Tag: canada

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The mighty emperor wears no clothes

Why the media focuses more on Trudeau’s image rather than politics

In the eyes of the international media, Canada has always been considered America’s dorky, progressive neighbour to the north and relegated to obscurity as a result. The image of a barren cultural wasteland, populated by hockey enthusiasts drinking Molson has dominated Canada’s foreign reputation.

Until 2015, that is. Canada went through a complete cultural makeover. Suddenly, Canadian musicians were everywhere. Artists like The Weeknd, Drake and Justin Bieber released new music and dominated the Billboard charts, pleasing their legions of loyal fans. Quebec-based director Xavier Dolan emerged as new icon in the film industry, winning the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival as well as directing Adele’s spectacular Hello video.

The height of this phenomenon came with the election of Justin Trudeau in October, 2015. The young, good-looking, progressive prime minister was the antithesis of the arduous Harper Decade and breathed a sense of life and excitement into Canadian politics. Something that has not been seen since the election of his father into office some 47 years prior.

The Guardian newspaper in the UK even dubbed this moment in time as Canada’s very own “cool Britannia,” harping back to the “British Invasion” of the 1960s. By some anomaly, for once when the word ‘cool’ was used to describe Canada, it was not in reference to its climate.

Photo by Andrej Ivanov.
With the international media fawning over our sparkling new hunky PM, or ‘PMILF’ (Prime Minister I’d Like to Fuck) as he has been dubbed by social media, national media soon followed suit. According to a report by Quebec-based media monitoring firm Influence Communication, generally after a PM is elected in Canada, media coverage typically drops off. Harper’s fell off by 79 per cent and Brian Mulroney’s by 69 per cent one month after they won their election.

Since 2015 however, the coverage of Justin Trudeau in the national media has increased by 40 per cent, according to the same report. And, unlike his predecessors, the coverage has been overwhelmingly positive.

The reason for this increase in positive coverage is mainly due to “the [tabloid] magazine style reporting” of Justin Trudeau, said Jean-Francois Dumas, president of Influence Communication, as quoted in Maclean’s magazine.

Throughout Trudeau’s time in office, national news outlets including the The Toronto Star, Vice Canada, and La Presse have opted to publish an abundant amount of fluff pieces about the Prime Minister. His many summer shirtless sightings, photo-ops with pandas, and his luscious locks has reduced many of Canada’s most prestigious publications to the same level as menial celebrity gossip mags.

It would seem as though “Trudeaumania” part II has firmly rooted itself in Canadian media’s prime-ministerial commentary, baring resemblance to a communist state’s media coverage of their glorious leader.

Graphic by Thom Bell.

Many could argue that this harmless ‘fluff’ is exactly that, and I would tend to agree, so long as this ‘fluff’ does not inhibit the process of meaningful conversation in the media. Since his election, it seems as though the Trudeau administration has been covered with a cloak of invincibility and has been seemingly impervious to any scandal.

Take the 2016 “Three Amigos Summit” for example. It is the annual meeting of the heads of government of Canada, Mexico and the United States, which took place in Ottawa in June. The important issues discussed during this year’s summit included national security, human rights and the environment.

However, much of the coverage centered around a fan fiction-like narrative of the bromance between three relatively good looking leaders, with many articles—such as Vice—reporting on the awkward three-way handshake between the commanders. This is particularly shocking considering the fact that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto was accused of ordering the execution of eight peaceful protesting teachers’ union members and that Barack Obama had criticized Canada’s involvement in NATO, according to Reuters. Both of these issues did not receive a lot of coverage on a national level.

Canadian news outlets are severely failing their audiences. The job of the media is to be critical and journalists play a crucial role in the democratic process by holding politicians accountable and keeping them honest. Recently, however, it seems that news outlets are more concerned with sharing the latest shirtless Trudeau meme than offering a meaningful, in-depth analysis of this government’s policies and actions.

While we may all be enjoying Canada’s fleeting moment in the sun, it is my hope that we don’t wake up burned because of it.

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Opinions

For those that came before, and those who will follow: remember

Lest we forget: terrorism does not define us

Recently, Montreal-area schools have cancelled field trips to various cenotaphs on Remembrance Day following the murder of two Canadian soldiers in the month of October at the hands of radicalized individuals. The change put in place has been declared to be in the name of safety and caution.

