Once upon a time, many years ago, Canada was a leader when it came to human rights. We helped create the UN, the Geneva Accords, and even adapted many of those accords into our own legislation. We took pride in being the protector, the one who stood up for the little guy, damning the consequences. However, this recent torture debacle involving our military has my recent suspicions that Canada is in a bit of an image crisis confirmed. Like a teenager that has emerged from puberty a little different, Canada is not the peace-loving, torture-hating nation we all thought it was. Between the adjusting of our voice and the ridding of our pimples, we changed.

Torture has always been a no-no. But we all know it happens. It happens in Guantanamo, it happens in Iraq and it sure as hell happens in Afghanistan. At the very least, our job is to not take part in it, and certainly not solicit and most definitely not condone it. Handing over a detainee when one knows he/she will be tortured is not doing our job correctly. Now I know that in the atrocities of war, worse things have happened. However, this begs the question: is this the only time something like this has happened? Because chances are, it isn’t. War makes many people do things they would not do under normal circumstances, no one is questioning or berating that. We have been putting our military on such a pedestal from past peacekeeping accomplishments we thought our soldiers were immune to such cruel behavioural traits, but clearly they are not. They are after all, only human.
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Literacy is critical to the transmission of the ideas that shape our world.

Some people might wonder what an article about literacy is doing on a political blog, but a literate population is crucial to a fully-functioning, informed democracy. According to ABC Canada, “Greater understanding of social and political issues means a more informed opinion at the ballot box, better understanding of issues, and greater confidence in discussing them. This, in turn, encourages leadership and engagement in public debate.” Poor literacy is a huge challenge for those who wish to keep the public informed on prominent issues and what their politicians are up to. Although many of us find power and information in the written word, others may find only confusion.
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The Canadian government's bureaucracy is hiding the ineffectiveness of our current political system.

My esteemed colleagues here at InformedVote.ca have done an amazing job over the last week bringing to light non-publicized, yet incredibly important facts and figures normally lost in the massive bureaucratic vacuum that is organizing and leading this country of ours down the road to…where? I no longer know what to think. What are we achieving as a country? Delinquent on our promises to reduce emissions, maintain economic integrity, fight terrorism and protect social services, it’s becoming obvious to me that Canadians as a whole have lost their idealism. We can blame our politicians all we want, but the sad fact is that these public figures we’re so quick to criticize are elected by us, the Canadian public.

Once every few years, a steadily declining number of us don our thinking caps, pay attention to a few of the insults thrown back and forth between political parties, and decide to grant stewardship of this great nation to the group that appears to be the least ignorant, arrogant and threatening.
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According to Campaign 2000, child poverty in Canada remains a major issue.

On Tuesday, Campaign 2000 released its annual report on child poverty in Canada, and propounded an alarming statistic. According to the organization’s estimates, ten per cent of Canadian kids currently live in poverty. Among First Nations children, this figure is even more disturbing: one in four.

The statistics represent a lack of progress over the last 20 years, according to Campaign 2000, in terms of combating child poverty in Canada.

The report also mentions that the disparity between rich and poor appears to be widening in our country, as since 1989, the average income of families with children in the wealthiest tenth of the population increased by 33 per cent compared to an increase of just 16 per cent for those in the poorest tenth of the population.

Campaign 2000 places particular emphasis within the report on the plight of Canada’s Aboriginal people, stating that the Canadian Aboriginal population has increased by 45 per cent since 1996, compared to eight per cent in the non-Aboriginal population. Meanwhile, Aboriginal people face higher rates of unemployment and sub-standard living conditions than their non-Aboriginal counterparts.
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That’s Wilfrid Laurier from Quebec. He has no future. He does nothing nowadays, but sit in the library, day after day, reading books.
- A journalist commenting in 1884. Wilfrid Laurier became Prime Minister in 1896.

There are great life lessons to be gleaned by watching politicians in action or by reading political history. This should not be surprising, since politicians are recruited from our own society, and they have the same life issues as everyone else. In fact, many issues they grapple with are universal in nature and people around the world also grapple with these same issues in some form.

