The radical roots of Baldwin film a weapon International Women’s in the struggle Day PAGES 4&5 PAGE 7 $2 | No 590 | March 2017 socialist.ca ‘60s Scoop’ Valerie Lannon on the recent court victory Page 2 Trumping Trudeau John Bell on Kellie Leitch Chris Alexander Ezra Levant the 1% united Page 3 Frederick Douglass Brian Champ on the legacy of the great Abolitionist Page 6 STOP THE Barrier-free Canada? Melissa Graham critiques Trudeau’s consultations Page 7 Fair wages Kevin Taghabon on the BIGOTS food service strike FIGHT ISLAMOPHOBIA Page 8 “We are a community under siege”, scrawled hate speech outside the Red of “anti-terrorism.” Conservative ful track record when it comes to the country. There was spontaneous said Samer Majzoub of the Canadian Deer Islamic Centre in Alberta. MP Kellie Leitch proposed a tip line state-sanctioned Islamophobia. It solidarity for the mosque in Toronto, Muslim Forum. “The climate that the When Mississauga MP Iqra Kha- against “barbaric cultural practices”, was the Liberals of Jean Chrétien and there are upcoming rallies against Conservatives have brought up… has lid introduced Motion 103 to “con- while Chris Alexander showed a cal- who passed “anti-terror” legislation racism and Islamophobia, along with created waves of Islamophobia all demn Islamophobia and all forms lous disregard for Syrian refugees. after 9/11, which paved the way for a campaign to push Trudeau to accept over the country.” of systemic racism and religious These Tory leadership hopefuls Bill C-51. Justin Trudeau is con- refugees from the US. On January 29, a white supremacist discrimination”, she received tens of are continuing Harper’s hateful leg- tinuing Harper’s legislation and his Shamefully, the NDP sided with opened fire in a mosque in Quebec thousands of hateful e-mails. acy. Opposing Motion 103, Leitch racist wars. Other than tweet against the Tories by supporting their “count- City, killing six people. On February has called for people to “fight back Trump’s travel ban, Trudeau has done er-motion” which clearly aimed to 3, vandals smashed windows and Home-grown racists against all of this politically correct nothing to open the borders. delegitimize Motion 103. spray painted the Khadijah Islamic Racists are clearly feeling embold- nonsense,” and the Tories tried to At a time when Trump and the To- Centre in Montreal. On February 14, ened by Donald Trump’s bigotry and counter the motion with one that Solidarity ries are encouraging waves of Islam- a group of racists yelled slurs at a travel ban. But the spike in Islamopho- condemned all racism except for Fortunately, there has been an out- ophobia from coast to coast, and the Muslim doctor in Hamilton. On Feb- bia springs from home-grown racism. Islamophobia. pouring of solidarity for the Muslim Liberals are offering only lip service ruary 17, a gang of racists surround- For years, the Harper government As Liberal MP Chandra Arya said, community. Within 24 hours of the ter- in response, we need a voice in Parlia- ed a downtown Toronto mosque, fanned the flames of hatred—from “Fear is a dangerous thing. Once it rorist attack on the mosque in Quebec, ment to echo solidarity for Muslims— spewing hate. In February, a Muslim Harper declaring “the major threat is is sanctioned by the state, there’s no there were vigils of thousands in Mon- to say: Fight the hate, stop racism and woman was physically assaulted in Islamicism”, to launching racist wars, telling where it might lead.” treal and Ottawa. The following week- Islamophobia, end the attacks on civil Mississauga. On February 21, a man to curtailing civil liberties in the name But the Liberals have a shame- end there were solidarity rallies across liberties, and open the borders. Court victory for First Nations Tory leadership race... to the ‘Sixties Scoop’ survivors bottom by Valerie Lannon If they were allowed to find out where home as early February, the government tried to was and if they were able to get there, they block Belobaba from handing down his by Valerie Lannon On February 14, after eight years of court often felt they did not fit in because they had ruling, saying that Indigenous Affairs Minister battles, First Nations plaintiffs in Ontario no knowledge of the community’s language or Carolyn Bennett wanted to “negotiate” with Just when you thought the Tory scumbags won a big court victory over the federal traditions. survivors. couldn’t reach any lower, you witness four government. Ontario Superior Court And on February 2, government lawyers so-called “leadership” candidates denouncing Justice Belobaba sided with the survivors Fighting back said that “the government did not have a legal Islam at the February 15 “emergency rally” of the “60s Scoop” who argued that the But the spirit of resistance was never far obligation to concern itself with the cultural called by extreme right-wingers. The event was government-sanctioned wholesale adoption away and today in every province Indigenous identity of Indigenous people” according to a cesspool of