Cole's Notes Sunday Review for March 2, 2025

 Sunday Review - March 2, 2025

I've been sifting through the web this week and attached the best stories I've found.

Land acknowledgements often ignore  history

We should avoid creating mythology and special recognition that may have no basis in fact.

I remember the first time I heard a statement at a public event along the lines of, “This building is located on traditional unceded Aboriginal land.” It was in Australia, and it struck me as disingenuous, simplistic and patronizing. If the people making this statement really felt that badly about the land they (and possibly their forebearers) lived and worked on for generations and ostensibly stole, then they would reasonably choose to give the land back along with all they had built upon it. (more)

From The Epoch Times - 

Peter MacKinnon is a lawyer, former law professor, former Dean of Law at the University of Saskatchewan, and senior fellow at the Aristotle Foundation, among other accomplishments. He served as president of the University of Saskatchewan and interim president at both Athabasca University and Dalhousie, resigning this last position in January 2020.

In a January 2019 interview with Dal News, he reflected on his pursuits as an author: “I don’t want to write a memoir, and I didn’t want to write local history. I wanted to write about policy” following his term as president at the University of Saskatchewan. (more)

Wodek Szemberg: What if Diefenbaker and Pearson had embraced the bomb and changed Canada forever?   - The Hub

As the United States retreats from being a unipolar power, the prevailing global order is at a crossroads. For Canada, it’s time to start thinking about what comes next and what it means for Canadian policy. The Hub is running a new essay series to grapple with these seismic changes and offer a new clear-headed direction for Canadian foreign policy.

Had two Canadian prime ministers chosen differently in 1962, the Canada of today might not be the soft power peacekeeper and “51st state” plaything of the current U.S. president, but rather a nuclear power demanding the world’s respect. (More)