Wednesday, October 21, 2009

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.

Friday, October 2, 2009

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.