Hundreds of Iranian students in Canada are affected by deepening economic sanctions against Iran.
Canadian foreign policy
Canada deserves a thoughtful and intelligent foreign policy in the Middle East
For almost three weeks, the Egyptian people took peacefully to the streets to change the system that deprived them of their rights and freedoms. Canadians and peoples around the world stood up in solidarity with the people, but not Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Not only was he slow in addressing the uprising but when he finally did, it was to publicly express his support for President Hosni Mubarak, insisting that he wanted "those in power in Egypt to lead change."
The pros and cons of foreign investment
The Investment Canada Act, implemented in 1985 by the government of Brian Mulroney, replaced the Foreign Investment Review Agency, which had become a potent symbol of Pierre Trudeau's interventionism. While the new act was explicitly intended to welcome foreign investment (including takeovers) with open arms, it included a "net benefit" test to supposedly protect Canadian interests.
Federal Court allows Abousfian Abdelrazik to sue foreign affairs minister
In a decision that must have added a certain edge to the next Cabinet meeting after it was announced, the Federal Court of Canada on Aug. 30 gave the green light to a $3-million lawsuit brought by Abousfian Abdelrazik against Lawrence Cannon, minister of foreign affairs. Abdelrazik is suing Cannon for misfeasance in public office, intentional infliction of mental suffering and breaches of his charter rights to mobility and to life, liberty and security of the person.
Six more hire Abousfian Abdelrazik in defiance of UN Security Council
Media Advisory
June 1, 2010
The open rebellion against a UN Security Council "terrorist" list is growing in Canada. The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) are the latest labour organizations to announce that they will hire Abousfian Abdelrazik despite Canadian law saying that it is illegal to do so.
When the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), the Canadian section of the International Association of Machinists (IAM), announced at a press conference on 18 May that they, together with the Windsor District Labour Council, were hiring Abousfian Abdelrazik, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon was forced to respond.
Confronting Canada's colonialist past
Orienting Canada: Race, Empire, and the Transpacific
(UBC Press,
2011;
$34.95)
In Orienting Canada, John Price, professor of history at the University of Victoria focuses on 20th century racism and on Canada's role as junior partner in British and U.S. imperialism. This is a work of scholarship and an engrossing narrative that should be widely read.
Anti-Asian racism in Canada in the first half of the 20th century has been well documented. Immigrants from China, Japan, and India faced head taxes and outright prohibitions. Laws excluded Canadians of Asian origins from neighbourhoods, post-secondary education and professions. Japanese Canadians were forcibly removed from coastal areas during World War II.
Netanyahu's campaign to change U.S. politics using Iran
Driven by fear that a second-term Obama administration won't be as lenient towards Israeli expansionism and dispossession of Palestinians as a Republican (or even a first term Obama) administration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is using Iran to change the course of the U.S. election. While Netanyahu's call for a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities has kept Washington silent on discussing Palestinians, he is looking to make that permanent by shepherding a coalition of right-wing Western support to push America into another Middle East war.
