Excellent op-ed by @alexneve.bsky.social re: graduate students in Gaza waiting up to two years for study visas. "A delay of weeks is processing. A delay of months is a backlog. But a delay of a year, without explanation or end, is a de facto rejection." www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
On one side are applicants who receive clear outcomes; on the other are those whose files are allowed to languish until their opportunities simply expire. And time after time, those on that other side are Palestinians. 3/3
"... it is difficult to come up with any explanation for the double standards other than how it feels: racism. It has to be said, and it has to be addressed. 2/3
My op-ed in today's @theglobeandmail.com, decrying the approach (or rather, the lack thereof) that the Canadian government has taken with respect to processing visa applications for highly qualified Palestinian graduate students who have been admitted to university programs across the country. 1/3
We need PM Carney to come out in clear defence of international law (which has certainly not yet been the case, maybe a call to Spain's Pedro Sanchez for a pep talk would be in order). 4/4
2/ Grave and unrelenting human rights violations in Iran must be addressed (which states have disgracefully failed to take seriously for decades) without ripping up the UN Charter. 3/4
1/ The attacks are clearly illegal (none of the various, always-shifting explanations offered by Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio are lawful justifications for a state to attack another state). 2/4
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Cross-Canada early morning tour with @cbcradiocanada.bsky.social, hitting 12 stations from Labrador to Vancouver & points in between. The topic: the legality of the US/Israeli attacks against Iran.
Here's CBC Vancouver interview on the Early Edition: lnkd.in/e3Q74Yh4. 1/4
Short answer...
Thoughtful & personal from dear friend & colleague
@amandaghahremani.com:
"Iranians deserve genuine change. Prioritizing perceived short-term gains for unimaginable long-term losses, such as the abandonment of international law, is a disservice to generations of Iranians to come."
We can be fierce champions of democracy & human rights in Iran while, at the same time, firmly rejecting unilateral & unlawful military action by one state against another. Both are, after all, grounded in the same values & the same vision for humanity. Both take us in the same direction.
Sending heaps of love and compassion to the families, the injured and all of the people of Tumbler Ridge. May you draw comfort from every corner of this country, for we are all holding you close.
Des arguments convaincants de la part de @bernardduhaime.bsky.social et Noémie Boivin pour que Canada s'engage pleinement dans le système interaméricain des droits de la personne. Il est grand temps de reconnaître que nous faisons partie de cet hémisphère!
The @uninvhrc.bsky.social's FFM on #Venezuela is watching the Amnesty Law closely. Here is our call for greater transparency & inclusivity, reiterating urgent need to release all political prisoners. Venezuela's repressive laws need to be dismantled & a comprehensive rights-based agenda instituted.
Fredericton friends. And NB friends more widely, in case you happen to be in town.
So honoured and very much looking forward to delivering this year's Lodhi Lecture in Human Rights at the Atlantic Human Rights Centre at @stthomasu.bsky.social.
This calls for a reaction way beyond muted "disappointment" and appeals for a "humanitarian" release, Minister @anitaoakvilleeast.bsky.social.
Canada should be outraged & incensed (as Canadians are), and should demand & insist that #JimmyLai be immediately & unconditionally released.
That #JimmyLai was charged & then convicted was an affront to free expression. This 20 year prison sentence is disgraceful contempt for human rights. Governments around the world must decry this flagrant injustice and call for his unconditional release.
My op-ed in the Hill Times:
"If this country is serious that our way forward must and will be "principled and pragmatic" then the path we must walk is clear: close the U.S. arms export loophole."
All MPs need to get behind @jennykwan.bsky.social's Bill C-233.
My article for @policyalternatives.ca on the perversity, absurdity & illegality of Donald Trump's Board of "Peace".
Powerful from Allan Rock and Lloyd Axworthy. Makes the irrefutable case for MPs to support @jennykwan.bsky.social's Bill C-233, #NoMoreLoopholes.
"The 3 January US attack on Venezuela was an unlawful use of force under the UN Charter... Meanwhile, the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Maduro government against the Venezuelan people remain without justice or guarantees of non-repetition, warned Amnesty International today."
Hear @alexneve.bsky.social describe the need to renew universal human rights through the lens of injustice inflicted on Hassan Diab - go to justiceforhassandiab.org
Important read from @alexneve.bsky.social in the @hilltimes.com. As we witness a "live-streamed genocide" and rising global violence, Canada continues to send military technology to the U.S. w/zero human rights oversight. It’s time to close the U.S. loophole. 1/2
www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/0...
All political prisoners must be released in #Venezuela. No delays. No excuses. No exceptions.
It is terror, fascism, murder, racism & more. An unapologetic descent into full out war on the people, community, rule of law, accountability and basic notions of rights, justice and plain human decency. We are, everywhere, with Minneapolis in resistance.
Leaving the "old order" (never the vaunted edifice it is often spun to have been) behind cannot include selling universal human rights short. The "new order" must put rights at the fore. That is not altruistic idealism, it is vital and urgent necessity.
Kingston friends!
And for that matter, Brockville, Gananoque, Napanee, Perth, Tyendinaga and beyond friends.
I'm honoured to be delivering the Catriona Gibson Memorial Lecture at @queensulaw.bsky.social on February 3, 5:30 - 7 pm.
Hope to see you there.
Deep gratitude to dear friends and treasured colleagues with the Centre for Peace at Canadian Memorial United Church in Vancouver for welcoming me to deliver one of their "Peace Talks" last night. So bolstered by the wonderful turnout and rich exchanges. Change is in our hands.
