Some Indigenous people wary of Order of Canada’s “colonial symbolism”: federal study

2026/06/30 2 Comments

Somewhat surprising no reference to the chronic under-representation of women. My chart below:

My preliminary analysis of the June 2026 shows an increase to 41 percent for women, 14.8 percent for visible minorities and 11.5 percent for Indigenous peoples. While I can appreciate some of the identify and ideological concerns regarding the Order of Canada by some Indigenous organizations and persons, certainly from a pure representation perspective, there is no under-representation but over-representation in relation to the Indigenous population:

….Andrew Griffith, a former federal public servant who has compiled data on Order of Canada recipients, said he was surprised not to see a mention in the newly released documents of the under-representation of women.

Griffith’s data indicates that while women made up 51 per cent of the population in the 2021 census, they accounted for just 34.5 per cent of Order of Canada recipients from 2013 to 2024. The figure rose slightly to 36.8 per cent last year.

Griffith said in an interview that might be explained by the general under-representation of women at senior levels of organizations across society, with the exception of government and a few other sectors.

“But it’s still striking (for the Order of Canada) that they haven’t been able to really move the needle all that much.”

Source: Some Indigenous people wary of Order of Canada’s “colonial symbolism”: federal study

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Bill C-3 opened citizenship claims to those with pre-Confederation ancestry

2026/06/29 Leave a comment

Good question. In the past, 1947 was the benchmark given a distinct Canadian citizenship dates from then. Chapman of course contested that legal distinction. But prior to Confederation is really stretching things and really unclear whether or not IRCC anticipated let alone planned for these old family ties:

….Confusion over the policy has sparked a wave of online claims from would-be applicants insisting they qualify through centuries-old family ties, while officials remain silent on how many applications have been filed or approved under the new rules.

Numerous online groups and forums show a significant number of individuals who claim to be Americans with historic ties to what is now Canadian soil, believing they can claim Canadian citizenship, with some claiming they’ve received citizenship despite neither of their ancestors being Canadian citizens.

Sergio Karas, an immigration lawyer and staunch critic of Bill C-3, an act amending the Citizenship Act that is now law, says the Liberals have completely “botched” the bill, failed to listen to warnings, and is calling for the immigration minister, Lena Diab, to resign.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not respond to Juno News’ requests to clarify whether those with ancestral ties to Canada before confederation can receive automatic citizenship, nor did they provide data on how many new applications were received since Bill C-3 received Royal Assent.

Source: EXCLUSIVE: Bill C-3 opened citizenship claims to those with pre-Confederation ancestry

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Biro: Canada’s activist academy and the rise of anti-Zionism

2026/06/29 Leave a comment

Of note:

…But anti-Zionism is not, as it is commonly described, a form of legitimate criticism of Israeli politics, practices, or leadership. It is a movement predicated on the belief that Israel is, and was from the start, an illegitimate state, and, more fundamentally, that Zionism—the Jewish aspiration for self-determination in an indigenous, biblically prophesied homeland—is an evil enterprise with colonialist, racist, and genocidal motivations. And so, if Israel, the Jewish homeland, is a pariah state, it is axiomatic that Jews are a pariah people.

This is the essence of anti-Zionism. And it is the aim of my conference to expose and explain the hateful character of anti-Zionism and to reflect on what the prevalence of this ideology in the ranks of our human rights establishment and of our social sciences and humanities scholars says about the state of liberal democracy in Canada and throughout the West.

That Palestinian voices should be heard is not remotely objectionable or even controversial. That human rights grievances must be exposed and that corresponding political and legal accountability must result are givens. But what, one must ask, could the rationale be for wanting, as some in the university did, to include those sorts of divergent and critical perspectives in a conference about the nature and societal implications of antisemitism? What reason might there be to honour and conform to an institution’s “mission and approach” by such measures if not to provide at least some plausible explanation—not to say, justification—for the fact that Jew-hatred is all the rage?

For each type of undertaking there is a corresponding forum. Public education—be it in a high school, university, or taxpayer-funded public museum—must be non-partisan, politically neutral, socially and morally responsible, and, above all, truthful.

Our academy—which, in the broadest sense, includes all of our institutions of research, learning, and teaching—has succumbed to what the Vanderbilt Report describes as “a distinctive form of politicization in which the scholarly enterprise is taken to be subordinate to, or in the service of, political (social or moral) goals beyond the advancement of knowledge and understanding.”

In a world in which activism has supplanted truth-seeking as the overriding mission of the academy and the spirit of the age, we would do well to heed the late Christopher Hitchens’ admonition to be wary of taking refuge in the false security of consensus.

