The Voices Behind the Book

Aislinn Hunter is an award-winning novelist and poet whose work engages with memory, place, loss and relationships between human and more-than-human worlds. She is the author of eight books, including The Certainties and The World Before Us.

In Courage to Care: In “Reciprocity,” Aislinn writes about caring for her husband, Glenn, during his illness and about life with their three dogs before and after his death. She recalls daily routines and moments of comfort, joy and companionship. (p. 216)

Al Etmanski is a community organizer, social entrepreneur and author who has worked for decades in disability advocacy and social innovation. He co-founded PLAN, led the campaign that created the Registered Disability Savings Plan and curated Courage to Care.

In Courage to Care: In “Harvest,” Al recalls a hospital moment after his wife, Vickie, underwent surgery. When their son Joel learns that she needs help, he changes his plans to be with her. (p. 73)

Alain Wong is a Montréal-based photographer, visual storyteller and longtime swing dancer. His photography includes portraits, dance, events and community life.

In Courage to Care: Alain contributes a portrait of Fabrice Vil. The photograph appears with “Caring Doesn’t Cure” and places Fabrice within the community work of Pour 3 Points. (p. 205)

Amy Leitch works with Alberta Parks and supports programs that connect people with parks and natural places. At Crimson Lake Provincial Park, she has been involved with Good Grief, a guided walking program for people experiencing loss.

In Courage to Care: Amy contributes a photograph of participants gathered beside the water during a Good Grief walk. It accompanies Sonya Jakubec’s “Natural Caring and Caring in Nature.” (p. 137)

Andrea Doucet is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies at Brock University and a former Canada Research Chair in Gender, Work, and Care. For more than 30 years, she has studied caring relationships, family life, gender and public policy.

In Courage to Care: In “‘Nothing Exists Alone’: Why Rachel Carson Is the Care Thinker We Need Now,” Andrea draws on memories of growing up in New Brunswick and reading Rachel Carson. The essay moves between personal recollection and questions concerning human well-being, water, land and other living beings. (p. 58)

Andrea Reimer is a community organizer, educator and former three-term Vancouver city councillor. An Adjunct Professor of Practice at UBC, she teaches about democracy, citizenship, social justice, human rights and power literacy.

In Courage to Care: In “The Power of Caring,” Andrea writes about power within caring relationships and how it is recognized and used. She draws on her work as an organizer and educator and on receiving support as a young person. (p. 88)

Andrea van Vugt is a Calgary-based disability advocate, artist and founder of the Disability Pride Alberta Foundation. Her advocacy focuses on disability pride, economic justice, accessibility and disabled people’s participation in decisions affecting their lives.

In Courage to Care: In the poem “Disabled Episodic Love,” Andrea writes about intimacy between partners in the context of episodic disability. Short, rhythmic lines move among desire, fatigue, bodily uncertainty, apology and affection. (p. 44)

Ann Manuel is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, visual-arts educator and arts advocate based in New Brunswick. For more than 40 years, she has worked across drawing, printmaking, painting and installation.

In Courage to Care: “Breath” pairs Ann’s floating installation with her account of the experiences that inspired it, including final acts of caring by each of her parents. Photographs show the work’s suspended forms and murmuration-like movement. (p. 176)

Anne Carlyle is an award-winning interior designer with more than 40 years of experience creating healthcare, educational, community and public spaces. Her practice considers beauty, nature, art and light in relation to well-being.

In Courage to Care: In “Can You Hear the Birds Singing?,” Anne writes about the people who helped her father remain at home as he grew older. She reflects on both parents and poses questions about beauty, nature, designed places, connection and well-being. (p. 92)

Anne Michaels is an internationally published novelist and poet whose work has appeared in more than 45 countries. Her books include Fugitive Pieces, The Winter Vault and Held.

In Courage to Care: Through a reflection and excerpts from Held, Anne considers what consolation might be found within mortality and human limitation. The selected passages concern caring for the living, the dying and the dead. (p. 170)

Barb Goode is a self-advocate who has been involved in Canada’s disability-rights movement since the 1970s. A founding member of BC People First, she has advocated for people with intellectual disabilities to be included in decisions affecting their lives.

In Courage to Care: In “On Caring,” Barb reflects on caring in her life and work as a self-advocate. She writes about friendship, laughter, mutual support and standing up alongside others. (p. 208)

bekky O’Neil is a multidisciplinary artist, animator, writer, director and producer based in Northumberland County, Ontario. Her films and animated documentaries engage with ecology, biodiversity, agriculture and human relationships with the natural world.

In Courage to Care: The book includes illustrations and images from How to Lose Everything: A Field Guide, an animated film co-directed by bekky and Christa Couture. The images accompany field-guide prompts concerned with grief, memory and loss. (p. 222)

Bev Foster is a musician, educator, songwriter and founder and Executive Director of the Room 217 Foundation. She developed Music Care, an approach to using music in everyday caring relationships.

In Courage to Care: In “The Power of Music,” Bev writes about music in caring relationships, including moments when spoken words are difficult to find. Her contribution also includes the song “In Between.” (p. 96)

Bonnie Sherr Klein is an award-winning filmmaker, author and disability-rights activist. Her work includes the documentary Shameless: The ART of Disability and the memoir Slow Dance.

In Courage to Care: In “The Golden Years?,” Bonnie writes about aging with increasing disabilities while she and her husband, Michael, both need care and hope to remain at home. She reflects on bodily changes, loss and grief alongside her roles as mother, wife, grandmother, friend and advocate. (p. 150)

Bozena Happach is a Polish-born Canadian sculptor based in Montréal. Trained in visual art, architecture and sculpture in Gdańsk, she creates figurative work in bronze, stone, fibreglass, metal and relief.

In Courage to Care: Bozena contributes Old Love, a sculpture presented with a poem of the same title by her husband, Stanislaw Kapuscinski. The poem describes a person sitting alone on a bench and seeing her husband beside her. (p. 48)

Brad Fraser is an award-winning Canadian playwright, screenwriter, director and author whose work has been produced internationally. His plays include Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love and Poor Super Man; his memoir is All the Rage.

In Courage to Care: In “Shirley’s Shadow,” Brad writes about his friendship with his neighbour Shirley as her dementia progresses. He recounts changes in their relationship, practical responsibilities he assumes and moments from their time together. (p. 104)

Bren Simmers is an award-winning poet and nonfiction writer whose work engages with place, memory, family, labour and loss. Her books include The Work, winner of the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and the wilderness memoir Pivot Point.

