The most vulnerable of our society are being left behind
OTTAWA—I had the misfortune of touring a long-term care facility in Ottawa this past month, and I was and continue to be horrified. Experts have said this specific facility is not one of the worst. It wasn’t dirty, it wasn’t unstaffed. But it also wasn’t inviting, and there was barely any programming—just a room and […]
Award-winning author of Washington Black, Esi Edugyan to release new book next month, Out of the Sun: On Race and Storytelling
International bestselling Canadian author and novelist Esi Edugyan, who is a two-time winner of the prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize, will be releasing a new book next month, Out of the Sun: On Race and Storytelling. Both her novels, Half-Blood Blues and Washington Black, were Giller Prize winners. Half-Blood Blues was also shortlisted in 2011 for the Man Booker […]
A walk in the park or a minefield? COVID election may break the mould
OTTAWA—All indications are that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will call an election after the week or two of holidays he is currently taking. And there’s no compelling argument against it, since the current Liberal government is on pace to meet the average lifespan of minority regimes. But whether it’s a good political move, from Trudeau’s […]
‘We have to be ready to begin and able to pivot quickly’: tourism marketing arm looks inward to keep the dream alive
Destination Canada’s more recent tourism efforts have looked at the “unexpected” parts of the country, with a new domestic focus that experts say needs to be continued until cross-border and international travel can really start moving again. The current state of the tourism market is “apocalyptic” for some areas like the cities, Greg Oates, senior […]
‘They just said we’d like to be treated like humans’: Senate report an ‘eye-opener’ on rights gaps in prisons
Systems in place in federal correctional institutions do not protect and safeguard the people surrounded by its concrete walls, nor are they designed to respect the human rights of prisoners, say Senators in a report stemming from an exhaustive four-and-a-half year study. The Senate Human Rights Committee’s look into the human rights of federally sentenced […]
It would be fair for all to test whether we have the antibodies or not: Montreal reader
Is this the time to be excessively scrupulous when the statistics are about to show the coronavirus will soon be defeated? In particular, is it necessary to return to normalcy by submitting to the government proposal that we all obtain vaccine passports? Is that reasonable, or an infringement on our liberties? Did we have to […]
So far, the fight against COVID-19 has not recognized the danger of the threat every country on Earth is facing
HALIFAX—The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust the Batmobile of history into reverse. It is suddenly 1925 again. That of course was the year that Christianity and science collided in a courthouse in Tennessee with the so-called Scopes Monkey Trial. Did God make us, or did we evolve from leaf and fruit-eating tree climbers? John T. Scopes, […]
To move beyond the pandemic, Canada needs to look globally
It has become evident that COVID-19 does not discriminate between borders or international alliances. Despite this, some of the wealthiest nations are gripped by a zero-sum mentality, as they have made and continue to make policy decisions that solely look inwards. Last year, the World Trade Organization reported that 80 countries banned the exportation of personal protective equipment […]
Hepatitis can’t wait: a plea to Canadian policymakers
During these uncertain times, 2030 can seem a long way away. But our federal government has made a promise to the world, via a signed and dated World Health Organization declaration, that Canada will eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by the end of this decade. With a vaccine for hepatitis B and […]
Lack of Canada-U.S. planning contributed to uncertainty over border reopening, say observers
With delta variant concerns rising and a need to manage the borders to its north and south, a potential reopening of the American land border to non-essential Canadian travellers remains unclear, say researchers and former diplomats, which has been hampered by neither Canada nor the U.S. announcing a complete framework for resuming border operations. While […]
