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 […]
Should we pay tax based on skin colour?
‘Critical tax theory’ wants white people to pay more tax. Let’s stick to these guides for tax policy: efficiency, simplicity and fairness Jack M. Mintz, Financial Post, April 12, 2024 Imagine if in her Tuesday budget federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced higher taxes on capital gains — except for women, visible minorities and Black, […]
Canada goes all-in for 1984
Punishment for thought crimes is the new normal in Canada Mark Milke, National Review, April 14, 2024 “Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you.” — George Orwell, 1984 Americans may wish to look […]
Cuba is an economic, social, and democratic failure
Mark Milke, Globe and Mail, April 8, 2024 Cuba is an economic and social failure. This is obvious to any honest observer of the island nation, now hurtling toward Haiti-like status when its living standards should always have been closer to those in the Bahamas. I was in Cuba the day Fidel Castro resigned in […]
Jewish Canadians deserve the support of Muslim Canadians
Rahim Mohamed, Western Standard, April 08, 2024 April 7th marks six months since Hamas launched a medieval onslaught of murder, rape and kidnapping in southern Israel, leaving 1,139 civilians dead, at least eight of whom were Canadians, and taking some 250 more hostage over what would end up being the darkest day for Jews since […]
What a Hamas founder’s son thinks of Hamas, Gaza, Jews, and Israel
Vivian Bercovici, Western Standard, April 5, 2024 Mosab Hassan Yousef: The reluctant celebrity During the time Mosab was in Israel in late February, he kept a low profile as he tends to do, but granted at least two interviews, and quietly toured the area of southern Israel that was pulverized by Hamas on October 7.th […]
Ottawa should abolish Indian Act tax exemptions
Tom Flanagan, Financial Post, March 20, 2024 Since it was passed in 1876 the Indian Act has contained a tax exemption for real and personal property owned by Registered Indians on Indian reserves. (“Registered Indian” is the term used in the constitution, legislation, orders-in-council and Canada Revenue Agency interpretation bulletins and is thus precise about who is […]
The shaky foundation of childhood gender transition
Dr. J. Edward Les, Epoch Times, March 16, 2024 The debate around childhood “gender transition” has become so toxic as to render calm and rational discussion nearly impossible. Each side is quick to smear their opponents as malevolent or ignorant—or both. It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that most of us simply want […]
Why almost everyone is wrong about racism
In a racist Canada, people of Japanese and Korean ancestry wouldn’t have higher-than-average incomes or professional status (which they do) – Mark Milke, Financial Post, March 7, 2024 Economist Thomas Sowell, born in the American South and raised in Harlem, and the expert on race, income and culture, once gave an example of why the notion that racism […]
The death of Socrates and Navalny: The parallels
Chuong Nguyen, Western Standard, March 3, 2024 The death of Alexei Navalny came as a shock to anyone who longs for a post-Putin Russia but, as I said my prayers for the hero Russians needed and who Putin feared, I thought of Socrates whose example of moral courage 2,500 years before Navalny parallels the Russian […]
On childhood gender transition: Not all doctors agree
Roy Eappen, MD and J. Edward Les, MD, National Post, February 26, 2024 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s recently announced policies on restricting transgender medical interventions for minors have generated much outrage, notwithstanding a subsequent Leger poll that suggested more Canadians than not agree with her proscriptions. Doctor groups like the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) and the Canadian […]
Activist quotes and hollow assertions – A review of Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial
Adam Zivo, Western Standard, February 24, 2024 Late last year, University of British Columbia law professor Benjamin Perrin published a book — Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial — arguing that “tough on crime” policies do not work and that Canada’s criminal justice system needs a complete overhaul. Perrin’s views have garnered considerable attention, given that from […]
The intellectual assault on Canada’s military
John Robson, Western Standard, February 22, 2024 Canada’s military is in a heap of trouble. Far too few people, except at DND headquarters, with far too little equipment that’s far too old and morale in freefall. It might seem an odd time for the brass to go full metal woke, including an infamous issue of Canadian Military Journal, […]
DEI should die
David Millard Haskell, Western Standard, February 14, 2024 Almost two months ago, Tesla CEO and Twitter (now X) owner Elon Musk, made critical statements on X about the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI.) In a post that’s now been viewed nearly 36 million times, Musk stated “DEI must DIE. The point was to end discrimination, […]
The first-past-the-post voting system is best—and trumps the rest
Nolan Albert, February 15, 2024 ———————— Note to readers: The Aristotle Foundation is proud to co-sponsor a new essay contest. This essay by Nolan Albert is an edited version of his grand-prize winning submission to the 1st Annual Patricia Trottier and Gwyn Morgan Student Essay Contest sponsored by the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy, C2C Journal, […]
Alberta is right: Children should be protected from transgender procedures
Dr. Roy Eappen, Calgary Herald, February 10, 2024 In Alberta, at least, science and common sense still reign. That’s the reality now that Premier Danielle Smith has prohibited transgender procedures for children. In Alberta, kids under the age of 16 will no longer be eligible to receive puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones, while sex-change surgeries […]
Want to know how your tax dollars ended up with Hamas?