In Courage to Care: In “Load Upon Load,” Bren writes about her brother, his wife’s stage-four cancer and a family conflict surrounding a trip with their two young children. Images of a flickering streetlight and an unfinished insurance form appear alongside drinking, silence and pain. (p. 155)

Brian Doerksen is a Canadian songwriter, recording artist, speaker and instructor whose music is sung in faith communities around the world. Brian and his wife, Joyce, are parents to six adult children, including two sons with Fragile X syndrome.

In Courage to Care: In “Three Little Words,” Brian writes about his son Isaiah after Isaiah’s day program closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. He recalls Isaiah’s three spoken words—“no,” “me” and “mama”—their daily routines and the songwriting that took place during those years. (p. 66)

Brian Smith is an entrepreneur, impact investor and co-founder and CEO of Persephone Brewing Company on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. His work includes regenerative agriculture, local food systems and community well-being.

In Courage to Care: In “Let Me Count the Ways,” Brian recalls the people involved after his cycling accident and throughout treatment and rehabilitation. He writes about gatherings and fundraisers and remembers his sons checking that his feet were covered as they passed his bed. (p. 198)

Bruce Rice is a poet, essayist, editor and former Saskatchewan Poet Laureate living in Regina on Treaty 4 Territory and the Métis homeland. His recent work includes Standstill: A Hopewell Earthworks Daybook and Other Essays.

In Courage to Care: In “From a Small Town in the Badlands” and “Mountain Light,” Bruce writes about his older sister, Lynne, who lost her hearing after spinal meningitis. He recalls childhood, her years at schools for deaf students and the bedside shifts his family took during her severe pneumonia. (p. 18)

Camille Paré-Poirier is a Montréal-based actor, performer and writer whose practice brings together autofiction, documentary methods and poetry. Her documentary solo Je viendrai moins souvent received the Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui’s 2022–23 dramatic-writing prize.

In Courage to Care: Excerpts from “Je Viendrai Moins Souvent (I Will Come Less Often)” present recorded conversations with Camille’s grandmother Pauline, who recognizes her intermittently. Their exchanges include visits, spoon-feeding, questions about relatives and memories of Pauline comforting Camille. (p. 24)

Charlene Roxborough writes from her experience as Heather’s mother and as one of the people who cared for her during illness. Her work engages with family caring, grief and continuing connection.

In Courage to Care: In “The Soul of Caring,” Charlene recounts how she and her husband cared for their 39-year-old daughter, Heather, who had stage-four pancreatic cancer and wished to spend her final months at home. She describes their conversations, listening without words and Heather’s presence in her daily life after her death. (p. 214)

Charles Holmes is a cultural anthropologist, facilitator, educator and coach whose work focuses on relationships, complexity and collaborative change. Through CE Holmes Consulting, he designs and facilitates gatherings with organizations and communities.

In Courage to Care: In the free-verse poem “Time-Lessons-Love,” Charles moves through images of time slipping through fingers, beads on a string, darkness, travellers, a heartbeat and a compass. The poem repeats “love,” “every” and “together” and addresses the reader with phrases such as “Remember” and “hold tight.” (p. 160)

For many years, Dr. Charles King practised family medicine in Crescent Beach, British Columbia, including palliative care in the community, at the local hospital and with the BC Cancer Clinic. With his partner, Wendy Wulf, he also developed environmentally responsible family-medicine practices.

In Courage to Care: In “Loving Life Away,” Charles recounts experiences from his palliative-care practice, including his relationship with Richard, who was dying of kidney cancer. He describes Richard’s bed facing the North Shore mountains, birdwatching friends at his bedside and a snowy owl outside his window. (p. 142)

Cheryl Andrichuk is a writer, communications professional and educator with more than 25 years of experience. As Communications Manager at Robinson Insight, she develops content and learning opportunities for technology leaders.

In Courage to Care: In “The First Time,” Cheryl recalls arriving at her father’s house, helping him inside and hearing him say he thought she was the gardener. She describes the conversation that follows and his reaction when she picks up his mail before leaving. (p. 20)

Cheryl Rose is an educator, systems coach and co-founder of the Wolf Willow Institute for Systems Learning. For more than 25 years, she has taught and mentored social innovators and leaders.

In Courage to Care: In “Dancing Across Time,” Cheryl writes about wearing her late mother’s favourite lipstick. When her grandson is born on her mother’s birthday, she considers inheritance and the kind of ancestor she hopes to become. (p. 72)

Chris Drouin is a photographer whose work includes documenting exhibitions and large-scale installations. His photographs record artworks’ spatial arrangements, details and movement.

In Courage to Care: Chris documents Ann Manuel’s floating installation Breath. His photograph shows its suspended forms and accompanies Ann’s reflection on the experiences that shaped the work. (p. 176)

Christa Couture is an Indigenous writer, filmmaker, singer-songwriter and broadcaster of mixed Cree and Scandinavian ancestry. She is also queer, disabled and a mother; her memoir, How to Lose Everything, was published in 2020.

In Courage to Care: The song “To Us” lists choices, losses, illness, weariness and recovery, returning to the refrain “To us.” Later, words and images from How to Lose Everything: A Field Guide use direct instructions and images of waves, letters, a child, a sister and a home. (pp. 22 and 222)

Christabel Shaler is a teacher, writer and content creator with a background in digital communications and community storytelling. She also works in education and digital safety for children and families.

In Courage to Care: In “I Am Soil,” Christabel writes about caring for her mother, support received through Tyze and a conversation with Vickie Cammack. Images of soil, compost and a garden in bloom recur before she recounts her daughter’s birth eight years later on the date her mother died. (p. 144)

Claire Cameron is an award-winning Canadian novelist, memoirist and journalist. Her books include The Bear, The Last Neanderthal and the Governor General’s Literary Award-winning memoir How to Survive a Bear Attack.

In Courage to Care: In the found poem “To Sleep on the Street,” Claire arranges first-person lines from online accounts of living without stable housing. Details include sleeping outside, searching for a hot meal, carrying toiletries in plastic bags, crowded shelters and using a library for shelter and phone charging. (p. 108)

Claudia Kelly Li is an award-winning social entrepreneur, coach and advocate for cultural change. An Ashoka Fellow, she founded Shark Truth and later co-founded Modern Relationships.

In Courage to Care: In “The Unwinding of Grief,” Claudia writes about the death of her friend Randy on a bridge visible from her apartment. She describes fearing new friendships and uses images of living cells under a microscope, a deep well without a visible shore and mould spores that remain. (p. 221)

Cora Li-Leger is a visual artist and former expressive-arts therapist living in South Surrey, British Columbia. Working through drawing, bookmaking and textiles, she is a founding member of Z·inc Artist Collective.

