Justice

  • Fear Going On

    Fear Going On

    Peter Stockland

    April 16, 2013

    Part one required prospective marathoners to drive exactly 42.1 kilometres from their houses, park safely, get out of the car and start walking—not running—home. Part three required being truthful about how it felt knowing such a thought would probably first occur with, oh, about another 41.1 kilometres still to go.

    A running coach I trained with years ago had a wonderful reality check for anyone considering running a marathon.

    Part one required prospective marathoners to drive exactly 42.1 kilometres from their houses, park safely, get out of the car and start ...

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  • A Quiet Battle in an Echo-ocracy

    A Quiet Battle in an Echo-ocracy

    Peter Stockland

    April 4, 2013

    "Help is needed to support a young girl who was recently rescued from human traffickers. She was bought and sold into the sex trade for nine years. Now she is free. She needs food, clothing, shelter, medicine, counseling, and rehabilitation. We would also like to provide her, when she is ready, funds for education courses to help her restore her life.

    As Ottawa's echo-ocracy worked itself into stage five incoherence over a backbench MP's motion on sex-selection abortion, the following words quietly appeared on another MP's website:

    "Help is needed to support a young girl who was recently ...

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  • Rescuing the Indebted and Imprudent

    Rescuing the Indebted and Imprudent

    Jonathan Wellum

    April 2, 2013

    In Canada, personal debt as a percentage of income has risen from 50% in 1970 to over 165% today. Governments have fared no better. Debt to GDP ratios within the OECD countries has skyrocketed from 40% in 1970 to over 110% in 2012. These levels of debt are unprecedented during times of peace and purported prosperity! When you pile on the unfunded liabilities or promises governments have made (for example, in the United States), the ratio of debt to GDP explodes beyond 300%.

    During the last four decades the developed world has enjoyed the biggest debt binge in history. The "Pepsi" generation that brought us Woodstock, psychedelic drugs, hard rock, and a desire for peace, love, and freedom has in the end shackled itself to the s...

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  • Welcoming the End of "Government Compassion"

    Welcoming the End of "Government Compassion"

    Ray Pennings

    March 27, 2013

    Those who know more about foreign aid and development than I do should debate the details regarding the dissolution of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) into the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). But the idea of structuring government involvement in foreign aid so that it coheres with foreign policy and trade objectives, while increasingly relying on non-governmental relief organizations to provide relief to those in need, is one that compels me. There are two ways to evaluate a change of this nature. Critics of the change suggest it is politically motivated by a government not as committed to poverty alleviation and human rights. The government argues the restructuring will allow for more focus, efficiency, and leveraging of funds for maximum impact. Interestingly, the government's position is supported by former Liberal Minister Lloyd Axworthy as "bold and admirable," suggesting that the motives may not be as sinister as the critics say. Whether this will lead to more coherence and efficiency is, of course, not yet knowable.

    It seems, in principle, a healthy refocusing of our social architecture.

    Those who know more about foreign aid and development than I do should debate the details regarding the dissolution of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) into ...

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  • Candid Discussions Worth Having

    Candid Discussions Worth Having

    Ray Pennings

    March 20, 2013

    "Cardus is hosting an event with Mark Carney?" We look forward to both events advancing Cardus's mission of renewing social architecture.

    "Cardus is hosting an event with Conrad Black?"

    "Cardus is hosting an event with Mark Carney?"

    "Yes," we are delighted to answer our interlocutors. Many Cardus followers last week received invitations to two forthcoming events in the Hill Fami...

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  • 'There's also another line of authority in Canada'

    'There's also another line of authority in Canada'

    Peter Stockland

    March 5, 2013

    Cardus: The Supreme Court's decision last week in the William Whatcott case is seen as both a setback for religious freedom and a major victory for those who favour tough laws against hate speech. As an intervener in the case, how does the Catholic Civil Rights League see it?

    (The Cardus Daily's Peter Stockland spoke to Toronto lawyer Phil Horgan, national president of the Catholic Civil Rights League, about two events last week that brought freedom of speech to the forefront of public debate. This is an edited transcript.)...

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  • Why I am For an Islamic Law School

    Why I am For an Islamic Law School

    Robert Joustra

    February 8, 2013

    How would the Christian right react if someone wanted to open an "Islamic law school" in Canada? vancouversun.com/touch/story.ht…

    A few weeks back the Council of Canadian Law Deans fired an incendiary letter across the bow of the forthcoming law school by Trinity Western University. In their letter they argued that the rules of conduct and lifestyle at the Langley Christian university...

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  • Two Cheers for Javert

    Two Cheers for Javert

    James K.A. Smith

    February 6, 2013

    But I think I've fallen for the villain. Here, I will play the role of devil's advocate and offer a few words in praise of Javert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    According to our contemporary critical pantheon, I'm supposed to disdain Tom Hooper's film version of Les Misérables (though Stanley Fish has me feeling a little bett...

