Canada shouldn’t be smug about gun violence — it’s a growing problem here, too

Written by Wendy Cukier, Toronto Metropolitan University. Photo credit Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press. Originally published in The Conversation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces new gun control legislation in Ottawa on May 30, 2022.

The Canadian government has tabled new legislation to strengthen the screening process of individual firearm owners, institute a mandatory buyback of banned semi-automatic military style firearms and to ban the sale, import and transfer of handguns.

This new legislation, Bill C-21, is a potential game-changer, but it’s been a long time coming. Calls for a ban on semi-automatic, military-style weapons date back to the Montréal massacre more than 30 years ago.

Anne McLellan, then the Liberal justice minister, promised a ban on the gun used in that tragedy — the Ruger Mini 14 — as well as the notorious AR-15, but it never came to pass.

In 2005, when Liberal Leader Paul Martin promised a ban on handguns as he ran for re-election, there were about 350,000 restricted weapons in Canada. Now there are more than a million. The proliferation of handguns is partly the result of the relaxation of laws, but even more the lack of implementation of the laws that exist.

While some people are rejoicing about the new legislation, others are asking why it took so long.

The simple answer? The gun lobby. But perhaps there’s more to it than that.

More guns, more gun deaths

The evidence is clear — in industrialized countries where there are more guns, there are higher rates of firearms crime and gun-related deaths.

A comparison of Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States is instructive: While rates of homicide without guns are comparable (although the U.S. is slightly higher), rates of homicide with guns are dramatically different.

The U.K. has a rate per capita of gun homicides that is one-tenth of Canada’s. There were just 33 gun murders in the U.K. in 2019. In Canada in 2020, police reported 277 firearm homicides.

An important difference about the U.K.? It banned handguns after the Dunblane massacre in 1996 that left 16 young schoolchildren dead.

A police officer walks on the grass outside a school. Ambulances sit in the parking lot behind him.
A police officer walks on the grounds of the Dunblane Primary School in Dunblane, Scotland, after a lone gunman killed 16 children, a teacher and himself in 1996. It resulted in a ban on owning handguns in the U.K. Lynne Sladky/AP Photo

While mass shootings can occur in countries with strict laws, they occur far less frequently. The U.K. rarely sees them. Canada has about one a year. The United States had more than 600 in 2021 and has seen more than 250 this year, leaving hundreds dead and injured. In 2020, almost 20,000 Americans were murdered with guns.

Rural rates of gun violence

Despite the rhetoric about gun control being an urban or gang-related issue, Statistics Canada data shows rural rates of gun crime are higher in most provinces. Rates of domestic homicides, murders of police officers and suicide are also generally significantly higher in rural areas and the west.

Gun advocates complain that stricter gun laws punish law-abiding gun-owners. But handguns and semi-automatic military-style assault weapons are not used for hunting or by farmers for legitimate purposes.

A man wearing a mask holds a sign that reading Legal Gun Owners Are Not The Problem.
A gun owner holds a sign at a rally organized by the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights against new government gun regulations on Parliament Hill in September 2020. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

While smuggled handguns play a role in the illegal network of drugs and human trafficking, they are not the entire problem. Legal handguns are often stolen, illegally sold and diverted. Many firearms recovered in crime in Canada that have been traced back by authorities reportedly came from Canadian sources.

The firearms used in the Montréal massacre, at the Québec Islamic Centre and at Dawson College, for example, were all legally acquired.

Others, such as the 2018 Toronto Danforth mass shooting, involved guns that were stolen from legal owners.

American-style arming for self-defence is also rising in Canada. Colten Boushie’s killer, who was acquitted of murder and manslaughter, used a semi-automatic pistol. He also had two handguns he claimed were for “shooting coyotes,” not a legal purpose.

And the links between right-wing and white supremacists groups and the gun lobby are troubling.

Guarding against smugness

The gun control debate has been waged for decades, but we have reached a tipping point. Canadians shouldn’t feel smug watching the carnage unfold in the U.S., where there are almost as many guns as people and more than a third of the firearms are handguns.

Countries in the European Union, Australia, New Zealand and even Switzerland have strengthened their laws in recent years. Canada, meantime, is ranked fourth among countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in the rate of gun death.

The Supreme Court of Canada has said unequivocally that there is no American-style right to own guns in Canada, but many politicians echo gun lobby rhetoric about gun owner rights.

A red-haired woman holds up a placard with assault-style weapons on it.
Meaghan Hennegan, who was shot twice during the Dawson College shooting, holds up a board showing assault-style weapons as she joins other gun control advocates at a news conference on proposed federal gun control legislation on Parliament Hill in 2018. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Having researched gun violence and advocated for stricter laws for more than 30 years, I argue that the problem has not actually been resistance by the gun lobby and its political allies. There are fewer than 300,000 legal handgun owners in Canada and even fewer collectors of semi–automatic, military-style weapons.

The gun lobby in Canada is remarkably well-resourced and has in the past hijacked the public agenda. But for decades, most Canadians have supported a ban on semi-automatic military-style assault weapons and handguns.

Canadians need to take action

The uncomfortable truth is, however, that unless they are directly affected by gun violence or on the front lines, most Canadians do not actively lobby for gun control. The gun lobby, meantime, will put up billboards, donate to the cause, organize protests and even stalk politicians on the campaign trail.

Politicians are far more likely to hear from gun control opponents than supporters. Public meetings on gun control tend to be swarmed by the gun lobby and many politicians were targeted during the election.

While only one per cent of Canadians own handguns, handgun owners dominated consultations on gun control proposals despite polls showing clearly that the majority of Canadians support gun control.

Canadians will need to take action to ensure the new proposed laws become a reality.

Thin-skinned blue line: Police fight against defunding, showing their true colours

Written by Shiri Pasternak, Toronto Metropolitan University and Kevin Walby, University of Winnipeg. Photo credit Justin Tang/The Canadian Press. Originally published in The Conversation. 

A person holds a sign calling for to defund the police during an October 2020 protest in Ottawa after a police constable was acquitted of manslaughter in the 2016 death of a Black man, Abdirahman Abdi.

Since the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020 and the subsequent mass mobilizations for police defunding and abolition, the defund movement has continued to organize.

Has this work had an impact in Canada? Have there been successful challenges to reducing Canadian police budgets?

The answer is complicated and depends on how you define success.

Raised awareness

Some argue the mobilization and movement-building that has transpired — people brought together in campaigns for police abolition that reimagine community safety — is a huge success in and of itself. Abolition has entered the public consciousness like never before.

Dozens of books have been published by academics, lawyers and activists, building on the work of Black feminists in the United States and Canada who have long argued police perpetuate rather than reduce violence in our society.

There have been some modest successes in defunding police.

In Edmonton, city council voted to cut the 2022 police budget increase by $10.9 million and reallocate the money to social services.

In Halifax, a subcommittee of the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners has tabled a detailed and carefully researched report to city council on how the local police force could be gradually detasked and defunded.

When one looks further, however, what becomes apparent is a serious and growing counter-campaign. It’s perhaps the strongest indication of the movement’s success at undermining the sanctity of police budgets until now.

