The Contagion of Tribal Contempt

Ruth Dick

November 8, 2021

Ottawa writer Ruth Dick argues it’s time to restore political health by purging our viral responses of the urge to condemn and dominate.

We who support vaccination are the ones who have backfilled the message of that sign with hostility and disdain, causing many at whom it’s aimed to feel a sense not of community, but isolation Thus we have people responding in Pavlovian ways to public health measures Instead of realism about the ris...

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The Stampede to Crush Privacy

Sandra B. Julian

November 3, 2021

Sandra B. Julian warns a basic human right is being trampled in the COVID-fed panic to digitize and QR code where we can go and what we can do based on whether we’ve had the jab.

It's hardly surprising that COVID has caused worldwide panic, but the stampede toward vaccination passports is trampling on privacy Provincial privacy commissioners declared in May 2021 only that forced disclosure of personal information for vaccine certification “is an encroachment on civil liberti...

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That All Faiths Feel At Home

Tim McCauley

November 1, 2021

Father Tim McCauley argues instead of claiming Islamophobia is entrenched in Canada, we must ensure Muslims and all believers are made welcome.

I realize the era of the 1980s was vastly different from our current climate in terms of the number of Muslims in Canada, the rise in Muslim extremism in various parts of the world, and Islamophobia In regard to Muslims, has this changed since 9/11? As the world has witnessed a rise in Muslim extrem...

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The Tyranny of Pragmatism

Robert Joustra

October 29, 2021

Ominous State expansion under cover of the COVID crisis isn’t a sign of future despots at work but the consequence of a culture in which outcome trumps process, Robert Joustra argues.

State overreach is the consequence of a much more seemingly innocuous pathology: pragmatism Father de Souza argues, for example, that State overreach – no argument from me on that part – is motivated by a tyrannical desire to put its subjects in its place, remind businesses who has what power and ch...

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Picture Parliament Without Parties

Peter Menzies

October 26, 2021

Peter Menzies argues the salvation of Canadian democracy lies in our two youngest political jurisdictions where consensus government, not leadership whip cracking, prevails.

Six years and three elections ago, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau was about to become Prime Minister They can treat people like that because, unlike other countries under the Westminster system such as the United Kingdom and Australia, Canadian prime ministers do not depend upon the support of their ...

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Nightmare Lives of Lebanon’s Children

Susan Korah

October 25, 2021

Susan Korah reports on the grim toll the country’s collapse inflicts on its young while Canadian kids return to post-pandemic trick or treating.

Nuri Kino, leader of A Demand for Action (ADFA), a Sweden-based humanitarian aid and advocacy organization, has witnessed firsthand the plight of Lebanon’s orphaned and abandoned children “Homeless and abandoned children in Canada have social services to take care of them, but in Lebanon there are n...

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Doctor's College Needs Political Attention

Albertos Polizogopoulos

October 19, 2021

Ottawa lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos says the regulatory body for Ontario physicians and surgeons has a serious Charter abuse habit and requires Premier Doug Ford’s immediate intervention.

I don’t think I need to name them, but does Ontario want to be lumped in with them? Are we comfortable with having a government body determining which opinions can and cannot be expressed? Are we comfortable with government bodies stripping people of their ability to work because they have the gall ...

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Defending Artur Pawlowski’s Dissent

Don Hutchinson

October 18, 2021

Don Hutchinson says the recent court order compelling a Calgary street preacher to reference science in his sermons about COVID is offensive and has to be appealed.

Agree or disagree with Pastor Pawlowski, the response to dissenting thought, belief, opinion and expression in a free society is speech by someone on the other side of the issue, not dictated language as compelled by government or court On October 13, Pawlowski was sentenced for acts of civil disobe...

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Deadline Looms to Save Hospice Society

Peter Stockland

October 15, 2021

A palliative care group in suburban Vancouver has one week to rally members across North America to protect its vision of MAiD-free end-of-life care.

Ireland insists, though, that the real objective goes far beyond the bitter infighting of the last few years that have seen the DHS board forced out of the 10-bed Irene Thomas Hospice and forced to give up its palliative care support centre, both of which were built through millions of dollars in fu...

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The Biblical Cast of Ted Lasso

Evan Menzies

October 14, 2021

Evan Menzies watches the season two finale of the Apple TV+ surprise hit and sees the shadows of Cain and Abel falling across the characters.

God penetrates Cain with the question “Why are you angry? And why is your face gloomy? If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it The show starts with the most gimmicky of premises: Ted Lass...

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The Politics of Red Team! Blue Team!

Don Hutchinson

October 12, 2021

Don Hutchinson notes that when sports and politics overlap we become "fan-atics" cheering for our favourite sweaters and socks. 

It showed up in candidate Trudeau’s campaign stump speeches: the blue team harbours right wing extremists; the blue team leader is hiding blue candidates’ vaccination rates and won’t protect you; the big blue tent cultivates a home for those who will make abortion illegal; elect the blue team and li...

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Have We Become Not-Canada?

Travis D. Smith

October 8, 2021

Travis Smith warns time is running out to free our home and native land from its pandemic-induced contagion of distrust, resentment, and contempt for our neighbours. 

There are many reasons why some people choose to trust and many reasons why others have stopped trusting Given our leaders’ track records—not to mention how many booster shots our prime minister has pre-ordered for several years to come—I’m pretty sure it’s unlikely things will go that way People wi...

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The Hard Truth About Reconciliation

Andrew Bennett

October 7, 2021

Healing wounds inflicted on Indigenous people by Canada and its churches means facing what’s wholly true, not what’s politically appealing, Father Deacon Andrew Bennett writes.

The abuse is also a clear and ever-present reminder to all Canadian Catholics, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, of how the Church failed to live up to the Gospel and instead aided and abetted an assimilationist policy that will affect First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Canadians for generations Furt...

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Truth and Justin Trudeau

Peter Stockland

October 5, 2021

Even as Canadians auto-correct for political falsehoods by expecting and accepting them, the Prime Minister’s fib on Truth and Reconciliation Day reveals a worrying pattern, Peter Stockland writes.

In answering that question, of course, we must be prudent in our judgements, charitable with our forgiveness, and acknowledge the Prime Minister has apologized at least for the “slap in the face” on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation A consequence is that we miss the significance of preva...

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The Path Back to Trust

Peter Stockland

September 27, 2021

The good results notoriously sceptical French are getting by taking a leap of faith in the fight against COVID shows the necessity of trust within democratic life, Peter Stockland writes.

The outcome? It has reportedly gone from one of the highest vaccine hesitancy rates in the world last January to one of the highest vaccination rates among world powers this September Still, the picture caught my eye a) because a young man of my closest acquaintance works in La Grande Motte and b) b...

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