Identifying Canadians by race on their everyday documents is divisive and discriminatory In response to the Alberta government’s redesign of driver’s licenses to prevent counterfeiting, the majority of Edmonton Police Commission (EPC) members have weighed in with an additional proposal: That the racial identity of Albertans be included on their driver’s licenses. The EPC’s justification…
Claims of widespread systemic racism in the Anglosphere are overblown As Rishi Sunak settles in as British prime minister, it’s time to revisit claims about racism in the Anglosphere, including the widespread assertions of systemic/institutional racism that now inform and, in many cases, guide public policy, corporate hiring and university staffing and admissions. That includes…
The data does not support progressive dogma that racism explains high black incarceration rates
There are many sacred texts in the Barrack Obama canon of progressive belief. Among the most sacred is that U.S. prisons are full of black men serving time for simple marijuana possession. This presumed truth has been taken to the mountaintop by Obama acolytes from Rob Reiner to Maxine Waters to Stephen Colbert. And hammered…
It simply offers a lens to look honestly at the reasons disparities exist
Given the criticisms of Critical Race Theory (CRT), I set out to understand this controversial approach to viewing our world. What does it actually say? The first point of CRT is to question the narrative told by our dominant society. Few would argue that “History is written by the victors.” In the quest for truth,…
Why an academic theory that dates back to the 1970s has become a political lightning rod today
In April of this year, Georgia became the latest of 15 American states to ban the teaching of critical race theory in schools. In celebrating a similar ban in Mississippi, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves recorded a video in which he claimed, without evidence, that school children had been “dragged to the front of the classroom and coerced…
Hanna Daniel has made it her business to foster diversity by empowering others
Like an itch that needs scratching, when Hanna Daniel sees something that cries out to be done, she doesn’t regard it as optional. So when the business student arrived at the University of Alberta and realized there was no campus group for black students, she got down to the business of starting one. After a…
There is power in your voice, say the creators of Canada Confesses
After the murder of George Floyd and the American Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, Nancy Tangon and Priscilla Ojomu were dismayed by some of the Canadian reaction. The two University of Alberta psychology students kept hearing the same refrain: “Thank God we’re not the U.S., with their toxic racism. We don’t have those problems…
Juanita Gnanapragasam plans to use her career to help people achieve good health and wellness
Juanita Gnanapragasam isn’t the type to restrict herself to one interest, to study just one topic. She believes her varied passions and expertise will figure in her work toward her career and life goal – to build a community where everyone can thrive. She knows now that she doesn’t have to limit herself, something she…
The Black Graduate Students’ Association helps build a more inclusive university for all students
Heather Gray Lamm’s introduction to the Black Graduate Students’ Association came while she was sitting on the floor of the Butterdome at the University of Alberta. Lamm, a new graduate student, was taking a moment amidst the chaos and crowd of orientation to figure out where she was supposed to be. “You’re easily invisible in such…
He wants to broaden the party’s base – not narrow it
The Conservative Party of Canada has formally approved six candidates for its Sept. 10 leadership vote: Scott Aitchison, Roman Baber, Patrick Brown, Jean Charest, Leslyn Lewis and Pierre Poilievre. The clear frontrunner is Poilievre – by a country mile in most polls. The 42-year-old longtime member of Parliament and former cabinet minister has captured the…