Written by: Aphrodite Bouikidis 

In this session of the Pandemonium webinar series on November 25, panelists from Vancouver and Toronto shed light on changes to urban economies through the first nine months of the pandemic, and discussed how we can shape more equitable and sustainable economies going forward.  

Our panelists were Tamara Vrooman, CEO of YVR and Chancellor of SFU; Matti Siemiatycki, a professor and interim director at the University of Toronto School of Cities; Lynsey Thornton, who leads Vancouver operations for Shopify; Angela Marie MacDougall, Executive Director of Battered Women’s Support Services and Co-Chair of Feminists Deliver; and Wade Grant, a member and leader of Musqueam Nation. This mix of panelists permitted the discussion to avoid a narrow understanding of economic impacts on income, resources and production to consider the economy, more broadly, as a force for development.

The event opened with a territorial welcome offered by Wade Grant, which came with a reminder of the Indigenous economy of this place and the ongoing impacts of its... read more from SFU Public Square.