Canada makes more cuts to HIV vaccine research

I have another piece on the national page of Xtra.ca today, which went up at the end of the day. This was a fairly quick-and-dirty piece, which was further complicated by the fact that the story is technically a CIDA file, and yet the critics for that portfolio for both the Liberals and the NDP weren't in the House. So, I improvised. But given that I got some great information - especially out of Keith Martin, I think it turned out very well.

I also posted part of the interview that couldn't fit into the article on my Hill Queeries blog for anyone who's interested.

Immigration reform bill could negatively impact queer refugee claimants

I have a new piece that went up first thing this morning on Xtra.ca. The issue - changes to the immigration and refugee system - is something I've been tracking for a while now, and this bill has been promised for ages. It's finally here, and I covered it from the press conference in the morning, through to Question Period in the afternoon, and the scrums in the foyer afterward. Because I've been working on it for a while, I've had the opportunity to gain a bit more familiarity with the issues, and what do you know? One of the issues that had been raised as a problem showed up in the bill, and I was able to raise it in the article as a result.

AIDS drug bill faces delays

I have a new piece up on the national page of Xtra.ca today, which is an update to a piece of legislation that I've been following for the past year or so. Not that every piece I've done has been an article - many were simply blog posts while I followed Senate hearings and so on, which was one of the ways I enjoyed the versatility of having the blogging platform. Nevertheless, it's a story I've been following for a while, and this has been one of the examples of why I enjoy being on the Hill in a capacity that lets me follow bills like this.

Gay business summit kicks off on the Hill

I have a new piece up on the national page of Xtra.ca today, after I attended an event on the Hill this afternoon. It was a fun event to attend, and it was nice to spend a couple of hours meeting and greeting new people, but also getting to say hello to a couple of people I don't get to see quite so often - like the Speaker of the House. Suffice to say, this was one of those assignments I really didn't mind getting to cover.

Section 13 study falls off the agenda

I have a new piece on the national page of Xtra.ca today, which updates what has been going on with the proposed study on Section 13 of the CHRA in the Commons justice committee. It was a piece that was actually on the backburner for several weeks, given that it was difficult to get in touch with one of my sources, but I finally was able to get my reply and finish off the piece. In fact, the delay may have worked out for the best in the end because of the some of the answers I received in terms of what's been discussed to date at steering committee meetings now that Parliament is back in session.

Gays cut from citizenship guide + Dyke Tory to keep up anthem battle

I have two reprints in the new issue of Capital Xtra - pared down versions of the stories on the citizenship guide and about Senator Nancy Ruth's battle to restore the national anthem. This is also the first issue of Capital Xtra's new look, which I'm quite a fan of so far.

Rob Oliphant's Path to Politics + Thoughts From the Hill - March Edition

After a bit of delay, the March edition of Outlooks is now online and on the newsstands. I have two articles in this issue - the Thoughts From the Hill panel, this time on the issue of Uganda, and a profile of Liberal MP Rob Oliphant. I've come to know Oliphant quite well over the past couple of years, and his profile in Outlooks was long overdue, so it was good to finally get to do that.

I posted a brief excerpt from that interview on my Hill Queeries blog a couple of days ago, which generated some reaction, so I wanted to post the full transcript bit here. The issue was when Oliphant said that he was targeted by both the Conservatives and NDP during the last election because of his sexuality. This is what Oliphant had to say during the interview:

"Both the Conservatives and the NDP attempted to use my sexual orientation against me during the election. The Conservatives had targeted letters to various ethnic communities about my so-called “lifestyle,” and they were anonymous – they weren’t acknowledged, but we could tell exactly where they came from. So we confronted them with this, and I registered a complaint about that. The NDP also had a strong verbal campaign in the ethnic communities – particularly the Muslim community – against me as a gay person, at which point I had to go over the riding level to ask them to cease and desist because it was simply dangerous. It wasn’t dangerous for me, as much as it was my concern was that it was a very hateful campaign that was being waged, could cause a young gay Muslim person to suicide, which was my concern. So I did face quite a strong campaign against me from two sides as a gay candidate, and interestingly, neither of them was successful at all. We had a phone call in the campaign office from someone in Leeside who had been canvassed door-to-door by a Conservative, and issues of my so-called “lifestyle” were raised, and this man called and said I guess they thought they could do that because I’m a single man that lives with my mother, and I don’t happen to be gay but there’s no place for that, and I used to vote Conservative and I’m not going to vote for them if they’re going to do that."

Thoughts From the Hill is on page 14, and Rob Oliphant's Path to Politics is on pages 24 and 25. You can download the full issue in .pdf form here.

Nancy Ruth fights for national anthem equality

I have a new story today on the national page of Xtra.ca, about how Senator Nancy Ruth has been one of the driving figures behind the attempt to restore the 1908 version of our national anthem because of its gender-neutral language. Many of you may know that I interview the Senator on a regular basis for my Thoughts From the Hill panel in Outlooks, but it's always nice to have a bit of a one-on-one with her, especially on an issue that she's passionate about.

One passage that didn't make it into the final version, but was still pretty powerful, was this:

“It’s difficult for people who have power to share it, and in this instance, it’s all thy sons. It’s also true, as a wonderful Roman Catholic Nun, Rosemary Bradford Reuther, once said, that language is the power of the ruling class to interpret reality in their own terms and to make invisible all others. And I remember reading that in one of her books in the ’70s, and I’ve never forgotten it – how powerful language can be. It is still a serious issue.”

What was especially memorable about this interview was that it was conducted on the floor of the Senate chamber, sitting at the desk next to Senator Nancy Ruth's, which was an amazing and awesome experience.

Queer MPs slam Kenney's decision to edit gays out of citizenship guide

My second piece on the national page of Xtra.ca today (which would actually be three if you count the bonus post on my Hill Queeries blog, in journalism brief style), this was a story I wrote this afternoon which stemmed from a Canadian Press story, and I was basically gathering reaction for the Xtra audience. Pretty standard, yes, but it's been a while since I've been chasing a story like this, between prorogation and my being basically part-time while I'm doing my Masters. It was definitely a reminder of why I'm a journalist, and a nice refresher for what it's like being a reporter again - and I can't wait to get back to it in a month's time.

As Parliament resumes, a look at the upside of prorogation

The first of two articles up today on the national page of Xtra.ca, this was an editorial that I wrote a couple of days ago about the return of Parliament, and how perhaps there was a benefit to prorogation in the long run. It's not the first of these kinds of pieces that have been written, but nevertheless I was hoping to give the Xtra audience that same reminder that as voters we need to stay engaged now that we've been shaken from our complacency, lest another similar abuse of prorogation occur in the future. It was a piece I really enjoyed writing, and I'm hoping to do a few more of these kinds of pieces in the near future.