Grunge is Not Dead

In this episode, I am joined Trisha McOrmond, a Metis sociologist, indigenous systems thinking educator and punk based in Edmonton, whose diverse background includes Metis heritage, Irish immigrant grandparents, and a Chilean political refugee stepfather. Trisha draws on these experiences to inform her understanding of resistance and community-centered living, and she now works both as an indigenous systems thinking educator and in emergency management helping communities rebuild after disasters. We discuss Alberta’s upcoming referendum, with Trisha arguing that the questions are deliberately written at a first-year college reading level rather than the government’s own standard of sixth to seventh grade, in order to induce fear, suppress critical thinking, and discourage people from questioning authority. I add that the Parkland Institute has reported referendum questions will not actually solve the problems they claim to address, and that Premier Smith herself admitted the Senate question would achieve nothing.

The conversation then shifts to the broader economic and social conditions driving apathy and disengagement. Trisha argues that society over-invests in pension accumulation and fossil fuel extraction at the expense of youth, citing a report showing roughly 30% of Canada’s GDP is spent on programs for people 45 and older compared to only around 7% for those under 40. She also highlights the disappearance of entry-level “sidewalk jobs” due to automation and AI, which strips people of purpose and meaning and leads to substance use and community breakdown in places where labour markets have collapsed. This sense of purposelessness is compounded by the hollowness of high-salary work that harms communities, with Gallup reporting that 80% of employees are disengaged at work.

We reflect personally on the cost of prioritizing financial accumulation over meaningful work. Trisha describes leaving a government career where she was writing policy that undermined people like herself as a single mother, and later withdrawing her pension to build a company aligned with her values, finding her life richer despite having less money. I similarly recount realizing that myopic expertise in the oil and gas industry was being used to help industry actors close loopholes rather than address harm. We agree that true fulfilment comes not from financial accumulation but from community-oriented work, and a punk rock spirit of resistance, calling on peers in our generation to