Globe editorial: Cheap excuses for betraying free speech, Lederman

2025/08/16 Leave a comment

Agreed:

…The other disturbing commonality is that officials are failing to reflexively protect the invaluable right to freedom of artistic and political expression in Canada.

We have no doubt that if noisy protesters demanded the withdrawal of a TIFF movie because of its glorification of violence, TIFF officials would be the first to stand up for the filmmaker’s right to artistic expression. 

But when it comes to telling stories or singing songs that some deem offensive, that reflex has been replaced by a knee-jerk run for cover.

This is an alarming development in Canada. In difficult times, we need people in positions of authority to stand up for freedom of expression – not look for excuses to abandon it. That never ends well for anyone.

Source: Cheap excuses for betraying free speech

And Marsha Lederman’s take, TIFF’s latest censorship controversy is more than just a tiff. It’s existential:

…All of this has created not just chasms in the arts community and a chill on artistic expression, but a disincentive for organizations considering ponying up to support the arts. You want your brand associated with something positive and meaningful: a literary prize, a film festival, maybe a theatre festival that claims to push the boundaries. (Vancouver’s PuSh International Performing Arts Festival also caved to dissenters, cancelling the Canadian play The Runner last year.) But shell out money to get embroiled in this? In this economy?

The arts are in trouble and need corporate support. The world is in trouble and needs art to guide and inform, and artists who help us understand the issues and inspire us to be brave and fight for what’s right.

Which is something TIFF should be doing.



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Un an plus tard, certaines «communautés francophones accueillantes» hors Québec ne sont pas encore en place

2025/08/16 Leave a comment

Of note. Has drawn criticism given dilution of Express Entry CRS along with other speciality draws:

L’expansion du réseau des communautés francophones accueillantes devait donner un coup d’accélérateur à l’intégration des nouveaux arrivants francophones à l’extérieur du Québec. Un an plus tard, des dix nouvelles communautés désignées, quatre n’ont toujours pas officiellement lancé leurs programmes en la matière.

Une CFA, c’est un endroit pointé par le fédéral comme une région toute désignée pour accueillir des immigrants qui veulent obtenir, dès leur arrivée au Canada, des services en français, sans nécessairement s’installer au Québec.

Parfois, « les personnes ont des projets d’immigration au Canada sans avoir une idée précise d’où ils désirent s’installer », explique Benjamin Mulaji Mukadi, coordonnateur de la CFA de Cornwall (Ontario). Les CFA agissent alors à titre de guides. Mais leur mandat va au-delà de cet accueil initial. Les CFA visent aussi à offrir aux nouveaux arrivants une gamme de services adaptés, comme le soutien à la recherche de logement et d’emploi, l’accompagnement scolaire pour les enfants, des activités communautaires en français et des occasions de réseautage.

Leur objectif est donc double : faciliter l’intégration dès les premiers mois, mais aussi inciter les familles à s’établir durablement dans des régions moins connues, plutôt que dans de grands centres urbains, comme Toronto ou Vancouver, pour ainsi renforcer la présence francophone un peu partout au pays.

24 CFA au pays

Il y a un an, Marc Miller a annoncé qu’en plus des 14 « communautés francophones accueillantes » déjà en activité dans le cadre d’un projet pilote, 10 autres municipalités allaient recevoir des fonds pour établir une structure d’accueil propre à l’immigration francophone. Il a alors nommé Nanaimo, Rivière-Rouge, Chéticamp, Belle-Baie, Caraquet, la région de Restigouche-Ouest, Prince Albert, Cornwall, le district de Cochrane et London comme nouvelles CFA.

Depuis, six d’entre elles ont officiellement lancé leurs programmes. Elles ont des pages Web, elles offrent des services avant et après l’installation des immigrants chez eux et elles organisent régulièrement des activités. Parmi elles, les CFA de Prince Albert (Saskatchewan) et de Cornwall ont donné le coup d’envoi de leurs activités à la fin juin, ce qui marquait la fin de plusieurs mois de préparation et la mise en place d’outils concrets dans leurs régions respectives, ont-elles relaté au Devoir.

