The world feels undeniably bleak right now. Who could predict that all the dystopian media we consumed like fiends in the 90s and early 2000s would come to life? I much preferred when the Handmaid’s Tale was fiction. If one more Canadian utters some variation of “it’s not going to impact us here” I am going to lose my mind. It will impact us here (it already is!). If you aren’t paying attention to our terrible political leaders here and the rise in hate groups openly marching across the country, well, your ignorance is perhaps incurable and likely deliberate.

It’s easy to sink into the hopelessness of it. To feel like no crime has a consequence, or no effort to fight the ugliness impacts the sheer volume of Horrible. I think when those feelings surface it’s important to focus on your immediate community, because you can see results almost immediately and make a tangible difference. Small localized actions serve to build community and humanize our neighbors, which helps us all resist hateful politics and fascism. What can you do in your neighborhood/school/building to help build community and protect those at risk by laws and hatred? Here are some really basic examples:

-Look for your local food banks, contact them and see if there are items they are particularly in need of donations of and round those up. Lots of them are inundated with canned foods but few get personal care items or animal food for example.

-Distribute warm items (mittens, blankets, etc) to the unhoused in your area. If you’re uncomfortable doing this directly (eyeroll) you can contact local churches and “warming centers” to see what items they might need.

-Talk to people in real life about who they’re voting for (Canadians especially since we’ll have our own election soonish). Encourage your friends and family to vote! Be respectful and informative, don’t dismiss those who’ve chosen ignorance as without merit. It takes effort to be informed these days and not everyone “bothers” (cough they ought to but here we are cough).

-Get your friends together, host a pot luck or meet at your local non-Starbucks coffee place or create a Community Activism Group at your school to brainstorm ideas! Everyone has a skill or connections they can offer to a movement. Whether it’s donating time or money, calling your local reps, or collecting unwanted winter items to help those who need them this winter. There are maaaaany ways to contribute. It’s important to take this offline because so many of our internet gathering places and apps are now being managed by people who do not want us building community there, they do not want you sharing and spreading info and will actively prevent it with their algorithms.

Splintering communities and pitting us against one another over stupid shit like our generation or gender is DELIBERATE. It’s fabricated nonsense. If none of us trust one another then none of us are helping to support or inform each other! You can’t organize and combat this stuff without IRL community, and they know it. So resist that.

We will get through these four years, we will- but we have to do it together. We can resist hatred based rhetoric and bigoted politicians (hi, Pierre) here in Canada. The world crumbling into awfulness is not inevitable.

As for the impending tariffs on Canadian goods entering the USA (maybe we will get lucky and it won’t happen?). Since many of our customers are American we will do our absolute best to make sure our items are not heavily taxed upon crossing your borders. All we can do is manage the customs forms on our shipments, that’s how they determine the value and thus the tax/tariff. I’m not saying we’re going to lie but I am saying it’ll be okay (in this one small way). We will seek couriers who will be able to help us reduce any fees or taxes on imported Canadian goods to the USA going forward. “We got you”, we are in this together.

*We are officially not committing “mail fraud” nor are we saying we will do x or y to customs forms. Obviously we are not criminals!

-Taeden