Source: Canada’s activist academy and the rise of anti-Zionism

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Ottawa adds retired judge Corrine Sparks to diversity council after pushback over membership

2026/06/29 Leave a comment

Hard to see how this oversight occurred but the discussions and debate being increasingly over religious diversity and the impact on integration and cohesion may have played a part:

The first Nova Scotian of African descent to be appointed to the province’s judiciary is joining the federal government’s newly formed Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion, after scathing criticism directed at Ottawa for its initial omission of a Black representative.

Corrine Sparks, whom the federal government describes as “a national leader in judicial education,” will be part of a body tasked with fighting racism and hate, according to a news release issued by the Canadian Heritage department on Friday.

She retired from Nova Scotia’s Family Court in December 2021, after more than three decades of service in the judiciary. 

Source: Ottawa adds retired judge Corrine Sparks to diversity council after pushback over membership

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More Haitians will try to come to Canada after U.S. court decision, advocate says

2026/06/29 Leave a comment

Likely. Open data will allow tracking the numbers:

A Montreal-based advocate for asylum seekers says Canada should expect a new wave of Haitians trying to enter from the United States after a court decision allowing the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disasters in Haiti and Syria.

Frantz André says he knows of several people who are making the journey north from the United States after learning of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that exposes hundreds of thousands of people to potential detention and deportation.

André says some of the new arrivals will be allowed to stay and file an asylum claim because they have close family in Canada.

Source: More Haitians will try to come to Canada after U.S. court decision, advocate says

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Aftab Ahmed: What the World Cup reminds Canada about itself

2026/06/29 Leave a comment

Nice reminder (and yes, we are watching as so many are):

….On the pitch, a public debate too often compressed into talking points becomes human, visible, and harder to caricature. These players are people before they are symbols, and heritage should never be reduced to a box-ticking exercise to make a policy argument.

Still, it is reasonable to notice what is in front of us. This group puts flesh and bone on the promise Canada has long projected to the world: families arriving, settling, working, struggling, raising children, and building excellence in communities across the country. But more to the point: On the soccer pitch itself, Canada is finally living up to expectations.

…Hockey will always be the headline sport here, but Canada’s win over Qatar was, arguably, one of this country’s finest international sporting achievements, on par with the men’s hockey gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. The win over Qatar was Canada announcing itself in the world’s only true universal sport and the biggest by global viewership, in a World Cup on home soil, through a team that looks like the country Canada has become.

The beautiful game is holding up a mirror to Canada: a country whose immigration, refugee protection, and asylum architecture rests on a principle of openness that has delivered a net benefit to Canada.

At a time when so much beyond sports feels grim, that is something worth holding onto.

Aftab Ahmed completed his Master of Public Policy degree at McGill University’s Max Bell School and is a policy development officer with the City of Toronto. He serves as a regular columnist for Canadian and Bangladeshi media outlets

Source: Aftab Ahmed: What the World Cup reminds Canada about itself

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Banerjee and KC: Are algorithms unfairly screening out immigrant job applications?

2026/06/26 Leave a comment

Good discussion of the issues and evidence with sensible conclusion:

…None of this means that AI is inherently discriminatory, nor does it mean employers should abandon digital hiring technologies. Used responsibly, these tools can improve efficiency and help employers identify qualified candidates.

But Canada has spent decades refining how it selects skilled immigrants. Less attention is being paid to the technologies increasingly shaping whether those skills are recognized after arrival.

As AI becomes embedded in recruitment, we need to consider how opportunity is governed once immigrants enter the labour market. If immigration policy selects skilled immigrants, AI is increasingly shaping whether they are seen as skilled workers.

Canada’s future depends on both immigration and artificial intelligence. Ensuring that these two ambitions reinforce rather than undermine one another may become one of the defining policy challenges of the AI era.

Source: Are algorithms unfairly screening out immigrant job applications?

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Conservative MPs launch fundraiser for LGBTQ+ refugees

2026/06/26 Leave a comment

A reminder of the Conservative Party’s inclusiveness and that overall concerns regarding large numbers of refugees and government management of immigration also have a softer side. Happened during my time when representation by Egale and others resulted in revision of Discover Canada to be more inclusive of LGBTQ:

Two Conservative MPs say leading a fundraising cruise for LGBTQ+ refugees is a tangible way for the party to advance the rights of gender and sexual minorities.

“We’re all God’s creatures and we’re all loved, and we all deserve to be loved and we all deserve to feel safe and secure,” Scott Aitchison told The Canadian Press.

“I believe that it’s important for all of us to — not to preach that, but to demonstrate that.”