A boy holds a sign reading Police Lives Matter.
A young boy shows his support for police during a rally in Utah in September 2020. (Rick Bowmer/AP Photo)
Counter-tactics

Police have fought vigorously against the defund movement through threats and false conceits of impending violence if budgets are cut. They are co-opting calls for community safety, branding themselves as protectors in need of continuing or increased resources. They position themselves as innocent heroes under attack, and discredit those who critique them.

One strategy police use is an offensive and personal tactic of removing people from positions of influence if they support police defunding.

When Winnipeg City Coun. Sherri Rollins critiqued police racism in March 2020, an informal complaint was lodged against her by the police board alleging she lacked compliance with the city’s respectful workplace policies.

Fear-mongering

Scare tactics are another strategy.

According to their own data, only eight to 10 per cent of calls to police involve violence. Despite acknowledging that a large proportion of the calls they receive might be better managed by other kinds of workers, police maintain that reducing officers would be “naïve” and undermine community safety.

But which community is the police keeping safe? Instead of diverting funding to organizations with expertise in gender-based violence, anti-racism measures and mental health, police are demanding and receiving record funds to triage these programs themselves.

The Waterloo Region Police recently got a $12.3-million boost to run mental-health interventions while community organizations are starved through austerity and struggle to keep their doors open.

In Hamilton, Ont., activists from the Defund the Police Hamilton Coalition supported homeless people who were harassed daily by police and eventually violently evicted from their encampments.

The coalition demanded city council reallocate resources from police towards permanent housing, prioritizing the needs of the community over criminalizing homeless people. The organization’s antidote to scare tactics is to focus on prevention and the fight to protect people over property.

Police culture as social problem

Police suggest ostensible reforms, such as unconscious bias training and body cameras, as a promise to change the “culture of policing.” As criminologists have noted, such reforms increase police funding without demonstrable change, sidestepping the reality that policing is inherently violent.

With growing attention to their record of extra-judicial killings, systemic racism and harassment in their own forces and their failure to address gender-based violence, police are on the defence.

Take, for example, the aggressive response to criticism from police unions. The police brass may have to mince their words when responding to politicians and the public, but police unions often reveal their true colours.

In June 2020, the Regina Police Association defended a tweet suggesting that its cultural unit, which works with Indigenous people, would be the first to go should the police be defunded. “Choose wisely,” it threatened.

Also in June 2020, the Edmonton police chief similarly stated that defunding would harm diversity initiatives within policing. This threat to the employment of Black and Indigenous officers positioned the police as a benevolent force in the struggle for racial justice, obfuscating the colonial foundation and systemic racism of policing.

Yet the charge in Canada to defund the police is being led by Black and Indigenous leaders and is explicitly focused on racial injustice in the criminal justice system.

A Black man stands on a skateboard among people sitting on a city street during a protest.
Thousands of people protest to defund the police in support of Black Lives Matter and social injustice in Toronto in June 2020. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
What decreases harm?

The lack of “success” in police defunding is a sign of how vigorously police are fighting back, not a sign of a waning movement.

Over the past two years, police chiefs, police representatives and police unions have mobilized the public resources they have to fight against the defund movement. But an Ipsos poll found 50 per cent of Canadians under the age of 38 are interested in police defunding and abolition.

Defunding the police is not radical or irrational, contrary to what police might have the public believe.

What is radical and irrational is continuing to spend 15 to 30 per cent of municipal budgets on public policing. What is radical and irrational is continuing to use criminalization and criminal law to deal with social issues and interpersonal harms when we know that a punitive, carceral approach does not decrease harm or lead to more safety in our neighbourhhoods.

Instead, citizens need to think openly about ways to address harms in our communities and neighbourhoods and to reallocate funds from bloated police budgets to housing, mental health, addiction, employment, counselling, anti-violence education and more. Then we might truly live in a healthier, safer world.

At a time when many people are struggling to make ends meet, we must not let police tantrums get in the way of real safety and a fair share of resources for community and social development. Nor can we accept the criminalization of poverty and inequality, which is the current alibi for how public police and the whole penal system stays in business.

Collectivism — not individualism — is the path to reducing social and economic inequality

Written by Peggy Nash, Toronto Metropolitan University. Photo credit Cole Burston/The Canadian Press. Originally published in The Conversation.

Ontario Federation of Labour rallies in May called for improving workers’ rights and repairing deep inequalities that have been highlighted and deepened by the pandemic.

Last month, two large demonstrations took place in Ontario: the Rolling Thunder biker rally in Ottawa and a series of rallies across Ontario organized by the Ontario Federation of Labour.

While both aimed to appeal to the frustration and anxiety of the average working person during this period of turbulence and uncertainty, the demonstrations couldn’t have been more different.

The bike rally emphasized individual freedom over all else, arguing that social obligations, like wearing masks to protect vulnerable people from disease, restricted freedom to an unreasonable extent. The labour rallies, in contrast, called for collective action and better government standards.

The appeal of individualism

The Rolling Thunder biker rally took up where the so-called freedom convoy left off. It appealed to people’s rage and frustration and directed these emotions toward pandemic protections, and the experts and politicians who put them in place. Catharsis and disparagement were the dominant tone and few coherent goals for change were expressed.

A man holding a protest sign in a crowd of people.
A People’s Party of Canada supporter holds a sign during the convoy-style protest that participants called ‘Rolling Thunder,’ in Ottawa on April 30, 2022. Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS

There is much to be genuinely angry and scared about. Pandemic lockdowns, and the economic and social disruption they bring, are frustrating. There is still ongoing colonialismsystemic racism and sexism. Climate change is widespread and only getting worseWealth inequality is ever-growing. Young people can’t afford homes. Jobs provide less stability.

These challenges feel truly daunting. It’s not surprising that some have turned to individualistic solutions for broader social problems. Over 40 years of government policy has explicitly undermined the generosity and effectiveness of public services and our collective commitment to the common good.

We’ve been hammered with the message that there is no alternative to individual striving, and many have lost hope that something better is possible. But another way is possible, and we can look to the labour rallies as inspiration.

Collectivism is the way forward

Instead of succumbing to toxic individualism in the face of profound anger and grief, the labour protesters rallied around a clear, hopeful set of goals — a plan to improve workers’ rights and repair the deep inequalities both highlighted and deepened by the pandemic.

Among other things, the labour federation’s Workers First Agenda calls for a $20 minimum wage, affordable housing and permanent paid sick days.

This alternate path of solidarity means joining with others to provide mutual support on the premise that small individual sacrifices result in bigger collective gains that make everyone better off.

Collectivism means engaging in the difficult work of negotiating for our collective needs, which is a more complex task than simply tearing things down. It means providing people with hope, even if the answers aren’t simple.
Signs of hope in new organizing

For decades, unions in Canada have been in a holding pattern. As Statistics Canada reported recently, while the overall percentage of workers in unions has remained fairly stable at about 30 per cent since the 1990s, private sector union membership has declined significantly and now stands at 15.3 per cent.

Despite some important exceptions, most unions have not had great success with new organizing. Many have struggled to make significant progress in collective bargaining. Part of what’s needed to increase union bargaining success is building more critical mass in the private sector.

