Since the election of Donald Trump, thousands of refugees have crossed the Canadian border over fears they might be otherwise be arrested and deported as a result of a national crackdown on asylum seekers. Refugees have been flooding in all along the Canada/US border, which is the longest in the world but most of the journeys are being made at the…
Kenya’s recent presidential re-run elections, which were scheduled after the Supreme Court annulled an earlier vote in August due to “irregularities and illegalities”, resulted in a landslide victory for the incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta. Kenyatta ended up winning 98 per cent of the October 26 vote, leading opposition candidate Raila Odinga, of the National Super Alliance (NASA) political coalition, to call the…
In the late 19th century hundreds of farming families left Nepal to settle in Bhutan, responding to the call of the country, desperately short of manpower. For eight generations these farmers lived in relatively isolated areas where they continued to practice their unique Hindu culture in the Buddhist kingdom While the influx of farmers was mutually beneficial for both sides for…
There is a tradition in southern Alberta that goes back to a time when the Prairies were still relatively unscathed by European settlement. It moved west with the North-West Mounted Police and north from the plains of Texas and the mountain basins of Oregon, ultimately coalescing on the wide-open grasslands in the Rocky Mountain foothills of what would one day…
I had already been in Colombia six months by the time the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) held their 10th and last conference as an armed group. The event, which took place at El Diamante (The Diamond), provided an opportunity for the organization to open up to the world and celebrate the peace agreements with the Colombian state. The…
In a small park across from city hall in downtown Yellowknife, camouflaged by a perimeter of spruce and birch trees, sits a makeshift camp of teepees and canvas tents. The people here, many of whom are Dene and Denesuline, have just spent two weeks tanning moose and caribou hides. For those who have left their small hamlets for life in…
In recent years tensions between North Korea and the rest of the world have risen as the country has ramped up efforts to assert itself as a nuclear power. Despite its repeated missile tests and anti-American rhetoric, very little is known about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)). Determined to get a better understanding of this highly secretive country Canadian…
In this day and age it’s difficult for quieter moments of the human experience to compete with the egotistical currencies of the digital realm. The digital world is largely designed to be addictive, playing on the brain’s reward mechanisms to keep us coming back. With “its unpredictable but continuous loop of positive feedback, simulation of connectivity and culture of comparison,”1the Internet…
The racially charged protests in Charlottesville this month have sparked a wave of indignation and awareness across the globe regarding the rise of far right populism and white nationalism. Long confined to operate in the shadows, increasing its presence on the Internet and engaged in a so-called ”meme war” with the left, far right movements are now taking the streets,…