Issues, ethics, memory
In February I posted to this blog about the United We Roll Convoy which was on its way from Alberta to Ottawa. Those involved said their concerns were primarily about the oil and gas industry. However, it soon became clear that the tour was about more than that. At every convoy stop there was also... Continue Reading →
A friend travelling in Europe pleaded recently on Facebook for information to help her respond to a fellow tourist, an “alpha male” from the US, who was criticizing the Canadian health care system. He claimed, for example, that he had seen statistics showing that 20% of Canadians go to the US each year for elective... Continue Reading →
Paul Dewar, the much loved and respected former Ottawa MP, died of cancer on February 6, 2019. Ten years earlier he spoke at a class that I taught to middle-aged and older adults. Paul was raised in a political home and his parents were staunch Catholics, although he later attended at a United Church. I posted a piece in 2009... Continue Reading →
The United We Roll convoy of trucks on its way from Alberta to Ottawa makes for good television coverage, but the deep sense of grievance and anger on display does beg questions. Here are some of them. What about global warming? Those in the convoy demand that Ottawa simply clear the way for the construction... Continue Reading →
Increasingly it is Indigenous writers who are telling the story of their peoples’ relations with European settlers, which is as it should be. I am thinking, for example, of Tanya Talaga’s Seven Fallen Feathers and her more recent book All Our Relations, which is based upon her Massey Lectures delivered on CBC Radio in November... Continue Reading →
Hardly a day goes by without someone warning about the dangers and evils of populism. Recently, on CBC Radio’s As It Happens, it was a Canadian who chose to return home after the 2016 US election, describing his dislike of populism in that country and of Donald Trump. Not long before that, it was Dan... Continue Reading →
With wars and conflicts raging, sixty-five million refugees in the world, and authoritarians in too many of the palaces, it is good to have some good news. The ecumenical social justice group KAIROS has received $4.5 million from Global Affairs Canada over five years to support women-focused organizations working to heal the female victims of war,... Continue Reading →
On December 12 Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, spoke to a room filled with supporters in Ottawa about global human rights. The picture is sombre and disturbing but Neve said those who hold human rights dear will persist in their efforts for as long as it takes. I was in the audience... Continue Reading →
Activist Tony Clarke was respected by foes and revered by activists for speaking truth to power in Canada and abroad. He died on December 4, 2024. I am reposting a blog piece that I wrote in 2018, upon the release of Clarke's last book, Getting to Zero: Canada Confronts Global Warming.
The New York Times recently carried an investigative story about how high ranking officers at Facebook attempted to conceal Russia’s use of the social media platform to spread false and distorted information during the 2016 US presidential election. Here in Canada, the federal government will likely use its November 20 economic update to outline plans aimed... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics 