Sunday, November 17
Plenary 4
9:00 - 10:15 AM
Disinformation: The First Step in Dismantling Systems of Care
Ginetta Salvalaggio
Over the past several years, a troubling pattern of information control has emerged to impede transparent public discourse in Alberta. The Alberta disinformation “formula” includes: 1) suppressing public data; 2) blocking ideology-threatening science; 3) sponsoring ideology-supporting pseudoscience; and 4) creating formal structures to disseminate disinformation narratives. Dr. Salvalaggio will walk us through the Alberta substance use disinformation timeline and its very tangible consequences. Substance use policy is but one example, and she will explain why this pattern ought to concern every Albertan, across all matters of public policy.
Ginetta Salvalaggio is a practicing Edmonton family physician, Professor with the University of Alberta Department of Family Medicine, and Associate Scientific Director with the Inner City Health and Wellness Program. She co-leads a community based program of research with structurally vulnerable people who use drugs. Her academic interests include social accountability, co-design in healthcare, and partnered advocacy.
Breakout sessions
10:30 - 11:45 AM
Session 3a
Inflation, Its Causes, and the Way Forward, with Gillian Petit and Silas Xuereb
How Corporate Profits Fueled the Affordability Crisis
Silas Xuereb
During the pandemic, corporate profits reached record levels in Canada. Around the same time, inflation reached levels not seen since the early 1980s. This was not a coincidence, nor an inevitable consequence of living in a market-oriented society. Rather, it reflects the outsized power of large corporations to set prices. Corporations used those profits to pay shareholders rather than reinvest in the economy, exacerbating inequality. Rent prices continue to accelerate, driving a rental affordability crisis. We will discuss solutions to tax excess profits and prevent corporations from being able to profiteer during future crises.
Silas Xuereb is a Researcher and Policy Analyst with Canadians for Tax Fairness and a Fellow with the World Inequality Database. His research on the causes and consequences of economic inequalities has been published by academic journals, Oxfam Canada, Campaign 2000, and the World Inequality Lab. Supported by a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, he is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in political economy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.</em
Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: Confronting the Current Reality of Increasing Low-Income and Low Wage Growth in Alberta
Gillian Petit
While the days of Ralph Klein, a booming oil economy, and the “Alberta Advantage” loom large in many Albertan’s minds, a history of wage suppression policies and the ignoring and mis-handling of programs intended to meet the needs of those most in need combined with recent worldwide economic events has led to a new Alberta reality for many. Alberta no longer has a wage advantage and the poverty rate and food insecurity rate in Alberta has grown faster than in Canada as a whole. This talk will examine these trends and how Alberta’s policies could be reformed to provide, at a minimum, a basic quality of life to those most in need and help those struggling with rising costs.
Gillian Petit is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Calgary. She holds a PhD from the University of Calgary and a JD from Queen’s University. Her research focuses on Canadian income and social supports spanning several areas including tax policy, municipal policy, poverty policy, and access to justice. She has advised expert panels, published peer-reviewed journal articles and co-wrote a book on basic income. She works on intersectionality-informed, data-driven solutions to economic and social issues. </em
Session 3b
From Passion to Action: A Workshop on Activism and Organizing
More than Concessions: Organizing, Fighting Back and Spadework
Tina Oh
If progressives are serious about addressing the worsening attacks on the working class, organizing is one of the only proven salvations capable of building power that fights back. To organize is to build a continuously expanding base of durable relationships amongst ordinary people who are willing to come together in numbers and take risks to defeat and make concessions against the corporate elite, their greed, of right-wing populism and its austerity agenda. This workshop is an introduction to organizing that leans heavily on the traditional Labour method of spadework and can be applied to a wide range of political issues.
Tina Oh is a trade-unionist from Edmonton and a lead organizer with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2. She recently relocated from the Maritimes in order to coordinate the arrival of the Justice for Janitors campaign in the notoriously anti-union Alberta market. She helped to co-found, and is now the Chair of, the Centre for Migrant Worker Rights - Nova Scotia, and organization that directly supports, services and advances the rights of migrant workers.
Closing Speaker
12:15 - 1:30 PM
From Acknowledgement to Transformation: Advancing Indigenous Laws, Engagement, and Reconciliation
Koren Lightning
This presentation explores the essential shift from symbolic gestures to meaningful actions that truly uphold Indigenous rights, respect Indigenous laws, and drive genuine reconciliation. By applying, respecting, and engaging with Indigenous law, we open real pathways to justice and equity. Attendees will gain practical insights into building cultural competency, fostering belonging, and navigating cultural differences with sensitivity and respect. This session will inspire and empower participants to take meaningful steps forward, embracing reconciliation through actions that create a more inclusive and equitable future.
Koren Lightning, K.C. ’07 LLB, ’18 LLM, CIC.C, Blue Thunderbird Woman, is Cree from Samson Cree Nation. She is the Legal Director of Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge. She is Board Member for First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, Board Member for Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund (LEAF) and Board Member for Peace Hills Insurance. She was Vice-President of Kasohkowew Child Wellness Society for 10 years. She was President of the Indigenous Bar Association for 6 years. She was an Acting Commissioner for Alberta Utilities Commission.