They are sending the wrong message.

Remembrance Day is when we come together as a nation to pause and pay our respects to the countless brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, and anyone who answered the call to arms and defended the ideas of liberty and democracy that we so cherish. It is a day during which we are reminded that we are part of a society which will not cower in the face of tyranny and oppression. More importantly, it bears witness to the fact that we, as Canadians, will not sit idly by as those around us are trampled and beaten.

How are we supposed to demonstrate this to future generations if we allow terrorism to paralyze us and have us hide in fear, on the one day a year we should stand ever so proudly? We should not let such people define how we go about, or cause us to question our daily safety. Our nation is equipped with a military and an internal security apparatus which does a highly effective job at keeping our borders and the Canadian population safe. As we all know, these incidents are rare and should in no way reflect on the daily lives of citizens. Every day that we walk out of our homes and function as a society, it is a victory in the face of terrorism and an act of defiance towards the fear it tries to instil.

The schools are failing to show just that, and maybe it’s time that citizens remind school boards what it is to be Canadian. Kids should be taught that we never surrender our civic culture to savage acts of terrorism and the individuals or groups who commit them. If we show those students that we can be pushed around by this, how will they react when their generation is faced with violence? Might we inspire them to act out of fear or will we just be remembered as having folded when we needed to hold our heads up high? Who knows, but as Abraham Lincoln once said: “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next”.

So on this Remembrance Day, buy a poppy and take a moment on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month to show that we are grateful for those who serve and have served. If you have the time, give your school boards a call and voice your opinion on their policy regarding this important day. It is vital to not sit idly by when today’s actions and reactions can have such an impact on our future. Most importantly, let us remind the world what it is to be the True North—strong and free.

Lest We Forget.

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Opinions

Liar, liar, pants on fire: Rob Ford edition

Photo by Shaun Merritt

It’s very difficult to forget the name Rob Ford. The Toronto mayor has been the top story in the news since Oct. 31, when Toronto Police claimed to be in possession of the infamous video which showed Ford smoking crack cocaine. In a press conference on Nov. 5, Ford did not resign, despite the demand from both politicians and citizens.

Photo by Shaun Merritt

Public figures need to be vigilant with what they do in their personal lives because they are under constant surveillance by media, and under rigorous scrutiny by voters.

Private lives of politicians should be kept separate from how one views them. It’s important to think of them based on how they handle issues in office and try to work for a better society. The Lewinsky scandal, where former United States’ president Bill Clinton admitted to having sexual relations with a young woman working at the White House, is a good example. Despite the fact that Clinton lied when allegations were first being made, he eventually admitted to the problem and corrected his lifestyle, unlike Ford. Clinton continues to have a positive and successful life in politics despite having undergone a scandal is his personal life.

However, the main issue is not the video of crack cocaine use. It’s also the way Ford has handled the scandal, and the lies he has told. Speculation of Ford smoking crack cocaine first surfaced back in March of this past year and was allegedly confirmed by various news outlets in May, but no video had been released to the public. Ford kept denying he had ever smoked crack cocaine all throughout the summer. The story eventually got pushed to the side, but not for long. Ford was again spotted at a party in August, extremely belligerent and intoxicated.

In 2006, he was at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto watching a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey game when he began insulting a couple behind him. He was clearly intoxicated, and was escorted out of the building by security. When asked about it a couple days later, he denied ever having been at the game.

It seems that every time something new about Ford’s personal life makes it into the news, he explicitly denies it. He often finds himself caught in a web of lies and he shows no signs of slowing down. Is it possible that he doesn’t realize his personal life is severely affecting his credibility?

When your personal life starts affecting your political life, the obvious decision is to deal with the issue. In this case Ford has decided against that, and has not resigned. That’s what I see in Ford — someone who doesn’t seem to care all that much about his political life based on the fact that he hasn’t made any effort to change his lifestyle. People expect their politicians to be honest with them. How can they expect a blatant liar to do a good job of transmitting the truth?

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News

Federal Health Minister re-introduces bill that aims to impede supervised injection sites

Photo by Rae Pellerin

Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose has defied the Supreme Court of Canada by reintroducing a bill on Oct. 17 that aims to prevent the existence of new supervised injection sites (SICs) in Canada.

