The Voice - Public Interest Alberta

Thanks for joining us today. In today's podcast, I'll be talking to Brad Lafortune, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. Public Interest Alberta is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, provincial wide organization focused on education and advocacy and public interest issues, and a member of VAD. 

Listen in for a great conversation with Brad!

Transcript

Teresa Makarewich 

Welcome to the voice of Albertan with Disabilities podcast from March 2023. I'm Teresa Makarewich, your host and Vad's program and services manager. Thanks for joining us today. In today's podcast, I'll be talking to Brad Lafortune, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. Public Interest Alberta is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, provincial wide organization focused on education and advocacy and public interest issues, and a member of VAD. VAD has been talking with our membership to learn about the resources that are available to the disability community, and I wanted to get Public Interest Alberta on the podcast to discuss the resources that this organization provides. We hold the power. Please welcome Brad to the show. Hello Brad, can you introduce yourself? 

Brad Lafortune 

Hello. Yes, my name is Brad Lafortune and I am the executive director of Public Interest Alberta. I am in Edmonton on Treaty 6 territory and I have been the Executive director of PIA as we call it for short for about two years. Now, and I'm a proud member of VAD as well. 

Teresa Makarewich 

That's awesome. Thank you for that. I have a few questions about Public Interest Alberta to gather information for our listeners. Can you tell us who PIA is as an organization, please? 

Brad Lafortune 

Yes, for sure. So PIA Public Interest Alberta is a nonprofit organization and we are advocacy focused. So everything we focus on has to do with action and building power with community members for positive change. In Alberta, we're focused on Alberta specifically, so we don't do any advocacy in other provinces and we're not a charity because we really think that it's important for us to be able to have the full Opportunity to speak our minds when it comes to public issues and public services and that's really what we focus on we're focusing on. Strengthening and preserving public education, public healthcare, seniors care. We work on Human Services and poverty issues as well, and we have seven priority areas across the spectrum. So it's a pretty wide mandate and there's three staff in our office and a big board of about 16 people. And then we have Members across the province as well. 

Teresa Makarewich 

That's amazing. Can you give us a little bit Of history about your organization. 

Brad Lafortune 

So our history is pretty long. We've been an organization for almost 20 years now. We're actually going to be celebrating our 20th anniversary this year and how it started was a group of community members and leaders from nonprofit organizations. And public sector and private sector labor unions came together and said, you know, there's a lot of voices in Alberta that are advocating for lower taxes, the streamlining of services cuts to public services and basically more conservative approach to government and public services. And so these leaders and community members got together and and said, you know what, maybe we need a little bit of a counter to that and a little bit more balance. And so they got around the table and and they decided to start a society and they registered as a society. And we've been having a lot of fun ever since. So we have an annual conference every year and we produce a lot of materials and campaigns. And one of the big focuses of PIA going back to its inception was how do we create a more just And a more equal society here in Alberta. And one of The sort of assumptions and conclusions that we have based on the research that we do with all of our partners and Members is that we really need a strong social safety net and strong public services in order to have a healthy society. And so we've been doing that for about 20 years. People have come and gone, but we're really excited about our 20th anniversary. And get a whole bunch of builders and community members back together. Because as you're probably, you know, familiar with as well at that, you know, there's a lot of the same people in these organizations who are doing a lot of hard work. And so it's a pretty Small but mighty crew and a lot of people have been doing that work for many, many, many years. 

Teresa Makarewich 

That is true. VAD celebrates our 50th anniversary this year. 

Brad Lafortune 

Amazing. That is so cool. 

Teresa Makarewich 

So congratulations on your 20th. 

Brad Lafortune 

Thank you. 

Teresa Makarewich 

How does PIA Help people in the community with advocacy. 

Brad Lafortune 

So as you mentioned, right off the top, we focus on education and advocacy. On the education side, what we do is we provide training workshops and programs for people. So everything from how to write a letter to the editor or to do media? We also train people on how to talk to their elected officials either City Council or on the doorstep or in community. Things we also train people how to develop and implement their own campaigns. When it comes to canvassing or online and social media, we also teach people you know how they can do lobby campaigns too. A lot of people haven't met with elected officials before or if they have, they might have some. Questions about how to really effectively get their message across, so we do a lot of education and training with our Members. We provide a lot of resources as well. We use some like fun tools online like nation builder and new mode and other social media and digital tools. So we like to do campaigns that help make it a little bit easier to send in letters and emails and to get into contact with decision makers. And then on the advocacy side, we focus on, you know, longer term campaigns like revenue reform in the province to support strong public services. And basically what that means is trying to, You know, as as you all know, get people to come together to use their power and speak with one voice to really make the case for positive change, and that can take a lot of work and sometimes a lot of time. But it's also a lot of fun, and so I'd say at the end of the day, whether it's education and advocacy or anything else Between we're really focused on building community and bringing people together and empowering people to use their own voices to really convince people who are in positions of power to make positive change, for, for themselves and for their communities. 

Teresa Makarewich 

Right on, just to touch on something you said with your membership, is there a cost to Become a member. 

Brad Lafortune 

There is a cost to become a member, but I want to say at the outset we're really we're really, really committed to making sure that that we have barrier free access to engagement with our organization, that the annual cost for for an individual is $50. We have a low income membership for $20 as well for individuals and then We're always happy to have, you know, conversations with people so that there's barrier free access to membership and all of the resources that we have. 

