The older I get, the more I realize how little I know. And to me, that is a good thing, because there is something both grounding and humbling in realizing the extent of one’s ignorance. And it is also an invitation to continue learning, right up to the end. While
Continue readingTag: Canadian history
Alberta Politics: Jason Kenney decries ‘cancel culture’ in lengthy monologue defending John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first PM
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s cranky lecture about “cancel culture” yesterday notwithstanding, no one is proposing that John A. Macdonald’s name be erased from the pages of Canadian history or we cease to study his role as Canada’s first prime minister. On the contrary, if we truly want to progress as
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Pride
June is Pride month, a time when we recognise some of the glorious human diversity in the world. We celebrate being able to be openly who we are, and specifically, Pride is about remembering the riots in Stonewall in 1969, when LGBTQ+ folks fought police brutality against our community. There
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Happy Alberta Day, fellow Albertians! Don’t count on having two days off in September, though
Happy “Alberta Day,” my fellow Albertians! Does Jason Kenney have a plan to erase Labour Day and replace it with something called Alberta Day on or about September 1? It certainly wouldn’t be out of character. U.S. President Donald Trump (Photo: Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons). Labour Day celebrates labour, which
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Death toll from fall of Montreal statue still stands at zero, but apoplectic Wexiters may be at risk
The death toll from the fall of John A. Macdonald’s statue in Montreal Saturday still stands at zero, the gods be praised. One would have thought it was much higher, however, given all the outraged virtue signalling from Conservative politicians and their “issues managers” here on the western edge of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Day We Burned Ole D.C. Down … I blame Stephen Harper for Canada’s latest trade troubles!
I blame Stephen Harper. Face it, Canada’s latest trade troubles wouldn’t have happened without him! If Mr. Harper hadn’t spent $30 million or so of our tax money “commemorating” the War of 1812, who would’ve known our side burned down the White House and sundry other buildings in Washington, D.C.,
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 32: The history police strike!
The Ontario elementary school teachers’ federation has voted to ask the provincial government to remove the name of Sir John. A. Macdonald from Ontario schools. According to the teachers’ union (sorry, that should be ‘federation’), Macdonald is the architect of the “genocide” of Canada’s Aboriginal people. Yes, it has come to
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 24: Enough Canada already … eh?
I am now, officially, Canada’d out. Canada celebrated the 150th anniversary of Confederation on Saturday with an orgy of government-sponsored patriotism. Now, I’m as patriotic as the next person, but I feel like I’ve OD’d in the most Canadian way … on maple syrup. Even that joke is too Canadian
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Canada’s vanishing point: Reconciliation and the erasure of Indian personhood
According to Tara Williamson, a singer-songwriter and poet from Manitoba, one of the many problems inherent in Canada’s current effort to reconcile with Indigenous peoples is this: “We must be willing to reconcile, willing to hear apologies, willing to share our trauma with others, willing to heal and willing to
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Still Happens, week 49: On the ‘lock her up’ chant, and the woman they DID lock up.
Last Saturday, the right-wing rabble rouser, Ezra Levant, roused the rabble just enough to host an anti-carbon tax rally at the Alberta legislature. The crowd of probably a few hundred heard the usual stuff from the usual suspects, and the event was mostly uneventful. The Edmonton Journal’s story on the
Continue readingmark a rayner: The 2nd Monday of October
Meanwhile in Canada … Every year on the second Monday of October, Canadians celebrate the end of the Moose Ascendency. During this dark period of Canadian history, the moose reigned supreme, forcing our provocatively dressed women to worship them, and slaughtering any man who got in their way. Eventually, Canadians
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Chanie Wenjack, Gord Downie, and the Secret Path
I never heard the story of Chanie Wenjack, an Ojibway boy who lived in Northern Ontario, until today.
And although it made me feel terribly sad, I’m glad I did.
Because it couldn’t be a more Canadian story, or a more powerful story of resistance.
Even if it ended so tragically.
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Still Happens, week 29: Donald Trump’s Lying Circus
OK, let’s recap the week at the Republican National Convention. Be prepared, this makes for depressing reading. The week began with Antonio Sabato, a former underwear model, little known actor, and failed Dancing with the Stars competitor, addressing the convention. Why Antonio Sabato, no one is sure why. But after his speech, he told ABC […]
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Why Nova Scotia Should Stop Honouring a War Criminal
For eighty-five years the statue of Lieutenant General Edward Cornwallis has loomed over a park in Halifax.To honour him for being the first governor of Nova Scotia, and the founder of Halifax.In recent years native groups have tried to have the statu…
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Still Happens, week 12: Bombings, and bodies, keep piling up
Another week, another atrocity. This time, it’s Brussels, Belgium (a city described in January by Donald Trump as a “hellhole”) that came under sophisticated and yet cowardly attack by ISIS on Tuesday. Bombs went off in three locations leaving at least 30 people dead. That an attack would happen in Brussels is hardly surprising. The […]
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Rewriting Stephen Harper’s Con History of Canada
One of the things I hated the most about Stephen Harper's years in power, was the way he tried to rewrite the history of Canada.By making it all about the monarchy and war, and erasing all mention of the peaceful values that helped make us the coun…
Continue readingIn This Corner: A little historical perspective on the Syrian refugee numbers
As you know, Canada (in the form of our newly elected government) is bringing in 25,000 Syrian refugees as our part in the effort to lessen the humanitarian crisis that has swamped Europe. There is some debate about this, of course. Some say 25,000 is way too many, some say it’s way too fast, and […]
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 51: It was a very bad year
Well, I did it. And I’m sure you’re thrilled. When I started writing this blog, I vowed to write a weekly review of events as I saw them. I did it mostly as a personal challenge, a way to instil a little discipline in my undisciplined life, and to boost my memory of the events […]
Continue readingAlberta Politics: In Flanders Fields? It’s time to encourage another generation of school kids to read some better poems from the Great War
PHOTOS: In Flanders Fields? The reality of the Great war’s battlefields: squalor, incompetence, mechanized industrial death. Below: John McCrae, and a Great War poet still worth reading, Wilfred Owen. A civilization that forgets its poetry is barely worthy of the name. Like fiction and unlike non-fiction, poetry is how a
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Pain Campaign: Election 2015, week 1
Welcome, reader(s), to the Pain Campaign, your weekly recap of the longest and certainly ugliest election campaign in modern Canadian history. First, a probably unnecessary warning. Don’t come here if you’re looking for reasoned, balanced analysis. I just can’t do that, because I loathe Stephen Harper, more than any other
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