The Daily Ubuntu16 articles · page 1 of 2
"You're not from here": the weight of four words
A harmless-sounding question can draw a border. Even people born in Canada are often reminded that they supposedly come "from somewhere else."
ReadSanctuary city: what a promise can do, and what it can't
In 2017, Montreal declared itself a sanctuary city; in 2018, the City acknowledged the limits of its promise and focused instead on access to its services without fear.
ReadA compass written together
In 2018, hundreds of Montrealers helped write ten principles so that artificial intelligence serves everyone, without discrimination.
ReadThe machine does not refuse alone
Ottawa requires its departments to assess the risks of their algorithms before using them, and to keep a human in the loop when the answer is no.
ReadThe right to talk to a human
In Quebec, Law 25 requires businesses to say when a machine alone has made a decision, and to let the person explain themselves to someone.
ReadThe weight of little phrases
"Where are you really from?" One by one, microaggressions seem harmless. Added up, they weigh. Research confirms it.
ReadA law to name what we breathe
Since 2024, a federal law has required Canada to study environmental racism and build a national strategy, expected in the fall of 2026.
ReadNorthern Ireland: sharing power to share the future
After thirty years of violence, the 1998 Good Friday Agreement bet that yesterday's enemies could govern together.
ReadThe invisible knapsack
White privilege is neither wealth nor an easy life: it is everyday advantages we don't see, because they seem normal.
ReadBorrow a person for twenty minutes
Born in Denmark in 2000, the Human Library lets you borrow a person instead of a book, for the length of a conversation. The idea has travelled the world, all the way to Montreal's libraries.
ReadHolding the door
Holding a door, smiling at the cashier, offering a coffee: research shows these small gestures matter far more than we think, for others and for ourselves.
ReadJanuary 29, remembering together
After the 2017 attack on the Quebec City mosque, neighbours' solidarity helped a wounded community get back on its feet.
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