Grant: The Real Reason Bosses Want You Back in the Office Full Time (It’s Not Productivity) 

2026/06/23 Leave a comment

Although the analysis is based upon the private sector, parallels in the public sector as well, although the public sector has to address perceptions of public service as being coddled compared to the private sector:

…There are limits to the benefit of flexible office policies. Research suggests that working from home for more than half the week can be isolating — it’s harder to build connections and cultures. It’s also more difficult to encourage creative collisions, informal learning and mentoring. But it doesn’t take five days a week to accomplish these goals. In fact, it turns out that people are most collaborative and creative when they work remotely part of the week. They can use a day or two at home to focus on individual deep work and reserve the rest of the week for communication and collective problem-solving. It’s well documented that too much togetherness breeds groupthink (not to mention germs). When we spend some time apart, we actually generate more innovative ideas and make smarter decisions.

Hybrid work does have its own challenges for leaders. It’s not fun to try to inspire through a recorded video message or lead a brainstorming session on a digital whiteboard. But to maintain a competitive advantage in an increasingly flexible world, it’s time for leaders to put their egos aside and master the art of managing from afar. Evidence supports a few basic guidelines.

One: Coordination counts. Teams need anchor days when everyone shows up — especially to welcome newcomers and mentor junior people. At Microsoft, new hires who spent at least a couple of days a month with their manager and their teams were more satisfied with their early experiences, which in turn meant they were more likely to stay over the next year and a half.

Two: Intensity beats frequency. The software company Atlassian has found that spending a few days with your team at a well-designed quarterly team gathering does more for connection and belonging than daily schleps to the office.

Three: Hybrid work is not one-size-fits-all. Different jobs require different amounts of time in person. So do different people; for example, flexibility proves particularly important in attracting and retaining women. And you need to gather together more if your staff operates like a basketball team passing the ball back and forth, rather than a gymnastics team whose members do their own individual events. (This explains why fully remote teams struggleto patent new technologies, but the people who examine patent applications are more productive when they can work from anywhere they like.)

Four: Most people care more about when they work than where. If they can choose the hours, they’re more willing to let leaders pick the place.

Organizational policies shouldn’t be vanity projects. The responsibility of leaders is not to mold the world to their needs. It’s to adapt themselves to the world’s needs, even if it means learning to live without the thrill of a live audience.

Dr. Grant, a contributing Opinion writer, is an organizational psychologist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Shandell and Ms. Elliott are Ph.D. candidates there.

Source: The Real Reason Bosses Want You Back in the Office Full Time (It’s Not Productivity)

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Bhagat: Canada needs South Asian labour, and racism keeps it cheap

2026/06/23 Leave a comment

Think there has been a fair degree of public scrutiny of the government policies that contributed (e.g., international student “puppy farms, Temporary Workers”:

…None of this means that Canadians cannot debate immigration levels, housing pressures or labour policy. No doubt these are legitimate political questions. However, we must all address the problem that arises when economic anxieties are redirected to vulnerable workers themselves. South Asians have become the face of policies they did not create, which allows governments, corporations and social media platforms to elide scrutiny. 

Ali Bhagat is assistant professor and director of the public policy minor at the School of Public Policy, Simon Fraser University.

Source: Canada needs South Asian labour, and racism keeps it cheap

Filed under Multiculturalism, Racism Tagged with ,

Lederman: There’s a lot not to like about the new anti-hate council

2026/06/22 Leave a comment

Never was convinced that these two positions were effective in reducing hate but they did provide assurances to the specific groups. We will see if the council will be more or less successful (don’t envy the officials responsible…):

…The group replaces Canada’s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia and the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. That was the government’s first mistake. Why not keep those positions (and perhaps set up others) and have the various representatives sit on a wider council? 

The problem is urgent, but beyond this announcement, it’s unclear what is happening. In responding to an interview request, one council member indicated they had not yet been officially onboarded and was waiting to have a better sense of specifics. 

Meanwhile, Canadian youth are being hired by a foreign entity to shoot up synagogues. 

Government bureaucracy is notoriously snail-paced. This is no time for dawdling or endless committee discussions, but for meaningful action. This week’s passing of the anti-hate bill will offer some protection. But hate must be targeted at its root, not just its activation. It’s going to be a massive challenge. Let’s go.

Source: There’s a lot not to like about the new anti-hate council

Filed under Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

Canada gave these former refugees a chance. Now they’re pushing back against anti-refugee claims

2026/06/22 Leave a comment

Of note:

…While success stories like hers are common, she said they have been overshadowed by narratives in recent years that portray refugees as a drain on Canada, rather than contributors. The surge of refugees in the country is just a reflection of the rising global displacement as a result of wars and unrest, she noted.

A 2024-25 public opinion poll by the Immigration Department found that just a third of Canadians felt that the impact of refugees on Canada was positive. Forty-eight per cent of respondents said Canada was admitting too many asylum seekers, while 41 per cent said the country was resettling too many refugees from abroad. Just over half agreed that “accepting refugees is part of Canada’s humanitarian tradition.” 

