We are privileged to live in a country where we have freedom, abundant food and affordable medical care. If you make more than $42,000 Canadian per year, then you are in the global 1% – one of the wealthiest people on the planet. Are we obligated by our position of wealth and good fortune to help others who by dint of bad luck were not born with the opportunities that we were?

Some people hold a strongly altruistic or utilitarian view, and believe that we should all donate a large percentage of our income to charity, until global injustices are evened out. Others believe in radical self-reliance or rational egoism, and say that each person must take responsibility for their own circumstances in life.

Many of us fall somewhere in between and question our own behaviour. How much should I give to charity? Should I spend on a vacation for myself or give to others in need? Should I buy a new phone knowing that it was built with conflict minerals and slave labour? How should we balance our own desire to live our lives and fit in to society against the harm that our choices cause, and the opportunities that we have to improve living conditions for others?