and schools can be ready for advanced tech, and the most important skill we’ve all been practicing already: adaptability. 

Find Sinead on LinkedIn @sineadbovell, on Instagram @sineadbovell, on Twitter @sineadbovell, and at her website, sineadbovell.com. 

Learn more about WAYE at wayetalks.com. 

The Conference Board has research on social and emotional skills through our Education & Skills focus area and the Future Skills Centre. 

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You can find all of our research here: Education & Skills - Signal49 Research

About 15 years ago, then-Prime Minister Paul Martin announced the Kelowna Accord. It was an agreement intended to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, and it was ground-breaking for modern politics in terms of consultation and collaboration with Indigenous groups. 

Mere days after the announcement, however, parliament was dissolved and leadership of Canada’s government changed hands. The accord was enacted, but as a shell of its original vision.  

The Right Honourable Paul Martin is still working at it though. In 2008, he founded the Martin Family Initiative to help bridge the gap in standards of living. The Initiative works with Indigenous groups to bring Indigenous knowledge together with evidence-based methods of teaching and learning. He talks with us about the importance of entrepreneurship to Indigenous people, what he has learned from the Initiative, and why it’s important that kids get a good start to life. 

Find the Martin Family Initiative on Twitter @themfi_, Facebook @themfi.ifm, LinkedIn, or at their website,  www.themfi.ca. 

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You can find all of our research here: Indigenous & Northern Communities - Signal49 Research

Canadian businesses have been scrambling to find ways to stay afloat since the beginning of the pandemic in March. Government programs have helped, but they can’t last forever. We’ve all had to adapt to whatever “normal” was as we progressed through lockdown. As our businesses incrementally reopen, they are tasked with the challenge of being both safe and profitable.

Our guest this episode is well versed in both the business side and the government side. The Honourable John Manley, former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, talks to us about getting Canada back to business. He shares his perspective on the response by Canadian governments and businesses, as well as a caution on the deficits the federal government has had to incur. He’s optimistic about the resilience he’s noticed in Canada and Canadians and sees many lessons we can carry with us into the future. 

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It’s back to school season, but many families are uneasy this year.  

The suddenness of school closures last March had parents—and schools—scrambling to keep kids engaged and learning. We simply weren’t ready to be that nimble. What have we learned since then?  

These are the types of questions that keep this episode’s guest busy. Paul W. Bennett, author, education policy researcher, and founder and director of the Schoolhouse Institute, has been talking about the cracks he’s noticed in our country’s education systems to everyone he can. His upcoming book, The State of The System: A Reality Check on Canada’s Schools, outlines some of his recommendations for reforming the Canadian school system.  In this episode, he reflects on what we learned in the early days and how he sees an opportunity to move Canada’s school system closer to communities, teachers, and parents. 

Find Paul online: on Twitter as @Educhatter; on Facebook as Paul W. Bennett; on LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/in/pwbennett/; and at his website, www.schoolhouseconsulting.ca/. 

His upcoming book, The State of The System: A Reality Check on Canada’s Schools, can be found at stateofthesystem.ca/. 

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This past June, the Parliamentary Black Caucus issued a statement calling on Canadian governments to take five specific steps toward reducing the harms caused by systemic racism.  

Greg Fergus, MP for Hull–Aylmer and chair of the Parliamentary Black Caucus, joins us to talk about what he hopes the statement will achieve. We discuss the importance of having—and understanding—good data to know what is really happening and what communities need help. We talk about the opportunities he sees for Black business and community leaders to improve live for all Canadians, and what’s holding us back. 

But it will take work. The five calls in the statement will not fix racism. They’re just a step on the path. 

Read about the Black North Initiative here. 

Read about the Black Opportunities Fund here. 

Read about le Group 3737 here. 

Find Greg on Twitter. 

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