What the hell is the point of Woke Watch Canada?
Citizen-funded gumshoe journalism, exposing establishment activism with great writing
By
I am going to put the ask, the call-to-action, and the quick summary up front. The essay below goes into more detail regarding the story of Woke Watch Canada (WWC), and discusses some of the new initiatives that are underway.
Summary
A couple months ago Woke Watch Canada’s Substack was monetized for the first time. This means that, although the writing published on WWC is made freely available to the public, readers and supporters can choose to upgrade their subscription to paid versions. Alternatively, supporters can donate to the Woke Watch Canada School Board Investigation Fund. Information on how to make a donation through either of these methods is at the bottom of this post.
Today’s “ask” is simply that you consider upgrading to paid or donating.
Money Matters
Since WWC is monetized now, I felt that some sort of business model, and unique way to describe it, was in order. I called up contributing writer Shannon Douglas to bat around some ideas. I told him I had been thinking about “citizen funded journalism.” I liked the sound of it - if we are citizen funded, then we are not corrupted by advertisers and corporate interests.
Something was still missing though, I wanted to also get across that we are working-class investigators who take the elite intelligentsia to task. I used I.F. Stone as the example of a classic journalist who relentlessly hunted down every piece of information about the subject of his investigations. After thinking for a moment, Shannon came back with the term “gumshoe.”
Gumshoe is a slang term for a working-class private detective or police detective. In the late 1800s the soles of shoes were made with gum rubber, which made it easier to walk around quietly. The term was popularized in early detective fiction.
As soon as he said that, my brain fired with film noir images. In particular, Humphrey Bogart classics, and admittedly two of my favorite films - The Maltese Falcon, and The Big Sleep. I was sold on “gumshoe” immediately. A short while after finishing the call with Shannon he emailed me with the following as a possible elevator pitch-style description of Woke Watch Canada:
We’re Woke Watch Canada: Citizen-funded gumshoe journalism, exposing establishment activism with great writing
I like it. Let me know in the comments what you think. Oh, I also mentioned there would be a call-to action up front as well. That is simply:
Please share Woke Watch Canada articles on social media and beyond. Help us get the message out and build our network of subscribers.
The following is a bit of back story of what led to the Woke Watch Canada of today. Keep in mind, this is only from my perspective. I say this because Woke Watch Canada is bigger than me, so I can only provide my version of it. In the same way, I can only discuss my intentions for WWC going forward, to develop it into something that is uniquely designed to help understand and solve a very specific problem: wokeism.
Back-story
It has been a whirlwind. So much has happened since the beginning of WWC it is unlikely I remember it all accurately. Before we get into the details it is worth mentioning that most people who volunteer, contribute, research or write for WWC are members of Lighthouse. The next essay I write in this series should be: “What the hell is the point of Lighthouse?” But for today, a quick explanation can be found on the Lighthouse website:
“Lighthouse was established to build a collaboration network for Canadians who are concerned about the use and enforcement of illiberal practices to address current social issues.”
After I joined Lighthouse I met Catherine Kronas (Lighthouse founder), Chanel Pfahl, Shannon Douglas, Jim McMurtry, Frances Widdowson, Igor Stravinsky & NotWokeTeacher (both aliases as they are Ontario teachers), Mr. M (also an alias), Zachary Strong, and more recently Elton Robinson, and many others who also go by aliases but haven’t published on WWC so their names will not be familiar to readers. But there are maybe another dozen anonymous Lighthouse members who have assisted with WWC in many crucial ways. If they are reading this they will know who they are. All of the people who contribute to WWC, including the few non-Lighthouse writers, are making an impact and helping to shape what is to come. I thank them all for their invaluable contributions.
Note: In order to protect the identity of the co-founder of Woke Watch Canada, I am going to call him Clark Kent - with the implication being that he is awesome like Superman, but needs his identity to remain hidden to protect the people he loves, like Clark Kent.