Quatre autres communautés, elles, sont encore en phase de préparation : Rivière-Rouge (Manitoba), la région de Restigouche-Ouest (Nouveau-Brunswick), le district de Cochrane (Ontario) et London (Ontario). Officiellement désignées comme CFA il y a un an, elles n’ont toutefois pas encore lancé leurs programmes ni commencé à offrir de services.

Dans chacune de ces communautés, la mise en place d’une équipe, la conclusion de partenariats locaux et la planification des premières activités sont toujours en cours. Les acteurs impliqués affirment vouloir prendre le temps nécessaire pour bâtir des structures solides, capables de soutenir l’intégration francophone sur le long terme. Ils prévoient des lancements très prochainement.

Francophonie canadienne

L’annonce d’août dernier s’inscrivait dans l’effort du gouvernement libéral d’encourager l’immigration francophone hors Québec. L’objectif était alors d’octroyer 6 % des résidences permanentes à des personnes dont le français est la première langue officielle. Depuis, cette cible a évolué, Mark Carney ayant notamment lancé en campagne électorale vouloir atteindre 12 % d’immigration francophone hors Québec d’ici 2029. Cet objectif a ensuite été repris par la nouvelle ministre fédérale de l’Immigration, Lena Metlege Diab.

Ces politiques font partie d’une stratégie à long terme visant à stabiliser, voire à faire croître, le poids démographique des communautés francophones en milieu minoritaire, affirme le gouvernement fédéral. Les prochains mois devraient donc montrer si le déploiement des nouvelles CFA suivra le rythme nécessaire à l’atteinte des cibles souhaitées par Ottawa.

Source: Un an plus tard, certaines «communautés francophones accueillantes» hors Québec ne sont pas encore en place

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Former justice minister Irwin Cotler calls on Israel to end war, starvation in Gaza

2025/08/16 Leave a comment

Better late than never:

Former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler has joined thousands of Jews calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war and starvation in Gaza.

The longtime human rights activist is a staunch supporter of Israel and has faced death threats from Iran over his support for the Jewish state and democracy worldwide. He has signed an open letter saying Netanyahu is jeopardizing peace at home and abroad.

“The policies and rhetoric of the government you lead are doing lasting damage to Israel, its standing in the world and the prospects of secure peace for all Israelis and Palestinians,” the letter reads.

“This has severe consequences for Israel but also for the well-being, security and unity of Jewish communities around the world.”

The letter, organized by a group called the London Initiative, calls Israel’s aid restrictions on Gaza “a moral and strategic disaster” that hands a “propaganda victory to Hamas” and undermines the important work of countering Hamas and Iran.

“We do not deny the despicable role of Hamas in stealing aid and preventing its distribution, but nor can we reject the evidence of our eyes and ears as to the extent of the human suffering and the role of your government’s policies in it,” the signatories argue.

The letter also calls out Israel’s failure to suppress settler violence, which it says has helped fuel the current “diplomatic tsunami” of criticism from Israel’s historical peers.

“If Israel’s military, when given the bold order by you, can send a missile through a window in Tehran to take out an Iranian general with unerring accuracy, it surely has the ability to maintain order in the West Bank, prevent Jewish extremist violence, protect Palestinian civilians and apply the law,” the letter says.

The letter also calls out rhetoric used by Netanyahu’s cabinet ministers that it describes as “a moral abomination and a chilul hashem — a desecration of Jewish values and Israel’s founding principles.”

It cites the example of Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, who said his government is “erasing Gaza” and that the territory will be entirely Jewish.

Netanyahu governs with a coalition that includes Jewish supremacist parties which have cited religion to advocate for policies widely seen as ethnic cleansing.

“Members of your government have used language of racism, hatred and incitement without censure,” the letter reads.

“Any opportunity to release all the hostages must be seized, and prioritized above appeasing extremist members of your coalition.”