Our neighbour to the south shows us what an economy with few unions looks like. In the U.S., the percentage of workers in unions has collapsed since the 1960s, while the gap between rich and poor and a host of related social, political and economic ills have expanded.

However, there is renewed interest in union organizing. Major efforts are underway at notoriously anti-union companies like AmazonStarbucks and now Apple.

A group of people standing with their hands in the air and smiles on their faces.
Amazon Labor Union (ALU) members celebrates after an update during the voting results to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Friday, April 1, 2022, in Brooklyn borough of New York. If a majority of Amazon workers ultimately votes yes in either Staten Island or Bessemer, Ala., it would mark the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the company’s history. Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP Photo

As of this writing, 100 Starbucks locations have won certification and many more are in the middle of union drives. The historic victory of Amazon workers at a warehouse in Staten Island in early April has inspired many, although workers at a second nearby Amazon location voted against unionizing on April 25.

Union efforts are also underway at Amazon locations in Alberta, Ontario and Québec, but none have succeeded yet. A Starbucks successfully unionized in Victoria, B.C., in August 2020. More breakthroughs could reignite hope for many private sector workers in Canada.

The new face of labour

Amid all this, a new generation of labour leaders are coming to the forefront in Canada. The Canadian Labour Congress, the Ontario Federation of Labour and the Toronto and York Region Labour Council are all headed by women, reflecting the fact that 53 per cent of union members are now women.

More women and racialized people now lead central labour bodies’ executives: large unions like the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario are headed by Black women. For the first time, a woman is running for president of UNIFOR, the country’s largest private sector union.

Research shows that, when union leadership reflects the demographics of its workers, membership engagement and organizing success improve. Workers believe their interests will be better met by leaders who understand and relate to their experiences. These lessons are important if Canadian unions are to connect with workers seeking better lives.

Beyond this, workers are aware that union leaders must be able to meet the urgent calls to address the ongoing systemic racism and discrimination in schools, workplaces, unions and beyond. As community and labour researcher Maya Bhullar notes, structural injustices are often normalized in collective bargaining agreements, grievance-handling and other union processes.

In order to address these issues, union directives must reflect the needs of the racially and gender diverse communities they serve, and leaders who understand and relate to these experiences are the best ones for the job.

Imprisoned citizens face barriers to voting in Ontario

Written by Jessica Evans, Toronto Metropolitan University and Linda Mussell, University of Ottawa. Photo credit: Shutterstock. Originally published in The Conversation.

Thousands of imprisoned persons in Ontario faced barriers to voting in the June 2 provincial election. Many will also be explicitly barred from voting in the upcoming municipal elections in October.

Many Ontario citizens faced barriers to voting in the June 2 general election. In a process known as disenfranchisement by processthousands of imprisoned persons in Ontario experience obstacles to voting. Many will also be explicitly barred from voting in the upcoming municipal elections in October.

Enfranchisement refers to the rights of full citizenship, including the right to vote. Disenfranchisement, on the other hand, refers to the procedural roadblocks that prevent imprisoned people from being able to vote easily.

This is despite a 2002 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that affirmed imprisoned people have the right to vote under Section 3 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Crucially, disenfranchisement disproportionately impacts marginalized Canadians. IndigenousBlackdisabled and poor people are all imprisoned at higher rates, and are more likely to face barriers to voting because of disenfranchisement by process.

Prisoners have the right to vote

 

Scholars use the term carceral citizens to refer to people who are criminalized and face significant constraints to participating fully in social, economic and political life.

Issues that impact the general public are also issues that impact imprisoned people. As critical public policy and criminology scholars active in community work, we spoke with current and formerly imprisoned people to hear about how they experienced voting in Ontario’s prisons.

Interviewees told us the majority of imprisoned people return to their communities, so it is important for them to have a democratic voice and stake in the communities they return to.

A man in a T-shirt and sweatpants leans over a table to fill out paperwork with a pen.
Inmate Stephane Lejour casts his ballot for the federal election at the Montreal Detention Center, formerly Bordeaux jail, on Friday, June 18, 2004. All inmates in federal and provincial institutions now have the right to vote in elections. (CP PHOTO/Ryan Remiorz)

One recently released federally imprisoned person, and former chair of the inmate committee at Joyceville Institution, Kevin Belanger, shared his thoughts about why being allowed to vote is so crucial:

“I think it’s very important for us to vote … it allows guys to feel, even a little bit, a part of society, to know that their vote counts. But we really are voting with a disadvantage because we are not educated on what is going on. This is because of many parties not realizing that if they want our vote, they need to send us something so we know their positions, because if not, we’re going to be guessing.”

Another recently released federally imprisoned person, James Ruston, shared his perspective about political engagement as a prisoner:

“As a long-term prisoner, I learned to regret the lack of mindful concern for the community in my past choices. In my exile, I came to believe in the value of social relationships that inspires an inclusive respect for a nurturing and collaborative social contract. Being supported to vote, to make decisions about my community, endears me to that community.”

Barriers to voting

 

Interviewees told us there are a variety of legislative, bureaucratic and procedural issues that act as roadblocks to voting inside Ontario prisons.

Ruston said that insufficient communication from correctional facilities can prevent prisoners from even knowing how to register in the first place. Belanger said that barriers to literacy can also prevent some imprisoned people from accessing this important information.

When an election is called, a prison staff member is appointed as an election liaison. They are responsible for advertising the election and registering voters. Imprisoned people must fill out their ballots in the presence of the liaison officer, and are not permitted privacy when voting.

The final deadline for registration occurs before the deadline for the general public. Those who do not register in time are barred from voting. This happened to several women in a Kitchener correctional institution in 2018 when their elections liaison officer failed to hand out voter registration forms in time.

The outside of a correctional institution.
The Grand Valley Institution for Women in Waterloo, Ont. is shown on Thursday, May 1, 2008. The number of COVID-19 cases in prisons is rising, prompting Canada’s criminal lawyers and an inmate advocacy group to call on the federal and provincial governments to reduce the number of people in the institutions. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Geoff Robins

Those who do register still might not get to cast their votes. Seventy-seven per cent of people in provincial prisons are in remand, meaning they have not been sentenced and may be imprisoned for a short amount of time. Prisoners who have registered to vote inside prisons, but are released before the voting date, are not permitted to vote by the regular process.

In the 2015 Canadian federal election there was a 50.5 per cent turnout of imprisoned voters compared to 68 per cent in the public — and 7.5 per cent of votes from imprisoned people were rejected. By comparison, only 0.7 per cent were rejected overall in Canada.

Further, if there are any delays and special ballots do not arrive to be processed in time, they will not be counted, as happened with 205,000 ballots in the 2022 election.

Pandemic-specific barriers

 

Pandemic restrictions have resulted in a number of unique enfranchisement barriers. Since there are still active COVID-19 cases and restrictions at Ontario prisons, these barriers are ongoing.

Under the Shaping the New Normal Risk Management Framework (available through freedom of information), items are not to be shared between imprisoned people during times of COVID-19 risk.

