A statue of John A. Macdonald is shown covered in red paint in Montreal in November 2017. Canada’s first Prime MInister, he has been criticized for his treatment of Indigenous peoples and attitudes towards those of Chinese origin.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)
In a time of populism and political polarization, children and young adults need to learn to think critically, with complexity and nuance. History, as a subject, is more important than ever.
Women’s NGOs work hard to improve the lives of women in the developing world, including in countries like India and Tanzania. But then they’re often cut out from the process. This photo was taken in the remote village of Uzi on Zanzibar Island in Tanzania in April 2016.
(Shutterstock)
NGOs (non-government organizations) run by women in India and Tanzania fuel the success of development projects, but the women are too easily marginalized once the projects get off the ground.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire, meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, before dinner at the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou, China in September 2016. Trudeau is in China to discuss a trade deal.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in China to discuss a trade deal. It’s laughable for Canada to believe it can negotiate a “progressive” trade agenda with the Chinese.
Current medical inadmissibility rules for newcomers are out of touch with Canadian values and need to be reformed. Here, candles around an AIDS symbol on World AIDS Day in Quezon city, Philippines 2016.
(AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
World AIDS Day is an opportunity to discuss how current medical inadmissibility rules for newcomers are out of touch with Canadian values and need to be reformed.
A real estate sold sign hangs in front of a west-end Toronto property. Canada’s newly announced housing strategy contains scant measures to help first-time buyers in pricey markets.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy
Canada’s National Housing Strategy leaves a large segment of the population that must find a way to afford housing in the private market. More initiatives are needed to help first-time home buyers.
Governments face disruption by the private sector and social unrest unless they embrace new technology. Here, Prime Minster Justin Trudeau meets a robot in Edmonton last May as others look on.
( THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson)
Government is about to be disrupted by technology in the same manner as major industries. It’s about time.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apologized to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and two-spirited people who were forced out of the military or public service and some who were even prosecuted criminally for “gross indecency.”
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to make a formal apology to LGBTQ2 communities for past state-sanctioned discrimination against them in Canada. But the apology must be more than just words.
People demonstrate in Toronto in August 2017 in solidarity with those at a University of Virginia rally against white supremacy. That demonstration ended in tragedy after a woman was killed by a white supremacist. Universities in both the U.S. and Canada are at the centre of fierce debates about free speech and the right of those on the far right to be heard.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
In such a polarized age, universities and colleges should uphold the core values of liberal education by asserting, through their policies and practices, the reasonable, rational middle ground.
Cirque du Soleil is one of the many Canadian artist groups that have received funding from the Canada Council for the Arts.
(Cirque du Soleil)
The new creative framework policy put forth by the Canadian government has been criticized for its capitalist and Silicon Valley leanings. But it’s actually Canada’s best creative policy to date.
Isabel Daniels weeps as she speaks of her murdered cousin, Nicole Daniels, at the opening day of hearings at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Winnipeg in October 2017.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods)
Canadians should be listening closely to stories coming from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. We need to hear the truth and then help justice move forward.
U.S. President Donald Trump, right, talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May in Italy in May at a G7 summit. Trump has crowed about a “very quick” U.S.-U.K. trade deal.
(AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Donald Trump views himself as a deal-maker, so the prospect of a “quick” trade deal between the U.K. and the U.S. seems unlikely, despite the American president’s earlier optimism.
Canada’s pension plans are failing to divest of fossil fuels. But today’s pensioners, and those of the future, will benefit from pension plans choosing ethical and sustainable investments.
(Shutterstock)
Canada’s biggest pension plans are failing to divest of fossil fuels. Climate change demands pension plans start to invest in sustainable industries that benefit Canadians.
Loyalty to the British Empire is taught to these second and third generation Japanese children in an Internment Camp in British Columbia circa 1942.
(CP PHOTO/Jack Long National Archives of Canada C-067492)
Recently, 300 protest letters written by Japanese Canadians in the 1940s were reopened. The letters convey a deep sense of loss, injustice and outrage by Japanese Canadians who lost their homes.
People carry posters during this Feb. 2017 rally against President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel from seven Muslim-majority nations, in New York’s Times Square.
(AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)
In the shadow of Trump-era cross-border discrimination, an early-stage scholar reflects on the meaning of religious diversity and his act of resistance by boycotting conference travel to the U.S.
A patient suffering from dengue fever lies in a hospital bed in Peshawar, Pakistan, in October. Cases of dengue fever – a painful mosquito-borne spread disease – have doubled every decade since 1990. Environmental health experts are pointing the finger at climate change.
(AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)
What if we treated climate change as a health problem rather than an environmental one? There are lessons to be learned from the successful public health campaigns against smoking.
President Donald Trump displays a presidential memorandum he signed, declaring the opioid crisis a public health emergency in the East Room of the White House, Oct. 26, 2017, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Opioids kill an average of eight people every day in Canada. The federal government must officially declare this a ‘public welfare emergency’ and invest the funds critical to a humane response.
Women make up more than half the workforce in Canada. It’s time for employers to provide supports for workers who are enduring domestic abuse situations.
(Shutterstock)
Women make up a major portion of the Canadian workforce. That’s why employers need to step up to help those in domestic abuse situations.
Two refugee children from Eritrea sit in the back of a police cruiser after crossing the border from New York into Canada in March 2017 near Hemmingford, Que.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)
Since 2000, at least 16 people have died while incarcerated in Canada’s system of immigration detention, with a shocking four deaths since March 2016. When will the government act?
Clinics in Toronto serving refugees and the uninsured indicate that 20 per cent of all visits are for pregnancy-related issues.
(Shutterstock)
About 20 per cent of refugees to Canada are pregnant. Many of them are medically uninsured. It’s not only morally correct to provide prenatal care, but also cheaper for Canada’s system to do so.
In the ongoing strike by college faculty throughout Ontario, the issues on the table include pay, job security for partial-load instructors and the question of academic freedom.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston)
College faculty in Ontario are going back to work after the longest strike in their history. Here one university professor describes her personal experience of undervalued college teaching work.
A memorial for the victims of the shooting at Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church, including 25 white chairs painted with a cross and and rose, is displayed in the Texas church. A man opened fire inside the church yet his attack has not been labelled terrorism.
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
White men routinely gun down innocent victims in mass shootings in the United States. Yet they are not branded terrorists the way Muslims who commit violent acts are. Why not?
Marijuana brand name stickers are visible as customers line up at the counter in CannaDaddy’s Wellness Center marijuana dispensary in Oregon in April.
(AP Photo/Don Ryan)
There’s a strong case for governments to allow cannabis producers to brand their products via packaging and advertising like any other product. It could boost quality and consumer satisfaction.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces the launch of Oculus Go virtual reality headset in October.
(Handout)
Will the arrival and popularity of Oculus Go and other VR systems make us think differently about alternative realities and so-called alternative facts?
Women wearing their WIPNET T-shirts plan a peace jamboree the day before the Liberian election in October 2017.
(Carter Center)
Thousands of Liberian women have banded together to bring about peace and to fight for women’s rights. They’ve changed the face of the African nation.
This sculpture in London commemorates Nelson Mandela, who set up the African National Congress’ armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), in 1961 when he lost hope that passive and non-violent resistance to the apartheid government would bear fruit.
(Creative Commons)
Seeking justice, not peace, in our world changes the conversation about conflict. Conflict has proven integral to achieving a more equitable and secure society.
