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I sent the following as an email to the Ottawa Police Services Board . [Full mailing address] I couldn't have written to you about this last year at this time.  Like most Canadians, I believed systemic racism was about systems (like police forces) which contained racist individuals.  In that context I would have wanted to focus on finding those "few bad apples", and not needed to discuss further. This calendar year we were hit with a series of events: Wet'suwet'en blockades, conspiracy theories about COVID and China, and the most recent Black Lives Matters protests. While I was born in Ontario in 1968, and have lived most of my life oblivious, I decided to learn what was happening.  This year I read many books and research papers, watched documentaries, took an online university course hosted by University of Alberta Faculty of Native Studies, and reached out to communities. I now know that systemic racism is about systems built from racist world views.   Canadian...

When I think of religion and its impact on politics, I look at a few criteria: Is the religion hereditary, or does it increase membership through conversion. How aggressive is the conversion, and how do they treat people who don't convert? Is it an example of spirituality, or does it contain a hierarchical political force?  Does that political force have state aspirations? How populous is the religion, and thus how much influence can it exert on global politics? Only 3 religions (Christianity, Islam and Hinduism) currently have populations above 10%, and thus those are the religions that concern me the most. While it is fortunate that none of these religions have achieved 50% of the global population, it would be incorrect to think of any of these religions as minorities.   Consistent with my antiracism reading this year, I remain focused on systems.  I don't think about individual practitioners, where they live, or where their ancestors came from (and thus skin melanin)....

Facebook friend Anthony Marco posted about a donation made to 1492 Land Back Lane on behalf of OSSTF District 21 (Hamilton-Wentworth) Political Action Committee (See: Statement of Solidarity ).  He issued a challenge for other union locals to take similar action.   The flag of the Hamilton & District Labour Council proudly flies  at 1492 Land Back Lane , on a roadblock put up to protect people now being forced to occupy that land to stop its destruction by "developers" who falsely claim they purchased legitimate title to it. I am a settler Canadian who has been following this issue closely. My wife and I are godparents, and I reached out to their father. He recently retired, but was actively involved in the teachers union. He has put me in touch with other people, and I hope this discussion will continue across a large web of relations. While donations from more PACs would be great, I think having the discussion is important whether it results in a donation or not. I...

Michael Chong posted a video to Facebook of his discussion of an opposition day motion on China . It included this quote: It violates international law in its treatment of the people of Hong Kong and in its treatment of religious and ethnic minorities, such at the Tibetans and the Uighurs in China. In short, China is threatening our interests and our values. I posted the following reply: I would like Michael Chong to compare how Canada treats the Haudenosaunee to how China treats Hong Kong. The Haudenosaunee are more legitimately understood as a separate nation from Canada, having founded their democracy back in 1142 and having signed treaties with the British. The British and Canadian governments have been working to eradicate that democracy for a long time, with residential schools and the Indian Act band councils being part of Canada's desire to remove democracy. The British and Canada even blocked the Haudenosaunee joining the League of Nations which later became the United Na...

I have noticed a specific example of the association fallacy  in the discussion of Quebec's   Bill n°21 : An Act respecting the laicity of the State  ( Official Status legislation ). This bill discusses which subset of persons providing provincial services must offer that service with their face uncovered, and a further smaller subset that must do so without wearing religious symbols. I invite people to read the bill, as much of what is being said about the bill in the media and by opponents is misleading. The logical fallacy is this: since Premier Francois Legault has been unable to recognize systemic racism in Quebec, then a bill respecting the laicity of Quebec must be racist. Mr. Legault's failure is a common one.  It is discussed by Robin DiAngelo in White Fragility .  Whites and white societies (like colonial Canada) have tunnel vision because of their adherence to individuality and objectivity, two pillars of white privilege. Until they remove t...

While the "very fine people" meme about Trump isn't entirely accurate , it is accurate to suggest Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is guilty of worse.  Trudeau tried to suggest false relevancy when he offensively included the suggestion that "freedom of expression is not without limits" when discussing a teacher being beheaded as an act of terrorism. Suggesting that the teacher who was murdered had any fault at all is more dangerous than negotiating with terrorists, and grants power to that terrorism. This should not be tolerated, and I am glad that many people are condemning Justin Trudeau for this.     My position on tolerance of religious influence on governments and politics has been clear.  I am a strong supporter of secularism , which is the separation of church (the threat) from a democratic state (what needs to be protected). My beliefs aren't tied to any specific religion, but on how hierarchical and powerful a political structure exists, and...

The yearly debate about whether the poppy is a political statement bumped into a special form of Canadian patriotism this year, namely the mainstream media's opposition to US based Amazon and subsidiaries such as Whole Foods Market. I want to start with Whole Food Market's ban on political symbols being added to work uniforms. On this I have mixed feelings.   There are some types of jobs, such as those that are providing specific government services, where employees need to be, and be seen as, impartial.  This isn't possible if employees in specifically sensitive positions are allowed to wear political and/or religious symbols . I don't think this need for impartiality exists with someone working at a grocery store, and I don't think Whole Foods was attempting to make that argument. In their case they were trying to keep the increasingly divisive politics outside of the workplace.  Whether the law should protect or prohibit that, I don't have that strong opinion...

Albert Einstein once said, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." While I couldn't articulate why, I have been skeptical of movements such as eco-capitalism and eco-socialism for a long time. I have even been skeptical of the potential effectiveness of the Green New Deal. With my recent anti-racism training I believe I've figured out an important missing piece in my own thinking.   I was stuck inside the bubble of a "western worldview", and could not figure out any way to effectively solve environmental problems within that bubble.   Bob Joseph, author of a few books I would recommend , provides a simplified summary of some of the differences between indigenous peoples worldviews vs western worldviews . Those differences that are not directly related to our relationship with our environment have come up in other materials I've read/watched relating to anti-racism. Indigenous worldviews (I) vs Western worl...

Written by Scott McLeod , Chief of Nipissing First Nation , I believe this was posted in 2018. Republished with permission. Last week I was sitting beside a non Indigenous gentleman at the airport waiting for my connecting flight. He struck up a conversation with me which, for the most part was pleasant enough (he was actually from sturgeon). When he inquired to what it is I do for work I informed him that I was Chief of my community. His reply was simply "Oh so I pay your salary?" Rather than being insulted and getting angry I decided to do him a favour and educate him a little. My reply: "Sir, a little lesson in the basics of economics may give you a better understanding of how things actually work. The very fundamental ingredient for any economy in this world is having a land base, one that is rich in resources. These resources are harvested, extracted or grown from that land. This creates work/jobs, commodities and revenues. This in turn creates a workforce that pay...