Aug 22
In October 2009 a group of protesters interrupted NDP leader Jack Layton right at the moment he was about to begin making a statement on climate change. The man who started the interruption was Dave Vasey, the former leader of Occupy Toronto, and one of the elite group of Canadian activists who share the same tattoo …
Jan 22
Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May is a strange duck. On the one hand she’s one of Canada’s most outspoken figures against activist violence- consistently insisting that it’s “unproductive” and has a negative impact on the environmental movement. But equally, she so often comes out spouting nonsense in regards to the people committing the …
Jan 03
Introduction: Idle No More, so the legend tells us, is a grassroots movement started by four indigenous women from Saskatchewan who were unhappy with parts of the federal government budget bill C-45. The movement’s message inspired protests across the country- most were peaceful, but there were incidents where militants took advantage leading blockades, and tampering …
Dec 03
A group of the usual suspects occupied an Enbridge construction site in north Toronto today. Protesting the Line 9 reversal project, the protesters claimed that Enbridge was jumping the gun on construction. Enbridge claims this was a maintenance project- something anti-pipeline protesters often complain the company doesn’t do enough of. Are we confused yet? …
Nov 26
Last week the Vancouver Observer published a scare story criticising the Harper government’s extensive spying on anti-oilsands groups. The writer explained that the “federal government” (wait, I thought it was Harper?) has been “vigorously spying” on anti oil sands activists and organizations across the country. Adding some fuel to the fire, they also hinted at a …
Jun 26
Update: If you check out this video from the CBC you’ll see that the native protester is a young man and that the police treated him exceedingly politely. _____________________ The Line 9 pipeline pumping station hijacking is now officially over- the police came in this morning, 20 protesters were arrested and it’s been reported they’ve …
Oct 13
I read an interesting story in the Gulf News today- The Beginning Of A Great Game In Afghanistan. The article discusses how “regional states (are) busy carving out their respective spheres of influence.” Basically, everyone is fighting for their slice of the pie. It’s an interesting story, and has some parallels with what’s happening in Canada- …
Aug 21
With all of the attention being paid towards the pipeline these days, it seems to me that the pipeline protesters are missing an important part of the story- perhaps intentionally. The big question is, what happens if the Northern Gateway & Keystone XL pipelines don’t get built? Will they shut-down the oil sands? Hardly, because there …
Aug 16
A story came out today about how the United Church has voted to boycott goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. I believe that the church has also been discussing a more significant move to denounce the Israeli occupation. I’m all for this move, boycotts are an excellent way …
Aug 14
I first encountered Sandy Garossino on Twitter when I found her taking a personal attack on someone in defence of the TIDES Foundation: The funny thing is about this posting that it was Garossino who brought the word ‘terrorist’ into the conversation- the other people involved hadn’t. I thought this was strange, and it …