“The more you feed into this negative narrative, the more fearful society and the politicians become, and the more restrictive these policies become,” said Faizi, who was a corporate lawyer specializing in intellectual property rights, before switching to refugee law in 2021. 

That’s why the council has launched a week of action to highlight refugee contributions and show solidarity across Canada with them, leading up to the World Refugee Day on Saturday. It comes in the wake of Ottawa’s new law to restrict eligibility for asylum and rules to limit health-care coverage for refugees. 

The campaign — including an open letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, highlighting local events organized by its 200 member organizations across Canada and a tool kit to promote the message “We are Better Together” — also followed a report released by UNHCR Canada in early June that looked at the social and economic benefits of welcoming displaced people in need of protection….

Source: Canada gave these former refugees a chance. Now they’re pushing back against anti-refugee claims

Filed under Immigration, Refugees Tagged with , ,

Geoff Russ: Sorry, Carney, but the idea that newcomers don’t bring hatreds with them is a fiction

2026/06/22 1 Comment

More on values in right-leaning media, overly comparing to UK:

…If the prime minister means what he says, he should follow it up with action, such as instituting a Canadian values test for newcomers. It’s true that not every migrant will become an extremist or give a second thought to history. However, highly motivated individuals can have an outsized effect and it is the government’s duty to ensure that extremism does not continue to gain a foothold in this country.

The once-mighty Great Britain, currently racked by ethnic and religious violence caused in part by irresponsible mass immigration, is our future if Canada doesn’t abolish its myths about “blank slates.” People do not always forget the past when they get off an airplane.

Source: Geoff Russ: Sorry, Carney, but the idea that newcomers don’t bring hatreds with them is a fiction

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

Are Your Ancestors Canadian? Here’s What to Know About Becoming a Citizen.

2026/06/22 Leave a comment

More on C-3 implications and interest, this time in NYT. But not convinced that many will move compared to those who want it for security. Not clear whether we will have accurate data re moves however:

…There are about 63,200 citizenship applications for review ahead of the one submitted by Abbey Campbell, who started a TikTok account from her home in the Hudson Valley region of New York, to document her process and educate others on immigration rules.

“What surprised me was how many people were looking for information, and how I wasn’t the only one that felt overwhelmed,” she said. “A lot of people just didn’t know where to start.”

Information crowdsourcing efforts have appeared on social media as applicants search for relatives, share tips about parish records and exchange notes about timelines. There is an extensive Google spreadsheet, hosted on Reddit, with data from hundreds of applicants who have shared their information about their timeline for a response.

Ms. Campbell has continued to make weekly videos and answer questions from the community of potential Canadians, a space that has come to represent hope and excitement, she said. The estimated wait for her application is 11 months.

“A lot of people are planning to move there as soon as they get their citizenship,” Ms. Campbell said. “It’s a gift.”

Source: Are Your Ancestors Canadian? Here’s What to Know About Becoming a Citizen.

Filed under C-3, Citizenship

Annual Summary of TR2PR

2026/06/22 Leave a comment

Further to my earlier post providing an annual summary of total immigration: Permanent Residents, IMP, TFWP and international students, did a comparable table for TR2PR, that highlights their comparatively higher increase rates compared to Permanent Residents since 2019 and their higher decrease since the peak of 2023:

Filed under Immigration Tagged with ,

LILLEY: Jamil Jivani campaigning to end ‘Liberal racism’ in public service

2026/06/19 2 Comments

Numbers vary of course by level and occupational group but overall, the annual reporting framework (pride and shame motivators) has largely worked well to ensure a public service more representative of the overall Canadian population.

Harper government weakened annual reporting but did not change the Act. Unclear whether Carney will follow up on the Trudeau era task force recommendations or not, as they very much reflected that government’s philosophy and approach:

…The Employment Equity Act was passed in 1986 to attempt to reduce barriers to employment for some groups. It was a success, but the special treatment for these select groups continues even though they are now, for the most part, overrepresented in the federal civil service.

Women are one of the protected groups given special access to government jobs. According to Statistics Canada, women make up 47% of the overall labour force, according to the most recent jobs report from Statistics Canada, but women make up 57% of the federal workforce.

Indigenous Canadians make up 4% of the available workforce, according to federal data, and yet they account for 5.5% of the federal civil service. According to federal data, visible minorities make up 22.7% of the available workforce and hold 23.9% of all jobs in the federal government.

None of these groups are underrepresented and yet they are getting special treatment for jobs. Jivani is right: This is a form of discrimination, this is a form of racist policy and it shouldn’t be allowed.

Chances are that if you asked most Canadians if these types of practices should be allowed, they would say no. In a world where Liberals MPs

Source: LILLEY: Jamil Jivani campaigning to end ‘Liberal racism’ in public service

Filed under employment equity, Multiculturalism Tagged with

Canada’s misguided mosaic metaphor

2026/06/19 Leave a comment

Not convinced by the arguments. Multiculturalism operates within the Canadian legal framework, which includes of course hate speech restrictions. It is not an anything goes given the legal framework but allows for accommodations to facilitate participation in Canadian society.

