As an American expat unfamiliar with the pop-cultural aspect of Canadian politics, a lot of the jokes in Laureen: Queen of the Tundra went over my head. However, it is to the performers’ credit that this did not distract from their commentary about the fluidity of gender and culture, against
Continue readingTag: human rights
Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Daria Ukhova summarizes the OECD’s findings on the links between inequality, poverty and the economy: Inequality, economic growth, and poverty. In the new report, the OECD has tried to establish the links between these three phenomena, which so far have been mostly
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Raif Badawi: Saudi Court Upholds Brutal Sentence of Liberal Blogger
I don't expect much, or anything really, from the barbaric kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The home of the beheaders, and the nexus of terrorism.But even by its brutish standards this is outrageous. Read more »
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: Addressing the United Nations – Akaash Maharaj Podcast
Addressing the United Nations was one of the more intimidating experiences of my life. I spoke on behalf of GOPAC’s global alliance of parliamentarians, on our work to bring kleptocrats to justice.
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: Addressing the United Nations – Akaash Maharaj Podcast
Addressing the United Nations was one of the more intimidating experiences of my life. I spoke on behalf of GOPAC’s global alliance of parliamentarians, on our work to bring kleptocrats to justice.
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Video: Manitoba government urged to recognize the genocide and help heal the trauma
Winnipeg, June, 5, 2015: At the Manitoba Legislative Building, Maeengan Linklater answers journalists’ questions about his proposed Manitoba Indian Residential Schools Genocide and Reconciliation Memorial Day Act. Photo: Paul S. Graham Now that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has completed its work, and the major federal political parties
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: EU’s military strategy to deepen Mediterranean tragedies
Photo by Kim Hansen More than 800 migrants died on April 19 this year when their overcrowded boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast. The tragedy sent soaring this year’s Mediterranean death toll which was by then around 1,500 – 10 times the deaths during the same
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Bill C-51 violates Universal Declaration of Human Rights, OSCE finds
When the world’s largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization says Bill C-51 violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, you know we’re in trouble. Article by ThinkPol The Harper government’s controversial anti-terrorism bill violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Canada has
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: A Nation of Snitches
Graphic created by EFF Senior Designer Hugh D’Andrade. A totalitarian state is only as strong as its informants. And the United States has a lot of them. They read our emails. They listen to, download and store our phone calls. They photograph us on street corners, on subway platforms, in
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Robert Scheer and Chris Hedges on How the Private Sector Buys and Sells Your Privacy
Image from Public Domain As Truthdig Editor-in-Chief Robert Scheer points out to Chris Hedges in this interview for The Real News Network about Scheer’s new book, They Know Everything About You: How Data-Collecting Corporations and Snooping Government Agencies Are Destroying Democracy, the safeguards written into the U.S. Constitution to protect
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: Akaash Maharaj: Addressing the United Nations
Political corruption kills more people than war and famine combined. I addressed the United Nations on how the international community can and must act to bring kleptocrats to justice.
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Ireland and the Amazing and Historic Struggle for Marriage Equality
A wonderful thing may be about to happen in Ireland in just a few days.Millions of people are preparing to take on the power of the Catholic Church, and some of the nastiest bigots you can imagine.And make that country the first in the world to vote to approve same-sex marriage. Read more
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Welcome Back, Omar Khadr: Demonized No More
Photo by Khadr family When torture survivor Omar Khadr was granted bail last week, the Harper government actually did something logical: it argued in an emergency hearing that releasing someone who, since the age of 15, has never known life outside of the world’s worst detention facilities, would cause irreparable
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Omar Khadr and the Grubby Con Hogs
Over the last eight years I have written almost a hundred posts about the case of Omar Khadr, Canada's child soldier.For I consider it one of the greatest cases of injustice in the history of this country, a shameful episode that should haunt us forever.So you can imagine how I felt today
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Indiana put the lie to “religious freedom.” But Canadian Evangelicals hope you didn’t notice.
Everyone’s familiar with the old adage, “be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.” Which is why the Evangelical leaders who held a press conference on Parliament Hill calling for greater religious freedom laws and schmoozing with Conservative politicians last month might do well to remember
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Indiana put the lie to “religious freedom.” But Canadian Evangelicals hope you didn’t notice.
Everyone’s familiar with the old adage, “be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.” Which is why the Evangelical leaders who held a press conference on Parliament Hill calling for greater religious freedom laws and schmoozing with Conservative politicians last month might do well to remember
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Understanding indigenous struggles against settler colonialism and international law
Photo by Marius Arnesen On April 17, Palestinian Prisoner’s Day should be seen as a day of global solidarity for all indigenous peoples seeking freedom and self-determination while living under settler colonialism. It reminds us of the predominance of indigenous peoples living in the prison industrial complex and its overarching
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Theland’s 134km walk for children of missing and murdered indigenous women
Theland Kicknosway, an 11 year old Pottawatami Cree boy, walked-and-ran 134 km from Ottawa to Kitigan Zibi, Quebec, to “bring attention to the children of missing and murdered Indigenous women.” The post Theland’s 134km walk for children of missing and murdered indigenous women appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Elizabeth May Rejects Harper’s Cosmetic Bill C-51 Amendments
Harper’s Bill C-51 remains “dangerous and undemocratic” and “deeply unconstitutional” despite the Conservatives’ proposed amendments, says MP Elizabeth May. The post Elizabeth May Rejects Harper’s Cosmetic Bill C-51 Amendments appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On common ground
The Progress Summit’s panel on First Nations has included plenty of discussion of the need to identify commonalities between First Nation issues and other groups within Canada. And I’d add that there are plenty more opportunities to draw further connections. The recognition that the federal government tried to eradicate aboriginal
Continue reading