Issues, ethics, memory
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 →
Former Liberal cabinet minister Irwin Cotler says that he will nominate Syrian Civil Defense, better known as the White Helmets, for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. The group has drawn world-wide attention for pulling wounded people, including children, from the rubble created by aerial bombing raids carried out by the Syrian government and the... Continue Reading →
Dear Friends: After more than 10 years of posting regularly to my Pulpit and Politics blog, I have been mainly silent for the past few months, but I will pick up the pace again this fall. There are several reasons why I have been less active than usual. A new book of mine, Speeches That Changed Canada, was published... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics 