Putting the health of the people in the South Caucasus at risk puts us all at risk. Diseases spread and mutate rapidly in refugee camps
When teaching history, it’s rare that an issue more than 100 years old becomes a current events lesson, but that’s what happened as I began teaching about the Armenian Genocide. The Ottoman Empire is responsible for the death of 1.5 million Armenians, primarily under the cover of the First World War. The empire collapsed after…
The image of the hip and virtuous leader that some media and voters hold of our prime minister is not what leaders of other nations see
After boastfully declaring that he would enhance Canada’s place on the international scene, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau failed in his bid to secure a United Nations Security Council seat. Canada’s place in the world has been effectively eroded under his watch. Foreign policy matters, so Trudeau is right in drawing attention to it in his…
We can’t simply watch global events unfold. We have a valuable contribution to make and we’re up to the challenge
Canada’s foreign policy has strayed from its traditional path, losing the traction it once had on the world stage. Canada’s last two attempts to secure a seat as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council failed. Our international standing as a neutral middle power and an honest broker has lost its shine. Our…
Unfortunately, the list of ethical failures by the current Liberal government is very long
Canada recently failed in a bid to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. It’s something neither Stephen Harper’s nor Justin Trudeau’s government has been able to achieve. The last time Canada was on the Security Council was when Jean Chretien was prime minister in 2000. Before that, it was during the…
Countless animals ingest plastics and die. Do we care? Do we care that these plastics are now in the human food chain?
We often see news items about the environmental impact of single-use plastic straws. And we want to do something, which is good. Costa Rica plans to ban single-use plastics. At a recent G7 summit, the nations condemned single use straws and said they will discuss the matter at a future meeting. But no action has…
First we need to deal with our own problems, starting with the huge inequities among our Indigenous peoples
Despite our best efforts towards eliminating poverty and inequality, large segments of society remain left behind. Problems seem to outpace rhetoric. Worse, governments face huge challenges in meeting their obligations and commitments. We face two tragedies: our domestic challenge with poverty and inequality, and the estimated 828 million people globally living in slums (expected to…
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has had a terrible few weeks, from the Wet’suwet’en solidarity blockades to the collapse of Teck Resources’ $20 billion Frontier mine project. Most world leaders would immediately focus their energies on their domestic economies if faced with such dire financial circumstances. Not Trudeau. The PM remains obsessed with the single-minded goal…
Divide-and-conquer tactics have been used by colonial powers for hundreds of years to get Indigenous groups to succumb to their wishes
Canadians take pride in our identity as a peaceful nation that celebrates diversity. These are indeed wonderful ideals but to be authentic, they need to be lived. In 1990, a community in Quebec wanted to expand its golf course and claimed the right to traditional Indigenous lands. The Mohawk people blocked this process and when…
The government has compounded the problem of stalled pipeline projects by adopting UNDRIP, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People
In 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada issued a stunning decision with profound impact on the future development of our country. For more than a century, Indigenous title had been limited to the immediate environs around settlements. The court ruling vastly expanded it to “tracts of land that were regularly used for hunting, fishing or…
There are good reasons why other countries and previous Canadian governments have consistently refused to fully implement the UN declaration on Indigenous rights
British Columbia has become the first province to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). And except for the opposition of a determined group of Conservative senators, the federal government would have adopted UNDRIP as actionable law before last fall’s federal election. Re-elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already announced…
When teaching history, it’s rare that an issue more than 100 years old becomes a current events lesson, but that’s what happened as I began teaching about the Armenian Genocide. The Ottoman Empire is responsible for the death of 1.5 million Armenians, primarily under the cover of the First World War. The empire collapsed after…