A Canada Correctional Facilities sign for the Atlantic Institution.
Atlantic Institution is a federal maximum-security facility located in Renous, N.B. seen on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

In addition, non-profits that support prospective voters have sometimes been barred from doing their work inside prisons. This was the case in Saskatchewan for Elizabeth Fry Society staff, who were unable to enter prisons to help imprisoned people register to vote in 2020.

Though Elections Canada states prisoners cannot be denied an opportunity to vote, even for security reasons, some prisoners at the Atlantic Institution were prevented from voting in the 2019 federal election due to an institutional lockdown.

Recommendations

The majority of people in prison do not need to be there. During parts of the pandemic, the number of people imprisoned in Ontario decreased from 8,113 to 6,405.

But the number of imprisoned people in provincial jails has risen since. In addition to decreasing the number of people imprisoned, we need to do better ahead of the fast approaching municipal elections in October.

Barriers to voting in municipal elections are even worse. Ontario’s Municipal Elections Act explicitly prohibits imprisoned people from voting. This act must be amended to allow imprisoned people to vote in October.

We call on respective governments to ensure that the relevant election agencies run the vote in prisons effectively. Elections Ontario must ensure imprisoned people are provided information on their candidates, registration assistance and facilitation by Elections Ontario employees on voting day. Voting is a right; everyone should have equitable access to it.

Why Emmanuel Macron’s peace efforts with Vladimir Putin are probably pointless

Written by Deborah de Lange, Toronto Metropolitan University. Photo credit: Thibault Camus/AP Photo. Originally published in The Conversation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, listens during a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after their talks in early February 2022 in Moscow on escalating tensions with Ukraine.

On Victory Day — the May 9 commemoration of the former Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War — Russian President Vladimir Putin was expected to officially declare war on Ukraine.

However, Putin didn’t mention escalating the war in his speech. Is it any coincidence that on the same day, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, who also holds the European Union presidencydismissed or delayed the prospect of Ukraine’s membership in the EU?

Secret backroom deals are a common diplomatic tool, as I examine in my research Power and Influence: The Embeddedness of Nations. Unfortunately, because of the necessary secrecy that enables freer discussions so that agreements can be reached, it’s unlikely we’ll ever learn about a trade-off involving Ukraine joining the EU — if there was one.

My research has found evidence of reciprocity in international relations through a large analysis of data on several years of international trade, military alliances, diplomatic visits and intergovernmental organizations in terms of voting in the United Nations General Assembly.

A black and white photo of men in military uniforms at a table with documents in front of them. A Canada sign also sits in front of them.
Canadian delegates to the North Atlantic Treaty talks are seen in Paris in 1949. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The analysis found evidence of patterns of reciprocal behaviour among nations. Previously, we only knew of isolated cases of backroom bargaining after the details had been revealed. For example, the friendly North Atlantic Treaty negotiations of 1948-49 were well-documented but not made public until much later.

My research sheds light on the types of international power and influence relationships that often lead to backroom bargaining and the trading of favours.

Circumstantial evidence

In the absence of spies, whistleblowers, secret recordings or co-operative circumstances where all parties agree to document their discussions, all we can usually do is consider circumstantial evidence in cases of suspected backroom bargaining.

For example, one well-known fact is that Macron and Putin have a unique relationshipUnlike other western leaders, Macron has kept the doors of communication open and spoken several times to Putin, and travelled to Moscow prior to the war, with an aim to end Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

Two men sit far apart at opposite ends of a large, ornate white table in an ornate room with cream carpets and drapery.
Putin listens to Macron during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow three weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine — a vivid demonstration that Macron’s diplomacy efforts have been fruitless. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo/AP)

Unfortunately as it pertains to the Macron-Putin relationship, my research suggests that those who are sought out for meetings are in stronger positions than those who seek the meetings. Macron initiates most meetings and calls with Putin, but Putin is an ex-KGB agent who knows not to give anything away.

Putin does not actually engage in much dialogue with Macron. Instead, he gains information through Macron’s actions. As long as Macron continues his diplomatic efforts, Putin knows that Macron still believes that diplomatic solutions could work.

By having conversations with the EU’s president, Putin has greater potential for exerting some influence in that realm — and more time to continue his Ukrainian invasion. If Macron stops the visits and communications, my research suggests Putin may wonder if his time is running out.

Putin’s war drags on

Putin’s war has dragged on for longer than he expected, according to western intelligence. Putin might retort that all is going according to plan. But it’s undeniable that brave, resilient Ukrainians refuse to surrender regardless of Russian efforts.

For this reason, Macron may believe that Putin wants to negotiate a way out the war after so much embarrassment, exhaustion and failure. But the day after Victory Day, Russia attacked Odesa. The same day, Macron publicly pushed for an oil embargo on Russia, as if in retaliation for the betrayal in Odesa.

Prior to Victory Day, Macron initiated a call with Putin on May 3 and that’s believed to be the last time they spoke.

Putin has studied western leaders for decades through his direct interactions in international meetings. Evidently, he understands them better than they understand him. Putin has managed to set the terms of engagement, for example, by telling the West not to intervene at the very start of his invasion, and NATO has stayed out.

Ukrainian flags flutter outside a destroyed cultural centre with red painted flower decals still visible on one of the walls.
Ukrainian flags flutter outside a destroyed cultural centre in Derhachi, eastern Ukraine, on May 15, 2022. A Russian airstrike destroyed the venue. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Power and influence

In addition to examining the influence of diplomatic relations, my research also considers whether military alliances, international trade networks and common memberships in intergovernmental organizations affect the potential for reciprocity in bargaining.

First, military alliance agreements aren’t always executed as expected and consequently aren’t reliable predictors of other types of reciprocity. An example is the misplaced Ukrainian belief that the country could rely on NATO for defence because Ukraine was a potential future member that gave up nuclear weapons. Clearly, that deal didn’t pan out.

Nervousness among western states is visibly mounting as Sweden and Finland reach out to the United Kingdom for future protection, including NATO membership, but it’s unclear whether this would represent reliable insurance.

Also, more trade among countries doesn’t have much of an effect on reciprocity. Contrary to popular beliefs that trade can peacefully tie nations together, that’s hardly the case as Russia threatens European nations by cutting off gas supplies.

Russia’s biggest trading partners are China and several European countries. China’s largest trading partners, however, are the United States and several Asian nations, not Russia. Yet China has not sided with the West and Ukraine in the war, and has instead condemned western sanctions against Russia.

My research shows that countries dependent on trade with more prominent trading nations will reciprocate. The dominant trading powers don’t reciprocate, even if they have strong trade ties.

Members of the same clubs

Nations in a number of the same intergovernmental organizations, like the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development or the World Trade Organization, may also be more likely to bargain, possibly because they develop similar views.

Russia joined many of these organizations in the post-Soviet Union era, but has since been expelled from many of them.

Today, we know that Putin’s Russia holds vastly different views than the West, and that Putin is solidifying this by controlling the information provided to Russians.

The application of my research, along with Putin’s obvious desire to resurrect the Soviet era, points to the inevitable conclusion that Putin won’t end the war in Ukraine unless he’s stopped.

