The term “accessibility” means many different things to many people in our society.  Often, it is seen as simply providing a convenience of accessible entrances and washrooms.    However, “access” goes far beyond these important aspects. The problem with disability is not the disabled individual, but rather the environment that surrounds him or her.  In today’s […]

Nearly two years later it would seem that young Canadians are tired of waiting.  Yesterday hundreds of youth from across the country began calling the hill asking to chat with our Prime Minister, calling for an end to the $1.4 billion in public money current given to oil and gas companies each year. The cross-country “phone […]

A report released today by The Salvation Army finds that many Canadians continue to believe persistent myths about poverty and the poor. The study is being released in conjunction with the launch of The Dignity Project, a campaign designed to educate and inform the public about the challenges facing society’s most vulnerable people. While the […]

The release of the preliminary contributors list for BC Liberal leadership candidates makes for an interesting read, but the most intriguing part goes well beyond the totals.   Naturally, most of the media highlighted who has so far taken in the most: Kevin Flacon $708,000;  Christy Clark  $519,000;  George Abbott  $427,000;  and, Mike De Jong  […]

Never in history has there been such a large cohort of women living beyond their 70s, still in good health, who combined, are often trapped by poverty and the loss of meaningful roles in our individualistic culture. Selkirk College’s Mir Centre for Peace Winter Lecture Series invites you to gain insight on the role of […]

A new study from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Sierra Club BC calls on the provincial government to scale up BC’s carbon tax, and makes a number of recommendations to make the tax more effective and fair.   “As currently structured, the BC carbon tax is increasing social inequality, while squandering revenues on […]

Dear editor,At a City of Rossland financial planning meeting late last year, I asked questions about the justification for the Columbia/Washington infrastructure upgrade project. After a few vague and unqualified answers about the need to replace 100-year-old infrastructure, further discussion was cut off on the grounds that...

Two prominent US Republicans, Newt Gingrich (former Speaker of the House) and Pat Nolan, (former Republican Leader of the California State Assembly) are saying that the American style “tough on crime” approach is not working.    They, along with other US Conservative leaders are spearheading the Right on Crime Campaign, a national movement urging states […]

Our thoughts and prayers are with the heroes and heroines and martyrs of Libya, and with our brave correspondent in Tripoli, now under fire. Communication is on and off, mainly off. Here is her most recent report. Since she sent it the phone lines have been cut entirely and the city’s electricity is also disconnected. […]

“The disparity in income between the rich and the poor is merely the survival of the fittest. It is merely the working out of a law of nature and a law of God.”      —John D. Rockefeller, 1894.  During the first 70 years that followed this pronouncement by one of the 19th-century’s leading robber barons, […]