Independent News

Wow. A federal budget and an Ontario Speech from the Throne in the same week. A veritable feast of political divination is being offered up in these parts. And both governments are no doubt hoping their yummy fortune-telling will stack the cards for an election win.

Somehow, though, I'm pretty sure most of us share a gut feeling that we're being fed a load of bull, though if it's a contest for who wins the Stupid Award, the answer is obvious.

Let's remember how well all our political leaders did in foreseeing the crash that dominated 2009. But Stephen Harper, of course, was the thickest when it came to barely noticing the global crisis even after it had occurred. He finally pinched himself awake to stimulus spending. And, oh right, it took a prorogue.

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On Sunday, February 28th Sidney Crosby scored an overtime goal that lifted a nation. From coast to coast to coast, Canadians spilled into the streets to wave our flag, to sing our anthem, and to revel in our national spirit. We were unapologetically proud of what we had just accomplished.

In the wake of the Vancouver Winter Olympics many social and political commentators have asked a poignant question: how have these 17 days changed Canada?

Those more cynical believe that this single moment was akin to a teenage New Years Eve party, in which things seem magical until the next morning when the unsuspecting neophyte wakes up in a stupor, no more enlightened than the day before.

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The Harper government's claim that it plans to make maternal health a G8 priority is at odds with its efforts to prevent water from being recognized as a human right in international law and its promotion of water privatization in Canada and around the world. Good health begins with access to clean, safe drinking water and women are disproportionately affected when governments fail to provide adequate water and sanitation services. 

A report produced by the National Network on Environments and Women's Health in collaboration with the Council of Canadians and other groups called Women and Water in Canada highlights the impacts of water privatization on women. 

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The health of a people -- their vulnerability to illnesses and diseases -- is often an indicator of something larger. A new report shows that the rate of tuberculosis among Inuit is 185 times greater than for the rest of the country. That's an incredible number and, sadly, it's the product of our unfair social institutions.

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The article below is a tribute to Marcel Simard, a central figure in Quebec cinema who is barely known in English Canada. Last Saturday, Marcel committed suicide after a long depression. His death is a terrible loss to cinema throughout Canada because, as his friend Marquise Lepage says in the extraordinary piece below, he made provocative films often about the people society prefers not to see.

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As grassroots support for the pro-immigration reform March for America grows, anti-immigration groups and their allies are trying to use racial tension to stop the momentum. Opposition groups like NumbersUSA and the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC announced plans this week to partner with Tea Party activists in response to the event, which is expected to draw as many as 100,000 people to the National Mall on March 21.

Their hope? To scare the public into opposing a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

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Lorrie Matheson / jproctor

Chris Page / jproctor

“It was she who first tempted him,” we’re told about Wendy by the disturbingly confused narrator in J. M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy, the basis for Peter Pan. But it’s Alice who’s tempted so many filmmakers for so long, the Alice of Lewis Carroll’s two classics Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1872). With the latest take on the tales, from Tim Burton, now out, let’s get “curiouser and curiouser,” drop down the rabbit-hole and figure out why these children’s books are so tantalizing for filmmakers yet ultimately impossible to grasp.

The real Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme haven't seen each other in decades. Not since the '50s: permanent separation was one of the conditions that had them spend only five years in a New Zealand jail for the murder of Pauline's mother, a sensational crime that had all sorts of accusations being levied at the pair of then-teenagers: their unusually close relationship was called out as lesbian, their fanciful imaginations were seen as hints of insanity and it was suggested that, when together, their mutual willingness to chase down a shred of fantasy allowed both of them to commit murder.

The man who brought us Alberta's official mushroom now believes the key to attracting investment is an international beauty pageant. Carl Benito, MLA for Edmonton-Millwoods, has decided the best way to reinvigorate Alberta's economy is to bring home an international competition for who looks best in a bathing suit. Unfortunately, Benito's suggestion is not too far off what finance minister Ted Morton will be proposing this week with the release of the Alberta competitiveness plan—a way to look pretty to his hard line right wing critics and corporate business friends who may have been worried they've been forgotten.

Population boom

The realization of human rights for the Lubicon Cree has suffered a major setback. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada's (INAC) recent imposition of third-party management on the Lubicon has Amnesty International and other local and international organizations expressing serious concern. The recent move by INAC comes after more than 35 years of conflict between the Lubicon Cree and the federal and provincial government, which has brought international attention to this Indigenous community of Northern Alberta and their fight for the recognition of their land rights.

Now, imagine that your jurisdiction, the province of Alberta, has recently exited from the biggest boom period it has ever experienced. 

In response to an increase in reports of sexual assault in Edmonton, Police Chief Mike Boyd announced on March 4 that the Edmonton Police Service has partnered with organizations in the community to create a group called Sexual Assault Voices of Edmonton, or SAVE, to work toward preventing sexual assault in the city. EPS superintendent Danielle Campbell calls the increase a disturbing trend and notes the increase is significant among 18 – 24 year olds.

'Aboriginal women have always been in a care-giving role in our communities, but it has never been recognized or acknowledged, because we haven't received formal education to take on those roles."

With the increasing shift from analogue to digital, some election officials are unsurprisingly chomping at the bit to move toward Internet-based voting. Last year, Elections Canada officials mused about the possibility of online voting trials, noting the potential benefits of increasing voter participation, particularly among younger demographics.

There are some bombs going off, but apart from that the election in Iraq on  March 7 is a model of its kind. There are more than 6000 candidates for the 352 seats in parliament, and the country is flooded with foreign observers who will monitor the process. Unlike last time, no major group is boycotting the election—and nobody knows who is going to win it.

It turns out I didn't get an inch past the shoreline when I dipped my toes into the Andrew Wakefield Lancet paper retraction story a few weeks ago, so I decided to revisit it. To give the man at the centre of the controversy the opportunity to respond to media statements being made about his ethics and integrity, I contacted him.