Participation could lead to big changes.
citizenship
We hate the niqab: Minister Kenney and Barbara Kay protect 'Canadian values' from Muslim immigrants
| December 13, 2011The detachment of watching hockey on television
I was at the Leafs-Bruins game last week at the Air Canada Centre. In the second period, when it was still close, a Leaf was tripped in the Bruin zone but it wasn't called, continuing what the crowd saw as a pattern. The Leafs sagged, as if in protest or pain, the Bruins jumped in, got an odd-man rush and scored.
Someone said, "That was passive-aggressive." It rang true. It's as if the Leafs, expressing the collective mood, were pouting to the officials, "If you don't do your job, we won't do ours." Passive aggression is often counterproductive but it's deeply rooted and hard to restrain. Yet I doubt it would've been noticed if we'd been watching at home, or in a bar. It made me think about the difference between hockey on TV, versus on the spot.
Policing the borders means policing Canadian journalism?
While awaiting an important, far-reaching speech by Canada's Immigration Minister Jason Kenney on Tuesday, I was chatting to a fellow reporter when organizers kicked me out moments before it began -- despite having a press invite and the complimentary cookie they gave me in hand.
As a young freelance -- published in rabble.ca, Briarpatch, Media Co-op, the United Church Observer and the Anglican Journal -- there is sometimes a nagging doubt that I really belong in the places I report, particularly in the case of the federal government and its increasingly slick public relations machine.
![Migrant Matters](http://rabble.ca/sites/rabble/files/imagecache/thumbnail/category_pictures/MMlogo100.jpg "Migrant Matters navigates through the interconnected issues that limit the freedom of people to move across borders (of all kinds) and stay wherever they choose. We bring into focus the individual faces and unique stories of migrant workers, "non-status" people, and racialized working-class immigrants, who are often left out of mainstream media. Airs monthly.")
CIC attempts to deport man who has lived in Montreal since childhood
Victor Morales has lived in Montreal for 32 years and is the father of three Canadian kids. Yet, when the Chilean-born musician applied for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) rejected his application, citing petty crimes the Montrealer committed years ago.
Morales now faces deportation to Chile, a country he has not visited since he was six years old, when his family fled the terror of the Pinochet regime and were accepted as refugees to Canada.
When speaking to Morales, who is also the primary caregiver for his terminally ill Canadian mother, his distress was obvious.
Maple Leaf Rag delivers rhymes and resistance
Maple Leaf Rag
(Arbeiter Ring Publishing,
2010;
$14.95)
Despite the current unsustainability of our individual carbon footprints, the standard method of personal renewal in affluent postmodern society continues to be tourism. Eyes glazed over by routine and sameness are opened to the pseudo-newness of "elsewhere." It's a strategy often used in the creative writing game. From that temporary, distant perspective, one can cast a long look back at one's homeland, and gain fresh insights.
Thomas the Tank Engine goes to Copenhagen
I'd like to join the debate over Thomas the Tank Engine -- the books, TV shows and toys based on him -- in the gift-giving spirit of the season.
