The year’s hardships, and concern for what’s next in 2021, can refocus our vision and practices at the personal and social levels
As we enter the final quarter of this year, many Canadians are likely more than ready to say goodbye and good riddance to 2020, the year of the pandemic. But what if, in some ways at least, 2021 could actually be even more difficult? Consider this: Besides killing nearly 10,000 Canadians and more than one…
‘Imposing the intentional taking of human life as a solution to human suffering is unacceptable for a civilized society’
More than 50 leaders across the faith spectrum warn the Liberal government’s changes to medical assistance in dying legislation will pressure vulnerable Canadians to opt for “lethal procedures” over living with illness or disability Equally alarming, says the gloves-off open letter released recently, the alterations contained in the bill known as C-7 will undermine the…
To say that Canada needs journalists is simply to state the obvious. Of course, Canada needs journalists who are free to uncover, discover and convey news from our neighbourhoods on up to the international level. Canada also needs commentators who are free to provide points of view or analysis. But how can we have good…
It’s time to reflect not just on what politics is doing to our democracy but what it’s doing to us
Let’s begin by wishing U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump a full and speedy recovery following their positive COVID-19 testing. The text below was drafted before this diagnosis was known and reflects on the toxicity of public discourse for which the president is partly culpable. Some of the social media response to…
Our religious tapestry makes massive economic and social contributions to local communities and to the nation’s well-being
Newcomers to this country often find Canadians have a curious stance toward religion. We seldom say much negative about religion in public but we never take it too seriously either. A new study, The Hidden Economy: How Faith Helps Fuel Canada’s GDP, suggests it may be time to take a second look at the public…
COVID-19 concerns could open parents’ eyes to the crucial benefits of kitchen-table learning
David is the father of three children. While pushing his kids on the swings at his local park in Ottawa, he confesses to other parents at the playground that he’s concerned about putting his kids back in school because of COVID-19. However, he’s also worried about keeping them home in case they fall behind. The…
Vandalizing public spaces under the delusion that such acts make yesterday a better today is sad-sack politics that fosters democratic weakness
For her book Talking Stones: The Politics of Memorialization in Post-Conflict Northern Ireland, Elisabetta Viggiani mapped 157 publicly visible sites of Troubles commemoration in Belfast. Broken down, the city’s memorials alone offer a ratio of one wall plaque, garden, public tableau or statue for every 25 of the 4,000 or so people killed by the…
Just before Parliament adjourned in June 2008 for summer break, the Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada released a report called Broken Promises: The Protestant Experience with Religious Freedom in China in Advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. I was the chair of the commission and was present when the…
Several trustworthy and reputable humanitarian organizations are working diligently, providing desperately-needed assistance
The cataclysmic explosion that shook Beirut to its foundations in early August, leaving 157 people dead, 5,000 injured, and 300,000 homeless, was the coup de grâce for a country that has been bleeding for years under crushing burdens. The explosion seems like the denouement to the unfolding tragedy of Lebanon, a country where high unemployment,…
No matter how economically suicidal certain policies may appear, fear wins the battle for hearts and minds
Pandemic public policy is now a field unto itself, saturated with experts, desperately low on data, yet with dangerously high stakes, at least politically. Take the case of New Zealand. Here’s a prime minister and a country that has done, according to the chattering classes, everything right. A serious, long-term lockdown, early on, entirely stamped…