Sarah Jama celebrates with her team after winning the by-election in Hamilton Centre, March 2023. On October 23, Jama was expelled from the ONDP caucus and censured in the provincial legislature for comments she made about Palestine. Photo courtesy @deardubow/Twitter. What’s left to say? Three weeks ago, when Prime Minister
Continue readingAuthor: Rinaldo Walcott
Canadian Dimension: The conservative attack on gay life
Toronto Pride parade, 2006. Photo by Sue Maguire/Flickr. When the Canadian government updated its travel advisory to the United States, warning LGBTQ+ people that many American states have enacted laws that would persecute them, it got my attention. A few days later I listened to an interview with Sherwin Modeste,
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Do Black migrant lives matter in Canada?
A painting by artist Richard Rudnick of Black Refugees arriving in Halifax from the United States in 1814. The image is included in the Lord Dalhousie Panel’s scholarly report. Image courtesy of Dalhousie University. Canada has always had a hard time providing support for Black and African refugees. So it
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Why we should abolish ‘Corporate Pride’ once and for all
Photo by Nathan Mac/Wikimedia Commons June is Pride Month, and I have already tendered my annual resignation from gay and queer life until July 1. Every year I withdraw from being gay in the month of June because what we can only call ‘Corporate Pride’ cannot and does not address
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Roxham Road and the Canadian unconscious
Former Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer tours the Roxham Road crossing in 2018. Photo from Flickr. Joe Biden paid an official visit to Canada in late March. While he was here, the United States and Canada struck a new deal on Roxham Road that will allow both countries to turn
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The unsettling truth at the heart of the Elghawaby controversy
Amira Elghawaby is Canada’s first Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia. Photo courtesy Reuters. I recently experienced an ethical dilemma. A letter was circulated by people I admire and respect and with whom I share many political positions concerning the attack on Amira Elghawaby. Elghawaby was appointed in January as the
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