Welcome Home Yellowknifers

On Wednesday September 6, 2023 at 11:00am, the Evacuation Order for Yellowknife was lifted. At 11:30 a.m. I left Behchoko for my home in Yellowknife. I had anticipated a long convoy of vehicles from the south, but I seemed to be the only vehicle travelling to Yellowknife.  Only one other vehicle followed behind me. Many are still in the south. Some places along the highway are still very smoky.

The city is still very quiet. Only some services- groceries, stores, drug stores, gas stations -are available but on shortened schedules.

It is very good to be home. To my surprise, it was a very emotional journey back to Yellowknife. I stopped at one store and there I saw and approached one of the Firefighters. Bright yellow jacket.

I asked, “Did you stay behind to keep city safe?”

He replied, “Yes, I did. That’s what I do.”

With big tears in my eyes, (again) I shook his hand and thanked him.

He said, “Welcome back home. Enjoy your return.”

Wherever you go in my apartment building, at gas bars, grocery stores, etc - people stop to talk and share their evacuation stories.

I am so grateful to front line workers and the collaboration of all governments: Government of NT, Municipal Government of Yellowknife, and First Nations Government of Yellowknifers, Dettah and Ndilo.

Gratitude to all of you who prayed, emailed, called- masi t’a masi.

Now, we continue to remember our dear Sister Maggie and all residents of Hay River and Fort Smith who await their return to their homes. We remember all those who have experienced great losses, especially the village of Enterprise,  NT.

Se Nothsi, Masi

Sister Diane Naud

What Do You Wake Up For?

Another product tagline caught my attention. Recently, as I sipped my morning coffee, I heard the question, “What do you wake up for?” on a TV mattress [1] commercial. This question, amid the coming approach of autumn, became a catalyst for deeper thought. The start of the school year, the resumption of meetings and another year of activities often acts for me like a mini- New Years inviting me to renew or make new resolutions. I am given the opportunity to begin a change I want to initiate. This seasonal change offers me the necessary prompt to consider what needs addressing in my life?

Still enjoying my morning coffee, these lines from a poem often attributed to Pedro Arrupe came to mind.

What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

-Joseph Whelen, SJ

Indeed, what we are in love with, what seizes our imagination, will affect everything. It will decide everything. What motivates us? Is it time to make mid-year resolutions?

- Sister Nancy Wales, csj

[1]  Tuff and Needle Canada | Image: Unsplash/Timothy Eberly

Labour Day: Imagining a New Kind of Economy

As Labour Day rolls around once again, there’s a different feeling in the air. For many workers, wages haven’t kept up with inflation. There’s a growing sense that workers have been pushed to the brink and they’re ready to stand together for a fair deal. For some that has meant strikes; for others, tough negotiating. Slowly, progress is being made.   

But a recent article, by a former grocery-store worker, puts this progress in context. The article makes the point that there was a time when a person could build a solid career out of a full-time job at a grocery store. There were benefits, a pension, and a wage that would be about $46/hr in today’s dollars. Cashiers and clerks started at a wage that was triple the minimum wage. 

Today, we can’t imagine such a thing. That’s how far removed from decent work our economy has become.  It’s not that grocery stores are making less profit. In the quarter  that ended July 1, Metro announced that net earnings increased 26 per cent to $346.7 million from $275 million during the same quarter a year earlier. That’s profit.  Yes, their costs went up, but their revenues increased at the same time, ensuring these huge profits.

And, of course, it’s not just Metro. And it’s not just grocery stores. Profits don’t trickle down to workers; they flow to shareholders through increased dividends and buybacks.  It’s how the system works.

“Profits don’t trickle down to workers; they flow to shareholders through increased dividends and buybacks.  It’s how the system works.”

As we celebrate Labour Day, let’s also begin to imagine a new kind of economy. What about an Economy of Solidarity?  An economy grounded in human rights and care for the earth and all earth’s inhabitants. 

If we learn to stand together, we could make it happen.

-Sister Sue Wilson, CSJ