Book Review: ‘After the Pogrom’ is a sobering assessment of our cultural moment
A Review of Brendan O’Neill’s After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation 172 pages, $21.54 CAD I have long wondered why terrorism draws worldwide condemnation, unless the target is Israel. It’s commonly seen that the condemnation of Hamas is “qualified,” tentative, and reluctant. Why is this? I finally got the answer […]
New ‘Calgary Plan’ puts ideology above the needs of residents
The City of Calgary’s recently released Calgary Plan is meant to detail the next three decades of municipal development. Instead, the 156-page document devotes a lot of attention to the idea that Calgary is a systemically racist city. To wit, the word “equity” appears in the plan more than 50 times, while “affordability” surfaces a mere four […]
RFK Jr.’s false ideas about vaccines pose huge risk to public health
The incoming health secretary wants to ‘Make America Healthy Again,’ but without vaccines, his slogan might as well be, ‘Make America Infected Again’ Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as America’s new secretary of health and human services has left much of the medical community muttering: “What the heck?” Kennedy’s stated mission is to “Make America […]
Education, not racism, drives the difference in earnings between races
New study fails to prove differences in earnings are due to systemic racism Significant federal program spending is premised on the idea that visible minorities in Canada are systemically disadvantaged. Take the latest: Earlier this fall, the federal government released a 45-page anti-racism strategy for 2024-2028, which “aims to tackle systemic racism and make our communities more inclusive and […]
Toronto should celebrate Henry Dundas as an abolitionist, not continue to cancel him
Unless one has been absent from Canada for years, it’s no secret that many academics and politicians appear to be in a race to cancel historical figures. Toronto has been ground zero for this behaviour which could be taken directly from George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel 1984. That book describes a future in which the […]
On gender, Alberta is following the science
Despite falling into disrepute in recent years, “follow the science” remains our best shot at getting at the truth of the physical sciences. But science, if we are to place our trust in it, must be properly defined and understood; it is at its essence an ever-changing process, a relentless pursuit of truth that is […]
Holding up the torch: An appreciation of those who served all Canadians
Our forebears were people who understood that the benefits granted by citizenship compelled one to return service to the nation. They signed up in droves to fight in 1914, and again in 1939; following the defeat of Hitler, Canada boasted a million men and women in uniform and the world’s fourth-largest navy. The stories of […]
Why ‘proportionality’ claims are flawed
One of the favourite words used by critics of Israel in its current wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon is “proportionality.’’ What is meant by this word is that there is no comparison between the civilian casualties in Gaza and Lebanon and those suffered by Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 (and after), […]
TMU medical school’s race-based admissions policy is doomed to failure
Treating people differently based on race doesn’t improve social harmony — or any other outcomes Affirmative action discrimination and other forms of racial preference are pervasive in Canada’s public institutions. See, for example, Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) new medical school admissions policy, which reserves 75 per cent of its seats for Indigenous, Black and other “equity-deserving” groups, […]
The illiberal outcomes of anti-racism: Review of the latest hit from Daily Wire Studios, ‘Am I racist?’
