Critical Perspectives and Reflections

“The article below is the fourth in a series of four reflections on the residential school issue in Canada that will be published every day in the following week in Critical Perspectives and Reflections.  The discovery of the 215 bodies of Indigenous children in unmarked graves signaled the beginning of what many of us hope will be a genuine awakening in this country of the long standing colonial wound that has been festering since even before Confederation. The first article, by Wayne Johnston is a plea for us to Wake Up! to the profound seriousness of the issue? The second, by Darryl Newbury focuses on the need for education in our history. The third, by Bill Lee, considers the issue of the responsibilities of the Church and the State to right the wrongs. The fourth is a compilation of nine Indigenous voices with their individual reactions to the specific news of the 215.”  * * * THE CONTEXT OF THE PROJECT The words below, that are shared here, came about after an...

  “The article below is the third in a series of four reflections on the residential school issue in Canada that will be published every day in the following week in Critical Perspectives and Reflections. The discovery of the 215 bodies of Indigenous children in unmarked graves signaled the beginning of what many of us hope will be a genuine awakening in this country of the long standing colonial wound that has been festering since even before Confederation. The first article, by Wayne Johnston is a plea for us to Wake Up! to the profound seriousness of the issue? The second, by Darryl Newbury focuses on the need for education in our history. The third, by Bill Lee, considers the issue of the responsibilities of the Church and the State to right the wrongs. The fourth is a compilation of ten Indigenous voices with their individual reactions to the specific news of the 215.” * * * If Canada cares, we’ll lower our flags. We’ll have a national week of mourning. We’ll stop fi...

“The article below is the second in a series of four reflections on the residential school issue in  Canada that will be published every day in the following week in Critical Perspectives and Reflections. The discovery of the 215 bodies of Indigenous children in unmarked graves signaled the beginning of what many of us hope will be a genuine awakening in this country of the long standing colonial wound that has been festering since even before Confederation. The first article, by Wayne Johnston is a plea for us to Wake Up! to the profound seriousness of the issue? The second, by Darryl Newbury focuses on the need for education in our history. The third, by Bill Lee, considers the issue of the responsibilities of the Church and the State to right the wrongs. The fourth is a compilation of ten Indigenous voices with their individual reactions to the specific news of the 215.” * * * In each of my nearly twenty years of teaching, I have had one section, or more, of Canadian h...

  “The article below is the first in a series of four reflections on the residential school issue in Canada that will be published every day in the following week in Critical Perspectives and Reflections. The discovery of the 215 bodies of Indigenous children in unmarked graves signaled the beginning of what many of us hope will be a genuine awakening in this country of the long standing colonial wound that has been festering since even before Confederation. The first article, by Wayne Johnston is a plea for us to Wake Up! to the profound seriousness of the issue? The second, by Darryl Newbury focuses on the need for education in our history. The third, by Bill Lee, considers the issue of the responsibilities of the Church and the State to right the wrongs. The forth is a compilation of ten Indigenous voices with their individual reactions to the specific news of the 215.” * * * Like most Canadians I am saddened by the discovery of 215 little souls buried at a former Resi...

Panhandling, i.e., begging for small change on the street, has been under considerable threat since the coming of Covid. Of course, the practice has been under threat before whenever the good burgers of some city find that the poor have resorted to “inconveniencing” the public and they feel the “moral” need to criminalize it. But Covid is causing different constraints. In these times very few people carry cash with them. In fact, many retailers will not accept cash, since it may well be ‘dirty money’. The term panhandling had its origins, so I’m told, during an economic depression in the United States in the late 19th century. That depression hit the panhandle area of northern Texas particularly hard and it caused many workers to head to New York City, where the ‘Buddy can you spare a dime?’ request was given birth. The practitioners of this art became known as the panhandlers. Back in the early 1970s I conducted studies of panhandling approaches in six North American cities, one of th...