Time is ticking for MPs, Senators to pass human rights bills
There is an enormous amount of consequential human rights legislation approaching the parliamentary finish line. The time to get it across shrinks daily. Only four sitting weeks remain in this session of Parliament for MPs, five for Senators. Rather than return to Parliament in the fall, MPs will be out hustling for votes. That means […]
Nuclear disarmament talks like Groundhog Day, but more tragedy than comedy
NEW YORK—When I sat through the speeches at the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) meeting at the United Nations earlier this month, I felt I was watching, again, the Groundhog Day movie—you know, the one where the weather forecaster is doomed to repeatedly relive the same day. The film was so popular, the term “Groundhog Day” is […]
Amid U.S.-Iran brinksmanship, Canadian troops ought to leave Iraq
gOTTAWA—Almost unmentioned in Canadian mainstream media is the steadily escalating tension between the United States and Iran. In recent days, the Pentagon has deployed an additional aircraft carrier battle group and strategic air assets to the Persian Gulf region, citing an increased, albeit undefined, threat from Iran. The Americans have also taken the unusual step […]
Bill C-48 and the ecological legacy of Canada’s Pacific Coast
SIDNEY, B.C.—British Columbia’s north and central coast, also known as the Great Bear Rainforest, along with Haida Gwaii, hosts a uniquely biodiverse region that is becoming increasingly rare in this world. It is a place where lush forests and granite buttresses greet the sea, where grizzlies dig for clams in sight of the open Pacific, […]
DND data shows thousands given antimalarial drug that veterans are suing the feds over
New records show members in the Canadian military have received more than 15,000 prescriptions of an antimalarial drug that’s the subject of a lawsuit against the government and parliamentary study into claims of long-lasting harmful effects. And though the military says it’s too difficult to identify the individuals who took the drug, an opposition MP […]
Feds should make like a hiker meeting a grizzly and speak to, not fight with, Alberta
PRIDDIS, ALTA.—In one of his most memorable songs, the folk- and country-music icon Ian Tyson sang of Springtime in Alberta as the time of snow melting, cattle branding, and the land reawakening after a long winter. This year, springtime in Alberta also heralded the arrival of the new United Conservative Party government, which is bound […]
No funding makes Indigenous child welfare bill ‘weak, deficient, and broken,’ witness says, but others urge MPs to ‘get it passed’
Regardless of whether witnesses testifying before a House committee studying the Indigenous child welfare bill thought it should live or die, all agreed the law lacked “critically important” funding that would make the intent of the bill hard to fulfill. One of four amendments brought forward by the Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry […]
With focus on Norman case, military-trip sex assault case against ex-NHLer dropped
OTTAWA—Last week, the surprising announcement that the Crown prosecutor’s office was staying the single charge of breach of trust against Vice-Admiral Mark Norman ignited a massive media storm. This was indeed a major development in a saga that has gripped the entire defence community since Vice-Admiral Norman was first suspended from his duties as Canada’s […]
How computers kill people, or let’s not ‘move fast and break things’
The idea that our technological creations may harm, or even murder us has been a theme of fiction from Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein to the 1915 silent film The Golem. Isaac Asimov’s 1942 short story Runaround proposed the oft-quoted First Law of Robotics: a robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, […]
Bold new measures are in place to protect Canadians’ cybersecurity
Canadians now work, play, shop, bank, do business, and keep in touch online every day. Yet the same digital infrastructure that has contributed to our prosperity, our education, and our social lives can also enable those who seek to do us harm. While our most sensitive personal and financial information floats in a cloud, hackers […]