Photo by Rae Pellerin

Ambrose introduced Bill C-2 as an amendment to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, and is identical to Bill C-65, tabled in Parliament on June 6, which spurred organizations such as the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition to release a statement calling for SICs to be recognized as life-saving services.

In these statements, the organizations described the bill as “an irresponsible initiative that ignores both the extensive evidence that such health services are needed and effective, and the human rights of Canadians with addictions.”

The bill itself states that a supervised consumption service can only exist in exceptional circumstances. Thus far the only exemption granted was in 2003 to Vancouver’s Insite, the first legal supervised injection site in North America. Despite the Supreme Court’s declaration that ‘Insite saves lives. […] [And] its benefits have been proven,’ it remains the only SIC in Canada, in contrast to over 90 worldwide.

In 2011, the Supreme Court similarly declared that the federal health minister had violated the Charter rights of people who needed access to such facilities and ruled against the federal government’s decision to withhold offering services like Insite.

“Bill C2 is an attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court Ruling of 2011,” said Connie Carter, senior policy analyst of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.

The organizations called on Ambrose to take into account the benefits of supervised consumption sites and outlined the benefits they bring, such as a decrease in drug-related deaths, injuries, and infections (like HIV), and decreases in public drug use and risky behaviours associated with HIV —  all without increasing the negatives associated with drug use, like crime.

Earlier, on Sept. 30, the aforementioned health organizations co-wrote an open letter to Ambrose, backed by over 50 other Canadian health organizations.

“It is unethical, unconstitutional and damaging to both public health and the public purse to block access to supervised consumption services which save lives and prevent the spread of infection,” the letter read.

They urge Ambrose to “stand up for people’s lives and take the leadership to ensure that supervised consumption services become a part of the continuum of care for people who use drugs in Canada.”

Other organizations supporting SICs are the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Nurses Association, the Public Health Physicians of Canada, the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, and the Urban Public Health Network.

https://docs.google.com/a/theconcordian.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.2&thid=141f546c363d8235&mt=application/msword&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D5ec0ddd8d3%26view%3Datt%26th%3D141f546c363d8235%26attid%3D0.2%26disp%3Dsafe%26zw&sig=AHIEtbR6zVtB8-kqVk7PY7Dbnnsde3ZTSQ

http://www.aidslaw.ca/publications/interfaces/downloadDocumentFile.php?ref=1364

http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&DocId=6256959&File=24#1

http://drugpolicy.ca/930-Campaign/930-draftletter.pdf

http://supervisedinjection.vch.ca/

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Opinions

Pandaplomacy is a sign of good things to come

Graphic by Jennifer Kwan
Graphic by Jennifer Kwan

Who are they? They’re Er Shun and Da Mao, and you’ve undoubtedly heard about them by now. The two giant pandas recently touched down in Canada to much fanfare and celebration courtesy of the Chinese government for five year stays at both the Calgary and Toronto zoos. How are they important to Canadian-Chinese relations?

The two are destined to attract hoards of visitors and paying customers — that’s why we forked out over $1 million to bring them here. China and Canada can mutually benefit from reciprocal ties of friendship. We have much to learn from each other culturally and much to gain materially, but care needs to be taken. A panda can be stubborn and must be respectfully, yet firmly, worked with.

Take their diet: an unrelenting, monotonous supply of bamboo. This is the perfect metaphor for the insatiable Chinese economic need for natural resources and raw materials, and one we’ve done well to embrace. Ever since the financial crisis, Canada has increasingly cozied up to Beijing as national priorities have shifted from a mix of humanitarian concern and business ambition to pure economic overdrive. Bamboo, like the oil and other commodities we export to China, suits the pandas just fine. But just as zookeepers need to know when to say enough, so does the Canadian government need to critically evaluate just how far they’re willing to feed the Chinese, at what expense (remember Nexxen?) and how this influence can be used for further dealing with China on touchy subjects like human rights and democracy.

The handling of the cute mammalian duo also shows what the government shouldn’t do. Pandas are exotic star attractions and for good reason, but the zoos will never ignore their other charges for their sake. In fact, the regulars will continue to receive priority.