In Courage to Care: In “The Wild Chaos of Caring,” Cora writes about support from her husband, Don, after she developed rheumatoid arthritis and about caring for him after a glioblastoma diagnosis. My Starry Night is a twelve-piece quilt made with Don’s shirts, cotton, yarn and embroidered images of neurons and astrocytes. (p. 126)

Cori Carl is a writer, communications consultant and director of The Caregiver Space, where she develops peer-support programs for people whose lives include paid or unpaid caring. She also writes about immigration, community building and social justice.

In Courage to Care: In “Should Help, Would Help, Could Help,” Cori writes about offering help when tasks, abilities, resources and schedules do not align. She imagines an agency that could divide daily tasks, recalls Community Living gatherings and contrasts caring “of” someone with caring “with” someone. (p. 106)

Dan Mangan is a two-time JUNO Award-winning and three-time Polaris Music Prize-nominated musician and songwriter based in Vancouver. His career spans albums, international touring and composition for film and television.

In Courage to Care: In “Surrounding Me,” Dan introduces an unrecorded song about feeling understood and being in flow with people one loves. He writes that the band performs it at the end of concerts while carrying illuminated instruments through the audience. (p. 30)

David Campion is a photographer and visual artist who collaborates with writer Sandra Shields through Doublewide. Together, they create photo-text installations and books concerned with power, community and social mythologies.

In Courage to Care: David contributes a photograph of an older woman and a child. It appears alongside Pauline Terbasket’s “Loving Back to Life.” (p. 17)

David Leonard is Executive Director of the Writers’ Trust of Canada and has worked extensively in Canada’s arts and nonprofit sector. He founded the Teva Harrison Foundation in memory of his late wife, writer and artist Teva Harrison.

In Courage to Care: In “Overlapping Care,” David writes about his decade with Teva following her metastatic breast-cancer diagnosis and the care they exchanged. A Venn diagram—two individual circles with a shared space—appears with Teva’s illustrations. (p. 196)

David Roche was a writer, performer and humourist whose work contributed to disability culture. Drawing on living with a facial difference, he wrote and performed about appearance, identity and belonging.

In Courage to Care: In “Hands of Caring,” written with Marlena Blavin, David recalls co-founding the first U.S. hospital massage-therapy program during the AIDS epidemic. In “Caring Conquers Fear,” he writes about his facial difference, words spoken by a priest and his later work in performance, activism and disability arts. (pp. 84 and 180)

Dominique Collin is an Indigenous finance and housing specialist with more than 25 years of experience. His work spans microcredit, business financing, affordable housing and community economic development.

In Courage to Care: In “Caring as Quiet Encounter,” Dominique writes about becoming a grandfather and holding Lalon as the child attends to a leaf, a bud and a bug. His translation of Victor Hugo’s “Jeanne Makes Her Entrance” follows young Jeanne as she babbles to the sea, woods, clouds, flowers, nests and open sky. (p. 98)

Donna Thomson is an author, educator and advocate whose work draws on decades of family caring with her son Nicholas and her mother. She wrote The Four Walls of My Freedom and co-wrote The Unexpected Journey of Caring.

In Courage to Care: In “Special Time,” Donna writes about communicating with Nicholas beyond spoken language. She recalls periods of close attention, shared stillness and listening without words. (p. 74)

Dr. Amy Lubik is a health-equity and climate-policy specialist and a Port Moody city councillor. Her work spans poverty reduction, housing, accessibility, anti-racism, social connection and environmental sustainability.

In Courage to Care: Written with Rik Logtenberg, “Love and Neighbouring: Creating Connected, Resilient Communities” considers neighbouring amid extreme weather, inequality and emergencies. Examples include neighbourly check-ins, shared food, youth climate work and local opportunities to contribute. (p. 114)

Elizabeth Peter, RN, PhD, FAAN, FCAN, is a professor at the University of Toronto’s Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing. Her research examines the political and ethical dimensions of nursing and the conditions shaping nurses’ work.

In Courage to Care: In “An Act of Kindness,” Elizabeth recalls a moment from her early nursing career involving a physician and a premature infant. She records the physician’s careful gestures and the impression the encounter left with her. (p. 14)

Emily Chen is a second-generation Taiwanese Canadian illustrator based in Ottawa. A freelance artist for more than 25 years, she has created work for children’s books, cards, prints and clients including the Royal Canadian Mint and Ontario Parks.

In Courage to Care: Emily contributes the design accompanying Shari Graydon’s “Macro Caring.” She also illustrated Molly Peacock’s “Absolutely Exhausted but Carrying On.” (pp. 86 and 158)

Erin “Gizhigatte” Dixon is an Otipemisiwak/Cree-Métis and Icelandic-descended educator, facilitator and community weaver connected to Skeleton Lake in Anishinaabe-speaking lands. Her work includes Indigenous leadership, life promotion and land and water protection.

In Courage to Care: In “Enaadmaget Wii-Bimaadziiyng—Life Promoter,” Erin writes about Indigenous teachings and community-based life promotion following profound loss. The reflection includes ceremony, land, relationships and the gifts people bring to community. (p. 220)

Éva-Maude TC is a Québec photographer whose film-based practice documents territory, artists and creative processes. Her work includes documentary projects, artist portraits and behind-the-scenes photography.

In Courage to Care: Éva-Maude’s photographs accompany Camille Paré-Poirier’s excerpts from Je Viendrai Moins Souvent (I Will Come Less Often). The images document Camille’s theatre work about conversations with her grandmother Pauline. (pp. 24–25)

Fabrice Vil is a social entrepreneur, development coach and lawyer by training. He founded Pour 3 Points, a Montréal organization that equips sports coaches to work with young people, and writes and speaks about equality, education and systemic racism.

In Courage to Care: In “Caring Doesn’t Cure,” Fabrice draws on his experience of bipolar disorder and the people who remained with him when they could not change what he was experiencing. He considers shame, solace and the difference between fixing and accompanying. (p. 204)

Fanny Allary is a co-founder and administrator of Finandicap, which provides financial planning informed by the realities of disability. She has a business-administration degree from UQAM and extensive experience in management and client support.

