Dear Rex: Colonialism exists, and you’re it.

Awesome article to Rex Murphy’s colonialist column published in the National Post last week. http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/10/19/rex-murphy-a-rude-dismissal-of-canadas-generosity/

cultivating alternatives

Dear Rex Murphy,

When you write that Canadians are offended at the term ‘settler’ and ‘genocide,’ you don’t speak for all of us.  I’m a Canadian citizen, my ancestors came to Canada from Europe a few centuries ago, and I understand myself as a settler.  It’s not disrespectful for indigenous peoples to remind us of Canada’s legacy of genocide.  It’s not rude for indigenous peoples to label as ‘colonial’ the connections between the industries of resource extraction, the RCMP, and the corporate media you write for.  What’s insulting is your attempt to paint Canada as benevolent, open, and respectful of indigenous peoples, and your contempt for any understanding of present-day colonialism and oppression in Canada.

I’m not an expert on colonialism, but clearly neither are you.  In reading your vitriolic editorial, it struck me that you clearly hate the term ‘settler’ and ‘colonialism’; however, your writing also indicates that you…

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Colombia is Canada’s New Best Friend

An old, yet really great summary by Paul Christopher Webster of Canada’s increasingly important economic and political relationship with Colombia.

Not From My Campus

This is from the Globe and Mail’s business section, and was originally published here.

“Paul Christopher Webster

Special to The Globe and Mail

Published Thursday, Apr. 26 2012, 2:59 PM EDT

Last updated Thursday, Sep. 06 2012, 12:51 PM EDT

It was just after daybreak on a hazy January morning in Bogota and the 300 bankers were bleary. Summoned at dawn to the auditorium at the foot of their 50-storey office tower, most of them had guessed that their employer—Eduardo Pacheco, owner of Banco Colpatria—was about to confirm the closing of a deal. And no small deal. Canada’s Scotiabank, they understood, was taking a controlling stake in Colpatria. But how did this explain the monstrous transgression against bankers’ hours? Was this really the right time and place for a lesson in Canadian banking history stretching all the way back to the 19th-century rum trade?

Rick Waugh, Scotiabank’s CEO, seemed to…

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