Anti-abortion laws and radicalization
“Get your rosaries off our ovaries,” chanted the women marching in support of the referendum that made abortion legal in Ireland in 2018. Two years later the 2020 election broke the century-long stranglehold on power of the two centre-right parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. They got fewer than half the votes even together. Did […]
Addressing high rates of assault in the North ‘daunting’ as Senators press feds to support shelters, address housing gaps
More than half of Canadians living in the territories have been victims of physical or sexual assault at least once since they were 15, a “daunting” reality that has northern Senators and advocacy groups redoubling requests for more shelters and housing as an essential safety net. In the territories, a little more than half of […]
Lawsuit a clanging wake-up call on anti-Black racism in the public service, but will the feds hear it?
On Dec. 2, a dozen Black public servants filed suit in Federal Court, seeking to launch a class action against the government for decades of alleged discrimination and exclusion of Black employees in the federal bureaucracy. “There has been a de facto practice of Black employee exclusion throughout the public service because of the permeation of systemic […]
Black civil servants’ $900-million proposed class action lawsuit against feds a ‘logical, natural’ next step, says NDP MP Green
A proposed class-action lawsuit by 12 former and current Black federal public servants alleging that Black employees have been systematically excluded from advancement and subjected to discrimination within the government for decades is a “logical, natural next step, given that it’s clear that many people feel like their issues haven’t been resolved or dealt with […]
‘Canadian-style systemic racism’: Black public servants file suit against federal government
The Canadian government has failed to uphold the Charter rights of Black employees in the federal public service, shirking its responsibility to create discrimination- and harassment-free workplaces, and actively excluding Black bureaucrats, allege plaintiffs in a proposed class-action lawsuit. “There has been a de facto practice of Black employee exclusion throughout the public service because […]
After Bastarache report, dismantling the RCMP sounds like a public service
OTTAWA—Last week, the Final Report on the Implementation of the Merlo Davidson Settlement Agreement was released by former Supreme Court justice Michel Bastarache, and its contents were appalling. “One of the key findings of this report is that the culture of the RCMP is toxic and tolerates misogynistic and homophobic attitudes amongst its leaders and […]
In Quebec, a wilful blindness to racism against Indigenous people
KAMOURASKA, QUE.—The death of Joyce Echaquan on Sept. 28 in the Joliette, Que., hospital, northeast of Montreal, drew national headlines for the way she died: Facebook Live streaming nursing staff as they hurled racist insults at her in a hospital bed. When the 37-year-old Atikamekw woman received morphine for stomach pains, she complained to the […]
The good old days are gone–and were never really there
OTTAWA—In the months leading up to the U.S. presidential election, the campaign itself, and the post-election day chaos, the one point upon which media pundits could agree was the fact that the “United States” of America are, in fact, deeply divided. President Donald Trump took every opportunity to pour gasoline on these glowing embers of […]
Tackling systemic racism starts with an overhaul within government institutions
In recent months, there has been increased attention to systemic racism brought on by demonstrations worldwide since the killing of George Floyd in June. In Canada, the recent death of Joyce Echaquan due to alleged racially motivated negligence and the brutal killing of Mohamed-Aslim Zafis outside a Toronto mosque, have led to calls for changes […]
The N-word is hate speech, not free speech
CALGARY—The aroma of burning crosses dotting the landscape of this “multicultural” nation sure smells like the anti-Black racism most “leaders” are purported to stand against. The proliferation of N-word usage, primarily among educators in publicly funded institutions is becoming a crisis of mental and emotional abuse that manifests itself in structural violence. Coined in the […]