In Courage to Care: In “The Evolving Nature of Love and Care,” Fanny writes about more than two decades of partnership, disability and family life. She describes changing needs, fatigue, uncertainty and shifts between giving and receiving support. (p. 45)

Frances Westley is a professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo, a Member of the Order of Canada and a scholar of social innovation and systems change. She co-authored Getting to Maybe: How the World Is Changed.

In Courage to Care: “What Is Caring?” gathers memories from several generations of Frances’s family. The stories include protection, persistence, listening, warmth, presence and companionship. (p. 182)

Gary McNutt is a filmmaker, photographer and community collaborator whose work includes long-standing relationships with community-led initiatives in Lesotho. He has documented disability, community development and international solidarity through film and photography.

In Courage to Care: In “Caring Is a Two-Way Street,” Gary writes about his daughter Emma, his friend Christopher and the Phelisanong Children Centre. He recalls moments of presence, humour, friendship and support exchanged within those relationships. (p. 112)

Gintare Morie is a Lithuanian-born multidisciplinary artist with a background in dance and theatre. Her work brings together movement, fibre art, poetry, recorded voices and public performance.

In Courage to Care: “Prayer for a Caregiver” addresses people who care for others and names uncertainty, exhaustion and grace. The poem also asks who cares for the caregiver. (p. 200)

Grady Mitchell is a Vancouver-based photographer and writer specializing in portrait, commercial, food and editorial photography. His work has appeared in projects for artists, makers, restaurants, cultural publications and international brands.

In Courage to Care: Grady’s photograph accompanies Lina Caschetto’s “Caring Through Food.” It places food and a shared table alongside Lina’s memories of her mother’s cooking and family stuffing recipe. (p. 68)

Guillaume Parent is the founder and president of Finandicap and a financial-security advisor. He created Finandicap to provide financial guidance shaped around the realities of people with disabilities and their families.

In Courage to Care: In “The Choice,” Guillaume recalls decisions his mother made throughout his childhood. He writes about her persistence, tenderness and repeated adaptations as he pursued greater independence and participation. (p. 64)

Harold Rhenisch is a Canadian poet, writer, editor and orchardist connected to the grasslands, orchards and communities of British Columbia’s Interior. His work engages with language, land, history and ecology.

In Courage to Care: “Children of the Grass” observes the Similkameen grasslands in close detail. Harold places grasses, animals, water and people within the same living landscape. (p. 128)

Helen Ries is an Ottawa-based artist, storyteller and disability advocate. She founded Siblings Canada and works through painting, printmaking and storytelling.

In Courage to Care: In “Brushes of Resilience,” Helen writes about making art with her brother, Paul, during a difficult period in their relationship. Their collaborative acrylic painting, Shared Spaces, appears with the reflection. (pp. 90–91)

Hilary Pearson is an author, advisor and leader in Canadian philanthropy. The founding president of Philanthropic Foundations Canada, she was appointed to the Order of Canada for her contributions to philanthropy.

In Courage to Care: In “A Family Legacy of Caring,” Hilary traces five generations of public service, teaching, philanthropy and community involvement. She recounts how family members expressed their commitments through particular roles and actions. (p. 174)

Isaac King is an award-winning animation artist, filmmaker, commercial director and teacher. Combining handmade and digital techniques, he creates work concerned with ecology, society and human and more-than-human life.

In Courage to Care: Isaac contributes the artwork Owl. It appears beside the closing scene of Charles King’s “Loving Life Away.” (p. 143)

Ivan Coyote is a writer, storyteller and performer born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon. The author of thirteen books, Ivan writes and performs about family, gender, identity, belonging and everyday encounters.

In Courage to Care: “Better Than It Was” records a brief encounter between two adults visiting parents with dementia. Their conversation turns on the recognition that each is living through a similar experience. (p. 122)

Jacques Dufresne is a Québec philosopher, essayist and editor whose work spans philosophy, health, culture, education and public life. He founded the journal Critère and co-created the online Encyclopédie de l’Agora.

In Courage to Care: In “Solicitous Care,” Jacques writes about attentiveness and the small, precise gestures involved in caring for another person. He considers these gestures in relation to grace, art and dignity. (p. 201)

Jan Zwicky is a Canadian poet, philosopher, essayist and musician whose work engages with language, music, ecology and the natural world. Her honours include the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry and appointment to the Order of Canada.

In Courage to Care: In the poem “Courage,” Jan writes about looking at difficult truths and continuing despite uncertain outcomes. The poem moves through refusal, attention and the search for a way forward. (p. 167)

Janie Brown is an author, oncology nurse, counsellor and founder and executive director of the Callanish Society in Vancouver. For decades, she has worked with people living with cancer and their families.

In Courage to Care: “Christmas Cake” recalls a family ritual and time with Janie’s mother as she lives with dementia. “A Soft Space of Caring,” adapted from Radical Acts of Love, describes quiet presence and deep listening in encounters with people living with cancer. (pp. 67 and 202)

Jasmine Holmes is a visual artist whose work engages with love, connection and shared responsibility. She has also participated in international learning and community-building experiences, including a visit to the Social Innovation Academy in Uganda.

In Courage to Care: Jasmine contributes a painting that accompanies Charles Holmes’s “Time-Lessons-Love.” The artwork appears on the same page as the poem. (p. 160)

Jayne Melville Whyte is a Regina-based writer, researcher and advocate who works alongside people living with mental illness and other disabilities. She writes for Transition magazine and is the author of Pivot Points: A Fragmented History of Mental Health in Saskatchewan.

In Courage to Care: “Grateful for Caring People” contains three stories involving a church community, a public servant and a friend. Jayne recounts practical support that helped her reconnect, continue her education and find greater stability. (p. 118)

Jen Squires is a Southern Ontario–based photographer specializing in portraits and promotional imagery for musicians, writers and artists. She also created Sanctuary, a portrait series connected to her involvement with animal sanctuaries.

In Courage to Care: Jen contributes a photograph accompanying Christa Couture’s song “To Us.” The portrait appears beside lyrics concerned with weariness, recovery and carrying on. (p. 22)

Jenn Grant is a three-time JUNO-nominated singer-songwriter and visual artist rooted in Atlantic Canada. Her creative practice spans eight studio albums and painting.

In Courage to Care: “Farmer’s Daughter” recalls Jenn’s mother through small rituals, Prince Edward Island landscapes and life with Jenn’s children. “Weight” addresses solidarity, sharing what is difficult and caring for oneself. (pp. 76 and 154)

Jennifer Robson is an associate professor and program director in Political Management at Carleton University. Her research covers social and tax policy, poverty, wealth inequality, parental benefits and barriers in public programs.

