Featured Impacts

Actions that make an impact

The most effective civic actions aren't always the most obvious ones. Here are ten actions that use leverage you already have - your pension, your bank, your workplace - to support the causes you care about.

CLIMATE ACTION

Contact CPP Investments and Demand It Stop New Fossil Fuel Bets

Your retirement savings may be funding exactly what you'd never invest in yourself. CPP Investments holds billions in new oil and gas - including four LNG terminals - on behalf of nearly every working Canadian.

You can write to CPPIB directly. We draft the letter, citing the specific holdings and asking for a return to credible climate targets, and give you the right contacts on its board.

Why it matters: CPPIB manages the retirement money of over 22 million Canadians. When beneficiaries speak up about where it's invested, it's not an outside protest - it's the owners asking questions.

US IMMIGRATION

Contact Your Canadian Bank About Its ICE Contractor Investments

The bank holding your chequing account may be financing the companies that run US immigration detention. A 2026 investigation traced Canadian bank money to ICE contractors including Palantir, GEO Group, and CoreCivic.

We help you find your bank's exposure, draft the message demanding it cut those ties, and - if it won't - walk you through moving your money to a credit union.

Why it matters: Banks respond to two things: reputational risk and lost customers. A letter is pressure. A closed account with a reason attached is leverage.

US REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Donate to Action Canada's Access for All Emergency Travel Fund

When people can't afford to travel for reproductive care, cost becomes the barrier that law didn't quite manage. Action Canada runs an emergency fund that covers travel and logistics for people who need to reach care - including Americans crossing into Canada.

We link you straight to the fund, and give you a shareable post and the national hotline so the people who need it can find it.

Why it matters: Rights on paper mean little without the means to use them. A travel fund is the difference between a right that exists and one someone can actually reach.

INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY

Get the First Nations Water Crisis Into Your Local News

Indigenous Services Canada lists 38 long-term drinking-water advisories in 36 First Nations. Neskantaga First Nation has been under one since 1995 - more than 31 years, the longest in Canada. Yet the crisis gets thin, inconsistent media coverage.

You pick a community near you from Indigenous Services Canada's current list. We draft a letter to the editor of your local paper about it, naming your MP and asking about Bill C-37, the First Nations Clean Water Act, and that community's timeline. You edit it, send it in, and share it if it runs.

Why it matters: This is one of Canada's most concrete human-rights failures, and local papers are often receptive to letters about communities in their area. Sustained local attention is what turns a decades-old problem into one officials have to answer for.

US IMMIGRATION

Demand Canada Stop Funding GardaWorld's Immigration Detention Business

GardaWorld, a Montreal-based security company, holds US contracts to turn warehouses into ICE detention centres in Arizona and Texas (the Arizona site is on hold pending an environmental review). At home, the Canada Border Services Agency had about $248 million in active contracts with GardaWorld companies as of May 2026.

We draft your email asking your MP to file a written question on every federal GardaWorld contract and to press for a public petition on these contracts to be presented and answered - with the reporting already cited.

Why it matters: A company can run detention abroad and win public contracts at home - until someone connects the two in writing to the people who sign those contracts.

GAZA

Press RBC and TD to Follow Scotiabank's Elbit Divestment

In February 2026, Scotiabank fully divested from Elbit Systems - Israel's largest arms company - after sustained campaign pressure. That's a confirmed advocacy win, and a documented model. RBC and TD have faced similar demands over defence-sector holdings that may include Elbit and L3Harris.

As an account holder or shareholder, you have standing to write to their boards. We draft a formal letter to RBC or TD's board citing the Scotiabank precedent, calling for disclosure of holdings in named defence companies and a divestment timeline - with board contacts included.

Why it matters: Scotiabank proved this works. Pointing one bank to another bank's completed divestment is far harder to brush off than an abstract demand - it's a peer example the board can't pretend is unrealistic.

UKRAINE

Urge Your MP to Back Ukraine's Path to NATO Membership

Canada says it supports Ukraine, but a firm timeline for NATO accession is where that support gets tested. Most people don't realize an individual MP can be pushed to take a public position on it.

We find your MP and draft your email asking them to publicly support Ukraine's NATO path and press Canada to advocate for a concrete accession timeline at the next NATO summit.

Why it matters: Alliance decisions feel remote and diplomatic, but they're shaped by domestic political will. An MP on record is harder to walk back.

AI REGULATION

Demand a Federal Moratorium on Police Facial Recognition

Canadian police forces have used facial recognition with almost no binding rules governing it. A parliamentary committee already recommended a moratorium - it just hasn't happened.

We find your MP and the Minister of Public Safety and draft your email demanding a federal moratorium until binding legislation is in place, citing the committee's own recommendation.

Why it matters: Surveillance tech gets normalized while the rules lag years behind. Citing Parliament's own recommendation back to it is exactly the kind of pressure that closes that gap.

REFUGEES

Write to Your MP Demanding Canada Suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement

The Safe Third Country Agreement turns most asylum seekers away at Canada's border, sending them back to a US system that advocates argue is no longer safe. A coalition including Amnesty and the Canadian Council for Refugees is challenging it in Federal Court.

We draft your email to your MP calling for suspension, and point you to the live Amnesty campaign so you can add your name to the national push.

Why it matters: Most people assume border policy is fixed and untouchable. It's a designation the government chose - and can reverse - and there's an active court case and campaign to attach your voice to.

SUDAN

Ask Your MP to Review Canadian Arms Export Permits Linked to Sudan

Weapons fueling the world's largest displacement crisis can pass through third countries that re-export them to Sudan's warring parties. Canada's own export permits deserve scrutiny few are asking for.

We find your MP and draft your email requesting a formal review of arms export permits to countries credibly linked to re-exporting weapons to Sudan conflict parties, and a public report on the findings.

Why it matters: Arms flows are deliberately hard to trace, which is exactly why they escape accountability. A formal permit review forces the paper trail into the open.

These are ten of more than 300.

Every issue in Civic Compass comes with actions like these - specific, researched, and ready to act on. Find the ones that fit what you care about.

Explore all actions →