Giving voice to the powerless

Richard Johnston relaxes after a day in the vineyard at By Chadsey’s Cairns Winery near Wellington

Wellington’s Richard Johnston receives honourary law degree on the occassion of Trent University’s 50th anniversary

He has been on the front lines of some of the toughest, most intractable and troublesome social issues of our time—poverty, homelessness and education. Nevertheless, Richard Johnston’s creativity, energy, optimism and enthusiasm have propelled him to achieve important gains that have improved the lives of many of this province’s most vulnerable.

On Tuesday morning, Trent University conveyed upon Johnston an honourary Doctor of Laws degree in recognition of his contribution to education, social services and community engagement.

ATTRACTING THE MEDIA GLARE
In his public service career, Johnston had a knack for tackling seemingly intractable issues and thrusting them into the spotlight.

He was a fresh new member of provincial parliament in 1982. He had worked as a campaign organizer and manager for NDP leader Stephen Lewis through much of the ‘70s. When Lewis left politics in 1979, Johnston ran to replace him in Scarborough West. He won that election as well as the following three.

He was appointed his party’s critic for Community and Social Services and was dismayed by the lack of attention paid to the issues around poverty in the province.

He announced he would exist for a month living only on the amount provided at the time to a single male recipient.

“We did that deliberately, because that was the most disliked character in the panoply of people receiving social services,” explained Johnston. “In most people’s minds, a man should be out there working.”

It was a risky stunt, but it worked. The government responded, although only with improvements that would prove temporary.

“The issue, even in the NDP, wasn’t being taken seriously,” said Johnston.

RED RICHARD
He pressed the government of the day to compile better statistical information. Using this information, he had hoped to lay out, in ways people could understand, how bad things had become as a result of the lack of increase of rates, and highlight the vulnerabilities that welfare recipients were feeling.

When the government dragged its feet, Johnston illustrated the problem in dramatic fashion, going down to City Hall and finding 20 men who were living in stairwells.

He was dubbed Red Richard by the Toronto press.

“The end result of our efforts was a social assistance review report in the mid-eighties,” said Johnston. “That was useful because it produced ideas that continue to come back, such as indexing— whereby assistance rates rise with the cost of living rather than be eroded by inflation.”

In 1987, he presented a report to the legislature, Toward a New Ontario, recommending an overhaul of the existing social assistance system.

But it didn’t last.

TWO STEPS FORWARD. . .
“The issue of poverty and homelessness has no political power. The ease of taking on easy targets is hard for politicians to avoid sometimes,” said Johnston.

It pains him still that successive provincial governments have either failed to maintain supports for the poor or used them as scapegoats for the woes of the province.

“Mike Harris came in at a time when the economy was in the crapper,” said Johnston. “People were feeling really vulnerable. A lot of finger pointing starts to take place when that happens.”

Johnston saw the erosion of many of the gains he and others had achieved in the previous decade and half .

“We had to admit that most of it had been gutted or taken a big step backward. There was no doubt about that. And that has been very depressing to watch.”

CATHOLICSCHOOL FUNDING
Back in1984, Johnston suffered a heart attack. He wasn’t yet 40. He pushed on because he believed the poor required a constant advocate at Queen’s Park. Events, however, would propel him in a different direction.

That year, Premier Bill Davis announced his government’s intention to extend Catholic school funding beyond Grade 10. It was a painfully divisive issue, and one the minority Conservatives didn’t mind foisting upon the NDP.

Johnston was chosen to chair hearings across the province. The committee heard 879 submissions over five months in 1985—the longest ever held by a provincial legislative committee.

“It was pretty tough,” recalls Johnston. “I am not one who likes distinctions, especially around things like religion. The church was absolutely vitriolic on the issue, and the other side just as angry.

“It became my role to make sure everyone felt they were being heard in the process. Because the Tories had proposed it, and our party supported it, it was difficult for people to believe the fix wasn’t in.”

The Globe and Mail’s Robert Matas provided a glimpse into those heated public meetings held mornings, afternoons, evenings and weekends across the province.

“They listened with uncommon restraint to people insulting them and their political beliefs. They showed as much interest in the opinions of high school students as in the glossy presentations of well-heeled professional education groups.”

LEAVING POLITICS
By 1990, concerns about the effect his career was having on his health prompted him to leave politics. The next year, he was chosen to head Ontario’s college system as Chair of the Council of Regents for Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology.

“I had fallen in love with community colleges very early in my career. We had had a very elitist and male-dominated education system in Ontario prior to 1965. We had a few trade schools. But at that time, only 15 per cent of the population went to post-secondary schools, and that was totally skewed to the wealthy.”

That changed with the creation of the community college system introduced by Bill Davis in 1965.

“It was no longer a class-based system,” said Johnston. “It offered combined generic skills and vocational skills. It provided a mechanism to increase the general education of the citizen. Now, almost 60 per cent of the population has some form of post-secondary education.”

In the late ’80s, the Liberal government initiated a review of the college system.

“There was still a problem. If you had got out of the education system you had to jump through new hoops to get into post-secondary education. If you could recognize their prior learning from their jobs and experience, more would want to do it.

“I was brought in to bring in these two reforms.”

This led him to the First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) at Tyendinega. This facility had a much better track record in prior learning assessment techniques.

“It was allowing natives, who had such trouble with our education system, to succeed at a rate that surpassed that in the college system,” said Johnston.

While he wasn’t able to get the colleges to take on the system, he developed a strong relationship with Murray Maracle and FTNI. So when it appeared clear the Tories would form the next government, Johnston finally saw his opportunity to get back to the country.

CLOSER TO THE COUNTY
see any opportunities arising there. He was appointed to head FNTI. He and his wife, Vida Zalnieriunas, bought a farm in PrinceEdwardCounty. By 1999 he was head of CentennialCollege, yet he and Vida decided to make the plunge, to become winegrowers. By Chadsey’s Cairns was born.

A DEEP CONNECTION TO TRENT
As a volunteer, he has served on Trent’s Board of Governors, the City Summit Alliance, Canadian Labour and Business Council, the Learning Partnership, Festival Players and Three Oaks Women’s Shelter. He was the first chair of the Education Quality and Assessment Council, the first executive director of the Colleges Standards and Accreditation Council, and is vice-chair of Taste the County, the tourism marketing organization for Prince Edward County.

Johnston was the second student to enroll at TrentUniversity, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. There were just 106 students and 25 staff that first year at the school that endeavoured to be the “Oxford on the Otonabee”.

“We had to wear gowns everywhere,” said Johnston. “We had five programs and an essay in each, every week.”

After graduation he worked for the school, later serving on its board of governors.

He is pleased the honour recognizes his public service in general.

“Part of my talk is about how people need to be engaged—not necessarily in a partisan way. But there are some massive issues we face and need to understand—and a healthy democracy requires involvement at some level.”

“I’d rather have a debate than live in fear of the consequences of our positions,” said Johnston.