So maybe Harper shouldn’t have scheduled the pandas’ arrival and reception the same day the Nishiyuu walkers wound down their epic trek from James Bay, Que., to the nation’s capital to bring attention to the plight of indigenous peoples. The pandas may have flown 12,000 kilometres in 15 hours to come here (stocked with choice bamboo and veterinarians on standby) but the Nishiyuu walked 15,000 kilometres on their own two feet. For 68 days straight.

This is the first time in almost 25 years that we have pandas, an apt parallel to the once frosty relations between China and Canada that have thawed and, in some respects, blossomed. Yet just as Er Shun and Da Mao aren’t laurels to be rested on nor to be treated lightly, the time they’re on loan to us is the window we have for determining our future relationship with China. One of the aims of the zookeepers is to entice the duo into the panda’s notoriously difficult act of breeding. Yes, we have them for 10 years, but this means very little if we can’t get them to produce dividends: in their case cuddly pups, in China’s case strong and serious bonds between equals. In both cases an active and energetic approach is critical.

Panda diplomacy was once a bestowal of favour by Chinese dynasties to preferred foreign states on the periphery. While times have changed and China now finds itself amongst many equals, the act is undoubtedly one of honour. The Calgary and Toronto zoos have pulled off a coup by securing the pandas. By pursuing with acumen our current opportunities with China, Canada as a country should be able to do the same.

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Out of sight, out of mind

Image via Flickr
Image via Flickr

The government of Canada has forgotten about Alzheimer patients. Institutions that care for seniors with some form of dementia appear to be those who receive the least attention when it comes to funding and support. If greater financial assistance were given to these institutions, tragic incidents like Frank Alexander’s death in 2011, caused by frightened Alzheimer’s patient Joe McLeod in an elder care facility in Manitoba, would not occur.

According to the National Post, McLeod was not found criminally responsible for the death. His condition causes him to suffer from occasional violent outbursts of anger due to confusion. He does not remember these episodes. Prior to being put into a home, McLeod lived with his wife. After several violent outbursts, the man was put into prison for a month awaiting a hearing. Is this really how we treat our Alzheimer’s patients in Canada?

These situations are not rare and they are not going away. According to the Alzheimer Society of Toronto, “within a generation, the number of Canadians with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia will more than double, ranging between 1 and 1.3 million people.”

Many with the disease have anger episodes due to the frustration of being constantly confused. Unfortunately, elder care facilities lack the proper training and funding to be able to take care of each patient based on their own specific needs, and jail is certainly not a suitable option either.

My grandmother has Alzheimer’s and I would certainly not feel comfortable with a man with a condition similar to McLeod’s staying at her care facility. However, I don’t think he should have been thrown into a jail either. The solution to the problem is for the government to stop clumping all Alzheimer patients into one category. Everyone has certain levels of the disease, some more severe than others, and everyone acts out in different ways. Each patient should be separated within the care facility, or there should be specialized facilities for each particular level of Alzheimer’s.

The Alzheimer Society of Canada says that “quality of life for people with dementia is largely dependent on their connection with others. Maintaining a relationship can be a complex and challenging process, especially when verbal communication is affected.”

Patients need different levels of care and I don’t think nurses are equipped or trained properly to handle each different scenario. This is going to cause a real problem, since the next generation is aging and are going to be in this situation as well.

Soon to be overcrowded care facilities may have to double up or triple up rooms in order to accept all patients, which can pose a serious threat if someone acts out just as McLeod did. Furthermore, as the National Post pointed out in an editorial published Jan. 4, if care institutions become too overcrowded, Alzheimer patients may be forced to go home with their families, which can be extremely costly, let alone worrisome. The Alzheimer Society of Toronto notes that “the impact of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias engulfs whole families, and affects far more than the half a million people living with the disease.”

It is time to pay greater attention to Alzheimer institutions and help support them so we can take better care of patients. Alzheimer’s is rated second as the disease that is most feared among aging Canadian, and we need to make Alzheimer’s patients a bigger priority in the near future.

With files from George Menexis.

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Opinions

There’s no such thing as bad press

Graphic by Phil Waheed.
Graphic by Phil Waheed.

Since Harper has been Prime Minister of Canada he’s been accused many times of having a lack of transparency in office; and his administration has often been called the most private government that Canada has ever seen. Despite various complaints demanding information, Harper hasn’t changed his ways.

This time, however, his actions have crossed the line.

