Coren | Gaza has me thinking about my Christian and Jewish heritage and the urgent need to learn, listen and love

2025/08/21 Leave a comment

Amen:

…The founder of Zionism, Theodore Herzl, was a deeply secular man who once believed that assimilation would defeat antisemitism. He changed his view when exposed to the Jew-hatred of the Dreyfuss trial, when a blameless Jewish French army officer was arrested and imprisoned, with the Roman Catholic Church at the forefront of the campaign.

It took until the 20th century for systemic change, especially when churches were exposed to the horrors of the Holocaust. Today, I almost always experience sensitivity and understanding. Yet, just last month at a major gathering of Christians there was a large banner calling for solidarity with the “crucified Palestinian people.” Of all the words that could have been used to describe the appalling state of the Palestinians and their treatment by Israel, why the ugly accusation that has been thrown at Jews for centuries?

All of us have to learn, listen, and ultimately love. It’s the only chance peace and justice have.

Source: Opinion | Gaza has me thinking about my Christian and Jewish heritage and the urgent need to learn, listen and love

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Ian Cooper: The real reason to be upset by the Toronto International Film Festival scandal 

2025/08/19 Leave a comment

More on the TIFF decision and reversal with broader implications. But presumably, for Cooper, there would be some cases where art and art organizations may wish to draw the line:

…Art, like education, is not a TikTok algorithm. It’s not there to cheerlead your pre-existing biases. If you don’t like something, nobody’s forcing you to watch it. If you find yourself groping for an excuse to silence opposing voices, you should probably find some other line of work.

A partially publicly funded arts organization ought to apply principles of institutional neutrality, and its staff ought to prioritize ideological diversity at least as much as visual diversity. The film festival offers a platform. It should not pick a side. Just as academic institutions have been forced to reinvent themselves along these lines or else descend into endless shouting matches, so too will artistic ones.

It’s hard to know whether TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey, or the festival’s board, donors, and government funders, are willing to deliver that kind of blunt message. To do so would require the kind of restraint that seems to be in short supply in our polarized culture.

If they can’t do that, they should give up their public funding altogether. Canadian taxpayers should not have to pay for anybody’s political soapbox.

Ian Cooper is a Toronto-based lawyer.

Source: Ian Cooper: The real reason to be upset by the Toronto International Film Festival scandal

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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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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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Clark: Carney’s can-do government is way behind on foreign registry

2025/08/12 Leave a comment

Valid points. Shouldn’t take too long to demonstrate some progress:

…And if Mr. Carney can’t make progress on things like the foreign registry, it doesn’t bode well for his ability to deliver on his agenda. His pledge to get the economy rolling with national projects is supposed to be fulfilled by a major projects office that doesn’t yet exist. His housing plan is supposed to be delivered by a not-yet-created housing agency.

The Prime Minister has promised to build big, complicated, new machinery of government, and yet his government hasn’t been able to deliver a registry. 

In a world where U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs dominate Canadians’ concerns, Mr. Carney probably won’t pay a political price for that. 

But for Canada, the problem of foreign interference hasn’t gone away.

Source: Carney’s can-do government is way behind on foreign registry

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The A.O.C. Deepfake Was Terrible. The Proposed Solution Is Delusional.

2025/08/12 Leave a comment

Brave New World and 1984 combined:

…The other crucial thing that the abundance of such easily generated information makes scarce is credibility. And that is nowhere more stark than in the case of photos, audio and video, because they are among the key mechanisms with which we judge claims about reality. Lose that, lose reality.

It would be nice if, like members of Congress or large media organizations, we all had a large staff who could be dispatched to disprove false claims and protect our reputations and in that small way buttress the sanctity of facts. Since we don’t, we need to find other models that we can all access. Scientists and parts of the tech industry have come up with a few very promising frameworks — known as zero-knowledge proofs, secure enclaves, hardware authentication tokens using public key cryptography, distributed ledgers, for example — about which there is much more to say at another moment. Many other tools may yet arise. But unless we start taking the need seriously now before we lose what’s left of proof of authenticity and verification, governments will step right into the void. If the governments are not run by authoritarians already, it probably won’t take long till they are.

Source: The A.O.C. Deepfake Was Terrible. The Proposed Solution Is Delusional.

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    Yakabuski: Le déluge [Supreme Court hearings on Quebec Laïcité Bill] 

    2025/08/12 Leave a comment

    Of note:

    …En permettant à un si grand nombre d’opposants à la Loi sur la laïcité de l’État québécois d’intervenir devant le plus haut tribunal du pays, le juge en chef de la Cour suprême, Richard Wagner, souhaite aller au fond des choses afin de dissiper tout doute sur l’utilisation préventive de la disposition de dérogation. Les Canadiens ne méritent rien de moins. Mais le processus risque d’être houleux.

    Source: Le déluge

    … By allowing so many opponents of the Quebec State Secularism Act to intervene before the highest court in the country, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Richard Wagner, wishes to get to the bottom of things in order to dispel any doubt about the preventive use of the waiver provision. Canadians deserve nothing less. But the process is likely to be stormy.

    Filed under Interculturalisme, Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

    RCMP union advocates for ease of foreign applicant requirements to attract talent

    2025/08/11 Leave a comment

    The unsaid part is which police forces would not be considered as equivalent, rather than just citing the easy ones. Presumably, not advocating for “foreign credential recognition” of police from Russia, China, Iran etc:

    The union representing front-line RCMP members wants the force to ease requirements for foreign applicants to help attract experienced police officers from agencies like the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and counterparts in the United Kingdom and Australia.

    The RCMP currently requires that applicants be Canadian citizens or have permanent resident status in Canada. Applicants with permanent resident status must have lived in Canada as a permanent resident for three of the last five years.

    The National Police Federation says the RCMP should follow the lead of the Canadian Armed Forces, which in 2022 opened applications to permanent residents without any requirement on time spent in Canada.

    Federation president Brian Sauvé said he’s “pretty sure we can attract some good talent” through a similar move by the RCMP.

    Sauvé compares the idea to federal immigration programs that seek to entice skilled workers to come to Canada.

    “If this government has identified public safety, border security and all that stuff as an imperative, we can do the same thing, right?” Sauvé said in a recent interview.

    “We have equivalency training. You can come from Manchester, you can come from New South Wales, you can come from, I don’t know, the FBI. And we’ll train you to be equivalent, to give you a job and put you in a role.”…

    Source: RCMP union advocates for ease of foreign applicant requirements to attract talent

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