The weekend before this issue of the Monitor went live, the northern lights were visible across North America in areas that they normally wouldn't be visible.

It feels particularly special to have the night sky light up in a year that has been profoundly difficult for so many of us in so many different ways. Even in the darkest moments, there can still be light.

It was that thinking that led the creative team behind this issue of the Monitor's theme— Róisín West, Katie Sheedy, and Tim Scarth—to create a northern lights-themed design. We had asked our contributors for their big ideas to shape the future of Canada. Ideas can feel a lot like the northern lights: they can be electric and have the potential to light up the darkest of moments. They are ethereal visions of what is possible.

Just as the aurora borealis has danced across the continent providing light in darkness, we hope that the ideas in this issue of the Monitor help make your November a little brighter and more hopeful for the future that we share.