A defining moment in Canadian history will take place in Ottawa this month.

On Sept. 26, hundreds of individuals from across the country will participate in an act of peaceful civil disobedience. The objective is to send a clear message to the Harper regime, calling on the government to withdraw its unquestioning support of the tar sands industry and to provide leadership by forging the transition to a clean, just and renewable energy that respects Indigenous rights and gives priority to the health of our communities and the environment. It could well turn out to be the largest demonstration of environmental civil disobedience in the history of this country's climate movement.

It is rare in these times that we can celebrate a victory such as Alvaro Orozco's return home to his Toronto community on June 1, after several weeks in immigration detention.

A vibrant community member, queer activist, and artist, Alvaro is no stranger to struggle. Fleeing his native Nicaragua at age 12 after receiving homophobic death threats, he eventually arrived in Canada in 2005. Any illusions he may have had that Canada was a place of safety were quickly dispelled by the denial of his refugee application. The grounds for the denial were unabashedly homophobic: Alvaro just did not look "gay" enough to justify his assertion that he feared for his life in Nicaragua.

How ironic is it that Stephen Harper has assigned Tony Clement to identify opportunities for federal budget cutbacks? Yes, that would be the same Tony Clement whose riding received $50 million in G20 "legacy infrastructure funds," part of a spending spree that MP Pat Martin called "flagrant...hog-troughing of the highest order."

Are you ready for the upcoming press conferences where Tony lectures Canadians on the need for belt-tightening and "cutting the fat," while his axe chops through the muscle and bone of our public programs and services?

Rebranding, that trendy buzzword for an image makeover, popped up in the brouhaha over a series of Israeli films at the Toronto International Film Festival. The cinematic salute to Tel Aviv, which marked the debut of TIFF’s new City to City program, was another success in the Brand Israel campaign begun several years ago.

The strategic rationale behind the rebranding initiative was spelled out by Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Ido Aharoni when the campaign had its Toronto rollout back in March 2008: “Even those who recognize that Israel is in the right are not attracted to it, because they see it as a supplier of bad news. It is more important for Israel to be attractive than to be right.”