China is trying to bend Canadian culture to its will. This will only get worse as Chinese economic clout grows in Canada
A Vancouver court is the battleground for two visions of Canada’s future. The United States wants the extradition of Meng Wanzhou, a top Huawei executive, while China wants Canada to let her go. As a matter of principle and strategy, Canada must stand up to Chinese imperialism by siding with the U.S. The Huawei faceoff…
CBC has become tediously missionary rather than journalistic. And the last thing Canada’s private media needs is to compete with a subsidized entity
CBC Radio was once a national treasure. From Peter Gzowski through Arthur Black, Shelagh Rogers and Danny Finkleman, a turn of the knob rewarded the listener with information, entertainment and humour. But now, a push of the button is more likely to bring on someone eager to talk about their sexuality, ethnic origin or skin…
Cultural appropriation is how people learn. We take the most useful information we come across and pass it on to our children
The controversy concerning what’s called cultural appropriation has taken a strange new twist. Complaints about this newly-invented crime have typically involved Indigenous artists complaining that a non-Indigenous person has appropriated something from them. But now a group of Inuit claims a fellow Indigenous artist has culturally appropriated the throat-singing they say belongs to them alone…
The most ethnically diverse team ever to win an NBA championship reflected the nation’s diversity
In our age of enormous salaries for professional athletes and overpriced tickets to sporting events, there are many reasons why the Toronto Raptors winning the National Basketball Association championship is worth celebrating. Behind all the hype, the team succeeded because it was built on the solid principles. First and foremost, the Raptors won with tremendous…
Far too many of our family histories include persecution and disruption. We should never forget this common bond
It’s said that what happens to one person impacts us all. This may seem absurd but as I gain experience, it becomes ever clearer that we have a common humanity. I’ve been teaching high school students about genocide for over 10 years. In the final project of the course, students research a topic of interest…
Decision encourages an infinite, ever-changing, race-based relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
In December 2018, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released its Restoule decision, which renders Canada and Ontario equally liable to pay the 21 Robinson Treaties bands their “fair” share of all Crown revenue received from sales, leases and licenses, less expenses, derived from treaties-surrendered lands retroactive to 1850. The land covers basically the entire…
The ties that bind aren’t what they used to be – at least for some of us. For others, they are increasingly intense
I’m old enough to remember when nationalism was viewed as a good thing. And I’m not just referring to my Irish childhood. In the Canada of 40 to 50 years ago, many high-profile progressives self-described as nationalists. People like former finance minister Walter Gordon, journalist Peter C. Newman and the luminaries gathered around the Committee…
Terri-Lynne McClintic shouldn't have been sent to a healing lodge. In fact, the very nature of such institutions defies fair practise
Terri-Lynne McClintic, convicted of the 2009 abduction, rape and murder of eight-year-old Tory Stanford, was recently moved from federal prison to a healing lodge. Canadians were surprised – to say the least – that the transfer of a convicted child murderer to a healing lodge was not something new but had being going on since…Sociologists have convinced us to think of people solely in terms of their census categories and their victim credentials
When an acquaintance accused me of being unsympathetic to minorities, I was indignant. I’m a member of a much-maligned minority ethnic group, with which I identify strongly. And both of my children are visible minorities: my son was adopted from Thailand and my daughter was adopted from China. In this cultural moment, to be unsympathetic…
Teaching such languages is better done by parents and ethnic associations. Schools must focus on core subjects
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada called upon governments to make the teaching of Indigenous languages in public schools a priority. No one would disagree with the idea of having more Indigenous people become familiar with their ancestral languages. Many Canadians want their children to learn their ethnic languages. Parents with Scottish roots might…