At the height of the Covid pandemic, BC provincial court judge Philip Seagram faced a personal reckoning. His work had been consuming so much of his life he had been unaware even of his own son’s university graduation. He came to the blunt realization that he needed to leave his career.

The internal turmoil felt by Seagram during this time reflected the chaos of the outside world: the pandemic wore on; BC was ravaged by heat domes, massive floods, and forest fires; Canada’s divisions, be they over politics or vaccines, were deepening; increasingly, social media was being used as a weapon instead of a means of connection.

In the spring of 2022, as the pandemic wound down and the war in Ukraine ramped up, Seagram embarked on a cross-Canada journey, travelling across the country busking on the sidewalks of major cities. The sign he placed before him as he played invited people to give or take money from his guitar case. Anything left over was donated to Ukraine humanitarian relief.

In No Judgment and Other Busking Stories, Philip Seagram recounts his eight-week busking venture. He chronicles the challenges faced and insights gained while driving from city to city and meeting people through his street performances. Canada, vast as it is, began to feel smaller as he connected with strangers through music. And by extension, so did the world. At its core, No Judgment is a tale of human connection in a disconnected world and the part music can play in this. 

Busking, Seagram learned, is both an expression of trust and an invitation. The busker, like any musical performer, asks, “Do you feel this too?”