Photo Credit: The Truth Project

The concept of a North American Union in many incarnations has been discussed in academic, social and political circles for several decades. Former Mexican President Vincente Fox was enthusiastic about the idea, but at the time members of US government busied themselves writing resolutions, speeches and blogs in opposition to the whole idea. Canadian leaders have kept pretty much mum on the subject, doing little more than denying that a secret NAU plan is in the works.

Apparently I am in the minority in suggesting that a Union between our countries would be mutually beneficial socially, economically and in the ever important realm of national security. There has been a lot of opposition to the idea on harried blog sites that produce posts on the alleged clandestine NAU meetings and operations.

Like the widespread fear of globalization, I believe that the concerns can and would be allayed only if we could trust our leaders to handle the creation and transition with care, diplomacy and even-minded thinking. Unfortunately these are not things that politicians are known for. I assert that a very carefully and justly handled North American Union would be greatly beneficial for every North American country.
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Photo Credit: No2010.com

While many aboriginals in Canada are joining in the celebrations and taking part enthusiastically in Olympic planning and promoting, there is a group in Vancouver who stand firm in their opposition of the games saying they are “big business at the expense of the natural world.” The Olympics Resistance Network (ORN) established in Vancouver and mainly based in the Coast-Salish territories is focusing its efforts on stopping the holding of Olympic games on stolen native land.

The ORN holds that “BC is unique in Canada in that most of the province is unceded, non-surrendered Indigenous territories,” and that promotional and Olympic construction on this land (especially in the mountains) desecrates and disrespects sacred indigenous land. “The mountains, pure & undisturbed, are essential to the survival of all people…The mountains are the most spiritual place for us,” the ORN stated.

In addition to their most-touted line: “No Olympics on Stolen Land,” many ORN members are angry at what they are calling the misuse of funds. To them, the billions of dollars being spent getting Whistler and Vancouver ready for the Olympics is a slap in the face while poverty-stricken first nations people are “paying with their lives with inadequate housing and health care.”
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Journalist Amanda Lindhout and photographer Nigel Brennan

Yesterday, Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan were released from captivity. They were held by Somali criminals (or freedom fighters) for fifteen months. Their release was secured by a ransom finally paid by the efforts of their families, friends and neighbours. The money was raised through fundraisers, the selling of family belongings like Brennan’s parent’s car and home and help from professional negotiators. The question was raised many times over the last fifteen months and constantly in the hours since their release: should the Canadian and Australian governments have done more to help?

Of course our governments don’t pay ransoms, nor do they negotiate with terrorists and nobody (or at least I’m not) is suggesting that they should have done those things. However, there are a great many other things the government could have been doing. They didn’t seem to have any interest at all in Lindhout’s case. There was not even an appeal to the Canadian people to come together to help out a fellow national. Most people didn’t know about Amanda’s case until the one year anniversary of her captivity, and many people still don’t know.
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During the 2008 US elections I was living in the United States. I saw countless ad campaigns that disparaged the speaker’s opponents with allegations of every kind, on both federal and state levels. Some of these allegations were true, though exaggerated, and others were wildly fallacious. One could hardly help but notice how infrequently the candidates actually spoke about themselves or where they stood on issues.

I rapidly realized that in a country where few voters would take the time to seek out the truth about how their chosen candidate had voted or the changes he or she had made in the positions they currently held, these short television ads were going to be the basis of the decisions they made. These campaigns were no longer about who had the best ideas, the best track record or the most promising history. It was about who had the nicest suit, the fullest head of hair and the most entrancing manner of speaking. It was all a show.
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It's just a flu and it's just a vaccine.

Just to be clear, I enjoy a good conspiracy theory as much as the next person and, as I spend a good deal of time with my husband the communist and my parents, the super-liberal and the skeptic, I am also especially well disposed to a great deal of distrust for anyone who stands to make money from a negative situation. All of this considered, I would love to believe that the H1N1 vaccine is some international conspiratorial plot to either a) fill tax paying citizens with mercury and poisonous neurotoxins or b) turn out the near-empty pockets of a world economy choked by recession for those last few coins and some lint. But no matter what I read or hear, I just can’t make the leap.
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Perhaps now doctors will start reporting medical errors.