Any of Putin’s agreements, statements — or even a lack of statements, like in his Victory Day speech — only serve to buy more time for his invasion. In those remarks, he seems to have been purposely doing the opposite of what western media expected because his aim is unpredictability, a common war-time tactic.

A balding man in a dark suit and overcoat lays a wreath on a casket.
Putin attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier after the military parade on Victory Day on May 9, 2022. (Anton Novoderezhkin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

The evidence suggests that diplomacy is unlikely to work with Putin. The West should not delay action based on speculations about his intentions, or compromise on substantial issues for Ukraine such as joining NATO or the EU. Instead, the West should increase punitive sanctions against Russia and its associated allies, and engage in a full defensive effort against Putin and Russia.

Putin is single-mindedly moving ahead on his goals, regardless of setbacks, as promised. For now, it appears he’ll only be stopped when he runs out of resources and troops or is removed from power.

Settlement services need to improve their online offerings for tech-savvy newcomers

Written by Stein Monteiro and Nevyn Pillai, Toronto Metropolitan University. Photo credit: Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press. Originally published in The Conversation.

A Haitian family poses for a photograph after taking the oath of citizenship on Parliament Hill in 2019.

Welcoming and including newcomers is increasingly becoming an important part of creating vibrant cities.

Canadian municipalities like Toronto, London, Winnipeg and Halton Region open their doors to a large number of newcomers.

These communities recognize the importance of digital initiatives like welcome portals, pre-arrival services, web/mobile phone applications and online newcomer guides in creating a welcoming environment. The mobility restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the need for these online services and has even spurred digital adoption among migrants themselves.

Settlement agencies, however, still have work to do to ensure they’re offering enough online services to newcomers, including using online channels to communicate with them before they arrive in Canada.

Digital divide

Make no mistake — some newcomers may be excluded because of pre-existing inequalities in access to internet services or devices in their home countries. Demographics will determine whether they have access to digital services.

Those include age (young people use the internet more often than older generations), gender, location (including whether they come from places in their home country with poor internet service or expensive or absent broadband services), household wealth, education levels and migration status (some refugees and asylum-seekers depend on internet service and social media platforms to navigate the journey between home and host country).

This is known as the digital divide. For host countries like Canada, unequal access to digital services means another layer of inequality that must also be addressed by settlement services. Failure to do so could further exacerbate what’s known as digital poverty.

Newcomers who do go online must be skilled enough to navigate various platforms, persistent misinformation and hate speech on social media.

This requires them to obtain vital and accurate information. They can and do. Refugee youth from the Middle East and East Africa, for example, use various platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat and Viber before and after coming to Canada to communicate and get information.

Similar examples are found among immigrants from Bangladeshrefugees from Syria and the Tamil diaspora.

A 2018 report found that newcomers who used pre-arrival settlement services were more informed about where to go to find more information after they arrive, they knew how to get their professional credentials evaluated and they had an overall better understanding of Canadian workplace culture.

They also actively looked for work, while some enrolled in further education to upgrade their skills.

The hands of a person are seen holding a small Canadian flag.
A young new Canadian holds a flag as she takes part in a citizenship ceremony on Parliament Hill in 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/A young new Canadian holds a flag as she takes part in a citizenship ceremony on Parliament Hill in 2019. Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS

New tech transformation

Before coming to Canada, migrants often have limited sources of information about life here, relying mostly on their social networks.

Technology allows potential newcomers — with the assistance of friends and family on social media — to make informed migration decisions and improve their search for job market information.

Even before the pandemic, 67 per cent of newcomers to Canada were using social media, similar to Canadian-born usage rates (68 per cent).

Newcomers were mainly using it to learn English, get local news, learn about the Canadian cultureconnect with family and friends, find job market information and for further education opportunities.

Nonetheless there can be some negative impacts on newcomer integration due to social media, meaning there’s a role for newcomer settlement service agencies to build greater trust into virtual spaces.

Some platforms can potentially inhibit integration if they limit interactions with local citizens. Chinese immigrants using WeChat, for example, interact a lot more with other Chinese immigrants and much less with Canadian-born citizens. This can delay how newcomers learn about Canadian social practices.

Social media can also create privacy and security challenges for newcomers that leave them vulnerable to fraud, identity theft and misinformation.

Searching for settlement services

Settlement agencies don’t just deliver services to newcomers. They also identify the best possible channels to reach them and provide them with the necessary information to make settlement in Canada a seamless process.

But a 2021 study found that although newcomers were using the internet for many things, few were using it to look for settlement services. There’s still a gap when it comes to helping newcomers with better targeted online services.

The federal government is investing in pre-arrival settlement service delivery so that newcomers are prepared for life in Canada.

There are currently 147 active settlement program initiatives being funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. These projects are valued at over $250 million, with a goal of finding new ways of delivering services to newcomers.

About 45 per cent of these funds went towards 17 pre-arrival settlement service initiatives that virtually prepare newcomers for life in Canada. The initiatives provide employment-related services, orientation services, needs assessment and referral services.

Pre-arrival initiatives have seen success in digital learningcounselling and community-building, including tackling xenophobia and misinformationskills training and starting an online business.

A woman in a white hijab adjusts the settings of her smartphone while capturing an image of a man with dark hair.
A woman adjusts the settings of her smartphone while capturing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during his address to members of the Muslim community in Cambridge, Ont., in April 2022. Peter Power/THE CANADIAN PRESS

The initiative taken by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and local governments are in step with the embrace of digital technologies and the internet among newcomer communities and the demand for more pre-arrival information.

But more must be done to increase awareness among newcomers about the services provided by settlement agencies.

This is an area of focus for the project Virtual Bridge, which aims to provide research and tools for settlement service agencies to improve their online communications and service delivery. Given the technological aptitude of so many newcomers to Canada, online outreach and services are critical to ensuring their successful resettlement.

How prisons are using COVID-19 containment measures as a guise for torture

Written by Jessica Evans, Toronto Metropolitan University; Linda Mussell, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa . Photo credit:  THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg. Originally published in The Conversation.

An inmate can be seen inside a segregation cell at the Collins Bay Institution in Kingston, Ont., in 2016.The Conversation

Newly reported data shows that torture continues in federal prison segregation units. It’s an ongoing feature of Ontario provincial jails too.

As critical criminology and policy scholars, we publish widely on issues of confinement and are active in community advocacy. We have heard about these practices from prisoners, recently released prisoners and via documents obtained through freedom-of-information requests. Despite changes to policy, lengthy segregation practices in prisons continue and have evolved amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our analysis shows that the frequency and length of isolation practices have increased during the pandemic and have received little critical oversight because they’re framed as containment measures.

Long confinement is torture

Solitary confinement that lasts longer than 15 days and/or without at least four hours out of cells and two hours of meaningful human contact per day, is defined as torture by the United Nations.

In 2019, the federal government abolished solitary confinement, and replaced it with a new practice called “structured intervention units,” or SIUs. Among the changes, SIUs are supposed to limit segregation to 15 days.

That same year, the Ontario government amended its regulations limiting segregation to 15 days and requiring an assistant deputy minister to review segregation placements.

