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As the weather gets warmer it’s the perfect time for a picnic or a cool mojito on a patio. But the news stops for no one from the Fort McMurray wildfire to the progress of Trudeau’s campaign promises. As usual rabble.ca has some great blog posts to dissect it all for you.
Sunday was Mother’s Day celebrating some of the amazing women in our lives. Phyllis Creighton reminds us to look past the commercial Hallmark card celebration to the original meaning of the day. Citing the Mother’s Day proclamation written by Boston Activist Julia Ward Howard in 1870, she highlights the call for women to organize and demand peace.
Doreen Nicoll has a unique suggestion for a Mother’s Day gift that will outdo the macaroni necklaces of old. She recommends seeing The Apology — a documentary about three women who were among the over 200,000 young Asian women and girls forced into sexual slavery during the Second World War by the Japanese Imperial Army. The debut film from director Tiffany Hsiung is a top audience pick at the Hot Docs Festival with an all-female production team. It follows the lives of Grandma Gil from South Korea, Grandma Adela from the Phillippines and Grandma Cao from China now in their 80s and 90s, and documents their strength and resilience.
One of the top news stories of the week is the devastating Fort McMurray wildfire. Susan Wright writes about five things we’ve learned from the fire about Canadians, the government and Fort McMurray residents.
Meanwhile, Nora Loreto and Sarah Beuhler remind us not to let our feel-good emotions spill over to the extractive industry. They argue that the industry knew the fire would happen and that oil and gas companies and their shareholders care more about profit than the lives of those affected. They note the danger of our addictions to oil and urge us to rededicate ourselves to the struggle against climate change.
Finally, Nick Fillmore examines the federal government’s uneven response between two communities in crisis: Fort McMurray and Attawapiskat. He asks why billions of dollars are being spent to deal with one crisis while the other has been all but forgotten.
Following what’s happening in Ottawa, rabble.ca bloggers keep us up to date on the progress of Trudeau’s election promises. Carter Vance questions when the reforms promised to Bill C-51 six months ago will be enacted. He details the Liberals checkered history when it comes to civil liberties. Karl Nerenberg updates us on the progress of Trudeau’s promise for electoral reform. The Liberal government recently revealed details about a special House committee that will recommend a new electoral system.
In 2018 a new Canadian bank note will feature one of 12 women currently on a long list. In the United States it was recently announced that Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson (a former slaveholder) on the $20 bill. Tubman will be the first woman and African-American to be featured on U.S. currency. While this is an achievement, Rinaldo Walcott argues that you can’t paper over racism. He says placing a Black person on currency produces a myth that a certain settlement has been achieved in race relations in North America and leads to tokenism.
Lastly, sexual assault and its mishandling across Canada’s campuses has continued to make headlines. Paniz Khosroshahy shares her moving story of what it’s like to be a survivor at McGill University and fall through the institutional cracks. She says McGill breeds predators, lacks the proper mechanisms to support its students and refuses to put any in place. Her story shows what it’s like to experience institutional betrayal and highlights the problem with the lack of national legislation to protect survivors.
That’s it for this week’s blog roundup, make sure to check out more rabble.ca blogs to find out what’s happening in your world. Enjoy the weekend and the beautiful sunshine.
Emily Blake is rabble’s 2016 summer blogs intern.
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Image: Flickr/Premier of Alberta
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