2022 feels foreign on the tongue a little more than usual this year. This year felt tremendously slow, but also like it passed by in a blink. Endless waves of a pandemic, a panicked media cycle and devastating tragedies all packed into 12 months will do that to a person, it seems.
This year was a big one, and that was no exception for rabble. We celebrated our 20th birthday, we launched a new website, and relaunched our flagship podcast: rabble radio. One thing stayed the same: there was no shortage of coverage of social and political issues of the day here at rabble.ca.
It somehow feels like a lifetime ago, but it hasn’t even been one full year since, on January 6, far-right Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, and alarm bells across democratic nations with similar far-right rumblings like Canada and the U.K. were sounded. On that very day, in fact, on which the violent extremists seized the Capitol Building — with what appeared to be the acquiescence, or even active assistance, of some of the police on duty there — our federal government warned us about the rise of far-right extremism here in Canada.
In fact, the Canadian department of defence issued a report that connected a sharp rise in extreme-right agitation to the restrictions required to control the spread of COVID-19. Go figure.
One defining feature of this year has been — and continues to be — the housing crisis. In February, the city of Toronto took a carpenter to court for building tiny shelters for homeless people. The shelters were built with the intent to provide those experiencing homelessness with shelter from the winter elements while also keeping them safe from the COVID-19 pandemic which was spreading like wildfire through crowded shelters.
This was the city’s first move in what would become a year full of protests and arrests as community members faced off against police and security guards hired to tear down homeless encampments in Toronto’s public parks.
In March, the world held its breath as Megan Markle and her husband Prince Harry of Windsor sat down for a deeply personal interview with Oprah, causing many Canadians to wonder: why — beyond the celebrity spectacle of it all — do we still care about the British monarchy? Karl Nerenberg made the case for Canada to bid “au revoir” to the Queen.
Nope, the justice system still doesn’t work in favour of sexual assault survivors. An egregious example of this came in March, when a sexual assault survivor in Waterloo, Ontario was charged and fined by a judge for violating the publication ban on her own name when she shared transcripts of the trial with her own friends and family without redacting her name. Her rapist found out and reported her to the judge, who then fined her. Doreen Nicoll had that report:
At the end of May, the bodies of 215 Indigenous children were found in unmarked graves at the site of former Kamloops residential school. There have been so many moments that mark 2021 as a monumental year in Canadian politics, but this discovery, and the discovery of thousands of children’s bodies across the country after it, was the defining truth. Canada could no longer push aside the voices of First Nations who had been asserting these bodies were there for years. The proof that a colonial nation requires to alter its own centuries of denialism finally presented itself.
Senior political correspondent Karl Nerenberg recounted the evidence we had prior to the discovery of the children who had disappeared. Why did it take the Kamloops discovery to accept what we’ve known for decades?
This was the year that saw the Green Party of Canada implode. Back in June, rabble contributor Yves Engler explained why the criticism of then-Green leader Annamie Paul was valid, and not, as her supporters argued, simply a result of racism — though that was certainly a factor. Rather, Engler argued, it was Paul’s stance on Palestine that earned her the internal strife and ultimately, the boot. (Not before Paul made a kick-ass appearance during the English televised debate during the election campaign, though).
On Canada Day, Iyahe Nakoda activist and educator Rachel Snow asserted that Canada’s violence had become so exposed, so blatant and so obvious, it could no longer be masked by shallow national identity. It doesn’t mean some Canadians wouldn’t try to still celebrate with the usual pomp and circumstance, but many settler Canadians felt shame at Canada’s genocidal history and the revelation of hundreds of children’s bodies found at residential school sites. The hashtag #cancelCanadaDay started trending, which of course, sparked its own counter-outrage that a day of national pride would be “cancelled.” (It wasn’t).
To counter that, Snow asked: Given Canada’s many and ongoing attempts to terminate or assimilate First Nations — in fact cancelling their existence — hasn’t the cancelling of First Nations gone on long enough?
With that, we were pretty much back into election territory and you’ll understand why I’ll keep this section brief: you’re tired of reading about it, and I’m tired of writing about it. Here’s some headlines from the election cycle that changed nothing:
One thing progressives were asking during this election cycle, however, was: where’s the discourse on climate? How is it 2021 and we still don’t have a debate dedicated to what each party will do about the climate emergency?
Joyce Nelson detailed an important reason why government after government refuses to take meaningful action to reduce emissions. Turns out: it’s because they left themselves open to be sued by industry investors for lost profits.
September 30 was the very first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. MediaStyle’s Caitlin Kealey wrote about what the day was not for settlers. Fundamentally, it wasn’t a vacation day, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t seem to get that message.
Land defenders staked their claims this year in a major way, and refused to acquiesce to industry and police pressure no matter how tight they squeezed. rabble published dispatches from allies Rita Wong and Kelly Tatham at Fairy Creek.
rabble contributor Brent Patterson travelled to Wet’suwet’en territory in November to observe and support land defenders there who have been defending the land against the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline project. His illuminating coverage raised questions about the RCMP’s collusion with CGL. And, he interviewed land defenders and sisters Eve Saint and Jocey Alec for our flagship podcast, rabble radio. It’s a must-listen.
Other honourable mentions in rabble’s coverage this year:
Charlotte Dalwood profiled an ex-anti-trans activist, or, as that group calls themselves, an ex-“gender critical”
Doreen Nicoll covered Ethiopia’s internal conflict:
Natasha Darling marked the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers by remembering the sex workers in Canada who lost their lives or faced violence:
Chuka Ejeckam covered the Toronto Star’s weird and misplaced attack on Desmond Cole:
If I’ve missed any major events, please forgive me. It’s been a hard enough year as it is!
A happier 2022 to all.
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Nick Seebruch, editor
