A feminist approach to strengthening global democracy
Search
straight to your inbox!
with exclusive French content.
Subscribe to Dispatches.
A feminist approach to strengthening global democracy
Canadaâs international assistance policy fails to transform the democratic institutions that sustain the oppression and exclusion of women.
17 February, 2021 A woman casts her vote at a polling station in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on September 28, 2019. Noorullah Shirzada/AFP via Getty Images
Since launching its âfeminist international assistance policyâ in 2017, Canada has transformed how it operates as a development assistance partner by prioritizing its assistances in ways that benefit women and marginalized groups. In 2019, Jacqueline OâNeill was appointed as Canadaâs first ambassador for women, peace and security to advance feminist foreign policy and reinforce âefforts to ensure more inclusive, gender-equal and peaceful societiesâ at home a
Bring them home
The rescue of the orphan ‘Amira’ has raised pressure on Ottawa to take back other children of Canadians who fought in Syria for ISIS and to prosecute the fighters here
February 17, 2021 The al-Hawl camp, where ‘Amira’ was found, was built during the Gulf War to house 20,000 displaced persons; it currently holds more than 70,000 (Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images)
It’s been two years since the final territorial redoubt of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) fell to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the Euphrates River Valley, in the Battle of Baghuz Fawqani. Aided by the air power of a 30-nation U.S.-led coalition, the SDF siege began on Feb. 9, 2019.
| Updated February 16, 2021
Photo courtesy of Joanna Gualtieri
Photo of former government whistleblower Joanna Gualtieri that accompanied news articles when she raised flags about government spending in 1998.
Rather than being disappointed, former government whistleblower Joanna Gualtieri says she resents Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s non-committal response as to why he won’t beef up protections for public servants brave enough to flag what they believe to be wrongdoing.
“It’s even more dangerous than keeping his mouth shut,” she said of Trudeau’s response to HuffPost Canada’s queries last week about the much-criticized whistleblower law.
“I resent tremendously, because it just gives the illusion of a commitment. But that’s all it is, an illusion because nothing changes,” she said.