We Need More Villages

The other day I was thinking about a time I played hooky from high school.

The event itself isn’t that important. In grade 12, near the end of the year—diplomas guaranteed—we jumped in some cars and took off to the reservoir for an afternoon. No cliques—just a bunch of kids thrown together by the school they attended. Some of the kids I talked to more in that day than in the four years of high school leading up to it.

As I remembered the event, I thought about how there used to be truant officers. I’ve never seen one, but I’ve heard of such a thing. We don’t have them anymore. With different school boards in a city, you don’t know which kids are ditching and which have a legitimate day off from school, making truancy hard to catch. Back in the days of truant officers, communities were smaller. They knew the kids, their parents, and teachers. In smaller communities there is greater accountability—not just for kids, but for the adults entrusted with raising them.  

We lost much of this sense of community and accountability in the past decades, as we moved from small to global communities. From communal- to individual-focused lives.

We need more villages, more accountability, more care. We need community.

Today, I see a generation younger than me that is focusing more on community. They like to work, shop, volunteer, worship, and drink coffee in their own neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods are making a comeback! We need these mini-villages within our figurative and literal metropolises. Here we’re accountable.

For three generations, CLAC has emphasized community. Workplace communities make sense. These give meaning to work, make teamwork more likely, and caring for others more natural. Workplace safety begins with an internal responsibility system, meaning compliance starts among the labour and management team, not with the ministry of labour. In the same way, our workplaces are where we have an obligation to work together for efficiency, just wages, fair treatment, and meaningful work.

Community is where we care. Your village includes your next door neighbour and the worker on your crew. Treating each with dignity and respect can be infectious. Let’s build more villages and more communities together.