The letter warns that this “language of incitement” erodes efforts to strengthen Jews’ ties to Israel and is “undermining Jewish communities as we face a surge in antisemitic, antizionist hate.”

The letter was also signed by Canadian philanthropist Charles Bronfman, one of the founders of the Birthright program, which sends Jewish youth on trips to Israel.

Its listed signatories also include prominent Canadian professors and volunteers with projects like the New Israel Fund and the Herzl Project, though it notes that the signatories are speaking as individuals and not on behalf of their institutions.

Netanyahu does not appear to have responded directly to the letter since it was made public a week ago, though he defended the war on Sunday, saying Israel’s only choice is to completely defeat Hamas.

Source: Former justice minister Irwin Cotler calls on Israel to end war, starvation in Gaza

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Yakabuski – It’s official: The Supreme Court’s ruling on Bill 21 will be one for the ages

2025/08/15 Leave a comment

Indeed:

…Nevertheless, the fact that two provincial appeal courts have now come to contradictory decisions touching on the judicial review of laws shielded by the notwithstanding clause means the Supreme Court must inevitably settle the issue. 

Its ruling on Bill 21 will hence carry widespread implications for governments across Canada, either freeing them to employ the notwithstanding clause with impunity, or subjecting them to potential rebuke – in the form of judicial declarations – if they invoke Section 33.

It remains unclear whether the Supreme Court will render its decision before Quebeckers go to the polls next year. Even so, with the Parti Québécois seeking to build on its momentum after another decisive by-election win this week, the Supreme Court case on Bill 21 will figure prominently in the sovereigntist party’s campaign pitch to francophone voters. PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said the Supreme Court’s move to grant leave to appeal to Bill 21’s opponents “confirms to us that the federal regime is determined to combat Quebeckers’ democratic choices.” 

How much will the top court take into consideration a potential political backlash in Quebec in determining whether to overturn the Quebec Court of Appeal’s ruling on Bill 21? With the PQ on track for a stunning comeback in the 2026 vote, increasing the likelihood of another sovereignty referendum by 2030, the question has to be on the judges’ minds. 

Source: It’s official: The Supreme Court’s ruling on Bill 21 will be one for the ages

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French: Why a ‘Paleo-Confederate’ Pastor Is on the Rise

2025/08/15 Leave a comment

Depressing:

…This should tell us that white evangelical support for Republicans is far more cultural and tribal than it is ideological or (certainly) theological. As Ryan Burge, one of the nation’s foremost statisticians of American religions, has said, white evangelicals “vote for Trump because white evangelicals are Republicans, and Donald Trump is the standard-bearer of the G.O.P.”

As a practical matter, this reality puts the Republican nominee at the center of white evangelical politics. And if he wins, he instantly becomes the most influential political thinker in evangelical America, and his political ideology and temperament become the political ideology and temperament of millions of American evangelicals.

When you live in evangelical America (especially in the South), you experience the sheer power of its culture up close. It’s theologically tolerant and politically intolerant. You can believe many different things about matters as important as baptism, salvation and the role of women in your denomination.

But if you leave the Republican Party, much less publicly criticize Trump? Well, you’ll quickly find that political orthodoxy matters more than you could possibly imagine.

Do you want to know the cultural and political future of American evangelicalism, including the cultural and political future of men like Wilson? When the white smoke rises from Super Tuesday, the Republican Party won’t just choose a new political leader, evangelicals will choose their next political pope, the single-most-influential person in the church.

We should pray fervently that he or she is a better person than Donald Trump.

Source: Why a ‘Paleo-Confederate’ Pastor Is on the Rise

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Nearly 150 Canadians held in ICE custody this year, including two toddlers, data show 

2025/08/15 Leave a comment

Sigh…

At least two Canadian toddlers have been held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody this year, including one who was detained for 51 days, more than double the legal detention period for migrant children in the United States, a Globe and Mail analysis of American enforcement data shows.

