On May 22, Ambassador Elayne White of Costa Rica, president of a UN disarmament panel, released a ‘Draft Convention on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.’ The draft treaty, while certain to be subject to scrutiny and revision, faithfully reflects the determination of the 130 states attending the panel’s March sessionRead More

In 2009, Richard Keshen, now professor emeritus at Cape Breton University, interviewed Father Greg MacLeod as part of a series of interviews with key figures in the history of the university. Keshen and MacLeod, who was 73 at the time, had a wide-ranging discussion which Keshen later divided into five sections.Read More

On March 27 over 130 states, strongly supported by international organizations and civil society, convened at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to open negotiations on a treaty outlawing nuclear weapons: the momentous goal set by the Assembly in its inaugural resolution of January 1946. In the interveningRead More

I had CBC radio playing in the background on Monday and an item about property tax assessments in New Brunswick came on and the next thing I knew, I was listening to Kevin Lacey of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF). I didn’t actually catch what he said but I can guess withRead More

On March 27, over 130 states will meet at UN headquarters in New York to commence negotiations, mandated by the General Assembly last December, on a treaty outlawing nuclear weapons. This country, alas (see my January column, ‘Divided Nations: Canada Ducks Disarmament Challenge’), will be joining most of its NATORead More

Old King Coal I was so puzzled today when I reached into my mailbox and pulled out a 1720 edition of The Cape Breton Post.  “King coal” screamed the headline on the front page. Hallelujah, a coal mine has opened on the island! I searched excitedly to see what otherRead...

In my October column, “Roads to Hell: Nuclear Waste on the Move,” I reported on legal efforts to block shipments of highly-radioactive liquid waste from the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories in Ontario to the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, a journey of over 2,000 kilometerss passing the GreatRead More

Dear Mr. Obama, During your momentous visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial last May, the first by a sitting US president, you placed the quest for a nuclear-weapon-free world in the profoundest of contexts: the struggle of humanity to transcend the darkest vices of its own nature. As you leaveRead More

Over 350 people gathered in front of the Civic Centre in Sydney on Tuesday night to stand vigil for the victims of Sunday’s attack on a Quebec city mosque, the Centre culturel islamique de Québec. Six Muslim men were killed and 19 injured when a man opened fire in the mosque duringRead More

It’s only just begun, yet the whole world seems to be feeling the weight of Donald Trump’s presidency. Many more affected and more knowledgeable than myself have commented (boy have they commented) on where he will take the United States during the next four years, but there’s no doubt whatsoeverRead More