In Courage to Care: “An economics that can cope with caring without resorting to ‘utility’” asks how economics and public policy might approach caring as a relational practice. Jennifer examines what is lost when caring is reduced to individual preference or utility. (p. 94)

Jill McIntyre was a member of the Callanish community whose writing engaged with love, illness, impermanence and change. Her family remembered Callanish as an important part of Jill’s life during illness.

In Courage to Care: “I Know It Now” is a spare poem moving through time, parting, pain and darkness. Its short lines return to love and presence as circumstances change. (p. 226)

Jim Mulcahy is a patient advocate, palliative-care volunteer and former high-school English and drama teacher. His volunteer work draws on experiences of serious illness, family caring and loss.

In Courage to Care: “Authentications” moves through suffering, solace, disconnection and the weight carried during illness. “Grief” follows a person learning to sit alongside sorrow over time. (pp. 148 and 227)

Joe Erpenbeck is a consultant, trainer and faculty member of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute. For more than 30 years, he has worked with neighbourhoods and organizations on local gifts, relationships and knowledge.

In Courage to Care: In “Thursdays at 4pm,” Joe recalls weekly conversations with his father. He listens to his father’s memories and gathers them into a small family book. (p. 99)

Kara Sievewright is an artist, writer, designer, comic creator and graphic recorder. Her work has supported community, labour, environmental and social-justice movements, and she is a member of the Graphic History Collective.

In Courage to Care: Kara’s illustrations accompany Ḵii’iljuus Barbara Wilson’s “Caring Passed Forward.” She also illustrates Vanessa Reid’s “My Father Is a Feather.” (pp. 173 and 184)

Kate Bowler is a four-time New York Times bestselling author, award-winning podcast host and professor of religious history at Duke University. Her books and podcast, Everything Happens, address success, suffering, faith and happiness.

In Courage to Care: “a blessing for caregivers” speaks directly to people who continue caring while depleted. The blessing names what they carry and offers words about pausing and receiving support. (p. 165)

Kathleen M. Burke is Academic Director of Teaching and Learning and a lecturer in strategy, business and society at SFU’s Beedie School of Business. She teaches ethics and leadership and has helped develop community-based leadership programs.

In Courage to Care: In “Someone to Watch Over Me,” Kathleen recalls her grandmother’s quiet, watchful presence. She considers the difference between approval and caring and later returning that attention to her grandmother. (p. 183)

Kerry Byrne is a researcher, writer and founder of The Long Distance Grandparent. With more than 20 years of experience studying aging and caring, she develops resources for families maintaining relationships across distance.

In Courage to Care: In “How Grief Rearranges Us,” Kerry writes about how loss changes identity and relationships. She considers memory, values and the influence people continue to have on one another. (p. 228)

Ḵii’iljuus Barbara Wilson is the K’uuljaad, or Matriarch, of the Sta’w XaaydaGaay of Haida Gwaii and an Adjunct Professor with UBC’s Centre for Indigenous Fisheries. Her work spans Haida knowledge, laws and language, education, marine conservation and climate change.

In Courage to Care: In “Caring Passed Forward,” Ḵii’iljuus Barbara Wilson writes about Haida teachings, language and responsibilities passed between generations. She reflects on living one’s words and fulfilling responsibilities to others. (p. 172)

Liam Cammack is a British Columbia photographer and community volunteer. His photography includes mountain landscapes in the Squamish region, and he has volunteered with the Callanish Society.

In Courage to Care: Liam contributes a typographic artwork concerned with grief, pain and enduring love. The words appear against a dark, textured background. (p. 224)

Lina Caschetto is a Vancouver-born chef, consultant, writer and food stylist. She owns Say Hey Cafe & Deli in Vancouver’s Chinatown and collaborates on food experiences in Canada and France.

In Courage to Care: In “Caring Through Food,” Lina remembers what she learned from her mother about cooking and bringing people together. “Vickie’s Stuffing” records a family recipe still served at gatherings and through Lina’s café. (pp. 68 and 70)

Liv Mendelsohn is Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence and a disability advocate with lived experience across generations of caring. Her work spans research, policy, accessibility, arts and inclusion.

In Courage to Care: In “The Language of Caring,” Liv writes about caring for her mother and the words used to describe that experience. She moves between family life and questions about public policy, systems and shared responsibility. (p. 82)

Liz Etmanski is a multidisciplinary artist, poet, art teacher and peer facilitator based in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland. She was the first person with Down syndrome to graduate from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Her practice includes painting, digital art, spoken-word poetry and inclusive art workshops.

In Courage to Care: Liz contributes Rise up. Be happy., an artwork appearing with the book’s “About PLAN” section. (p. 240)

Lorin MacDonald, CM, OOnt, LSM, JD, is a human-rights lawyer, disability advocate, educator and founder of HearVue. Born with profound hearing loss, she has spent more than three decades advancing accessibility and disability inclusion.

In Courage to Care: In “Until It Becomes Personal,” Lorin draws on experiences of both giving and receiving support. She writes about accessibility, respect, advocacy and the public systems encountered by disabled people and their families. (p. 26)

Louise Penny is the internationally bestselling Canadian author of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels, set in the fictional Québec village of Three Pines. Before publishing her first novel, she worked as a journalist with CBC.

In Courage to Care: In “No Matter What,” Louise writes about caring for her husband, Michael, through dementia. She recalls humour, continual adaptation and the friends and neighbours who became part of their daily life. (p. 34)

Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli is a Montréal-based b-boy, choreographer, artistic director, author and speaker. He founded ILL-Abilities, an international breakin’ crew of disabled dancers, and the No Excuses No Limits Movement.

In Courage to Care: In “Improv,” Luca writes about becoming a parent as a disabled father. He describes comparison, adaptation and the creative problem-solving involved in finding his own ways of caring for his child. (p. 62)

Luke Wallace is a Vancouver-based folk musician, songwriter, speaker and choral arranger whose work is connected to environmental and social-justice movements. He performs at concerts, rallies and community gatherings in Canada and internationally.

In Courage to Care: Luke’s song “Be the Arc” appears near the book’s conclusion. Its lyrics address solidarity, persistence, freedom and the repeated act of showing up for one another. (p. 233)

Marie-France Malie Poiré is a Montréal-based photographer and video editor working through Maliephoto. Her practice includes portrait, event and moving-image work.