The children, who are under the age of four, were both detained at a remote Texas facility that has been the subject of a legal complaint alleging inadequate access to safe drinking water, medical care and legal assistance. At the time of detention, they appear to have been accompanied by adults who were also apprehended.

The toddlers are among 149 Canadians ranging between two and 77 years old who have been held at some point in ICE custody since January, when President Donald Trump took office and ordered an expansive immigration crackdown.

The anonymized ICE data are current to the end of July and disclose details about thousands of detention cases dating back to 2023, including detainees’ nationality, year of birth, time in custody and the reason for the detention. The information was obtained through a federal district-court lawsuit against ICE brought by the Deportation Data Project, which is run by a group of academics and lawyers in the U.S. 

Mr. Trump’s mass deportation campaign has focused heavily on immigrants from Latin America, raising significant concerns about due process – particularly for those at risk of removal to unsafe countries. 

The data set analyzed by The Globe provides the clearest picture yet of the degree to which Canadians have also been caught up in the White House’s efforts. As of the end of July, 56 Canadians arrested this year were still in ICE detention, the analysis shows. Overall, the number of Canadians detained is on pace to double that of last year. …

Source: Nearly 150 Canadians held in ICE custody this year, including two toddlers, data show

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Trump Administration Scraps Research Into Health Disparities

2025/08/15 Leave a comment

Another example of wilful ignorance:

The federal government has for decades invested vigorously in research aimed at narrowing the health gaps between racial and socioeconomic groups, pouring billions of dollars into understanding why minority and low-income Americans have shorter lives and suffer higher rates of illnesses like cancer and heart disease.

Spending on so-called health disparities rose even during the Trump administration’s first term. But in its second, much of the funding has come to a sudden halt.

Following a series of executive orders prohibiting diversity, equity and inclusion policies at every level of the federal government, the National Institutes of Health this year began terminating initiatives that officials said smacked of identity politics and offered dubious benefits.

“Spending billions on divisive, politically driven D.E.I. initiatives that don’t deliver results is not just bad health policy — it’s bad government,” said a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services.

The N.I.H will invest in projects that support “all vulnerable populations,” and expand participation “based on clinical need — not identity,” she added. She declined to be identified.

In letters from the N.I.H., scientists were told that their projects were canceled because they “harm the health of Americans,” “provide a low return on investment,” or “do not enhance health, lengthen life, or reduce illness.”

“The communication is very clear: We do not value health equity, we do not value a focus on underserved and under-treated populations, we do not consider these to be a priority,” said Dr. Kemi Doll, a cancer specialist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, who coaches younger researchers from minority backgrounds.

In interviews, many scientists whose work depends on N.I.H. grants described the terminations as harrowing and bewildering. Many felt their research was not evaluated on its merits, but nixed because words like “race” or “gender” were in the project’s title or description.

According to an analysis of federal data by The New York Times, as of mid-June the N.I.H. had terminated at least 616 projects focused on closing the health divide between Black and white, and rich and poor, Americans….

Source: Trump Administration Scraps Research Into Health Disparities

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Nicolas: Chers collègues

2025/08/15 Leave a comment

Of note. One question that I always have is the degree to which Palestinian journalists can report on domestic issues and politics, not just the obvious and needed coverage of Israeli actions:

…Troisièmement, j’aimerais qu’on se parle de la place qu’on fait dans toute cette destruction et cette horreur aux voix qui sont elles-mêmes palestiniennes — et même arabes, de manière plus générale.

Vu les positions que je prends moi-même dans mes chroniques, j’ai reçu les confidences de plusieurs collègues qui travaillent ou ont travaillé comme recherchistes dans différents médias francophones et anglophones. On m’a parlé à plusieurs reprises d’une hésitation à mettre en ondes des invités pourtant compétents et qualifiés, mais arabes, sur des questions liées au « Moyen-Orient ». Du surtravail effectué en préentrevue, pour bien vérifier que tout sera bon, lorsqu’on se rend même à l’étape de la discussion.

