Reflections on Reconciliation

Photo by Aedrian on Unsplash

Tomorrow is the third National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and in the Ottawa Citizen I offered some reflections on the ways non-Indigenous people should approach this work so that we can get to a place of healing and trust.

In my legal writing for National Magazine you’ll find an article on how, if the federal government communicated better (or even just gooder) with NGOs we’d have better odds of fulfilling our international obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. You’d think governments might already know that but you’d think wrong. I have another piece on trauma-informed adjudication at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada for vulnerable persons. And, as a complete bonus for those of you who’ve stayed awake thus far through this long and meandering dog’s breakfast of a paragraph: Further thoughts on the future of competition policy in Canada. You can’t say I’m not loving you right.

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Joe Biden becomes the first President to walk a picket line. I’m sure Bernie totally would have, too. Strategically, it’s an interesting move, especially if it contributes to a modernization of organized labour that’s less like the 1930s Wagner Act and more like something that was invented this millenium. 

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En français

Une très belle histoire que j’avais remarquée plus tôt mais que je n’avais pas eu l’opportunité de lire en détail: comment la petite municipalité de Moffet en Abitibi-Témiscamingue s’est revitalisée en misant sur les services de proximité.

C’est bien d’avoir de beaux chemins bien plats, pas de trous, mais ce n’est pas ça qui va faire que les gens décident de rester ou d’arriver au village.

— Alexandre Binette, maire de Moffet

J’ignorais que l’ancien maire de Québec était maintenant chroniqueur, et il n’est pas piqué des vers non plus. J’ai bien aimé son papier sur Pierre Poilievre, surtout quand dit “Tu le voudrais quasiment comme beauf!”

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Finally we’re going to try sending people better suited than armed officers to deal with mental health crises. Given how easily we fuck things up around here, including things that should be very hard to fuck up like, say, transit, I’m going to keep all my fingers and toes crossed.