Search results for “site/human rights”

  • The 10 Worst Corporate Lobbyists

    It’s big business to promote, defend big business interests Getting politicians to bend policy to your company’s will is a fine art. It requires a combination of charm, dogged persistence, threats – and bushels of cash. But corporate lobbyists know just which buttons to press in order to persuade politicians…

  • Hospital worker, face not shown, bending towards a patient

    Rapport sur les travailleurs racialisés et autochtones dans des emplois à risque d’infection par la COVID-19

    TORONTO—Selon un nouveau rapport du Centre canadien de politiques alternatives (CCPA), les travailleurs autochtones et racialisés ont été plus nombreux, tout au long de la pandémie, à occuper des emplois les mettant en contact étroit avec d’autres personnes, ce qui a augmenté leur risque d’infection par la COVID-19. Intitulé Un…

  • Manitoba’s NDP: time to return to its social democratic roots

    In June, 1969, Manitoba elected Canada’s first NDP government and Manitoba’s first social democratic government. The NDP has since become the dominant political party in Manitoba, winning 8 of the last 12 elections and governing for almost two years in every three since June, 1969. The NDP’s latest run as…

  • Scorpions, Icebergs, and Cancers

    We have to understand capitalism before we can challenge it Readers’ reaction to my “Cui Bono” column in the February issue has been mixed. Most agreed with my rather somber depiction of uncontrolled capitalism as the main cause of large-scale inequality, poverty, conflict, preventable disease, and the erosion of democracy.…

  • Our Deadliest Addiction

    Oil drives our commerce, but could drive us to extinction “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” — Heraclitus, 535 BC-475 BC. * * * When European explorers first sighted a pristine Gulf of Mexico 500…

  • kris krüg / flickr

    Think system change for Canada’s low-carbon reboot

    There is growing momentum for a low-carbon reboot of our high-carbon economy as we emerge from a pandemic-induced shutdown. Since business-as-usual has been so disrupted, the timing for a major leap has never been better. Earlier this year, the Australian wildfires provided humanity’s latest wake-up call. Many are nervous about…

  • Yukon’s court ruling on free-entry mining could help Idle No More

    This past December 27th, the appeals court of the Yukon Territory gave an important ruling regarding the rights of First Nations in relation to Yukon’s free-entry mining policy. The plaintiff in the case, the Ross River Dena Council tribe, considers that Yukon’s government cannot allow quartz production on its territory…

  • Time to mobilize like we mean it

    Lessons from the Second World War for the climate emergency Even before the arrival of COVID-19, the history of the Second World War was making a remarkable comeback. Our movie theatres (remember those?), Netflix offerings and bookstore shelves were full of modern reboots of our mid-century wartime experience. Then the…

  • Poverty interventions are health interventions: Three considerations

    An irrefutable evidence base demonstrates that socioeconomic conditions—in particular poverty and inequality—impact health. In health care we call these conditions ‘social determinants of health’ (SDOH)—a term that describes the downstream health impacts of multiple forms of systemic inequity. In the context of a society, culture and health system that focus…

  • A Dangerous Brew

    Perimeter Security Plan threatens privacy and civil rights Fillet of a fenny snake, in the caldron boil and bake; Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting, lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing — For a charm of powerful trouble,…

  • Labour Matters

    Fast Facts: Normal is the Problem

    Long term care and COVID The heart-breaking tragedy of multiple COVID-19 deaths in Canadian long-term care facilities, and the often-horrific manner in which those deaths have occurred, are evidence of what appears to have become “normal” in many of those facilities. It is impossible not to be moved by scenes…

  • Labour Matters

    Work Life: Brought to the Brink by Recklessness… First thoughts on COVID-19

    This piece is dedicated to Mark Golden (August 6, 1948 – April 9, 2020). Mark was a scholar of classics, teacher, life-long social justice advocate and friend to CCPA Mb. Referring to the role of plagues in ancient Greece, Joel Christensen writes: “Plague stories provide settings where fate pushes human…