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Politics – Articles, Analysis, Comment

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U.S. President Donald Trump is seen visiting the California town of Paradise that was devastated by forest fires. Trump has threatened to use funds allocated for disaster relief to pay for his border wall. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Disasters and disagreements: Climate change collides with Trump’s border wall

Donald Trump has threatened to use funds allocated for disaster relief to fund his border wall. It’s time to rethink how we frame disasters to stop politicians from using them for political gain.
Various vegetables are on display at the Jean Talon Market in Montreal as the new Canada Food Guide was unveiled. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

In defence of Canada’s Food Guide

Canada’s Food Guide makes nutrition recommendations. But the revamped guide does much more. It directs us to consider the broader set of circumstances —the social determinants —of how we eat.
As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to cry ‘fake news’ and stir up distrust of the media, it’s time to embrace ‘solutions journalism’ that focuses on how to solve problems. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

How journalists can rebut Trump’s ‘fake news’ claims

“Solutions journalism” aims to give more prominence to solution-oriented narratives. It reports on responses to social problems by moving the solutions out of the footnotes.
Venezuelan President Maduro gestures to military leaders to keep their eyes open following a news conference at the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

The Venezuelan army’s staunch loyalty to an illegitimate dictator

Venezuela’s military is an armed political actor with a gun to the head of a society that is urgently demanding a return to democracy.
Members of the families of the victims listen to testimonies during a memorial ceremony to honour the victims of the 2017 mosque shooting, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019 in Québec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Islamophobia and hate crimes continue to rise in Canada

The tragedy of the Quebec City mosque shootings which killed six men continues to reverberate. But Islamophobia has not been curbed: it is at its highest rate ever.
An anti-government protester covers her face with a Venezuelan flag, and uses toothpaste around her eyes to help lessen the effect of tear gas, during clashes with security forces after a rally demanding the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Canada’s disturbing indifference to the plight of Venezuelans

Canada has been considered a human rights champion when it comes to accepting Syrian refugees. So why is it doing next to nothing for those fleeing Venezuela?
Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, right, is escorted by a member of her private security detail while arriving at a parole office in Vancouver in December 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The arrest of Huawei executive has put Canada in tight spot

In the absence of trust, greater cultural understanding is a powerful diplomatic tool and one that Canada needs to wield expertly when dealing with China.
A depiction of a cannabis bud drops from the ceiling at Leafly’s countdown party in Toronto as midnight passes and marks the first day of the legalization of cannabis across Canada. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)

Where’s the weed? Clues to Canada’s cannabis shortages

Government data suggest medical cannabis availability improved after legalization in Canada. But producers have struggled to meet demand for recreational cannabis other than oils.
In this October 1998 photo, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu dance after Tutu handed over the final report of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria. (AP Photo/Zoe Selsky)

Do truth and reconciliation commissions heal divided nations?

Wherever there is an ugly, unresolved injustice pulling at the fabric of a society, there is an opportunity to haul it out in public and deal with it through a truth commission.
Military action during the NATO-led military exercise in Trondheim, Norway on Oct. 30, 2018. The NATO exercises included some 3,000 troops, 20 ships, several tanks and about 50 aircraft from various nations. (Gorm Kallestad/NTB scanpix via AP)

More than just ‘war games,’ military exercises require transparency

Military exercises are more than just ‘war games’ – they’re aimed at signalling military capability and intent. But NATO must honour its commitment to transparency, and pressure Russia to do the same.
Ilhan Omar, a newly elected Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota, joins other Democrats during a news conference in Washington on Jan. 4 about the introduction of the ‘For the People’ Act. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The urgent need for Democrats to embrace progressive policies

The Democratic party needs a revised image, grounded in a new reality, that will address basic issues of inequality, access and fairness.
Andrew Foster with students from the boarding school for deaf children at Mampong-Akwapim, Ghana, about 1961. Courtesy of Gallaudet University Archives

Sign language needs policy protection in Ghana

Ghana urgently needs an official Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL) policy. Such a move has the potential to humanize education for people who are Deaf and alleviate the linguistic discrimination they face.
On Jan. 15, 2019, the House voted 416-1 for a resolution to reject Congressman Steve King’s words about why terms like ‘white nationalist’ and ‘western civilization’ are offensive. Here a June 2018 file photo on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Memo to Iowa congressman: Western civilization was never just western

