Tag: Social Policy and Advocacy
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The Office at the Other End of the Line
What Ukraine’s scam call centres take from the people they call, and from the young people they hire In short: On 5 September, Serhii Marchenko published a post arguing that the real damage of Ukraine’s fraud call centres is not only the stolen money but the generation being trained inside them. I went to the…
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Neighbours Help. They Do Not Blame.
A response to the congressional letter on Canadian wildfire smoke [Photo: the sky near Ashcroft, British Columbia, July 19, 2024. I took this picture myself. The sun is a pale disc behind the smoke, and a STOP sign stands at an empty intersection. This is what wildfire season looks like where I live.] Last week,…
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When Truth, Care, and Equality Grow Together, Humanity Blooms
International Women’s Day 2026A year ago, I wrote that when we fail to value women, dictators rise. I stand by every word. When We Fail to Value Women, Dictators Rise: 100 Reasons to Honour Women’s Vital Work This International Women’s Day This year I want to say something simpler. Something that goes beyond politics and…
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The Inversion of Language: How Power Transforms Truth into Lies, Phones into Weapons, and Justice into Obstruction
Documenting the Killing of Alex Pretti and the Machinery of State Narrative Control On January 24, 2026, federal Border Patrol agents killed Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who cared for American veterans at the Minneapolis VA hospital. What followed was a precise demonstration of how authoritarian power operates: not just through violence, but…
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Taking the Sign Out of the Window—Now Let’s Build the Foundation
A Critical Reflection on PM Carney’s Davos Speech Through the Love, Care, Share Framework On January 20, 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered what may become one of the most significant Canadian foreign policy speeches in a generation. Standing before the World Economic Forum in Davos, he invoked Czech dissident Václav Havel’s famous essay The…
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A Personal Vision for University Innovation: Lessons from the Senate Floor and Two Decades of Teaching
Sitting in the Thompson Rivers University Senate meeting last week, listening to the sobering budget presentation about IRCC changes and the loss of 2,000 international students representing $40 million in revenue, I felt both the weight of our challenges and the spark of opportunity. The uncertainty in the room was palpable, faculty and staff wondering…
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A Message from the Mountains: Standing Strong Against Trade War Turbulence
Writing from the beautiful interior of British Columbia, where the mountains remind us daily that some things endure beyond the storms, I want to reach out to fellow Canadians and our friends around the world who are watching these trade conflicts unfold with growing concern. The Shock of Betrayal Just three days ago, we thought…
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Why BC’s Public Education System Needs Immediate Investment
Overview British Columbia’s public schools are facing a serious funding crisis. Teachers, support staff, and families are raising concerns that essential educational supports are being cut or severely reduced, while the needs of students continue to grow. This situation affects all of us: not just students and educators, but the future of our province. What…
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AI Analysis Showdown: Examining Trump’s 2025 Tariff Policy
I wanted to share an interesting experiment I conducted recently. With the White House’s April 2nd announcement of sweeping new tariffs under President Trump, I was curious to see how different AI assistants would analyze this economic policy. So I recruited four AI helpers: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot, and asked them to critique the…
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From MAGA to MASS: Trump’s Executive Orders and Tariff Policies within the Architecture of Care
Introduction: From MAGA to MASS – Reframing Trump’s Policy Approach Through Care Ethics In the evolving landscape of American political governance, the transition from traditional policy approaches to what Dr. Kondrashov has termed “Making America Super Small” (MASS) represents more than a rhetorical shift from the familiar “Making America Great Again” (MAGA) slogan. This analysis…