Rick Hillier named Chancellor of Memorial University?

Rick Hillier has just been named the Chancellor of Memorial University in Newfoundland. It is hard to fathom bestowing such an honour on a man who is ultimately responsible for the deaths of 83 Canadian soldiers and countless Afghani civilians. He also must take some responsibility for the deteriorating mental states of hundreds of soldiers and for the transformation of Canada’s Military role from peacekeeping into a force for imperial occupation of sovereign foreign states.

As Chancellor, Hillier will congratulate students as they walk across the stage at convocation. Many students will now be put in the awkward position of shaking hands with a man whose former job was to kill people.

And this isn’t hyperbole. Hillier’s words are used by enemies and supporters alike:

"These are detestable murderers and scumbags. They detest our freedoms, they detest our society, they detest our liberties." -- Hillier on July 14, 2005, on Osama bin Laden and Islamist terrorists in general.

He added:

"We're not the public service of Canada. We're not just another department. We are the Canadian Forces, and our job is to be able to kill people."

With such a narrow-minded analysis, it’s hard to see what he could possibly contribute to any academic institution.

When one considers the increased level of military recruitment on campuses, perhaps Hillier’s appointment is more understandable. His approach to expanding the Canadian Military has been marked by a rise in advertising in student newspapers and inside bathroom stalls. The expanded campus military recruitment as the war on Afghanistan presses on is undeniable and Hillier's appointment as MUN Chancellor is just one more step toward the university-military industrial complex, which we continue to monitor.

After paying massive tuition fees and going so far into debt, it will be the ultimate insult for convocating students to be congratulated with a shake of Hillier's right hand while he is passing out job applications for the military with his left.

Police to set up shop within high schools

It was reported today in the Toronto Star that steps are being taken to bring police into many of Toronto's high schools, in a low-key, dressed-down capacity. John Campbell, Toronto District School Board (TDSB) chair said that this would only mean “guys in blue slacks and golf shirts meeting with kids.” The move to physically introduce a police presence into schools is in response to a report on school safety commissioned by the TDSB that called for "positive police interactions with students".

Immediately after the story was uploaded to the Toronto Star's website people began, and continue, posting comments, many in disagreement with this move. Despite earlier assurances of dressed down police occupying inner city schools there was subsequently a response from Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, that affirmed that police will, in fact, be in uniform and armed.

This past weekend, representatives of the Ryerson Free Press attended the Allied Media Conference in Detroit. One of the workshops focused on a partnership between high school students from Brooklyn and youth in Palestine. The students from Brooklyn identified with those in Palestine because of similar experiences of repression from the police state.

While the students recognized that the oppression of an occupying force is somewhat different from state repression, many of the students talked about how heavy police presence negatively affects their education. They talked about dealing with daily backpack searches, metal detectors and a police force that is outwardly racist and aggressive toward students. Other students from Detroit and Chicago chimed in and agreed that they too face similar experiences.

The TDSB’s weak efforts will likely not be enough to quell Torontonians’ legitimate concerns that establishing police outposts in Toronto schools is the first step toward United States-style school lock-downs. At best, this move sends a message to Toronto’s students that their schools have decided to monitor them, rather than giving them the opportunity to empower themselves.

It is time that the provincial and federal governments step up and provide the resources necessary to combat youth crime. This should be done, not through more security, but through programs that can engage and empower youth, with curricula that reflect students' realities, by elimination of the Safe-Schools Act and by addressing the real issues of poverty. A greater police presence may make the TDSB and Toronto Police feel better, but the long-term impact on students themselves is the most important consideration when opposing this policy.

Conservative Government Attacks Yet Another Oppressed Nation

The Canadian government is no stranger to colonialism. Recently, it has been oscillating wildly on the issue, from acknowledgment of its own past wrong-doings to its unilateral support for occupying powers in racially motivated conflicts overseas. The latest move came last Tuesday, when Stockwell Day entrenched the Conservative government’s anti-Tamil slant by adding the World Tamil Movement to its terrorist financing list, forcing Canadian institutions to freeze its assets.

The WTM denies any funding links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and says it will fight the terrorist designation. Shortly thereafter, the Canadian Tamil Congress responded to the announcement in a press release reminding Canadians that the conflict in Sri Lanka is a complicated situation which requires an even-handed approach.