“Am I Racist?” the latest from Daily Wire studios, hit theatres this past month, cracking the box office top five and grossing more than $4 million. But the movie warrants attention for more than just its box office success; its creators have also managed to kickstart an international conversation about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI.) Am I Racist? is […]
At TMU medical school, some students are more equal than others
Remember that the next time you’re waiting to see your newly minted doctor Canada’s newest medical school will select students not for their ability, but their identity. Great, as if Canada’s healthcare system wasn’t bad enough already. The school, which opens next fall at Toronto Metropolitan University, will reserve 75 per cent of its seats for Indigenous, […]
The lessons we should have learned from October 7
Canada has not taken the threat of Islamic terrorism seriously enough On the first anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, it’s worth looking back at the lessons we learned, or should have learned, over the past year. First, it’s always appropriate to remember what happened a year ago. In a surprise attack, […]
An attack on all of us: Why the Aristotle Foundation will not be silent on antisemitism
***A personal letter from Mark Milke about the Aristotle Foundation’s work on antisemitism and Israel*** When the board, staff, and I set up the Aristotle Foundation to champion reason, democracy, and civilization, we never thought we’d have to address antisemitic mob behaviour on Canadian streets and campuses. Regrettably, since the massacre of over 1,200 Jews […]
Criminalizing residential school ‘denialism’ would silence indigenous voices, too
Many First Nations people have provided important nuance to the debate. Their views should not be made illegal The effort by MP Leah Gazan to criminalize residential school views she labels “denialist” is a mistake. Gazan’s Bill C-413, if passed, would criminalize any statement that might be interpreted as “condoning, denying, downplaying or justifying the […]
Canada’s immigration system and Islamist terror threats
Arrests linked to terrorism reveal concerns over both imported and homegrown radicalization Recently, Canada’s immigration system has come under scrutiny due to a series of arrests of individuals alleged to be planning terrorist attacks. The first arrests came in July when a father and son, Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi and Mostafa Eldidi, were charged with […]
Why Calgary’s Mayor Gondek is unpopular — even when right
Mark Milke, Calgary Herald, September 12, 2024 It’s not the fault of Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek that a 50-year-old water main broke in June. Nor is it her fault that proactive repairs to pipes that deliver water to 1.5 million Calgarians are now underway, again necessitating water conservation measures. That’s critical to ensure remaining water […]
Book Review: On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice
Collin May, The Epoch Times, September 10, 2024 Adam Kirsch’s latest essay-length book takes on the thorny ideology of settler colonialism. In On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice, and despite its concise format, Kirsch covers a lot of ground in a work that is comprehensive, insightful, and a good read. While this is a […]
Disruptive smartphones have no place in school
Cellphones are the ultimate gateway drug for children and should be banned from classrooms Danny Randell, National Post, August 27, 2024 As students prepare to head back to school, it’s high time parents and policymakers take stock of how smartphones are negatively impacting Canadian kids. Self-control is harder for children than it is for adults. […]
The Toronto Star’s multiple errors on Sir John A Macdonald
The Star prefers mythology over facts John Robson, Western Standard, August 26, 2024 Given how dismal most of world history is, many people understandably romanticize their ancestors while governments peddle insolent propaganda. But why would Canada, so blessed by history and geography, have grafted onto a past as discouraging, as it is false? Consider an […]
When did Canada end systemic racism?
When the Canadian Human Rights Commission asserts that systemic racism is deeply entrenched in Canadian society, it does so contrary to the facts. Danny Randell and David Hunt, Western Standard, August 17, 2024 In 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that systemic discrimination is embedded “in all [of Canada’s] institutions,” following two RCMP officers using […]
Why conspiracy theories are more popular than facts
Michel Jacques Gagné, The Epoch Times, August 7, 2024 Last month at a Saturday afternoon open-air rally in rural Pennsylvania, former U.S. President Donald Trump was grazed by an assassin’s bullet, which left three others injured and two dead, including the shooter. The FBI quickly identified the gunman as Thomas Matthew Crooks, an intelligent but […]
Government should support science — not social engineering
Canada and the U.S. are both diverting significant sums away from scientific research to support “social justice” instead Lawrence Krauss, National Post, August 6, 2024 Lawrence M. Krauss, a theoretical physicist, has led research programs at major universities in the U.S. and elsewhere, and is currently the President of the Origins Project Foundation and is […]
See what Elon Musk and Jordan Peterson re-tweeted from the Aristotle Foundation
Elon Musk and Jordan Peterson just shared our summary chart—to over 11 million people Want to know more about our comparison of gender transition policies for teenagers?
Is Canada out of step on gender policy for minors?