If memory serves, it was Clark Kent who came up with the name “Woke Watch Canada.” I remember there being some discussion around the name. We were not sure if “woke” should be used or not. At the time, the culture hadn’t really decided if “woke” was going to be the word to describe the social justice phenomenon. I think we made the right choice. The term can be polarizing, but it does seem to be what stuck with the culture. So I’m glad we decided to go with it.
Clark started the WWC Twitter account and has been building a following while arguing effectively for liberal values against the Woke ever since. There are also others in our “Lighthouse crew” (who I won’t name in case they don’t want it known publicly) who have access to the WWC Twitter account and so also help Clark tweet and argue for liberal values.
I believe it was September or October of 2021 when Clark initially set up the WWC Twitter. The idea was to expose wokeism in Canadian education and beyond through leaking inside information. Anonymous parents, students, trustees, teachers, and concerned citizens would send us photos, videos or internal documents that demonstrate wokeism in some way from within a given school board or within some other office, industry or administration of the public and private sectors, then we would tweet about it. I was so inspired by the WWC concept I decided to create a Substack where we could publish longer form analysis in the form of Op-Eds and essays on the wokeism we were uncovering in schools and in society at large.
From the beginning we have also sought to publish the writing of teachers, parents and concerned citizens, even anonymously, when they encounter issues with wokeism in their workplaces. Already mentioned are NoteWokeTeacher and Igor Stravinsky, two examples of teachers who write from inside the trenches of education. Chanel Pfahl is a teacher who has written a variety of general education analysis, as well as about her experiences being placed under investigation by the Ontario College of Teachers multiple times for her innocuous criticisms of wokeism in various forms. Jim McMurtry, writes about education, he is a teacher who has been cancelled for displeasing the woke. And Elton Robinson is a parent from Windsor writing about his experiences organizing a parents group to push back against the highly woke Greater Essex County District School Board. There are many other examples, read through our vast archive of articles and see for yourself!
It was maybe a month after Clark launched the twitter when I set up the Substack and published the first article on October 27, 2021 about a visit that Billboard Chris made to Bowmore Road Public School in Toronto in protest of a wildly woke, un-scientific and age-inappropriate gender workshop that young students had been subjected to. Catherine Kronas and I were both on the scene at Bowmore, and I think Clark was as well the day before. After Billboard Chris left Toronto, he went directly to Ottawa to have more conversations with the public about puberty blockers and gender ideology. In Ottawa he was joined by Chanel and Shannon.
Since October of 2021 I have worked on WWC in some fashion almost every day. The type of writing published, and the large number of writers who contribute has been unexpected. We experimented with many different styles of mostly journalistic writing - although some stuff is more academic, and other articles are more like opinion pieces. But there are also elements of WWC writing that make it hard to classify. Are they essays, news reports, op-eds?
Our writing often expands beyond the bounds of convention. We cover wokesim. But so do other independent media, like True North. But instead of competing with other independent media, we have created something that no one else is offering. Do not think that WWC can replace True North. It can’t. True North, Rebel News, and a plethora of independent Canadian journalists are doing vital work. Please support them.
Woke Watch Canada’s work is different. We lean towards the academic side. Some of our essays are overtly academic in nature, others may read like op-eds while examining the academic ideas associated with grievance activism (wokeism). We also cover the parent uprising that is presently in its infancy - but rapidly developing into a force to be reckoned with. WWC covers this “uprising” but in many ways we also help organize and coordinate it.
Research Teams
Another side of WWC not publicly facing is our extensive research effort. In collaboration with Lighthouse, two research groups (informal mini think tanks) are currently developing impressive bodies of research - so far, with a special emphasis on education. These groups are developing a deep academic and public policy understanding concerning the constellation of issues where wokeism generally intersects with education. No small task.
