Few Canadians are familiar with pre-colonial African cities, and even fewer know a Canadian military leader helped sack one of West Africa's great metropolises. In the fifth installment of its Story of Cities series, the Guardian recently focused on Benin City, the lost capital of an important precolonial state. At its height in the "Middle Ages," Benin... Continue Reading →
Laurentian the latest university to be mined by rich Canadians
He who pays the piper picks the tune. This bit of folk wisdom seems not understood or ignored by many institutions of “higher learning.” The neoliberals running Canadian public universities have signed a slew of deals with mining companies that are engaged in violently extracting resources from the Global South. In two of the more... Continue Reading →
Canadian companies’ ‘illegal exploitation’ of African resources
In violation of international law two major Canadian companies are buying the non-renewable resources of Africa's last remaining colony. Saskatoon's PotashCorp and Calgary's Agrium have partnered with Morocco's state owned OCP to export phosphate mined in Western Sahara, a sparsely populated territory in northwestern Africa that was ruled by Spain until 1975. When the Spanish... Continue Reading →
Manitoba Hydro helps privatize Nigeria utility
It's the black eye few Manitobans knew they had. "Senate Passes Motions on Unwholesome Practices by Manitoba Hydro Limited," read one recent Nigerian press headline while another blared: "Manitoba sued over transmission contract extension." Largely unbeknownst to its owners, Manitoba Hydro International (MHI) has stirred significant controversy in Africa's most populous nation. Over the past four years... Continue Reading →
Kagame: dictator or great leader?
The Globe and Mail’s recent coverage of Rwanda has been schizophrenic. While South African-based correspondent Geoffrey York has done important work detailing how Paul Kagame’s government has assassinated its opponents and contributed to violence in Eastern Congo, columnist Gerald Caplan has justified its repression and echoed Kigali’s position on regional conflicts. At the start of January York... Continue Reading →
Canada’s Kagame apologist
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has long been the darling of prominent liberals such as Bill Clinton, Samantha Power and Tony Blair. But, it’s become ever more difficult to publicly back the bloodstained Rwandan dictator. After two decades in power Kagame recently had the constitution changed so (only) he can keep running for office. Alongside... Continue Reading →
Canada reaps what it sows in Africa
Blowback. Karma. Unintended consequences. A corollary to the golden rule. We have many words to describe the concept: Doing harm to others often results in bad things happening to us or people we “care” about, sometimes many years later. Since the November attacks in Paris Boko Haram has killed nearly twice as many people as... Continue Reading →
The fairy tale about a brave Canadian general in Rwanda
Like children’s fairy tales, foreign policy myths are created, told and retold for a purpose. The Boy Who Cried Wolf imparts a life lesson while entertaining your five year-old niece. Unfortunately foreign policy myths are seldom so benign. The tale told about Romeo Dallaire illustrates the problem. While the former Canadian General rose to prominence... Continue Reading →
Ignoring Canada’s real history in Uganda very poor scholarship
A recent Globe and Mail article (reprinted on Rabble.ca) by Gerald Caplan detailing Canadian relations with Uganda made me mad. Why? It was not so much for what’s in the article, but rather what it ignores, which is reality. Any progressive author writing about Canada’s foreign affairs betrays his readers if he ignores the bad this country... Continue Reading →
Time to make Canadian companies responsible for abuses abroad
Two weeks ago police shot and killed an individual at Pacific Wildcat Resources tantalum mine in central Mozambique. The incident received some attention in Canada because community members responded by seizing the Vancouver-based company’s mine site and setting some equipment ablaze. One protester told O Pais newspaper this wasn’t the first time someone was shot dead at... Continue Reading →
Let us also remember the victims of Canada’s wars
Trudeau “unveils most diverse Cabinet in Canada’s history”, was how one media outlet described the new Liberal cabinet. It includes a Muslim woman, four Sikhs, an indigenous woman, two differently abled individuals and an equal number of women and men. Half even refused any reference to God at Wednesday’s swearing in ceremony. But in one respect there was... Continue Reading →
From PM to corporate shill in Africa
If his predecessors’ trajectories are any indication, Stephen Harper will soon join a handful of corporate boards or a law firm and be paid handsomely to advance Canadian business interests in Africa. Almost every prime minister since Pierre Trudeau (Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin) left office and lobbied on behalf of Canadian... Continue Reading →
How soon until Justin Trudeau reveals his liberal imperialism?
Right-wing commentators are calling Justin Trudeau’s decision to withdraw fighter jets from Syria-Iraq “un Liberal” and unfortunately they’re right. But, by citing the Liberal sponsored Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to justify Canadian participation in the US-led bombing, these pundits are revealing the essence of this “humanitarian imperialist” doctrine. Last week senior Maclean‘s writer Michael Petrou called... Continue Reading →
Canadian companies well known abroad for bribery
While most Canadians proudly recognize the beaver, the hockey player and the curling broom as symbols of this country, some of us would be made uncomfortable by another enduring emblem of the Great White North: a businessman wearing a maple leaf lapel pin discretely passing a plain manila envelope stuffed with cash to a foreign... Continue Reading →
Nova Scotia’s connection to exploitation in Africa
Little has been written about the Nova Scotian cod industry and a Haligonian’s role in events partly responsible for the stark economic divide that sees most of Africans living on less than $2 a day and without electricity. Between 1600 and 1850, more than 10 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic. European demand for... Continue Reading →
Shining light on the secret world of Canada’s special forces
Last week former defence minister Jason Kenney said if re-elected the Conservatives would significantly expand Canada’s special forces. Kenney said they would add 665 members to the Canadian Armed Forces Special Operations Command (CANSOFCOM) over the next seven years. Why? What do these “special forces” do? Who decides when and where to deploy them? For what purpose?... Continue Reading →
Mining the leaders’ debate
The Liberal, NDP and Conservative leaders are set to debate Canada's role in the world at an event put on by Munk Debates, an organization named after and financed by a wealthy businessman who made his fortune in mining. It will be interesting, therefore, to see if mining as a topic is given much, if... Continue Reading →
Acknowledging our racist past
Where does anti-black racism come from? Can we trace discrimination today, such as disproportionate police carding, to when this bias developed? While the most obvious source of this racism is the legacy of justifications for enslaving Africans, Toronto has made a distinct contribution as well. For example, dozens of Torontonians participated in British expeditions to... Continue Reading →
Canada’s contribution to mass murder and torture in Kenya
Over the weekend a memorial was unveiled to victims of British colonial violence in Kenya. Paid for by London, the monument in Nairobi grew out of London’s 2013 apology to the Mau Mau, which included some compensation to 5000 victims of British policy who pursued London court. Britain’s small step towards atoning for its colonial... Continue Reading →
Canada in Africa book tour begins this week
Stephen Harper is not The Problem but getting rid of him is a necessary first step in changing Canada’s militaristic, pro-corporate international posture that focuses on what’s best for business rather than helping the world’s poorest. This will be one of the messages during a 20-city pre-election tour for the just-released Canada in Africa: 300... Continue Reading →
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