In July of this year, I began hosting monthly Fireside Film Nights, a free monthly online series featuring progressive films and panel discussions. My goal was to attract 100 viewers by July 2022. By two months later in September, the viewing audience had increased slightly faster than I had hoped to approximately 50, but still…
Category: solidarity
Why the Canada Disability Benefit should be a priority for everyone this election
The time is now for a Canada Disability Benefit. My good friend Al Etmanski has been hard at work for many years to reduce/eliminate the poverty experienced by 1.4 million disabled Canadians. We should never count our chickens before they hatch, but victory may be just around the corner. Most parties in the current federal…
The real reason Cubans are taking to the streets
For the seventh day in a row, thousands of Cubans have taken to their streets to demonstrate. The Western media was very quick to frame their actions as demonstrations against socialism. These media portrayals could not be further from the truth. For example, on July 14 the New York Times published an opinion piece by…
The legacy of residential schools is not history
Content warning: This story has disturbing details about Indian residential schools. Survivors and their families can call the toll-free National Indian Residential School Crisis Hotline at 1-866-925-4419. On Thursday, May 27, Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation announced that they had located the unmarked burial sites of 215 children on the site…
Bring back Carter’s brilliant proposal for Israel/Palestine
Israel is not the Middle East’s only theocracy. It is arguably also not the Middle East’s only apartheid state. It is, however, the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed country. Not only is it the only nuclear-armed nation in the Middle East, but its military is by far larger and more powerful than that of all other…
Pinpointing what’s possible when it comes to vaccines
On the COVID-19 front, I’m delighted to share some great personal news! Out of the blue the other day, I got a call from Pacific Spirit Community Health Centre, which is part of Vancouver Coastal Health. Would I like a nurse to come to my home the next day to give me the vaccine? Of…
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…