The foregoing quote underscores a great universal lesson. Success often flows to those with grit and determination who do not let setbacks hold them down. Laurier is just one of many politicians who languished in opposition for years, but through diligence and patience was able to eventually achieve power. Sir John A. Macdonald, Mackenzie King, Abraham Lincoln, and Winston Churchill all experienced major setbacks during their careers, although they are remembered more for their victories and successes. Dalton McGuinty is a recent example: few expected him to be successful, but through discipline, hard work and openness to advice, he was able to bounce back and achieve two back-to-back majorities.
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Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has made a statement that Canada will not be apologizing to child migrants for our participation in the programs that shipped children from Britain. They were also known as “home children” and were forced to emigrate to British colonies, and although the programs were well-intentioned, many of the children were abused and essentially treated as slaves.

So, Australia has officially apologized for their role, and Britain has announced that they will make an official apology in 2010. And Jason Kenney, our dearest Immigration Minister, has stated that Canada will not be participating in this moral recall.
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Well, I woke up this morning, confident in the Canadian Mosaic of misinformation, misrepresentation, and general “hug thy neighbor” because they are “new” philosophies, and what happens while I’m asleep at the wheel with a half full Kokanee between my leg?

Those damn Tories went and whisked away my general feeling of political incorrectness by going and informing the teaming mass’ piling up at the gates of Heaven (you know, Custom’s and Immigration Canada) that we Canuckians aren’t perfect, we don’t always get it right, this isn’t necessarily the best place to live, and oh, by the way, we do occasionally put the Beaver hunting aside and go target practicing for terrorists when we are not consuming huge quantities of pork and beer after our little dip in the icy water.

Imagine my surprise to wake up to the newly released “Discover Canada” guide.
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All protest is about anger – someone said that in a documentary I watched recently. The rage you feel when you see something you know is wrong moves you to act against it. Admirable. Especially in the sea of apathy and numb complaisance that seems to be the hallmark of modern life. As you know, the 2010 Winter Olympics are fast approaching in Vancouver, and ever since they were announced, they’ve been a source of great anger for anti-poverty groups in the Lower Mainland.

The facts are undeniable:

Homelessness in Vancouver has doubled since we won the bid in 2003, at the same time that Vancouver introduced new by-laws making it illegal to ask for money or sleep outdoors – thereby making the very existence of homelessness illegal. Far from being green or sustainable, the race to erect new Olympic venues has been the cause of a great deal of ecological damage. However, it is this one glaring fact that truly angers Olympic protesters – 6 billion dollars have been spent bringing the Olympics to Vancouver, where poverty and homelessness are a real and deathly problem.
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The World Economic Forum released their annual report on the gender gap, with Iceland coming in first place and Canada ranking 25th overall. The study ranks countries on particular issues, and then uses these to create an overall ranking. Consider: Canada came in 10th for female economic participation with only 22 percent (up one percent from last year) of Canadian MP’s being female, compared to Iceland’s 40 percent.

Despite the low ranking, Canada did climb up six spots from last year’s report, and interestingly, the US fell 4 spots. Before this year, Canada had been sliding down the rankings by a few spots per year. Hopefully this rebound isn’t temporary.

"A closer view"

The true test of freedom of expression is not found in the voicing of the concurring viewpoint, it is however clearly and expressly found or displayed in the protection of the dissenting one. Freedom of Expression, (there is no freedom of speech per se in the Charter) subsection two of the Fundamental Freedoms of the Charter of Rights along with Freedom of Assembly and Association cannot withstand an “A la carte” mentality, not for “THE PEOPLE”. Governments however love it, as it eats away at the very fabric of the statements, neuters the strength of peoples resolve, divides and renders mute the very voice of freedom and its meaning. One cannot as a society say “these topics” may be discussed yet “those topics” may not and still cling to any notion of the principles enshrined in these charter freedoms without the acceptance of censorship, hypocrisy and the eventual death of the very freedoms themselves.

Critical thinking and self filtering are skills greatly needed in today’s society. They are critical skills and must be ever more a part of the educational lexicon if the very foundation of freedom that we embrace as Canadians is to continue. “Hate” as defined by the Supreme Court, as the “lone caveat” to freedom of expression becomes a dangerous quagmire when it drives dissenting view underground to hidden rooms without the clarity of discussion or alternatives. Throwing that Caveat ruling around like stones, to edit expression, should be a principal of great concern.
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