racism, Islamophobia and hatred into non-Indigenous families led to the trauma peoples are fighting back through lawsuits the plaintiff’s lawyer Jeffery Wilson. of immigrants who aren’t white. associated with loss of language, culture, against either the federal or provincial But this is the same Trudeau government Two of the candidates in attendance, family and community. governments responsible. In Ontario, the that has totally refused to negotiate with First Kellie Leitch and Chris Alexander, were the As Belobaba said, “The uncontroverted fight was led by Beaver House Chief Marcia Nations child welfare agencies across Canada main promoters of Harper’s “Zero tolerance evidence of the plaintiff’s experts is that the Brown Martel. Adopted out at age nine, she to provide the equitable funding declared for Barbaric Cultural Practices” proposed loss of their Aboriginal identity left the children later discovered the Canadian government had required by the Canadian Human Rights legislation, now in the trash where it belongs. fundamentally disoriented, with a reduced declared her original identity dead. After the tribunal. That tribunal case also took almost On the same day, we saw Tory MPs ability to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.” judge’s decision, she told the CBC “Our voices ten years due to government efforts to hijack scrambling to oppose Liberal MP Iqra Khalid’s Their removals, which happened between were finally heard and listened to.” proceedings. The tribunal will meet again in motion to denounce racism and Islamophobia, 1965 and 1984, were “justified” by child The survivors are asking for $85,000 each March to decide what more can be done to insisting that the word Islamophobia be welfare agencies that judged First Nations’ in damages, for a total of $1.3 billion, arguing bring the government into compliance. removed from the motion. ways of parenting as not up to the “standard” that the federal government breached part of No doubt the resilience of the Sixties of white, Eurocentric society. This was the agreement that requires consultation with Scoop survivors will mean they will refuse Leitch combined with a refusal to alleviate the harsh First Nations bands about the federally funded to be seduced by the government’s so-called At least leeches once served a medicinal conditions caused by colonially enforced child welfare program. “offer to negotiate”. Indeed, one survivor – purpose. Now MP Leitch personifies the poverty that made families vulnerable. William Campbell, who now lives in Thunder soul-destroying animosity towards all things In Ontario alone, over 16,000 children were Pressure on Liberals Bay – told CBC: “Even today, there are more Islamic, including her Trumpish proposal to removed. The effects were devastating for The main reason the court battle went on so First Nations kids in care than ever before. screen immigrants for “Canadian values”. the parents whose children were taken away. long was the disgusting practice of both the Obviously, the problem is still there.” Thanks to the renewed spirit of resistance And those who were removed, like virtually Harper and Trudeau governments to have Still, the court decision is a great victory for triggered by the election of Donald Trump, all adoptees, ultimately wanted to come home. the case delayed or dismissed. As recently First Nations survivors. her constituency office was draped with a banner containing the names of all six Muslims murdered in the Quebec mosque on January 29. Trudeau: we’re watching you O’Leary While O’Leary avoids some of the caustic racism of Leitch and Alexander, he prides by Kevin Taghabon himself on the same supposed “anti-politics” and blow-hard love of laissez-faire capitalism Canadian Journalists for Free Expression that Trump espouses. And let’s face it, this (CJFE) held a public rally on February 25 in form of capitalism has never really existed. Toronto. The coordinated events happening in It’s always been capitalism for the poor and cities coast to coast were billed as “Trudeau: socialism for the rich, which means subsidies We’re Watching You”, in keeping with the for corporations and austerity for the rest of us. theme of omnipresent surveillance. The race to the bottom affects other The large group that gathered was protesting candidates too, including those not previously the national security apparatus’ creeping known for being more bigoted than your hostility towards the press and free expression. average Tory. Candidate Maxime Bernier This includes the bipartisan (Harper-Trudeau) has denounced a transgender rights bill he embrace of the draconian national security Bill previously supported, saying it poses a threat C-51. to free speech in Canada. Bill C-16, which Additionally, CJFE is calling on citizens amends the Canadian Human Rights Act to voice their support for Bill S-231, the and the Criminal Code to include the terms Journalistic Sources Protection Act, advanced “gender identity” and “gender expression” is by Senator Claude Carignan.