We studied a myriad of gender transition policies in Canada and found that we are one of the most permissive, reckless jurisdictions J. Edward Les, Roy Eappen and Ian Kingsbury, National Post, August 1, 2024 Last spring, esteemed pediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass issued her final report of an exhaustive four-year-long inquiry into clinical “gender identity” practices in […]
Race-based anti-poverty programs don’t work
Most poor people aren’t visible minorities and most visible minorities aren’t poor: Federal policy should stop pretending otherwise Matthew Lau and David Hunt, Financial Post, July 26, 2024 You know you’ve hit a political nerve when a federal department feels the need to prepare a memorandum for parliamentarians to explain away its many public policies […]
Canadians need answers on the politicization of human rights commissions
Collin May, Western Standard, July 24, 2024 Judging by recent media coverage, the public would be justified in thinking that the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) is the most troubled of Canada’s federal bureaucracies. Recently, the CBC followed up on a story it did more than a year ago about allegations by CHRC staff against that organization’s […]
LinkedIn just banned my defense of Anne Frank—already seen by 20,000 people
Anne Frank was the German-born Jewish girl whose family left Germany for the Netherlands in 1934 to escape the Nazis. After Germany invaded Holland, the family went into hiding in Amsterdam, and where Frank kept a diary which documented her life in hiding from 1942 until 1944, at which point the family was discovered, sent […]
The federal government responds to the Aristotle Foundation study on poverty and race—and our response
Blacklock’s Reporter and the Toronto Sun recently reported how the federal government responded to our June study on poverty and race/ethnicity. That study by Matthew Lau and David hunt showed that 2.5 million Canadians in poverty happen to be ‘white’ and happen to be the largest number of any cohort in poverty. In a briefing […]
Barry Cooper on George Grant: Laurentian laments and oddly sympathetic to the Soviets
Barry Cooper, C2C Journal, June 28, 2024 Canadian conservatism boasts few intellectual giants like George Grant. As a philosopher and theologian – a rare combination today – his particular contributions shaped a uniquely Canadian vision of the politically-conservative tradition. Appropriately, a recently published book of essays assesses Grant’s work within today’s context: Reading George Grant […]
Harm-reduction activists defend safer supply with conspiracy theories
Adam Zivo, Western Standard, July 3, 2024 Faced with mounting evidence that “safer supply” programs are harming Canadian youth, some prominent harm-reduction activists are now peddling conspiracy theories and blaming the media for rising opioid addictions. This is absurd. These programs distribute free addictive drugs — predominantly hydromorphone, a heroin-strength opioid — under the assumption […]
What’s a Canadian? One who rejects tribalism
David Hunt, Western Standard, June 30, 2024 My wife and I were out for a long-overdue date night this week, and just before we could sit down, I was confronted with the following comment: “There is considerable nuance that you didn’t address in your new study!” The study in question was a short reality check […]
How the Summit Series shaped Canada: It’s not what you think
Rahim Mohamed, The Epoch Times, June 29, 2024 This Canada Day, reflecting on what it means to be Canadian, I want to take you back to the 1972 Summit Series. But not for Canada’s victory over the Soviets, but its indirect impact on an even more high-stakes drama playing out in… Uganda. In early August, […]
Identity politics destroy a country’s unity
Rima Azar and David Hunt, The Epoch Times, June 29, 2024 Canada Day is an especially good time to ask two questions: What does it mean for a new immigrant to become Canadian? And how can immigrants succeed in their new country while contributing toward making Canada more prosperous for all? We are proud Canadians, […]
How the boat people reveal what it means to be Canadian
Chuong Nguyen and David Hunt, The Epoch Times, June 28, 2024 This Canada Day, we should celebrate our country proudly and not let excessive focus on past grievances be used as an excuse to overshadow our accomplishments. Of which, Canada has many. Achievements, that is. Canada’s greatness, however, is found mostly in its quiet strengths. […]
Alberta’s pro-encampment law professors deserve a low grade
Collin May, National Post, June 25, 2024 A month back, the administrations at the Universities of Calgary and Alberta called in city police to remove their pro-Palestinian encampments. In the immediate aftermath, 19 professors from Alberta’s two law schools wrote an open letter claiming that this move was a “violent infringement of students’ right to […]
How did colour blindness become racist?
Chuong Nguyen and Mark Milke, True North, June 8, 2024 It turns out that there are more white Canadians in poverty than all other ethnicities combined, and yet considerable government “anti-poverty” resources exclude those Canadians on the basis of…skin colour. This comes from a new study released last week by the Aristotle Foundation. Fifty years ago, the […]
Race and ethnicity are lousy predictors of poverty in Canada
Why race-based targeting doesn’t help the poor Matthew Lau, Financial Post, June 7, 2024 Milton Friedman’s first rule for government programs to alleviate poverty was: “If the objective is to alleviate poverty, we should have a program directed at helping the poor … There is every reason to help the poor man who happens to be a […]
Want to defend Canada?