An amendment to the province’s Correctional Services and Reintegration Act with additional changes was passed by the Liberal government in 2018, but not acclaimed by the current Conservative government.

Human rights concerns

The Ontario Human Rights Commission raised concerns about segregation in a recent report following a tour of the Toronto South Detention Centre in 2020.

The report found routine use of isolation in ways that “raise serious human rights concerns.” In April 2020, Superior Court Justice Paul Perell awarded $30 million in damages, ruling the province had been “systemically and routinely” negligent in running solitary confinement.

In August 2020, the Ontario Human Rights Commission filed a motion with the Human Rights Tribunal for an order to hold the province accountable for failing to meet its legal obligations to keep people with mental health disabilities out of segregation.

A small darkened cell with a small window, a narrow cot and a toilet.
A segregation cell at the Toronto South Detention Centre in 2013. Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette.

Interviews with prisoners

The data we’ve collected through prisoner interviews and via freedom-of-information requests show four forms of forced isolation are being abused in ways that approach or meet the UN definition of torture.

Primary among these are lockdowns (all prisoners isolating to cells), COVID-19 quarantines (14-day intake isolation), droplet precautions (isolating to cells/ranges due to a suspected COVID-19 infection) and structured intervention/segregation (isolation in a specialized unit).

Some interviewees reported spending 28 consecutive days in forced isolation, without daily time outside of their cells. People had their isolation clocks restarted when moved from a provincial to federal institution or if someone new was moved into their cell/unit.

In the words of one interviewee:

“Going for 14 days of quarantine in provincial and then immediately 14 days in federal … was pretty rough, you know. I’ve done a lot of hole [solitary] time before, but it seems that this was even harder.”

Data shared by Ontario’s solicitor general following our freedom-of-information requests show there were 380 full and partial lockdowns in Ontario jails from January to August 2020. People were confined to cells with next to no time out for phone calls, showers or fresh air.

As of Nov. 30, 2020, there were 132 people in Ontario custody who had spent more than 60 days in segregation over the year. Of those in segregation, 30 had mental health alerts on their files.

Between July 2018 and June 2019, the Ontario Human Rights Commission reported more than 12,000 people were placed in segregation in Ontario, and 46 per cent of them had mental health issues.

Risk management

Our analysis shows that throughout the pandemic, tortuous segregation has been normalized as “risk management” in the absence of external accountability.

Risk assessment during the pandemic extends pre-existing institutional culture, including the use of 20 risk assessment tools that establish ratings such as security classifications and reintegration scores, and experiences of occupational risk among staff. Prisons are already seen as risky places by management, staff and confined people; COVID-19 has added to those perceptions.

Research suggests that solitary confinement is a prisoner management strategy used to reduce threats to institutional order and safety. The COVID-19 crisis has provided an opportunity for further repressive measures.

Risk management has meant continuously restricting prisoners rather than embracing community alternatives and discretionary release. This is despite health experts and scholars exposing the impossibility of physical distancing in prisons.

Risk communication has been heavily restricted, with controlled messages aimed at establishing a crisis narrative.

But the public and stakeholders can inform policy through critique. Prisons are sensitive to criticisms given the need to legitimize practices of control.

Dismantled oversight

In 2021, the Ontario government quietly dismantled all 10 Community Advisory Boards established in 2013 to provide independent oversight of the province’s jails. Before that, board members were able to enter local jails at any time to provide immediate community oversight and transparency.

These boards were responsible for producing annual reports and recommendations on jail conditions.

Community advocates and agencies, along with opposition parties, have called for the reinstatement of these advisory boards. As the Ontario provincial election approaches, issues of segregation and torture in the province’s jails should become a campaign issue.

A small exercise yard with cinder wall and the sun shining from above through caging.
An exercise yard for the segregation unit at Collins Bay Institution in Kingston, Ont., in 2016. Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg.

Change is needed

The normalization of torturous isolation is likely to continue without adequate external oversight and accountability.

We call for the reinstatement of Ontario community advisory boards and demand the Ontario government acclaim the Correctional Services and Reintegration Act. The act aligns the definition of segregation with international standards, phasing in time limits and barring segregation for pregnant or mentally ill people.

More than 70 per cent of people in prison have not even been convicted of any crimes. We call for a return to releasing prisoners as occurred in the early days of the pandemic.

The use of isolation inside Ontario prisons is either close to torture or amounts to torture and can have long-term effects.

Summing up the link between isolation and suffering, one person we interviewed noted:

“Even if you are only in there for the two weeks and make bail, you’re going to be coming out with some serious issues.”

Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee comes amid her declining health, royal backlash and a colonial reckoning

Written by Catherine Ellis, Ryerson University. Photo credit: AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali. Originally published in The Conversation.The Conversation

The screen in Piccadilly Circus is lit to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne.

A platinum jubilee is unprecedented for the British Royal Family. While historic, this year’s celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne comes at an awkward time for the monarch.

It coincides with concerns about her declining health, ongoing campaigns to remove the Queen as head of state, controversy over Prince Andrew’s return to the public eye and calls for the Royal Family to apologize for its role in colonialism and slavery.

But this is not the Queen’s first annus horribilis (horrible year) and she has proven adept at coming back from low points.

Jubilees are critical to renewing the Royal Family’s relationship with the British people. They simultaneously reinforce the separation of the monarch from her subjects and attempt to integrate the monarchy into everyday life.

A history of royal jubilees

Queen Victoria’s first 25 years on the throne were not celebrated with a jubilee because she was mourning the death of her husband, Prince Albert. In 1887, however, Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee was an ambitious event that set the tone for future celebrations.

Her Golden Jubilee reinforced Britain’s imperial status with visits from colonial dignitaries, an elaborate procession through London and celebratory events across the British Empire.

Queen Victoria was in poor health when it was time for her Diamond Jubilee in 1897 but the celebrations were still elaborate and emphasized the Queen’s role as “mother” of the British Empire.

A black and white image of a parade.
Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee procession in London on June 22, 1897. Photo credit: CP PHOTO/National Archives of Canada, C-028727.

Britain’s first Silver Jubilee honoured King George V in 1935 and provided a model for current celebrations. His reign was marked with a month of royal addresses, religious services, a procession through London and festivities throughout the British Empire and Commonwealth.

In the midst of the Great Depression, the jubilee attracted some criticism, but was considered a great success overall — both a welcome distraction and reinforcement of Britain’s global reach.

As Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee approached in 1977, there were questions about the wisdom of celebrating the monarchy during a period of economic crisis, growing nationalism in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and significantly reduced global power for Britain.

The Silver Jubilee proceeded nonetheless with a calendar of events that emphasized tradition and unity, both at home and abroad. The Queen travelled to all parts of the United Kingdom, including a risky trip to Northern Ireland, and visited every country of which she was head of state.

“Jubilee Week” featured the lighting of a symbolic chain of bonfires across Britain, a royal boat trip on the river Thames and thousands of street parties. It demonstrated the capacity of a jubilee to redirect public attention to the stability and legitimacy of the monarchy.

