In the past, I’ve been very critical of the provincial NDP with regard to housing, with one notable exception — NDP Premier Dave Barrett’s 1972-75 administration. I still remember the day, while on a high school field trip to Victoria, I had the good fortune of running into Premier Barrett outside the legislature. In a…
Category: social justice
Lessons in humanity — and inhumanity
The other night my partner, Penny, and I watched “The Mauritanian” — a new film that’s getting a lot of buzz, and for good reason. I don’t normally blog about movies, but this exceptional movie is worth making an exception for. Most of us have at least heard about the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in…
Re-thinking world hunger
As you know, my partner, Penny, and I are big fans of Democracy Now! It’s a daily global news hour with Juan González and Amy Goodman, who, once again, opened our eyes to a hugely important issue. Their recent show, Food is the Pathway to Peace, featured the UN’s World Food Programme — the largest…
Make a commitment to change!
Here we are in the holiday season with its many celebrations and events coming up. This has been a challenging year. But we’ll all do our best to follow Dr. Bonnie Henry’s sensible advice and keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. So I’d like to remind us all about a few action items. Close…
Our legal system needs many more RBGs and Beverley McLachlins
On Friday, September 18, my attendant, Cory Wilson, gave me the bad news — he’d just received a text from his wife that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had passed away. RBG was an icon in the American legal community, and far, far more. Before being appointed to the US Supreme Court by then-president Bill Clinton, she’d…
The NPA’s Christopher Wilson should be run out of town for his hate speech
Even in a democratic society, there are limits to freedom of speech. We have laws that prohibit libel and slander for good reason. Libel is when you write an untruth — something demonstrably false — about someone else. If you say Danni is dishonest, when they’re not, that’s libellous. Slander is the same thing, but…
Real solutions exist to homeless encampments: Look to the ’70s, and Portland’s Right to Dream Too
Nobody won at Tuesday night’s Vancouver Park Board meeting addressing the city’s latest and biggest homeless encampment in Strathcona Park. After two onerous nights of debate — in which nearly 100 speakers outlined their sympathy for the homeless park dwellers; for the board itself, having to deal with such a thorny issue; and for Strathcona…