***A personal message from Aristotle Foundation president Mark Milke*** The Red Ensign symbolizes Canada’s war dead over generations You are more than familiar with what is popularly known as “cancel culture.” That term is now a cliché. But the reality is that attacks on Canadian history have become a chronic problem. Here’s an example. A […]
Cancel culture targets those who built Canada
Mark Milke, Toronto Sun, May 26, 2024 It’s popular these days to cancel historical figures when their views do not exactly mimic our own. For those who practice such deliberate historic amnesia, streets, bridges, and entire neighbourhoods are renamed, or statues removed, to satisfy an Orwellian need to block out what is assumed to be […]
Alberta’s new curriculum chooses evidence over fads
David W. Livingstone, Edmonton Journal, May 31, 2024 One would hope that teaching kids a coherent body of knowledge, including important historical facts and events, is a goal widely shared by educators and parents. Yet for too long, education elites have wedded themselves to theories that downplay the importance of acquiring knowledge: discovery-learning, experiential learning, […]
We owe our civilization to Sir Winston Churchill
David Bercuson, Calgary Herald, May 22, 2024 Put the words “Winston Churchill defaced” into Google and scan the pictures that come up: A Churchill statue covered in red paint, or another boxed up to preserve it from being defaced. Then there are the words used (by some) to describe Churchill today: imperialist, racist, empire lover. […]
It’s spring in Canada: Get thee to a garden
John Weissenberger, The Epoch Times, May 22, 2024 It’s finally spring in Canada and that means we can at last go green, but not like post-modern Gaia worshippers. Rather, we can partake in the timeless pastime of gardening, connecting to both the natural world and one of your own design. It’s hard to overstate the […]
Let’s build on the past by honouring it
Mark Milke, Calgary Herald, May 18, 2023 It’s popular these days to cancel historical figures when their views do not exactly mimic our own. Thus, for those who practice such deliberate historic amnesia, streets, bridges, and entire neighbourhoods are renamed, or statues removed, to satisfy an Orwellian need to block out what is assumed to […]
Alberta’s failure to reform its history curriculum
C.P. Champion, Western Standard, May 16, 2024 When I briefly assisted the Alberta government in assembling knowledge-based elementary social studies curricula in 2021, the government communications experts refused to defend what they had asked me to prepare. Although they thought of the education ministry’s left-wing experts (and their CBC chorus) as terrorists with whom they (Reaganesquely) refused […]
Our yearly reminder that we are still British North Americans
Geoff Russ, The Epoch Times, May 17, 2024 This Victoria Day, the usual suspects will decry the holiday—in the name of decolonization. However, so long as Canada’s existence is said to make the world a better place, the process by which this country was created ought not be deplored. The land that became Canada has […]
Who pays for college Gaza protests?
Barry Cooper, Western Standard, May 7, 2024 From UCLA and UBC on the west coast to McGill and Columbia on the east coast, the student and non-student occupations of North American university campuses have advanced at least four common demands. First: No repercussions to be imposed on the protesters for their behaviour, even if it […]
Lord of the Lies: A pediatrician’s take on the latest gender-affirming research
J. Edward Les, MD, The Epoch Times, April 17, 2024 Last week’s release of the Cass Review brought to memory the old jingle: “Liar, liar, pants on fire; your nose is longer than a telephone wire.” Commissioned four years ago to probe the practices of the Tavistock gender clinic in Britain, the report methodically assembles […]
Why is only Israel wrong when it defends itself?
David J. Bercuson, The Epoch Times, April 18, 2024 On Sunday night, April 14 in Tel Aviv Israel, Iran fired some 300 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and suicide drones at Israel. Israel’s own air defences, combined with help from the United States, Britain, France, Jordan and Saudi Arabia destroyed almost every one. A little girl […]
How the charge of ‘Islamophobia’ silences critics of political Islamism
Chuong Nguyen, Epoch Times, April 15, 2024 It’s been just over six months since the October 7th attacks on Israeli soil, and the debate around Islamism has returned to Western political discourse—along with the accusation of ‘Islamophobia’ repeatedly and callously hurled. For instance, in the wake of the attacks on Jews, schools across Canada have […]
The men who made modern Canada – A Review of John Ibbitson’s The Duel: Diefenbaker, Pearson and the Making of Modern Canada
John Robson, Western Standard, April 13, 2024 If John Diefenbaker and Lester Pearson really did make modern Canada, as John Ibbitson maintains in his double-barrelled biography The Duel: Diefenbaker, Pearson, and the Making of Modern Canada, we might be justified in asking for our money back. Not for the book, a splendid introduction to our 13th and […]