Few places in the world have known such a long history of colonialism, race-related civil conflict, and poverty. Since the British relinquished control of the island in 1948, severe clashes between the largely Buddhist Sinhalese (approximately 75% of the population) and the Sri Lankan Tamils have gripped Sri Lanka. The Tamils were on the wrong end of Sinhalese-inspired language and cultural reform policy, differential university entrance requirements, and anti-Tamil mob attacks. In response, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or “the Tamil Tigers” were formed, and began to fight for separate nation. The ongoing violence on the island has lead many to call Sri Lanka “India's fallen tear".

Canada is home to the largest population of Tamils outside of South East Asia. With over 300,000 Tamils living in Canada, most of them in Toronto, it is surprising that the federal government has named the WTM as a terrorist organization, thereby decisively choosing what is considered by many, an anti-Tamil position. The move to designate the WTM came just days after a Toronto-area university student, who was incidentally Tamil, was arrested in Sri Lanka for possession of an infrared heat detector, CDs, and mechanical grease.

If Canadians are keen to shed the image of oppressor and colonizer, their government would do well, at the very least, to be more balanced in its approach to international civil conflicts.

We obviously spoke too soon

A few weeks ago, we had speculated that perhaps Dion had found some backbone to stand up to the Conservatives. When they didn’t show up last Monday to vote against Bill C-50, it was confirmed for us that, indeed, the Liberals are lacking in moral fiber.

Despite Dion’s public opposition, Bill C-50, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, quietly passed on June 9, with only 12 Liberal MPs showing up. Bill C-50 provides sweeping changes to the Immigration Act that many organisations, including those which engage in immigration advocacy, have opposed. One of the changes would allow Diane Finley sweeping powers over who immigrates to Canada.

According to the Canadian Council for Refugees, the amendments to the bill eliminate the right to have applications based on humanitarian and compassionate reasons considered.

The Liberals’ tendency of saying one thing and doing another (or not doing anything to stop it) is getting old. They said to the CBC that the immigration amendments are an affront to Canadian values and suggested they will overturn the legislation if they win the next election. But they obviously don’t have the backbone to actually stand up against something that they see as an affront to Canadian values.

This has to change soon. Canadians cannot put up with a Liberal party that is all-talk too much longer, especially when the impact of immigration reform will likely negatively impact so many people. The Liberal party’s establishment should be embarrassed for how it uses important social issues to try and jockey their way into power, or to avoid an election.

We live in a democracy. If the majority of the people who are elected disagree with an issue, and they vote against, some semblance of democracy has occurred. If the majority of members oppose it, and it passes because dozens of members don’t show up for work, democracy is spat upon.

Despite all the faults of the conservative party, they at least walk the talk they talk. The Liberals could be replaced by an army of foam men (and a few foam women) and we’d likely never know the difference. That’s disgraceful.

[Side-Note: There were a number of other issues addressed in Bill C-50, unrelated to immigration. One was the follow-through of the dissolution of the Millennium Scholarship Foundation. It’s being replaced with $250 million for the new Canadian Students Grants Programme.]

Canada: a colonial power

The latest issue of the Ryerson Free Press contains a number of themes. One of them is Palestine at 60 years of Occupation. Over the course of the past few months, there have been celebrations staged by pro-Israel organisations and Nakba commemorations by the occupied and their supporters.

Recently, much of the international news coverage about Palestine has centred on the hundreds of students who have been stopped from leaving the country by a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt.

While seven students on Fullbright scholarships were able to leave from the intercession of Condoleeza Rice, the Associated Press reports that hundreds of other students wont likely be as lucky and could have lost their shot at an education.

Opponents to the occupation of Palestine have a gamut of issues to choose from when engaging in advocacy. However, there may be no more unifying issue on which to focus than education. And, indeed it is an issue that needs international attention and pressure. The Right to Education Campaign, a campaign from Birzeit University in Palestine, says “Israel's systematic obstruction of education in the West Bank and Gaza Strip not only violates the human rights of individuals, it is an attack on the development of Palestinian society as a whole.”

Here are some statistics from the Right to Education Campaign:

349 students have been incarcerated from Birzeit University since Nov 2003
87 are currently incarcerated, 35 of whom are yet to be found guilty of a criminal act
52 have been sentenced
19 are awaiting trial (plus 5 released on bail)
10 are in Administrative Detention (a system of incarceration without charge, currently a student has been imprisoned for 3 years under this system)
6 are under interrogation

In December 2007, the head of Birzeit University's Student Council was charged with belonging to an 'illegal organization' and 'holding a position of responsibility' within this organization. He is currently held in Ofer prison, and will be incarcerated for at least 1 yr on what is a legalistic means to punish young Palestinians engaged in political activity.

