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All issues are student issues
While most students were cramming for exams, a couple hundred delegates spent November 21-24 in Gatineau for the biannual Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) national general meeting.
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Strange times
These are strange times indeed, my friends. With so much absurdity in the world, it can be difficult to focus on anything at all. But each element must be scrutinized in order to understand its full impact and the treachery at play, even though such reflection creates an overwhelming feeling of dread.
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Riding your bike in the winter?
I strode into the office barely a minute early, panting with exertion. Frost matted every follicle in my beard, forming a tangled, icy layer over my face.
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The stay-at-home student
If there’s one thing I’m afraid of, it’s paying bills. Hydro, cell phone, TV, Internet, car insurance, the list goes on. As the Financial Literacy Action Group (FLAG) has dubbed November “Financial Literacy Month,” I would like to ask just how FLAG would read my situation: I work at a chain retail store, coach dance on the side and attend school full time; how am I supposed to afford the rising cost of living? While Credit Canada would offer up some sort of budget plan, I’d like to argue that I simply couldn’t. But I don’t have to – not as long as my parents have a home with room for a futon.
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CETA: globalization on steroids
A month ago Canada and the European Union (EU) reached a tentative deal on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
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Sexual violence against women in war and conflict
The term “comfort woman” may seem strange to many people; however it is not strange at all in East and Southeast Asia.
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Inspirational Mayors? Look west
In the past couple of weeks, and by the time this goes to print, I’m sure you’ve heard about the story and scandal engulfing the city of Toronto and the bizarre yet rather (un)predictable behavior its mayor, Rob Ford.
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Unlawful interception?
Three weeks ago, I gave an overview of the current state of Canada's surveillance state: that is, our massively expanded spying institutions since 9/11, and their slow creep away from concerns about threats to national security, to a narrowing focus on antisystemic movements and environmental groups. Some of that attention has even been directed at energy and mining sectors in foreign nations such as Brazil.
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Halloween brings out the blackface
Every year in the weeks around Halloween, the media circulates the same horror stories: razorblades in apples, junk food causes obesity, and of course, white people in blackface or redface.
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Does Manitoba have a dirty hydro problem?
By now, everyone has seen the images coming out of anti-fracking protests led by the Elsipogtog First Nation near Rexton, New Brunswick. The protester’s blockade is just one in a long line of movements by indigenous communities in the past several decades to push back against resource exploitation on their lands. It is also a symbol of a fight for what kind of Canada we and future generations will live in.
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Critical Hit with Drew Nordman
Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of a prolific pastime that celebrates the use of imagination as its key mechanic – a hobby or game where you create a character from scratch, with as much or as little detail as you want, as long as you adhere to and play the role of this character as accurately as possible. This genre came to be known as the role playing game, or RPG.
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The commodification of colonial injustices
The Halloween season has descended upon us. For most, this is emblematic of cheap fall decorum – orange and black tinsel, Jack-O-Lanterns, and more confectionaries than is recommended by any physician.
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Russell Brand and Mike Duffy: A brief comparison
Russell Brand, a notable British comedian with equally notable eyebrows, made Internet headlines last week with his interview on BBC’s Newsnight. To the chagrin of interviewer Jeremy Paxton, Brand spent much of the interview lambasting the current political and economic systems, calling for dramatic change, and endorsing revolution. His criticisms were legitimate: “[Political systems] shouldn’t destroy the planet! Shouldn’t create massive economic disparity! Shouldn’t ignore the needs of the people!”
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Sounds like white guilt
Rex Murphy is an accomplished rhetorician with a swift tongue. He pontificates with flowery rhetoric on CBC Television, dogmatizes to guests on talk radio and often scribbles a demagogic quill for nationally-syndicated newspaper columns.
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Throne Speech? More like Groan Speech
To those who watched this year’s Speech from the Throne on October 16 without being paid to do so, I commend you. To those who did not, I envy your formidable foresight. The throne speech is a curious relic, wherein the ruling party crafts a message to be delivered by the Queen’s representative, in our case the Governor General, on its behalf.
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Canada’s national security institutions are far from innocent
Unlike the NSA, which is constantly written about and criticized by a small but significant fold of journalists, Canada has no such adversarial watchdogs; though we should. Canada is just as much a part of the nefarious “national security” complex that has seen priorities shift from the Threat of Terrorism in 2001, to the Threat of Everything in 2013.
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Dangerous double standards
If you are looking for reasons to distrust the perennial narrative about Canada as a just and equitable society, try having a conversation with Ethiopian-Canadian Ali Saeed about the saga of Tarek Loubani and John Greyson – two men just released from an Egyptian prison after weeks in captivity.
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Reflections On democracy
On the evening of September 19, I (along with about twenty other people) was treated to a panel discussion at the University of Winnipeg focusing on whether or not Canada’s political party system contributes or detracts from a healthy and vibrant democratic process.
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It’s time for Canada to adopt a carbon tax
At the time of this writing, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, used to measure greenhouse gas emissions and track climate change, sit around 395 parts per million. That figure is higher than at any point in the last 3 million years. Scientists unanimously agree: reliance on dirty fossil fuels has to change. Humanity depends upon it, and our time is running out.
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Twitter, Star Trek and vegan strippers
On September 25, the New York Times posted a story – lifted largely from Internet-hype publication BuzzFeed – commenting on Newark, NJ mayor Cory Booker’s relationship with Portland, OR-based exotic dancer Lynsie Lee.