Recently Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital has released statistics saying that reporting medical errors made during patient care has reduced the occurrence of errors by as much as 50%. Health care officials are using these encouraging numbers to work towards the creation of a province wide registry of medical errors. It is my personal hope that every province (for selfish reasons particularly my own) adopts a similar registry system. Canada isn’t the first country to be suggesting that fixing mistakes might be more effective than covering them up. For years physicians and patients have been working towards full-disclosure policies in the US and the UK.

Understandably this presents an interesting problem for many people. Encouraging numbers may finally be the salve for doctors worried about malpractice litigation and the general public not really wanting to know how frequently our health care professionals mess up.

As someone who was the victim of a medical mistake once I am in full support of full disclosure and more than that, mandatory registries of any and all medical errors. In my case the mistake that was made caused me to live for almost two years with an untreated torn ACL tendon in my knee before I finally found another doctor who took the time to find the problem. My own story is nothing compared to patients who have lost their lives or paid dearly in other ways for medication mix-ups or surgery mishaps. Medical professionals are people, and as scary as that realization may be they make mistakes and often after one mistake they again make the mistake of not reporting the first mishap in a voluntary system. It’s just not quite cutting it. It certainly is understandable as admitting to mistakes that may have endangered a patients life is a scary thing for a doctor worried about losing patients, or even their career.
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Stabbing incidents in Winnipeg are on the rise.

In Winnipeg violent crime is reaching an all time high. With good reason, many people are citing gang violence as the culprit for the recent spike in shockingly brutal activity. Citizens are turning with raised eyebrows to a provincial government that has been fighting a ‘war on gang violence’ for ten years with little success. In fact the number of serious trauma cases in the city is growing by as much as 10% a year. One 13 year-old boy who, along with his nine year-old sister witnessed a violent altercation between gang members in his neighbourhood said, “…I just wear black or something. If I wear red around here I’ll get shot or something.” Some officials are attributing the recent increase to the availability of weapons on the street, as gun crime is on the rise.

However, it would appear that gang violence is not the cause for the bulk of the full morgue slabs and hospital beds. Only 26% of homicides in Manitoba are gang related. (more…)

Should polygamy be legal in Canada?

It was our first prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald who told Mormon settlers that their polygamous lifestyle would not be welcome in this country. In fact, until the 1950’s Mormons were mentioned specifically in Canada’s anti-polygamy law. Today a much more generalized version can be found in Section 293 of the criminal code. For the last 60 years or so not a single prosecution had been made but suddenly members of a polygamist Mormon sect in Bountiful, B.C. are being targeted and brought before the court. British Columbia’s attorney general, Wally Oppal, decided that perhaps, before prosecuting these two gentlemen, we should ask the supreme court whether Section 293 (from now on referred to as the anti-polygamy law) is even constitutional.

Now, I did a little research and from what I can tell the anti-polygamy law pretty clearly violates section’s 2. ( a ) and 2. ( d ) of the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms.( a ) Being the freedom of conscience and religion and ( d ) being the freedom of association. Why ( d ) you might ask. Well, under section 293 it states that if you celebrate a polygamous marriage ceremony you’re a criminal.
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It’s official, in 2016 the Olympics will shed it’s gracious light on the Brazilian state of Rio De Janeiro in the city of the same name, with it’s stunning beaches, famous statues and vibrant culture. As the world turns it’s attention to the famous city it cannot possible ignore the violence in the slums and favelas.

Favelas are shantytowns that look like mountains of small boxes with windows and doors made of tin and red brick. The residents of Brazil’s favelas will not likely be attending the Olympics, many of them will not likely be making it to 2016. It was recently reported on the LEAP blog (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) that 2,757 homicides were registered in the city of Rio De Janeiro in 2008. It is estimated that the police are responsible for 1 in 5 of these killings.

The low-income areas have erupted into a battlefield where drug wars are being fought between the police and gangs like the Terceiro Comando. These battles are conducted over the heads of families who may or may not be involved in the illegal drug market. Men, women and children are dieing in the hundreds. Children especially, often these gangs prefer to use children to do their dirty work as they receive shorter prison sentences.
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