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• Class-war games –On February 12, 2009, exactly one year before the opening of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, the grim future of political freedom in British Columbia was on full display. Military and police flanked by helicopters rehearsed manoeuvres in Vancouver, where escalating harassment, intimidation and surveillance of activists…
• Between home and a hard place –Public outrage over the treatment of Canada’s “security certificate” detainees has receded with the seemingly good news that four of the five detainees are now living at home. But the reality of house arrest is almost worse, because it effectively extends the almost total loss of freedom the men endure…
• Policing mental health –Twenty-four-year-old Chris Klim was shot to death a little over a year ago, when seven armed men came to his apartment in Vernon, B.C., a town of 40,000. Two men stayed outside the apartment while the leader and four others smashed the door in with a battering ram. Bewildered, Klim…
• Examining the past honestly –What does “history” mean to you? A list of names and dates? Great deeds of long ago? “History,” says historian Margaret MacMillan, is something we all do.” Formerly at the University of Toronto, now at Oxford, Professor MacMillan is well-known for her Governor General’s Award-winning book, _Paris 1919_, and, more…
• Law & order –Irvin Waller, a professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, has made it his career and mission to get governments throughout much of the world to shift their emphasis from law enforcement to prevention, with some limited success. His book is a plaintive cry for movement by government in…
• Dark days –_Dark Days_ is about the imprisonment and torture of four innocent Canadians in Syria in the furtherance of the so-called “war on terror” launched by George W. Bush. The four men, all Muslims, are Maher Ahar (361 days in Syrian detention), Abdullah Almalki (more than 22 months in Syria), Ahmad…
• Modest investments, immodest returns –Everybody’s looking for a lifeline to pull themselves out of the global downturn. But with giant bailout packages failing to provide stability in the U.S. and grim predictions for the remainder of 2009, what are the emerging opportunities for secure and lucrative investment?
• May/June 2009 –In our crime & punishment issue, Briarpatch brings you a variety of ethically engaged perspectives on questions of crime, punishment, and the justice system, from policing mental health to securing the Olympics, from the fathers’ rights movement in Canada to the drive for prison reform in Ghana — plus some…
• Letter from the editor –This issue of Briarpatch is a temporary androgynous zone in the no-man’s land between male and female. It is addressed neither (just) to women nor (just) to men, but to anyone who is serious about putting principles of social justice into practice.
• Polyamory in practice –Conversations about polyamory - the practice of having more than one intimate partner at a time - are slowly finding their way into public consciousness. Two newly published books (_Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage_ and _Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships_) reflect…
• Queering the scene –On the third Saturday of every month, a throng of self-identified queers descend on an East Vancouver community centre in search of cheap drinks, good music, and the chance to dance off the month’s drudgery in a safe and inclusive environment.
• A pound of flesh –Yesterday I received a long-awaited item in the mail: an application package for admittance to the Gender Identity Clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. This is the golden ticket for Canadian transsexuals who are in need of medical care (including hormones, surgeries and counselling) and…
• Villages without women –The small woman moves lightly across the concrete floor. Wearing socks and sandals, she carries glasses of mud-coloured milk tea, which she sets on an ankle-high table. There are no chairs in this room, so she kneels on the floor, waiting to speak. The woman’s face is worn and crossed…
• Jones, Chelsea –Chelsea Jones is a Canadian freelance journalist based in Kathmandu. Her work focuses on development journalism, especially pertaining to women and people with disabilities in the global south.
• Hamilton, Alissa –Alissa Hamilton is a Woodcock-Foundation-funded Food and Society Policy Fellow and the author of the forthcoming book Squeezed: What You Don’t Know About Orange Juice (Yale University Press), due out in May 2009. She lives in Toronto.
• van der Meulen, Emily –Emily van der Meulen is a professor of criminology at Ryerson University. She conducts research on the criminalization of sex work, prison and community-based harm reduction, and surveillance.
• Neufeld, Calvin –Calvin Neufeld is a vegan transsexual living off-grid in rural Ontario with his wife and their two pugs. He is a member of Ontario’s Trans Health Lobby Group and works part-time for Rainbow Health Ontario, a government-funded initiative with a mandate to promote better access to services and to enhance…
• Miller, Michelle –Michelle Miller is a queer writer, educator, activist and enthusiastic dance-party goer. Her first book was entitled Branding Miss G_: Third Wave Feminists and the Media_ (Sumach Press, 2008). She lives in Vancouver but longs for Ontario, winters and all.
• Penner, Rachel –Rachel Penner contemplates life with her cat in Regina, Saskatchewan, and entertains herself by dancing, singing, and playing with words.
• Van Deven, Mandy –Mandy Van Deven is a freelance writer and founder of the Feminist Review blog. Her writing has appeared in AlterNet, Bitch, ColorLines, and Curve. She currently resides in Calcutta, India.