The Toronto Star recently learned through an access-to-information request that the Harper administration has been working for over a year now on a government owned media organization worth over $2 million. The project was called the “Shoe Store Project”. According to the Star, the new centre may be located in a former shoe store in an Ottawa mall.

Harper going through with this project is a slap in the face to the democracy a country like Canada values so much. We, as a people, deserve to know the inner workings of our government. I believe the information coming from this media outlet, if it does go through, will be absolutely useless.

Harper’s government-controlled media centre is said to “put in place robust physical and information security measures to protect the prime minister and cabinet.” According to the Star it would also be able to give the government control over which journalists attend news conferences and to do their own filming, as well as provide the filming to journalists.

This is absolutely ridiculous when you think of the changes Harper has already made regarding media relations since his election in 2006. Considering he ran on a campaign based on an open and accountable government, this is wrong.

So what exactly is Harper’s problem? Why does he have such a shaky relationship with the media? According to Centre for Constitutional Studies, by managing what is said to the press “Harper is also able to manage communication between his government and the Canadian public, limiting the possibility that the media will run off in a direction that has little to do with the message that Mr. Harper wishes to send.” Oh please.

Needless to say, many journalists in this country have been extremely frustrated since Harper’s election. This new government-owned media centre will only go further to push Canada away from democracy. Sandra Buckler, the Prime Minister’s director of communication, said that “when the government has something to say, Canadians are going to hear it.” I don’t think I need to explain what’s wrong with that statement.

As citizens, we have the right to hear what goes on during Harper’s public addresses and be able to make our own conclusions on our government. Besides, no leader should have the right to control which questions are asked of him because he is accountable to all of us.

As journalists, it is our job to inform the people. However, our job becomes extremely difficult when our calls aren’t answered, when most of us are excluded from press conferences and when what the government says is controlled by an enormous team of image-management professionals.

“It’s a privilege to govern and our duty as the press in a free society is to pick and choose the issues that we cover…by restricting access to cabinet ministers, it amounts to restricting the issues that we can cover properly,” said Emmanuelle Latraverse, Radio-Canada reporter and Press Gallery president.

Harper has been on thin ice for a while concerning his relationship with the media. We journalists have one of the most important jobs— to inform the people. Obviously, with Harper in power, it’s nearing impossible. It’s time to demand change and get projects like the “Shoe Store” taken to the curb.

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Music

Canadians to nominate 2012 ‘folk-hero’

Michelle Ferguson — The Fulcrum (University of Ottawa)

OTTAWA (CUP) — Innovative folk music may sound like an oxymoron to some, but for Folk Music Canada, it is a reason to celebrate.

In November 2012, the organization will hand out its first ever Innovator Award at the 2012 Canadian Folk Music Awards, to be held in Saint John, N.B. According to organizers, the honour will be given to a pioneer of the folk community.

“The purpose is really to underline things that people are doing that set a new mould in the folk world,” said Tamara Kater, executive director of Folk Music Canada.

While folk music is usually described as traditional, Kater insists that it should not be considered stagnant.

“Even though folk is based on tradition, it’s something that really comes from the people,” she said. “The music of the people never really stands still.”

It’s sort of ironic, then, that the sector of music that’s been given the “traditional” tag would reward innovation, while the majority of the mainstream music industry has fought tirelessly — and often illogically — against it. One might recall earlier this year when the Recording Industry Association of America sued LimeWire for $72 trillion, which is almost all the the money that exists in the world economy.

Ridiculous claims like these are part of major labels’ vehement refusal to adapt to the age of technology and the free culture movement. But over at Folk Music Canada, the kind of innovative thinking that could straighten out the music industry — without trying to force a new generation of consumers to conform to an old school of business — might actually be rightfully rewarded.

Unlike most music awards, the Innovator Award is not centered on the art form or on a musician’s recordings. Instead, Folk Music Canada wishes to focus on the development of the folk community as a whole.

“What we’re looking for is something that is new,” said Kater. “[This] can come from any aspect of the folk community…It could be a festival that found a new way of operating, and who, for example, is not reliant on government grants.”

Ottawa, which just came off its 18th annual Folk Festival, has a thriving folk community. But, as far as innovation goes, it’s hard to tell how the city fares. There are two main institutions that promote and celebrate folk music in Ottawa, other than the Ottawa Folk Festival.

