Canadian Author and Activist
Yesterday at a Caribbean Community summit in the Bahamas Justin Trudeau announced that Canada would deploy two naval vessels to Haiti. Canada’s prime minister made the announcement to please Washington and prod the small, largely Black, Caribbean nations to dispatch their forces to a nation born in a revolt against racial slavery. As an antidote... Continue Reading →
The US is a far bigger threat to Canadian sovereignty and democracy than China but you’d never know it from following the dominant media. In recent days a CIA-linked firm got the federal government to stop research with a Chinese university, a State Department funded group convinced parliament to criticize China and the Pentagon’s panic... Continue Reading →
Justin Trudeau’s government refuses to support United Nations votes to make the world more just and less dangerous. Ottawa’s record on the General Assembly’s largely symbolic resolutions strips away Canada’s progressive veneer. Three weeks ago Canada was one of six countries to vote against a General Assembly resolution affirming the rights of Palestinian refugees to... Continue Reading →
In a world of vast injustice, one cannot expect a government’s foreign policy to be principled or consistent. But there should at least be some limit to hypocrisy. On June 16 Justin Trudeau spoke with Rwandan president Paul Kagame about this week’s Commonwealth Summit in Kigali. Half the government’s readout about the discussion was devoted... Continue Reading →
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been condemned. The suffering of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers is horrible. Righteous fury has been aimed at the primary architect of this crime against humanity. But save some anger for those who will use the invasion to push other agendas that are bad for humanity and other life on our... Continue Reading →
With “friends” like Canada, Haiti is in deep trouble. Justin Trudeau’s statement that this country was “standing ready” to assist after a massive earthquake rocked the western part of Haiti yesterday is not reassuring. Over the past two decades Canada has done too much to undermine Haitian sovereignty, democracy and living standards to be considered... Continue Reading →
Was he a victim of an anti-Semitic attack or a violent, racist, right-wing provocateur? On Saturday evening some 5,000 international justice minded individuals packed Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square. Dozens, maybe hundreds, within the pro-Palestinian crowd were Jewish. At the same time a counterprotest was held by Canada’s most influential and best organized fascistic group. About... Continue Reading →
Sustained committed activism is unraveling the dominant media’s shameful blackout of Canadian imperialism in Haiti. But, the bias against putting Canadian policy in a negative light is such that small breakthroughs require tremendous effort. On Monday 15 Haitian community members and allies occupied Justin Trudeau’s election office for a little over three hours. The Solidarité... Continue Reading →
Media coverage of Canadian foreign policy is uniquely one-sided and biased. It’s so bad that few readers, listeners or viewers will have ever seen or heard an honest analysis of this country’s past, let alone current role around the world. A recent Maclean’s story titled “The long history of ‘go back to where you came... Continue Reading →
Not only has Canada financed and otherwise supported opposition parties in Venezuela, Ottawa has allied with some of its most anti-democratic, hardline elements. While the Liberal government has openly backed Voluntad Popular’s bid to seize power since January, Ottawa has supported the electorally marginal party for years. Juan Guaidó’s VP (Popular Will in English) party... Continue Reading →
Good on Justin Trudeau for apologizing to an indigenous leader, but the prime minister ought not ignore the ‘father’ of the Canadian army’s contribution to this injustice. On Thursday the Prime Minister is expected to exonerate Pitikwahanapiwiyin (Poundmaker) who was convicted of treason after being attacked by Canadian Forces in 1885. In response to the... Continue Reading →
“First we take Caracas then we take Havana.” That’s the thinking driving the Donald Trump administration’s policy towards Venezuela, according to a Wall Street Journal story titled “U.S. Push to Oust Venezuela’s Maduro Marks First Shot in Plan to Reshape Latin America.” Adding credence to this thesis, on Monday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told... Continue Reading →
This story also appears on the Real News Network. Canada’s corrupt foreign policy practices have come home to roost on Parliament Hill. Justin Trudeau’s government is engulfed in a major political scandal that lays bare corporate power in Ottawa. But, SNC Lavalin’s important role in Canadian foreign policy has largely been ignored in discussion of... Continue Reading →
If more people understood that “aid” often goes hand in hand with military intervention there would be less uncritical support for it. An important, though little acknowledged, principle of Canadian ‘aid’ policy is that military intervention elicits international assistance. Or, in the case of Venezuela ‘aid’ is a tool being used to stoke military conflict.... Continue Reading →
Canadian troops may have recently been deployed to Haiti, even though the government has not asked Parliament or consulted the public for approval to send soldiers to that country. Last week the Haiti Information Project photographed heavily-armed Canadian troops patrolling the Port-au-Prince airport. According to a knowledgeable source I emailed the photos to, they were probably special... Continue Reading →
Many Canadians are familiar with the Monroe Doctrine. First issued by the United States in 1823, it warned European powers against renewed colonization of the Western Hemisphere. Presented as anti-imperialist, the Monroe Doctrine was later used to justify US interference in regional affairs. We may be seeing the development of a Canadian equivalent. The ‘Trudeau... Continue Reading →
What should the leader of Canada’s left wing party say about what’s happening in Venezuela? Here are a few suggestions: “Canada should respect international law in its dealings with Venezuela.” Or, “Canada shouldn’t select the president of Venezuela.” How about, “The US has a long history of overthrowing governments in Latin America and Canada should... Continue Reading →
Most Canadians think of their country as a force for good in the world, but recent efforts by Justin Trudeau’s government to overthrow Venezuela’s elected government have once again revealed the ugly truth about the Great White North. We are an important partner in imperialism, willing to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries,... Continue Reading →
Like the shopkeeper in the Monty Python dead parrot sketch who insists a deceased bird is actually alive, imperialist aggression against Venezuela is turned into promotion of the “international rules-based order”. At the opening of the UN assembly in September Justin Trudeau said the International Criminal Court is a “useful and important way of promoting... Continue Reading →
The Ugly Canadian has shown his elite-supporting, poor-bashing repressive face in Haiti. Ottawa is backing the repression of anti-corruption protests and Justin Trudeau is continuing Canada’s staunch support for that country’s reactionary elite. Over the past three months there have been numerous protests demanding accountability for public funds. Billions of dollars from Petrocaribe, a discounted oil... Continue Reading →
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