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  • This is Ultra-Tolerance

    This is Ultra-Tolerance

    Peter Stockland

    February 5, 2013

    Puff-chested pontificators could empty their bloated egos into front-page stories about what a deputy minister said to a sub-committee. But the real temper of the times was in the two paragraphs of advice Ann and Abby gave their millions of readers. Newspapers are a shredded simulacrum of what they once were, of course, yet their readers still—you may insert the word 'inexplicably' here if you wish—look to them for advice on matters great and small.

    In the gilded age of newspapers, the best understanding of the politics of the day came from reading Ann Landers or Dear Abby.

    Puff-chested pontificators could empty their bloated egos into front-page stories about what a deputy minister said to a su...

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  • Fight Some of Your Own Fights

    Fight Some of Your Own Fights

    Peter Menzies

    February 4, 2013

    When I was a little boy, for instance, other kids would from time to time say mean things to me or make fun of me. This would make me feel bad. One time, the notorious Robbie Campbell, who lived a couple of houses to the east of 7224 96B Avenue (see, I still remember the address like it was my own name) which in 1962 was on the outskirts of Edmonton, even conked me on the head with a chunk of 2 x 4.

    It's funny how shifts in the tiniest little slivers of culture can change the world.

    When I was a little boy, for instance, other kids would from time to time say mean things to me or make fun of me. This would make me feel bad. One time, the notorio...

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  • The Peril of Christian Humanitarianism

    The Peril of Christian Humanitarianism

    Robert Joustra

    February 1, 2013

    In many ways, it is neither wrong nor entirely mystifying why one religious group would draw attention to the abuses or suffering of their co-religionists. Christian groups draw attention to the suffering of other Christians in part because they are often more naturally familiar with these groups, as a result of global networks, but also because there is an implicit self-identification with the victimized.

    It is only just beginning to come to light that one of the most powerful forces for global good can be the formal and informal networks of faith-based and religious organizations. These are the people that are, in the words of CBC correspondent Brian Stewar...

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  • Quinoa Strikes Help No One

    Quinoa Strikes Help No One

    Brian Dijkema

    January 25, 2013

    The newest food for fret is quinoa. The Guardian warns, "There is an unpalatable truth to face for those of us with a bag of quinoa in the larder." The article continues, "The appetite of countries such as ours for this grain has pushed up prices to such an extent that poorer people in Peru and Bolivia, for whom it was once a nourishing staple food, can no longer afford to eat it."

    Fretting is the hot new side dish, but it's not healthy. I'm sure there are many in wealthy North America who eat their oatmeal every morning blissfully unaware of the controversies around whether their porridge is fair-trade, organic, local, steel cut or m...

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  • Lance Armstrong's Increasingly Popular World

    Lance Armstrong's Increasingly Popular World

    Peter Menzies

    January 21, 2013

    First, Mr. Armstrong's sins were confessed to Oprah, who next to the Kennedys is pretty much the closest thing to royalty that America can find to fill the 237-year-old void it still seems to feel when it comes to monarchy. But there's more: Oprah is now a quasi-religious cultural construct, having assumed the roles of She To Whom One's Sins Are Confessed and She From Whom Forgiveness and Absolution are Sought.

    The recent confession of cycling icon Lance Armstrong to a life built on lies, deception, and seven doping-enabled Tour de France victories is notable both for its format and the public's response.

    First, Mr. Armstrong's sins were confessed to Oprah,...

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  • What Parliament Thinks but Cannot Say

    What Parliament Thinks but Cannot Say

    Peter Stockland

    January 8, 2013

    As it happens, I have never thanked God for Jeffrey Simpson, unless Heaven groups the venerable Globe and Mail columnist in the same category as dry toast for breakfast or warm milk for insomnia. In our current issue of Convivium magazine, my colleague Father Raymond de Souza playfully chides Simpson for a very silly late 2012 column on politics and religion, but does grant that the Globe's long-time Ottawa writer is both respected by, and important to, the capital's ruling elite.

    As a new year's commitment, I have obliged myself to thank God for a minimum one new thing that happens each week.

    As it happens, I have never thanked God for Jeffrey Simpson, unless Heaven groups the venerable Globe and Mail columnist in the ...

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  • The Great Lie of Managerialism

    The Great Lie of Managerialism

    Peter Stockland

    January 2, 2013

    Cheery souls from settlements to the east had energetically erected barricades across the railway tracks to protest some perceived malfeasance or other. They were apparently blissfully mindless of the tactical futility of stopping passenger trains to advance their cause.

    On the penultimate evening of 2012, I boarded a VIA train at Belleville, Ontario to make my way home to Montreal. The train left the station. Just. After rolling for about two minutes, it stopped. And stayed stopped for the next 270 minutes.

    Cheery s...