The Ottawa Folklore Centre, founded in 1976, acts as a hub for local talent and developing musicians by selling instruments, hosting events, and providing lessons for an array of unique instruments such as the Sri Lankan drum and the djembe. Spirit of Rasputin’s, an event created in 2009 after a fire burned down the iconic Rasputin Folk Café, also provides opportunities for locals to showcase their talent.

In 2010, these two organizations came together to create a series of “folkcasts” — an online concert series that could be accessed through YouTube or the Ottawa Folklore Centre website.

These “folkcasts” are the kind of effort that could be nominated for the Folk Music Canada Innovator Award. Unfortunately, they stopped being produced in 2011.

Although not the focus of the award, musicians can also be nominated. Artists who have found new ways of approaching the music or who have created a new model for collaboration are examples of potential nominees.

Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Dan Mangan, who played at this year’s Ottawa Folk Festival, is a prime example of a Canadian musician who stands on the fringe of folk. On his third album, Oh Fortune, Mangan truly pushes the envelope by collaborating with many improvisational and experimental musicians to create a refreshing sound.

In many ways, the award itself could be considered innovative; according to Kater, not only is it the first award created by Folk Music Canada, but it’s also the first of its kind.

“There are other like-minded organizations that give out awards as well,” said Kater, “but we don’t really know of anyone who is giving out recognition to a new, cutting-edge, or innovative aspect of the community.”

The nomination process is also different from most awards; nominees are chosen by members of the folk community, in the hopes that this will draw attention to efforts that may otherwise go unnoticed in such a large, decentralized body of fans.

Due to the broad nature of the award, Kater admits that she has no expectations when it comes to the list of nominees.

“It’s the first year that we are opening up to the community to bring in nominations,” she said. “So in many ways, we’re as curious as everyone else to see what is going to come in and we’re asking the community around us to identify things that they see as innovative.”

 

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Opinions

A relationship between ‘first cousins’ is never a good idea

Photo via Flickr.
Photo via Flickr.

News emerged on Sept. 16 that Canada and the United Kingdom have reached an agreement to share embassies in some countries. While the agreement may help cut costs, its stated goal can also harm Canada’s image abroad.

The agreement, as it stands, doesn’t seem so threatening. Canada will allow British diplomats to work out of its embassy in Haiti. The U.K. will allow Canadian diplomats to work out of its embassy in Burma. In this way, both countries will gain diplomatic representation in countries where they previously had none.

What’s concerning is that the agreement could grow to cover a much longer list of embassies and consulates around the globe. Canada was once a colony of Great Britain and our foreign policy was once dominated by that country. Sharing embassies with our former colonial power certainly calls into question Canada’s independence.

Under the Conservative federal government, Canada has restored the “royal” moniker in the name of its armed forces. Premier Stephen Harper’s government also ordered all Canadian embassies to display a portrait of the Queen. Last year, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird drew criticism for having paintings by Quebec artist Alfred Pellan removed from the lobby of the Department of Foreign Affairs, only to have them replaced by the Queen’s portrait.

It feels almost as if this recent agreement to share embassies is but a small part of a longterm plan to recolonize Canada.

While Canada is regressing, it seems the rest of the Commonwealth is coming-of-age. Jamaica is considering abandoning the monarchy to become a republic, and Australia held a referendum in 1999 on whether to ditch the monarchy and elect its own president; the referendum was defeated, but at least they held a sincere national conversation on the subject.

In the meantime, our government has instead been trying to reassociate Canada with the U.K. out of some stubborn and misguided sense of nostalgia. And they’ve been doing so without any discussion on the subject. It is inevitable that the sharing of embassies will lead people around the globe to associate Canada more closely with the U.K. and Canada’s image will be hurt as a result, especially because of the differences in foreign policy.

The two countries’ foreign policies diverge in more areas than one might think. The last time Canada stored nuclear warheads for the United States was in 1984; meanwhile, the U.K. still has its own stockpile of 225 nuclear weapons. The U.K. joined the U.S. in the ill-advised war in Iraq, a war Canada refused to join in the absence of any mandate from the United Nations. Economically and politically, the two countries have different foreign policy objectives in a number of countries.