A man bows and puts out a hand.
Queen Elizabeth is greeted by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien as she arrives on Parliament Hill during her Golden Jubilee. Photo credit: CP PHOTO/Tom Hanson.

Modern royal jubilees

Recent royal jubilees have shifted from an emphasis on tradition to more community-focused events. In 2002, the Golden Jubilee was an opportunity for the Queen to thank her people for “their support and loyalty over her reign” after widespread criticism of the Royal Family’s response to the death of Diana, the Princess of Wales.

The Queen reprised her travels throughout the U.K. and many parts of the former British Empire as millions turned out for a “Jubilee Weekend.” The Queen also showed her willingness to modernize and connect with the public by hosting a “Party at the Palace” pop concert, which was watched by over 200 million people worldwide and has become a fixture in subsequent jubilees.

Despite predictions that the Golden Jubilee would fail due to declining public support for the monarchy, the success of the celebrations could not be denied. A decade later, a similar combination of tradition and innovation for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee pushed her public approval ratings to a new high.

As the Queen approaches her 96th birthday and undertakes only “light duties,” it will be difficult to replicate such celebrations with the Platinum Jubilee.

A crowd swarms a car as two people stand in through the sun roof waving.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip wave to thousands of people in Stormont estate, Belfast, Northern Ireland, to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Photo credit: AP Photo/Peter Morrison.

This year’s jubilee

The Queen’s personal popularity remains high, but support for the monarchy is waning both in Britain and the Commonwealth.

The challenge for this year’s jubilee is to promote respect for the Queen’s unique status, while also building public support for her successors — so far, the signs are not positive.

Prince William’s recent tour of the Caribbean was received much more critically than his grandmother’s earlier visits. Commonwealth countries, such as Canada, have replaced large-scale jubilee celebrations with DIY resources and grassroots events, while the Jamaican government has refused to celebrate, citing the jubilee as a symbol of colonialism and oppression.

William acknowledged that his tour had “brought into sharper focus questions about the past and the future” but this year’s calendar of events doesn’t suggest a reckoning with Britain’s colonial past, no matter how necessary.

Instead, Platinum Jubilee celebrations will draw on many of the traditions that have bolstered support for monarchs since the early 1800s: the lighting of beacons, the presentation of Jubilee medals, a festive Jubilee Weekend and the Platinum Pageant.

New and old will also come together in more community-oriented events, such as the Big Jubilee Lunch, the Queen’s Green Canopy and the Platinum Pudding Competition.

This combination of tradition and novelty has served the Queen well in past jubilees. It could succeed again.

Ukraine war highlights the Canadian military’s urgent need for a lifeline

Written by Andrea Riccardo Migone, Ryerson University; Alexander Howlett, Ryerson University. Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck. Originally published in The Conversation.The Conversation

A crew member throws a line ashore as the Royal Canadian Navy’s newest Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship, HMCS Harry DeWolf, docks in Victoria after arriving from Vancouver in October 2021.

The Liberals have ignored the historic opportunity the war in Ukraine is presenting Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand to revitalize Canada’s military.

The $8 billion in additional funding announced for defence as part of the 2022 federal budget doesn’t come close to resolving the military’s funding crisis, let alone meet NATO’s two per cent funding minimum.

Beefing up the Canadian Armed Forces has supposedly been a government priority since Paul Martin’s government in the early 2000s. After a decade of Conservative under-spending, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government promised $164 billion over 20 years to finance the Armed Forces’ nearly 350 various projects.

Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux, however, recently estimated that more money is needed annually to meet this capital expenditure target above the $24.3 billion currently being spent each year.

Given the war in eastern Europe, defence and security are taking on a new urgency.

The Canadian Surface Combatant project, meant to replace Canada’s aging Halifax-class frigates, is expected to cost $77.3 billion for 15 ships, according to the latest Parliamentary Budget Office report.

A man walks past a large component of a ship inside a shipbuilding facility.
The president of Irving Shipbuilding leads a tour as workers construct components of Arctic offshore patrol ships at their facility in Halifax in March 2016. The company is the shipbuilder and prime contractor for the Canadian Surface Combatant program. Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan.

Subs need replacements

The joint support ships needed to sustain those warships are expected to cost another $4.1 billion, and the aging Victoria-class submarines will also need to be replaced. There’s also the cost of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s F-35 fighters, estimated at between $15 billion and $20 billion for 88 jets.

The Army, with generally lower-cost capital expenses, has forces deployed in support of NATO in the Baltics and has been training Ukrainian armed forces. But its stockpiles of weapons and equipment have been depleted by transfers to the Ukrainian army.

A report on Canadian Armed Forces personnel training Ukrainians. (CBC News)

Furthermore, the services are reportedly undermanned by nearly 7,500 service members.

While consistently under-funding the military, the Liberals have been fixated on internal issues such as the crackdown on sexual misconduct in the Armed Forces, increasing the recruitment of women and cosmetic changes such as introducing a new dress code.

Time is of the essence

Even Anand, the former procurement minister, has stated in the wake of the Russian invasion that the Canadian government must move quickly to build up the military.

A dark-haired woman in a blue jacket sits in front of Canadian flags.
Defence Minister Anita Anand holds a news conference in Ottawa. Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick.

That includes increasing funding, modernizing Canada’s contribution to the NORAD aerospace defence network and increasing the commitment to NATO collective defence.

The recent Liberal-NDP coalition agreement supposedly included plans for “aggressive options” to improve defence spending, but the $8 billion promised by the Liberals was underwhelming in this regard.

The Conservatives aren’t likely to make any difference. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, in power from 2006 to 2015, prioritized national sovereignty as a defence goal, but this was at the expense of delivering on Canada’s collective defence commitments.

Fears of ‘militarist’ mentality

The Navy, for its part, has emphasized these commitments, as has the Air Force. Concerns about “fifth-generation” aircraft, capable of fulfilling both NATO and NORAD requirements, however, clash with current public perceptions that procuring new fighters represents a militarist mentality.

Canada, however, cannot meet its international commitments, including humanitarian and peacekeeping missions, without new equipment.

Why have Canadian governments so significantly disregarded defence spending for so long? The blame must be shared between the proponents of the national sovereignty focus and the industrial benefits system built into Canada’s procurement process. The policy requires companies awarded defence procurement contracts to undertake business activities in Canada equal to the value of the contract.

The F-35s, for example, on which $613 million has been directly spent since 1997, have generated more than $2 billion in various contracts for Canadian firms despite the fact that no fighters have yet been delivered.

Furthermore, Canada has already sunk $2 billion into the enormous Canadian Surface Combatant project, again, without delivering a single warship. And so far, the Royal Canadian Navy has received only two of the eight Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships it ordered, with two others intended for the Coast Guard — now reported to cost $1.5 billion for two ships, inexplicably double the cost of the Navy’s own patrol ships.

The centre block of a future patrol ship is seen outside a shipbuilding facility that says Halifax shipyard.
The centre block of the future HMCS Max Bernays is moved from the fabrication building to dockside at the Irving Shipbuilding facility in Halifax in January 2021. The vessel is Canada’s third Arctic Offshore and Patrol Ship being built for the Royal Canadian Navy. Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan.

