Nowadays, it is common, when introducing an event, to say something along the lines of: “We are grateful to the XYZ Indian Tribe for allowing us to hold this gathering on what is really their land.” Universities, bastions of the left, have been particularly intent...
"Any presentation worth banning is a presentation worth attending.” So said Richard Mueller, an economics professor at the University of Lethbridge, on September 16 at the Lethbridge Public Library. Mueller was paraphrasing biochemist and writer Isaac Asimov who...
When Parliament unanimously passed its motion declaring that residential schools were genocide, it was probably inevitable that municipal and provincial elected bodies would follow. City councillors in Brandon, Man. are currently debating the following motion: “The...
September 30th will be National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This year it should be a day of celebration. Parliament declared September 30 a holiday soon after the nation was convulsed by the shocking claim that 215 residential students had been somehow killed...
For the past 14 years, Vancouver surgeon Dr. Brian Day has led the charge for health-care reform, pushing for the right of patients to pay for private care if their health and well-being are threatened as a result of waiting in a stagnant and overburdened public...
The path to net zero, based on the much disputed belief that carbon dioxide is a pollution, is more steep and impractical than most people realize. Replacing fossil fuels with clean electricity will require much more power generation and a greatly upgraded grid to...
An early 20th century photo of the cemetery associated with the St. Mary’s IRS, Kenora, Ontario, showing wooden grave markers of students that were allowed to disintegrate over time, proving that students were given a proper Christian (Catholic) burial. "We...
Two years ago Canadians bought into what was probably the biggest conspiracy theory ever promulgated in this country. Members of the Kamloops indigenous community made the astounding claim that 215 graves, containing the remains of students of the former Kamloops...
In a Globe and Mail article on 5 May 2023 the National Centre For Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) finally publicly admitted that its Memorial Register is not a list of thousands of missing children buried in unmarked graves. It turns out the entire claim of thousands...
Michelle Cyca’s article in The Walrus about residential school denialism of May 4, 2023, gets one thing right. She mentions tuberculosis. Once. Like many who write about those who suffered at residential schools, Cyca seems oblivious to the context of the times – in...
Winnipeg City Hall recently proclaimed that Bishop Grandin Boulevard, Bishop Grandin Trail, and Grandin Street will be renamed, respectively, Abinojii Mikanah (Ojibway for 'A Children's Way'), Awisasak Meskanow (Cree for 'A Children's Way'), and Taapeewin Way (Michif...
Yes. But there was nothing sinister or evil about any of the deaths. They were simply a fact of life at a time when death from disease was a sad, but common occurrence. Children who attended day schools, or no school at all, died in even greater numbers on their home...
Only when the truth is known can an honourable reconciliation be forged On Jan. 31, Dr. Michael Mahon, president of the University of Lethbridge, cancelled a talk that Dr. Frances Widdowson was scheduled to present. Like all scholars, Dr. Widdowson has nuanced views...
From the earliest times, European newcomers and Indigenous people in what is now Canada have worked together. Indigenous people showed early Europeans how to survive in our harsh northern climate. They assisted militarily in the battles between the factions claiming...
Winnipeg City Council needs to know renaming streets will not advance Indigenous reconciliation and it will deny Winnipeggers a chance for a learning experience about the residential schools legacy. A final motion goes to city council on March 23. The motion aims to...