On Saturday, May 26, Brigette DePape, the former parliamentary page who disrupted the 2011 Throne Speech, will speak on a panel discussing how we can make her two-word protest a reality. The panel also includes: • Tasha Peters, an Ottawa-based organizer, activist, and member of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition.
Continue readingTag: human rights
wmtc: canadian council of churches calls on jason kenney to let u.s. war resisters stay in canada
This letter was hand-delivered to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, from the Canadian Council of Churches. The Council is the largest ecumenical body in Canada, representing 23 churches, comprising 85% of the Christians in Canada. 15 May 2012The Honourable Jason Kenney, P.C., M.P.Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and MulticulturalismCitizenship and Immigration CanadaOttawa,
Continue readingwmtc: open letter to jason kenney: "history is tapping our shoulders"
Last night in Toronto, supporters of US war resisters in Canada honoured International Day for Conscientious Objection with a group letter-writing session. This letter was written by Nicole Marie Burton, the partner of war resister Jules Tindungan. It affected me deeply, and I asked Nicole for permission to share it
Continue readingwmtc: today is international day of conscientious objection – call on the govt to let them stay!
Celebrate International Day for Conscientious Objection by calling on the government to rescind Operational Bulletin 202 Today, May 15, is the International Day for Conscientious Objection. Please join us in calling for the elimination of Immigration Minister Kenney’s Operational Bulletin 202. OB202 directs immigration officers to refer the cases of
Continue readingHypocrisy 101: Black Churches vs The Decision on Same-Sex Marriage
By now you have heard that US President, Barak Obama, has now publicly supported same-sex marriage. Many cheered this revelation. Finally a leader of one of the most-powerful countries in the world is recognizing that homosexuals are allowed the same rights as everyone else. Whether it’s a political move or the
Continue readingCan Canada not protect its workers from foreign predators?
That the new global economy is a corporate construction is not in doubt. It is arranged to benefit investors and employers, not employees. Canadian and American companies can freely enter Mexico to exploit cheap labour but Mexican workers cannot freely enter Canada or the U.S. to exploit higher wages. It’s
Continue readingwmtc: canadian doctors protest cuts to refugee health care
Bravo to the hundreds of Canadian family doctors who protested the dismantling of the refugee health care system! There was a demonstration in Ottawa, occupations of MP’s offices in Winnipeg and Toronto, and press conferences in other cities. “I just cannot understand how my government can take the most vulnerable
Continue readingwmtc: marxism 2011 program notes: racism, economic recovery (not), canada’s vietnam
This is the last installment of my notes from the 2011 Marxism conference in Toronto. The series starts here. This post is less complete than the preceding Marxism 2011 posts. They are Allan’s notes from the sessions I chaired, and two sessions he attended without me. Apparently Allan is not
Continue readingwmtc: harper and kenney’s refugee healthcare changes are based on lies – and people will die
The inhumane, unjust, and, under international law, illegal shredding of Canada’s refugee system by the Harper GovernmentTM will take effect at the end of June. Of all this Government’s policies, the changes to Canada’s laws regarding refugees are perhaps the least recognized and least contested. The people whose lives will
Continue readingwmtc: memo to children’s aid: people with disabilities can be capable parents
This story makes me so angry and frustrated. I can only imagine how the parents feel! I’ve reached out to some activists I know who are people with disabilities for suggestions on how we can support this family. A disabled couple in Mississauga are fighting to keep their newborn son
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: what is the what by dave eggers
I’m in the middle of reading a pair of books that approach a similar subject in different ways. What Is the What is Dave Eggers’ fictional memoir of the Sudanese refugee who he sponsored and befriended. The full title is What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Andrew Coyne is rightly alarmed at the Cons’ move to short-circuit any debate about major policy changes through an omnibus budget bill. And Bea Vongdoaungchanh reports that the biggest of those changes is to set our environmental laws back by half a
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Let’s Have an End to People Dying at Work
Ben Isitt is a Victoria city councillor, historian, professor, lawyer and optimist. Rarely have I been so moved by an account of the struggle working people have in the face of this new world order of anti-worker 1%ism. We are so effectively trained to accept the balance of power is
Continue readingCanadian Trends: The normalcy of abnormal
After the anger I felt yesterday, I have been thinking. Is it not strange that we equate today’s “wars” with real wars of the past? How has this happened? I champion democracy but not at the hand of an iron fist. What I find even stranger is that at the
Continue readingFive of Five: Identity Politics and Some Numbers
The No True Scotsman fallacy often appears in arguments about philosophy or religion. It has some bearing on the change that is about to engulf Alberta. The fallacy would sound something like this in a conversation about Alberta politics: You: No conservative would vote for the Progressive Conservative
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Are candidates’ 19th Century views actually helping the Wildrose Party?
Wildrose candidate Ron Leech explains the Caucasian Advantage to a broadcaster. Nevertheless, Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith says he’s a fine man and won’t discipline him. Below: Kris Wells, the man behind today’s “Pray for Alberta” newspaper advertisements. “Social conscience” and human rights issues continue to dominate the final days of
Continue readingArt Threat: Sonic solidarity for Ziba Kazemi – An interview with Iranian artist Shahrzad Arshadi
Portrait of artist Shahrzad Arshadi by Thien V (Montreal, March 2012). It Is Only Sound That Remains is a sound theatre performance by artist Shahrzad Arshadi, meditating on the life and death of Ziba Kazemi, also known as Zahra Kazemi. The story of Kazemi’s 2003 death in Iran, the ensuing
Continue readingDrive-by Planet: IDF assaults on Andreas Ias and others during Jordan Valley protest
Andreas Ias getting smashed in the face with an M-16 Prior to the brutal assault on 20-year old Danish activist, Andreas Ias, in the course of a protest bike ride in the Jordan Valley, Israel attempted to block dozens of international activists from entering the country. The overreaction might make
Continue readingbastard.logic: Happy 30th Anniversary, Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms
According to Louise Arbour, Canada’s internationally renowned & universally lauded Charter of Rights & Freedoms (HBD, eh?) “has transformed a country obsessed with the federal-provincial division of powers and enabled it to address its diversity in a substantive, principled way.” Gee. No wonder Harpercon insurrectionists can’t stand the fucking thing.
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