As Paul Heinbecker, Canada’s former ambassador to Germany, told The Globe and Mail, “We have an incompatible brand with the U.K.” Canada, known for being a peace-loving nation will now be rooming with a former colonial power. Whether it’s fair or not, many people will now think to paint us with the same brush.

Far too many questions remain about the specifics of how such an agreement would work in actual practice. If the U.K. were to decide it wanted to cut off diplomatic relations with a country, where would that leave Canada if we shared an embassy there?

If our foreign policy interests diverged and we had competing interests in a country, what type of strain would an embassy-sharing agreement place on our relationship? Would Canadian diplomats working out of a British Embassy have the same power to work against the U.K.’s interests as they would if they were working in a separate embassy?

Although government officials have called it a largely “administrative” agreement, the plan calls not only for the sharing of facilities, but also for the sharing of staff. Will Canadians still have access to the same level of French-language consular services as they currently do in our own embassies?

This agreement is pretty harmless because it only covers two locations but if it was expanded to encompass many more, it could have real implications on Canada’s image. Not only do the optics of sharing embassies undermine the notion that Canada is an independent nation, but the agreement may well undermine Canada’s ability to meet its own foreign policy objectives in the future.

As is typical with the Harper government, this agreement was formulated under a shroud of secrecy. And what Canadians are now left with is a long list of concerning questions and few satisfying answers.

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Music

New Music Canada: Hiawatha

If you thought Hiawatha, the founder of Iroquois confederacy, rose from the dead to live out his dreams in electronica, think again. This ‘Hiawatha’ is the project of David Psutka, also known as Egyptrixx, and a former Thrush Hermit, Ian McGettigan. Both striking musical figures in the Toronto scene, they started collaborating a while back and have always had a positive relationship through music.

Their first album, Language, is out now courtesy of Last Gang Records, the same label that launched Metric, Crystal Castles and MSTRKRFT. Psutka called the record “an exploration of pessimism and optimism; success and failure; concussion and tranquility.”

“I wrote the record when I was going through some heavy personal l things in my life, and they were on a similar line,” revealed Psutka. “They weren’t absolutely good, and they weren’t absolutely bad. I wanted to reflect that.“

Psultka previously collaborated with Canadian synth-pop band Trust, producing electronic music that can easily be put on for dance purposes. He debuted his solo material as Egyptrixx in March 2011 with the track “Bible Eyes.”

Halifax-born McGettigan is now a producer, but was the bassist and vocalist of now-defunct alt-rock band Thrush Hermit.Together, they are Hiawatha.

As for the classification of Hiawatha’s sound itself, Psutka doesn’t consider it an important subject or a necessary responsibility.

“Genres don’t ever really concern me, I understand there may be need for them for promotional material, but as a receiver and performer, genres don’t really matter at all,” said Psutka.

Although the project sounds like it has all the doings of what could be classified as electronic, Psutka and McGettigan recorded using the default rock tools: guitar, drums and keyboard. More often than not the joy of music is how differently it can be interpreted and manipulated when it is made and heard live in person.

Hiawatha will make its live debut this November at New York’s Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival.

Trial track: “Caring Less and Less To See and Know You”

 

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Opinions

A closed door policy

Graphic by Phil Waheed
Graphic by Phil Waheed

A week ago, the Canadian government made the decision to close their embassy in Tehran, Iran, as well as the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa, giving Iranian diplomats five days to leave the country. The decision came as a shock to most, even though tensions with Iran have been increasing for years over various controversial issues.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has provided a laundry list of reasons behind the sudden closure, including safety, foreign policy and nuclear proliferation. He has stated that Iran is “the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today.”

While the decision was did appear rash, it is understandable that the Canadian government would find it difficult to maintain a diplomatic presence in Iran.

Despite all this, Canada’s decision to close its embassy in Tehran was unnecessary. The Canadian Embassy in Iran has survived much worse in the past years and to close it now seems hasty and ill-timed.

Canada’s history with Iran is both tense and inconsistent. This is not the first time the Canadian Embassy closed its doors in Tehran. After providing refuge to six American consular personnel after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the embassy closed for eight years, but then reopened. Then, in 2003, after Iranian-Canadian freelance photographer Zahra Kazemi died under mysterious circumstances in an Iranian prison, the embassy remained open. It still functioned while Prime Minister Paul Martin condemned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his public anti-Semitic remarks. While relations were strained, the embassy remained open.