In Courage to Care: Marie-France contributes a photograph accompanying Luca Patuelli’s “Improv.” The portrait appears beside Luca’s reflection on disability, parenting and adaptation. (p. 63)

Marlena Blavin is a bodyworker, movement educator, storyteller and speaker with more than four decades of experience. She co-founded the first massage-therapy program in a U.S. hospital and has led gentle-touch work in hospice settings.

In Courage to Care: In “Hands of Caring,” written with David Roche, Marlena recalls hospital massage work during the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco. They describe arriving at patients’ rooms with towels and lotion and asking permission to offer massage. (p. 84)

Martha Wainwright is a Montréal-based singer-songwriter and memoirist whose recording and performance career spans more than two decades. Her albums include Martha Wainwright, Come Home to Mama, Goodnight City and Love Will Be Reborn. Her memoir, Stories I Might Regret Telling You, was published in 2022.

In Courage to Care: Martha performs “Proserpina,” the final song written by her mother, Kate McGarrigle. The book presents the song’s lyrics and recounts Martha’s decision to record it for her 2012 album Come Home to Mama. (pp. 56–57)

Mary Pratt (1935–2018) was a Canadian realist painter based in Newfoundland. Using photographs as starting points, she painted domestic scenes, food and ordinary objects with close attention to light.

In Courage to Care: Mary’s 1969 painting Supper Table opens the book. It depicts an ordinary domestic table illuminated by light. (p. 7)

Dr. Michelle Lem is a veterinarian, social worker and founder of Community Veterinary Outreach. The organization uses a One Health approach with people and animals experiencing homelessness or housing vulnerability.

In Courage to Care: In “Caring For and By Animals,” Michelle writes about her relationship with a horse named Escudero. She reflects on his choices to approach, withdraw and remain in relationship with her. (p. 138)

Dr. Mike Lang is a health researcher, filmmaker, digital-storytelling facilitator and assistant professor in nursing at the University of Calgary. He has helped patients, family members and health professionals create hundreds of short films about lived experience.

In Courage to Care: In “A Story About the Importance of Stories,” Mike writes about using filmmaking to understand his wife’s experience of illness. He traces the beginnings of the documentary series Caregivers in the Wild and Being There. (p. 132)

Molly Harrington is a retired B.C. public servant and social-policy leader. As an assistant deputy minister, she worked on income and disability assistance, social innovation and partnerships across government and community.

In Courage to Care: In “Caring and Community,” Molly draws on personal and public-service experiences. Her examples move through family, friendship, workplaces and Community Living. (p. 107)

Molly Peacock is a poet, biographer, essayist and arts advocate whose career has moved between New York and Toronto. She is the author of eight poetry collections, including The Widow’s Crayon Box.

In Courage to Care: “Three Sonnets from the Widow’s Crayon Box” moves through grief, memory, desire and colour. “Absolutely Exhausted But Carrying On” uses humour and compressed language to write about depletion and persistence. (pp. 40 and 159)

Murray McLauchlan is a Canadian singer-songwriter, composer, actor and visual artist with a career spanning more than five decades and twenty albums. An eleven-time JUNO Award winner, he is a member of the Order of Canada.

In Courage to Care: “A Brief Essay on Caring” recalls supporting Murray’s mother near the end of her life. He also contributes the song “To the End of the Road,” co-written with John McDermott, and the painting Morning Stoney Lake. (pp. 61 and 230)

Nancy Huggett is an Ottawa-based poet whose work draws on family caring and engages with disability, brain injury, uncertainty and relationship. She received the 2024 RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award.

In Courage to Care: Nancy contributes four poems: “To Love What Is,” “I Believe in the Night,” “A Blanket, a Banquet, a Balm” and “I Need You ^Too Tired^ to Remember.” They include darkness, practical help from community, exhaustion, memory and the effort to hold onto identity. (pp. 37, 100, 152 and 164)

Nancy Rushford, PhD, is a registered occupational therapist, psychotherapist and biomimicry practitioner. Through Biophilic Health and ConnectByNature, she develops nature-connected approaches to therapy, learning and well-being.

In Courage to Care: In “Connected by Nature,” Nancy remembers a young person seeking safety and connection when formal systems fell short. She considers the young person’s experiences alongside nature, living systems and relationships with place. (p. 140)

Ohara Hale is a Montréal-based multidisciplinary artist, illustrator, author, animator, director, designer and musician. Hale works across words, images, sound and movement.

In Courage to Care: Hale’s artwork accompanies Nancy Huggett’s “To Love What Is.” Hale also contributes “Love,” paired with Smoosh, which names ordinary sensations, relationships and moments of play. (pp. 36 and 52)

Pamela Block is a disability anthropologist and professor of sociocultural anthropology at Western University. Her research covers disability culture, social movements, family activism and intersections with gender, race, poverty and sexuality.

In Courage to Care: In “Closed borders, Open borders,” Pamela writes about distance, disability, institutional barriers and her relationship with her sister Hope. She also describes the network of relationships through which Hope connects and participates in community. (p. 29)

Pat Miller is a writer whose work draws on a long partnership, aging and changing needs. She writes from lived experience about movement between giving and receiving support.

In Courage to Care: “Care Giving” is a poem about a long partnership as each person’s needs change. It moves through role reversal, intimacy, aging and uncertainty. (p. 211)

Dr. Paul Fedak is a cardiac surgeon, translational scientist, professor and medical leader at the University of Calgary. His clinical and research work includes valve repair and tissue-engineering therapies for advanced heart disease.

In Courage to Care: In “The Cost of Silence,” Paul writes about the physical and emotional demands of surgical work. He examines professional strain, injury and the culture of silence within medicine. (p. 190)

Paul Knoll is an Ottawa-based artist with Down syndrome and a longtime community volunteer. He has spoken publicly about family relationships, privacy and differences between support offered by relatives and paid workers.

In Courage to Care: Shared Spaces, co-created with Paul’s sister Helen Ries, is an acrylic painting made through working side by side. The contribution credits both siblings as artists. (p. 91)

suikiʔst Pauline Terbasket is a smǝlqmíx woman, a member of the Syilx Nation and the longtime Executive Director of the Okanagan Nation Alliance. For more than 25 years, she has worked in Syilx sovereignty, cultural renewal, community wellness and relationships with land and water.

In Courage to Care: In “Loving Back to Life,” Pauline writes about caring learned within her family and Syilx community life. She connects these experiences with responsibilities to land, water, traditional foods and Chief ntytyix (salmon). (p. 16)

Rebecca Pauls is Executive Director of Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN) and a faculty member with the Asset-Based Community Development Institute. Her work spans disability justice, person-centred planning, community development and caring relationships.