Teresa Makarewich 

Perfect. I like to hear that. What are some of the projects that you've done in the community, you said, I know you said you had seven different areas that you work in. 

Brad Lafortune 

So let me see if I can list off the seven areas without looking at my notes. I hope so. So we have early learning and child childcare. We do K to 12. Post secondary education, seniors, Human Services and poverty, environment and democracy. So those are seven priority areas and some of the things that we've really really tried to focus on in the last two years is K to 12 education. Childcare, which has been a huge issue for parents and families and kids and workers as well and Human Services and poverty, especially on child poverty and access to housing. We've been working very hard on the right to housing issue for the last two years and there's been a real need to focus on that in Alberta. Given the cost of living challenges that people are see And just how unaffordable rents have have become for a lot of folks across the province. So we have our seven priority areas and then we try to focus in on where the opportunities are depending on you know what the need is and what the opportunity is in the province. 

Teresa Makarewich 

Can you share your thoughts on how the Public Interest Alberta contributes to the disability community to help better people's lives? 

Brad Lafortune 

For sure one of the. One of the most exciting things that I think we're we're all very proud of here at the PIA in the last couple of years is joining other organizations and getting deeper into the communities that We're we're a part of. So we are a proud member of VAD and I've been learning a lot from the community and from people, you know who you work with, like Sam and Margot and so The others about accessibility issues in particular, and how we need to make sure that accessibility is always top of mind, regardless of whether we're talking about healthcare, education, seniors, care environment, it's all connected. And so I think that - that's something that's been a bit of a shift forUs in the last couple of years is getting more deeply connected with with that and other organizations in Calgary as well that are based in Calgary, I should say. And I think when it comes to accessibility, you know we've been doing a lot of work on housing, as I mentioned. And so with the National Housing strategy, for example, federally or provincially, the new, you know, stronger foundations strategy that the province has, we're seeing a real Shift towards market based solutions and privatization of existing assets and public housing and social housing. And so with that, it's really important to make sure that we're providing an alternative point of view on the need to have accessible, affordable, high quality housing for everyone. Because you know there is a real, real crisis in our communities when it comes to housing. So that's a big one. For us and then and I, I don't think I was going to say the last thing I wanted to say on working with folks from the disabilities community Is that this is not unique to, you know, VAD or PIA necessarily, but The most effective advocacy that I ever see, regardless of the. Issue is when it is being organized and led by folks with lived experience or living experience. And So what we try to do at PIA is provide support and resources and you know some guidance and some structures that people might be able to use for self advocacy. But that especially you know, in working more closely with VAD and the Community in the Last couple of Years. That's a lesson That has been really driven home For us, is that the most effective advocacy really happens when you're working in partnership with folks who are real experts. And that comes from experience, not from anything else. 

Teresa Makarewich 

Yeah, that's true. Can you tell? Us how to someone get a hold of the Public Interest Alberta services. 

Brad Lafortune 

So you can find us everywhere on social media. You can find us on Instagram at PIAlberta. You can find us on Facebook at PIAlberta, our website is pialberta.org. We have a newsletter that people can subscribe to there. It's pretty easy to find and we also have our our office downtown. Edmonton that people are always welcome to come visit. It is accessible and our office doors are always open. We love hanging out with people in person as well, but the best way to probably just kind of get To you know, kind of a glimpse into what we do and to get engaged just to check out our website pialberta.org/subscribe And then if folks are interested from there, they can become members and get involved with our task forces and get more engaged. 

Teresa Makarewich 

You mentioned task forces. So as a person that joins as a membership, I can become somebody who participates in those. 

Brad Lafortune 

If you're a member of our organization, you're welcome to all of our task forces. If you'd like to get engaged and you're welcome to our general membership and annual meetings as well. Our task force is where the real kind of exciting conversation and action comes from. That's where people come together once a month, maybe. Months every couple of months, depending on what's happening in people's lives to build those campaigns and create advocacy, basically from the grassroots and. And that's really where the excitement happens. 

Teresa Makarewich 

Nice from the grassroots up. What's an interesting Fact about PIA That everyone should know. 

Brad Lafortune 

Ooh, that is a really good question. There's so many things that I like to brag about when it comes to PIA 

Teresa Makarewich 

BRAG Away 

Brad Lafortune 

There's one that I was thinking about today. Very interesting fact. I'll just pick one, but the the mayor of Edmonton, Amarjeet Sohi, was on PIA’s board several years ago before he became a politician. So that one's pretty cool. 

Teresa Makarewich 

That's pretty neat. Cool, thank you for your time and energy today. Brad, your support and the community is of value to all. Is there anything else you want to say today? 

Brad Lafortune 

Thank you so. Much I hope that everyone out there is having a wonderful day and we appreciate that advocacy and partnership so, so much. You're all doing wonderful work and we look forward to continuing the partnership. So thank you. 

Teresa Makarewich 

That's wonderful. Thank you. So thanks again for joining Vad’s podcasts, voice of Albertans with disabilities is across disability nonprofit organization Of and for people with disabilities. We are guided by the principles of accessibility, equity and inclusion. Learn about VAD services on our website at vadsociety.ca or call 780-488-9088 For more information. if you have a topic you would like to hear more about in a podcast, please e-mail myself at VAD@VADSociety.ca with topic ideas, speaker suggestions Or your feedback. Signing off for the day, together, we hold the power.