This Magazine

Progressive politics, ideas & culture

Menu

Law

PM's Parliamentary prorogue plan provokes passionate public pugnacity

Graham F. Scott

This morning several news sources reported that Prime Minister Stephen Harper planned to prorogue parliament until March 3. This story is a bit of a moving target today, so this is just a quick post to collect some of the thought we’ve seen bubbling around the web today: The PMO’s official announcement/non-announcement is now out. […] More »
November-December 2009

Interview: B.C.’s “Prince of Pot,” Marc Emery

Paul McLaughlinWebsite

Unrepentant on the eve of his extradition, B.C.’s Prince of Pot has one message: he’ll be back Marc Emery, Vancouver’s famous marijuana activist, has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in the United States in a negotiated deal relating to his mail-order business that sold marijuana seeds throughout North America. We caught up with him […] More »
November-December 2009

CAVE puts a human face back on Canada’s hundreds of missing women

Jorge Antonio Vallejos

Canada has a problem: since the early 1980s, over 500 Aboriginal women have been either murdered or reported as missing. It’s a shocking figure that’s motivated a pair of self-identified “survivors of the sex industry” to form the Coalition Against Violence Everywhere, an organization dedicated to stopping the violence by challenging the common narrative that […] More »
November-December 2009

After the Tamil Tigers’ defeat, Sri Lanka searches for a fragile peace

Meena Nallainathan

When the Sri Lankan army crushed the Tamil Tigers last spring, it was the end of the war. But for four veteran activists, this is just the beginning I can smell chilies and spices in the cool night air. A few Tamil men and women are handing out biryani in Styrofoam containers to protesters gathered […] More »
November-December 2009

The Ecuadorian village that’s taking the Toronto Stock Exchange to court

Jennifer Moore

Marcia Ramírez is in for the fight of her life: suing the Toronto Stock Exchange for listing a company that it knew might cause her harm. In early December 2006, Ramírez was one of some 30-odd residents of the remote Intag valley in northwestern Ecuador who stood in the way of over 50 heavily armed […] More »

Queerly Canadian #22: Chris Skinner's murder and the meaning of "community"

cate simpson

It’s hard to read the story of Chris Skinner, the 27-year-old gay man who was beaten and then run over at Bay and Adelaide in Toronto just over a month ago, without feeling chilled. In addition to the obvious horror, there is something extremely disturbing about a violent attack you can’t pin an explanation on. […] More »

Legalization Week's belated big finish: "Free speech for all. Even douchebags."

Graham F. Scott

So our website bit the big one on Friday morning, which kind of cramped our plans for Legalization Week’s big finish. Everything seems to be working again, our apologies for the interruption. Without further ado, here it is, the call for legalization that I think might be the most controversial in the issue: Laura Kusisto […] More »
November-December 2009

Strengthen democracy and fight bigotry head-on — Legalize Hate Speech

Laura KusistoWebsite

The fight for free speech is not the work of angels. Academics love Evelyn Hall’s famous saying, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” In the age of promiscuous online speech, the sentiment of two university protestors seems more apt: “Free speech for all. […] More »

Legalization Week's penultimate entry: no use crying over raw milk

Graham F. Scott

Today in our ongoing saga of legalization initiatives, Rosemary Counter talks to Canada’s pre-eminent outlaw milk farmer (not that there are too many of them jostling for the top position), Michael Schmidt. Schmidt believes that Canadians should be able to drink unpasteurized milk if they want to, and that it’s actually better for you; Health […] More »
November-December 2009

Support small farms and get tastier cheese — Legalize Raw Milk

Rosemary Counter

Unpasteurized milk is better, argues outlaw milk farm Michael Schmidt, and he’s willing to go all the way to the supreme court to prove it Despite numerous guilty verdicts, rogue milk farmer Michael Schmidt will not back down. He will not pay the $55,000 in fines, and he won’t cease selling his illegal product. “It […] More »

Today in Legalization: quitting our addiction to failure in the War on Drugs

Graham F. Scott

Our (totally made up, unofficial) Legalization Week continues today with Katie Addleman’s exploration of the drug trade, and the catastrophic effect prohibition has had on law enforcement, gang violence, addicts’ health, and community safety: Ounce for ounce, marijuana is worth more than gold, and heroin more than uranium. Yet it’s only as a direct result […] More »