The Canadian Progressive: DISGUSTING: Rehtaeh Parsons case: Posters ask community to “support the boys”

By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive:  Canada, we’ve a big problem! “Friends, family and supporters of the four boys allegedly involved in the Rehtaeh Parsons case have taken their voice to the streets of Halifax,” the CBC reports. They’re distributing bright, multi-coloured posters urging the community to “speak the truth” and “stay

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The Canadian Progressive: Human Rights Watch report confirms sexist and racist violence endured by Aboriginal women

By Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres | Feb. 18, 2013: “This (Human Rights Watch) report confirms frontline evidence of sexist and racist violence endured by Aboriginal women. Frontline centers have recorded and protested this violence over many years,” says Lee Lakeman for CASAC. Since 2001 CASAC has been focusing particular attention on

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The Canadian Progressive: Harper and RCMP comments ignore Aboriginal victims’ fear of reprisal: Human Rights Watch

Ensure Accountability for Police Misconduct, Indigenous Women’s Safety By Human Rights Watch (Press Release)| Feb. 13, 2013: VANCOUVER – Comments by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RMCP) on February 14, 2013, fail to address the core issue of a lack of security that prevents indigenous women and girls from

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Terahertz: An Inclusive Community

I just added my signature to Adam Lee’s petition to “The Leaders of Atheist, Skeptical and Secular Groups: Support Feminism and diversity in the secular community.” Here’s the note I left with it: In my view, it is important that Secular Humanist groups in Canada maintain their historic commitment to

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Art Threat: Skyfall a great romp but a gender bust … not to mention the faint aroma of homophobia

The thing is, I like these films — for the gorgeous cityscapes of great metropolises (London, Beijing and Macau), for the eerie and yet fascinatingly glimpses into the slick and opulent interiors where the ultra-rich live and play, for the beautiful cars (the 1965 Aston Martin DB5), even for the craggy medieval landscape of Scotland where Bond finally retreats for his emphatically low-tech final showdown with Javier Bardem. I am a sucker for Bond’s supernatural fighting and survival skills. It all works for me. But that’s why the obvious gender stupidity and not so obvious homophobic taint are so irksome. There is intelligence at work in this script, and talent in the filmmaking, so why the vacuum of intelligence on this score? Why, like Bond’s suits and cars, do the gender and sexual politics have to be so thoroughly rooted in the 1960s?

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Canadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Australia’s Female PM Assails “Misogynist’ Opposition Leader & Sexism

A political master-stroke of epic proportions. That’s my take on Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s take-down of opposition leader Tony Abbott in this 15-minute speech on sexism in Parliament. OK, let’s put aside the fact that Gillard’s passionate and personal take-down followed Abbott’s attack on the embattled Speaker of the house,

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