May 15 2023 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — On May 2, the House of Commons declared the ongoing deaths and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls a national emergency. On Red Dress Day later that week, many companies, organizations and governments mourned the lost Indigenous sisters, mothers and aunties, and marked the day with a renewed resolve to stop the loss.
May 1 2023 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — Bill C-18: An Act Respecting Online Communications Platforms that Make News Content Available to Persons in Canada, or the Online News Act, is expected to replace the archaic system of funding of news organizations from 1991. It was written in another time and world. It reflected a time when physical newspapers were king, the internet […]
Apr 3 2023 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — From about 300 to 500 AD, the new Catholics gained prominence over the other European-based spiritualities. It was made possible by the political leader Constantine, who legislated Catholicism as well as converting to it, and he supported the infrastructure development of the church. The church grew its influence by the Crusades in the Middle Ages […]
Mar 20 2023 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — Picture Canada in 1958: the time of the baby boom, the Dodge Regent, growing influence of unions, the new unemployment insurance, and first version of health insurance. Does your history of Canada include Indigenous Peoples? In 1958, the number of residential institutions for Indigenous children in the south was decreasing. The UN Declaration on Human […]
Mar 6 2023 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — Catalyst is a global non-profit with a Canadian arm which supports companies to help build workplaces that work for women. Catalyst recently released a report about emotional tax defined as “being on guard to protect against bias due to race, ethnicity, and gender.” The report found it’s a serious issue in Canada as well as […]
Feb 20 2023 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — A report by the RCMP Civilian Review and Complaints Commission reviewed incidents between 2000 and 2004 when Indigenous girls and women working on the street in Prince George, B.C., were allegedly sexually abused by up to nine RCMP officers. Even when the evidence seems to have been stolen by one of the officers, perhaps with […]
Jan 23 2023 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had a mixed leadership, like any leader. But she will be remembered for putting her idealism into action. Ardern’s Labour party was elected in a coalition and Ardern named ministers from other parties to enshrine the partnership, while in Canada, the NDP are still out in the cold. In […]
Jan 9 2023 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — I looked to the ravens and I talked with the bears and this is what they told me. Okay, that’s not entirely accurate. Elder Woody Morrison said that the past is in front of us, the future is behind us. Imagine standing knee-deep in a river and looking downriver—that is the past and we can […]
Nov 28 2022 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — I found it easier to doubt Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond for her apparent misrepresentation of academic achievements than question her claims of Indigenous identity and belonging. Her case has brought complex questions about Indigeneity again to the fore after a CBC investigation documented issues with her claims of Cree ancestry and detailed instances where she reported […]
Nov 14 2022 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — The federal government historically didn’t even follow the directives of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal regarding equitable funding for First Nations children. This is the history of the department purported to serve Indigenous peoples. Historically, the department of Indian Affairs served its own power base rather than Indigenous peoples. Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller has […]
Oct 31 2022 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — There were frantic texts from the RCMP about federal ministers losing faith in the Ottawa police. (Weeks after Ottawa citizens had come to this same conclusion, so better late than sorry?) There was concerned testimony that police officers were really sick and that was the problem (except they were also carting propane tanks to the […]
Oct 3 2022 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — Gather around for a good news story. It’s about the University of Ottawa’s women’s rugby team, the Gee-Gees. The team has spent some serious time considering its path to push reconciliation, and the truth is that it has a great opportunity. After speaking with Indigenous peoples in the community, the team decided to do something […]
Sep 5 2022 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — A recent Ekos survey of Canadians found a disturbing relation between the amount of disinformation an individual agrees with, and the level of support for the “Freedom Convoy.” Rest assured this author views even the name of the convoy one of the most insidious and effective uses of propaganda in recent years. On the surface, […]
Aug 8 2022 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — There was a certain trajectory in the Pope’s speeches across Canada. His first included an apology and was sincere and meaningful but didn’t quite go far enough in taking institutional responsibility for residential schools. The Lac Ste. Anne speech reflected on family as a source of healing both for Indigenous peoples and for Catholics, and […]
Jun 6 2022 — Rose LeMay — Hill Times — Why do we continue to lose Indigenous women and girls? Somewhere between 1,600 and 4,000 Indigenous women and girls have been lost in this country in the last 20 years; some missing, some lost to crime. There is no agreement on the number lost and that in itself should be alarming. Why are institutions in […]