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Extraordinary acts are not reserved for the special few. The vast majority of people are making the world a better and more beautiful place.

That’s why I write – to celebrate the love and creativity of so called ordinary people. Someone or something they care about is vulnerable, under siege or in trouble, and they have no choice but to respond. Their actions are expressions of the heart.

I am optimistic about what we can do together when everyone’s gifts, talents and love are enabled and welcomed. ~ al

Courage to Care: Ripples of Love in Action

Courage to Care is a curated collection of 160 fiercely personal reflections, poems, paintings, photos, graphic illustrations, song lyrics, and food recipes about receiving and giving care. They illustrate the extent and vibrancy of caring taking place in Canada. The hard truths and the sticky love. They show caring as it is, neither heroic and saintly nor devastating and hopeless, especially when supports are available.

Courage to Care:

Shines a light on natural caring as the invisible and indispensable force that connects Canadians to each other and the living world.
Reminds readers they are not alone, and that they are part of a mighty and majestic network of caring people.
Reveals caring as a unifying force in Canada.
Invites all Canadians to join a national conversation about caring.

Courage to Care is published by Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network in support of people receiving and giving care and the wonderful work of the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence.

al and the Courage to Care team have been hosting “Connecting for Caring” gatherings across Canada and will continue to do so in 2027. Contact al or the Courage to Care team at hello@plan.ca for more information and bookings.

Here is a review of their Ottawa event, held at the National Arts Centre:

Last night, I watched a room go quiet.
At the National Arts Centre, I was invited by Anne Carlyle to the launch of Courage to Care: Ripples of Love in Action, curated by Al Etmanski.
You could feel the stories landing, in the way people listened, in the silence that followed certain moments, and in Lia Kuri’s voice as she sang Scissors, a song shaped by caring for her father through dementia.
I had first seen the book at Anne’s home this summer.
Last night, I felt what was living inside its pages.
The part of love that gets tired, that worries, that doesn’t always look beautiful, and still stays.
So much of that devotion happens where no one is watching.
Thank you, Anne, for the invitation and for bringing me into an evening that carried so much heart.
At the end of the evening, TD gave each of us a copy of the book.
I left carrying mine, but also thinking about how many people are being held together every day by acts of love no one else will ever see.
Maybe that is what care becomes when love has nowhere else to go.
A hand that stays. A voice that answers.  A presence that says, even on the hardest days:
I’m still here.

– Kata MEiC, Instagram @idfRNt9

Disability Without Poverty and the Canada Disability Benefit

In 2020 I was involved with a group of disabled people who were determined to end the extreme poverty experienced by too many disabled people. They became Disability Without Poverty. Their immediate goal was to lobby into existence the world’s first basic income supplement.

They were successful. The Canada Disability Benefit Act was passed unanimously in the House of Commons and received Royal Assent in June 2023. The work continues. Including to expand eligibility to all disabled Canadians who are poor, simplify enrolment and to increase the amount of the benefit.