Climate activists rally to urge politicians to stand against climate denial in New York on Jan. 9, 2017. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images) According to various sources, “denialism” is the practice of denying the validity of something for which there’s irrefutable proof....
It is easy to separate the facts from the myths about “genocide” allegations at Indigenous residential schools. Just read the TRC report
Public bodies and private organizations in Canada choosing to divest in the energy sector cannot say that they also support Indigenous communities. Attacking the energy industry means you are attacking the main livelihood of many communities. As we speak, activists...
Winnipeg's Canadian Museum of Human Rights. A comparable residential-school institute is planned on University of Manitoba grounds. Courtesy of Canadian Museum of Human Rights The Canadian Museum For Human Rights (CMHR) is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Built...
For standards of living to grow, productivity growth must be strong and continually renewed. That is one notion that nearly all economists can agree on. So, it is not surprising that politicians scramble to discover new or not-so-new ways to boost productivity growth....
Behavioural psychologist Robert Epstein believes Google can and does influence voters and that research teams in Canada and elsewhere need to monitor how users are being swayed. Epstein, the former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today and founder of the American...
Senator Lynn Beyak is back in the news - the Senate ethics committee is recommending the Senator be suspended without pay for the duration of the current Parliament. Why? A few letters she posted to her website. The senator has become a symbol of intolerance and...
Winnipeg is a great city. Brutal winters and buggy humid summers don’t dampen the enthusiasm Winnipeggers feel for the city and its vibrancy of a unique culture. Nonetheless, a long list of civic problems requires the mayor and councillors to concentrate on bread and...
The Globe and Mail reported on August 17, 2018 that different factions of lawyers involved in what is termed the “60s Scoop” class action suit are squabbling over $75,000,000 in fees that are up for grabs for the work they claim to have done to date. Recall that...
The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called for The United Nations Declaration On The Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) to become the law of Canada. This is a very bad idea for many reasons. In the first place, enacting a law that would...
The Indigenous policy, being advanced by the Canadian government in a suite of legislation in the fall of 2018, is supposed to mark at new turn in the relationship between the Crown and Indigenous people. It appears, however, that the new policy is merely a tweaking...
The Province of Ontario has put indigenous municipal councillors into a special category. Because they are Indigenous, they are no longer required to swear or affirm allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II before taking office. This exception arose as...
In his new book, There is no Difference, Ontario lawyer Peter Best begins a long-repressed national conversation about Canada’s legal and social relations with its Indigenous peoples. Mr. Best asks: Why can not Nelson Mandela’s goal and vision of “one set of laws for...
Five Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation Report concerns child welfare. Basically these calls focus on increasing funding for Indigenous welfare, establishing national standards for the various agencies, keeping Indigenous children in culturally-relevant...
You do not have to be an anthropologist to understand that multiculturalism as the cohabitation of multiple distinct cultures is a non-starter. If “culture” is understood in its simplest meaning, as a distinct way of life, then the idea of many distinct and mutually...