Keeping Each Other Safe Through Mutual Aid
Sustainable Simcoe North
— by Madeleine Fournier of Green Orillia
“Solidarity, not charity!” and “We keep us safe!” may seem like simple rallying cries, but at their core they represent the power of mutual aid. The term mutual aid essentially just means when people come together to meet each other’s needs, collectively share services, money, or other resources; usually because of a shared understanding that existing systems and institutions are not meeting their needs fast enough, or at all.
In our current political moment, characterized by a cost-of-living crisis, cuts to social services, climate crisis, growing right-wing populism, increasing wealth concentration, imperialism, war, and genocide, there is increasing need to mobilize at the grassroots level for resistance, survival, and community. Many scholars and activists argue that expanding the use of mutual aid strategies will be the most effective way to do this in the coming years.
The charity model dominates mainstream views on supporting people in crisis but is often criticized for addressing symptoms rather than root causes. Wealthy donors and corporations often dictate priorities, reinforcing unequal power dynamics and allowing them to maintain control over how aid is distributed. While they may appear generous, it obscures their role in perpetuating an unjust economic system that concentrates wealth and sustains poverty and inequality.
Donors can also protect their wealth from taxation through charitable foundations while funding projects that align with their personal interests, often at the expense of broader social change. The charity model, or “nonprofit industrial complex” is also often marked by saviourism, paternalism, and eligibility rules rooted in moral judgments of deservingness. Another issue is that increasing reliance on nonprofits and charities for addressing social problems shifts responsibility away from governments, thereby increasing privatization of social services.
This is not to say that all nonprofits or charities are inherently bad; many do vital, meaningful work in their communities. However, they should be approached with skepticism and a critical eye toward their structure, goals, and the broader systems they operate within. It’s essential to ask whether they are driving transformative change or simply perpetuating the inequalities they aim to address.
Dean Spade, author of the popular book Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next), writes, “Mutual aid is a form of political participation in which people take responsibility for caring for one another and changing political conditions, not just through symbolic acts or putting pressure on their representatives in government but by actually building new social relations that are more survivable.”
They outline three functions of mutual aid: that it can build shared understanding about why people do not have what they need, mobilize people, expand solidarity, and build movements.
What are some examples of mutual aid? The most famous example in the United States is The Black Panther Party, a Black revolutionary organization founded in 1966 in Oakland, California. Often inaccurately represented in mainstream media, the Panthers grew out of the anti-war and civil rights movements and fought against police brutality and the carceral system which disproportionately targets Black people.
However, they also invested heavily in community organizing and mutual aid. The Black Panther Party’s survival programs included a free breakfast program, free ambulance program, free medical clinics, a program offering rides to elderly people doing errands, and a school aimed at providing a liberating curriculum to children.
Over the past few years and especially since COVID, the concept of mutual aid has grown in popularity. A prominent modern-day example is mutual aid for disaster relief, from wildfires to hurricanes, to floods, to tornados. One such example is Mutual Aid Disaster Relief in the United States, a ‘grassroots disaster relief network based on the principles of solidarity, mutual aid, and autonomous direct action.’
Popular social movements also often have strong elements of mutual aid and community care. The 2011 Occupy Movement, a response to growing inequality post-2008 and corporate greed and influence on government, grew to protests taking place in over 951 cities across 82 countries.
Similarly, the recent student movement in response to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza took place in 2024. Both movements involved setting up encampments, where protesters pooled resources to provide free food, medical care, clothing, and housing support through community kitchens, volunteer medics, and aid networks. Teach-ins and skill-sharing workshops empowered one another with knowledge and skills.
We can also look locally and regionally to mutual aid initiatives. Living in Ontario, where it is common for temperatures to reach colder than -20 and thousands of people who have been left to slip through the cracks by capitalism are left out on the street to freeze to death, mutual aid is essential for caring for the most vulnerable.
Community fridges are free, public refrigerators where people can share and take food. The new Orillia Community Fridge is located outside St. Paul’s Church/Centre downtown where it can be accessed at any time on any day.
Ryan’s Hope Barrie advocates for and supports people living with mental illness, substance use issues, and experiencing homelessness, and frequently engages in street outreach during the winter months to distribute winter gear and clothing to those that are sleeping outside.
Toronto Indigenous Harm Reduction is a response to the epidemic of ongoing colonization and lack of services for the urban Indigenous population. They have been on the frontlines of encampment support and the devastating overdose crisis that is currently taking place across Turtle Island.
Consider donating to or getting involved with a mutual aid organization or initiative so that we can support each other through this crisis and the next.
Green Orillia is a grassroots organization focused on climate action, social justice, advocacy, education, democracy, and community resilience in Orillia and area. We operate on Anishinaabeg Williams Treaty Territory. Follow Green Orillia on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, join the Facebook Discussion Group, sign up for the e-newsletter, or check out the website. Get in touch at greenorillia@gmail.com.