La question a aussi été dénoncée ces dernières années par des journalistes qui sont eux-mêmes arabes ou palestiniens, surtout dans le Canada anglophone, certains après avoir démissionné de salles de nouvelles et s’être dits fatigués d’être constamment soupçonnés de « manquer d’objectivité », d’être moins professionnels à cause de leurs origines.

Pour les journalistes qui sont eux-mêmes à Gaza — pendant qu’il en reste —, j’aimerais finalement nous amener à réfléchir au fait que la simple notoriété internationale peut rendre politiquement plus épineux de bombarder des individus. Le fait d’interviewer des gens qui vivent un conflit garde non seulement le public informé sur ce qui se passe sur le terrain, mais, dans le contexte, peut aussi être une manière directe de contribuer à sauver des vies.

Source: Chers collègues

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Rempel Garner: Conservatives to end leniency for non-citizen criminals

2025/08/14 Leave a comment

Likely a winner in terms of public opinion, likely among established immigrants and non-immigrants alike. Less divisive than 2015 “barbaric cultural practices” tipline or citizenship revocation:

…This is why once the House of Commons resumes in the fall, Conservatives will introduce legislation to amend the Criminal Code to rectify this issue. Our bill will add a section after Section 718.202 of the Criminal Code which will expressly outline that any potential impact of a sentence on the immigration status of a convicted non-citizen offender, or that of their family members, should not be taken into consideration by a judge when issuing a sentence.

The rationale for this change is straightforward. Anyone seeking residence or citizenship in Canada has responsibilities as well as rights. The citizenship guide clearly states that citizens must obey Canada’s laws and respect the rights and freedoms of others, and IRPA outlines the potential consequences for non-citizens who fail to do so. Without legislative clarity on considering immigration status in sentencing, judges can apply aspects of the Pham ruling to undermine that principle for non-citizens, effectively end-running the deportation consequences already enacted by Parliament through IRPA. 

In effect, the Criminal Code amendment that Conservatives plan to propose this fall will prevent judges from using aspects of the Pham ruling to prioritize the process of entering and staying in Canada over the responsibility to respect Canadian law required of those seeking to do so. It will also help quell anger from Canadians who have read about high-profile rulings where the perception has arisen that non-citizens are receiving leniency for a crime committed on Canadian soil simply by virtue of their non-citizen status.

The vast majority of people in Canada who have immigrated here or are on temporary visas  abide by the law. Removal from Canada for non-citizens after being convicted of a serious crime is a no-brainer to both protect Canadians, the value of Canadian citizenship, and every person who resides in Canada and plays by the rules. 

After a decade of Liberal post-nationalism and excessively high immigration levels, accepting this change would allow the Liberals to demonstrate some respect for Canadian citizenship by affirming that, at minimum, the privilege of residing here for non-citizens depends on adherence to the rule of law.

Source: Conservatives to end leniency for non-citizen criminals

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Globe editorial: Why to drop a bad idea on immigration

2025/08/14 Leave a comment

Appears dropped may be actually dropped. Money line “we want it in writing.” Regional effects vary, may be more negative impact in rural Canada compared to need to reduce in urban centres:

…Canada’s immigration system is on the mend today because of belated reforms introduced in the dying months of the Trudeau government, and due to further fixes under the Liberals’ current reincarnation. 

Ottawa is now trying to reduce the number of temporary residents in Canada, from 7.1 per cent of the total population to 5 per cent by the end of 2026.

The country is also at a historic crossroads as it tries to shake up its economy in order to be less reliant on the United States. A big part of that will involve improving Canada’s productivity, which in turn means businesses need to become more efficient. Letting them continue to rely on low-wage, low-skill labour when the unemployment rate is 6.9 per cent would be self-defeating. 

The fact that Ottawa is not moving ahead with its low-skilled pathway into the country means it may have seen the light. But we want it in writing.

Source: Why to drop a bad idea on immigration

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