Kimball Cariou |

COVID-19 “another fatal layer” for Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

For many years, the Pivot Legal Society has been a prominent voice for people facing human rights challenges in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood. The group says that today, "in these trying times, Pivot has been re-evaluating our work and [...]

BC Indigenous leaders call to halt CGL Pipeline

The Canadian economy is slowing during the COVID-19 outbreak, and global energy prices keep falling, but both federal and provincial governments continue to support fossil fuel extraction and export projects. One organization strongly opposed to [...]

From smallpox to COVID-19 – epidemics and Indigenous peoples

Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation and the Loss of Aboriginal Life (2013) Author: James Daschuk Publisher: University of Regina Press Review by Kimball Cariou What economic system extends its reach across entire [...]

Breaking down anti-Communist caricatures, book reveals a man who grasped the nature of world-wide class struggle

Norman Bethune in Spain: Commitment, Crisis and Conspiracy (2013) Author: David Lethbridge Publisher: Sussex Academic Press Few figures in Canadian history remain as popular as Norman Bethune. This despite a plethora of books, films and [...]

NDP budget falls far short of people’s needs

While the corporate media's attention was focused on demonstrations outside the Legislature in Victoria, the BC government's 2020 budget was delivered inside on February 18. Anti-poverty groups, some of which rely on provincial funding to maintain [...]

No picnic for workers under Horgan NDP government

"Time flies when you're having fun," as the old saying goes. But it hasn't quite worked out that way for workers in British Columbia, since the anti-labour Liberals were defeated in 2017. With the clock ticking down towards a BC election scheduled [...]

Election interference? Yes, but the warnings are misplaced

What's the real story about "outside interference" in Canadian elections? That question is on the minds of political activists these days, but many observers keep looking in the wrong places. My own perspective comes from being a frequent Communist [...]

Indigenous peoples want their #LandBack

On December 31, the BC Supreme Court ruled in favour of Coastal GasLink (CGL), which has never obtained consent from the Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs to work on un-surrendered traditional Indigenous territories in the north-central part of the [...]

BC’s UNDRIP legislation charts new path in continuing struggle

Four years ago, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called on all levels of government in Canada to fully implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). With the introduction of Bill 41, the [...]

Winnipeg General Strike pops off the page

1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike, by the Graphic History Collective and David Lester, published by Between the Lines, 2019, 107 pages, ISBN 978-1-77113-4209-0 (softcover). Review by Kimball Cariou "A picture is worth a [...]