On this edition of Sovereign Canada, we’ll talk about the power of hope when faced with difficult times.  

I caught up with Mr. Brent Mansfield at an announcement that British Columbia signed on to the federal government’s National School Food program, which Mansfield has been literally running to bring attention toward for a decade and elevating the voices of his students to this cause along the way.

Mansfield, an elementary school teacher at Lord Roberts in Vancouver, and advocate with the Coalition for Healthy School Food, talks about some of the heroes in his life and remarks on the inspiration he imparts upon his students every day.  

"I ran on February 14th ... seven times for the 7.4 million dollars that, now with this agreement signed, is available this school year. I invited students to come with me, I did it on a Pro D Day. They did not have to be there, so the ones that were there chose to be there. I had a student ran 35 km with me. Had never run more than 10 [km] and he's now one of my regulars at our Tuesday afternoon run club."

"They get it," Mansfield said, adding that he sees his students gaining belief in themselves to be able to affect substantive, tangible, change in the world.

You’ll hear brief remarks from Minister Jenna Sudds, and Minister Harjit Sajjan from that announcement, B.C. signing on to the feds program to spend $39.4m in support of B.C.'s school food efforts over three years, held at David Thompson Secondary School, on March 7.  

Later, you’ll hear from Peter MacLeod of MASS LBP, who recently wrote a column in The Tyee that argues Canada needs to revive the Civil Defence Corps, to lean on the skills Canadians already possess and build up readiness and resilience across the country.  

Also includes a brief clip from last week’s episode with Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus, in which Angus talks about the “small steps,” people can take to move forward when facing down an existential threat.