In Courage to Care: In “A Mother’s Prayer,” Rebecca recounts Theresa Kaufmann’s hopes for her son Eddie. She writes about Eddie’s friendships, hospitality and the many people he brought together in his community. (p. 78)

Fakhria “Ria” Salimi is an Afghan communications and development professional living in Canada. She has more than a decade of experience with international organizations and public institutions in education, coordination and strategic communications.

In Courage to Care: “The Kindness of Strangers” recounts Ria’s four-year journey from Afghanistan to Canada. She writes about family members, friends and strangers who provided information, shelter, transportation and other assistance along the way. (p. 110)

Rik Logtenberg is Director of CanAdapt at the Climate Risk Institute, a former technology entrepreneur and a City Councillor in Nelson, British Columbia. He founded EarthNet and helped establish Climate Caucus, a network of locally elected leaders.

In Courage to Care: Written with Amy Lubik, “Love and Neighbouring” considers local relationships amid extreme weather, inequality and emergencies. Examples include check-ins, shared food, local food systems, youth climate work and community-led initiatives. (p. 114)

Robert Pope (1956–1992) was a Nova Scotia social-realist artist whose work engaged with illness, healing and medical care. Informed by his experience with cancer, he created nearly one hundred works on illness and healing.

In Courage to Care: Hug depicts two people embracing beside an intravenous stand. Their bodies and the medical equipment occupy the same intimate scene. (p. 239)

Rose Ratliffe is a Calgary-area photographer connected with Fish Creek Provincial Park and its community programs. Her photographs document Good Grief walks and participants’ experiences outdoors.

In Courage to Care: Rose contributes a photograph of people walking together along a tree-lined path. It accompanies Sonya Jakubec’s “Natural Caring and Caring in Nature.” (p. 137)

Captain Ryan Carey (Ret’d) is a Canadian Armed Forces Veteran and former Canadian Football League player. He has participated in Guitars for Vets and Soldier On and represented Canada at the Invictus Games.

In Courage to Care: In “The Only Way Out Is Through,” Ryan writes about grief following military service and personal loss. He recalls experiences with fellow veterans and considers the roles of honesty and staying alongside another person. (p. 218)

Ryvvr Tupper is a Mentor with PLAN who works with people and families on Vancouver’s North Shore. Before joining PLAN, she spent more than 20 years in education with the Vancouver School Board.

In Courage to Care: In “Loving to the Limit of Fear,” Ryvvr writes about her relationship with her husband, Lance, as they live with dementia. She recounts moments of fear, advocacy, humour and changing communication. (p. 38)

Sam Hester is a Calgary/Moh’kinsstis-based visual storyteller, comic artist and graphic recorder. Her comics, visual journalism and graphic recording address experiences in healthcare and community life.

In Courage to Care: Sam’s comic Long-Term Care centres a conversation about listening, autonomy and long-term-care policy. She also illustrates Paul Fedak’s “The Cost of Silence,” about the physical and emotional demands of surgical work. (pp. 28 and 190)

Sandra Shields is a writer and visual artist who collaborates with photographer David Campion through Doublewide. Together, they create books, photo-text installations and public artworks concerned with belonging, power and colonial narratives.

In Courage to Care: Sandra contributes to Pauline Terbasket’s “Loving Back to Life,” a reflection on family and Syilx community life. The piece includes responsibilities to land, water, traditional foods and future generations. (p. 16)

Sarah Leavitt is a Vancouver-based cartoonist, writer and professor in UBC’s School of Creative Writing. Her books include the graphic memoir Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother, and Me and the historical-fiction comic Agnes, Murderess.

In Courage to Care: An excerpt from Tangles uses sequential art to follow Sarah’s family as her mother’s support needs change and she moves into a nursing home. The pages include practical decisions, uncertainty, conflict and affection. (p. 156)

Scott Turnbull is a Canadian photographer whose candid images include music, travel, outdoor life and people in motion. His work uses a documentary approach to shared events and live performance.

In Courage to Care: Scott’s photograph accompanies Dan Mangan’s “Surrounding Me.” It records the song’s live performance among audience members. (p. 30)

Shari Graydon is an award-winning author, speaker and advocate and the founder and CEO of Informed Perspectives. Her work addresses the representation of women and gender-diverse people in public discourse.

In Courage to Care: “Fierce Love” recalls Shari’s mother surviving a medical crisis and returning to her young daughters. In “Macro Caring,” Shari writes about feminist advocacy, injustice and efforts to change systems affecting people’s lives. (pp. 60 and 87)

Shelly Elverum is a Canadian anthropologist and social innovator who works alongside Inuit youth in Arctic research and decision-making. Through Ikaarvik, she supports relationships between Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and Western science.

In Courage to Care: In “The Gift,” Shelly writes about family loss and encounters with Inuit nurses. She recalls their presence, listening and conversations without assigning a timetable or solution to her grief. (p. 116)

Dr. Sonya Jakubec is a community mental-health nurse, researcher and professor at Mount Royal University. Her work includes supportive environments, relationships, nature, palliative care and grief; she helped develop the Good Grief walking program.

In Courage to Care: “Natural Caring and Caring in Nature” moves between Sonya’s mother’s palliative care and her research into parks, grief and well-being. It includes examples from Good Grief walks and experiences of remembrance outdoors. (p. 136)

Stanislaw Kapuscinski, who writes as Stan I.S. Law, is a Polish-Canadian architect, sculptor and author. Educated in Poland and England, he has lived in Canada since 1965 and written more than forty books.

In Courage to Care: In “Old Love,” a person sits alone on a familiar bench and imagines her husband beside her. She recalls his posture, touch and face as the moment unfolds. (p. 48)

Stéphane Alexis is a Caribbean-Canadian multidisciplinary artist based in Ottawa. Working mainly with photography, he creates projects concerned with Black experiences, masculinity, healthcare, faith and identity.

In Courage to Care: Stéphane’s photograph Faith (mustard seed detail, 2023) appears near Jan Zwicky’s poem “Courage.” In “Caught Up,” he writes about grief, faith and an encounter in a hospital with someone who needed support. (pp. 166 and 225)

Stephanie Weirathmueller is a multidisciplinary artist with a background in nursing based in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Trained in painting and printmaking, she has also worked in stroke rehabilitation and geriatric care.

In Courage to Care: Stephanie contributes a painting accompanying Charlene Roxborough’s “The Soul of Caring.” The artwork appears beside Charlene’s reflection on caring for and remembering her daughter, Heather. (p. 215)

Sunny Fernandez is a writer, advisor at Toronto Metropolitan University and advocate whose work draws on caring for her husband, Daniel, after his ALS diagnosis. She writes about family, disability, grief and serious illness.

