Jane Stannus

Two young Canadian pilots were killed in a tragic accident on 22 March. What should have been an occasion for sober reflection, compassion and prayer, has regrettably turned into an undignified dispute about bilingualism. Captain Antoine Forest, 30, and First Officer Mackenzie Gunther, 24, died when a fire engine crossed the runway in front of them as they landed at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. The nose of the plane took the brunt of the impact and both pilots were killed. Grateful passengers credited the two young men with saving the lives of everyone else on board by doing their utmost to slow the plane down in the last instants before the collision. The occupants of the fire engine were injured but survived.

Easter is almost here – and Canada’s Liberal government has chosen this sacred season to display its utter contempt for Christianity. It is currently forcing through the outrageous Bill C-9, which could make it a hate crime to quote from sections of the Bible. The Liberal government has laid the foundations for religious persecutionca More than 40 civil and religious groups had asked that for the Bill’s language be clarified and its scope more carefully defined so that religious texts would not be subject to hate crime legislation. But all in vain. After a hot debate in the House of Commons, the Liberals highhandedly ended a Conservative filibuster and fast-tracked the bill.

As Can Force One moved toward Chinese airspace, the delegation’s electronic devices were powered down and secured in signal-blocking bags. Burner phones were passed out: the only machines the public servants, staff and journalists would be allowed to use for the duration of their stay. The Canadian Prime Minister’s security team was taking no risks. But Mark Carney himself was on his way to do something many back home would consider very risky indeed: signing agreements with Chinese President Xi Jinping on trade, global governance, energy, media access and law enforcement.

A horrible and incredibly sad tragedy unfolded on 10 February in the small town of Tumbler Ridge in British Columbia, Canada. An 18-year-old, Jesse Van Rootselaar, also known as Jesse Strang,  turned a gun first on his mother and stepbrother, then on young students and a teacher at his former high school, and finally on himself – with nine reported dead, including the shooter, and at least 25 injured. Waves of shock, grief and horror have rippled across the nation. This was one of Canada’s worst school shootings, the deadliest in 37 years. It seemed especially cruel because Tumbler Ridge is such a tightly knit community, with only about 2,400 inhabitants.

South Asian communities across Canada are being terrorised by gangs – and city officials in Surrey, BC are calling on the federal government to declare a national state of emergency. The crimes follow a distinctive pattern. South Asian gangs demand money from members of their own communities. Intimidation, threats and even shootings follow. Gang members drive to someone’s home or business, and video themselves shooting at buildings and vehicles. They then post the recording online or send it to the target, with threats of worse to come if payment is not made. The gangs are expert at exploiting the weaknesses in Canadian immigration policy The city of Surrey has seen a drastic uptick in these crimes, with police reporting 35 extortion attempts since the beginning of January.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year – but not, sadly, in Quebec. Or at least that’s what the provincial government would have us believe. As the region’s secularism minister Jean-François Roberge explained: ‘We can wish someone merry Christmas. We can sing Christmas songs. This is nothing but tradition. But we shouldn’t make any references to the birth of baby Jesus... When we wish someone merry Christmas, we can think of Santa Claus and his elves, but nothing Catholic.’ Generously, Christmas parties are permitted in schools and daycares as long as ‘there is no attempt to transmit religious values’ Roberge was describing the workings of Bill 9, an attempt to expand the region’s secularism laws.

It’s an awkward time in the upper echelons of the Canadian cultural establishment. It’s come to light that influential indigenous author and former broadcaster Thomas King, isn’t actually indigenous at all. It matters, because King has spent much of his 82 years claiming to speak on behalf of the indigenous peoples of North America, and his role in shaping Canadian perception of their First Nations has been enormous. His books have served as standard texts in Canadian schools and universities for over 20 years. When King came to Canada, he was able not only to dine out on his purported indigenous background, but to make it the central facet of a lucrative career Born in the US, King came to Canada in 1980 to teach native studies at the University of Lethbridge.