One can argue, as I myself as done, that sometimes this leads to more divisive policies than integrative ones, but the framework remains valid IMO. I think the bigger issue with respect to antisemitism is that lack of moral courage by leaders to call out unacceptable behaviours, whether at universities, schools, neighbourhoods etc and the general reluctance of the police to preserve the public space.

…Our immigration system—and our political class—for years lacked the vocabulary to say so, because saying so would require admitting that the mosaic has conditions. It would require treating the shared core, the mortar, as more important than any individual tile.

Carney’s Dublin speech is the kind of thing a prime minister says when he wants to feel, and to make others feel, that Canada is a generous idea. His Toronto speech was the kind of thing a prime minister says when the generous idea has produced bullet holes in synagogue windows. The distance between those two speeches is the distance between Canada’s self-conception and Canada’s actual crisis.

That distance will not close until we are honest about what the mosaic requires to hold together, and honest about what it cannot, and must not, accommodate.

Stephen Staley is the Director of Fault Lines and a longstanding contributor to The Hub on Canadian policy, culture, and civic life. He is a senior advisor at the Oyster Group, one of Canada’s leading communications and public affairs firms.

Source: Canada’s misguided mosaic metaphor

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with ,

Elkouri: Allégations de racisme au SPVMLe #metoo du racisme, Nicolas: Sinon, nous nous répéterons

2026/06/19 Leave a comment

Valid critique:

…Dans le cas qui nous concerne, devant la gravité des actes racistes allégués ayant mené au démantèlement d’une équipe de patrouilleurs montréalais, le gouvernement caquiste concède que l’on ne parle pas de quelques pommes, mais bien d’un panier pourri au complet. Mais ce qui est inquiétant, c’est que l’on refuse encore obstinément d’examiner le sol contaminé du verger. Pas question de reconnaître la nature systémique du problème, répète-t-on.

Pour rétablir la confiance, on n’aura toutefois pas d’autre choix que de sortir du déni comme on l’a fait dans la foulée du mouvement #moiaussi.

Comment ? Comme Yves Boisvert et Fabrice Vil, je crois qu’une enquête publique indépendante s’impose2, 3. C’est aussi l’avis de Massimiliano Mulone, professeur agrégé de criminologie à l’Université de Montréal et coauteur d’un rapport alarmant sur les interpellations policières et le profilage racial au SPVM dont la seule et unique recommandation a été ignorée.

Les problèmes de discrimination raciale dans les pratiques policières ne sont pas circonscrits à quelques individus ou à un quartier. L’enjeu central, c’est la nature systémique du problème. D’où l’utilité de prendre un pas de recul pour analyser la chose en profondeur….

Source: Allégations de racisme au SPVM Le #metoo du racisme

… In the case that concerns us, given the seriousness of the alleged racist acts that led to the dismantling of a team of Montreal patrolmen, the Caquist government admits that we are not talking about a few apples, but about a complete rotten basket. But what is worrying is that we still stubbornly refuse to examine the contaminated soil of the orchard. There is no question of recognizing the systemic nature of the problem, we repeat.

To restore confidence, however, we will have no choice but to get out of denial as we did in the wake of the #moiaussi movement.

How? Like Yves Boisvert and Fabrice Vil, I believe that an independent public inquiry is necessary2, 3. This is also the opinion of Massimiliano Mulone, associate professor of criminology at the University of Montreal and co-author of an alarming report on police arrests and racial profiling at the SPVM whose one and only recommendation was ignored.

The problems of racial discrimination in police practices are not limited to a few individuals or a neighborhood. The central issue is the systemic nature of the problem. Hence the usefulness of taking a step back to analyze the thing in depth….

Nicolas | Sinon, nous nous répéterons

…Ce que moi-même et bien des gens qui s’y connaissent un peu voudrions voir, c’est une enquête publique sur le racisme systémique dans la police, un moratoire sur les interpellations et une révision en profondeur du règlement municipal, question d’éliminer les autres « poignées » sur lesquels les policiers pourraient se rabattre pour continuer à harceler indûment les citoyens de nos communautés.

On verra si on préfère les « solutions » qui n’en sont pas, et qui n’ont jamais fonctionné, mais qui donnent l’impression d’avoir « fait quelque chose » après une « onde de choc ». Si c’est le cas, dans quelques années, le Québec sera à nouveau « surpris » qu’il subsiste du racisme dans les corps policiers et que les droits de la personne de citoyens soient bafoués.

Alors, nous nous répéterons. Poze.

Source: Chronique | Sinon, nous nous répéterons

What I myself and many people who know a little about it would like to see is a public inquiry into systemic racism in the police, a moratorium on arrests and a thorough revision of the municipal by-law, a matter of eliminating the other “handles” on which the police could fall back to continue to unduly harass the citizens of our communities.

We will see if we prefer “solutions” that are not, and that have never worked, but that give the impression of having “done something” after a “shock wave”. If this is the case, in a few years, Quebec will again be “surprised” that racism remains in police forces and that citizens’ human rights are flouted.

So, we will repeat ourselves. Poza.

Filed under Multiculturalism, Racism Tagged with , ,

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