In Courage to Care: In “A Caregiver,” Sunny writes about life with Daniel as his needs changed and they prepared to become parents. She describes practical responsibilities alongside love, grief and their plans for family life. (p. 46)

Sylvia MacDonald is a Prince Edward Island grandmother and family advocate who became legal guardian for her granddaughter Sophie. Her experience spans education, healthcare, disability supports and everyday family life.

In Courage to Care: In “Good To Her,” Sylvia writes about raising her autistic granddaughter Sophie. She recounts their relationship, the responsibilities she assumed, the systems she navigated and periods when information, respite and support were limited. (p. 162)

Tayo Rossman is an autistic self-advocate who began speaking publicly about neurodiversity as a child. He has shared his strengths, support needs and experiences of inclusion with school communities.

In Courage to Care: “That’s It for Me!” reproduces a speech Tayo gave to his junior-school assembly in Grade 4. He explains how his brain works and asks classmates to explain jokes, communicate clearly and help him participate. (p. 206)

Ted Nasmith is a Canadian artist, illustrator, architectural renderer and musician known for interpreting J.R.R. Tolkien’s imagined worlds. His paintings have appeared in official Tolkien calendars and illustrated editions of The Silmarillion.

In Courage to Care: Departure from Lorien accompanies Sunny Fernandez’s story about her husband, Daniel, a friend of Ted’s who shared his love of Tolkien. The painting shows the Fellowship after being hosted by Galadriel and before continuing its journey. (p. 47)

Teresa Klein is an author and community-based artist whose work engages with people, water, land and the more-than-human world. She co-created Loon and Moon with visual artist Tracie Stewart.

In Courage to Care: In “Arboreal Rain Dance,” Teresa recalls an art-ecology workshop co-facilitated with Tracie. Participants gathered water, shared stories and considered their relationships with local waterways. (p. 135)

Terry Flanagan is a traveller and advocate whose experience includes accessibility, mobility support and travel with his wife, Yazmine Laroche. He writes about partnership, humour and shared adventure.

In Courage to Care: Co-written with Yazmine, “Love Is a Partnership” presents both partners’ perspectives on giving and receiving support. Terry writes about travel, accessibility, supporting Yazmine and encounters with other people’s sympathy. (p. 42)

Tessa McWatt is a Guyanese-Canadian novelist, essayist and educator whose work engages with race, belonging, family, memory and the natural world. Her books include seven novels and the memoirs Shame on Me and The Snag.

In Courage to Care: In “Community as Forest,” Tessa places her mother’s dementia and move into residential care beside the ecology of an aging forest. She imagines intergenerational communities in which older people remain connected and knowledge passes between generations. (p. 178)

Teva Harrison (1976–2019) was a Canadian-American writer, visual artist and cartoonist. Her graphic memoir In-Between Days combined drawings and essays about living with metastatic breast cancer.

In Courage to Care: Teva’s illustrations accompany David Leonard’s “Overlapping Care.” Her drawings appear with his Venn-diagram image of two individual circles and the shared space where they meet. (p. 196)

Tom Gallant is a Nova Scotia writer, musician, actor and sailor whose work spans memoir, theatre, songwriting and performance. His memoir A Hard Chance: Sailing into the Heart of Love received an Atlantic Book Award.

In Courage to Care: “Love Comes Home,” adapted from A Hard Chance, recounts the life Tom and his wife, Melissa, rebuilt after a serious accident. The excerpt includes loyalty, humour, compassion and daily attention to one another. (p. 50)

Tracie Stewart is a multidisciplinary artist, arborist and master gardener whose practice brings together art, ecology and community participation. She works across drawing, sculpture and collaborative installation.

In Courage to Care: Tracie’s artwork Body of Water accompanies Teresa Klein’s “Arboreal Rain Dance.” It appears beside a reflection on gathering water, sharing stories and considering local waterways. (p. 134)

Vanessa Reid is a facilitator, systems-change practitioner and co-founder of the Living Wholeness Institute. Her work brings together participatory leadership, storytelling, creativity and systems learning during periods of transition.

In Courage to Care: In “My Father Is a Feather,” Vanessa writes about her relationship with her father, Tim, as memory, time and identity shift. The reflection includes repetition, improvisation, curiosity, grief and delight. (p. 184)

Vickie Cammack was a Canadian social innovator who co-founded PLAN and established the Family Support Institute, PLAN Institute and Tyze Personal Networks. Her work focused on personal networks, belonging and caring citizenship.

In Courage to Care: Vickie’s opening essay sets out questions and ideas that recur throughout the book. In “There Goes the Neighbourhood,” she tells how her godmother Martha’s presence and need for support drew neighbours into visits, patience and shared responsibility. (pp. 10 and 120)

Victor Enns (1955–2025) was a Manitoba-born poet, editor, publisher and arts advocate. He described himself as a disabled and neurodivergent writer and often collaborated with visual and media artists.

In Courage to Care: “Desire,” “Broken,” “Slouching to Dementia” and “Power of Prayer” combine poetry, personal reflection and wry humour. The four short pieces move through changes in creativity, memory, the body and daily life. (p. 194)

Vinod Rajasekaran is a social innovator, entrepreneur and impact-finance leader. He founded Future of Good and has served as Executive-in-Residence at SE Health.

In Courage to Care: In “Caring for Invisible Matter,” Vinod writes about recovering from a brain injury after a cycling collision. He describes slowing down, reducing distractions, resting and caring for an injury others cannot see. (p. 192)

Wade Davis is a Canadian anthropologist, ethnobotanist, writer, photographer and filmmaker. A UBC professor and former National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, his books include The Wayfinders, One River and Into the Silence.

In Courage to Care: In “Shared Understanding,” Wade considers the Canadian habit of saying “I’m sorry” when no apology is required. He interprets the phrase in relation to interdependence, shared public life and responsibility for respectful relationships. (p. 123)

Yazmine Laroche is an accessibility leader and retired senior federal public servant. In 2018, she became Canada’s first Deputy Minister of Public Service Accessibility and the first visibly disabled person appointed to a federal deputy-minister role.

In Courage to Care: Co-written with her husband, Terry Flanagan, “Love Is a Partnership” presents both partners’ perspectives on giving and receiving support. Yazmine writes about caring for her mother while receiving support from Terry and names tenderness, frustration, gratitude and vulnerability. (p. 42)