It’s easy to justify such an extreme decision after looking at the actions of a country dominated by extremists—one with a recorded 360 executions in 2011.

Nevertheless, it is more difficult to justify placing more tension on an already weakened international relationship.

While many of the reasons provided by Baird are unsettling, they do not strike one as active enough to justify such a hostile move. If the alleged murder of a Canadian-Iranian citizen was not enough to cut ties, what is going on presently to justify such a sudden move?

An embassy is supposed to be an institution which exists to aid citizens with their visas, passports and sometimes their safety. While the Canadian diplomats who were whisked out of Tehran the day of the closure are safe on home soil, what about those Canadians facing death sentences in Iran at this very moment? There are currently two Iranian-Canadians facing death sentences in Iran and Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised to continue to work for their safety through other countries.

One of these victims is Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, who was accused of espionage by the Iranian government in 2008 when visiting his mother.  Despite Canada saying that “Hamid’s case remained important for Canada and they would be advocating for him through other countries,” his wife, Antonella Mega, is worried.

“Personally I can’t help but think how that will play out in the sense that, since Canada has closed communications with Iran, I’m not sure how Iran will see the case going forward,” she told CTV news.

Aside from the individual citizens who can no longer benefit from the services of an embassy, choosing to sever ties with another country, one who could be seen as threat somewhere down the line, is highly unwise. Canada should have taken more precautionary steps, such as increasing security at the embassy and making more of an effort to communicate with the Iranian government, instead of shutting down their presence completely. Whatever the case may be internationally, tensions between the two countries will certainly be on the rise as of now.

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Sports

Concordia wrestler Olympic-bound

David Tremblay won an Olympic qualifying tournament in Orlando and will now head to the 2012 Olympics. Photo by Rita Davidson

After qualifying for the Olympics last week at a tournament in Orlando, 24-year-old David Tremblay from the Concordia Stingers wrestling team is getting ready to head to London and represent his country. The first-time Olympian has lofty expectations for himself this summer. He sat down with The Concordian for an interview.

David Tremblay won an Olympic qualifying tournament in Orlando and will now head to the 2012 Olympics. Photo by Rita Davidson

What are you most excited about heading to the Olympics?
I’m not sure. I think it’s just going to be an overall great experience. I’m looking forward to the opening and closing ceremonies. I talked to some past Olympians and they said the ceremonies were a great part of going to the games. And just the fact I’m going to a tournament that only comes once every four years where you have to qualify against the best of the best is great.

When in your life did you really believe and think one day you could be in the Olympics?
When I was really young, around 15, I wanted to go without knowing how to really get there. You win your first national title at a young age, people are asking you if you want to go to the Olympics and you say “yeah, of course I do,” without knowing how hard it is to make it there. Then when you get older you realize it’s not as easy as you think. You hope you can make it, but it’s still a long way away. I moved to Montreal after high school thinking I could make it to the 2008 Olympics before even realizing how far I was from that. I had to re-analyze my goals and focus on 2012.

How do you expect to do in London?
Obviously everyone wants to go for the gold, that’s the best outcome. I just want to go out there and perform my best. Last summer I beat some of the top guys in the world so, if I can perform well, I know I can [compete for a medal]. A medal [in London] would be great and I’m a real competitor so I’m not planning on going to the games and losing.

Are you nervous about the games?
I’m not nervous. I’m just excited. I want to get back to training and preparing and just get ready for London.

Who has been the most help in your career?
I’d have to say definitely my dad. My dad’s the one who brought me into the sport and he was pretty strict on me in high school in order to achieve my goals, but he did a really good job of being a coach and also a father. He wasn’t too much of one or the other.

How did you get started in the sport?
It was my dad — he was a high school wrestling coach in Ontario. I was into all the sports in grade school and he asked me if I wanted to try wrestling and I said “I don’t know, I don’t really know anything about wrestling.” So he took me into the living room and showed me a couple techniques. Then he put me in a high school tournament which I won and I just started liking it from there.

Will your family be coming to London to watch?
I think some of them are going to come, but the games aren’t cheap. I think it’s $500 just to watch me wrestle one day. We’re going to do some fundraising to hopefully help with the cost, but my immediate family will probably be coming.

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