Big Topics & Big Ideas
Universities
Who Is to Blame for the Anti-Semitism of Young People?
In a recent Free Press article, “We Were Taught to Hate Jews,” five individuals from Muslim families report on the anti-Semitism that was integral to their upbringing. One said: “It’s like asking me how often I drink water. Anti-Semitism was everywhere.” Ayaan Hirsi...
Does Academic Freedom Protect Genocidal Anti-Semitism?
American and Canadian university campuses rang for weeks on end with celebrations of Hamas’s “great victory” of Oct. 7. The murder of civilians, the burning alive of families, the gang rape of women to death, the roasting of children in ovens, and the beheading of...
John Bonnett: As A Prof At Brock University, I Don’t Want The ‘Woke Class’ Telling Me What To Say
Universities must remain strictly neutral on issues, save for one thing: the defence of academic freedom
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There’s Nothing Fair About Canadian Health Care
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...
Transformers: More than Meets the Eye
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...
Leaders on the Frontier – Censorship Crisis on Campus with Lindsay Shepherd
Big Topics & Big Ideas
Bill 35 Doesn’t Go Far Enough
In a recent op-ed (Winnipeg Free Press, May 2, A7), my colleague from the Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba, John Wiens, argued that Bill 35, The Education Administration Amendment Act, goes too far. He claims that “it begins to look like just one...
How Reverse Discrimination Undermines Our Culture and Citizenship
American and Canadian institutions — business, education, military, medical, legal, and government — have all intentionally instituted systemic discrimination against white citizens who are increasingly treated as villains or excluded entirely. In the past, when the...
Reaping Postmodernism’s Violent Whirlwind
Part Three of a Four Part Series In December 2008, Denis Rancourt was suspended from his tenured professorship in physics at the University of Ottawa—an action that resulted in his termination a few months later. This occurred after a five-year battle with university...
Self-Hatred and Victimization: Addressing Indoctrination in Canadian Universities
On many Canadian university campuses, students are told that they need to be “allies” to marginalized groups. Today, we often focus on Indigenous populations, the LGBTQ+ community, and people of colour. Indigenous people are given, by far, a bigger spotlight because...
William Brooks: To Defend Academic Freedom, a Canadian Professor Calls for ‘Dangerous Universities’
Mark Mercer is a professor of philosophy at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, who has served as president of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship since 2015. SAFS is a Canadian organization whose members are devoted to “academic rigour, scholarly...
Independent Thought, Courage, and Commitment
Independent thinkers believe what they do on the basis of evidence and argument and not as a result of psychological or social pressure. One way in which Critical Thinking courses help students to become independent thinkers is by making the analysis and evaluation of...
Why Frances Widdowson Matters
Frances Widdowson probably isn't someone most Canadians recognize. I'm here to tell you why they should. In terms of Canada's intellectual culture, Frances Widdowson matters because she is a classic and prolific academic. In a time when demagoguery easily flourishes,...
By Keeping Draconian Pandemic Rules in Place, Universities Are Signalling Their Out-of-Touch Elitism
Proof of vaccination is required for students who want to live in residence at the University of Toronto. No, this wasn’t cut-and-paste from a 2021 article—it’s an actual requirement for the fall of 2022. Anyone who plans to live in residence at the University of...