Billions in ‘industrial benefits’

Industrial benefits stemming from the patrol ships program are expected to reach $3.1 billion. Additionally, the Coast Guard’s new heavy icebreakers are expected to cost $7.25 billion for two ships, whereas the original cost was $1.3 billion for one ship.

The alternative to this incessant defence overspending and under-delivering is buying platforms “off the shelf” and modifying them for Canadian use.

The Canadian government hasn’t always rejected this approach. The MV Asterix supply ship is a notable example: the German-built container ship was converted on schedule at the Davie shipyard in Québec between 2015 and 2017, and has since operated on budget.

A navy supply ship is seen docked in a harbour, grasses and shrubs in the foreground.
MV Asterisk, the Royal Canadian Navy’s supply ship, is seen in the harbour in Halifax in January 2018. Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan.

Modified off-the-shelf purchases have also been used by the Air Force, as was the case with the C-17 and C-130J transport aircraft.

Deal rejected

Interestingly, in 2017, the Fincentari-Naval Group, an Italian-French consortium, offered to build 15 frigates based on its export-oriented warship design for no more than $30 billion to fulfil the Canadian Surface Combatant program’s requirements. Three of the ships were to be built in Europe.

The deal was rejected by the Liberals on the grounds that it was outside the parameters of the bidding process, meaning it wouldn’t meet the industrial benefits requirements.

Given the urgent need to rejuvenate Canada’s role as an international partner in the collective security system in the aftermath of the Ukraine war, continuing to dream of Canadian defence self-sufficiency through industrial benefits is a fantasy.

That’s clearly demonstrated by the inability of both Liberal and Conservative governments to appropriately fund defence and revitalize Canada’s crumbling military.

Jada Pinkett Smith and Black women’s hair: History of disrespect leads to the CROWN Act

Written by Cheryl Thompson, Ryerson University. Photo credit: AP/Noah Berger. Originally published in The Conversation.

Black women have been fighting for decades for the right to wear their natural hair. Here Jada Pinkett Smith arrives at the premiere of ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ on Dec. 18, 2021, in San Francisco.

The fallout from “the slap” at this year’s Oscars continues. Last week, Will Smith resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, after the academy issued a statement condemning Smith’s actions.

There have been innumerable media stories about “the slap,” including an episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient. “The joke,” however, has received less attention. “Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2 can’t wait to see you,” is what Rock said to Jada Pinkett Smith and the Oscar night audience before Smith got up and slapped him.

G.I. Jane is a 1997 fictional drama starring Demi Moore about the first woman to undergo training in the United States Navy Seals. Moore’s “feminine” character, Jane O’Neil, is chosen by a female politician attempting to make a point in her battle against the inherent sexism in the military. To “keep hanging,” O’Neil “divests herself of any trace of femininity” and shaves her head.

Although a shaven head for a woman should not signify anything but a style choice, Pinkett Smith’s shaven head is also due to alopecia. In 2021, she shared a video on Instagram explaining the disorder.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYB7dMppvjk/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=69da8ee5-d9e8-477a-84a1-6b711b2c937d

Regardless of the reasons for Pinkett Smith’s hairstyle, Rock’s joke was yet another jab at a Black woman’s hair. We Black women have learned to love our hair, despite a wider culture that has, historically, not accepted its diversity.

In fact, Black women have been fighting the court system for 40 years to get protection from hair discrimination.

Alopecia disproportionately affects Black women

In my 2019 book, Beauty in a Box I examined the dermatological research on hair loss. Two U.S. studies, from 2009 and 2017, found that central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA) is often underdiagnosed; some estimates report that 17 per cent of Black women have this condition.

Some of the reasons why Black women are more adversely affected by CCCA are due to tight braiding hairstyles, long-term use of hair weaves, lace-front wigs and chemical relaxers.

While Rock might not have known of Pinkett Smith’s alopecia, in his 2009 documentary Good Hair he spoke to Black women about their hair, especially about chemical relaxers.

Good Hair was a successful film for Rock, but that does not mean he grew from the project.

Black hair discrimination and the CROWN Act

Glamour’s September 2020 cover story was dedicated to six Black women who endured discrimination at work because of their hair. The feature explained how curly, “kinky” or big hair carries meaning for Black women.

For example, a messy topknot is considered chic on a white woman, while a Black woman with natural hair such as large Afro or locs would be considered unkempt and has led to workplace reprimand.

On March 18, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the CROWN Act, banning hair discrimination at private places of work, federal programs and public accommodations. CROWN stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.

A 2019 Dove study found that Black women were 80 per cent more likely to feel pressure to change their hairstyles to fit in at the office. Black women were also 83 per cent more likely to report being judged on her looks than other women.

‘Subjects of Desire’ by Jennifer Holeness delves into issues of race, power and beauty.

The CROWN Act is not yet an official law. Despite President Joe Biden expressing strong support for the bill, there may not be enough votes to pass it.

Rogers vs. American Airlines

In 1981, American Airlines fired ticket agent Renee Rogers for wearing cornrows. She filed a discrimination suit challenging the airline’s policy prohibiting employees from wearing an all-braided hairstyle, claiming that such a policy violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and discriminated against her as a woman, and also as a Black person.

Legal scholar Paulette Cladwell explained how and why the U.S. Federal District Court of New York rejected Rogers’s claim that the style evoked her African heritage.

The court said her hairstyle was a result of having seen the 1979 film 10, starring Bo Derek who makes an appearance wearing long braids with beads at the ends. It became known as the “Bo Derek defence.” Rogers vs. American Airlines was a landmark case because it set a precedent that sanctioned the firing of Black women on the basis of their hair.

In 2016, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Catastrophe Management Solutions (CMS) for firing Chastity Jones, a Black woman, because she wore her hair in locs. The lawsuit shared much in common with Rogers vs. American Airlines. Lawyers for Jones also argued that her termination was in violation of the Civil Rights Act.

The court of appeals ruled that CMS’s “race-neutral grooming policy” was not discriminatory because while hairstyles are “culturally associated with race” they are “not immutable physical characteristics.” The court ruled that a hairstyle might be closely associated with one’s culture but because it is changeable, it is not protectable under the law and an employer is within its rights to use it as a reason to deny employment.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown smiles.
Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson smiles in Washington on March 31, 2022. Photo credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite.

Hair has also come up in discussions on Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings because the legal profession has often discouraged natural hairdos. In 2007, an editor from Glamour in a “do’s and don’ts” fashion event at a New York law firm called locs “truly dreadful.”

Why Black hair jokes aren’t funny

When Black women are in legal and cultural battles for the right to wear their hair as they choose, jokes about our hair just aren’t funny. The straight hair standard of beauty has been called toxic not only to Black women but women in general for the ways it valorizes white, western beauty ideals.

One may argue that public figures should be open to criticism. For example, United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson often shows up with his hair in disarray which gets poked fun at by media. The difference is that there is no threat to his livelihood.

Until Black women can wear their hair how they want without risk of ridicule, reprimand or termination, a joke targeting Black hair is no laughing matter.