3 Faculty members were jailed by the Israeli army between December 2007 and March 2008 from An-Najah National University in Nablus.

Currently incarcerated from An-Najah:
- 6 staff
- 1 security guard
- About 80 students

After the closing of Rafah crossing in June 2007, 722 Palestinian university students studying abroad were trapped in Gaza - about 30 study in US universities, and 10 in the UK. Another 2,000 students enrolled in foreign schools were also trapped. They are a part of the 7,500 Gazans who need permission to continue their work, education or medical treatment outside of Gaza. In January 2008, there were still 625 Gaza students trapped in Gaza and unable to continue their studies.

Jesse Rosenfeld, a reporter based in Ramallah, wrote in yesterday's The Dominion a piece reminding its readers that the Harper government removed Israel from its list of countries suspected of using torture last January. Israel was removed at the same time as the United States. Amnesty International Canada was “disappointed that Canada would take countries off the list for diplomatic reasons”. Of course, tales of torture committed by both the US and Israel are relatively easy to locate.

Tomorrow, the Canadian government is publicly apologizing for its involvement in establishing the residential school system, in conjunction with various religious groups. Canada’s residential school system was created to assimilate the Indigenous population and it left a legacy of abuse and suffering for its thousands of survivors.

Canada’s government is a colonial one. It’s unsurprising that it would side with other colonial powers like Israel or the US. However, as the State embarks on its journey down a path of apology toward Residential School survivors, it will not be taken seriously if it doesn’t address colonialism within. Canada needs to start to dismantle its own colonial structures and alliances if any attempt at rectifying its past will be successful.

Let’s start with dismantling the Indian Act. Then, Canada should become a force that advocates for other colonized people rather than siding with the governments that oppress them.

Could Dion have found that backbone he's been missing?

On Tuesday, June 3 the Federal Liberals and Bloc, teamed up to back an NDP bill, the second of its kind, to allow the estimated 200 American Iraq War resisters to stay in Canada. Neither of the two parties supported this bill the first time the NDP brought it forward. Maybe this time the Liberals voted in favour to send a message to fellow Liberal Bob Rae who has worked against party leader Stephan Dion to end Canada’s military involvement in Afghanistan earlier than the current 2011 time line.

Maybe the Liberals supported it because the Bill is only a symbolic non-binding one; the Conservatives need not heed this directive. Nor will the house fall over it. Staying true to their pro-war roots, the Conservatives voted against this bill.

On Thursday, the Canadian Press reported that Stephane Dion is vowing to vote against Bill C484, a private members' bill served by Ken Epp and supported by Harper's conservatives.

Bill C484, the "Unborn Victims of Crime" bill is not only extremely contentious, but it is being challenged as wrongheaded and misinformed. Many conservatives, like Rona Ambrose, claim that it is meant to fight violence against women. Interesting, then, that there is such an opposition to it from within the women’s rights movement.

At its most basic level, the Bill C484 attempts to give status to a fetus, through the back door, by enhancing the criminal sentence for those who are convicted of murdering a pregnant woman (and the fetus). The bill is being sold a tool to potentially deter abusers of pregnant women, but critics say this has nothing to address root issues that cause violence against women, pregnant or not. Moreover, this bill will almost certainly establish a slippery slope toward the re-criminalization of Abortion.

With all these concerns, it's good to see that Dion has committed his party to oppose Epp’s bill. However, the bill passed its second reading with 26 Liberal MPs voting in favour of it. With the Bloc and NDP already almost entirely on side, Liberal whip Karen Redman will need to get cracking to bring the remaining 26 rogue MPs in line to stop this bill from passing.

June issue about to hit the racks...

We're all working quite hard to finish the June edition of the Ryerson Free Press. This one is a whopping 28 pages with cutting-edge articles from across Canada and within Toronto. This edition's focus is "The Media." Many stories attempt to deconstruct how media portrays issues such as women's rights, Aboriginal rights and the Palestinian movement, to name a few.

Post a comment if you'd like a copy but aren't in Toronto... we'll see what we can do. Or, email us at ryersonfreepress@gmail.com.