Dispatches

For corporate killers, the free ride’s over

For corporate killers, the free ride’s over

Hell’s History: The USW’s fight to prevent workplace deaths and injuries from the 1992 Westray Mine disaster through 2016 By Tom Sandborn (United Steelworkers, 76 pp, 2016) Each year on April 28, unions and other labour organizations across Canada observe the National Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job. A solemn public ritual, the Day of Mourning ceremony typically features a procession of “pallbearers” carrying empty black coffins to a temporary…

Continue ReadingFor corporate killers, the free ride’s over

The stubborn persistence of justice

The stubborn persistence of justice

Assassination of a Saint: The Plot to Murder Oscar Romero and The Quest to Bring His Killers to Justice By Matt Eisenbrandt University of California Press (226 pp, $37.95) For those old enough to remember it, the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero on March 24, 1980 still resonates as one of the late twentieth century’s more tragic events, its historic significance extending well beyond the borders of El Salvador. For many, Romero’s killing remains a…

Continue ReadingThe stubborn persistence of justice

Fifteen Minutes of Shame

Fifteen Minutes of Shame

Predictably, it’s over before most of us knew it had even begun. The meteoric career of a cartoonish right-wing troll and social media shockmeister who happens to be gay—a sad human being who didn’t deserve a moment of serious attention—has come crashing down with all the sordid sensationalism that gave rise to it. Like most people in the English-speaking world, I was blissfully unaware of this vacuous sham artist’s existence until about a month or…

Continue ReadingFifteen Minutes of Shame

A Letter to Justin Trudeau

A Letter to Justin Trudeau

  Dear Prime Minister, As a native-born, Canadian male who happens to be married to an immigrant male who once fled a military dictatorship, I was heartened by your initial response to the U.S. ban on our Muslim neighbours. “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war,” you Tweeted, “Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada”. Such admirable sentiment, however, is not enough to prevent injustice unless backed up with policy.…

Continue ReadingA Letter to Justin Trudeau

2016: A Year of Good Reads

2016: A Year of Good Reads

According to some of my fellow writers, novelists should never read fiction while their own work is in progress. In the midst of writing a magnum opus, the argument goes, one should not be unduly influenced or distracted by another novelist’s style or method; to do so would risk derailing one’s own creative process by engaging in some form of subconscious mimicry. I would say that’s true while the writing itself is in progress. But between drafts? A different…

Continue Reading2016: A Year of Good Reads