The knowledge produced by these mini think tanks in some cases informs the analysis offered by WWC writers. But also, these collaborative research efforts are helping WWC and other groups collaborating within the Lighthouse network to formulate strategic and practical responses to the woke movement. Many exciting projects are underway that are making use of the research being done. I am particularly excited about the potential of a new project involving the development of a blueprint strategic plan for parent groups. A holistic plan that will empower parents to organize around everything from bringing forward (and campaigning for) trustee candidates, to bringing forward, training and campaigning parents for school councils. It will include the steps required for parents councils to hold school boards to account. And all of the ingredients necessary to form and manage an effective parents advocacy group to put pressure on school boards and the provincial Ministries of Education.
Woke Watch Canada Today
After much experimenting on different writing formats and publishing schedules, we have most recently landed on the following pattern: We post almost everyday. Sometimes twice on Friday. Sometimes not on Sundays. Most of our posts during the week are around 900 to 1500 words (give or take). Our longer form, more academic essays are published on Weekends (you can find all of those organized on the essays page). Also published on Weekends, stuff like today's post which is about opening up to readers, explaining what WWC is really about, what our goals are, and how we are going about achieving them. To be honest, I hope it will inspire you to make a financial contribution to WWC.
Why you should support Woke Watch Canada
WWC’s unique approach is consistent with its goals: To understand, examine, write about, organize and strategize against wokeism by creating a hub of counter-woke resistance around our collaborative network and platform.
Support for Woke Watch Canada helps advance the development of vital infrastructure needed to properly identify and resist wokeism in all its forms. Ultimately we aim to meaningfully assist the removal of wokeism from society and the restoration of liberal democratic values. We are not just studying and writing about this existential crisis, we have rolled up our sleeves and are actively working to solve it.
Clearly there is a ton of the story I have left off. So far, I have told of the origins of Woke Watch Canada and of the great collaborators from Lighthouse. And I discussed my very first post in October of 2021. Well friends, a ton has happened since then but I will leave that part of the story for some other Saturday (or possibly some fine Sunday), where I will again ask dear readers and supporters if there is any more they might be able to contribute to our highly energized and inspired counter-woke resistance.
The last word I’ll leave with those who have read this far (my people!) is my deepest, humblest and most sincerest and heartfelt thank you for reading, sharing and supporting this work. I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but WWC became an obsession (in a positive way) for me. I have done some really cool things in my life (not bragging…but I have) - I built a recording studio once (and a bunch of audio electronics) and was an independent record producer and sound engineer in downtown Toronto for 14 years - I had a blast! I talk a little about it in my essay Before I Realized How Messed Up Everything Is (substack.com) - But Woke Watch Canada is something uniquely special. It feels to me like the most important thing I’ve ever been involved with. I love it more than my old recording studio, and slightly less than my kids. Thank you everyone who reads, supports and contributes.
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There are now two ways to support Woke Watch Canada through donations:
1) By subscribing to the paid version of the Woke Watch Canada Newsletter for - $5 USD/month or $50 USD/year
2) By donating to the Canadian School Board Investigation fund, which is raising money to expand Woke Watch Canada’s research and investigation into dysfunctional Canadian school boards.
 | A guest post by
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The reason why Woke Watch Canada merits the attention and appreciation of Canadians is that there are few strong and resilient outlets to which Canadians might turn in order to find support and confirmation in their civil disobedience. In today's social political climate, with the cultural revolution raging in the institutions as it is, it is a de facto act of civil disobedience to be, as we are, objectors. The second reason is the indefatigable determination of James Pew - if the average Canadian is 1% culture warrior, James Pew is 1000% culture warrior.
In late January when you brought me hope that this was bigger than Windsor and not just a USA issue. I now have the privilege to know that Canadians like you and those mentioned in your article will get our culture back to somewhat where it was 50ish years ago for our future grandchildrens children, as you know this is just the start of the journey, but the people who brought our society where it is today also battled long and hard for 70 years to get where we are today, well with the light you and lighthouse are shining, Canadian Society in hopefully 30 years will be back to middle ground. Thank you for including me on your team, I truly love all of you guys that I have met in WWC and LIghthouse.