New immigrants guide glosses over gays

I have a new piece up on the Xtra.ca national page today, which will also show up in the forthcoming print edition of Xtra in Toronto. It was one where I was a fairly quick-and-dirty piece canvassing some opinions about the effacement of sexual minorities in the new Discover Canada new immigrants' guide, done entirely after Question Period yesterday, and it turned out fairly well.

In the editing process, however, a great line from Scott Brison was dropped:

“I’ve met with new Canadians and members of ethno-cultural communities in Canada who believe very strongly in the Charter of Rights,” Brison says. “Sometimes, even though there may be some initial opposition to initiatives like same-sex marriage, when they are reminded that it’s a Charter issue and that Charter of Rights is not a buffet and you can’t pick from it the rights you like and leave the rest, and any attack on anyone’s rights is attack on all, they understand.”

Otherwise, it was a fun piece to write.

Thoughts From the Hill - November Edition

My Thoughts from the Hill panel appears once again in the November issue of Outlooks. This month, I asked the panel about nominations processes in each of their parties. Astute readers may note this is something of a theme I've been writing about - I am indeed trying to help people learn more about the political process from start to finish, and nominations are a big part of that, and frankly most people don't learn about it in school anymore. I figure the more I write about it, the more some people may learn.

The panel is on page 22 of the issue, which you can download in .pdf format here.

Scott Brison talks trade & human rights

I have a new piece on the national page of Xtra.ca today. I interviewed Scott Brison last Wednesday about his many travels that he made at the end of the summer. It was originally supposed to just be a post on the Hill Queeries blog, like we often do, but this time Brison said it would take a bit longer, and he was right. So I managed to convince my editor to make this a full piece.

There was only one bit that didn't make it into the final piece, which was just a reference (and link) to a speech that Brison made in the House regarding his trip to Colombia, which he said explained his trip better than he could have in the interview. But as I always enjoy talking to Brison, it was a great interview.

Feds consider striking hate speech clause

I have a piece in the current issue Capital Xtra, which is a full-page article on the Section 13 debate in Canada. It's a complex issue, and I will say right off that I am forever indebted to Professor Richard Moon from the University of Windsor, who took forty minutes out of his day in order to give me the complete background on the issue and walked me through his report on the issue.

Now, that said, there were were a couple of issues with the editing that I wanted to address. First of all, I would never use the phrase "bowels of Parliament," especially in reference to a committee, as I know the meeting rooms are all above ground. But that's just me. But the bigger issue is that a point I was hoping to make was dropped in the final version, which was a point about the tension that exists in the Canadian legislative cycle between Parliament and the courts. Given that Parliament has often handed off certain tough decisions to the courts to make so that they wouldn't have to face the wrath of the voters, I wanted this fact highlighted - especially in the context that there are now two streams at play here - one with the appeal of the Tribunal decision in the Federal Court, the other the justice committee study in Parliament. It's also what Keith Martin was speaking to when he said that he hopes Parliament has the courage to address the topic. I'm sorry this bit was lost in the final piece.

Thoughts From the Hill - October Edition + Queer Youth and History

I have two pieces in the October issue of Outlooks - my usual Thoughts From the Hill panel, as well as a two-page feature that examines the way that queer youth interact with their own history. The panel question was actually chosen months ago, but recent events with the Canadian Human Rights Commission made the topic that much more relevant (though I did change the preamble to reflect current circumstances before press time). The other piece was a topic I've been quite interested in, which is how do we learn and pass on our history as queer Canadians, given that we're not exactly a culture that can pass along our history to our children or the next generation in the same way that any other ethno-cultural community might. I managed to talk to a few very interesting people, which I'm glad I had the chance to.

The panel is on page 13, and the Queer History and Youth feature is on pages 20 and 21. You can download the full issue in .pdf format here.

Gaybourhood candidates prepare for election

I was surprised to see that I had a piece on the Ottawa page of Xtra.ca today, considering that it was supposed to be for the upcoming issue. Nevertheless, it's now online, and it involves the preparations made by the various candidates in Ottawa Centre for a possible election. This follows on the work I've been doing in trying to get more involved coverage of the local riding nomination races, to ensure that readers can engage with politics on the ground level like this.

It was good connecting with the various candidates. I've come into contact with Dewar before, and this time I was able to have a face-to-face with Bradley, which was nice considering we've previously only spoken by phone before. This was the first time I've spoken with Hunter as well, but I have little doubt that I'll be seeing more of her in the not-too-distant future.

Gay Bloc MP Réal Ménard bids farewell to federal politics

I have a new piece up on the national page of Xtra.ca today, which was an interview I did with Réal Ménard this morning on his last day as an MP. The last time I had been in his office, the walls were covered in old election campaign posters for his party and the PQ, but now they were bare as his assistants were packing up.

We did the interview mostly in English, though occasionally he'd slip in some French words that I translated in the piece (as well as proper verb tenses). But he was in good cheer, and excited about his next venture in municipal politics. We had a very good talk about the way that politics has changed in Canada in the 16 years that he's been an MP - both in the larger context of Parliament itself, and the way in which the Bloc's very presence virtually ensures minority governments - as well as how politics has changed for openly gay politicians, as he was the second openly gay MP in our Parliamentary history.

During my time on the Hill, I never had too much chance to work with Ménard, largely because of the language barrier, but now I'm a little sorry that I didn't make more of an effort. He was, however, always great when we did get a chance to speak (especially for the video pieces I did back in May), and I want to thank him for making my job a little easier.