Doing a little isn’t good enough, especially when we ignore abuses
Prince George, B.C., officials recently decided to change the name of O’Grady Road, named after a former Catholic bishop of Prince George, to Dakelh Ti, meaning First Nation Road in the language of the Lheidli T’enneh. I knew Bishop Fergus O’Grady fairly well and I don’t think anything would have made him happier. The decisions…
Survivors of forced sterilization and coerced contraception meet with researchers to share stories
Survivors of forced sterilization and coerced contraception from Canada, Peru and Indonesia will gather with academic researchers at a summit in Edmonton this summer to share stories, heal through art and ceremony, and set an agenda for change. The full extent of reproductive control practices around the world is not known, but they have been…
Being stuck in the past won’t improve Indigenous lives. We need to focus on what’s next
The overwhelming majority of Canadians regret the history of European contact with Indigenous peoples, and the injustices and hardships that followed over the hundreds of years since. At the same time, they celebrate Canada’s accomplishments, which have created a Canada that is the envy of the world. New Canadians are more than glad to be…
Teenagers have virtually no life experience and no expertise but are feted as if they were Einstein
By Mark Milke and Martin Mrazik The Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy The war on Ukraine instigated by Russian President Vladimir Putin should be a reminder that adults and their experiences and judgments matter, i.e. thinking through whether we wish to go to war with Russia. However obvious that seems, in recent years – on…
The right person to talk to at the right time for people affected by violence
Roohi Dodd knows that having the right person to talk to at the right time can make all the difference, which is why she is devoting her career to providing support for those affected by violence. Set to graduate with her BScN from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Nursing, Dodd is already working as…
A personal story of intergenerational trauma that was almost too painful to write
There were times Jordan Abel wished he’d never started Nishga, the memoir that earned him a nomination for Canada’s biggest non-fiction honour, the Hilary Weston Prize. Writing the book was just too painful, he said. It probes the darkest moments of his family’s history, particularly “the wake of violence that ripples outwards” from the Coqualeetza Industrial Institute,…
Harassment such as that experienced by Rempel Garner and Trudeau must be immediately condemned
Canada’s federal election campaign just passed the two-week mark. Alas, we’ve already witnessed an invasion of the privacy of some politicians in public and private spaces. There was the Aug. 27 disruption of a Liberal rally in Bolton, Ont. Dozens of protesters, ranging from government critics to opponents of COVID-19 masks and vaccine passports, yelled…
Just like any human institution, religions are in a constant state of evolution. Just like any human, religious leaders make mistakes
Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship…
Without safeguards, the abuse of dream tech is inevitable
By 2030, could an agency record everything we dream? Danish member of parliament Ida Auken thought so. In her 2016 blog post on the World Economic Forum’s website and republished by Forbes, “Welcome to 2030: I Own Nothing, Have No Privacy and Life Has Never Been Better,” Auken envisioned a person saying, “Once in a…
Building viable businesses and services on First Nations is the best way to build self-respect, self-determination and self-reliance
There’s little doubt that the condition of Indigenous people is desperate in Canada, especially for those living in the 600 or so small, isolated First Nations communities. Most Canadians know some facts about the quality of lives of the people in these communities but let’s refresh our minds with a few statistics. First Nations have…