What lane are you in? The fast lane, the passing lane, the slow lane, the swimming lane?
What lane do you think I’m in?
Apparently, lanes refer not to physical spaces, but areas of knowledge, expertise, and jurisdiction. A quick google search will tell you that this colloquialism comes from football. It was used to encourage players to focus on their task at hand and not get distracted by what else is happening on the field. It means taking responsibility for what is your job.
Another way to say this might be to “know your place” or “mind your own business”.
Stay in your lane isn’t said out of kindness or worry that we are taking on too many things and we might be overwhelmed. Despite the history, it’s not even generally said to encourage us to focus on the task at hand. It’s admonishing—it’s suggesting that we are straying into business and topics that are outside of our realm.
Then we must begin to question: what is my realm?
Cities are responsible for things like garbage pickup, streets and sidewalks, some parks, zoning, libraries, and more. We are not responsible for national security or healthcare or education. Except when we are.
If we think of healthcare only as family doctors, surgery, and pharmaceuticals then I would agree that municipalities have no responsibility for this area. But what if we start to think about the impacts of breathing in exhaust from heavy traffic on a regular basis? Then we need to be concerned about where housing is placed in relationship to busy roads. Definitely the responsibility of municipalities.
Is national security only about our relationships with foreign governments and our military preparedness? Then that’s definitely the responsibility of the federal government. What if national security also includes whether and to what extent people have a sense of belonging when they move into our city? Well, then we’re talking about youth and seniors centres, where people can live and whether it is close to other members of their community, libraries, parks and rec programming, food deserts, and more.
Education is the responsibility of the provincial government and school boards. That includes building physical schools, creating curriculum, hiring teachers and educational staff, providing programs like music lessons, drama, and physical education.
Could it also mean ensuring that students are going to school with tummies full of food? Municipalities don’t provide food services, but we can advocate for and approve affordable housing so that families aren’t paying 60% of their income for housing meaning that they can’t afford to buy food for breakfast. What about how students get to these physical schools? Can they walk safely or ride their bikes? That’s city business.
It’s almost like these issues are all related, right? Funny that.
When I advocate for things like a national pharmacare program, I am absolutely venturing into federal jurisdiction. But that’s because it’s connected to local issues and impacts our local community. When I talk about Indigenous relations, it’s because I’m a member of a colonial government on unceded territory. Our world isn’t divided into lanes, it’s not a highway with meridians in between: it’s a meandering forest path where the boundaries are soft and deer trails loop and connect back together. Even more than deer trails, it’s the path of a junco that hops through the underbrush.
Beyond the interconnection of issues, we could also talk about what leadership means and whether it means keeping quiet except on issues that are right in front of you, if it means staying small and safe, if it means following and—if so—following whom?
I would like to defiantly say that I won’t stay in my lane except that I absolutely am, it’s just that my lane is the world. It’s the clouds and the river, it’s the bees and our human neighbours, it’s justice and fairness and honesty. When your lane is everything, it’s not possible to veer outside of it.
Image description: a dark haired woman wearing a purple t-shirt and dangly beaded earrings in the colour of the pride flag looks down at her phone. Above her head in script-like font says “she needs to stay in her lane”