Aitchison is MP for Parry Sound—Muskoka, a riding popular with Torontonians who own cottages.

Last Friday, he announced a July 15 fundraising boat cruise for Rainbow Railroad, an organization that helps resettle persecuted LGBTQ+ people from around the world in Canada and other countries.

In a social media video, he and Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman, who is lesbian, urged members of the public to buy $150 tickets.

The video drew a mix of praise, grumblings about the affordability crisis and criticism of the party’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community.

Source: Conservative MPs launch fundraiser for LGBTQ+ refugees

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Clerk Report to PM: Less Emphasis of Employment Equity

2026/06/26 Leave a comment

Quite a shift from the previous Clerk and government. The annex A extensive data on public service representation and diversity have been replaced by Public Service Employee Survey Responses centred around the Clerk’s priorities of focus, simplify, accountability and Inclusion and values-based culture.

Given a shrinking public service and concerns among advocates that this may affect representation (no sign of it yet), an odd decision rather than just adding an annex.

While the report makes the standard references to inclusion, the “How we work” Annex B limits inclusion to regional aspects: “A values-based, inclusive public service where all public servants from all regions feel valued, supported and empowered to contribute.”

Was it a conscious decision not to include “all backgrounds” or an oversight? Hard to know but it does suggest an overall decreased interest in employment equity at a time when the public service is shrinking. We will see if TBS continues its detailed annual reporting or simplifies.

32nd Annual Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada

33rd Annual Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada



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Gail Asper, who helped create the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, raises concerns about its upcoming Nakba exhibit along with Cotler, with balance provided by Lederman

2026/06/25 Leave a comment

Struck a nerve:

When the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg opens a show about Palestinian displacement this weekend, one of its founders may be standing outside protesting.

Philanthropist Gail Asper, who led the museum project after the 2003 death of her father, media owner Izzy Asper, fears that the exhibition about the exile of Palestinians from what is now Israel lacks historical context and might inflame antisemitism in Canada.

“I definitely would protest. I am not going to attend the opening,” she said, although she added she does plan to see the show. It opens to the general public Saturday, after a launch on Friday. “I’m never the sort of person that wants a book banned before I’ve read it, so I will go and I will take a look.”

The show, entitled Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present, is devoted to the Palestinian experience of exile after 1947 and uses photographs, videos and objects to relay first-person accounts. It has become controversial in the Jewish community because it does not cover the history surrounding the establishment of Israel, nor the displacement of Jews from Arab lands after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948….

Source: Gail Asper, who helped create the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, raises concerns about its upcoming Nakba exhibit

The Canadian Museum of Human Rights has failed its mandate

…In truth, 1948 produced a double catastrophe: Arab Palestinian displacement resulting from war, and the mass displacement of Jews from Arab lands. Any institution claiming scholarly seriousness must grapple with both.

Instead, the museum privileges one historical memory while marginalizing another.

That is not education. It is curation by omission.

Museums are not activist or propagandistic platforms. They are custodians of public trust. Their role is not to inflame but to illuminate; not to advance ideological narratives but to encourage inquiry, historical nuance and civic understanding.

When museums abandon scholarly neutrality for activism, they become instruments of polarization.

That risk is especially acute today, amid an unprecedented explosion of antisemitism, deep communal fracture and public anxiety.

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights should be helping bridge divides, not deepen them.

A museum devoted to human rights need not avoid difficult subjects. But it must present them with evidence-based inquiry, context, intellectual honesty and moral seriousness.

In this case, it has failed that test.

If the museum wishes to contribute meaningfully to public understanding, it must revisit this exhibition’s framing and ensure it reflects historical truth rather than a selective political narrative.

Canadians deserve better from one of their most important public institutions.

Irwin Cotler was Canada’s minister of justice and first special envoy on Holocaust remembrance and antisemitism,Mark L. Berlin is Professor of Practice at McGill University and former senior adviser on the Middle East to the minister of justice, Alan H. Kessel is a former assistant deputy minister and legal adviser at Global Affairs Canada.

Lederman: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is right to portray the stories of displaced Palestinians

…Ms. Khan says she is concerned about antisemitism, as the head of a human rights museum should be – as every Canadian should be. She is also concerned that Palestinian experiences were under-represented in the museum. As she should be.

Rational people should be able to distinguish between a foreign dignitary’s museum visit and actual foreign interference. Reasonable people should understand that a human rights museum has every reason to profile the stories of displaced Palestinians. Reasonable people should also understand that the museum has a responsibility to present such stories with integrity. The Canadian public is counting on this national museum, this Crown corporation, to tell these stories. And to tell them fairly and responsibly.







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