Issues, ethics, memory
By Dennis Gruending Richard Sanders described it as a “David and Goliath†contest. On one side, Canada’s military and weapons contractors (they prefer to call themselves the defence and security industry), along with Ottawa’s mayor, the bureaucracy and most city councillors. On the other side, a small and loosely organized group of citizens drawn from... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending Douglas Roche reminds me of Emmett Hall. I published a biography in 1985 called Emmett Hall: Establishment Radical about the Supreme Court judge whose royal commission recommended Medicare for Canada in 1964. Hall was comfortable in the hallways of power but he was also a social reformer who used his position for... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending He would be called an icon if he was in business, sports or even politics but in the world that he inhabits 85-year-old peace activist Murray Thomson is just quietly and deeply respected. This night he speaks about militarism to a group of about 50 people at the modest Quakers House in... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending  John Dear, an American Jesuit priest and peace activist, gave an uncompromising address on non-violence to about 120 people in an Ottawa church basement on August 22. “Violence doesn’t work,†he said. “War doesn’t work. War is not the will of God. War is never justified. Peaceful means are the only way ahead.â€Â ... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending Bill Janzen, the respected face and voice of the Mennonite Central Committee Canada office in Ottawa, is retiring at the end of July after 33 years. Janzen has been a quiet but significant presence, working with politicians of all stripes, with civil servants and with a variety of church and secular organizations... Continue Reading →
Dennis Gruending recalls a 2008 visit to the National Gandhi Museum in New Delhi. The museum was dated but the message profound
Pulpit and Politics 