Canada threw money at UNWRA while other countries cut back Rahim Mohamed, National Post, February 10, 2024 International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen announced in late January that Canada would suspend funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). This followed bombshell allegations that a dozen UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7 terror attacks […]
Trudeau and Trump are shredding our democracies and norms
“Put not your trust in princes” — Psalm 145 Mark Milke, Western Standard, February 3, 2024 When the honourable Justice Mosley from the Federal Court slapped down the Trudeau government for using the Emergencies Act two years ago to clear truckers from Ottawa’s streets, the ruling was an encouraging sign: The justice reminded politicians that the rule of […]
As Muslim women, we must keep talking about Hamas’ sex crimes on Oct. 7
Raheel Raza, Farhana Khorshed, Soraya Deen, & Zainab Khan Newsweek, January 25, 2024 We as Muslim women have condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, including the brutal and systematic rape and sexual violence against dozens of women and girls in southern Israel—and we have all faced criticism and threats for doing so, even as we now all […]
McMaster University’s ignorant John A. Macdonald apology
Yet another unbalanced attack on Canada’s first prime minister Greg Piasetzki, National Post, January 15, 2024 McMaster University recently felt it necessary to apologize for its “grave oversight” of including “Sir John A. Macdonald Day” in its university calendar of events. Why? Because, according to McMaster, it is “a day that celebrates a person responsible for the […]
Banning books and burning books: The Peel District School board’s anti-history crusade
Marjorie Gann, Western Standard, January 13, 2024 When I was 10 years old, I discovered Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel Little Women. From the very first line — “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents” — I was hooked. Never mind that my Jewish family didn’t celebrate Christmas. The world of the lively March sisters, who sang […]
Are we beasts?: War, civilian casualties, and Hamas
David J. Bercuson, National Post, January 2, 2024 “Are we beasts?” – Winston Churchill, 1943 Union major general William T. Sherman, commanding officer of Union troops in the vicinity of Atlanta, Georgia, in early September 1864, had just routed Confederate forces from this key southern railway and manufacturing city in a bloody campaign to capture […]
Sir John A. Macdonald saved more indigenous lives than any other prime minister
An excerpt from The 1867 Project that also appeared in the National Post. Given that he died in 1891, the facts of Sir John A. Macdonald’s life are unchangeable. The story of his life, however, has changed dramatically. For most of Canada’s history, Macdonald was considered a nation-builder worthy of celebration and veneration. Today he is a […]
The hope for defeating antisemitism and politicized Islam? Young and expat Iranians
The West must do everything it can to help Iranians at home and abroad unify their opposition to the Khamenei regime Michael Bonner, National Post, January 1, 2024 Canadians are right to be concerned about a rising tide of antisemitism at home and an increasingly assertive political Islam abroad. Both are being promoted aggressively by […]
So this is Christmas — and what have celebrities actually done?
Mark Milke, National Review, December 25, 2022 There are many cheery Christmas tunes that only a Grinch would disdain, despite how often we hear them during the holidays. My own favorites include “Coffee” from The Nutcracker, Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas,” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. However, […]
You may never see Canada the same way, again – A review of Stephen Bown’s Dominion: The Railway and the Rise of Canada
A Review of Stephen R. Bown’s Dominion: The Railway and the Rise of Canada John Robson, Western Standard, December 18, 2023 Is Canada boring? Don’t you believe it. Canada started as a spectacular venture to drive a railway through from the river to the ends of the Earth, colourful characters such as Labrador Smith. Now, there […]
How to practice actual idea diversity
Chuong Nguyen, Toronto Star, December 09, 2023 I recently interviewed a member of The Satanic Temple to my podcast—Stephen Bradford Long, whom I was introduced to through another guest – author Jonathan Rauch, perhaps most famous for his book, Kindly Inquisitors. As a Christian, I did not know what to expect. It turned out to […]
Canada’s robust history of freedom – A review of Conrad Black’s latest book Forgotten History
A Review of Conrad Black’s Forgotten History: Civil Rights in Canada Rob Varma, Western Standard, December 1, 2023 142 pages, $19.95 Conrad Black’s latest book, Forgotten History: Civil Rights in Canada, is an insightful work that dispels many misconceptions about Canada’s past. Black combines a deep knowledge of Western history and an eye for relevant […]
The JFK assassination and conspiracy theories: Sorting fact from fiction
Michel Jacques Gagné, Western Standard, November 20, 2023 On November 22, 1963, an emotionally unstable young Marxist and ex-Marine with few friends or job prospects, little respect from organized leftists, and an estranged wife who finally lost patience with his violent outbursts and political fantasies, took his rifle to work at the Texas School Book […]
Remembrance is about adding to the historical record, not cancelling it
Mark Milke and Kelvyn van Esch, November 10, 2023 We live in an odd era where the approach of some is to cancel or attack historical figures as a way of sending them down an Orwellian memory hole, this on the justification they were not perfect, and therefore should be expunged from the historical record. […]
The way Hamas thinks leaves Israel no choice
Barry Cooper, Western Standard, November 7, 2023 During the past few weeks there has been considerable pushback against the lies, deceptions, denials and verbal rubbish regarding the responsibility of Hamas for the massacre of Israelis on October 7 as well as the deaths of Palestinian civilians following the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) response. A lot […]