“Western civilization” has always been tangled up with Africa, Asia and the Americas. In other words, there never was a West without the Rest.
In 2017, Saskatchewan’s auditor general showed that a private pay MRI program actually increased wait times for scans rather than the promised reduction. Here, an MRI machine is prepared at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital on May 1, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Why private, for-profit health care is a terrible idea

A two-tier, for-profit health-care system will not end “hallway medicine” in Ontario or elsewhere; evidence from around the world shows that private payment increases wait times for the majority.
Recent reports suggest Airbnb is having an impact on housing markets in cities popular with tourists. (Shutterstock)

Airbnb’s adverse impact on urban housing markets

It’s now clear that a single American company, Airbnb, has upended local housing markets, pushed rental prices skyward and could be contributing to poverty, especially in cities popular with tourists.
Supporters of the Unist'ot'en camp and Wet'suwet'en walk along a bridge over the Wedzin kwa River leading towards the main camp outside Houston, B.C., on Jan. 9, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Unist’ot’en and the limits of reconciliation in Canada

It’s time to engage with Indigenous people through the governance systems built prior to European settlement.
In this image taken from video footage run by China’s CCTV, Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg attends his retrial in northeastern China. A Chinese court has sentenced him to death in a sudden retrial in a drug smuggling case that is escalating tensions between the countries over the Canadian arrest of a top Chinese technology executive. (CCTV via AP)

It’s time for Canada and China to tone down the rhetoric

Now is the time to give China the chance to show that while the Chinese justice system can mete out punishment, it can also exercise compassion and could spare the life of a Canadian drug smuggler.
Alexander Joseph from the Babine Lake First Nation joins supporters of the Unist'ot'en camp and Wet'suwet'en First Nation as they gather at a camp fire off a logging road near Houston, B.C., on Jan. 9, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Corporations don’t seem to understand Indigenous jurisdiction

TransCanada Corporation has misunderstood or misrepresented the risks associated with Indigenous jurisdiction.
Treaty 4, which covered present-day southern Saskatchewan and a small part of western Manitoba was negotiated and signed at Qu'appelle Lakes. Here Saulteux from Upper Assiniboine River, Oct. 16, 1887 were promised for every ‘man, woman and child $1,200 …blankets and other articles.’ (Library and Archives Canada/Natural Resources Canada fonds/PA-050799).

Historical lawsuit affirms Indigenous laws on par with Canada’s

A recent historical win for Ontario First Nations against the government of Canada is as significant for the legal process, which took into account Anishinaabe law, as it is for the win itself.
It’s time to seriously rethink giving tax breaks for charitable donations, since ultimately taxpayers foot the bill for the deductions anyway. (Shutterstock)

Donating to charities shouldn’t result in tax breaks

Several countries — namely Austria, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland — have removed tax benefits for charitable donations. Here’s why Canada should follow suit.
Meaghan Hennegan, who was shot twice during the Dawson College shooting in 2006 in Montreal holds up a board showing assault weapons as she joins other gun control advocates at a news conference on Bill C-71 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in December 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Should Canada ban assault-style firearms?

Canada must decide if modern semi-automatic rifles should be widely available to its citizens. Our current classification system for such guns is irrational.
Women in totalitarian states are among those particularly at risk by government’s use of Big Data to spy on its citizens. Matthew Henry/Unsplash

How governments use Big Data to violate human rights

If left unchecked, invasions of privacy enabled by technology could put every human right at risk, and on a scale that would be truly terrifying.
Indigenous women’s activism in Canada has a long history. The organizing work of Isabelle McNab, first president of the Saskatchewan Women’s Indian Association, can be seen as the precursor to later activism like this First Nations Idle No More protest for better treatment of Indigenous peoples at the Douglas-Peace Arch near Surrey, B.C., on Jan. 5, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Hidden from history: Indigenous women’s activism in Saskatchewan

Built on historical research, this article tells the resilient, fascinating and rarely told history of Indigenous women’s organizing and resistance in Saskatchewan.