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  • Competing Religions, Competing Rights, and a Court Getting it Right

    Competing Religions, Competing Rights, and a Court Getting it Right

    Janet Epp Buckingham

    December 20, 2012

    N.S., the appellant, alleged that her uncle and nephew sexually assaulted her when she was a child. She reported this to her family and to the police years later. At the preliminary inquiry (the court procedure to determine if there is enough evidence to proceed to trial), N.S. sought to wear her niqab. The two accused argued that the niqab prevented them from having a fair trial. The judge at the preliminary inquiry ruled that N.S. must testify without her niqab as her religious belief was "not that strong." This was based on the fact that she did not wear a niqab on her driver's licence photo although N.S. argued that a female photographer took the picture.

    It was another day of reckoning for religious Canadians. On a small stage, Paula Celani was back in court this morning fighting a fine for an "illegal" Catholic Mass in Montreal (first discussed ...

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  • The Fine Print Matters!

    The Fine Print Matters!

    Ray Pennings

    November 29, 2012

    In case the self-deprecating sarcasm did not adequately come through in the previous paragraph, let there be no mistake that I am under no illusion that everything I do is world-changing in its nature. That is not to dismiss it—if I didn't think it important I would find something more meaningful to do.

    I work for a think tank. We have lofty goals and sometimes even think our work is important in changing the way other people think. And so, whether it is in earnestly sitting down to write a blog, reviewing various proposals with a view to making a recommen...

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  • Wishing for a Secret Agenda

    Wishing for a Secret Agenda

    Robert Joustra

    November 21, 2012

    Have a closer look at what the leaked documents say. We see the Prime Minister's intended plan to diversity trade to emerging markets. This has been true since even before the collapse of Keystone, and what Fen Hampson at Carleton University called the Americans' "silly season", also known as an election.

    For Christmas this year, I'm wishing for a secret agenda—the kind everyone kept promising me was coming, only to disappoint me over and over. Now, we have "leaked" documents...

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  • Paying Attention to the Courts

    Paying Attention to the Courts

    Ray Pennings

    November 14, 2012

    All three branches have powerful ways of impacting us, yet the profile of the players on the judicial side of things is minimal. Part of this, of course, is due to the supposed objectiveness of legal process. "Better a good case than a good lawyer" goes the quip, where the weight of evidence, precedent, and argument are supposed to elevate the decisions beyond preferences of the decision-maker. Yet theory aside, most of us understand that the personal beliefs and values of our lawyers and judges do end up having an impact on the shape of our democracy.

    Back in high school civics class we learned that government has three branches—executive, legislative and judicial. Our media help us pay no shortage of attention to our cabinet and our parliament. But do we study our judges enough?

    All three branche...

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  • Judging From a Distance

    Judging From a Distance

    Peter Stockland

    November 13, 2012

    The newspaper's tall foreheads have taken a licking after their weekend editorial spanked the Supreme Court (calmly and just once on the tuckus, of course) for "overstepping its authority" in a recent decision. The Globe perspicaciously saw the danger of a distant court dictating to a very local level of government how it should spend scarce tax dollars.

    I normally reserve frosty Fridays for rushing to support the Globe and Mail's editorial writers, but sometimes a chilly November Tuesday must do.

    The newspaper's tall foreheads have taken a licking after ...

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  • Marvel and Wonder in October

    Marvel and Wonder in October

    Brian Dijkema

    November 1, 2012

    It's unsettling to see people rummage through the blue boxes on your street in search of the discarded bottle which will give them ten or twenty more cents to add to their revenue stream. I recall one particular morning in October 2004. For some reason known only to God I was up at 4 a.m. and glanced outside to check the weather.

    You hear them coming every week; usually on a Sunday night, but often very, very early on Monday morning. They come rain or shine. And in the fall, when the whole world seems to be headed for some sort of cold and sodden dormancy, it rains a lot. And yet th...

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  • Crimes and Smiley Faces

    Crimes and Smiley Faces

    Peter Stockland

    October 30, 2012

    What does cause me deep concern, however, is the brush with subtle corruption I experienced when in a city police station when I went to fill out the report that is a pre-requisite to filing an insurance claim. I do not mean corruption in the current, misunderstood sense of nudge-nudge, wink-wink bribes. I mean the authentic corruption that begins at what might be called the genetic level of attitudes toward the rule of law itself.

    When my car was broken into 10 days ago, I mentioned to a colleague that I feel no malice toward the perpetrator. Other than hoping for his horrible suffering, I wish him a smiley-face day. Seriously.

    What does cause me deep concern, however, is the ...

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  • You May Not Govern Me

    You May Not Govern Me

    Dani Shaw

    October 29, 2012

    In what promises to be the most bizarre and intriguing thing you will read this autumn, the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench recently set the record straight on the relationship between the justice system, and some constituents who seek to resist the authority of the court over them. Taking the "consent of the governed" and social contract theory to the extreme, various movements known as Freemen, Detaxers, and Sovereign Citizens (among other names) assert that statute law does not apply to them unless they specifically consent. As Justice Rooke said, "they will only honour state, regulatory, contractual, fiduciary, family, equitable and criminal obligations if they feel like it. And typically, they don't."

    ...

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