The SHIFT Journal of Social Transformation

When we listen to the many voices of the land—the wind, the rivers, trees, even the din of its human and non-human people—we are called back to it, to our ancestors and relations, and to a vulnerable part of ourselves. These pieces represent moments of reflection and slowing down to commune with and speak both of and to the land and home, whether we know it intimately or are in the process of nurturing that intimacy.

To cultivate the land is to tend the soil, establish infrastructure, and sustain life. While cultivation can be physical, it can also be metaphorical. Cultivating home may be as simple as curating communication and planting the seeds needed to grow your community. To cultivate the land is to transform an unfamiliar environment into home, even if that is a second home, and surrender to the comfort of knowing and being known. These pieces are indicative of people finding their footing, cultivating an ecosystem of love and support in a place foreign—whether that be a few streets down or across the globe—and discovering the intricacies of their routine or landmarks that trigger nostalgia and gratitude. 

Our memories of both tangible and intangible homes lay pathways for our internal journeys, sometimes “back” to a home left behind, sometimes “forward” as maps to future places. Our bodies function that way too, as we carry, feel, and remember home. Through our senses we can exist in different places, find places can truly “hold” us, and help us reach (literally and figuratively) across space to connect with what we’ve left behind or lost. 

In our third piece in the "Bye Bye DEI" series, Maureen explores the concept of and risks associated with "deification", or what happens when we elevate the experiences and opinions of a marginalized person above all else, due specifically to their marginalization. She argues that deification is ultimately harmful, and we should be promoting ongoing and considerate conversations in workplaces instead.

Institutions are often slow-moving, bureaucratic, and resistant to major changes. But there are other institutions out there, both trying to bring new voices into their decision-making and navigating representative structures. In this piece, Hannah Vogan explores the lessons, key takeaways, and challenges that arose at SHIFT's panel, Pathways to Democratic Institutions, which featured philanthropic, public, and academic institutional organizations all working to better integrate community ownership into their processes.

If we see the city as a continuous process of negotiation, then its transformations and resistances can be understood as overlapping narratives continually rewritten through lived practice. Montreal’s Chinatown is a microcosm of these urban contradictions—a neighbourhood chronicled by intertwined forces of exclusion, displacement, and resilience.